A.N: Yes, someone's been reading the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (not to mention Harry Potter). Very good series there- Saigon's based very vaguely on Morwen, your wacky, practical witch. I was wondering if someone would get that. I took a while because of camp and other summer things....Those reading my other fic "The Triforce Gathering" may as well wait ("Don't read until X-mas!" . ) because it'll take me a while to finish that second chapter with this one getting to its climaxes. This is a continuation of the last chapter, and I might eventually merge them. Enjoy!
Perhaps Tetra had a reason to call Reuben "Mountain Boy". Even from our distance, his silhouette on the horizon seemed tower as dark and menacing as a peak would from miles away. Two of his thugs accompanied him besides the crowd of kids watching; the lanky Lingo- who had a scornful sort of expression on his face, and the husky Jocusi, who seemed a lot like Reuben, just quieter. They certainly didn't look too happy with Link, but he just stood there, tapping one of his sandals in the dust, thin arms across his petite chest, and an amused smile appearing across his face. "Hoy, Bigfoot. What'cha up to this time?" Medli, who stood behind Link, backed away a bit as Reuben pounded his fist- which was the size and shape of a round loaf of bread- into his other hand.
"What? Does Santa's Little Helper think he's better than me? It's about time you got scared." He pounded his fist into his palm again, and then thrust it toward Link's abdomen. He hit nothing but air, because Link had sidestepped it at the last second. It took "Bigfoot" a moment to regain his balance, and by that time our boy had circled around to the bully's left side. He crouched a little, leaning forward- he was going to be ready the next time.
"Seagull-feathers! You expect me to be afraid of someone who hardly knows how to use what he's got?" Link straightened a little, and his smirk faded. "I don't want to fight you, Reuben."
Beside me, Tetra smacked herself in the forehead. "Din, it was just getting good, and he goes and ruins it just like that." I nudged her.
"He just doesn't want me to get in trouble," I hissed. But by the way Jocusi and Lingo were approaching, and the look on Reuben's face, it seemed that they were far from finished.
"'I don't wanna fight you, Reuben,'" Lingo sneered, running at him, lanky arms outstretched. "What? Is it because you think you might get your cute little ears tied up in a knot?" Link smiled faintly.
"They are rather nice, aren't they?" he said, sidestepping and sticking out a leg. Lingo slid face-first into the dirt.
Tetra covered her eyes for a split second. "OOH... Got 'im with his old trick. Nice." Behind Link, Medli kept backing away, and backed right into Jocusi, who wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her from the ground. She fought and made a real scene of it.
"Looks like I got your chicky-boo, Elf," he chuckled.
Medli paused in her yelling and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that really wasn't funny." Link whirled around and mouthed something at her- she evidently agreed, because she nodded. Jocusi hadn't managed to grab hold of her arms too well, and he sure was surprised when she began flapping her wings and sending up clouds of dust. This sent him back a little, and he was left in a coughing fit on the ground. A few kids gasped in awe as she circled once in the air and landed neatly beside us. "Some people have so much nerve..." she muttered, dusting herself off and straightening her feathers with a shake.
Link scratched the back of his ear with all his fingers in a bored sort of way. Reuben was in shock for a moment. "You think you're hot stuff just because you managed to get those two bums, Elf?" he said eventually, shaking his head and nodding toward the spot where his friends lay in a heap.
Link blew a bang from his eyes; without his hat, his hair could fly anywhere it wanted to. "I dunno... I'm not really sweating." 'Bigfoot' glared and advanced.
"You getting smart with me?" Link put his hands behind his back innocently. He nodded forward, looking just past Reuben. The bully paused and followed his glance. His eyes widened.
Tetra winked at me. "Three... two... one..."
"GAAAH!" Reuben was grabbed from behind by Senza and Gonzo and lifted five or six inches off of the ground by his shoulders.
I sighed. "Tetra, what're you doing?" She ignored me, and strode over to her pirates, polishing her nails on the front of her vest.
"Link, what d'you want us to do with him? I was thinking that we hang him over the canal by his pants, but your ideas work, too."
"Tetra...." He smiled. "Reuben, you probably want down, right?" Tetra looked disappointed and made a face at Link, murmuring under her breath how he was "goody-goody".
Reuben kicked at the air uncertainly. "Er, yes..." Then he got all macho and added. "And I want a rematch. Seven, tonight. Horserace at Gerudo Canyon. And you'd better be there." Link looked like he was going to laugh.
"Yes, I'll be there. Y'know, I'm not going to say you're chicken if you don't want to do it. I mean, you don't have to prove that you're better than everyone you come across; other people decide that, not you." Reuben grunted as if he didn't care.
"Look, don't give me all that noble crud. Just let me down, okay?" Tetra snapped her fingers, and they dropped Reuben into the dust as if he'd just grown as hot as a bunch of coals. Gonzo opened his mouth to ask if she wanted anything else, but she pressed her fingers to his lips and ignored him.
When we got home, Saigon was apparently out on an errand, so I had to take over the restaurant during Happy Hour. I found myself mixing cucco and garlic soup, rolling dough for a t'rou- a type of meat-filled pastry, making artistic appetizers from crackers and peppers, and trying to find the cinnamon all at once. I had a spoon sideways in my mouth while my left hand searched the shelves, my right hand adding beef and spice to the t'rou and my eyes watching the soup and dearly hoping it wouldn't scorch. Link happened to walk behind me with a wooden cup to get a drink from the well, and he set it down on the counter. He hadn't changed back into his tunic yet, but he had put his boots back on. "Y'need any help?"
"I was afraid you'd never ask," I sighed, taking the spoon from my lips. "Could you take that plate of crackers to table fourteen?"
"Yeah, no problem," he nodded, grabbing the plate and leaving the kitchen. In a few seconds he came back. "Er... Where is table fourteen?" I would've smacked myself in the forehead, had I a free hand.
