AH I FORGOT TO MAKE AN AUTHOR'S NOTE. lol um, oopsie. This is going to be updated in cause I totally blanked out before I hit post. It's about over halfway through the summer. I've been doing some work on a book idea in passing and have found time to work on this. Something I've been working on in my writing is summary rather than going over every little event which is what I've tried to stop myself from doing for a long time but didn't really bother much. If I'm going to write a novel it's something I need to perfect cause otherwise no publishing company is going to want a 1000 page book because I accidentally focused on EVERYTHING. But you aren't here to listen to me ramble.
Enjoy
"You look like ass."
I knew it, but hearing it didn't make things any better. Sleep didn't come to me like a balloon loosed into the air. Link nonetheless gave me a cheery "Happy birthday" the moment I gave up and got out of bed. The comment about my appearance came from Midna.
"Leave her alone," Link said angrily, tying off the bottom of my braid and giving me a hug from behind.
Creota hopped onto my lap from the floor, reaching up and batting around my leiyn that hung from my neck as I slouched. Giving her a loving pat, Link moved away and grabbed his shirt from the floor, butting Midna out of his path. The two constantly acted like they hated each other, but their respect was unmatched. While sometimes they may not have trusted me, they put their lives in the other's hands without question.
Me? I was always with question.
"We head for Snowpeak tomorrow. In the meantime, Maizy's birthday." Midna picked up Link's pencil and journal and scribbled on a page. When she presented her drawing to the room, Link's face scrunched and he snatched it out of her hand. I thought her illustration of all of us around a table with a cake was cute, but he sighed as he turned and found she drew it on the back of a used page.
He grumbled, "Stop touching my stuff."
Midna rolled her eye. "Anyway."
"Can I be alone for a bit first? I don't feel good." I shifted uncomfortably in my new clothes, looking between the two of them.
"You never feel good." Midna swiped the sketchbook back and turned to the page again. "But, we'll leave you for now. I'd love some breakfast."
Link agreed reluctantly, cautiously heading out of the room as Midna returned his book and dropped into his shadow. I glanced out the window once they were gone, taking in the roar of the market below. The sun warmed my tanning skin, pushing it to the darkest I'd ever been. Grabbing the shutters, I closed it tightly and sat in the dark.
"Vox."
My toes traced the grain of the wooden floor, feeling the age in its wear. Silence lingered on like a stench. I pressed my fingers to my leiyn, basking the corner of the room in pulsing blue glow. My chair whined as I shifted.
I can explain.
Finally, his voice flooded my head. "I've been waiting for an explanation all night. Go."
Zant's right. I'm a traitor, I agreed to work with him under the deal he'd bring back my wife and my daughter. Before he came to our settlement, I'd run away when I was of age to Hyrule to leave everyone. I met my wife, Effie, there, and after a few years had my daughter, Creota. My brother found me awhile later and brought me back home, but when I got there they locked me up and killed my family. A kitten had wandered into my cell and I knew I only had enough skill and magic to save one soul, so I saved Creota and stored her in my leiyn like you do.
And that's when Zant came. Our numbers were dwindling year by year and he promised to save us. You should've seen the way he could manipulate souls, hold them in his hands, I believed him. I don't know how he found us, but if his god, Ganondorf, has anything to do with it, he knew we'd be a worthy asset. But much of the men were suspicious. They made a pact that they'd leave with Tanek and I because we were the most powerful, but I refused to go with them. I was blinded by grief. After they left, Zant told me to sabotage the leiyns of everyone still there so they couldn't go as well, and I did it.
Immediately after, we attacked the Twilight Realm. But I wasn't there, Zant sent me on a mission to find a girl in your world who could identify the hero and coax him to Zant. This is what I had to do to get my family back.
When I got to your world I went looking for my brother, but I couldn't find him. I ended up landing on you and executed my plan, but I didn't have enough magic to bring my body through. Zant was supposed to put my soul back in my body, but I lost it, so I just sat there in the spring with you, watching our two souls next to each other. I was constantly clinging to my leiyn, trying to reform it from the rubble of magic it was. My daughter's soul was in it, so I couldn't talk to you, I had to hold on with half of my mind and try to merge our souls together with the other.
