Around the same time Rodan discovered his new body, Link had also awoken to discover himself changed. He had found himself lying at the foot of a grassy rise with pleasant sunshine beating down on his face. He struggled to his feet, and quickly realised that he had more of them than he remembered. He examined his four paws with interest. Huh…that's new.
Though surprised, Link did not panic. After all, his body had been subject to a few drastic changes over the course of his adventures. Controlling this creature can't be any harder than being a Goron or a Zora…right?
Link lifted his muzzle and sniffed the air. The sensation was overwhelming. The floral breeze was alive with all manner of smells. The scents swam through his subconscious, and somehow he knew them, though he couldn't claim to have recognised their odour before. Birds, deer, fish and ferns. He padded around in a circle, taking in the bouquet of aromas. Nearby, he uncovered a patch of pungent mushrooms growing in the cool earth under a fallen oak tree. He wrinkled his nose at the stink. It's just like wearing the Mask of Scents, he thought to himself, remembering the strange pig-shaped mask given to him by the Deku butler in Termina.
He hoped to catch the scent or sight of Rodan, but of his friend there was no sign. One smell nagged at him however. It was familiar yet strange. It was his childhood. But how could it be…?
Link paced the grass, trying to pinpoint the scent. He stalked up the little hill he had woken on to get a better view of his surroundings, and hopefully find the source of the smell. It was like stepping into his memories.
The saturated sky framed an endless meadow, stretching out in all directions to the azure verdurous field was speckled with silvery-blue flowers that Link identified as Silent Princesses. Botany was not one of his specialities, however he recognised this particular flower as a favourite of Princess Zelda. She'd had her attendants plant some in the castle courtyard during the brief period Link had called Hyrule Castle home. She had said that they helped her feel closer to the spirits of her ancestors, and those yet to come. At the time, Link was unsure as to what she meant. In the middle of the vast meadow, the ground rose gently to create a small plateau. Here, a great tree stood alone, dominating the view. Its branches sprouted so tall that they disappeared into cloud, so that Link couldn't even see their tops, nor fathom how tall it truly was.
Link gazed in wonderment, pushing Zelda and Hyrule from his mind for the time-being. The tree is a bit bigger…well a lot bigger…and I don't remember these flowers but it's definitely…or it definitely looks like…the inside of the moon.
The ghostly scent from his past pricked his nostrils again, carried on the summer air from the direction of the solitary tree. Link broke out into an ungainly run, slowly at first while he figured out how his new body moved, but gaining speed. Rodan will have to wait. If I'm not in any immediate danger, then hopefully he isn't either. It was strange to be running through this field again, just as he had less than a year before, though it felt a distant and dreamlike memory.
Before long, he reached the mound with the tree. Whatever animal form he had taken, it was fast. I must be some sort of predator, thought Link. He climbed the little hill until he came under the shade of the tree. The sun was not uncomfortably hot, but the cool, sweet-scented air under the leafy awning was wonderfully refreshing. Link pushed his nose to the ground and did a lap around the tree, snuffling like a dog who caught the scent of a rabbit. There was no doubt, the phantom smell was coming from right here. In fact, it was overpowering. An earthy scent, that Link the human would have been barely aware of, but that filled Link the animal with nostalgia. Before long, he found what he was looking for to confirm his suspicions. A deku nut. This was a deku tree, and it smelled like home.
A loud creaking interrupted his discovery. A groaning, splintering sound, like a mighty forest bowing in the face of an onrushing hurricane. Link padded to face the great tree, and was not entirely surprised when a horizontal crack split the brown bark asunder, stretching to a gaping chasm many times Link's size.
"AHHHH…ONE OF MY OWN CHILDREN HAS COME TO VISIT IN MY DOMAIN. FORGIVE ME YOUNG ONE, I HAVE SLEPT FOR YEARS UNCOUNTED. YOU MUST INDULGE AN OLD TREE A FEW MOMENTS TO AWAKEN AND STRETCH HER BOUGHS". The voice was like a bundle of logs, set loose to rumble and crash down a hill. The very earth seemed to quake and resonate with each syllable, so that Link didn't so much hear the speech, as feel it through his paws.
Link needed a few more backward steps to take in the face that had emerged on the tree. She made the Great Deku Tree look like a mere sapling. A huge pair of brown eyes, gnarled and hooded, weathered with unknowable age, turned glacially to gaze at him.
