AN: Hi! This chapter will be divided into two parts so that I won't keep
you waiting longer than you have, although I'll admit I stopped at a
horrible spot. I'm SO sorry it's taken so long. I've been trying to get to
this part of the story for the last two chapters. I've been distracted for
the last five thousand months (how can I say that with a straight face?
.) with a bout of the cursed writer's block (and it's been a busy summer
so far), so it might seem a little rough, though I doubt dead- in both
parts combined, anyway. The 'feather' scene was something I came up with
right after the last chapter. As for the school scenes, they're fairly new
to the altogether storyline... I think the earliest versions might've
appeared in early December, but it's hard to tell since it's one of the
scenes I've kept subconsciously... I have some of my modest doodling on
ZeldaLegends.net's fan-art section (under Malon Aniku, of course). However,
if you really want to see something that'll blow you away, look under Dan
Heron's profile and look at his sketch of Anni and his Photoshop portrait
with a quote from the first chapter! "."
We sat in the gondola, letting the current take us down the way to the school. Medli let her hand ride outside the boat in the current. Tetra was simply eying the sky with her head cradled casually behind her head, and we all said few words. It was a splendid day, and no one seemed to want to interrupt it with chit-chat. Soot-black guay birds cawed in the trees on the outskirts of town, which were tall and green and whispering as the breeze flew through them, and the wind itself was a mystery, seeming to be excited and ready, overturning every leaf as if looking for something and turning absent whirlwinds.
"Link, you've got something on your sweater." I had pushed up the brim of my hat and noticed as the sun shone into my eyes. He looked at me, then down at himself.
"What? Where?"
"On your sleeve, there." It was a small, yellow feather.
"Hey, there's two on this side," Tetra pointed out.
"And a couple are here right below your neck," said Medli.
He took the first one and pulled on it a little. It didn't come off right away. He pulled a little harder. "Ow! Holy Din, what the-" Still gritting his teeth, he rolled up his sleeve a bit to find that there was a small patch of down and short feathers growing there. "What in all the Great Sea? Right when I thought I'd experienced it all, I start growing feathers?" The funny thing is, he didn't look the slightest bit scared, but rather, he wore a small frown as if he'd just discovered a mosquito bite. Tetra reached out to touch it, and Link simply glared at her.
"It looks fuzzy, okay?" She withdrew and, with her arms folded across her chest, she gave me a questioning look. I smacked myself in the forehead.
"Oh, DIN, I forgot... It's my fault I didn't warn you..."
"What is it, Anni?" Medli inquired softly.
"Today's Tuesday."
"So? Unless I've missed something somewhere back, Tuesday happens every week, doesn't it? - I mean, without the feathers and stuff," Tetra mused. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Tuesday's when Aunt Saigon tests her potions. She's a witch," I explained. "And if you eat or drink anything she gives you, you're almost certain to turn into something, or grow something... Y'know?" Medli and Tetra quickly looked themselves over. "I think she might've put something into the cherry marmalade that we bought yesterday."
"That makes sense, 'cause that's what I had," Link murmured, wincing a little as he plucked another feather. They seemed to be spreading. "Well, d'you know how to fix it? Because as enjoyable as this may be-" He plucked yet another feather. "I don't want to be a canary before the day's out, y'know?"
"Of course I know how to get rid of them. But I'm afraid plucking them isn't it," I smiled. "See? They're growing back." I took a small jar filled with a clear liquid from the brim of my hat. Rubbing a drop or two of this on my hands, I murmured the short spell and put my hands on both his forearms. The feathers seemed to dissolve, and after a moment, disappeared altogether. Link shivered a little.
"Thanks," he said, rubbing his forearms experimentally, and then the space between his shoulder blades. He sighed and put his hands back on his knees. "What an interesting way to start the day."
Tetra let out a bitter laugh. "Thank Din I like grape jelly."
The schoolhouse was the only building inside the city limits (the Spilled Goblet was far out in the country) that was built on land. I supposed it had been a hill at one time, and then when everything flooded, it had turned into a small island. However, it was a pretty little place, with the long grass flowing against it and the whitewashed picket fence surrounding most of it so it was mainly inaccessible from the gondola until we reached the gates. I thanked the boatman with a nod of my head.
Already, kids littered the yard, playing jump rope or taptim. "We'd better go straight inside," I said, rushing them along a bit. I loved how Link seemed so curious about everything, as if everything contained a bit of sweet knowledge. I actually followed his glance, and was very surprised when I found myself walking into a great wall of flesh. I looked up a few inches and saw Reuben, one of the bullies that menaced the schoolyard.
"Well, Malon, whaddo we have this year?" he smirked down at me. I adjusted my pack's strap haughtily.
"Don't call me Malon," I said to his great pimpled face. I hadn't the faintest idea why he thought he was so cool when he looked and acted like a forest ape. His head was shaved next to bald, he wore no shirt or shoes, and his deep red vest and jeans were ripped and not patched.
