Chapter 5 (Age 13)
Zelda sat with Link on his bed, sharing the book between them. They wrote frantically, trying to finish their homework before they could do anything else. If there was one thing that Gaepora did for Link that was above the profession he had as an instructor, it was that he often treated Link in a similar way to Zelda.
Though Link couldn't exactly call him a parental figure, he was the closest thing he had.
Gaepora came into the room again and stood in the doorway. "I can check it now."
"Thank the Goddess," Zelda said, sliding off the bed with her notebook. She handed it to him and then offered her hand for Link's book.
He gave it to her, and she passed it along. Gaepora sat at Pipit's desk, though he was not there. As Gaepora inspected the work, he made several pensive noises. It took some time, but finally he handed the books back. "You both have numbers seven and seventeen wrong. Don't forget to account for the Loftwing's feathers, not just it's wingspan."
Zelda sighed and plopped herself back down, bouncing the bed slightly. Link took his notebook and erased the work he'd done on those two questions, wishing he could have just left them wrong.
When they'd both finished, they gave them back. This time, Gaepora nodded.
"Good work, you two. You're quite a team. You can go have fun now."
Zelda grinned and grabbed Link. "Come on!"
He followed willingly, though her excitement often left him looking as if he had been taken against his will.
Only now, when Zelda grabbed his hand, things felt… different.
He realized that he liked the feel of her hand on his. He liked the uncomfortable sensation of Goddess Butterflies in his stomach when he looked at her. There were times when he felt he couldn't breathe, sweating and confused as if he'd never spoken to Zelda a day in his life.
Other times, things were the way they'd always been. He still liked to be around her, but he didn't feel like a ball of nerves every waking moment. But he kept quiet. After all, she wasn't complaining of any stomach aches, so there was no way she was feeling the same about him.
"Okay!" Zelda said, skidding to a stop outside the Bazaar. "Do you still want to do this?" She pulled out a red rupee from her bag and waited.
Link had to swallow his nerves. Now, it wasn't just because of Zelda. "Yeah. I'm going to do it. Knights have to do this." His voice cracked once and he felt the red seep into his face. He turned away from Zelda. "Maybe not today."
But she held his hand tighter. "You can do it. That won't happen! And if it does, just remember that Pipit is having a way harder time. His voice never stops squeaking. You'll be fine! You can do this!"
With a deep breath, Link went inside, followed closely behind by Zelda.
You'll be a Knight. Knights have courage. I can do this. I can do this.
Walking over to the merchant's stall, one of the graduating Knight's Academy students sat gloomily on the bench. His mother, Goselle, whacked his arm, alerting him to the two customers.
"Rupin, this will be your job. Take over."
"Hello. How may I help you today?" asked the bored student.
Goselle smiled an apologetic smile at Link and Zelda and turned back to her son. "Hey! You didn't want to be a Knight. You wanted to work elsewhere. You are, so now you have to act like you want to be here. Sell them something, Rupin. Put a smile on their faces… and yours."
In what was clearly an act, a forced smile that was far creepier than anything, Rupin turned to Zelda, recognizing the pair from the Academy.
"Sorry about before. I'm new and still learning." If Zelda hadn't heard his mother chastise him, she'd have thought it to be a sincere apology. "How can I assist you today?"
Zelda turned her attention to Link, giving him his cue. Link took a deep breath and fiddled with his own red rupee in his pocket. The smooth, glass-like sensation calmed him as he glided his thumb along the surface. Deep breath. Again.
"Can I have…" Link stopped and cleared his throat, but that was enough for Rupin to betray his surprise. Link turned red again and looked away.
Zelda grabbed his arm in encouragement but didn't say anything.
Another deep breath. "I'll take the Deku Seeds."
"R-right," Rupin said, keeping his forced smile on his face. "That'll be twenty rupees."
Link slid the comforting stone from his pocket and placed it into Rupin's hand. He took the Deku Seeds and let out that breath with a long and hard sigh. "Thank you."
"Yeah… of course."
Zelda pulled Link over to the chairs and struggled to contain her excitement. "You did so good!"
He pushed his hair from his face. "That wasn't easy."
