Throat shut, air refused to acknowledge him. Heart pounding like Short Night drums, there was only darkness and the rushing sound of his blood coursing within him. Link willed his diaphragm to move, to draw something into his lungs! It hurt, it denied him, and the blackness was more and more oppressive.
"Hey!" Navi yelled into his mind. "It's just your breath, and your arm! Gerrard's tying off a rope."
Can't breathe..I shouldn't…
"Damn right, you shouldn't have! What were you thinking?" Her tiny hands were probing at his right eyelid. "Oh wait, I don't think you were!"
...Sorry. I felt...freed. It didn't matter.
"You're not allowed within six feet of an escarpment unless I give you the say so! We just left the magical castle. You cannot die in the first hour of the adventure!"
Link sputtered, and managed his first shaking set of breaths. As usual...Everything gets handed to me, and then they swipe my feet out from beneath me. This time...It was a little too close.
"Yeah, and just who are they?"
Link opened his eyes, and held her with a steady grimace.
"Good point," she said quietly, nearly forgetting divine interventions. His head flopped back as he drew in more air. "Nayru already broke your jaw. Din's of the earth, so this had to be her test."
"I'm doomed…" He coughed and awaited rescue.
Gerrard repelled to Link's ledge, scattering a few pieces of gravel and a plume of dust. He carefully stepped over the fresh jumble of stone. "Ten minutes! Impa left us ten minutes ago!" Hands on his hips, Gerrard gave Link a scathing, if concerned tilt of his head. "Seriously, if those rocks didn't crush you, I will!...Ah." He paled. "Er, at least, the rest of you."
So that was the pain radiating from his hand. Link looked to his right, and saw the large chunk of granite atop his limb. That would do it, he winced as Navi flew around it, sussing out the best way to move the rock without further injuring her partner.
"If we lift from the right, it shouldn't pin his hand. Here, from the lip, grab it, and pull, slowly...Slower. Anything hurt, yet?" Navi kept her eyes on the rock, and her mind on Link.
"No," he said through gritted teeth. "The pressure is getting lighter. My arm is starting to throb! Okay, just do it!"
Gerrard heaved and the offending granite tumbled away over the edge.
"Take it easy, don't move it yet," Navi ordered. "Can you flex your fingers?"
Concentrated on the gashed and battered paw, he curled his digits, savoring the tingles of reactivated nerves and capillaries. Link unclenched his fist, moved his wrist next, and gasped when he turned his hand over. "Something isn't right. Not broken," he whispered, breathing deep to embrace the stretching pain. "Sprained, maybe. I don't want to push it further." He cradled the limb to his chest. Not above heart level, Saria echoed in his memory. Crushed limbs held danger if treated poorly. Pain, skin tone, pulse, numbness...stiffness. Those were the warnings of crush syndrome. He will have to be extra careful. As his mind slowed, he realized he was going to have to rely on Gerrard for many things. Pain flared anger, and dammed tears burned.
"We can't camp here," Navi stated. "Think you can manage the climb?"
"With a rope and footholds?" Link considered his arm, attempting to regroup his emotions with the threat of action. "Yeah, I can make it. Gerrard will have to take my pack up, though. I don't need to lose supplies, too."
"If you don't trust your hands-"
"I don't think we have a choice. I'm making this as simple as possible," he studied the rock face to his left. He nodded, inwardly quaking at the wave of threatening fury. "If that ledge let go so easily, this one may do the same. And I can't imagine there's another convenient edge right below us. i don't think I'll get that lucky twice." The curly haired one grabbed beneath Link's left arm and helped him gingerly to his feet.
He snickered as Link gingerly shed his bearskin and pack. "You know, all this started because I took your stuff."
Link scowled at the city boy. "Don't make me chase you down for this."
"Relax, I don't know the way to Kakariko," Gerrard shouldered Link's belongings.
He gripped the twisted fibers, testing the hold of the rope. Easing back into that squirrel-like mindset of a Kokiri about to scale the towering oak, Link lifted his feet from the ground and scrambled. His toes found cracks and bumps. His good hand closed and released in the steady rhythm of up and up and up. At the top, he swung his leg over the edge and rolled onto the ground. Gerrard came over the rock face a minute later, exerted but not overtaxed.