"Heh." He tilted back his head and laughed. "Last year you brought manitory foals, and this year you're bringing elves."
My mouth dropped open. "Reuben, first off, it's 'MANTICORE' not 'manitory'. And I dare you to call one of them "Elf" right to his face." I should've known. He of course, walked right up to Link and called him 'elf' right to his face.
Link was standing there watching some third and fourth graders playing taptim with his back to us. Reuben strode up to him and raised his huge fist to punch Link in the shoulder, but the islander sensed him and grabbed him by the wrist. He twirled around and smiled up- almost innocently- at the large, confused nitwit. "Hello," Link said pleasantly. Reuben shook off any shock he may have had.
"I should've known... Elves are always cheery, aren't they? You should know, Santa's Little Helper. Did you like it up there at the North Pole? Elf." I rolled my eyes. Reuben was SO bad at ridiculing people after they threw him off guard. Link looked a little confused.
"Huh?" Link said, genuinely puzzled. I snorted, trying to hold back a stray giggle. Reuben shook his hand free and walked past me into the school. I was still grinning, and he saw me.
"It ain't funny, A-NEE-KU," he grumbled, shoving me so that I stumbled a bit. Link was immediately at my side. He looked up at me with his puzzled green eyes.
"Anni, what's an elf?"
"Well, I never!" said Medli for the fifth time. I sidled to the back of the class and hung up my hat and pack.
"Yep, that's what an elf is," I said, shaking my head. "Mind you, Reuben still reads kid's books with elves in them."
"Link, you should've shown him that you're not some.... Happy midget SHOEMAKER! Honestly, if he'd said that to me," Tetra let out a long growl.
"I didn't know what it meant, and I didn't want to get Anni in trouble, okay?" Link said, rubbing his forearm absently. "He's like a big, stupid Moblin. You can ignore 'em pretty easily."
I rolled my eyes. "If he bullies you, take it as a compliment," I said. "It means he's fascinated with you." Link and Medli let out short, bitter laughs.
Tetra was oblivious to me. "You can NOT ignore Moblins."
"Can too."
"STOP IT!" Medli unfurled her wings as quick as fans, and all of us jumped. "Arguing about that sort of thing in this sort of place is pointless!" She pulled them in again slowly with a sigh. "And we don't want to give a bad impression, do we?" Link shook his head. She turned to Tetra, who was looking up at the ceiling for no reason I could see. "Do we?" Tetra rolled her eyes.
"I guess not," she said uncertainly. "But when people have to tease each other... Grrr... it makes me SO MAD!"
"You tease me all the time," Link reminded her cautiously. Tetra winked dangerously, and he stepped back a little. If anything ever frightened him, it was Tetra.
"I...I just don't like it happening to me, okay? Or you. Or anyone else. Especially if it's about something dumb, like your height."
"Or your ears," reminded Medli.
"Or your attitude!" I added. "But Reuben's just an idiot. He has an entire gang of thugs to remind him to breathe." I turned and led them to my desk. It was a one-room schoolhouse, with kids from first to seventh grade, and as it was near time for school to start, everyone was beginning to take their places. I sat down, and the others stood forlornly to the side. Quickly, I whipped out a bit of parchment from my desk and began to sketch aimlessly, wishing for an idea to come into my mind. Immediately, I felt the familiar feeling of several people watching over my shoulder. I smiled to myself.
I, carefully and quietly, began to construct the "stick person" guidelines for someone running straight toward the viewer. I hated foreshortening, but I realized that I wasn't as bad as I thought I was at doing it. It's funny how an idea can spurt from nowhere.
"So I see you brought your friends, Malon." I jumped along with anyone with me. Ms. Koholint had a nasty habit of sneaking up on you. I sighed and looked up from my sketch.
"Yeah, well, once Link volunteered, the other two jumped right in," I commented. Link politely bowed his head, Medli did a small curtsey, and Tetra simply said "Hi" with a hand on her hip.
Ms. Koholint smiled slightly and scribbled something down in the grade book she always carried with her. She'd taught so many years that even Medli's beak didn't astound her much after the first glance- a characteristic I wasn't fond of at all. She began to walk off absently. "Wait!" I said. "Where are they going to sit?"
"Yes," said Medli. "Please, surely you don't expect us to stand all day." Tetra plunked down on a third grader's desk, and Link glared at her. He scanned the school room.
"How about that bench back there by the coat closet? It looks large enough to seat us all, and since Anni sits at the edge, we can fit it just to the right of her desk," Link said, eying the back of the room and gesturing vigorously with his hands.