His ears perked up as he listened to Rupin's conversation with his mother. Zelda stopped talking too, pretending to look interested in the Deku seeds. It was a bad thing to do, they both knew, but eavesdropping had become almost second nature to them. At the Academy, it was the only way to get the scoop.
"Did I do okay?" Rupin asked his mom.
She pinched his cheek, and he pushed her hand back. "You did great. You just need some time and practice to perfect that and you'll be taking over for me in no time."
"I had that weird kid. He never talks. I mean… never."
"I know," Goselle said dismissively. "Sometimes, people change. You won't be the same after working here. It'll make you so much better with people. You remember when you hid from my Loft wing? That was almost a year until I could break you from that habit. Don't judge the kid."
"What a first customer…"
"Daddy!"
A new voice. Link turned to Zelda and hid his face. Zelda grinned, but it wasn't filled with excitement or joy. More like apprehension.
"I want to go to the Lumpy Pumpkin for supper!"
"Peatrice, I can't afford to go there every night. Besides, I'm not feeling well. I just want to go to bed."
Link turned in his chair. Peatrice was known as one of the most interesting girls in Skyloft. She had attended the Academy for a time, but then her father, Peater, had decided to finish her education himself. She'd been pulled from the Academy and asked to help out while Peater collected materials for his dream job. One day… someday, he would own his own game house. He didn't know what game, but he knew it had to be perfect.
Peatrice, however, had picked a fight with Zelda just a few weeks ago, and they'd managed to steer clear of each other until today. Link and Zelda couldn't figure out the grudge Peatrice had, but it wasn't one they wanted to relive. They kept their heads down.
If Peatrice had noticed them, she didn't say anything. Link suspected it was because her father was with her. Or perhaps she'd just had a really bad day the other day. But either way, they both lifted their eyes and this time, genuinely chuckled together like they'd just committed a prank.
Peatrice bumped into a strange looking man on her way out.
"Watch it!" he hissed at her. Another strange man came in, and a woman. Link squinted. They weren't from Skyloft, that was for sure. They were from one of the outer islands, like Fledge and Groose.
"S-sorry," Peatrice muttered, before her father grabbed her arm and hastily pulled her away from the odd group.
It was only then that Link realized that he was standing on his feet, his chair pushed back. He looked away from the group and back at Zelda. "I was… uh… getting a better look at their outfits. I think I want that shirt."
After a few moments of giggling at the group, Zelda's eyes softened and she turned to Link, looking much more serious.
"You'll be a good Knight one day, Link."
He smiled a thank you and looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Well, you'll be a good instructor."
"Do you know what I really want to do?" Zelda asked, looking at her hands anxiously. Link didn't answer, but he waited, so Zelda continued. "I want to fly away for a while. I want to go beyond the Thunderhead on my own Loftwing and see the Sky. I want to find another land… another whole island! A world like Skyloft that no one has found in the Sky before."
"Will you come back and tell me about it, or would you stay there?"
Zelda snorted. "Of course, I'd come back. But you could come on my adventure with me."
"'The Adventures of Link: Boy Without a Bird.' That would be a great story: 'He walked over to the edge of Skyloft and turned around. The end.'"
"You could try. If you can talk to people, you can fly, too."
Link didn't try to hide his emotions. "Yeah? Well, talking didn't kill my mom. A Loftwing did."
Zelda looked away, knowing that this wasn't the kind of subject Link liked to talk about… ever.
Link sighed in frustration and stood up. "Maybe we should get back."
"Yeah."
By the next day, their conversation had been forgotten and Link was back to his usual self. Link had changed early in the morning to go for a walk around Skyloft before class, and when he returned, Pipit was sitting on his own bed, staring at the floor. When he heard Link close the door, he spoke without looking up.
"Do you ever just not know what to do with yourself? I don't know what to do before class, but I feel like I'm wasting time."
Fledge called over the partitions, "He's been like this all morning."
Link shrugged. "You can go for a walk with me, if you want."
Pipit looked up, still bland. He and Fledge had been the first two recipients of Link's attempts to communicate aloud more often, so his responses were no longer a surprise for them.