"On the south side of the bar. It's near the painting of McMiylan- the guy with the huge sword. The number fourteen's carved on the edge, so you can't miss it." He nodded again, a little sheepish, and left very swiftly, balancing the tray carefully on his arms.
In a few minutes he rushed back into the room, and his only explanation was this- "They need refills of lemonade." Soon, he was about as busy as I was, hurrying back and forth doing whatever chore the guest asked him to do (and looking for the cinnamon every spare moment). This lasted the whole of Happy Hour and on to five o'clock. When the last guests had left (and Lona and My'chel had finished housekeeping), I leaned against the wall and remembered that Medli had wanted to tune her harp this afternoon. I ran up to the library to find her- that's where Link had gone some time ago, and I was sure that they were reading the "LZ" together.
Yes, there they were with the book open on their laps, Medli squinting at the square-ish text, and Link scanning intently over the drawing that took up almost the entire page. Before I let them notice me, I peered over the edge of the dusty red velvet couch and saw the illustration. It was the hero astride a mare, leaping over an impossibly wide canyon. The goddesses, with feathery painted wings, flew along with him, carrying the horse to the other side. I tapped Medli on the shoulder.
"Oh, hello, Anni," she said, snapping the book shut with a relieved little sigh. Link looked a little disappointed. He grabbed the book, flipped back to the page, and began poring over the picture again.
"Hey, Medli. I was just thinking... Didn't you want to tune your harp today?"
"Oh, yes. I'm ready." She was still wearing her harp on her back, so I led her back downstairs to our old wall piano. The wood was cracking- it was a public piano, so people were always carving curse words and crushes into the varnish. One would think that a piano this old and worn would be deathly out of tune, but Saigon had put a handy little spell on it so that it pulled through all the wear and tear, and so it could still play a song or two. I threw a pillow on the bench, sat down next to Medli, and we began. I would play a note, holding it out long using the pedal, and she would start plucking a string over and over again with one swift finger, while the other adjusted the tightness until the note matched the one I was playing. It didn't take us very long- Medli's fingers were agile, and her ears were sharp.
Afterward, Medli went to fetch Tetra, Makar and Komali while I joined Link in the library. He was now taking a cat nap in a patch of the setting sun with his hat pulled down over his eyes, and I was watching his breath tease his bangs. A moment later, Medli returned with the others. Tetra sat down quite intentionally on Link's middle, knocking the wind out of him and waking him up instantly, and they both squabbled a little before they found themselves on opposite ends of the couch, fuming, separated by Medli with Makar on her lap. Link adjusted his hat sulkily.
"So, Med, did you get your harp tuned up all right?" he asked.
"Yes, Makar and I were thinking about playing the Aria and Lyric," she said, absently fondling with the leaf on Makar's head.
"Why don't you?" he yawned.
"Well..." Medli began to bat her eyelashes innocently. "I was hoping... You could refresh our memory... Outside, maybe." One of her eyelids flickered in my direction- a wink. Link looked a little startled.
"Oh, really?" he said, a little suspiciously. He grinned. "And why would that be?" Medli smiled.
"You haven't done it in a while." She batted her eyelashes again. Link snuck a sideways glance at me, and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess I have to do it sometime..." And he got up from the couch, adjusted his belt, and slid a thin white baton from his left boot. "Well, are we going to go outside, or not?" he asked, twirling the ivory stick absently around his finger. Medli positively beamed in my direction.
We made our way outside. Tetra sat next to me on the steps of the porch, a very vague un-Tetralike smile on her face as she put her chin in her hand. Medli and Makar stood next to each other with their backs to us in the long green grass of the yard- it was filled with the early fireflies, for it was that time of the year. Link stood a few yards away from them, facing us. He breathed carefully on the little baton, polished it on the hem of his tunic, and lifted it, ready between his fingers on his right side. Everything went silent then; even the wind that was blowing paused- no, seemed to pause- around us. The world seemed ready then, eager like racers the split second before a race. When does it begin?
And then it did. It started, as the sound of Medli's harp broke the silence; Link directed her every note with the baton. Then, the sorrowful echo of Makar's fiddle joined in. It was not long before I realized that this wasn't just music- the clouds above moved rapidly eastward, and the grass flowed in great waves among their feet. He wasn't just guiding Medli and Makar- he had a chorus of the elements, a whistling wind that blew and danced as if it were a feathered serpent.
And Link looked divine there, as if he were standing alone, and the wind ruffled against him, blowing his hair and his clothing to the side, rippling. He laughed; and then his eyes caught mine. Fireworks gleamed in them with his fierce, emerald joy. Then it was all clear- the wind was his, and he was the wind's, and by no way would they be divided by petty fright and sorrow. Why hadn't I seen it before?
Beside me, Tetra smiled a little, her blue eyes going silver like storm clouds. She saw the question and discovery in my eyes, and spoke out loud; "It's the Wind Waker, from the ancient times when music was prayer. An old- let's call him a great-grandfather, gave it to him a while back. I suppose he thought Link had a little wind-sense, or something, but it was destiny. Brought us all together; now we're about as close to each other as the wind is to Link. But without the Master Sword, I guess we're a little incomplete."
I nodded, not entirely comprehending what she was saying. Link smiled a bit to himself and slid the Wind Waker back into the side of his boot; the chorus of the elements had ended- too soon, in my opinion. Then again, we did have to get ready for Reuben's horserace.
Link joined us on the porch, his legs stretched out despite the fact that there were stairs. "Where can I find Epona?"
I thought for a moment. "I wonder..." Hadn't Epona suddenly just shown up when I had sung the dream-song? I sang it softly under my breath (receiving strange looks from the others), but a zephyr blew for a moment, carrying a scent of horses, and Link's head turned to the west to meet a majestic and rather confused looking Epona silhouetted in the sunset. He gave me a rather inquiring look, and I smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"Your mare waits," I beamed, pulling the rim of my hat down to block the sun streaming into my eyes. And as he clambered onto her glistening chestnut back, I whistled for Swiss and slid on to show him the way. Tetra insisted on coming along with me; there was a steely glint in her eye that told the Sheikah part of me that she was worried- and hiding it well.