"What bench?" said Ms. Koholint, following Link's glance and adjusting her glasses. "Oh, THAT bench. I'm afraid it's a bit heavy, and it'll be hard to move." Link walked over to it and tried to lift an edge, but failed. He looked a bit confused until he looked at Medli, who cleared her throat and rubbed at her wrists as if adjusting bracelets. He sighed. Tetra eased herself up off of the desk (the third grader had looked very forlorn when he had found a pirate on his table) and, rolling her eyes a bit as if it were the obvious answer, snapped her fingers. Gonzo and Senza ran from nowhere to her side, as if she'd summoned them from thin air.
"Tetra! I thought I told you to leave those guys at the Spilled Goblet!" Link groaned. She smirked in spite of herself.
"Just move that bench over here," she said, absently gesturing with waves of her hands. Then she turned to Link. "I tried to tell them, but y'know Gonzo can't deal with being more than thirty feet from me." Link just sighed.
"Tell them to stay outside," he murmured, watching them position the bench with spite, as if he could've done it just as well himself.
"Don't worry, I will." She sat down on the bench and swatted at the pirates when they tried to fuss over her. I took a quick glance around the room and realized most everyone was staring at her. Most were giggling behind hands or whispering to friends, and I noticed Link's ears were beginning to get pink. He tapped her shoulder, and she looked up and blushed along with him. I began drawing again to distract them from feeling on the spot, and luckily, it worked. "Gonzo, get away from me, for Din's sake! I can barely breathe here," I heard Tetra say over my shoulder.
The rest of the morning went quite well. Link and Medli participated regularly in class, answering questions, Tetra sat and daydreamed, and nothing was out of the ordinary except the fact that people were gawking and whispering about beaks and pointed ears behind our backs. The real trouble started at the first recess, after Reuben had told all his friends about the "elf" that had somehow defied him.
Link was just walking out the door when Lingo, the shortest and slyest of Reuben's thugs, stuck out a leg to trip him. Link completely ignored the foot and jumped over it casually with a small smile on his face, as if it was a sort of daily custom to jump over the threshold of a door. Medli giggled as she did the same, and Tetra was careful to kick Lingo's shin with the back of her foot as she landed. He, of course, drew in his leg and cursed, which we all found very amusing. Link closed his eyes and whistled absently, and the wind that rushed and shook around us seemed to be laughing out loud in an impish sort of whisper.
I immediately led them to the taptim field. It was a sort of unwritten law that I had to pitch for the older games, and kids can get sort of restless when things aren't done straight off. Link looked curious, so I began to explain the rules to him. "See, I throw the ball, and the hitter tries to hit it with his n'hoe, that big board. He gets five tries, and if he doesn't get a hit in that time, he has to sit out for the rest of the game. But that doesn't happen much." Link nodded, half of him paying attention to what I was saying quite intently, and the other half watching the kids warming up in the field.
"What happens if he does get a hit?" he asked.
"Well, then he runs. You see those two tall baskets out there?"
"Yeah." He seemed to be able to tell that this was the good part.
"He takes his n'hoe and runs to either basket. When he gets there, he puts his n'hoe in so that it touches the bottom, and then he's safe." I couldn't help but gesture for emphasis. "But there'll be people out in the field, too. If the ball goes into the bushes, the runner's free to run to the second basket, and then to the Line to get a point. But if one of the outfield kids catches it on a fly- that means it didn't bounce yet- the runner's out. He's also out if the ball gets into the basket before his n'hoe touches the bottom."
"Oh, I see!" He stared back intently at the field. "So, in the next hit, he runs to the next basket, and in the hit after that, he runs to the Line."
"Yeah, all the time trying not to get out." I smiled.
He looked at me through the corners of his green, green eyes. "And you pitch?"
"Yeah." I looked up at the field and realized that I'd been staring at Link all this time. I shook my head, looked up at the sky, and let my eyes sink back onto him. I sighed, ending a bit with a laugh because Link was watching, and added: "So, d'you want to play?"
He smiled a bit. "Well, yeah... Maybe if some of these kids get to know me, they won't make fun of my ears." He thought a moment. "So much, anyway." I personally thought that after he'd made a sentence of conversation, the kid would never tease him again. He eyed me a little seriously. "Hey, why didn't you ever comment on them? I mean, I appreciate it, but it seems strange that you don't when the others do." I thought a moment, and then smiled.
"I suppose it was because the first time I set eyes on you, I realized that I was beginning to live in a fairytale, and that you weren't the strange one, I was." We turned away from each other a bit and beamed shyly at the ground.
"You're not that strange! I... just, I suppose there's more to me than you think," he said, and winked at me, Tetra- like.
"I think I knew that already." I smiled and winked back at him. "Anyway... Race you to the Line!" And we took off running. If Link's legs were long like mine, he would've beaten me; If my stamina was as good as his, I would've beaten him- but we both reached the Line, with Link only a step ahead of me. I laughed, a bit out of breath, and eyed the teams forming as I took my place at the side of the Line to pitch. I muttered under my breath, trying to figure out which team to put him on, since he was new and might need a little help. I eventually sent him to the team that was most likely to win, so that if he made any mistakes, it wouldn't really make everyone upset. It really turned out to be a bad choice on my part. The other team was glaring at me all through the game.