"LET'S HAVE A LOOK AT YOU THEN. A WOLF, EH? A NOBLE CREATURE, EMBLEMATIC OF ONE OF NOBLE SPIRIT. YOU MUST BE COURAGEOUS TO TAKE SUCH A FORM IN THE SPIRIT LANDS. THOUGH I AM SURPRISED, MOST OF MY CHILDREN APPEAR IN THEIR TRUE FORM IN THIS REALM. AHH BUT PERHAPS THIS IS YOUR TRUE FORM LINK, HMMM?". The tree gave what Link could only assume was a creaking laugh, though the sound reminded him more of a carpenter's workshop.
Link sat before the tree, weighed down by the many questions swirling in his head, jostling for position at the tip of his tongue. He decided to get the obvious one out of the way.
"Oh Great Tree, how is it you know my name?"
"THERE IS NO NEED FOR SUCH FORMALITIES, LITTLE PUP. WE ARE FAMILY AFTER ALL" the tree said with another laugh, as melodious as a hacksaw. " AS TO YOUR NAME, WELL, I WISH I COULD SAY I REMEMBER ALL MY CHILDREN'S NAMES, BUT I HAVE SO MANY, AND EVEN MY MEMORY HAS ITS LIMITS. NO, IT WAS A SIMPLE SUPPOSITION BASED ON YOUR APPEARANCE. AND PERHAPS I WAS PLAYING THE NUMBERS. THERE HAVE BEEN, AND WILL BE, A GREAT MANY HEROES HOLDING THAT NAME. IT SEEMED…WHAT IS IT YOU MORTALS SAY…A SAFE BET?"
Though the carven face on the tree did not seem equipped for such an expression, Link thought he detected a cheeky smile curving its wooden mouth. She couldn't be more different from the Great Deku Tree I knew, Link thought to himself. I didn't see him smile once in ten years. I'm not even sure he could!
"So, others have come to visit you before? Others like me?"
"SOME, THOUGH NOT FOR AN AGE. FEW MORTALS HAVE EVER MADE THE JOURNEY TO THE SPIRIT LANDS, SAVE FOR THE GREAT VOYAGE ALL MUST TAKE AT THE END OF THEIR TIME IN THE MORTAL WORLDS. IN THE ANCIENT DAYS, WHEN THE REALMS WERE MORE CLOSELY CONNECTED THAN THEY ARE NOW, SAGES WOULD OFTEN COME SEEKING MY WISDOM, BUT NO LONGER. PERHAPS MY WISDOM WAS INADEQUATE. IT IS FRIGHTFULLY HARD TO GET OUT AND SEE THE WORLDS WHEN YOU ARE ROOTED IN PLACE."
That jogged a nagging question Link had, causing it to jump to the front of the queue. "Great Mother Tree, what exactly is this place? To my knowledge I have never been to the spirit realm, and yet I have walked this place, or something much like it. Inside the moon of Termina, unless it was simply some figment of Majora's Mask."
"AHHH" the Mother Tree breathed, delighted. "THEN YOU ARE THE ONE WHO VANQUISHED THE ANCIENT EVIL SEALED INSIDE THAT MASK. I KNEW I SENSED A HEROIC SPIRIT IN YOU. ON BEHALF OF THE GODDESSES, YOU ARE OWED A GREAT DEAL OF THANKS MY CHILD. YOU SAW FIRSTHAND WHAT MAYHEM EVEN A FRACTION OF THE MALEVOLENT FIEND'S POWER CAN WREAK ON A REALM. I AM SURE YOU HAVE MAHRUWANDRA'S GRATITUDE ALSO, FOR HE IS THE MOON SPIRIT OF WHICH YOU SPEAK, AND IT IS HIS REALM YOU CLEANSED OF MAJORA'S CORRUPTION. YOU SAY THE MASK DREW YOU TO A PLACE THAT LOOKED LIKE THIS ONE. THAT IS NOT SURPRISING. I AM SURE THE ENTRANCE TO THE HEAVENS, AND HOME OF THE GOLDEN GODDESSES IS FOREFRONT IN THAT BEAST'S THOUGHTS AT ALL TIMES. EVER DOES HE SEEK VENGEANCE ON THEM FOR BANISHING HIM TO THE GAP BETWEEN REALMS."
"Home of the Goddesses?" Link said incredulously, looking about as if Nayru herself might be lurking behind a bush somewhere.
"OH YES" the tree said, turning her huge eyes skyward. "I AM SURE YOU KNOW THE STORY OF CREATION. WELL, ONCE THEIR HOLY LABOURS WERE COMPLETE, THE GODS BUILT THE HEAVENS IN MY THE TALLEST BRANCHES SO THAT THEY MIGHT REST. THERE THEY SLUMBER, WAITING FOR THE END TIMES WHEN THEY MUST ONCE MORE TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST MAJORA, WHO IS CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION. SO IT IS FORETOLD."