"I guess I might try it."
"You can sleep in, too," Link suggested with a chuckle. "I've only been walking since you came in. I love sleeping late. Zelda had to wake me up more than a few times."
Pipit sighed again. "I don't want you to change your routine for me. And that sounds like a good idea, too. But I just can't. I've got so much on my mind."
The partition slid over and Fledge joined them on Link's side of the room. "I-I read in the mornings."
Pipit smiled but shook his head. "Not my style. I'll figure something out. At least some day I'll be able to just fly. Go on patrols, or just fly for fun, you know?"
Link grunted a response. None of that sounded like fun. He grabbed his notebook and quill from his desk and tossed it onto his bed. "I don't want to go to class today."
"What else is there to do?"
"Go back to sleep."
Pipit snorted as he got his things together for class. "Let's just go and get today over with."
"Skyloft is so boring sometimes," Link said with a yawn.
As if hearing Link's lamenting, there was a knock on their door. Pipit went to open it, surprised to see Instructors Horwell and Owlan.
"Boys," Owlan greeted them. The three boys waited for either of the instructors to speak, and finally, Horwell stepped forward.
"Classes are canceled until further notice. Skyloft… Skyloft is facing a… a problem. We are asking all students to grab their things and go to an assigned location. The three of you, you'll be going to Mallara's home."
"My mom?" Pipit asked curiously.
"Yes, she will take care of you until we can all return to normal."
"What's happening?" Fledge asked nervously.
Horwell gave him his best smile. "Don't worry. Just grab a few things and meet me in the hallway."
Link, Fledge, and Pipit exchanged a worried glance and packed a few things into a backpack. Pipit had reminded them that he had things at home in case they forgot anything. They didn't even know why they were leaving.
As they entered the hall, they saw every other student doing the same thing: lining up quietly with a small bag of their things. Instructors were leading small groups out one at a time. Finally, Horwell came back for them.
"What's happening?" Pipit tried again. But once again, Horwell didn't give him a proper answer.
Soon after leaving the Academy and traipsing through the deserted roads of Skyloft, the three boys were settled around Pipit's house.
"Sorry, boys," she'd said when they first came in. "I didn't have time to clean today, but I'll get to it later. You can call me Mallara. Not you, Pip. You can call me mom!"
Link stared out the window at the Academy, wondering what kind of mess they were dealing with. There was no one wandering the streets except for the odd instructor leading groups to homes.
"What's happening, Mom?" Pipit asked.
His mom's face betrayed a little fear, but she controlled it quickly. "I don't know! They asked if I wanted to take some of you in, and I said, 'I want my son and his friends or no one at all!'"
Pipit joined Link by the window. "I wonder where Karane and Zelda are staying?"
Fledge crossed his arms and sat far from the window. "Forget them. Where are Groose and his goons? I don't want them to be our neighbors or anything."
"I want to know what's happening," Link muttered.
Mallara's eyes lit up, almost as if she were hearing her own son speak for the first time. But again, she contained herself, not wanting to embarrass Link in any way. "Listen, boys, all I know is it's happening at the Bazaar, but that the Academy wasn't the safest place to be at the moment."
"What?" Pipit gasped, looking more frantically out the window.
"Come away from there, you'll strain your eyes." She crossed her arms near the fire where she was cooking food.
Pipit turned to Link with a mischievous grin, and he lowered his voice. "I can keep her talking if you can get to the bazaar."
"I don't want to make your mom angry," Link admitted. He loved being at Pipit's house. Mallara was what he liked to imagine his own mom had been like.
"What if we can help? What if there's something happening, and they might need future knights?"
Link started to protest again, but Pipit caught Link's arm, real fear suddenly crossing his eyes. "What if Karane and Zelda are there? They go sometimes before class to eat."
That got Link to consider Pipit's idea. It was true; Zelda and Karane would sometimes go to eat Piper's morning special. Link and Pipit never wanted to wake up before class to join, though Fledge had gone a couple of times.
"Just see if they're in there."
Steeling himself as he prepared to break about a hundred rules, Link nodded. Pipit ran over to his mother and struck up a conversation that she eagerly got into.