The truth was, Link was good- VERY good- for someone who had just picked up on how the game went. From the moment he hit the first pitch, I knew I had made a horrible mistake. He was fast, he could hit, and he could jam that n'hoe into that basket as if he were going to pole vault with it. And what's more, he had quite a lot of fun doing it, as if it were a game he'd known as well as the other kids on his team. They overcame their doubt and began to talk to him, at first, a little uneasily, but then with undying enthusiasm.
"So, do you really come from way out there on the Great Sea?" a boy in fourth grade asked, gawking a bit rudely at Link's ears as he came in from his last run. Link took a moment to catch his breath.
"Er...Yeah. It sure is different from this place..." He fogged his eyes, then realized that the kid was still interested and watching him intently. "It was a dinky little island called Outset. Now I realize that it was a sort of prison where one could grow up and never realize that all that wonderful and scary stuff was out there, waiting to be discovered." The little boy's eyes glittered.
"Like pirates?"
Link laughed a bit- he sounded a bit like a seagull cackling when he laughed- and with a small, lopsided smile upon his face, replied: "Seagull- feathers, you mean, like Tetra?" He gestured over to where she sat against the base of a tree accompanied by Gonzo and Senza, looping a piece of string around her fingers absently. "Nah, they're small time. What you need to worry about are those huge sea monsters! Like the giant, wide mouthed Bigocto with dozens of eyes who'll suck you down in a whirlpool and swallow you whole; or Helmaroc King, the bird with wings so wide that they blot out the sun, and two bright eyes glowing at you through the shadow from underneath the helmet he wears on his head! Din, they still give me nightmares..."
"You've seen them?" the kid said, eyes wide. Several of the other boys began watching them talk with interest.
"Yeah, but they're long since dead. Those were certainly battles to remember- I nearly got myself mauled." He shivered a bit. "But they deserved what they got, I suppose."
"You don't mean you killed them, do you?" asked another boy, a sixth grader. Link shrugged and smiled, a little sadly with foggy eyes.
"Yeah, I killed 'em all right. Serves them right, with them kidnapping fairies and all."
"Have you ever seen a dragon?" butted in the younger kid again, gesturing quite enthusiastically. "Did you thrust your blade into his underbelly and carry off the lovely maiden unharmed?" This boy had evidently read one too many fairy tales.
"Well, yes, I've seen one... But why would I want to do that to him?" Link asked, smiling lopsidedly.
"Because he would eat you up in one gulp, or roast you to ash with his fire breath." The kid, upon hearing Link's tone, sounded a bit unsure of himself. The islander laughed, and Medli, who sat sewing in a patch of buttercups not far away, looked up.
"Now, only if you offended him somehow, or bothered him. No one likes a rude person, but dragons despise it quite greatly," she piped up, getting up and tucking her embroidery into the back of her birdlike boot since she was tired of simply eavesdropping on a subject she clearly knew a lot about. "The Great Valoo always took it as a questioning of his dignity. Or that's what he's always told me..." The little boy raised an eyebrow and looked her direction.
"Yeah, this is my friend Medli. She's a Rito, and she knows a lot about dragons 'cause she used to talk to one," Link stepped a bit to the side to share the stage with Medli. I smiled a bit. The taptim game had broken up, and everyone on the field was now listening to Medli talk about her experiences with the dragon. I supposed I wasn't pitching anymore; the game was lost amongst absent chatter.
Tetra had somehow managed to keep her pirates from breathing down her neck. She looked a little forlorn there by the towering oak, so I strode over and sat beside her in the cool shade. Without even looking at me, or showing a sign that she had realized my presence, she said (surprising me a bit); "I bet you five that you can tell me the name of any knot, and I can tie it with this piece of string." At first I was puzzled. "What? You're afraid of a little wager?" I shook my head slowly.
I smiled a bit. "You're on. Five it is." We both dug around in our pockets and produced a blue rupee onto the ground.
"You tell me five knots. If you stump me with one, you get the cash, and if I get all five, I get it, okay?" she said. I nodded. I wasn't a master of knots, but I knew some really tricky ones.
"Okay. Let's see... Can you do the 'dragon in the hole'?"
"Easy. What variation?" She began twiddling the string expertly over and around her fingers.
"'Three loops and a maiden.'"
"The kind one could use to tie up a rolled-up map or sail and a ship at once." From then on, I knew I didn't stand a chance. Tetra- it came from being a pirate, I suppose- was very good with knots; she not only knew the names and how to do them, but how one could use them in real life. She, of course, took the cash at the end, not without a smirk that quickly changed into that soft smile she only used on those close to her. She pocketed the rupees with satisfaction, and looked over to where Link was. "Oh, Din. Bigfoot's at it again."
