Link's Awakening

Chapter Three: Koholint Island

I'm still not sure how I mustered up the willpower to crawl onto that beach after what happened, but I was aware of someone walking up to me as I lost consciousness, and I think they even said something to me, but all I heard was a muffled slur of words as I blacked out. So, my quest for adventure was off to a great start; my ship was destroyed in a lightning storm, I had washed up on some island in the middle of nowhere, and… and worst of all, more than fearing for my own safety, I had no idea what had happened to Agahnim, or if he had even survived the lightning strike.

The last of Link's senses to fade into darkness was his hearing, but then after what felt like only a couple seconds, the sounds of crashing waves and calling seagulls had simply vanished. A soft wind could still be heard, along with the wooden tapping of what sounded like shutters, so… was he inside? The grogginess of everything that happened since the storm was slowly wearing off, allowing the young man to become aware enough to feel that he was lying on his back, and that the ground was soft… no, this was more like the mattress of a small bed… a house?

It was a struggle at first to open his eyes, and when he was finally able to, Link had to blink several times in order to make the last bit of haze clear from his vision. Yes, the beach that he had washed up on was gone, replaced with what looked like a small cottage. There was a loose shutter lightly tapping on the window, as he thought, but the rest were open so that sunlight could get in, letting the young man see that this place was modestly decorated, a peasant's home… and he was not alone in this place.

"Hey… you awake?" A soft female voice asked. "Dad… hey, dad! He's waking up!"

Somewhere on the other side of the cottage from where the young man was facing, there came the sound of someone snorting, and then a chair sliding a bit across the wooden floor as if just waking up themselves, but Link's vision had blurred again. Rubbing his eyes as a cup of water was suddenly brought to his lips, the young man took a sip before opening his eyes… and then just holding the water in his mouth mid-swallow as he looked at the most beautiful young woman that he had ever seen.

He wasn't sure how long he kept staring at her, taking in the image of her long red hair that clashed with the blue dress she was wearing, but suddenly the moment was interrupted when a large hand clamped down on his shoulder from the other side, making Link cough as he reflexively tried to swallow the water that was still in his mouth. Turning his head to see who the cottage's other occupant was, the young man was surprised to see a tall, stocky man with a thick mustache now standing over him.

"Well, look who's finally awake… thought you were gonna die there for a while." The big man said with a friendly tone, laughing a little as he patted Link's shoulder hard. "All right, let's get you on your feet; gotta make sure all that seawater didn't soak into your mind."

It wasn't so much helping the young man up, as roughly yanking him up to his feet, but it was a good thing that the big man was holding him, because Link's legs weren't quite ready to go back to work just yet. They were responding, but were sluggish and sore as if he had just run several miles at full speed, slowly improving while the big man walked him around the cottage a few times. Tarin was the name he introduced himself as, but the young man was far more interested in finding out that the young woman's name was Marin, especially when he introduced her as his daughter, and not his wife or anything like that.

Was it kind of selfish that Link was having these kind of thoughts right now instead of trying to figure out where he was or what happened to his best friend? Yes, but it wasn't like he couldn't just ask them at any given time. Asking where he was after almost being able to walk around the cottage on his own, the big man replied that they were in Mabe Village, but what surprised the young man was that both of his hosts acted surprised when he inquired as to the name of the island itself.

"What do you mean?" Marin asked, getting him some more water. "No matter how lost you are, it's still Koholint Island, silly. You must have hit your head pretty hard when your raft broke apart."

"It wasn't a raft, it was a boat." The young man replied after taking another drink. "I was crossing the ocean from Hyrule when the storm hit, and the lightning must've…

Link stopped talking when he saw that the two of them were looking at each other like they didn't know what he was talking about… but how could that be? Surely they knew about Hyrule or at least some other nearby lands… after all, they all spoke the same language, so there had to be some kind of common ground there. One other strange thing was that even though the young man was sure that he had never been to this place before, the name Koholint Island was somehow familiar… couldn't place it, though.