"I have to do something about my hand now," he assessed the worst gash. It wasn't terribly deep, and his blood was hardly trickling from it anymore...Still, his life might depend on treatment and delay now, rather than fever and infection, and possible amputation later. Link snarled to himself. He shed enough blood for several days. Weeks, he hoped vainly.
Gerrard set down Link's things, and the fair haired one felt for his herb packets in the deep confines of his pack. He found the cylinder of hollow bone he wanted, and removed the hunter's remedy. Palm flat, he extended his hand to Gerrard.
"I need you to pour some water over my hand, rinse the dust from it," he looked pointedly at the canteen on his friend's hip. "Please," he added when the boy hesitated. Gerrard did as Link wished, offering a clean handkerchief to blot at the fresh blood. Link bit the cork stopping the bone tube and sprinkled powdered yellow ocher into the wound. He hissed at the burn of sulfur. Marigold petals, steeped into an astringent wash would have been better, and a nice compress of mucilaginous comfrey root to hold it all together sounded like the best course to the abused Kokiri. Of course, there was nothing fresh at hand, so the sulfurous pigment would have to suffice until he found further treatment. He bound the hand with the kerchief and a strip of leather from his stores, taking care not to wrap it too snug.
They secured their belongings and cloaks once again, far from the cliff, and took to the winding trail in silence. Link led the way, the only way, with Navi close and Gerrard sauntering along behind them.
Lichen...rock cress...twig heath...juniper...lichen...rock cress...mistberry runner, no flowers...juniper...twig heath...lichen...more lichen...Oh, how surprising...more rocks.
The conifers in the ridges were illusions. There were no pines niched into the granite escarpments around the route, or Link suspected, they'd been harvested generations before, when they could be reached. So there was no wood, no herbs pertinent to their survival, and absolutely nothing to craft, except stone. He scanned each bit of greenery with hungry eyes, more frustrated than ever. Some fringes of stubby grass, pale yellow from sun and wind, gave a brighter hue to the gray world, on occasion.
"How could an environment hold so little produce?" he finally questioned Navi.
"Well, I would think a high-altitude, granite mountain biome along a byway in summer is probably not a buffet at any time of the year. And you've seen the mountains by the forest. That's pretty similar."
"It's just lifeless out here," Link whined to the party. "I haven't seen any eagles, there are no mountain goats, and the trees are too far from us to be useful. And we need to refill the canteens soon." Link scented water on the air, but there were only damp walls so far. The crags and shears did not lend themselves to pooling springs. As for shelter...He was hesitant to set up beneath overhangs, given the prior hours. They would have to suffice with the boulders at the edge of the high canyon walls.
"I hope it's just your hand making you ornery," Gerrard said with a laughing edge.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Link demanded as Gerrard pulled abreast of him.
"You've got nothing to prove to me," he replied. "Here we are, taking a nice hike out in the backcountry of the DEATH mountain range, and I've got a petulant forest kid worried about finding plants."
"How else-"
"Take it easy," Gerrard rolled his eyes and stepped back. "We have supplies. We have a fairy, and we have you. And you have me to be your extra hand for a hot minute. Not ideal, I agree," Gerrard supplemented when he saw Link's mouth open in retort. "But with at least one working brain out here, we have a better chance of survival than if it were one of us alone." His lips skewed, and he chuckled to his own amusement. "Can't you see me out here, trying to pickpocket a squirrel or something? I'd be dead in a minute. You've already fallen off a cliff, and you're still walking. If I fell, that rock would have squashed my head like a tomato can."
"Let's keep going, then," Link said brusquely and pushed forward, cradling his arm against his heart.
Gerrard and Navi shared a look. "Touchy," he said to the spark.
She sighed and followed Link. "Can't blame him. Don't worry. The shock will catch up to you, too."
"Don't I know it," Gerrard hung his head, again pushing down memories of bug eyes and bruised throats.