I wrinkled up my nose. "What?"
"Y'know, Mountain-Boy." I must've still looked confused, since she looked at me plaintively and said; "That jerk who calls us elves." She shuddered a bit, for just saying the word 'elves' disgusted her.
I followed her glance. "Oh, y'mean Rueben? He's probably going to come up with something all new when it comes to Medli. Yay. C'mon, let's go and make sure things don't get out of hand."
We sat in the gondola, letting the current take us down the way to the school. Medli let her hand ride outside the boat in the current. Tetra was simply eying the sky with her head cradled casually behind her head, and we all said few words. It was a splendid day, and no one seemed to want to interrupt it with chit-chat. Soot-black guay birds cawed in the trees on the outskirts of town, which were tall and green and whispering as the breeze flew through them, and the wind itself was a mystery, seeming to be excited and ready, overturning every leaf as if looking for something and turning absent whirlwinds.
"Link, you've got something on your sweater." I had pushed up the brim of my hat and noticed as the sun shone into my eyes. He looked at me, then down at himself.
"What? Where?"
"On your sleeve, there." It was a small, yellow feather.
"Hey, there's two on this side," Tetra pointed out.
"And a couple are here right below your neck," said Medli.
He took the first one and pulled on it a little. It didn't come off right away. He pulled a little harder. "Ow! Holy Din, what the-" Still gritting his teeth, he rolled up his sleeve a bit to find that there was a small patch of down and short feathers growing there. "What in all the Great Sea? Right when I thought I'd experienced it all, I start growing feathers?" The funny thing is, he didn't look the slightest bit scared, but rather, he wore a small frown as if he'd just discovered a mosquito bite. Tetra reached out to touch it, and Link simply glared at her.
"It looks fuzzy, okay?" She withdrew and, with her arms folded across her chest, she gave me a questioning look. I smacked myself in the forehead.
"Oh, DIN, I forgot... It's my fault I didn't warn you..."
"What is it, Anni?" Medli inquired softly.
"Today's Tuesday."
"So? Unless I've missed something somewhere back, Tuesday happens every week, doesn't it? - I mean, without the feathers and stuff," Tetra mused. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Tuesday's when Aunt Saigon tests her potions. She's a witch," I explained. "And if you eat or drink anything she gives you, you're almost certain to turn into something, or grow something... Y'know?" Medli and Tetra quickly looked themselves over. "I think she might've put something into the cherry marmalade that we bought yesterday."
"That makes sense, 'cause that's what I had," Link murmured, wincing a little as he plucked another feather. They seemed to be spreading. "Well, d'you know how to fix it? Because as enjoyable as this may be-" He plucked yet another feather. "I don't want to be a canary before the day's out, y'know?"
"Of course I know how to get rid of them. But I'm afraid plucking them isn't it," I smiled. "See? They're growing back." I took a small jar filled with a clear liquid from the brim of my hat. Rubbing a drop or two of this on my hands, I murmured the short spell and put my hands on both his forearms. The feathers seemed to dissolve, and after a moment, disappeared altogether. Link shivered a little.
"Thanks," he said, rubbing his forearms experimentally, and then the space between his shoulder blades. He sighed and put his hands back on his knees. "What an interesting way to start the day."
Tetra let out a bitter laugh. "Thank Din I like grape jelly."
The schoolhouse was the only building inside the city limits (the Spilled Goblet was far out in the country) that was built on land. I supposed it had been a hill at one time, and then when everything flooded, it had turned into a small island. However, it was a pretty little place, with the long grass flowing against it and the whitewashed picket fence surrounding most of it so it was mainly inaccessible from the gondola until we reached the gates. I thanked the boatman with a nod of my head.
Already, kids littered the yard, playing jump rope or taptim. "We'd better go straight inside," I said, rushing them along a bit. I loved how Link seemed so curious about everything, as if everything contained a bit of sweet knowledge. I actually followed his glance, and was very surprised when I found myself walking into a great wall of flesh. I looked up a few inches and saw Reuben, one of the bullies that menaced the schoolyard.
"Well, Malon, whaddo we have this year?" he smirked down at me. I adjusted my pack's strap haughtily.
"Don't call me Malon," I said to his great pimpled face. I hadn't the faintest idea why he thought he was so cool when he looked and acted like a forest ape. His head was shaved next to bald, he wore no shirt or shoes, and his deep red vest and jeans were ripped and not patched.
"Heh." He tilted back his head and laughed. "Last year you brought manitory foals, and this year you're bringing elves."
My mouth dropped open. "Reuben, first off, it's 'MANTICORE' not 'manitory'. And I dare you to call one of them "Elf" right to his face." I should've known. He of course, walked right up to Link and called him 'elf' right to his face.