And then you woke up and I felt your panic. The fear overwhelmed me too. Truly, I pitied you, I realized I was being used, so I chose to finally betray Zant. I started translating everything, making sure you had what you needed to survive. It's now I realize just how weak translation makes you, and I realize that Zant wanted my power. He knew Tanek was invaluable, and although I neglected my magic, I had the same capacity. If he could weaken my soul, he could control it.
When we translate, we never truly die. The body must be on the brink of death, holding on by a thread, that's when the soul is most apt for entering a new host. Our body is then stuck forever in a state of decay, but still open to accepting another soul. We're never complete again unless we're back with our home body. This incompletion allows the souls to be drawn to one another, the host wanting to dominate the parasite, and the parasite wanting to leech and eventually control the host. Whoever wins keeps the conscious.
I'd like to die, I think. I'd like for you to have control, and for my soul to be so completely entwined with yours that you never have to worry about the consequences of loose ends. I made a mistake. I should've told you and I'm sorry it was you. It could've been anyone, but at the same time, you're stronger than you think you are, and if it was anyone else I'm not sure it would've worked. You have this way about you, this look in your eye. Please forgive me, I only want what's best for you now, to help you get home. You have no reason to doubt me, I'm dead as is.
The light of my leiyn dissipated. I quietly hugged Creota to my chest, watching her whiskers twitch between the small lines of sun through the shutters. A sharp laugh burst from the street outside the window, lining up with the skip of my heart. "You were going to take me over, just like that. Isn't that what you did at the prison?"
Our souls get closer and closer each day, I can grasp at your magic and through your magic I can grasp you, but I can't hold something like that. It's been too long, your soul has already won the battle, my job is to make sure that mine is properly annexed. It doesn't matter what I meant to do, I changed my mind and I'm at the point of no return.
I scratched Creota's chin, biting my lip back. "I wish it was easy. I can't deny the fact that you've helped but I can't deny that you were so willing to kill me. And I-"
I was never sure. Part of me just wanted to find my brother. The whole time it never felt right.
"You say I should trust you, but it won't come back that quickly."
I understand.
My hand shook, quivering as I braced myself to stand. "Either way, thank you, Vox. Thanks for giving me a second chance."
He didn't respond. We fell away into the embrace of summer and I left the room to find Link. Naturally, he was in the back talking away with Rusl about how neither of them had gone fishing in awhile. When he spotted me, he jumped up and hugged me. "Hey! What do you think about fishing?"
I'd squeezed him back, but once he mentioned fishing I quickly pushed him away a bit. "Fishing? My dad took me fishing once and it was boring."
"On a canoe?" Link asked, barely containing his excitement.
"No...not on a boat, just on the shore."
"Okay, well you can have fun in the canoe, there's a place on the way to Snowpeak. We can get going there today that way Ashei won't be left waiting."
"Snowpeak? I-hey!"
Link grabbed my arm and in a moment we barreled up to our room and packed everything to leave. As he scooped his clothes off the floor he confirmed with me that the mountain was where the first mirror shard landed. Midna giggled a bit at my bewilderment and teased him for being so elated by something like fishing, but as usual he brushed her off. I rubbed my arm, slightly offended.
Snowpeak Mountain sat north of Zora's Domain in an even higher altitude area. Link explained that it was snowy even during summer time and that the climb would be a good two days or more. The climate changed drastically as if possessed by something, so we'd need warmer clothes.
If we went to Snowpeak, we'd pass through Zora's Domain, which would also mean seeing Wasyl again and potentially the Zora Prince as well. It'd felt like forever ago that we met him, and I found myself rehearsing what I'd tell him about what's happened since. My eyes glanced Link and I hoped that maybe by then I could mention us being a "thing," though I feared maybe it hadn't been long enough to say anything.
Castle Town was off the horizon as quickly as it took to down my breakfast. Coats and blankets hidden in our bottomless pouches, we trotted off on Epona. Creota slept snug in my leiyn as we disappeared out into the open field. Birds chirped uncontrollably when we hit forest, singing to each other back and forth.