Twilight hit fast among the stones. The air and rocks turned orange with a distant and hidden sun, and the decided chill of the mountains quickly descended to nearly frigid. And windier. Link squinted ahead on the trail. A grouping of the boulders beckoned, and he slogged to the leeward side. There was no dirt to dig into, and hardly any gravel. He hunted for head-sized stones in the area. "We'll have to be creative with smaller rocks," Link told Gerrard as he wrestled the length of the canvas tent out of its bag.
Gerrard approved of the measure, and the pair worked together to secure one corner of the tent in between two of the large boulders, and anchored the other edges with the loose rocks. Thanks to the height of the boulders, they had more than enough head room to sit cross-legged with their backs against the rocks. Navi positioned herself among the crevice, and gave just enough light to illuminate their shelter. Gerrard shoved their packs to the end of the taut lean to. It was warming up, and gnawing on salted meat and trail biscuits from Link's stores, they were fairly comfortable as the wind howled past them.
However, Link was disappointed. He had no spoils of the trail, his hand was throbbing, but not unbearable, and the vague, stymying sense that the land was out to get them. No, he corrected himself. Not the land. If Impa and Zelda's wish on the Triforce was going to balance the world and its magic, Hyrule was probably vying for him to succeed. So why the damn landslide right after he vowed to help? What was down there? Had it been bad luck? Could the Gerudo King's reach be that far and subtle? What would he do if he had to cut off more of his hand? Was the pinky tip not enough?
"So, how's the hand holding up?" Gerrard inquired through a wad of masticated pork.
"It's starting to hurt again, but not swollen or hot. I think it might just be bruised and sprained," Link told them hopefully.
"No signs of infection or fever, either," Navi volunteered as she munched a crumb from a biscuit. In the dying daylight, she had hovered close to inspect her counterpart's hand when they rewrapped it.
"I know it was tough for you to ask for my help and stuff," he swallowed his mouthful. "But whatever you need, I'll be here. No complaints."
"Yeah, right," Navi jibed.
As Gerrard inhaled, Link spoke. "There are three Kokiri from the Forest I knew of who had lost parts of limbs or an entire appendage. Life was tougher of them, but they still thrived with the help of their siblings. Two of them improved spear-making tools and other procedures for all Kokiri, since they did not have the grip necessary to do it in the traditional manner."
"How'd they lose 'em?"
"Wolfos bite, river rocks in a fire pit and an icy creek."
"I get the first one," the urchin said, taking another bite of jerky. "But how does-"
"I'm glad we can talk about this," Link was tired, and aching. He didn't want to think about his own injury. "Rocks that are filled with air or water will explode."
"Whoa. Awesome."
"Not really. There are certain kinds of rocks and locations to avoid when you want to heat stones or build a fire pit. Ones that have air pockets, holes or inclusions may or may not blow, it depends how hot the fire gets, and the structure of the rock. Using stones right from a riverbank to do any cooking or work by a fire is just stupid. Always pick from above the flood line, or sun bake them for the summer. You do not want shards of hot rock in your skin." He paused for effect. "You do not want to be holding one of them when it explodes, either."
The other nodded sagely. "Agreed. So the creek, did that explode, or was it just frostbite?"
"Worse. Saria called it the Spring of Cutting Ice. Kedo died before I was born, but I'm told he was the fastest brother that ever lived. He could outrun a winter-lean doe, and jump waterfalls like salmon. During the thaw of the last storm of very early spring, Kedo was hunting deep in the oak groves, pursuing elk. The tracks in the snow told the winding story of Haro's near misses with bow and arrow, and nasty defense from the elk. They ran for hours, into the creek territory. The ice was thin, but with night falling, and the moon failing to light up the surface, both desperate hunter and frenzied prey fell into the frozen creek.
"Kedo was experienced, and managed to get himself and the front quarter of the elk out of the river. As he pulled himself out of the ice, he severely cut his ankle on the edge. Like any of us would have done, he put a handful of snow on it to keep the bleeding down, wrapped it up in leather and trekked back to the Clearing. Despite his experience, Kedo ignored his wound, and did little to protect it. By the time flowers were blooming, the medicine girl had to remove the rotting foot and calf." With that said, Link removed his boots one-handed, settling them by his pack to dry overnight, and pulled his bear fur up to his chin.
