Chapter 2: Probo Excito
The three children stood blankly over a bright fire, the animals of the night crying out in their wild song. The Pig roasting on the fire grimly, the thick grease dripping into the ever hungry flames, as if it was the only thing in the thick night, stars hidden from view under the trees.
"Is it done?" Ganondorf asked Link softly, his voice sounding dry and tired. Link picked up a sharpened stick, poking into the pig, the sound of more grease falling on the fire seemed to roar over Link's reply. "What?" Ganondorf asked when the fire died down again.
"It needs another minute to cook." Link replied, his voice visibly as dry as Ganondorfs.
"It's not like we have haven't eaten raw food before…half cooked is enough." Maria said, her voice soft. Link just shrugged, poking at the pig again, more grease and fat spilled from the new hole, the fire roaring in protest.
"The only thing that has been cooked enough to eat is the fat and the skin...so take your pick…" Link said his voice seeming on edge almost.
"Fine then…" Maria said softly.
"Link is something the matter?" Ganondorf said, wondering about links visible annoyance.
"Don't worry about it, it's nothing…" Link replied, in his normal quick, quiet tone. His mind deeply bothered by the echoing voices, as if the trees were talking to him. The sticks set at his feet were crying as if they knew their doom, the sticks in the fire feeling as if giving a grim reminder to death. He could hear the chattering of unknown voices playing in his head. It took all his will to stay quiet, feeling a wish to yell at the very forest to be quiet. "…I just think I have been having too much stress…" He added after a time, the roar of the fire weakening as more and more fat fell in, smoldering the hungry flames.
"The orphanage?" Maria asked.
"Maybe…I don't know" Link replied, glancing up at the pig, he smiled weakly, "Foods done...can you set it up Ganondorf."
Ganondorf grimaced, hating his name as he put out the fire, taking the pig to a sheet they had found with a challenge and grunting voice, "Couldn't I get a nick name? Like Ganon or something?"
"Ganon and Ganondorf are both the names of a video game villain." Maria said. "I think Ganon was his pig form." In reaction Ganondorf just grimaced, glancing down at the well cooked pig.
"How do you know about this?" Link asked.
"I was not always a poor orphan, remember? I used to play video games a lot." Maria said with a shrug.
"What game?" Ganondorf asked, seeming to gain a interest in what might have been his name sake.
"Well it was a lot of games really; Ganondorf was a recurring villain, all of them started with 'Legend of Zelda' though." Maria
said. Link had to keep his eyes from dizzying, at the words as if the name 'Zelda' Was blinding him.
"Isn't The Mayors daughter named Zelda?" Link asked, seeming to be ignored, his voice not heard over Ganondorf.
"Recurring…that means he showed up in a lot of them right." Ganondorf said proud of his mastering of the English language,
Link holding in a laugh. Few of the children at the orphanage have ever gone to school, Ganondorf and Link mostly learning things like reading from Maria. "So he must have been pretty strong."
"Yes, he had the Triforce of Power." Maria said, "So he basically had the embodiment of power at his control."
"Then how was he beaten if he had all the power?" Link asked, this time his question noticed.
"The Triforce of Courage." Maria said smiling seeming to enjoy the attention. "It was used by the main character that seemed to
always be born with it. His name was Link, but you could choose for him to have whatever name you want."
"How could Courage beat Power?" Ganondorf asked, his own mind feeling a faint buzz as if from a long forgotten memory.
"By using a weapon called the 'Master Sword'." Maria said. Link just let out a laugh,
"That's a little lazy of a name." Link said seeming to speak louder than before, his mind trying to push out the screams of the
forest. "So I am guessing it's the best sword in the game?"
"Basically it is." Maria said shrugging. "Anyway, maybe when we get adopted you could ask your foster parents about it."
"Pass." Link and Ganodorf said in unison.
"Don't you want to get adopted?" Maria said confused.
"And get ditched again?" Ganondorf said quickly, "I'm almost 18 anyway; just another year and I would be off in the streets
anyway, I could adopt you both at that point if I wanted."
"I don't think it works that way." Maria said.
"Either way." Link cut in, "It's better if we just wait till we are old enough to worry about it, nobody's adopted anyone from this
place in years."
"That does not mean you need to give up." Maria said her voice seeming to be weaker against the two of theirs.
"I never wanted parents." Ganondorf said. "What good are they?"
"To take care of you and love you and-" Marias words were cut off as Ganondorf saying.
"I would rather earn those on my own." He laughed faintly "Me and Link have been doing well on our own haven't we?"
"You didn't even know how to read before I came." Maria said plainly.
"Details." Ganondorf said.
"You were planning to drown a boy the first time I came through the door." Maria added.
"Just some ruff housing." Ganondorf said after a second to think on it, glancing over to see Link's seat empty. "Um, Link?"
"Don't change the subject." Maria said seeming to having a challenge hiding her annoyance from the conversation.
"Link's missing." Ganondorf said. "Did you see him get up?"
"No I was distracted." Maria said. Ganondorf seemed to panic a little.
"Link tends to wonder a lot, but never at night." Ganondorf said. "I don't know where he could be."
"What's the matter with you?" Maria said, "Link knows how to last in the woods way better then you or me."
Link stood blankly his eyes on the fire through their conversation, the pain of the forest cries were over whelming him, he could not care or hear the world around him but that screaming, the want to stop it was making him almost yell when he made a comment 'It's better if we just wait till we are old enough to worry about it, nobody's adopted anyone from this place in years.' He could barely hear his own voice. Faintly hearing, 'I would rather earn those on my own' by Ganondorf, his words seeming deep and far off, the sounds burning at his ears. "Bathroom." Link muttered unsure if he just thought it or spoke it as he ran off into the woods, the tree's seeming to bend as if to look at him as he ran by, half blind in the dark night. Their cries echoing ever deeper in his mind, his hands weakly covering his ears from the screaming.
(Chapter not finished)