The Gerudo Canyon was a remote, dangerous ravine, cut into the center of the prairie by the legendary Gargantuan Blade- at least, that's what the stories told. Apparently, after the War Under the Moon, the meadows were flooded with blood, and McMiylan had taken the blade and cut the gorge to drain it into the sea. The great river flowed red for thirteen days, and then the Masked Boy, another figure of legend, had cleared it and made it run eternally fresh. The stones were still stained red along the sides and bottom, and the river still had memory of what it once was, so it still flows angry and desperate to this very day. The trees around it jutted up at strange angles, and there were sharp stones at the bottom of every fall- almost as if to make sure you didn't live to see your next horserace.
I spoke the legend to my companions, and then added; "It's a rather strange and dangerous place for a horserace, really."
"Uh-huh," murmured Tetra, filing her fingernails with her thumb in a bored fashion, as if she wasn't really listening.
Link didn't look that worried either. "Epona's so eager; it's all I can do to keep her from running off right now."
"There're a lot of things out there that can make a horse uneasy, though," I continued cautiously. "I mean, some ledges are barely wide enough for a pony to run on, and there's loose rocks, and loud noises, and- "
"Anni, are you trying to scare us or something?" grumbled Tetra. "'Cause it's not working. I mean, we've dealt with things a lot scarier than a bunch of sharp rocks."
"And things that should've been less scary," added Link. "That terrified us right out of our sandals... er... and boots." Tetra stared in his direction.
"R'you referring to any moment in particular?" she said, winking dangerously.
"Maybe," smiled Link, raising his eyebrows amusedly. "Some of which involving the King of the Castle Under the Sea."
Tetra swallowed hard, and took a quick glance at me. I must've looked interested, because she said, "Din, you don't want to hear that story."- She laughed, a little nervously- "And anyway, that's not what I was talking about, Link."
Link grinned. "But it was a shock, right?" (I was feeling very left out by this point).
"Be quiet, you little twerp," Tetra growled- Link began laughing so hard I thought he was about to fall off his horse.
I sat up tall on Swiss's back, brushed my hair out of my eyes, and tilted the brim of my hat slightly. "I think we're here."
We neared, and the horses stopped on their own, right on the edge. The crashing of the river was faint and distant where it raged what seemed like miles away at the bottom. We shaded our eyes to peer down into the canyon, where mist rose and boulders of sandstone jutted from the edges- scarlet, as the legend had said. I swallowed hard. The wind twirled through my hair, and I looked up at Link with a small smile, which he returned. "I'll be fine," he assured me.
"Hey, is that Bigfoot?" Tetra asked, pointing over my shoulder.
"What? Where?" I asked. She shoved me in the back of the head.
"It's Reuben, you doof."
"I know."
"Stop it," Link cut in. "He's right there, Anni." Down on a jut of stone over the canyon, right next to a roaring waterfall, stood Reuben, accompanied by his thugs and an enormous black stallion. Epona saw it and turned back her ears. Link stroked her absently on the neck. "C'mon, girl," he murmured, twisting a finger into the coarse hair of her mane. "You won't be able to concentrate on running if you're angry like this." She shook herself and snorted. "There we go. Now how shall we get down th-ERE?!" He yelped, sounding like a seagull that had just crashed into a clean window as Epona leapt out of his control and over the edge to a ledge nearby.
"Uh, that's going to be a problem, right?" Tetra asked, poking me in the back. I watched Epona charge on toward where Reuben stood, and heard the faint yells of Link trying to get her to slow down.
"Er, yeah." I carefully galloped Swiss down on a much safer, if longer route than Epona's. She seemed to be trying to make herself seem like a royal horse, probably to make me compare Epona to her. In ten minutes or so, we joined the others on the ledge.
"So, I see you brought your friends," spat Reuben, slapping his horse. Link was breathing hard, his hair a little windblown, and his body slipping halfway off Epona's back. Epona craned her neck, nuzzled him and tried to adjust him like a backpack. Link saw us, and smiled, a little exasperated.
"Er, hoy," he murmured. I leapt off of Swiss and walked cautiously by Epona's side.
"Link, are you okay?"
"Well, I don't think we'll have a problem with speed," he said, rubbing his head. I laughed a little.
"Hey, we need to discuss the deal here, Elf," Reuben called, looking rather disgusted. Link sat up straight immediately.
"No one said anything about a deal." Link glared, his eyes full of green fire. Reuben kept talking on casually.
"I came up with it this afternoon, when I saw you smuggle some junk out of a few stores. Man, you're the shoplifting king." Admiration filled Bigfoot's eyes.
"Wha? I didn't steal anything!" Link said, confused.
Reuben laughed. "See, you really are good. I wish my lies were that convincing."
"Huh?"
"So I wanted to get you to join the team. We could use a sneak like you. I can't believe I used to think you were a puny little puff-ball." He slapped himself on the forehead with a hand the size of a large frying pan.
"What?"
"Look, you'll need to stop playing dumb," he went on, looking a little annoyed.
"What makes you think I would want to join with you?" Link growled.
Reuben grinned. "We have our ways." And before I could comprehend what was happening, I was seized roughly around the wrists and slung over the bulky shoulder of Jocusi, and as far as I could tell with all the cursing going on, Tetra had been tossed over the other. I fought to worm my hand free of his grip; if I could grab one of my guns, I could shoot in the air and shake up the coward a bit- but my fingertip just barely brushed the handle. I cried out in pain as the grip tightened on my wrists, almost tight enough to snap them.
"I don't think you should do that," growled Jocusi through four missing teeth.