"I've seen similar things," Gerrard was looking askance at his jerky. "Oldsters that don't take care of themselves, and even kids that don't know any better would get green rot really easy. But there were some bad people that said deformity and malady were the rupee-makers. Personally, I didn't see the point when I was stealing my own wealth. I never wanted the pity."
Link's hand throbbed in sympathy. "There were actually people who did this on purpose?"
Gerrard intently studied the tent wall to his left. "It wasn't common. Mostly the lower tiers of the clans, rogue elements, drifters...Orphan makers."
"Excuse me?" Navi sat up.
"Again, not really the normal practice. But people can be terrible. There was a group last decade that chose certain families, gathered the children up, and sent ransom notices-"
"Ransom?"
"Oooh-hoo, I'm glad we get to talk about this. Bad guys kidnap someone, then demand money or service in exchange for the return of the victim."
"Of all the awful-" Navi indignantly wrinkled her nose, hugging her knees.
"It does get worse. You really can't even imagine how messed up people can become…"
"...I think we can," Link said when Gerrard didn't offer any examples. "Because I didn't have a fairy, I was not normal. Sometimes, a few of them would treat me pretty well, but Mido and his cronies were too good at manipulating the rest of my siblings."
"Did he ever bind your foot to give you a limp? Was there ever a time where you believed he was going to kill you if you misbehaved? If men had come to the forest, looking to purchase children for...well, whatever, would he have sold you?"
"Sell me, or give me away? In a heartbeat. It wouldn't matter what the buyers would do with me."
"Good thing he didn't get the chance," Gerrard shrugged. The wind made a particularly eerie wail as silence pervaded. "I dunno, I've seen bad things happen to kids and adults who didn't deserve an ounce of trouble. I...caused and helped it, sometimes."
His tight, sad gaze held secrets, but he dared to lock eyes with Link and Navi. "I've never hunted animals, but I definitely ended a few lives. I didn't enjoy it, and I don't think I ever will, if I have to do it again. I want it to be for defense, not because it's an assignment, and it's expected of a thief."
A sharp pain shot up Link's arm as he made a minute adjustment. The staccato pulse eased back into the steady thump. He let out a breath.
"You will teach me."
"I...Yeah, I can," Gerrard slowly nodded, a small grin eating the serious frown. "And you show me how not to be an idiot in the wilderness. Lesson one: dangerous cliffs!"
"Ooh, too soon," Navi groaned. "Let's talk about this more when there's sunlight. We need rest. Link needs to heal."
An easy, peaceful moment passed as the boys settled into their blankets among the rocks. Link was savoring the warm nest and let his undisciplined thoughts flit from here to there. Impa and the King. Zelda. The den of thieves...Mahog.
"Navi, do you think I could do it with magic? Heal my hand?" Link felt a jolt of something like static race through his heart. "I remember what it felt like when Mahog-"
"No." There was no give to her syllable. "Out of the question. Your experiment at the castle was probably more dangerous than you know. You are completely untrained, and I don't know enough to make sure you don't kill yourself. If healing and body magic goes wrong, it could go really wrong. Like, skin on the inside and bones on the outside wrong. Fatally wrong." She hovered close. "You can't risk that."
"It's just my hand," he debated.
"Your hand is a very important appendage. Let's not mess it up any further. And you're on probation right now anyway!"
"What for?"
"Unsafe practices around an uninsured cliff face! Your antic-"
"I was drawn to the edge! I couldn't help it!" Link growled, and then his brows popped in realization. "I...was bespelled. Something wanted me on the ledge."
Despite their connection, he felt her disbelief, and it stung. "Likely story, but you were locked up for a few days, and that-"
"Navi. I know better. But something was there. I've felt the call of the void, I climbed some of the highest limbs in Kokiri and cliffs of the southern mountains. That moment was different." It seemed so natural at the time, to overstep the safety prescribed by his upbringing. He could almost hear the laughing wind that called him to the edge, the surety that this was the right action. "Was it a spell from Ganondorf or the Sheikah?"
