Chapter Five An End and a Beginning
The lecture Link received upon arriving home was sure to be more legendary than his actual quest. For almost two hours his grandma scolded him and praised the goddesses his was safe. Her ending words stuck out in his mind.
Link one day your luck is going to run out, and when that day comes the only one who can save you is yourself.
He shook his head to clear his mind. There were only six minutes of middle school left, and then it'd be time for summer vacation. He had agreed to help Zelda move into her new home in Castletown, and then her dorm later in the fall. He started to seriously consider her offer. Her school had scholarships, and if Zelda thought his grades were good enough…
Three minutes…
He looked over at Sheik, who had his nose stuck in a book. Sheik had offered to teach him self-defense over the summer. The ghost thought it was a good idea. And then there was marching band starting next Monday… He wondered if he'd be the only guy in the flute section again.
Two minutes…
The class started piling up in front of the door, students were tittering with talk about summer plans and high school expectations. Sheik packed his book away and leaned against Link's desk. "We're still stopping for ice cream after school right?"
Link grinned. "Yeah, I promised Aryll and if she doesn't get her ice cream she'll scold me worse than my grandma. Her, Zelda, and Midna are meeting us by the bike racks."
The bell rang and the students let out a cheer as the hurried out the door. Outside the sun seemed blinding, but the warmth was welcomed after spending the day in the meat locker temperatures of the school. Zelda and Midna weren't hard to spot, both of them sitting on their bikes.
"Your sister's gonna be a few minutes." Minda was smirking, rarely a good sign...
"Why…?" Link asked cautiously.
"Because some kids in her class did something stupid and so the teacher is holding all of them an extra five minutes." She tried to contain her laughing.
"What did they do?" Zelda asked. "Why wouldn't he keep just them?"
Midna shrugged. "I dunno, I think one of them set off a stink bomb because my teacher let our class out early due to the stink. He's a bit of a prick anyways."
Aryll came out of the building a short time later. "That IDIOT Mido decided to set off a stink bomb RIGHT UNDER the teachers desk and we all had to sit in that classroom in that stink for an extra five minutes!" She huffed.
"Ice cream let's go!" Midna took off down the sidewalk, the others following close behind.
"Mido's a moron anyways Aryll." Link shrugged. The five sat outside the ice cream shop, Midna and Zelda's bikes leaning against the side of the building. Aryll was still upset about being let out late. "Don't be so upset it was only an extra few minutes."
Aryll stuck her tongue out at him. "Do you think grandma will let me stay over at Romani's tonight?"
"You just want to get out of helping Zelda move." Link rolled his eyes. "Your answer to that is gonna be grandma's answer." Sheik and Midna howled with laughter while Zelda politely tried to hold her laughter back. Aryll turned red and smeared the remains of her ice cream on Link's shirt. "HEY!" Aryll had started to leave. "Aryll you brat!" Link took off after his sister and the others soon followed. Aryll huffed her whole way home with the four teens behind her.
"You were kind of mean." Zelda pointed out.
"But totally hilarious." Midna grinned.
"Just wait out here." Link sighed and followed his sister inside his house. "Aryll if you keep pouting grandma's not gonna let you sleep over at Romani's."
"You didn't need to be so mean!" She shouted and slammed her door. Link rolled his eyes and went to his room to change his shirt.
"I'm helping Zelda move today and tomorrow. Don't lecture me about the temples. Please!" He said to the ghost. "Please just stay here and don't scare my grandma."
"The longer you wait the hard your quest will be." The ghost reminded.
"I'll deal with it then." Link left the ghost and hurried back down to his friends. "Let's go."
"Is Aryll gonna be okay?" Zelda asked.
"Yeah she's just pouty." Link sighed. He looked around to find Midna and Sheik had disappeared. "Hey where'd they go?!"
"I told them to just go home. I'm all packed up anyways." Zelda looked at her feet. "Can we go to the woods? I wanna talk." Link nodded. The two walked to the edge of town where the woods began.
"You remember the stories my grandma used to tell us?" Link asked as the stood at the edge. Zelda shook her head no. "About the people who got lost in the forest?"
"That's just an old legend Link." Zelda shook her head.
"I fished you out of a tree and you watched me kill a giant Ghoma like two months ago!" Link ran a hand through his hair.
"Link that was just a nightmare you had." Zelda entered the forest and Link followed close behind. "You take your grandma's stories too seriously."
"You used to love her stories. You'd race me home so we could listen to her stories about the heroes." Link brushed a branch away. This path seemed familiar…
"When we were little kids. We're entering high school." She pushed further down the path. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, bathing everything in a green glow.
"We're still technically kids Zelda." Maybe it was just him, but the forest seemed alive. At least, more alive than the last time he'd been in the forest.
"Not for long. Soon we'll be graduating high school and then going off to college. Then we'll be graduating college and getting jobs and getting married and having kids." She rambled.
Wait. Did his mishear her? They'd be getting married?
"Woah." The two entered a clearing. Link's stomach dropped at the sight of the deku tree. "It's giant." Link stayed at the edge of the clearing while Zelda went forward to examine the tree. She looked up at the branches. "There's something up there." She pointed up at the branches. Link looked up to where she was pointing. There was a bag tied to a branch. "You're a better climber. I'll give you a boost." Link sighed and stepped forward. She laced her fingers together to give him a step.