Link had no words. The thought of the Golden Goddesses and Moon Spirits being personally grateful to him was too outlandish. Not to mention playing a role in some ancient, divine war. He opened and closed his mouth for a few moments, before deciding to press on with his questions.
"And…why do you keep calling me one of your children? You said we're family?" Link asked.
"BROADLY SPEAKING, I CONSIDER ALL OF CREATION MY FAMILY. FOR I AM THE MOTHER TREE OF SPIRITS, AND IT WAS ON THIS SPOT THAT FARORE FIRST BLESSED THE WORLDS WITH THE SPARK OF LIFE, AND IT IS HERE ALL LIFE MUST ONE DAY RETURN. BUT YOU LINK. YOU REEK OF EARTH AND HEATHER, OF OAK AND PINE, LEAF AND SAP. I WOULD NOT MISTAKE THE SMELL OF MY KIN."
Link discreetly sniffed his fur, confused.
"YES, YOUR AURA TELLS ME MUCH ABOUT YOU; MORE PERHAPS THAN YOU KNOW YOURSELF. BORN IN A SACRED MEADOW, RAISED IN AN ENCHANTED FOREST, FRIEND TO FAIRY AND SPIRIT. YOU MAY APPEAR DIFFERENT, BUT YOU ARE A CHILD OF THE FOREST. IF THIS WERE NOT SO, YOU WOULD NOT BE HERE WITH ME IN THE UNDYING MEADOW BEFORE YOUR TIME."
"Child of the Forest? You mean the Kokiri? But Mother Tree, I am different. I have always been different. I'm a Hylian, and was always destined to leave the forest."
"YOU MAY HAVE LEFT THE FOREST LITTLE ONE, BUT THE FOREST WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. KINSHIP IS NOT DETERMINED BY YOUR BIRTH. IT IS A FEELING. A CHOICE. A COMMITMENT. I CAN FEEL YOUR PAIN; YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR A HOME. BUT WE MAKE OUR OWN HOME, AND DECIDE WHO WE CALL FAMILY. MY SON - THE ONE YOU KNOW AS THE GREAT DEKU TREE - WOULD TELL YOU THE SAME WERE HE HERE NOW."
"The Deku tree is your son?" Link said incredulously. After a beat of consideration, he continued "I guess that makes sense. Still, I'd never even considered that the Deku Tree might have a mother."
"OH YES" the Mother Tree said with a sigh that buffeted Link, whipping his fur and stinging his eyes. "HIS SEED WAS CARRIED OFF TO THE MORTAL WORLD BY FARORE'S WINDS AT THE BEGINNING OF CREATION. THOUGH I FIND HIS HONORIFIC RATHER GRANDIOSE, I COULD NOT BE MORE PROUD OF THE WORK HE HAS DONE IN THE LIGHT WORLD. EVEN THE DEMISE OF HIS MORTAL FORM COULD NOT SWAY HIM FROM HIS DUTY. STILL, I HOPE ONE DAY HE WILL REJOIN ME HERE IN THE SPIRIT REALM. IT WOULD BE NICE TO LOOK UPON MY SON'S FACE, BEFORE THE END OF TIME."
Link sensed a heavy sadness lay behind the Mother Tree's words, even if her rumbling tone was unreadable. "So, you've never even met your own son?" he asked softly.
"NO. DUTY OFTEN KEEPS FAMILIES APART, BUT IT DOES NOT LESSEN THE BONDS WE SHARE," the great tree sighed again. "HE HAS HIS DIVINE ROLE TO PLAY, AS DO I….AS DO YOU LINK, CHILD OF DESTINY."
Link bowed his head. He became aware of some vague, distant sounds, but the Mother Tree did not react, so he continued. "I guess I hoped I had fulfilled my destiny already."
The Mother tree smiled sadly at him, but did not speak. The noises grew louder, and Link thought he could make out the sound of someone wailing; crying out in sorrow. A shadow passing overhead made him look up at the sky, which had once been cloudless, unbroken blue. But now, dark shapes were forming overhead, and the gentle breeze was growing stronger.
"DESTINY CALLS, LITTLE ONE," the Mother Tree said, her smile gone. "IT SEEMS THERE IS ANOTHER SPIRIT YOU WOULD SPEAK WITH."
Link had to strain his sensitive ears to catch the last few words of the tree, as the breeze had suddenly grown into a gale. It tore through the little plateau, making even the mighty trunk of the Mother Tree sway. It whistled through her branches, picking up leaves and Deku nuts with it. Link found that he had to brace himself against it, lest he be bowled over.
