Rodan glanced worriedly at the billowing clouds mustering above them. "Looks like a storm's comin' in," he said, quickening his pace so he didn't lose the pale green glow of the little fairy - disappearing and reappearing as it weaved between the massive branches and vines - he was following.
"Nonsense, the Spirit Realm doesn't have storms" said Vaelin, which was the fairy's name, or so he had curtly told Rodan when he had pressed for more information on his new chaperone. It wasn't easy to tell where exactly the fairy was looking - his face, if he even had one - obscured by his luminescence, but Rodan thought he spied him taking a hurried look at the sky before quickening his pace.
Rodan had heard tales of fairies; the magical sprites of the forests, that could heal the sick, but that were also said to lead unwary travellers far from their path with their mysterious lights if so inclined, since he was a very small boy. Based on his first meeting with one, he was rather let down. Vaelin was impatient, rude and snobbish - and if Rodan had to guess, seemed far more likely to be the kind of fairy to lead one to a fate of wandering lost in the forest.
"Will you hurry up? What's the point in having four legs if you're not going to use them?" Vaelin chided, bouncing irritably in the air.
"Leave off, I'm not used to walkin' on all fours, okay?" Rodan grumbled, adding "pompous little puff ball" quietly under his breath.
If he is leadin' me to my death, you'd think he'd make himself more enticin' to follow, Rodan thought to himself.
The unlikely pair travelled on through the oversized, eerily quiet woods. Vaelin would fly on ahead, then wait testily, tutting, as Rodan lumbered to catch up, lest he catch another earful from the fairy's sharp tongue. The sunlight seemed to fade the further they ventured, though whether it was the darkening sky or the or the encroaching trees in this deeper, denser part of the forest that was the cause, Rodan couldn't say.
Eventually, the two came upon a wall of vines. The green tendrils were thicker than Rodan's head, and twisted and undulated unsettlingly, as if possessed by some unseen spirit. Along the vines, razor sharp spikes grew, arming the writhing mass against unwanted intruders. Nonchalantly, Vaelin darted forward through a gap in the wall. The vines coiled and snaked their way around the opening, sealing it shut, blocking out his green light.
"Well, come on then. This is the entrance to the Fairy Queen's domain" Rodan heard Vaelin drawl from the other side. "It wouldn't do to keep her waiting."
"And how do you expect me to do that? Rodan yelled after the fairy, angrily. "Unless this weird animal body can fly and shrink on command, huh?"
"Nooo, but take a look at your front paws. See those big, sharp, scary looking things at the end of your feet? Those are called claws. You can use them to dig" Vaelin called back, in an infuriating, sing-song voice.
Rodan searched for a devastating comeback to counter the fairy's condescension, but as he couldn't find one, he set about digging his way under the vines, with anger-induced efficacy. I'll show you exactly what these claws can do you irritatin', snot-nosed little…
He tunnelled his way through the soft, rich soil, and before long found himself on the other side.
"I thought you might have turned your puffy tail and fled" said Vaelin, resting languidly over a tree stump.
Rodan's only response was to shake the dirt vigorously from his coat. He was delighted when a clump of earth smacked the fairy out of the air. Vaelin dropped several feet, before recovering, bobbing drunkenly for a few moments, then glowing crimson and buzzing like an enraged hornet's nest.
"You did that on purpose you hairy imbecile!" Vaelin screeched, dive-bombing Rodan. The fairy smacked into Rodan's muzzle with surprising force, but had to soar up high, narrowly avoiding a snap from Rodan's powerful jaws.
Their scuffle was interrupted by words from somewhere beyond them. "Vaelin, is that you? Have you returned to me?"
Both fairy and beast forgot their quarrel, entranced by the sweet music of the voice. It was lilting, delicate - yet washed throughout the forest like ripples on the clear surface of a pond, filling the air with her intent. Rodan would recall afterwards that though the soft-spoken words were hard to grasp, the will behind them was so strong that he thought no man nor beast could ever refuse their call.
"My Queen, I am here!" Vaelin called out. His angry redness faded to cool green, just as he replaced his haughty attitude for one of humility and servitude. He danced his way forward, through the brush towards the voice. Rodan made to follow, but Vaelin hissed angrily back at him. "You will wait until summoned."