Link was standing there watching some third and fourth graders playing taptim with his back to us. Reuben strode up to him and raised his huge fist to punch Link in the shoulder, but the islander sensed him and grabbed him by the wrist. He twirled around and smiled up- almost innocently- at the large, confused nitwit. "Hello," Link said pleasantly. Reuben shook off any shock he may have had.
"I should've known... Elves are always cheery, aren't they? You should know, Santa's Little Helper. Did you like it up there at the North Pole? Elf." I rolled my eyes. Reuben was SO bad at ridiculing people after they threw him off guard. Link looked a little confused.
"Huh?" Link said, genuinely puzzled. I snorted, trying to hold back a stray giggle. Reuben shook his hand free and walked past me into the school. I was still grinning, and he saw me.
"It ain't funny, A-NEE-KU," he grumbled, shoving me so that I stumbled a bit. Link was immediately at my side. He looked up at me with his puzzled green eyes.
"Anni, what's an elf?"
"Well, I never!" said Medli for the fifth time. I sidled to the back of the class and hung up my hat and pack.
"Yep, that's what an elf is," I said, shaking my head. "Mind you, Reuben still reads kid's books with elves in them."
"Link, you should've shown him that you're not some.... Happy midget SHOEMAKER! Honestly, if he'd said that to me," Tetra let out a long growl.
"I didn't know what it meant, and I didn't want to get Anni in trouble, okay?" Link said, rubbing his forearm absently. "He's like a big, stupid Moblin. You can ignore 'em pretty easily."
I rolled my eyes. "If he bullies you, take it as a compliment," I said. "It means he's fascinated with you." Link and Medli let out short, bitter laughs.
Tetra was oblivious to me. "You can NOT ignore Moblins."
"Can too."
"STOP IT!" Medli unfurled her wings as quick as fans, and all of us jumped. "Arguing about that sort of thing in this sort of place is pointless!" She pulled them in again slowly with a sigh. "And we don't want to give a bad impression, do we?" Link shook his head. She turned to Tetra, who was looking up at the ceiling for no reason I could see. "Do we?" Tetra rolled her eyes.
"I guess not," she said uncertainly. "But when people have to tease each other... Grrr... it makes me SO MAD!"
"You tease me all the time," Link reminded her cautiously. Tetra winked dangerously, and he stepped back a little. If anything ever frightened him, it was Tetra.
"I...I just don't like it happening to me, okay? Or you. Or anyone else. Especially if it's about something dumb, like your height."
"Or your ears," reminded Medli.
"Or your attitude!" I added. "But Reuben's just an idiot. He has an entire gang of thugs to remind him to breathe." I turned and led them to my desk. It was a one-room schoolhouse, with kids from first to seventh grade, and as it was near time for school to start, everyone was beginning to take their places. I sat down, and the others stood forlornly to the side. Quickly, I whipped out a bit of parchment from my desk and began to sketch aimlessly, wishing for an idea to come into my mind. Immediately, I felt the familiar feeling of several people watching over my shoulder. I smiled to myself.
I, carefully and quietly, began to construct the "stick person" guidelines for someone running straight toward the viewer. I hated foreshortening, but I realized that I wasn't as bad as I thought I was at doing it. It's funny how an idea can spurt from nowhere.
"So I see you brought your friends, Malon." I jumped along with anyone with me. Ms. Koholint had a nasty habit of sneaking up on you. I sighed and looked up from my sketch.
"Yeah, well, once Link volunteered, the other two jumped right in," I commented. Link politely bowed his head, Medli did a small curtsey, and Tetra simply said "Hi" with a hand on her hip.
Ms. Koholint smiled slightly and scribbled something down in the grade book she always carried with her. She'd taught so many years that even Medli's beak didn't astound her much after the first glance- a characteristic I wasn't fond of at all. She began to walk off absently. "Wait!" I said. "Where are they going to sit?"
"Yes," said Medli. "Please, surely you don't expect us to stand all day." Tetra plunked down on a third grader's desk, and Link glared at her. He scanned the school room.
"How about that bench back there by the coat closet? It looks large enough to seat us all, and since Anni sits at the edge, we can fit it just to the right of her desk," Link said, eying the back of the room and gesturing vigorously with his hands.
"What bench?" said Ms. Koholint, following Link's glance and adjusting her glasses. "Oh, THAT bench. I'm afraid it's a bit heavy, and it'll be hard to move." Link walked over to it and tried to lift an edge, but failed. He looked a bit confused until he looked at Medli, who cleared her throat and rubbed at her wrists as if adjusting bracelets. He sighed. Tetra eased herself up off of the desk (the third grader had looked very forlorn when he had found a pirate on his table) and, rolling her eyes a bit as if it were the obvious answer, snapped her fingers. Gonzo and Senza ran from nowhere to her side, as if she'd summoned them from thin air.
"Tetra! I thought I told you to leave those guys at the Spilled Goblet!" Link groaned. She smirked in spite of herself.