"I didn't sense anything unnatural," Navi crossed her arms. "Even when I came down to the ledge, there was nothing out of the ordinary. You might have seen the vestige of the spell, and I should have heard it."
"Yeah, it looked like a normal ledge and shaky rocks to me," Gerrard agreed with the fairy.
"But you don't want anything to do with magic," Navi countered. "You wouldn't have noticed, anyway."
Growing more tired and puzzled, Link sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose and mumbled, "Let's just go to sleep, then. We're not going back anytime soon. Good night." He shimmied the back of his head against the boulder, found the most comfort he could, and closed his eyes for the final time that day.
"Night." Gerrard resigned and leaned back against the mostly weather worn granite.
"Hmmph." was the fairy's initial response. She waited until she heard exhausted consciousness fade to the ancient rhythm of the comatose before lovingly whispering: "Take heart, boys."
She pitied the restless sleepers with all her heart. She silently wept to think this was only the beginning of their hardship. She wondered what new injuries would befall these chosen children. How could the gods ask more of them? How could she keep them safe from the spirits of the world? There was nothing to be done but move forward into danger. Her poor lads.
Of all the stoic, stubborn teenagers and wily, babbling idiots she could be stuck with, these two had good hearts and even better brains. Neither would take guff from the other. And after these few days, they'll have no choice but to be friends. And that was a more hopeful thought than she was expecting, so Navi relaxed on her stone bed, shaking breaths stilling to the saccadic tempo of the boys. Then, just as she was at the edge of slumber, a little smirk slowly drew up the corner of her mouth. She was glad at least one of them was funny.
At his bladder's prodding, Link flipped back a corner of the canvas into the chill. He rolled out, and gasped. The world was fog. He could hardly see the ground, let alone beyond the path beyond him, and he spun around. The tent disappeared from the rocks.
Guts twisting, he brought his injured hand into view, only to find it whole and freshly scarred.
Link was too shocked for either fear or confusion. "A dream, I hope," he commented to himself. He felt for his pouch, but found he was holding only his ocarina. "Weird." He looked towards Kakariko. It was a solid foggy wall. He addressed the path they traveled earlier. "If there's no one else, no tent, and no way forward, does this mean I should go back?" His stomach bottomed out when the mists parted on the path back to that damn ledge. Curling cat paws of moisture ghosted on either side of the slot canyon, allowing no view but the way backwards. He walked for only minutes, not the hours it took them to come to the exit for the castle dungeons.
Link could see the ledge over the lip of the cliff from where he stood on the path. And set into the gray rock of the world was a cave, a perfect circle of black space.
Without taking a step, he was inside the round mouth. The straight, unerring cylindrical corridor led him to a wide, clear spring at the back of the cave, set amidst natural pillars and very pretty symmetrical calcite flows.
He was transfixed, hypnotized by the bubbling pool. He knew to heal his hand in real life, all he needed was a drink...Link bent down to scoop up the crystalline waters.
"Don't touch it," said Saria. Heart stopped dead, Link abandoned his inclination about the spring. Why his green-haired mentor was here in the mountains of central Hyrule, he could not fathom. He didn't care, though, and he whirled to hug her.
They passed through one another like dust clouds. She was smiling. He was motionless.
"You've grown," she admired.
"I am a Hylian," Link reminded her once he found his voice way down in his throat. She shook her head, and faced the ground.
"You wouldn't have hugged me before you left," Saria pointed out, fingers and toes wiggling.
"Would too-"
"Link," she leveled with him. "That's never been you. Unlike your siblings, you are changing." Her smile was back, and full of love. "I'm so proud."
Aching to smell the fragrant pine sap in the apparition's hair, Link gathered her words to his heart in Kokiri gesture. "I miss you, and the forest."
"It misses you." She said with as much mischief as she could manage. They wore matching grins. Then, she directed him to look at the pool.