Sneaking out the door as quietly as he could, Link timed his approach to the bazaar between passing groups and instructors so he wouldn't be caught. It was difficult, and not something he'd ever tried before, but eventually, he made it to the back entrance of the bazaar.
There was a crowd standing in front of the doorway, closer to the items shop than the actual door, and it allowed him a decent look inside. He crept in and ducked behind a counter, peering through the gaps between people to see anything.
And he saw his worst fear confirmed.
Zelda and Karane were seated at one of the tables, covering their mouths to stifle sobs. Peatrice and Paeter were there as well, and so were a couple of others. And surrounding them… Link couldn't see. He moved closer again.
He had to cover his own mouth as he gasped. The strangely dressed group from the night before stood around the diners with outstretched swords. Gaepora was in front of them, talking too softly for Link to hear. Behind him were several older knights, ready and prepared for a fight. But the odd group was too close to the diners, and the Knights wouldn't move until it was safer for them.
Suddenly, Link felt something sharp dig into his arm and drag him away. Nails, he realized. He was fully prepared to see Mallara glaring down at him, but it wasn't her. It was Tirra, Eagus' sister from the Sparring Hall.
"Link," she hissed, pulling him all the way out the door. "What in the Goddess' name are you doing? Get out!"
"Zelda's in there!" he gasped when he finally found his breath.
Tirra looked momentarily surprised that he'd spoken to her, but she nodded. "She is, and she might get hurt if you go in there again. Listen, they need us in there. I can't babysit you. Go back to wherever they brought you."
"I have to help," Link said frantically. He didn't know how, or what he could do, but he needed to do something.
And Tirra's eyes lit up, though they dimmed just as quickly.
"What?" Link asked, noticing.
Tirra looked around to make sure no one was around. "Master Kos took Eagus to the Lumpy Pumpkin this morning. I don't think anyone's gone to tell them what's happening, otherwise they'd be here. We need them. Kos can stop this. I can't leave. They want all of us here. But you could take my Loftwing over and get them over here."
Link's eyes widened in fear at the thought. He shook his head, almost on instinct.
"Link, that's your friend in there. I have to go back in and help her. I can do that if you go to Kos. If I just stay here talking to you and they need me, something might happen to your friend. Can you do this, or can't you? I know about you and Loftwings…"
Link closed his eyes, seeing Zelda's head in her hands with tears down her cheeks. Karane was beside her, feeling that same fear. Gaepora was watching his daughter behind a sword. The knights were too busy. They were moving the students to places with supervision, in case there were more from that group.
"The Lumpy Pumpkin, Link. The Lumpy Pumpkin and back and Kos can get everyone out of there safely."
Taking a deep breath, Link nodded.
Tirra sighed in relief, looked one more time over her shoulder, and hurriedly pulled Link to the nearest jumping platform and whistled for her bird.
A massive Loftwing set its talons down beside Tirra and cawed happily, blissfully ignorant of the situation at hand. She soothed her bird and helped Link up. "Hold on here and direct him with your body. It'll feel natural, and he won't let you crash. Just go now."
She nodded once more to Link and turned away to hurry back to her place in the bazaar. And Link was left with a decision.
Could he do this?
He'd taken several long breaths, and then gently kicked the borrowed bird to urge it to move before it took off and dove through the sky, gaining immense speed and momentum as it angled downwards.
Link was sure this was it; this was the moment he'd pass out and die. He clung to the feathers, almost positive that he was hurting the poor bird, but there was nothing he could do to relax his grip. His breath caught and he fought back a horrible scream.
It was over in just a few minutes, though it felt like hours; the bird leveled out and coasted its way to the Lumpy Pumpkin, though it didn't calm Link much. As they soared, the irony of the situation wasn't lost on Link. He, the one most terrified of Loftwings, was the first one of his class to ride solo.
When the Loftwing landed, his feet barely moved. He had to grab his leg to force it over the bird's back so he could slide off and onto solid ground. It slowed his heart to a manageable pace, but he couldn't get his body to respond yet.