Link hunched forward on Epona, his shoulders bent forward, resembling those of a wolfo. The mare's ears were flat against her head. Reuben smirked. "This can be easy, or this can get a little hard," he drawled. "You'll join us, or those girls can get it," I drew in a sharp breath as Jocusi swung us off his shoulders and hung us over the edge of the ravine, holding us out by our wrists. I closed my eyes, tight.
"You said we would have a horserace, and by Din, we're going to have one," snarled Link. "If I lose, then, I suppose I'm yours," ("Man, what a dip", muttered Tetra under her breath) "But if I win, then you let them go, and we'll be on our way." Reuben sighed.
"D'you have to make things so complicated? Okay, but I warn you, Anvil here's a champion."
"Anvil? THE Anvil? I totally forgot he was Reuben's," I sighed.
"That's a bad thing, I'm guessing," Tetra replied, craning her neck to see over the edge.
"Yes. That horse has been winning racing ribbons since he was broken- trained to be ridden, I mean," I explained, remembering that Tetra didn't know much about horses. "He's the rodeo champion, so far."
"Yeah, well, what are Epona's speed scores, then?" she asked, pushing back a slipping sandal with her foot.
"Uh, Tetra, no one has ever really ridden her before until Link came along- she's a champion bronc, remember?" I said, just realizing it myself.
"Oh, yeah...." Tetra laughed, a little uneasily.
I heard Epona snort. "We'll go around the bend, over that bridge-like ledge over there, under that waterfall, and come back over here," Reuben said, pointing out the 'race track'. I heard Link grunt in reply. There was a pause.
"A'kim, A'ki, A'kish, GO!" The voice of Lingo echoed through the canyon, bouncing off the rocks and returning hundredfold. We heard the horses sprint off, unaware of whom was first. Then there were the footsteps of Lingo nearing Jocusi- we were pleased to hear that he was limping a bit. "Da boss says to drop 'em the moment The Elf gets ahead of him. If Link wins, Link gets to suffer."
"It ain't gonna happen," Jocusi said, adjusting his grip on our wrists dangerously.
"Well, if it DOES, then be ready." Lingo ended in an annoyed tone, then rustled for a moment and bit into what sounded like an apple, and knowing Lingo, it was probably a half-eaten one.
"So, are we doomed?" Tetra asked, in the casual manner that one uses to ask about the mail. I shook my head silently.
"I dunno."
It took a few more minutes for the horses to come round where we could see them. It looked like Link had lost control of Epona again; Reuben was a ways ahead of him, on a higher ledge. However, Link was still getting closer and closer to Reuben, and it was rather exciting to the thugs. Lingo shoved Jocusi boisterously. "Be ready, man." Jocusi grunted in reply. I swallowed hard. The hands holding me were beginning to slip- I wouldn't put it past them if they were planning to drop us early. Those rocks below looked very, very sharp... I shut my eyes tightly.
I opened one of them after a while, trying to stop myself from shivering. Tetra caught my eye. "We'll be fine."
"How do you know?"
It only took a quick gesture of her neck and eyes to point me in the right direction, and then I made a fruitless effort to close my eyes again. Epona, obviously free of any control, had leapt off of the ledge, across the canyon and right toward us. "B- But how is that possible?" The jump was way too far for a horse to handle.... Or was it? Before I knew what was happening, Jocusi had yelled, I felt myself fall, and Link had somehow swung over the back of Epona and brought us back over the edge, not without dragging us through the dirt a bit- there were scrapes all over one side of my body. Link swung off Epona, got over a bought of dizziness, and helped us up.
"Are you guys all right?" he asked worriedly, trying to dust Tetra off and receiving a sharp smack on the hand. "Ow, here Anni, your arm's all scraped up," he continued, taking off his hat. He tried to wrap it around my arm, which was rather bloody.
At first I refused it. "Link, you don't want to get this all stained, do you?"
"Oh, it's okay- it's had blood on it before." I looked at him strangely. "Don't worry," he added hastily. "It wasn't all mine."
"Oh, that's reassuring," smirked Tetra, punching him playfully in the shoulder. As I wrapped the thick green cloth around my forearm- it felt soothing on my wound because of its texture, and the fact that it was a little warm from Link's wearing it. Galloping in the distance told us that Reuben was returning. His thugs, who had been thrown to the ground out of surprise, tried to get up, but Link made a threatening step toward them, and they cowered instead. As Anvil barreled in, Link asked Tetra silently for her sword, and she gave it to him, a confused expression on her face. Reuben was amazed and angry.
"How did you....?"
Link, whose teeth were grinding more and more, replied, "I suggest you ask my horse, since I don't quite know myself," Epona, who was still Wildfire to Reuben, snorted and pawed the ground. Anvil backed up without signal.
"You... rode that bronc...." Reuben took a glance toward his friends, and leapt off his horse. "YOU. I told you to drop the girls if he was going to beat me!"
"What?" Link's fist curled around the sword angrily. "You were going to kill my friends?"
Reuben walked right up to Link. "Yeah. So I made it interesting. You got a problem with that?"
Link's brow furrowed. "Why, yes, I do." With a shaky hand, he raised the blade, letting the moonlight shine across its entire grim length- and then brought it down and across with one swift movement. Reuben's scream echoed through the canyon, many eyes were wide with horror- and his silhouette sank to its knees. Link's eyes got rather shiny, but you could still see fire in them, glowing beyond the tangible. "Don't you ever threaten my friends again." He looked down at his feet a little guiltily and commenced to wiping the blood off of the sword with the hem of his tunic. "You should be grateful that I don't believe in the killing of my fellow man- you would've ended up worse."
Reuben's bulky form started shaking, and he uncovered his eye to reveal a deep cut just below his eyelid, which was dripping blood all over his hands. He nodded hastily. "I-I won't bother you again."
Link passed the sword back to Tetra, who polished it again, just to make sure. "I should think not. Let's go, guys." He whistled to Epona, who came to him, but not before giving intimidating snorts to all the boys. "Let's just... go." I nodded, mounted Swiss, and passed out pieces of a t'rou for dinner. There was no talking, and I'm not even sure if Link ate his share. Only the gods would know what lay on everyone's conscience that starry night, and I wasn't sure what to think. That night I wasn't to sleep well.
