A/N: I dunno if there is much left to say, but I suppose you're on this
site to read the stories, not the Author's Notes! Thanks again to anyone
reading: I am obliged for your support. Well, enjoy my next chapter. If you
like corny stuff, Tetra and the gang'll begin to spice things up. As
always, read and review, yada, yada, yada. ~Tetra and the pirates sort of
butt into our conversation, and not a moment too soon...
"Hoy, Tetra! Where've you been?" Link greeted her cheerily, waving at that strange group on the horizon. She rolled her eyes and tossed her head, blowing one of her lightning-bolt shaped ear tails off her cheek and, beckoning toward the men behind her to follow, sauntered toward us in her superior sort of way. They trailed behind her like baby cuccos following their mother. "She's only like that when she's mad." He growled under his breath at me. I nodded.
"Where've I been? Where've you been? I didn't hear about any rendezvous! And who in the Great Sea is she?" Tetra burst out the moment she reached us. You could tell she was the captain of a ship; her skill at maintaining order was impeccable. Her pirates stood forlornly at the side, staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and apologetics. One of the taller ones, dressed in green and maroon, was mouthing something like 'She's never like this, yeah?' and nodding vigorously.
"Well, sorry. We weren't sure you were even alive and-"Link began.
"Well, boy, I'm not around here to listen to your pity stories." Surprisingly, she grinned, and Link returned it. Then they began to laugh. I must've looked very confused, and Medli touched me gently on the arm. I turned.
"They're always like that. It's quite crazy, really. " She said, smiling sheepishly and shaking her head. "I suppose you get used to it after a while, though." After a moment or two, the captain managed to maintain a straight face.
"Now honestly, who is she?" She said, quite serious now.
"Seagull-feathers, Tetra, she can talk." He tucked his thumbs under his belt and said no more.
"Um... Hi." I waved nervously. I had never thought I'd meet a pirate, much less a female captain who had as much of a sense of humor as she did order. Would a buccaneer appreciate etiquette? "You can call me Anni, I suppose."
"Hi, Anni!" Chorused the six pirates behind Tetra with good cheer, waving their callused and scarred hands. She turned to glare at them, and her violet vest flapped in the breeze. She was very flashily dressed, her yellow hair tied in an artistic, if somewhat sloppily done bun slightly to the left side of her head. A tattered scarlet bandanna was tied loosely around her thin neck, and under her vest she wore two shirts: one a short, sleeveless pastel purple, and the other the same red of her neckerchief, worn under the former. Her pants were khakis, which I found particularly attractive. A short saber rested in a scabbard at her waist, and her feet were clad in simple sandals. She had no signs of a figure, but her complexion was pleasantly bronzed, and no appearances could ever make up for the strength of her personality.
"Well, nice to meet'cha, Anni." She said, though she still looked annoyed by her pirates. "You may call me Tetra. Now, why are you hanging around here acting so nice? Where's your prejudice, for Din's sake?" I noticed her eyes were on my ears, which were as round as seashells compared to her pointed.
"Oh, please, Tetra, she's fine." Medli said, and I was surprised she came to my defense so rapidly. "This is the Mainland, and we mayn't find another character as charitable as her for a while."
Her eyes lightened up considerably. "So they're not all like you on this Mainland, eh?" I shrugged.
"I'm not the best, and I'm not the worst." I answered coolly. Tetra smiled, obviously liking my answer. She nodded to herself.
"So, what'd she do that's so 'charitable'?" Tetra inquired, scanning Medli, Makar, Komali and Link- and double -taking when she got to Link. Her brow furrowed.
"Well, she offered to help us fix our instruments." Makar said, showing her the ugly remains of his fiddle.
"And, supposedly, she rescued Link." Komali added. Tetra didn't take her eyes off the Outset Islander, but she nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Hmm... Medli, Makar? I'm afraid those instruments won't be of much use to you, even if they are repaired." She grinned slyly, and if I'd known her better, I would've known that that meant she had some bad news for the lot of us. She set her arms akimbo. "Link, first time I set eyes on you I knew something was wrong..." Tetra closed her eyes and shook her head. "Would you look over your left shoulder for me?" Link did so, and so did several of the pirates.
I followed Tetra's glance and found something I'd never noticed about Link before. There was a dully painted, ornate shield strapped to his back, and behind it was an equally elaborate scabbard, one, it seemed, for a very splendid sword. But the sword was absent.
I was surrounded by gasps.
"He can't have lost it, certainly not the Master Sword!"
"D'you think it was washed away by the sea?"
"Well, there goes all my importance to this group; what's a fiddling Korok to do on his own?"
And as I stared at that empty sheath, my heart leaped; my Sheikah blood took control and somehow I felt connected to these people in one way or another, though I'd met them but a moment ago.