Hidden behind the trees, a river roared down the mountain, shifting between a peaceful trickle to the crash of a waterfall as we made our way up. Midna pointed out plants along the way, testing Link on what kinds they were. I was surprised by his lack of hesitation at times, listing them off like the answers were on the back of his hand. That must've been what you got when you lived out in the middle of nowhere.
"The plants in the Twilight Realm are really fragile. We normally don't touch them too much and just end up eating meat." She explained how she rarely felt hungry in her imp form with a frown on her face.
The fishing hole finally popped up as we followed an offshoot of the river. Waterfalls surrounded the pond on one side, falling from the huge cliffs above. A quaint cabin sat on the water, a dock spread out off its front. On the doorstep, a girl sat with a fishing rod in her hands, whistling a familiar tune.
"My mom used to love that song. She hummed it all the time," Link recalled.
I slid off Epona as he tossed the reigns aside. "What do you call it?"
"The Song of Storms. There's a little myth about it. Apparently the man who spread it around learned it from some guy in a windmill and then went back in time and taught it to him. So no one knows who actually created the song." Link dropped down beside me and tied Epona to a fence next to the dock.
"You mean the Hero of Time? It was one of my favorite things to do to keep going back to that windmill as a kid and just listen to the song play over and over. I even learned it on my flute." I stared down where my left arm should've been. All those years on an instrument and I'd no longer have anything to show for it.
"The Hero of Time was in one of your game things too?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded, smiling. "Yeah, if you're ever curious you can ask me anything about him."
We finally approached the girl on the dock after making sure Epona wouldn't need anything for a bit. The girl gave us a broad wave, her smile pressing dimples into her cheeks. Her curly brown hair cascaded out of a bucket hat that shaded her eyes as she fished all day long.
"Hey! I'm Hena, I run this little fishing shop here if you need any supplies. Where are y'all from?" She reeled her line in and stood up, pulling her brim out of her blue eyes.
Link gestured to himself. "I'm from Ordon and she's from...north of the mountains."
Lighting up abruptly, she exclaimed, "Oh! Ordon, my brother lives right around down there. You know Coro?"
"Yeah, he comes into town sometimes, but he likes that small shack. If you ever visit you should maybe teach him how to cook for himself cause, uh, I tried his stew once and it was vile."
Hena laughed hysterically, sputtering about how she's sure it was. "That's my brother, alright."
The little cabin had a plethora of fishing lures, bait, rods, and equipment. Considering I'd never been too interested, I couldn't tell if the supplies would work any worse than what we had at home. If Link and my dad had anything in common, it would definitely be fishing.
We got a small canoe and pushed into the pond, waving back at Hena as she sat at the dock and cast out her line. Floating into the deeper ends, I stared at our reflection on the small rippling waves. The sun was ruthless by noon, making us seek some shade by the cliffs. Link caught a good few fish, naming them one by one as he pulled them out. Seeing the fish was surreal and although I tried to complain, I couldn't help but be intrigued.
"How do you have so many hobbies. All I do is sit in bed all day." I traced a finger into the wood grain, wondering.
Link tugged his rod slightly, then started pulling back to reel another in. "I don't know, I got restless in Ordon if my hands weren't doing anything so I picked up whatever I could."
"You should teach me some things. When this is all over." I let the request hang on my tongue, feeling its pressure in my mouth. Once again, did I really want to just go home? Leave all this behind?
The rod shot forward, nearly flying out of Link's hands. He tugged back sharply, but at that point it came back easily and he reeled in to an empty hook. Nonetheless, he looked at me with a tiny glimmer in his eye and said, "You can show me some of your hobbies too. I'd love that."
Epona was happy to see us return once Link decided he was done. Hena gleefully asked how many we'd caught, straightening up some items around her cabin. We dropped off the borrowed supplies and hopped on the saddle to trek further along the river. Right before sundown, we made it to Zora's Domain, including the winding route to the very top. Along the way I spotted the tree where I first met Creota and Vox. If I wasn't so mad at him, maybe it would've been a nicer moment to stop and observe. Instead I let it pass by.