Rodan stuck out his tongue as the fairy disappeared around the corner. From beyond the trees he heard the carillon-like voice again, so achingly familiar.
"Vaelin, have you brought him as I asked?"
"Of course, your majesty. It was my great honour to fulfil your task. But I must say, why you chose to bring a mortal to your kingdom, especially one as…uncouth as he, eludes me".
The voice did not answer directly, and instead Rodan felt the pull of her words calling out to him.
"Rodan, come to me".
He stepped into the clearing, though he did not remember moving. The place he found himself in, secluded from the rest of the forest by the living vines encircling it, looked a lot like the Fairy Pond that had brought him here. But like everything in this oversized world, the scale was far grander. A collection of waterfalls flowed from tall peaks shrouded in mist, thundering into a large lake of brilliant aquamarine. Huge, totemic stones, carved with intricate swirling patterns that emitted a pulsing light dotted the sandy shores.
But the thing that really made Rodan's jaw drop was the fairies. Thousands…perhaps tens of thousands of them, it was impossible to count them all, lit the air with every conceivable colour. Some were whizzing busily about some unknown errand, while others drifted thoughtfully in place. Yet more were clustered together in groups. Flying in formation, they performed what looked like a stately, choreographed dance. Mirrored in the waters below, so that their numbers seemed even larger, the light show made for a magical spectacle.
Hovering over the lake, close to shore, and not far from where Rodan stood, mouth agape, was the strangest woman he had ever seen, surrounded by a clamouring audience of fairy attendants. Or was she a young girl? She was tall and thin, but something in her proportions and the roundness of her face spoke of youth. But in her grey eyes was contained the knowledge of the universe, and the weight of years uncounted.
Or so Rodan thought. It was hard to gleam much from her impassive face, which, like the rest of her body, was shining smooth, unblemished as polished stone, and pale blue, as if she had been carved whole from the ore of a rare gem. She wore a simple gown of a similar hue, and even her hair…or her head…or bonnet, Rodan couldn't be sure, was blue, and pointed at the tip, so that it reminded him of a teardrop.
Rodan felt a sharp knock to the top of his own head.
"Were you raised in a ditch? You bow before the Queen of the Fairies" Vaelin spat, buzzing around Rodan's face, though steering well clear of his sharp teeth.
"Vaelin, that is unnecessary, and I would ask that you not lay hands on my son again" the Fairy Queen said, softly but assertively.
Rodan's heart skipped several beats. "Ma'? It's really you?" he breathed, gazing up in wonderment at the unearthly lady. He could scarcely get the words past the lump forming in his throat.
With a blinding flash of light, the Fairy Queen touched gently down beside him, transformed into the familiar shape of his mother, exactly as he last saw her, seven years ago.
"Hi lil' pea" she said, smiling, her eyes shining.
How Rodan had missed that smile. As her illness overtook her, he had seen it less and less, until it was gone, he thought forever. Now that he saw it again, he forgot everything. The strangeness of his surroundings. The concern he felt for his father. The burden of being chief. He even forgot his animal body as he dived at his mother, to embrace her warmly.
"Careful with those claws, sweetie" she laughed, wrapping him up in her arms just as she had when he was little. Without arms of his own to return the hug, he simply pressed his body firmly against hers, and nuzzled her cheek.
"I thought…how did you…". There were no words to express what he felt, so he stopped trying to search for them. Instead, he allowed himself to be swept up in the flood of emotions that had pent up over the years. The two clung to each other for what felt like blissful eternity; him weeping tears of joy, and her murmuring soothingly in his ear.
Eventually, they were interrupted by a polite cough. "Your majesty? Queen Thrianya? The clouds are gathering. There isn't much time" said Vaelin, simpering.
"There is all the time in the world for a reunion with my little boy".
"But…"
"Enough Vaelin" the Queen said firmly, shooting him a steely look. "The clouds are of no concern to us".
Rodan saw the fairy physically recoil at her stare. If he had hands, he would surely be wringing them.
"Ma', why did he call you Thrianya? That's not your name." Rodan said, looking questiongly up at his mother's face.