"It's a fairy fountain. Eventually, I would have taken you to see the one in the Lost Woods, but fate left us little choice. This is the fountain of the Hylian Elder."
"An Old One? How did we not see the cave?"
"It's blocked, at the moment. She did call you to the edge, but the injury you suffered was unintentional," Saria informed him. "And because of your hand, it would set a bad precedent for your relationship with her."
"Is that why you're telling me, and not her?"
Dream-Saria nodded. "It's an apology of sorts. You weren't meant to get hurt. So her first true action towards you is providing a platform for our meeting. She's hoping that this will be an acceptable bargain."
"Which is…"
"I will teach you the melody I played on the Short Night, so that we may speak any time, across any distance. In return, you must come back to the cave and play the Messenger's Song here before you go to the Temple of Time."
The words of the avatar of Farore boomed like lightning and thunder in his skull, and with a full heart and some kind of insane hope, Link reverently whispered his answer: "Of course."
Saria nodded, and Link held the ocarina to his lips. His friend whistled the upward trills and bouncing descent of her song. He began parroting the notes back to her, and she began correcting Link's finger position, how he was breathing into the instrument and how to use his tongue for the sharp changes between tones. Saria whistled and Link played. Link played some more, and she whistled harmony. He played her song solo as she instructed at tempo. He played Malon's lullaby for the Wisest, which had never sounded smoother, under her conducting.
"How beautiful! I feel the grassy plains and the desert in the melody," she said with tears. "Tell me where you've been."
He set his instrument on his tunic across his knees. His throat was shut, and emotion blocked his words. To be with his friend, content to see a familiar face and carry the promise of her counsel on demand...This was a sweeter reward than any supplies or foraged berries or divine accolades. This was what Link wanted: to share his new wisdom with the Wisest.
"I walked until I wore out my foot coverings, and got ambushed by a giant. I rode on the backs of grazing horses, and learned how to care for cattle and crops. I learned that words can be permanent. Maps and paintings and drawings can show us places and things and people we've never seen with our own eyes. I have been visited by a Goddess. We talked with royalty and I got slapped so hard by a shadow, she broke my jaw, and then healed it. I got stabbed. I had to cut off my pinky tip. I have magic. My hand got crushed. I picked up a stray thief as a friend. I made enemies of the religious hierarchy. I got drunk. A girl fell in love with me. I saw more goods and supplies in one market stall than you've made in your lifetime. It's only been three months since I left you, and I feel like it's been three lifetimes. Saria," he covered his eyes with his left hand. "I'm so tired and I'm being told that I have to save the world and be brave.
"I'm so scared," he admitted, taking down his hand, but not looking at his Wisest. "If I mess everything up-"
She laughed. He took heart. "You won't fail that badly. You wouldn't let yourself, Navi wouldn't let you, and your new friend is going to be a good influence."
"'A good influence?' He's the one who stabbed me. I don't like him as much as you. I don't know if we can ever really be friends-"
Saria held up two fingers. "It's already started." She crossed her arms and beamed wider. The bone bead and feathers in her clacked as she shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. Who's wiser?" Link didn't speak, but he did smirk.
"Okay." She nodded decisively, standing up. "Since I've conveyed the words of the Old One, and taught you what I needed to, it's time for us both to return to our bodies."
He reached out for her hand, but stopped short in time, remembering they had no substance. "I'm not ready yet! There's so much more!"
"I know, but now, you can talk to me whenever you want," Saria reminded him gently. She wobbled a watery smile at him. "And don't think for a second that you are bothering me. I am your friend, and I love you. I will be there whenever you need me. Please. Call to me, and I will listen, Link. I miss you."
The day's onslaught of conversations, hiking and events crushed him beneath weighty emotions he had no energy to grapple with. Simply overwhelmed and grateful, the Kokiri let the dream collapse.
"Saria...I...love," His mouth wouldn't work through the molasses of waking. Just before he fell into the real world again, he heard a chiming laugh, and felt a presence beside him. It felt as if Navi were a thousand times more wise, open as the sky and solid as the mountains.
"Heehee, wolf...I can help! Just be sure to come back…"
"I...will…"