"It.... wasn't washed away...." I murmured. Everyone grew silent. "It... was...was STOLEN!"
"By what, exactly?" asked Link, in a tone wavering with fear, though his brow was furrowed and it seemed he'd overcome any danger to retrieve this blade. Isn't that what true courage is; readily doing things beyond frightening against one's own fear for all things just and true? He trusted my strange gift; though whether or not he was sure of its accuracy, I don't know.
"I... I don't know...." I bowed my head and concentrated with my entire mind, but all I saw was darkness... and two spots of deep scarlet. "...My great aunt Siagon could tell you, I think."
"Where does you're aunt live, exactly?" Medli asked in a tone as soft as the coo of a dove.
"It's further inland, in the back of a restaurant and inn called The Spilled Goblet."
"Hmm..." grunted Tetra. "Whaddya say, boys? Surely we could spare some of our... precious time... to speak to this life-saving girl's aunt?" She winked, and her pirates all nodded vigorously. The captain nodded in her accepting sort of way. Link rolled his eyes, but he smiled softly. "Anni, that's the thing you got to know about the pirates." He said. "Their so-called 'work' may be all fun and games, but in the end, it's only their stomachs that count." He laughed. "'Course, I have problems in that particular area too, occasionally."
"How occasionally? Every hour?" chortled one of Tetra's men, a mouse-like midget with a somewhat comical squeaky voice (it sounded to a certain extent as if someone was holding his nose). The tips of the green-clad islander's ears and nose went pink and he, fairly embarrassed, snapped: "Niko, I'm going to pretend I never heard that." Niko continued to laugh.
"Well, gee, guys. If you're really into food, we can sure arrange that, too." I shrugged. "And I like you, so we just might be able to make that free." On that last thought, I couldn't help but put a mocking sort of tone in my voice.
"We're completely fine with that." Tetra said, attempting to suppress one of her sly smiles. I found I was beginning to get used to her strange ways. The others only shrugged and nodded politely, though Link looked exceptionally surprised and delighted by this offer.
"How do we get to this place, The Spilled Goblet?" Medli asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but my wings are dead tired, and I don't usually get far on foot."
"I got it covered." I smiled, pulling a harmonica from my pocket. "You guys ever ride before?"
"Ride what?" Makar inquired, obviously afraid that what ever it was would be eager to eat him. I was somewhat shocked. Surely they knew that the term 'riding' was generally associated with horses! Then again, maybe they didn't have horses out on the Great Sea. What an absurd thought!
"Ponies. Do they have horses where you come from?" I asked.
"No, but heard something about them once." Said Link pausing momentarily. "Aren't they those enormous animals that have long velvety snouts? I've never even set eyes on a drawing of one...."
"Hmmm... Why don't you wait and see?" With that, I set my lips onto the sweet pine wood and metal of the harmonica and blew three notes. That particular note pattern had, by tradition, been used at my auntie's ranch since the first recorded Aniku ancestor composed it. It stirred something inside the horses and made them come running, no matter how far away they were. The ground began to shake, and the others behind me seemed somewhat panicked, yet I, however, stood tall and grinned as exactly twenty-nine ponies of various colors spilled into our valley of land in the tide pools. They circled around us, stopping a comfortable distance away. Several came into the ring for a closer look.
"Not how I pictured them!" laughed Link as a cream-colored one (the one I called Swiss) nosed him on the shoulder. "I think they're better."
"Wow, they ARE big." Komali and Makar marveled.
"They're so... beautiful. So sleek and free." Medli gasped. I looked over the herd and frowned.
"What's the matter, Anni?" Tetra asked, raising her hand to grace the side of a grey horse I labeled Risky.
"One's missing." I said. I wasn't worried about Daystar. He'd probably left for The Spilled Goblet already. I inspected the horses and sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't wait for her... She's rouge, I tell you."
"But these aren't all yours, are they? Do you have the right to do that?" She said, giggling as Risky licked her hand. She had a point...
"All right, but if she comes barging in here, dodge her. You don't want a hoof in your face." Speak of the devil. A whinny broke the horizon, and a bronze bay mare leapt into view. Her ears were laid back, and she kicked at the air as if there was something there, foam coming at her mouth. "Umm... See? She's crazy. Refused to be broken properly. At our rodeos, the record of staying on her is around .30." A low whistle escaped Tetra's lips. Link stared at her, a strange look in his eyes. His brow was furrowed.
"What's her name?" He asked simply, speaking as if he were in a trance.
"Her name? She's known to her victims as Wildfire." I scowled, watching the loony steed rear.
"No, her real name." I wondered how he knew she had a 'real name'.
"She was named after one of the best horses in the ranch's history, her ancestor mother from hundreds of years back... She turned out to be quite the opposite, as you can see." Not many people knew Wildfire's true name. "Her name... Her true name's Epona."
