The Forest Temple is home to some huge Deku Babas. We killed them easily, and gathered great handfuls of sticks. They were lightweight and the wood was free of knots and defects. Mido began his expert work while I searched to gather bits of bone to chisel into arrowheads. I had always imagined I would be finding tools for Link, not making them! I figured it was just as well. The lucid dream that I had rang through my head as validation that I was not obsolete and delusional. That is, if it was really a prophecy. A tiny thought in the back of my mind whispered darkly that maybe I was insane, and that I was following randomly generated insanity from my sleep.
But I had to have faith that they were real, and they were meaningful. Just like I had to have faith that Link and I would fall back into each other's arms after time had been corrected.
I had almost lost myself in my work when I had that reconnecting feeling again that Link had returned to this time frame. Well, that didn't take him too long. I wondered how long the shadow over Kakariko would stay, and what happened to Impa after she was pulled into the temple. My hand worked faster to distract myself from those putrid thoughts. I returned to Mido with my hoard of bone shards.
Mido turned to see me and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Impressive…" He mumbled. He seemed to be equally eager to complete the arrows, and I could only imagine it was for the opportunity to rewrite history seven years ago. He picked up bone shards and began to inspect them and separating them into piles. The useless ones he threw over his shoulder and to my dismay the pile behind him grew far larger than the one in front. He counted out the useful shards.
"I think we can fashion… about 30, if none are broken in chiseling." He said to no one in particular. He pointed behind him at the pile of rejected bones. "Practice." He said frankly. He began to shape the heads, and I approached the pile with uncertainty. I had no idea what to do! I had never done anything like this. I picked up a piece which looked particularly obliging and I pinched it between my fingers, forcing magic into the object. Of course, it shattered from the force. What was I expecting? I looked at Mido and he quickly turned to spare my embarrassment. I picked up a couple more pieces and tried to instill them slowly with magic. It only made them crumble more slowly. I sighed in frustration.
"Think of coating them with magic instead." Mido said from the distance. "Making the light into a physical thing that surrounds the arrow, not just energy." He gestured forcing the air into a little ball with his hands. I tried again, with this new approach, and concentrated on coating the bone in light. Enveloping it. It worked relatively easily. I looked back at him. What curious knowledge did this child-like person hold? For the next couple days, I practiced until the light around the shards were so thick it looked as if they had been dipped in luminescent candlewax. Proudly, I went to Mido to display my efforts. He had begun to feather the arrows with feathers graciously donated by Cojiro (who was so eerily quiet now I felt that we were keeping a ghost chicken for company.)
"Hmmm" He said, taking the shard and turning it over in his hand with inspection. "It's not very bright, is it?" He criticized, cupping the shard in his hand to analyze its glow. His fingers felt around the sharpness of the shard and he clicked his tongue. "You can't dull the tip of it, it will render it useless." He handed me back the shard. "And the glow… would be it be too forward to say… think happy thoughts?"
"Happy thoughts?" I asked, surprised. He nodded. "Happy thoughts and fairy dust." He said turning to smile at me. I returned his smile, unsure, then returned to my pile of bones. I worked as I usually did, but concentrated on things that made me happy. I thought of Link, about the world free of Ganondorf, about Impa coming home safe to me, about…
It was safe to say that the happy thoughts made the time pass quickly, and I began to grow happier in the feeling that I was successful. The shards grew brighter, and even sharper as I managed to delicately twist the light at the tip of the arrowheads to create a deadly point to pierce through Ganondorf. In the next couple days, I grew tired and my work started to backslide. When it was clear that I had passed my peak performance, I chose the shard I was most proud of and made to display it to Mido. He nodded approvingly.
"Nice." He said. "We should do the real thing after you have had a couple day's rest to get the best possible result." I sighed happily, as I was eager to see what had become of Kakariko in my time away. I looked back at the entrance of the temple and then back to Mido, who had grown strangely kind and calm in the time spent between us.
I moved forward to embrace him. His stern disposition did not allow him to return the gesture, but he did not recoil from it either.
"I will see you in a couple days, then." I said. He nodded.
"I'll be here…" He replied. I turned to leave and headed straight for Kakariko.
Upon entering the town, everything was strangely upbeat. The Shadow had dispersed, and the town was active in their daily living. Link must have succeeded. I sighed gratefully, and wandered amongst the town folk, relishing in the normalcy of it all.
"Hey! Guy in blue!" A woman called out. I turned to see who it was, and it was the garrulous woman from the Inn. She waved me over smiling. I walked towards her.
"I wanted to thank you, you and your green boyfriend have helped return peace to Kakariko." She said frankly. I blushed. Boyfriend?! What a strange word for the special bond Link and I had.
"Ah, I actually didn't do anything." I admitted. Then I remembered her shawl, and I pulled it from my pack to return it. She shook her head and pushed it back towards me.
"Yes, you did. You pushed the shadow back into the well!" She exclaimed. I shuddered.
"I failed." I muttered.