"Hey Marin, maybe our friend, Link, here needs some fresh air." The big man suggested. "Why don't you take him outside and show him around town… that oughta help him shake off the confusion."

For a moment the young man got nervous that Tarin knew his name, since he didn't remember introducing himself just yet, but then he sighed with relief when the big man brought over his freshly washed shirt. It had always annoyed Link that his mother had stitched his name on the inside of all his clothes, so the other town guards wouldn't grab any of his things by accident, she said, but at least it provided a logical explanation as to how these people already knew who he was.

Walking around on his own still took a little bit of effort, but going and seeing the village would give him the chance to ask about Agahnim as well as learn a bit more about this island he was on… with the added bonus of having some time to get to know Marin. Sure, he had only known the young woman for about thirty seconds, but there was nothing wrong with building a friendship, and… damn it, Link's parents had met because of an ancient curse, so was finding a pretty girl after getting shipwrecked so far-fetched?

Outside of the cottage was a stone path that went forward into the rest of Mabe Village, a grassy place that was bordered to the north by a forest consisting of a mixture of palm trees and pines… sort of like it didn't know whether or not it wanted to be tropical or temperate. Up above the sky was blue with only a few puffy white clouds that left no sign of the storm that had destroyed his boat, and… actually this place was pretty nice so far.

With a setup similar to most of the smaller villages in Hyrule, there were cottages where the people lived, there was a shop, and even a library. Some children were playing catch with a ball while others ran around chasing each other, as children were known to do, but there didn't seem to be any guards patrolling around. That was odd to him, since even in the safest places in Hyrule, there were still guards just in case, but apparently the people of Mabe Village didn't feel the need for any.

"That's Ulriria's house over there." Marin continued, pointing to a smaller cottage that was bordered almost completely with hedges. "He's kind of shy, but he's really wise… and that's Madam Meow-Meow's home over there?"

"Madam… Meow-Meow?" The young man asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the cottage that had some kind of animal kennel in front of it. "Oh, hey Marin, I meant to ask you; do you know if anyone here found someone else besides me washed up on the shore? My best friend was with me when the storm hit, and I'm worried about him."

The young woman thought for a second, but disappointed Link when she replied that no one else said anything about it, and that he was the only one Marin personally found. Apparently, it was a rare thing for a stranger to arrive on Koholint Island, but it did happen from time to time, but with most people believing that they simply came from a more distant part of the island. In fact, the last time anyone reported meeting a stranger was years ago, and that couldn't have possibly been Agahnim, since they had been together only the previous day.

It wasn't something that he wanted to admit, or even consider, but there was a possibility that the wizard hadn't been lucky enough to find his way to the island at all… he could've floated the opposite direction on a piece of the boat, or… no, besides that there was only one alternative, and the young man didn't want to think about his best friend being lost forever. Man, what was he going to do? Maybe the library had some maps of the island and the surrounding waters, or maybe that Ulriria person Marin had mentioned knew something since he was supposed to be so wise about…

"I wish I could give you better news." The young woman continued, interrupting his thoughts. "But all I found on the beach was you and a bunch of wood from your raft."

Link was about to correct her that it was a boat and not a raft, but then he stopped, and realized what he could do. If he and some wreckage from his boat washed up on the beach, then maybe Agahnim had washed up there, too, and maybe he was still there. Was the wizard searching along the beach for him at this very moment? Or was he hurt, and not lucky enough to be rescued by the beautiful Marin. Either way, there was at least a chance of finding him if the young woman could show him where it was that she discovered him.

"Yes, I can show you where I found you." She replied a bit hesitantly. "Well… I can show you where the beach is, and you can go from there."

Apparently, she had to help Tarin gather mushrooms, and Link's sudden return to consciousness had caused them to get a pretty late start as it is, so he didn't pressure her any farther. Just the fact that the young woman had helped him as much as she did, well… it was a debt he didn't know if he could ever repay. So of course it was more than enough for her to show him the way to the beach, and as soon as he found his missing friend, then the young man would help her gather all the mushrooms in the whole damn forest.