Perhaps Tetra had a reason to call Reuben "Mountain Boy". Even from our distance, his silhouette on the horizon seemed tower as dark and menacing as a peak would from miles away. Two of his thugs accompanied him besides the crowd of kids watching; the lanky Lingo- who had a scornful sort of expression on his face, and the husky Jocusi, who seemed a lot like Reuben, just quieter. They certainly didn't look too happy with Link, but he just stood there, tapping one of his sandals in the dust, thin arms across his petite chest, and an amused smile appearing across his face. "Hoy, Bigfoot. What'cha up to this time?" Medli, who stood behind Link, backed away a bit as Reuben pounded his fist- which was the size and shape of a round loaf of bread- into his other hand.
"What? Does Santa's Little Helper think he's better than me? It's about time you got scared." He pounded his fist into his palm again, and then thrust it toward Link's abdomen. He hit nothing but air, because Link had sidestepped it at the last second. It took "Bigfoot" a moment to regain his balance, and by that time our boy had circled around to the bully's left side. He crouched a little, leaning forward- he was going to be ready the next time.
"Seagull-feathers! You expect me to be afraid of someone who hardly knows how to use what he's got?" Link straightened a little, and his smirk faded. "I don't want to fight you, Reuben."
Beside me, Tetra smacked herself in the forehead. "Din, it was just getting good, and he goes and ruins it just like that." I nudged her.
"He just doesn't want me to get in trouble," I hissed. But by the way Jocusi and Lingo were approaching, and the look on Reuben's face, it seemed that they were far from finished.
"'I don't wanna fight you, Reuben,'" Lingo sneered, running at him, lanky arms outstretched. "What? Is it because you think you might get your cute little ears tied up in a knot?" Link smiled faintly.
"They are rather nice, aren't they?" he said, sidestepping and sticking out a leg. Lingo slid face-first into the dirt.
Tetra covered her eyes for a split second. "OOH... Got 'im with his old trick. Nice." Behind Link, Medli kept backing away, and backed right into Jocusi, who wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her from the ground. She fought and made a real scene of it.
"Looks like I got your chicky-boo, Elf," he chuckled.
Medli paused in her yelling and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that really wasn't funny." Link whirled around and mouthed something at her- she evidently agreed, because she nodded. Jocusi hadn't managed to grab hold of her arms too well, and he sure was surprised when she began flapping her wings and sending up clouds of dust. This sent him back a little, and he was left in a coughing fit on the ground. A few kids gasped in awe as she circled once in the air and landed neatly beside us. "Some people have so much nerve..." she muttered, dusting herself off and straightening her feathers with a shake.
Link scratched the back of his ear with all his fingers in a bored sort of way. Reuben was in shock for a moment. "You think you're hot stuff just because you managed to get those two bums, Elf?" he said eventually, shaking his head and nodding toward the spot where his friends lay in a heap.
Link blew a bang from his eyes; without his hat, his hair could fly anywhere it wanted to. "I dunno... I'm not really sweating." 'Bigfoot' glared and advanced.
"You getting smart with me?" Link put his hands behind his back innocently. He nodded forward, looking just past Reuben. The bully paused and followed his glance. His eyes widened.
Tetra winked at me. "Three... two... one..."
"GAAAH!" Reuben was grabbed from behind by Senza and Gonzo and lifted five or six inches off of the ground by his shoulders.
I sighed. "Tetra, what're you doing?" She ignored me, and strode over to her pirates, polishing her nails on the front of her vest.
"Link, what d'you want us to do with him? I was thinking that we hang him over the canal by his pants, but your ideas work, too."
"Tetra...." He smiled. "Reuben, you probably want down, right?" Tetra looked disappointed and made a face at Link, murmuring under her breath how he was "goody-goody".
Reuben kicked at the air uncertainly. "Er, yes..." Then he got all macho and added. "And I want a rematch. Seven, tonight. Horserace at Gerudo Canyon. And you'd better be there." Link looked like he was going to laugh.
"Yes, I'll be there. Y'know, I'm not going to say you're chicken if you don't want to do it. I mean, you don't have to prove that you're better than everyone you come across; other people decide that, not you." Reuben grunted as if he didn't care.
"Look, don't give me all that noble crud. Just let me down, okay?" Tetra snapped her fingers, and they dropped Reuben into the dust as if he'd just grown as hot as a bunch of coals. Gonzo opened his mouth to ask if she wanted anything else, but she pressed her fingers to his lips and ignored him.
When we got home, Saigon was apparently out on an errand, so I had to take over the restaurant during Happy Hour. I found myself mixing cucco and garlic soup, rolling dough for a t'rou- a type of meat-filled pastry, making artistic appetizers from crackers and peppers, and trying to find the cinnamon all at once. I had a spoon sideways in my mouth while my left hand searched the shelves, my right hand adding beef and spice to the t'rou and my eyes watching the soup and dearly hoping it wouldn't scorch. Link happened to walk behind me with a wooden cup to get a drink from the well, and he set it down on the counter. He hadn't changed back into his tunic yet, but he had put his boots back on. "Y'need any help?"
"I was afraid you'd never ask," I sighed, taking the spoon from my lips. "Could you take that plate of crackers to table fourteen?"
"Yeah, no problem," he nodded, grabbing the plate and leaving the kitchen. In a few seconds he came back. "Er... Where is table fourteen?" I would've smacked myself in the forehead, had I a free hand.
"On the south side of the bar. It's near the painting of McMiylan- the guy with the huge sword. The number fourteen's carved on the edge, so you can't miss it." He nodded again, a little sheepish, and left very swiftly, balancing the tray carefully on his arms.