"What….what's happening?" he said, yelling over the noise, but even his words were torn from his mouth by the ferocious wind. Link had to close his eyes, they were watering so hard. With a jolt, he felt his paws leave the earth.
"GOOD-BYE MY CHILD, THANK YOU FOR VISITING AN OLD TREE. THIS BRIEF CONVERSATION HAS MADE MY CENTURY. TILL NEXT WE MEET, THOUGH FOR YOUR SAKE I HOPE THAT TIME IS NOT SOON." The rumbling voice was already sounding more distant.
"No wait! There was more I wanted to ask you!" Link cried, but it was useless. He couldn't even hear his own voice over the maelstrom.
For a moment, Link floated in deafening darkness, carried on the currents, at the whim of the howling vortex. Then, just as quickly as it started, the winds subsided, and he felt himself touch down gently. As the gale died, it was replaced with the plaintive wailing he had caught snippets of earlier. He opened his eyes. Gone was the vibrant meadow, to be replaced with a drab landscape. There were patches of grass and trees as before, but they were grey and ashen, almost as if the area had suffered a terrible fire recently. Overhead, the storm clouds continued to roll in.
The source of the crying seemed to be just ahead of him. Something indiscernible was laying on the ground in a bundled heap, moving slowly with each heart-wrenching wail. Something touched Link's feet, making him jump. He looked down and saw that the earth was wet and swampy, and that he was standing in a trickle of water, flowing from somewhere in front of him. In fact, now that he looked closely, there was water seeping outward in all directions from the muddy bundle, who itself was mired amidst a boggy puddle.
Slowly, gingerly, Link waded towards the bundle, his paws squelching in the black, sodden earth.
"Umm, hello? Do you need any help?" Link called out, unsure what else to say. A wail was cut short mid-crescendo at his words. For a moment there was silence. Then the sorry creature resumed its outpouring of despair with a low, shaking moan.
"Hello?" Link called again.
"Nobody…comes…here. You…should…leave," the thing said between sobs. Its voice was a thin, gurgling croak, as if unaccustomed to forming words.
"Please, don't cry. Let me help you," Link said, continuing to advance on the thing, warily. Though his heightened animal senses were screaming at him to heed the creature's advice, something in his chest ached with pity at its painful sounds.
Suddenly, the creature sat upright, and the formless bundle coalesced into the shape of a wretched looking man. He was wearing a long, cloak wrapped around his whole body, that might have been beautiful once but now was a sopping, mud-caked mess. It was impossible to tell what colour the long, tangled hair that surrounded his pointed ears was originally, so matted with dirt was it. But it was the face that really drew the eye. It was a mask of sorrow; gaunt, haggard and also splotched with mud, it framed two puffy red eyes which bulged alarmingly. Below his wild, staring eyes, two great ravines had been carved in his bony cheeks, through which rivulets of tears were still flowing.
The man sniffed, and wiped at his eyes, though this did nothing but smear more mud on his cheek. "No one wants to help me. Why have you come here?" he said.
At least he's stopped wailing for the moment, Link thought. He struggled his way through the bog to stand next to the man. "Honestly, I'm not sure why. A powerful wind carried me here."
"Oh the winds," the man said, waving a dripping hand dismissively. "That's just how people travel in the spirit realm. Why are you here?" He fixed his bleary eyes on Link, as if only just now seeing him properly. He looked him up and down, then exclaimed "Hey, you're a wolf!"
"So I'm told," Link said. "Why, is that strange?"
"I'm not sure, I haven't seen another spirit in so long. It's just that the wolf is sacred to my people. It's the symbol of my clan. Are you…were you a knight too?"
"Well no, not yet. Perhaps, one day I mean. I'm not dead you see. I actually came here with a friend. We're looking for someone."
"Well, I wish you better luck in your search than I had in mine," the man said gravely. His tears started to flow harder, and Link sensed a wail coming. Link decided to intercept it.
Quickly, he said "So you were a knight? Are you from Hyrule? Did you serve the royal family?" He was shocked by the man's reaction.
The crying man jumped to his feet suddenly and spat on the ground. With a face like thunder, he said "Do not speak of those criminals to me. I served them, yes, and my loyalty cost me everything. My life...my love…." He sat down heavily in the mud again with a soft slurping sound, his anger seemingly exhausted. "Oh my sweet Castrelda, where are you?" he murmured, rocking back and forth gently. He seemed to have forgotten Link was even there.
Link looked at the pitiful man, filled with regrets, and had a thought.
"Hold on, I want to try something…wait…damn," Link had just remembered he wasn't in his regular body. "I wanted to play a song for you, to help ease your pain, but I don't have my ocarina, or even fingers to play it if I did."