The Queen sighed and bowed her head. "Though I would happily live forever in this moment, content never to utter another word, as long as you were with me, I know that that is selfish. You are owed an explanation, for everything, even if that is meagre remittance for years of pain and loss. It has hurt my heart terribly to see you and your father suffer so in my absence. And yet I am the fortunate one, since I could watch over you both from here, while you were apportioned a grave as my only replacement; a paltry substitute, and for that you cannot begin to imagine the depths of my remorse. I am…so sorry for leaving, lil' pea".
"Ma'... it's okay…". Rodan fought through a fresh wave of tears. "But I still don't understand what happened to you".
Thriyana sighed deeply again, and began her tale. "As you know, I was stricken with an incurable disease. When I found out, I was distraught. Not for myself, but for you. The knowledge that you would grow up motherless was too much for me to bear. I would cry myself to sleep every night, but soon the sickness robbed me of even the small comfort of sleep. So instead, I would go to the Fairy Pond, to weep and to pray. I only half-believed the legends of a healing fairy that protected Ordon who once resided there, but still I found the place brought me some solace. One night, I heard a voice call out to me, just as I reached out to you in your dreams".
A hush had fallen over the lake, and all the watching congregation seemed to have stopped what they were doing and converged on the Queen, hanging on her words with baited breath. Even the waterfalls seemed to have stopped roaring, though Rodan was too enraptured to take note of anything apart from his mother's sorrowful words.
"The voice belonged to a Fairy Queen: ancient, powerful…and dying. She told me how two witches, practised in dark magic, had come to her, seeking entry to the divine realms. But when she refused them, they cursed her, leaving her weak and close to death. I was so shocked that the stories your grandmother had told me when I was a little girl were not in fact, well, just fairy tales, that I ran straight home! But the next night I returned. And the night after that. Over time, the Fairy Queen and I formed a bond, forged by our mutual suffering. I would journey to the pond every night, while everyone else was asleep, just to speak with her. I told her of my life, of my family, of you, my dear, sweet boy. She knew it all already of course, for she had guarded this land for centuries, and saw all that went on there. But still, she knew it comforted me to talk. It was the only assistance she could provide, with her strength dwindling as it was".
"Did you ever tell Da' about this?" Rodan asked, feeling a pang of guilt for interrupting. There were a few clucks of annoyance from the fairy audience.
"No, though I cannot say for sure the reason. Perhaps I worried he would think my mind was already gone. He and the other warriors deplored the Fairy Pond, for they took a great many of the injured there during the great war, in hopes that their protector would aid them. Of course, they could not know the fate of the Queen, who was unable even to help herself. Anyway, one night, she asked me a question: 'What if I could offer you a chance to escape your suffering? Where you could watch your family live and grow old, and you, untouched by the passing of time. What if I could grant you the power to protect those you love?' 'How? Tell me,' I replied, instantly. 'If you and I were to combine our spirits, if our souls were bonded such that we were one being, a new Fairy Queen, then you would live on, in the spirit realm, as the guardian of this land.' But of course, there was a catch, as is oft the case when doing deals with the supernatural. I would be unable to leave the spirit realm, or the gateway between our worlds would close, and we both would perish".
"So that's why…why I never saw you? You couldn't leave here, or you would die?"
Thrianya nodded solemnly. "I did not accept straight away. I could not bear to leave you behind, so I chose instead to wring every last drop out of the time we had remaining together. But before long, I was overcome with sickness. I couldn't even walk, I was so weak, your father had to carry me everywhere".
"I remember" Rodan faltered, as painful memories flashed across his mind.
"Finally, when I knew my time in the mortal world was at an end, I had my dear Boru carry me to the pond and set me down on the shore. I bade him leave me, so that I might pray. What he must have thought, when he saw a flash of light, and returned to find me gone…"
She broke off, unable to finish. Overhead, the thunderstorm was beginning.
"But now you understand. I am Thrianya. I am the consolidation of Thria of Ordon, but also of the old Fairy Queen, who lives on in me."
Rodan's head was spinning. He wasn't even sure what emotion he was feeling anymore, there were so many to choose from. But the mention of his father had reminded him again of his worries in the real world.
"Ma', in my dreams, you told me to bring Da' to you. You said you can save him?"
"The poison in his veins is the result of someone meddling with wicked magics. I recognise it, for it is the same dark arts that killed my predecessor, who's memories I share. I do not know how this magic has again tainted our land. If it is left to fester, it will not only claim my Boru, but all of Ordon. But if you can take your father to the Ordon Spring, I may yet save his life. It is after all the duty of a fairy to help a mortal in need, we who were entrusted with the spark of life by her grace, Farore."