In a few minutes he rushed back into the room, and his only explanation was this- "They need refills of lemonade." Soon, he was about as busy as I was, hurrying back and forth doing whatever chore the guest asked him to do (and looking for the cinnamon every spare moment). This lasted the whole of Happy Hour and on to five o'clock. When the last guests had left (and Lona and My'chel had finished housekeeping), I leaned against the wall and remembered that Medli had wanted to tune her harp this afternoon. I ran up to the library to find her- that's where Link had gone some time ago, and I was sure that they were reading the "LZ" together.
Yes, there they were with the book open on their laps, Medli squinting at the square-ish text, and Link scanning intently over the drawing that took up almost the entire page. Before I let them notice me, I peered over the edge of the dusty red velvet couch and saw the illustration. It was the hero astride a mare, leaping over an impossibly wide canyon. The goddesses, with feathery painted wings, flew along with him, carrying the horse to the other side. I tapped Medli on the shoulder.
"Oh, hello, Anni," she said, snapping the book shut with a relieved little sigh. Link looked a little disappointed. He grabbed the book, flipped back to the page, and began poring over the picture again.
"Hey, Medli. I was just thinking... Didn't you want to tune your harp today?"
"Oh, yes. I'm ready." She was still wearing her harp on her back, so I led her back downstairs to our old wall piano. The wood was cracking- it was a public piano, so people were always carving curse words and crushes into the varnish. One would think that a piano this old and worn would be deathly out of tune, but Saigon had put a handy little spell on it so that it pulled through all the wear and tear, and so it could still play a song or two. I threw a pillow on the bench, sat down next to Medli, and we began. I would play a note, holding it out long using the pedal, and she would start plucking a string over and over again with one swift finger, while the other adjusted the tightness until the note matched the one I was playing. It didn't take us very long- Medli's fingers were agile, and her ears were sharp.
Afterward, Medli went to fetch Tetra, Makar and Komali while I joined Link in the library. He was now taking a cat nap in a patch of the setting sun with his hat pulled down over his eyes, and I was watching his breath tease his bangs. A moment later, Medli returned with the others. Tetra sat down quite intentionally on Link's middle, knocking the wind out of him and waking him up instantly, and they both squabbled a little before they found themselves on opposite ends of the couch, fuming, separated by Medli with Makar on her lap. Link adjusted his hat sulkily.
"So, Med, did you get your harp tuned up all right?" he asked.
"Yes, Makar and I were thinking about playing the Aria and Lyric," she said, absently fondling with the leaf on Makar's head.
"Why don't you?" he yawned.
"Well..." Medli began to bat her eyelashes innocently. "I was hoping... You could refresh our memory... Outside, maybe." One of her eyelids flickered in my direction- a wink. Link looked a little startled.
"Oh, really?" he said, a little suspiciously. He grinned. "And why would that be?" Medli smiled.
"You haven't done it in a while." She batted her eyelashes again. Link snuck a sideways glance at me, and sighed.
"Yeah, I guess I have to do it sometime..." And he got up from the couch, adjusted his belt, and slid a thin white baton from his left boot. "Well, are we going to go outside, or not?" he asked, twirling the ivory stick absently around his finger. Medli positively beamed in my direction.
We made our way outside. Tetra sat next to me on the steps of the porch, a very vague un-Tetralike smile on her face as she put her chin in her hand. Medli and Makar stood next to each other with their backs to us in the long green grass of the yard- it was filled with the early fireflies, for it was that time of the year. Link stood a few yards away from them, facing us. He breathed carefully on the little baton, polished it on the hem of his tunic, and lifted it, ready between his fingers on his right side. Everything went silent then; even the wind that was blowing paused- no, seemed to pause- around us. The world seemed ready then, eager like racers the split second before a race. When does it begin?
And then it did. It started, as the sound of Medli's harp broke the silence; Link directed her every note with the baton. Then, the sorrowful echo of Makar's fiddle joined in. It was not long before I realized that this wasn't just music- the clouds above moved rapidly eastward, and the grass flowed in great waves among their feet. He wasn't just guiding Medli and Makar- he had a chorus of the elements, a whistling wind that blew and danced as if it were a feathered serpent.
And Link looked divine there, as if he were standing alone, and the wind ruffled against him, blowing his hair and his clothing to the side, rippling. He laughed; and then his eyes caught mine. Fireworks gleamed in them with his fierce, emerald joy. Then it was all clear- the wind was his, and he was the wind's, and by no way would they be divided by petty fright and sorrow. Why hadn't I seen it before?
Beside me, Tetra smiled a little, her blue eyes going silver like storm clouds. She saw the question and discovery in my eyes, and spoke out loud; "It's the Wind Waker, from the ancient times when music was prayer. An old- let's call him a great-grandfather, gave it to him a while back. I suppose he thought Link had a little wind-sense, or something, but it was destiny. Brought us all together; now we're about as close to each other as the wind is to Link. But without the Master Sword, I guess we're a little incomplete."
I nodded, not entirely comprehending what she was saying. Link smiled a bit to himself and slid the Wind Waker back into the side of his boot; the chorus of the elements had ended- too soon, in my opinion. Then again, we did have to get ready for Reuben's horserace.
Link joined us on the porch, his legs stretched out despite the fact that there were stairs. "Where can I find Epona?"
I thought for a moment. "I wonder..." Hadn't Epona suddenly just shown up when I had sung the dream-song? I sang it softly under my breath (receiving strange looks from the others), but a zephyr blew for a moment, carrying a scent of horses, and Link's head turned to the west to meet a majestic and rather confused looking Epona silhouetted in the sunset. He gave me a rather inquiring look, and I smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"Your mare waits," I beamed, pulling the rim of my hat down to block the sun streaming into my eyes. And as he clambered onto her glistening chestnut back, I whistled for Swiss and slid on to show him the way. Tetra insisted on coming along with me; there was a steely glint in her eye that told the Sheikah part of me that she was worried- and hiding it well.