Something seemed to snap in Link's mind, and he said, somewhat surprised in himself. "Well, I'm going to take her."
"Hoy, Tetra! Where've you been?" Link greeted her cheerily, waving at that strange group on the horizon. She rolled her eyes and tossed her head, blowing one of her lightning-bolt shaped ear tails off her cheek and, beckoning toward the men behind her to follow, sauntered toward us in her superior sort of way. They trailed behind her like baby cuccos following their mother. "She's only like that when she's mad." He growled under his breath at me. I nodded.
"Where've I been? Where've you been? I didn't hear about any rendezvous! And who in the Great Sea is she?" Tetra burst out the moment she reached us. You could tell she was the captain of a ship; her skill at maintaining order was impeccable. Her pirates stood forlornly at the side, staring at me with a mixture of curiosity and apologetics. One of the taller ones, dressed in green and maroon, was mouthing something like 'She's never like this, yeah?' and nodding vigorously.
"Well, sorry. We weren't sure you were even alive and-"Link began.
"Well, boy, I'm not around here to listen to your pity stories." Surprisingly, she grinned, and Link returned it. Then they began to laugh. I must've looked very confused, and Medli touched me gently on the arm. I turned.
"They're always like that. It's quite crazy, really. " She said, smiling sheepishly and shaking her head. "I suppose you get used to it after a while, though." After a moment or two, the captain managed to maintain a straight face.
"Now honestly, who is she?" She said, quite serious now.
"Seagull-feathers, Tetra, she can talk." He tucked his thumbs under his belt and said no more.
"Um... Hi." I waved nervously. I had never thought I'd meet a pirate, much less a female captain who had as much of a sense of humor as she did order. Would a buccaneer appreciate etiquette? "You can call me Anni, I suppose."
"Hi, Anni!" Chorused the six pirates behind Tetra with good cheer, waving their callused and scarred hands. She turned to glare at them, and her violet vest flapped in the breeze. She was very flashily dressed, her yellow hair tied in an artistic, if somewhat sloppily done bun slightly to the left side of her head. A tattered scarlet bandanna was tied loosely around her thin neck, and under her vest she wore two shirts: one a short, sleeveless pastel purple, and the other the same red of her neckerchief, worn under the former. Her pants were khakis, which I found particularly attractive. A short saber rested in a scabbard at her waist, and her feet were clad in simple sandals. She had no signs of a figure, but her complexion was pleasantly bronzed, and no appearances could ever make up for the strength of her personality.
"Well, nice to meet'cha, Anni." She said, though she still looked annoyed by her pirates. "You may call me Tetra. Now, why are you hanging around here acting so nice? Where's your prejudice, for Din's sake?" I noticed her eyes were on my ears, which were as round as seashells compared to her pointed.
"Oh, please, Tetra, she's fine." Medli said, and I was surprised she came to my defense so rapidly. "This is the Mainland, and we mayn't find another character as charitable as her for a while."
Her eyes lightened up considerably. "So they're not all like you on this Mainland, eh?" I shrugged.
"I'm not the best, and I'm not the worst." I answered coolly. Tetra smiled, obviously liking my answer. She nodded to herself.
"So, what'd she do that's so 'charitable'?" Tetra inquired, scanning Medli, Makar, Komali and Link- and double -taking when she got to Link. Her brow furrowed.
"Well, she offered to help us fix our instruments." Makar said, showing her the ugly remains of his fiddle.
"And, supposedly, she rescued Link." Komali added. Tetra didn't take her eyes off the Outset Islander, but she nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Hmm... Medli, Makar? I'm afraid those instruments won't be of much use to you, even if they are repaired." She grinned slyly, and if I'd known her better, I would've known that that meant she had some bad news for the lot of us. She set her arms akimbo. "Link, first time I set eyes on you I knew something was wrong..." Tetra closed her eyes and shook her head. "Would you look over your left shoulder for me?" Link did so, and so did several of the pirates.
I followed Tetra's glance and found something I'd never noticed about Link before. There was a dully painted, ornate shield strapped to his back, and behind it was an equally elaborate scabbard, one, it seemed, for a very splendid sword. But the sword was absent.
I was surrounded by gasps.
"He can't have lost it, certainly not the Master Sword!"
"D'you think it was washed away by the sea?"
"Well, there goes all my importance to this group; what's a fiddling Korok to do on his own?"
And as I stared at that empty sheath, my heart leaped; my Sheikah blood took control and somehow I felt connected to these people in one way or another, though I'd met them but a moment ago.
"It.... wasn't washed away...." I murmured. Everyone grew silent. "It... was...was STOLEN!"