"Just move that bench over here," she said, absently gesturing with waves of her hands. Then she turned to Link. "I tried to tell them, but y'know Gonzo can't deal with being more than thirty feet from me." Link just sighed.
"Tell them to stay outside," he murmured, watching them position the bench with spite, as if he could've done it just as well himself.
"Don't worry, I will." She sat down on the bench and swatted at the pirates when they tried to fuss over her. I took a quick glance around the room and realized most everyone was staring at her. Most were giggling behind hands or whispering to friends, and I noticed Link's ears were beginning to get pink. He tapped her shoulder, and she looked up and blushed along with him. I began drawing again to distract them from feeling on the spot, and luckily, it worked. "Gonzo, get away from me, for Din's sake! I can barely breathe here," I heard Tetra say over my shoulder.
The rest of the morning went quite well. Link and Medli participated regularly in class, answering questions, Tetra sat and daydreamed, and nothing was out of the ordinary except the fact that people were gawking and whispering about beaks and pointed ears behind our backs. The real trouble started at the first recess, after Reuben had told all his friends about the "elf" that had somehow defied him.
Link was just walking out the door when Lingo, the shortest and slyest of Reuben's thugs, stuck out a leg to trip him. Link completely ignored the foot and jumped over it casually with a small smile on his face, as if it was a sort of daily custom to jump over the threshold of a door. Medli giggled as she did the same, and Tetra was careful to kick Lingo's shin with the back of her foot as she landed. He, of course, drew in his leg and cursed, which we all found very amusing. Link closed his eyes and whistled absently, and the wind that rushed and shook around us seemed to be laughing out loud in an impish sort of whisper.
I immediately led them to the taptim field. It was a sort of unwritten law that I had to pitch for the older games, and kids can get sort of restless when things aren't done straight off. Link looked curious, so I began to explain the rules to him. "See, I throw the ball, and the hitter tries to hit it with his n'hoe, that big board. He gets five tries, and if he doesn't get a hit in that time, he has to sit out for the rest of the game. But that doesn't happen much." Link nodded, half of him paying attention to what I was saying quite intently, and the other half watching the kids warming up in the field.
"What happens if he does get a hit?" he asked.
"Well, then he runs. You see those two tall baskets out there?"
"Yeah." He seemed to be able to tell that this was the good part.
"He takes his n'hoe and runs to either basket. When he gets there, he puts his n'hoe in so that it touches the bottom, and then he's safe." I couldn't help but gesture for emphasis. "But there'll be people out in the field, too. If the ball goes into the bushes, the runner's free to run to the second basket, and then to the Line to get a point. But if one of the outfield kids catches it on a fly- that means it didn't bounce yet- the runner's out. He's also out if the ball gets into the basket before his n'hoe touches the bottom."
"Oh, I see!" He stared back intently at the field. "So, in the next hit, he runs to the next basket, and in the hit after that, he runs to the Line."
"Yeah, all the time trying not to get out." I smiled.
He looked at me through the corners of his green, green eyes. "And you pitch?"
"Yeah." I looked up at the field and realized that I'd been staring at Link all this time. I shook my head, looked up at the sky, and let my eyes sink back onto him. I sighed, ending a bit with a laugh because Link was watching, and added: "So, d'you want to play?"
He smiled a bit. "Well, yeah... Maybe if some of these kids get to know me, they won't make fun of my ears." He thought a moment. "So much, anyway." I personally thought that after he'd made a sentence of conversation, the kid would never tease him again. He eyed me a little seriously. "Hey, why didn't you ever comment on them? I mean, I appreciate it, but it seems strange that you don't when the others do." I thought a moment, and then smiled.
"I suppose it was because the first time I set eyes on you, I realized that I was beginning to live in a fairytale, and that you weren't the strange one, I was." We turned away from each other a bit and beamed shyly at the ground.
"You're not that strange! I... just, I suppose there's more to me than you think," he said, and winked at me, Tetra- like.
"I think I knew that already." I smiled and winked back at him. "Anyway... Race you to the Line!" And we took off running. If Link's legs were long like mine, he would've beaten me; If my stamina was as good as his, I would've beaten him- but we both reached the Line, with Link only a step ahead of me. I laughed, a bit out of breath, and eyed the teams forming as I took my place at the side of the Line to pitch. I muttered under my breath, trying to figure out which team to put him on, since he was new and might need a little help. I eventually sent him to the team that was most likely to win, so that if he made any mistakes, it wouldn't really make everyone upset. It really turned out to be a bad choice on my part. The other team was glaring at me all through the game.
The truth was, Link was good- VERY good- for someone who had just picked up on how the game went. From the moment he hit the first pitch, I knew I had made a horrible mistake. He was fast, he could hit, and he could jam that n'hoe into that basket as if he were going to pole vault with it. And what's more, he had quite a lot of fun doing it, as if it were a game he'd known as well as the other kids on his team. They overcame their doubt and began to talk to him, at first, a little uneasily, but then with undying enthusiasm.