The Gerudo Canyon was a remote, dangerous ravine, cut into the center of the prairie by the legendary Gargantuan Blade- at least, that's what the stories told. Apparently, after the War Under the Moon, the meadows were flooded with blood, and McMiylan had taken the blade and cut the gorge to drain it into the sea. The great river flowed red for thirteen days, and then the Masked Boy, another figure of legend, had cleared it and made it run eternally fresh. The stones were still stained red along the sides and bottom, and the river still had memory of what it once was, so it still flows angry and desperate to this very day. The trees around it jutted up at strange angles, and there were sharp stones at the bottom of every fall- almost as if to make sure you didn't live to see your next horserace.
I spoke the legend to my companions, and then added; "It's a rather strange and dangerous place for a horserace, really."
"Uh-huh," murmured Tetra, filing her fingernails with her thumb in a bored fashion, as if she wasn't really listening.
Link didn't look that worried either. "Epona's so eager; it's all I can do to keep her from running off right now."
"There're a lot of things out there that can make a horse uneasy, though," I continued cautiously. "I mean, some ledges are barely wide enough for a pony to run on, and there's loose rocks, and loud noises, and- "
"Anni, are you trying to scare us or something?" grumbled Tetra. "'Cause it's not working. I mean, we've dealt with things a lot scarier than a bunch of sharp rocks."
"And things that should've been less scary," added Link. "That terrified us right out of our sandals... er... and boots." Tetra stared in his direction.
"R'you referring to any moment in particular?" she said, winking dangerously.
"Maybe," smiled Link, raising his eyebrows amusedly. "Some of which involving the King of the Castle Under the Sea."
Tetra swallowed hard, and took a quick glance at me. I must've looked interested, because she said, "Din, you don't want to hear that story."- She laughed, a little nervously- "And anyway, that's not what I was talking about, Link."
Link grinned. "But it was a shock, right?" (I was feeling very left out by this point).
"Be quiet, you little twerp," Tetra growled- Link began laughing so hard I thought he was about to fall off his horse.
I sat up tall on Swiss's back, brushed my hair out of my eyes, and tilted the brim of my hat slightly. "I think we're here."
We neared, and the horses stopped on their own, right on the edge. The crashing of the river was faint and distant where it raged what seemed like miles away at the bottom. We shaded our eyes to peer down into the canyon, where mist rose and boulders of sandstone jutted from the edges- scarlet, as the legend had said. I swallowed hard. The wind twirled through my hair, and I looked up at Link with a small smile, which he returned. "I'll be fine," he assured me.
"Hey, is that Bigfoot?" Tetra asked, pointing over my shoulder.
"What? Where?" I asked. She shoved me in the back of the head.
"It's Reuben, you doof."
"I know."
"Stop it," Link cut in. "He's right there, Anni." Down on a jut of stone over the canyon, right next to a roaring waterfall, stood Reuben, accompanied by his thugs and an enormous black stallion. Epona saw it and turned back her ears. Link stroked her absently on the neck. "C'mon, girl," he murmured, twisting a finger into the coarse hair of her mane. "You won't be able to concentrate on running if you're angry like this." She shook herself and snorted. "There we go. Now how shall we get down th-ERE?!" He yelped, sounding like a seagull that had just crashed into a clean window as Epona leapt out of his control and over the edge to a ledge nearby.
"Uh, that's going to be a problem, right?" Tetra asked, poking me in the back. I watched Epona charge on toward where Reuben stood, and heard the faint yells of Link trying to get her to slow down.
"Er, yeah." I carefully galloped Swiss down on a much safer, if longer route than Epona's. She seemed to be trying to make herself seem like a royal horse, probably to make me compare Epona to her. In ten minutes or so, we joined the others on the ledge.
"So, I see you brought your friends," spat Reuben, slapping his horse. Link was breathing hard, his hair a little windblown, and his body slipping halfway off Epona's back. Epona craned her neck, nuzzled him and tried to adjust him like a backpack. Link saw us, and smiled, a little exasperated.
"Er, hoy," he murmured. I leapt off of Swiss and walked cautiously by Epona's side.
"Link, are you okay?"
"Well, I don't think we'll have a problem with speed," he said, rubbing his head. I laughed a little.
"Hey, we need to discuss the deal here, Elf," Reuben called, looking rather disgusted. Link sat up straight immediately.
"No one said anything about a deal." Link glared, his eyes full of green fire. Reuben kept talking on casually.
"I came up with it this afternoon, when I saw you smuggle some junk out of a few stores. Man, you're the shoplifting king." Admiration filled Bigfoot's eyes.
"Wha? I didn't steal anything!" Link said, confused.
Reuben laughed. "See, you really are good. I wish my lies were that convincing."
"Huh?"
"So I wanted to get you to join the team. We could use a sneak like you. I can't believe I used to think you were a puny little puff-ball." He slapped himself on the forehead with a hand the size of a large frying pan.
"What?"
"Look, you'll need to stop playing dumb," he went on, looking a little annoyed.
"What makes you think I would want to join with you?" Link growled.
Reuben grinned. "We have our ways." And before I could comprehend what was happening, I was seized roughly around the wrists and slung over the bulky shoulder of Jocusi, and as far as I could tell with all the cursing going on, Tetra had been tossed over the other. I fought to worm my hand free of his grip; if I could grab one of my guns, I could shoot in the air and shake up the coward a bit- but my fingertip just barely brushed the handle. I cried out in pain as the grip tightened on my wrists, almost tight enough to snap them.
"I don't think you should do that," growled Jocusi through four missing teeth.
Link hunched forward on Epona, his shoulders bent forward, resembling those of a wolfo. The mare's ears were flat against her head. Reuben smirked. "This can be easy, or this can get a little hard," he drawled. "You'll join us, or those girls can get it," I drew in a sharp breath as Jocusi swung us off his shoulders and hung us over the edge of the ravine, holding us out by our wrists. I closed my eyes, tight.