"Poppycock!" She said slapping at my arm. "The rest of us were hiding in our kitchen pots, you faced it head on, and you tried! We are all thankful." I spared her a small smile and she jumped as if remembering something.
"For your green friend!" She said, pulling out… a hideous sunhat. It was made of straw and had dried flowers plastered over it. I took it in my hands in feigned gratitude.
"Just what he needed…" I said inspecting it. I made great effort not to burst out laughing. The fat woman bounced happily.
"It's for the desert!" She said. "To keep the sun from his eyes!"
"Ahhh…" I said as I slowly understood. Link had gone to the desert to continue into the Spirit Temple. The hat suddenly grew precious to me. The world was cheering us on, in a way. I felt supported by her gesture.
"Thank you." I said honestly. "I think it is time I follow him there." I made to wave goodbye but she smiled deviously and to my shock and awe she pulled out a second sunhat, which matched the first. I laughed and bent my head to let her put it on. She put it on snugly, and then proceeded to dust off my shoulders and straighten my outfit. As annoying and overbearing as she may be, I was touched by her motherly tendencies.
"Thanks." I said again. This time she waved goodbye at me, and I pulled a Sheikah party trick on her, and disappeared via Deku Nut.
I arrived at the desert, and looked about my surroundings. There was no one here. I questioned if Link had found a path through the Desert Colossus yet. Apparently not. I turned to stare into the haze of the sandstorm and tried to see if I could make out something… anything. My mind started to create shapes that weren't there when suddenly, something solid and true formed within the storm. A figure walked towards me, and I knew it was Link. I could tell by his stumbling in the sand, and the distant groans of frustration. The sun behind me began to set.
"Hurry up, slowpoke! Or you will have to find your way through the sand AND the darkness!" I screamed at him. I heard a heavy groan in response and he sped more quickly towards me. With the last light of day, he came bursting through the sands and he tackled me to the ground. My sunhat was thrown into the wind and I was thrust into a sandy billow which, to my chagrin floated back down onto me in a grainy veil. Link's weight was on top of me and he burst into laughter at what I presumed, was how stupid I looked. I made to wipe my eyes and mouths free of sand, but I got sand in my mouth anyways. I spat the grains out and looked spitefully at him, replacing my sunhat onto my head.
"You will pay for that…" I warned darkly. He chuckled and offered me a hand to get up. I took it and he pulled me to my feet, then planted a kiss onto my hand.
"Forgive me." He said, holding tightly to my hand. I was too taken with him not to, and I smiled.
"Maybe just once." I teased. He brushed my cheek with his hand, then moved the bandage from my face, inspecting me.
"I like your hat." He said playfully.
"You've got one too!" I revealed, bringing out the second hat. "They match!" I said winking. He took it in mocked flattery.
"For me?!" He took off his little green cap, setting Navi buzzing from it, and he placed the sunhat on his head. He struck a pose, and I burst out in laughter. How could this wonderful, beautiful, amazing person truly be in love with me? I was humbled by how blessed I was. I tried to kiss him with the hats on, but they were so large and overbearing that the rims collided when he bent down to receive his kiss, and we were sent into more fits of laughter.
"I've heard of chastity belts, but chastity hats?" Link teased. We laughed again and when the humor had left us, I took off my hat, and kissed him deeply on the lips. I felt him smile beneath my mouth. Then suddenly he pulled away from me, spit into the ground, and wiped his mouth.
"Bleh… sandy kisses." He said as he blew raspberries to rid himself of the grains. The sun had fully set, now, and the moon rose in its place.
"Took you a while to get here." I teased. Link shrugged.
"I save the world on my own time." He said. I smiled at him, and then looked back towards the Spirit Temple.
"You may have a hard time getting in…" I told him. "I've been camping out here for weeks and the only entrance is a tiny hole which I can barely squeeze through." Link nodded.
"I've solved that problem before. Did you forget anything seven years ago you would like me to bring back?" He joked.
"My life…" I joked back. He looked at me a bit seriously now, and the playful nature of our meeting disintegrated.
"When you are back in time… play this song to bring you here." I said, bringing out my harp. He took out his ocarina and I played to him the Requiem of Spirit. He followed along and we were once again playing in harmony.
"Link, this is the last time we will play together." I said sorrowfully. "After this… it's the real deal…" Link nodded and his eyes glowed with fire.
"I can't wait." He said, before kissing me on the cheek, and running forward to inspect the Temple. I watched him go inside, and I waited in the moonlit desert. It wasn't long before he sheepishly emerged.
"You were right." He said.
"Triforce of Wisdom." I said holding up my marked hand. He smiled at me sweetly.
"I better get going, then." He said. I nodded. He pulled me into a tight embrace and I held him to me. I absorbed the strength and heat of him, and dreaded the moment when he would have to let go. He kissed my cheek and slowly pulled out of our embrace. "This is the last time I will ever say goodbye to you." He said, smiling. I returned his smile and nodded, immersed in the idea of spending every day and every night with him.
"I will see you at the Temple of Time." I said. He raised his instrument and in a flash of light, he was gone.