"But, he will never agree to come. You know how he feels about that place. I finally understand why." Despair was welling in his chest. Could I carry him there while he was unconscious? I doubt I could convince Cylia. Maybe Odo would help…
The Queen's face was pained, but she forced a smile, seeing the concern on her son's. "I know, it's okay, my child." She hugged him close to her again, looking up at the heavens as the first green lightning bolt arced across the sky. "It may already be too late anyway" she added sadly.
Rodan squirmed free of her grasp to stare into her eyes. "What are you sayin'?"
She met his gaze, clearly uncomfortable, before composing herself and forcing another smile. "Rodan, sweetie, there's nothing to worry about. You are safe. We are together again. It is all we have both longed for for so long. Let us just enjoy this mome..."
"Is Father in danger?" interrupted Rodan firmly. A roll of thunder boomed, echoing around the lake, and several fairies squeaked in alarm, and cowered under Thrianya's hem. There was a woosh as a gale tore past.
His mother didn't answer, instead getting up and addressing Vaelin, who was still bobbing anxiously nearby. "Someone has entered my forest. Go see to it at once." Vaelin immediately zoomed away, becoming a streak of green.
Rodan padded after his mother, confronting her again. "Somethin's wrong isn't it? It's somethin' to do with this storm. Please, just tell me what's happenin'."
Thrianya spoke steadily, using her commanding, fairy queen voice. "There is a small issue, but it is handled. I will resolve this matter, and you will stay here where it is safe."
"And what about Da', is he safe?"
"Your father has guards to protect him. I have confidence the warriors of Ordon will protect their chief."
"I am the chief," Rodan yelled, losing his temper in his frustration. "Because you were gone, and Da' is hurt. If there is a threat to the village then I need to go and help."
Thrianya was clearly distressed, her composure failing. "But…but you can't go back. It's too dangerous."
"I don't care," Rodan said, his anger subsiding. "I love you, but Da's out there in the real world and he needs me. All we've got is each other now. He put his trust in me, to act as chief in his stead. I'm not the little boy you left behind seven years ago, I have my own responsibilities now."
"I know, but…"
"Ma', I need to do this".
After some internal debate, the concern on her face was replaced with understanding, and she gazed at her son with fondness and respect.
At that moment, a golden wolf came bounding up to them, followed by Vaelin.
"You won't believe it, but the intruder turned out to be Link! I know him from my time in Kokiri forest" Vaelin buzzed excitedly.
Link and Rodan hurriedly greeted each other.
"How come you get to be a wolf?" Rodan joked.
"What even are you?" he replied, with a grin. "Actually nevermind that, this place is under attack."
"It's worse than that. We have to get back home. The village is in danger! Oh by the way, this is my mum, the fairy queen. I'll explain it later."
"You better," said Link in surprise, bowing his head at Thrianya.
"Well met, hero" she replied with a curtsey. "I understand you journeyed far to see me. I wish there was time enough for the three of us to enjoy a conversation. But an evil is laying siege to the sacred realm, from the gateway in Ordon. Phantom Ganon has returned, this time with an army."
"Then we really are in trouble," Link said. "My questions can wait, it's time to go home".
The queen nodded, then spoke to Vaelin. "Go with them, little one. As Fairy Queen I charge you; serve my son, protect him from harm, and bring him through the trials he will face."
"Seriously? You want me to…umm I mean, of course, your majesty. I am honoured".
She embraced her son again. "I love you lil' pea. I hope you know how proud of you I am. I love you with all my heart".
"I know Ma'," Rodan mumbled, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. He didn't want to cry in front of Link.
After she released him, she turned to the wolf. "You know Link, you remind me a lot of my husband. I know of your deeds and your kind heart. Please, keep my son safe. I'm counting on you. Now, both of you, step into the water and I shall transport you back to the light world, and your own bodies".
They did as she asked, wading out into the lake, joined by Vaelin, who was grumbling under his breath. As the ring of light encircled them again, Rodan took one last look at his mother and smiled. She waved, as the light grew and grew, until she disappeared from view as they sank below the surface.