"You said we would have a horserace, and by Din, we're going to have one," snarled Link. "If I lose, then, I suppose I'm yours," ("Man, what a dip", muttered Tetra under her breath) "But if I win, then you let them go, and we'll be on our way." Reuben sighed.
"D'you have to make things so complicated? Okay, but I warn you, Anvil here's a champion."
"Anvil? THE Anvil? I totally forgot he was Reuben's," I sighed.
"That's a bad thing, I'm guessing," Tetra replied, craning her neck to see over the edge.
"Yes. That horse has been winning racing ribbons since he was broken- trained to be ridden, I mean," I explained, remembering that Tetra didn't know much about horses. "He's the rodeo champion, so far."
"Yeah, well, what are Epona's speed scores, then?" she asked, pushing back a slipping sandal with her foot.
"Uh, Tetra, no one has ever really ridden her before until Link came along- she's a champion bronc, remember?" I said, just realizing it myself.
"Oh, yeah...." Tetra laughed, a little uneasily.
I heard Epona snort. "We'll go around the bend, over that bridge-like ledge over there, under that waterfall, and come back over here," Reuben said, pointing out the 'race track'. I heard Link grunt in reply. There was a pause.
"A'kim, A'ki, A'kish, GO!" The voice of Lingo echoed through the canyon, bouncing off the rocks and returning hundredfold. We heard the horses sprint off, unaware of whom was first. Then there were the footsteps of Lingo nearing Jocusi- we were pleased to hear that he was limping a bit. "Da boss says to drop 'em the moment The Elf gets ahead of him. If Link wins, Link gets to suffer."
"It ain't gonna happen," Jocusi said, adjusting his grip on our wrists dangerously.
"Well, if it DOES, then be ready." Lingo ended in an annoyed tone, then rustled for a moment and bit into what sounded like an apple, and knowing Lingo, it was probably a half-eaten one.
"So, are we doomed?" Tetra asked, in the casual manner that one uses to ask about the mail. I shook my head silently.
"I dunno."
It took a few more minutes for the horses to come round where we could see them. It looked like Link had lost control of Epona again; Reuben was a ways ahead of him, on a higher ledge. However, Link was still getting closer and closer to Reuben, and it was rather exciting to the thugs. Lingo shoved Jocusi boisterously. "Be ready, man." Jocusi grunted in reply. I swallowed hard. The hands holding me were beginning to slip- I wouldn't put it past them if they were planning to drop us early. Those rocks below looked very, very sharp... I shut my eyes tightly.
I opened one of them after a while, trying to stop myself from shivering. Tetra caught my eye. "We'll be fine."
"How do you know?"
It only took a quick gesture of her neck and eyes to point me in the right direction, and then I made a fruitless effort to close my eyes again. Epona, obviously free of any control, had leapt off of the ledge, across the canyon and right toward us. "B- But how is that possible?" The jump was way too far for a horse to handle.... Or was it? Before I knew what was happening, Jocusi had yelled, I felt myself fall, and Link had somehow swung over the back of Epona and brought us back over the edge, not without dragging us through the dirt a bit- there were scrapes all over one side of my body. Link swung off Epona, got over a bought of dizziness, and helped us up.
"Are you guys all right?" he asked worriedly, trying to dust Tetra off and receiving a sharp smack on the hand. "Ow, here Anni, your arm's all scraped up," he continued, taking off his hat. He tried to wrap it around my arm, which was rather bloody.
At first I refused it. "Link, you don't want to get this all stained, do you?"
"Oh, it's okay- it's had blood on it before." I looked at him strangely. "Don't worry," he added hastily. "It wasn't all mine."
"Oh, that's reassuring," smirked Tetra, punching him playfully in the shoulder. As I wrapped the thick green cloth around my forearm- it felt soothing on my wound because of its texture, and the fact that it was a little warm from Link's wearing it. Galloping in the distance told us that Reuben was returning. His thugs, who had been thrown to the ground out of surprise, tried to get up, but Link made a threatening step toward them, and they cowered instead. As Anvil barreled in, Link asked Tetra silently for her sword, and she gave it to him, a confused expression on her face. Reuben was amazed and angry.
"How did you....?"
Link, whose teeth were grinding more and more, replied, "I suggest you ask my horse, since I don't quite know myself," Epona, who was still Wildfire to Reuben, snorted and pawed the ground. Anvil backed up without signal.
"You... rode that bronc...." Reuben took a glance toward his friends, and leapt off his horse. "YOU. I told you to drop the girls if he was going to beat me!"
"What?" Link's fist curled around the sword angrily. "You were going to kill my friends?"
Reuben walked right up to Link. "Yeah. So I made it interesting. You got a problem with that?"
Link's brow furrowed. "Why, yes, I do." With a shaky hand, he raised the blade, letting the moonlight shine across its entire grim length- and then brought it down and across with one swift movement. Reuben's scream echoed through the canyon, many eyes were wide with horror- and his silhouette sank to its knees. Link's eyes got rather shiny, but you could still see fire in them, glowing beyond the tangible. "Don't you ever threaten my friends again." He looked down at his feet a little guiltily and commenced to wiping the blood off of the sword with the hem of his tunic. "You should be grateful that I don't believe in the killing of my fellow man- you would've ended up worse."
Reuben's bulky form started shaking, and he uncovered his eye to reveal a deep cut just below his eyelid, which was dripping blood all over his hands. He nodded hastily. "I-I won't bother you again."
Link passed the sword back to Tetra, who polished it again, just to make sure. "I should think not. Let's go, guys." He whistled to Epona, who came to him, but not before giving intimidating snorts to all the boys. "Let's just... go." I nodded, mounted Swiss, and passed out pieces of a t'rou for dinner. There was no talking, and I'm not even sure if Link ate his share. Only the gods would know what lay on everyone's conscience that starry night, and I wasn't sure what to think. That night I wasn't to sleep well.