"By what, exactly?" asked Link, in a tone wavering with fear, though his brow was furrowed and it seemed he'd overcome any danger to retrieve this blade. Isn't that what true courage is; readily doing things beyond frightening against one's own fear for all things just and true? He trusted my strange gift; though whether or not he was sure of its accuracy, I don't know.
"I... I don't know...." I bowed my head and concentrated with my entire mind, but all I saw was darkness... and two spots of deep scarlet. "...My great aunt Siagon could tell you, I think."
"Where does you're aunt live, exactly?" Medli asked in a tone as soft as the coo of a dove.
"It's further inland, in the back of a restaurant and inn called The Spilled Goblet."
"Hmm..." grunted Tetra. "Whaddya say, boys? Surely we could spare some of our... precious time... to speak to this life-saving girl's aunt?" She winked, and her pirates all nodded vigorously. The captain nodded in her accepting sort of way. Link rolled his eyes, but he smiled softly. "Anni, that's the thing you got to know about the pirates." He said. "Their so-called 'work' may be all fun and games, but in the end, it's only their stomachs that count." He laughed. "'Course, I have problems in that particular area too, occasionally."
"How occasionally? Every hour?" chortled one of Tetra's men, a mouse-like midget with a somewhat comical squeaky voice (it sounded to a certain extent as if someone was holding his nose). The tips of the green-clad islander's ears and nose went pink and he, fairly embarrassed, snapped: "Niko, I'm going to pretend I never heard that." Niko continued to laugh.
"Well, gee, guys. If you're really into food, we can sure arrange that, too." I shrugged. "And I like you, so we just might be able to make that free." On that last thought, I couldn't help but put a mocking sort of tone in my voice.
"We're completely fine with that." Tetra said, attempting to suppress one of her sly smiles. I found I was beginning to get used to her strange ways. The others only shrugged and nodded politely, though Link looked exceptionally surprised and delighted by this offer.
"How do we get to this place, The Spilled Goblet?" Medli asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but my wings are dead tired, and I don't usually get far on foot."
"I got it covered." I smiled, pulling a harmonica from my pocket. "You guys ever ride before?"
"Ride what?" Makar inquired, obviously afraid that what ever it was would be eager to eat him. I was somewhat shocked. Surely they knew that the term 'riding' was generally associated with horses! Then again, maybe they didn't have horses out on the Great Sea. What an absurd thought!
"Ponies. Do they have horses where you come from?" I asked.
"No, but heard something about them once." Said Link pausing momentarily. "Aren't they those enormous animals that have long velvety snouts? I've never even set eyes on a drawing of one...."
"Hmmm... Why don't you wait and see?" With that, I set my lips onto the sweet pine wood and metal of the harmonica and blew three notes. That particular note pattern had, by tradition, been used at my auntie's ranch since the first recorded Aniku ancestor composed it. It stirred something inside the horses and made them come running, no matter how far away they were. The ground began to shake, and the others behind me seemed somewhat panicked, yet I, however, stood tall and grinned as exactly twenty-nine ponies of various colors spilled into our valley of land in the tide pools. They circled around us, stopping a comfortable distance away. Several came into the ring for a closer look.
"Not how I pictured them!" laughed Link as a cream-colored one (the one I called Swiss) nosed him on the shoulder. "I think they're better."
"Wow, they ARE big." Komali and Makar marveled.
"They're so... beautiful. So sleek and free." Medli gasped. I looked over the herd and frowned.
"What's the matter, Anni?" Tetra asked, raising her hand to grace the side of a grey horse I labeled Risky.
"One's missing." I said. I wasn't worried about Daystar. He'd probably left for The Spilled Goblet already. I inspected the horses and sighed. "Maybe we shouldn't wait for her... She's rouge, I tell you."
"But these aren't all yours, are they? Do you have the right to do that?" She said, giggling as Risky licked her hand. She had a point...
"All right, but if she comes barging in here, dodge her. You don't want a hoof in your face." Speak of the devil. A whinny broke the horizon, and a bronze bay mare leapt into view. Her ears were laid back, and she kicked at the air as if there was something there, foam coming at her mouth. "Umm... See? She's crazy. Refused to be broken properly. At our rodeos, the record of staying on her is around .30." A low whistle escaped Tetra's lips. Link stared at her, a strange look in his eyes. His brow was furrowed.
"What's her name?" He asked simply, speaking as if he were in a trance.
"Her name? She's known to her victims as Wildfire." I scowled, watching the loony steed rear.
"No, her real name." I wondered how he knew she had a 'real name'.
"She was named after one of the best horses in the ranch's history, her ancestor mother from hundreds of years back... She turned out to be quite the opposite, as you can see." Not many people knew Wildfire's true name. "Her name... Her true name's Epona."
Something seemed to snap in Link's mind, and he said, somewhat surprised in himself. "Well, I'm going to take her."