Pumm was outside with his young daughter, Kina. They both ran for Link to help him off the Loftwing. Pumm was nervous by just how much the boy was shaking.
"Are you alright? Are you even old enough to ride a Loftwing?"
Link shook his head. Of course he wasn't. He'd never planned to ride one in his life. And now, he had to do it all over again just to get back.
Pumm saw Link's expression and pushed Kina behind him protectively. "What's happening?"
Link took a deep breath. It'd been years since he talked to strangers alone. And when he had talked, it had been to people he felt comfortable with. Gaepora, Pipit's mom, his friends, Zelda, even Tirra. And she'd pushed him to start talking, to reach out at the Bazaar. He steeled himself. He could do this.
"I… Master Kos. There's an emergency. I need Master Kos."
Pumm nodded right away and ran inside, emerging moments later with Kos and Eagus in tow.
"Link?" Master Kos said with unhidden surprise. "What happened?"
"They took over the bazaar! They have swords," Link managed. Thankfully, it was all Kos needed to know to sprint off the island and onto his Loftwing as it swooped under him. Eagus followed without a glance back.
Link collapsed to the ground, his whole body shaking. He did it.
Pumm ran outside and grabbed onto Link. "Are you alright, son?"
Link struggled to speak, his body failing to help him do anything at the moment.
"Let me help you back onto the Loftwing."
Link's body shook, wishing for nothing more than to live in the Lumpy Pumpkin just so he didn't have to get back on that thing. But he had to get back.
Nodding, Link found his footing and gratefully accepted Pumm's help getting back onto the bird. He barely had time to mutter a thank you before the Loftwing stepped off the edge, leaving Link to cling to the feathers for dear life.
He squeezed his eyes shut, pretending he was just running so incredibly fast that he could fly until the bird touched down fairly close to Pipit's house. It took off into the sky once again, and Link debated returning to the bazaar, but he fell to his knees and retched, his nerves finally too much to handle. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, nor could he find the energy to stand.
But, as fate would have it, Mallara opened the door and breathed a heavy sigh when she saw Link, pressing her hand to her chest.
"Link, I was worried! What happened? Are you okay?"
Pipit and Fledge followed, and Pipit was visibly relieved that he didn't have to make up a story to cover for Link. "See? I told you he just stepped outside."
"Yes, but you didn't tell me he was sick. Come inside, Link. Come on, you're okay."
And as she led him in, Link could see Gaepora clutching Zelda to his side exiting the Bazaar. Karane was holding Zelda's hand, and those remaining inside began to leave as well. Out the other door, Kos and several older knights dragged the outer-island outlaws away, far from anyone else's prying eyes.
Tirra was one of the Knights, and her head turned for just a moment. She locked eyes with Link from afar, as if the Goddess had told her where to look for him, and she nodded her thanks to Link.
Maybe he did have some courage after all.
A/N: I write these chapters out of order, and originally wrote this a few weeks ago before the coronavirus was a very real presence in everyday life. Originally, this chapter was about a chu-chu disease outbreak that was making everyone. I figured it would be best to change the premise last night to avoid the similarities. So, if the chapter is a little clunky and strange, that's because I fixed the entire thing after I realized that what I wrote was probably too close to home for some people right now. Like the plot is essentially the same as it was, but the random outlaw group was all I could think of to replace the outbreak. Next chapter is less weird because it won't need a last-minute rewrite.
LowTwilight: Thank you! That's so awesome to hear! Cosmo14: Phew! I was really struggling to figure out how younger kids would act, but balanced out by the need for plotlines that actually help Link and Zelda grow into their SS characters. I'm glad I'm doing okay with that (for now haha!). RandomFF. netUser: Hahahaha very appropriate! And thank you so much! I'm always nervous that I'll accidentally start writing little 13-year-old Link like an old, wise Jedi knight or something. Groose will definitely be coming back soon! I love poor Fledge! The game even underused him by making his character little more than a Link fanboy rather than a friend. GreenEggandHam: Thanks! And no problem! I love replying! Queen Emily the Diligent: Thank you very much! I'm trying to keep his growth realistically slow, so I'm glad it's coming across that way!