The domain crowded with life once more, Zoras swimming in and out of the basin while guards stood watch and chatted with fish folk. A throne of blue stone sat at the back, a Zora pushing up from the seat to see us more clearly as we entered on horseback. Everyone's attention rippled to us as we left the horse to cross the rest of the way on foot. Before the throne, the Zora stood slightly paralyzed, then happily smirked and enveloped us both in a brief hug.
"I was wondering when you'd come by for a visit," Wasyl laughed. His smooth skin was adorned in ornate dark blue fabrics, jewelry combined with shells dangling from his neck, limbs, and ears. "Wanted to show off to you guys. They liked your idea, so now I'm King Wasyl. At least temporarily until Prince Ralis is well and old enough to take his throne."
Link clapped him on the shoulder, admiring the steel spear in Wasyl's grasp. It towered above us, hung with strips of cloth and beads. "Good to see you again."
As if drawn to an odd smell, the Zoras closed around us somewhat, straining their necks to see. Wasyl gestured to the crowd widely, explaining, "I told them what happened in the temple, and they told me about your adventures, unfreezing the water and transporting the Prince to Kakariko. We're grateful for all you've done for us, and agreed that should you arrive again, we'd throw a celebration in your honor."
My cheeks went hot to the touch. I sputtered out, flustered, "Oh, no you don't have to do anything for us."
Wasyl shook his head. "Hey, what's a victory without a little celebration? I ran a vote, everyone's in favor."
"Hell, why not. It's Maizy's birthday." Link switched to my side and held me close by the waist. My nerves erupted where he touched, scattering into my stomach.
The crowd separated at Wasyl's instruction, some moving back to their resting places where others went quickly to work. Within an hour the domain had transformed into a festival ground. Zoras proudly presented their homemade fish foods, complete with odd wet plants of foreign flavors. Some vendors were vigorously trying to throw together some small knick knacks for the kids who swept them up in dozens for their friends.
I stirred my feet in the water, chowing down on some fish snack wrapped in seaweed. Link sat beside me, affixing a headpiece into my hair made of pearls. The Zora people came around to plead their thanks, giving us blessings of the goddess, Nayru. Wasyl moderated most of it with finesse, giving us breathing time between thanks or activities.
"The Prince will be up here shortly. We've already sent a few escorts that will wait for his health to bounce back. A messenger I also sent said Ralis was well on his way already and would be good to travel in a week." Wasyl patted his stomach, gleefully making conversation late in the night. The festival had died down much by then.
"You really got a hang of this fast, huh?" Link commented, running his thumb up and down my shoulder where he held me.
Before Wasyl could agree, the patter of quickened feet startled him out of his contented stupor. A Zora stopped short of us, panting with his hands to his knees. He finally gathered himself and announced, "A yeti was spotted in the lower basin."
"A yeti?! What's he doing?" Wasyl stood, straightening his back.
The Zora continued, "They said he seemed to be fishing for a bit, then caught a reekfish and left."
"A reekfish, of all things to catch, it went after a reekfish…" Wasyl huffed then directed the Zora. "Is it too far gone, can we track it?"
Link jumped up, waving his hands. "Whoa, it's just a fish, what are you gonna do to the yeti?"
"That 'fish' is a sacred fish. Their numbers have been dwindling for years and are only found in this village. We'll either kill it if it refuses to cooperate, or it'll go free and never fish in our lake again," Wasyl insisted.
Knowing the yeti was likely the harmless Yeto, I jutted in, "Link and I are still planning to head up the mountain. We can intercept him for you."
Wasyl sighed, measuring our offer silently. "I guess it'd be better. My people don't exactly do well in the cold…"
"What's one more favor? We'll find him and get back to you after we're done with our business up north," Link assured him, nudging his arm with an elbow.
As the Zoras slipped away for the night into their small houses set in the cliffs, Wasyl reluctantly saw us off on the promise we'd come back and give the verdict on the yeti. Clouds rolled in to cover the stars, leaving our path blackened and unreadable. We'd eventually give up moving by the glimpses of the moon and set up camp, but at that point we walked arm in arm beside Epona. Midna's dim figure sat on her saddle, whistling a sad tune once again familiar in my ears. A lament.