The man peeked through one tear-filled eye. "Perhaps you could howl it," he said, before returning to his rocking.
The sarcasm was lost on Link. "Uhmm okay, sure. Here it goes…"
Link began to howl, the unpracticed sound quavering at first as he figured out which muscles to use, and the correct shapes to form with his canine mouth, but he quickly found that his body knew what to do even if he didn't. The tune was the Song of Healing, taught to him by the Happy Mask Salesman in Termina. Link had witnessed the magical power of this song first hand, having used it to heal troubled spirits during his time in those strange lands. But will it even work here? Link thought. The spirits I helped before were trapped in the mortal world, unable to pass to the next life. I just hope he doesn't turn into a mask. I really don't want to wear this man's face.
As Link sang the enchanted melody, he noticed that he seemed to be having some effect on the crying knight. He had stopped rocking, and though his eyes were still closed, the lines of worry and pain that marked his face seemed somewhat relaxed, and less pronounced. In fact, if it weren't for the steady trickle of tears on his cheeks, it might be the face of a man at peace. The song was not long, but seeing the improvements in the man, Link did not want to cut short the moment, so he repeated the melody over and over.
To his complete surprise, on the third repeat, the crying man began to join in, first with a faint humming, that Link first mistook for more despairing moans. But his vocalising grew in confidence alongside Link's, and soon the two were harmonising at full volume; Link's animalistic treble, complimented by the man's deep, melodious bass. He had a surprisingly beautiful voice, nothing like the croaks and wails he had first greeted Link with. Instead of rocking, the man now swayed softly, from side to side, in beat with their shared song. The performance had started as a way to help the man forget his grief, but Link found himself moved by the experience in a way he couldn't fully explain. Their song was one of pain and loss, but also spoke of hope and new beginnings.
Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the two fell to silence, though Link still felt a pang of sorrow that it was ending.
"Well, do you think that helped?" Link asked the man.
"No. I don't think so. Maybe," he said. "But it was nice. It reminded me of the songs we used to sing around the campfire, while out on the field." He opened his eyes, and Link saw that for the first time, they were clear. The redness had subsided, and Link could make out that his eyes were in fact a brilliant shade of blue. He looked at Link with his shining eyes, once again as if seeing him for the first time. "Wolf…ocarina…royal family" he muttered to himself.
"What…" Link started, but the man had unexpectedly jumped to his feet, and was walking around Link, eyeing him up from every angle. When he reached Link's front again, he crouched and came right up to his face, wild eyes meeting his. "You couldn't be…but you are…aren't you?"
The brooding, purple rain clouds chose that moment to burst open. The golden light that emanated from every surface began to flicker as the sky turned to night. Fat raindrops battered the wolf and the man, and green lightning streaked across the air above them, each bolt accompanied by an ear-splitting crack.
"No, no, NO!" The man cried, standing and shaking his fists at the sky. Abruptly, he stooped again, and gripped Link's furry shoulders tightly. "Link, listen to me.."
"How did you know…?" Link tried to get out, but the man shook him roughly and pressed on.
"There's no time. The Spirit Realm is under attack. You must get out while you can. Find your friend, return to the Light World." His demeanour was completely changed. He still looked around wildly, but his voice was determined, focused, commanding.
"What about you?" Link pleaded.
"I'll be fine. You've already done more for me than you can possibly know." To Link's amazement, the crying man… smiled. It was hollow, and his cheeks twitched as long unused muscles struggled to hold the expression, but it had a transformative effect on his face. Then, he was serious again. "Listen…seek out the Knights of Hyrule. They are your kin. They will help you find your path. Now, the secret to traversing this realm is to keep a clear head, and to fill your very soul with thoughts of where you want to go. Do it!"
Link tried to suppress his alarm and follow the Knight's instructions. He focused his mind on Rodan, and the Fairy of Ordon. The storm raged around them, but Link kept to maintaining his meditative tranquillity. He felt the winds brewing, surrounding him, getting stronger and stronger, making the very air feel alive.
The Knight pulled Link close for one last shock. "Goodbye, and thank you. Now go…run…let the winds carry you home" he said, hugging Link tightly.
Link executed his order without hesitation. Guided by the wind, Link took off and sped over the ground. Faster and faster he ran, until the wind caught him and lifted him powerfully into the air.
Behind him he heard the last words of the Knight Spirit, carried to him on the speeding gale. "May Hylia watch over you, Link. My Son."
Link twisted in the air, calling back desperately, trying to get even one last glimpse of the spirit that had once been his Father, but the winds of Farore were already in motion and Link was carried away, his tears lost to the breeze.