"Are you sure you can lift me?" Link gave her a funny look.
"I've lifted books heavier than you Deku Scrub." She teased. "Come on! Let's find out what it is!" Link shook his head. He put his hands on her shoulders and a foot on her hands.
"Ready?" He asked. She nodded and leaned against the tree for support. "Alright." Link pushed up and reached for a low branch. He pulled himself up and looked up at the bag. "Zelda I hope you have a plan for getting me down because this is really high up."
"Scared of heights or something?" She teased. Link blew a raspberry at her and continued to climb. The bag was finally at reach. Link steadied himself on the branch and reached up. The branch creaked ominously… His eyes widened. Link jumped as the branch broke and grabbed the bag, but no branch. He heard Zelda cry out his name. All the wind was knocked out of him as he landed on the ground.
"Link are you okay!?" Zelda was leaning over him. With a groan he sat up.
"That's one way of coming down I guess…" He rubbed the back of his head.
"Are you hurt? Did you break anything?" She gently touched his arm.
"I think I'll be okay." The bag was in his lap. "I hope this was worth it Zelda." She took the bag and dumped the contents into his lap.
"Broken stones?" She furrowed her brow and examined a piece. Link looked at one, it seemed to match Zelda's.
"Here, try fitting these two together." With a flash of light the two pieces came together.
"Weird." Zelda examined the full stone.
"Zelda was that chest there before?" Link pointed to a treasure chest at the end of one of the trees roots.
"Maybe." Zelda went to the chest and opened it. "There's twenty rupees inside it! But who would leave money in a chest out in the open?"
Link looked at the stones in his lap and gasped. "Zelda they're Kinstones! They bring good luck when you fuse them together!"
"Link maybe I should take you to a doctor. I think you hit your head." Zelda said. Link stuffed Kinstones back in the pouch and put the pouch in his pockets. "I'll help you up." She slung one of his arms over her shoulders and helped him to his feet.
"We should get out of here anyways, the sun's starting to set." Link said. The two friends shuffled back to town. "Don't say anything about me falling out of a tree. After the field trip…"
"You never said what happened on the field trip anyways." She prodded. Link stayed silent. "If you don't want to talk about it then fine. But ever since I came back you seem different. You spaced out in class all the time and you keep going on and on about old fairy tales and legends." He chewed on his lower lip rather than respond. "I'm sorry. I didn't want my last day here with you to be like this."
"What do you mean?" Link asked. "I think this day's been going just fine, I mean we got ice cream!" He tried to lighten her mood.
"Link." She laughed. "You think with your stomach. I'm over here worrying about you and the only thing wrong with you is that you're hungry!"
Link laughed sheepishly. Sure, let her think he was just hungry. "Caught me." They stopped in front of Tetra's place.
"Link. Promise me you'll visit over the summer?" She asked.
"Of course!" He smiled. "We share the same birthday anyways!" The two stood there for a moment. This was their last day together, she was moving tomorrow… This may be his last chance to tell her…
"I should get going… Tetra and her crew have a goodbye dinner planned." Zelda pulled Link's arm off her. "Will you be okay going home by yourself?"
"Ordon's small Zelda. I'll be fine." He scratched the back of his neck. Suddenly he felt her plant a kiss on his cheek. He froze and felt his face turn red. Zelda had darted inside already.
"Hey!" A tiny voice jolted him back to reality. "Hey!" The voice came in the direction of Zelda's little garden. "Over here!" Link knelt down and examined the garden. There was a small person, no bigger than his thumb and dressed in green looking up at him. "You found my Kinstone pouch right!?"
"This?" Link reached into his pocket and pulled out the pouch.
"That's it!"
Link set the pouch next to the small person. "You're a Picori right?"
The person shook his head. "I'm the spirit of the Hero of the Minish."
"The Hero of Minish? So you're a descendent of the first hero?" Link asked.
"I suppose. Hold out your hand." Link set his hand down next to the small spirit and the former hero climbed up. Link raised his hand to look at the spirit closer.
"Are you gonna lecture me about my quest too?" Link eyed the spirit suspiciously.
The hero shook his head no. "A warning. Tell her everything."
Zelda? Or someone else? Link frowned. "Which her?"
"The princess. The longer you keep her sheltered the more danger she'll be in."
"But if I tell her she'll be in danger as well!"
The spirit shook his head again. "She'll be endangered either way. If you tell her though, she may be able to awaken the sleeping power within her."
"Won't that put her in more danger?" Link asked.
"Yes, but she will also be able to protect herself. The more you try to separate her from your quest the easier it'll be for him to find her."
"Him who?" He frowned.
"The power hungry one. Cursed by the demon king." The spirit began to fade into the wind. "Put my Kinstone bag at my grave will ya?"
"Wait! Who are you talking about? What demon king curse? Where's your grave?" Link was left with even more questions than before. Would he encounter more spirits of the heroes? How was he going to awaken Zelda's power?
Knowing he'd get no answers anytime soon Link pocketed the Kinstone bag and headed home.
Sorry! Life got crazy!
