Getting Hester to her village wasn't as hard of a task as Link had originally thought. Once he was able to utilize the boat that had sunk down with them, It was mostly smooth sailing. Link decided it would be best to keep the boat under the water, to keep Hester from seeing the land above. It would probably be too much for the poor girl.
Hester was right about the village not being too far from the temple, as they soon reached a large crevasse. After venturing into the gash in the sea bed, They stumbled onto a crumbling society. Hester had to cover her eyes to keep from losing any semblance of composure she had over herself, her shoulders shaking.
There were dilapidated structures around them, which link assumed where homes or common buildings. Bones could be seen if you looked hard enough, some buried within the sand, others protruding in awkward angles. Various artifacts and scraps of cloth were littered about. The boats timeshift stone only allowed them to see so far, but luckily, link spotted a large timeshift stone jutting out from a surrounding wall.
He turned to Hester, who was in tears. As he had suspected, she had been putting on a brave act before in the temple. He'd thought she had taken the extinction of her species a bit too easily… He frowned gently and rested a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. Being the kind of person Link was, he couldn't help but imagine himself in her position, so he empathized with her greatly.
After a moment, when she looked up at him, he nodded in the direction of the time shirt stone. She shakily composed herself and nodded. Somehow, despite being in water, her voice came out unperturbed, cutting through the water as easily as Links would the air.
"T-Thank you for taking me this far…If you could…please…" She didn't have to finish. Link understood her wish well enough. He swam up to the timeshift stone, looking at Hester once more before striking it.
The landscape transformed drastically before his eyes. Watching the transformations back in the desert paled in comparison to what Link was seeing now. The buildings were restored to pristine structures, some much larger than the ruins would have one believe. Everything had a blue green shimmer, due to the sunlight pouring in from above. It refracted off the buildings, vibrant colored clothes all around and off the bodies of the now living Sirens. Most were women, but there was a fair share of men around too. All of the sirens that Link could see were very attractive. They all had this sort of mystical allure that he couldn't really pinpoint.
Hester, off to the side, was in tears again. This time though, she looked split between grief and joy. She hesitantly swam into the village. Link smiled to himself , As he made his way back to the boat. He heard Hester's voice call out to someone. He turned to look, and saw Hester happily embracing a male siren, who seemed both surprised and a bit flustered.
"Hes? Wh..What's gotten into you…?" His face softened when she began to weep. "Hey…What's wrong? Are you okay?"
She pulled back and smiled a bit "I-I'm fine Cy… I'm just so happy to see you.." She buried her face in his neck. His face flushed and he put his hands on her shoulders "Hes you aren't.. acting like yourself. Are you sure nothings wrong?"
She nodded and glanced back at Link, who was getting back into the boat. "Erm.. Cy can you go to my house and wait for me there? I'll be there soon… I think it's about time we had a talk…" To assure him it was nothing bad, she smiled gently. Confused, the boy nodded and swam off hesitantly.
Hester swam over to Link. "Please wait!" She smiled gratefully and took Links hands "I can't thank you enough for helping me back here, especially after I tried to hurt you… I have to repay you." Link would have protested if he could speak clearly.
Hester reached into her top and pulled out the small shell again, and a necklace with a vial attached to it. "The rest of the balm is yours; you'll need it far more than me. That's for the small stuff." She took links left hand and placed the shell in it, closing his fingers around it gently.
"And Goddess forbid something fatal happens…Take this." She took the necklace and placed it around links neck. He looked down at the vial. It had an iridescent blue green liquid inside and a small cork at the top. When Link looked up quizzically, Hester smiled. "Sirens tears. They're a very strong healing agent…Hopefully these gifts can aid you on your journey and well… make sure it doesn't end prematurely."
Link gave her a grateful smile as she swam back a bit. "Now.. I'm not sure how long this will last.. But for now, I've got a boy waiting for me at my house!" She gave a soft smile. "I wish you luck on your journey hero.. The road ahead is rough. May the luck of the goddess be with you. I know I'll be praying for you! Goodbye!" And with that she swam off.
Link smiled as he left the village. He never would have guessed that something like a village of fish people would be at the bottom of the Lanayru sand sea. He was able to pull the boat back to the surface and rid it of water so it could float again. He rode back to the dock in comfortable silence. Too comfortable. He glanced back at his sword.
"Missing my voice already, are you?" Ghirahim chuckled "Well if you're done assisting that sea whelp, we can finally converge on the forest gem. Or perhaps you would like to go restore a few more practically extinct species, hm? I mean we have a plethora of time…" The sarcasm in his voice was strong. Of course, after that he just kept talking. And talking.
Link looked un amused. He wished he had just continued to bask in the silence that was becoming scarcer as of late. Why did he have to question it. Why. Goddesses what had he done to deserve this?
Wow okay don't think I've updated in a while! Just wanted to eaaaaseeee into my summer. Okay so that's it for little Hester! The guy, who I really just came up with on the spot, is named Cyrus. He and Hester were like interested in each other but never really confessed to each other or anything.
I meant for this chapter to be short, just to tie up the lanayru area. I also just didn't wanna start the new area in this chapter, so please except this sad excuse for a chapter *Bows*
As always, your input and support is appreciated!