"So, do you really come from way out there on the Great Sea?" a boy in fourth grade asked, gawking a bit rudely at Link's ears as he came in from his last run. Link took a moment to catch his breath.
"Er...Yeah. It sure is different from this place..." He fogged his eyes, then realized that the kid was still interested and watching him intently. "It was a dinky little island called Outset. Now I realize that it was a sort of prison where one could grow up and never realize that all that wonderful and scary stuff was out there, waiting to be discovered." The little boy's eyes glittered.
"Like pirates?"
Link laughed a bit- he sounded a bit like a seagull cackling when he laughed- and with a small, lopsided smile upon his face, replied: "Seagull- feathers, you mean, like Tetra?" He gestured over to where she sat against the base of a tree accompanied by Gonzo and Senza, looping a piece of string around her fingers absently. "Nah, they're small time. What you need to worry about are those huge sea monsters! Like the giant, wide mouthed Bigocto with dozens of eyes who'll suck you down in a whirlpool and swallow you whole; or Helmaroc King, the bird with wings so wide that they blot out the sun, and two bright eyes glowing at you through the shadow from underneath the helmet he wears on his head! Din, they still give me nightmares..."
"You've seen them?" the kid said, eyes wide. Several of the other boys began watching them talk with interest.
"Yeah, but they're long since dead. Those were certainly battles to remember- I nearly got myself mauled." He shivered a bit. "But they deserved what they got, I suppose."
"You don't mean you killed them, do you?" asked another boy, a sixth grader. Link shrugged and smiled, a little sadly with foggy eyes.
"Yeah, I killed 'em all right. Serves them right, with them kidnapping fairies and all."
"Have you ever seen a dragon?" butted in the younger kid again, gesturing quite enthusiastically. "Did you thrust your blade into his underbelly and carry off the lovely maiden unharmed?" This boy had evidently read one too many fairy tales.
"Well, yes, I've seen one... But why would I want to do that to him?" Link asked, smiling lopsidedly.
"Because he would eat you up in one gulp, or roast you to ash with his fire breath." The kid, upon hearing Link's tone, sounded a bit unsure of himself. The islander laughed, and Medli, who sat sewing in a patch of buttercups not far away, looked up.
"Now, only if you offended him somehow, or bothered him. No one likes a rude person, but dragons despise it quite greatly," she piped up, getting up and tucking her embroidery into the back of her birdlike boot since she was tired of simply eavesdropping on a subject she clearly knew a lot about. "The Great Valoo always took it as a questioning of his dignity. Or that's what he's always told me..." The little boy raised an eyebrow and looked her direction.
"Yeah, this is my friend Medli. She's a Rito, and she knows a lot about dragons 'cause she used to talk to one," Link stepped a bit to the side to share the stage with Medli. I smiled a bit. The taptim game had broken up, and everyone on the field was now listening to Medli talk about her experiences with the dragon. I supposed I wasn't pitching anymore; the game was lost amongst absent chatter.
Tetra had somehow managed to keep her pirates from breathing down her neck. She looked a little forlorn there by the towering oak, so I strode over and sat beside her in the cool shade. Without even looking at me, or showing a sign that she had realized my presence, she said (surprising me a bit); "I bet you five that you can tell me the name of any knot, and I can tie it with this piece of string." At first I was puzzled. "What? You're afraid of a little wager?" I shook my head slowly.
I smiled a bit. "You're on. Five it is." We both dug around in our pockets and produced a blue rupee onto the ground.
"You tell me five knots. If you stump me with one, you get the cash, and if I get all five, I get it, okay?" she said. I nodded. I wasn't a master of knots, but I knew some really tricky ones.
"Okay. Let's see... Can you do the 'dragon in the hole'?"
"Easy. What variation?" She began twiddling the string expertly over and around her fingers.
"'Three loops and a maiden.'"
"The kind one could use to tie up a rolled-up map or sail and a ship at once." From then on, I knew I didn't stand a chance. Tetra- it came from being a pirate, I suppose- was very good with knots; she not only knew the names and how to do them, but how one could use them in real life. She, of course, took the cash at the end, not without a smirk that quickly changed into that soft smile she only used on those close to her. She pocketed the rupees with satisfaction, and looked over to where Link was. "Oh, Din. Bigfoot's at it again."
I wrinkled up my nose. "What?"
"Y'know, Mountain-Boy." I must've still looked confused, since she looked at me plaintively and said; "That jerk who calls us elves." She shuddered a bit, for just saying the word 'elves' disgusted her.
I followed her glance. "Oh, y'mean Rueben? He's probably going to come up with something all new when it comes to Medli. Yay. C'mon, let's go and make sure things don't get out of hand."