Yes I know, shorter chapter, but considering the previous one, it works out pretty well. Do as always, w/o flaming, plz!
-Jack Knights
"You never did tell me why it is that we won't need equipment to reach Oocconia," Link interjected during breakfast. Dagg and Sheik had been fighting over a meeting place, somewhere they could go after their individual business was done. He looked up at him, eyebrows raised in thought. Dagg frowned as he bent over the map.
"Are you going to tell him?" he said, sounding bothered.
"Nah, let him see for himself," Sheik said, shrugging. Link frowned and sat back against the wall of the niche they has been resting in. He blocked out Dagg's gruff voice and focused on his thoughts. They drifted back to Xerxs, the thief who owed him a debt, the Twili from the hospital and his Zora companion, and finally, to Zelda, Midna and the numerous other dead from his past. Feeling angsty, he pushed put such thoughts out of mind and stood, stretching.
"Are we leaving soon? We've wasted enough time lazing about here," he said, unable to hide the frustration in his voice.
"You may be two-and-twenty years, but you still sound like a child," Dagg said with a laugh. "Yes, we may go; we have decided on a meeting place."
"Yeah, the Tears' Fall," Sheik said nonchalantly, shouldering his bag.
"What?" Link asked, having never heard of the place.
"It's directly below Oocconia, between the cross of paths that lead from Kakariko to the Citadel," Dagg answered, pointing out the location on his map. That's more or less in the Zora's domain... I wonder if they realize.
"Why is it called the Tears' Fall?"
"'Cuz, that's where they executed everyone," Sheik said offhandedly. Link looked at him in surprise, to which the Sheikah merely blinked back. "Oh yeah, you're 'out of sorts', as Dagg would put it."
"Not true, I wouldn't use such a term."
"Whatever; look, it's the where the last stand was made, where the heads of the races of Hyrule fought against Ganondorf."
"And unfortunately, were defeated and consequently executed," Dagg added with a grim look. "And it's also home to the legend of the weeping fairies. They say that, at midnight, thousands of fairies flock to the lake below the falls, silently weeping for their dead Queen."
"Yeah, and their tears fall into the water and make it glow," Sheik added with a hint of faked wonder. "See, I've been there many times and I've seen nothing. The waters never change from that rusty, dead colour."
Dagg continued to argue the validity of the tale, while Sheik remained his immature self, brassly interrupting the older man with rude comments and gestures. They took it all in stride, but Link fell into deep thought as they walked through a chasm. The deaths of the monarchs of my time... why would they even suggest such a place? Do they really not know anything of my past? Have they not even suspected who am I, or at least when I come from? His train of thought was interrupted as Link tripped over a particularly large stone, and bumped into Dagg's broad back.
"Watch it, there are many loose footholds that could send you reeling," he said gently, smiling at Link's sudden clumsiness, who felt himself redden in embarrassment.
"Wouldn't want a new ankle to replace the broken one you'll get if you don't get your head out of the clouds," Sheik commented, to which Link narrowed his eyes at. "Better hurry up, looks like rain," he added, looking at the sky.
"Not a cloud in the sky..." Dagg muttered, making a circular motion with his index finger near his temple.
"'Not a cloud in the sky,' huh? What about now?" Sheik said, pointing upwards. "Because of your inability to concede to me, we passed the last cave for miles and now we're soaked!"
It was true; not twenty minutes after Sheik predicted the weather, it had begun raining. They were now stuck in a full-scale downpour thunder ringing in the distance, accompanied with the flash of lightning. Dagg shouted something Link didn't hear, but he ran after the man anyway. As luck would have it, they came to an abandoned house. Sheik ran for the door, swearing over the wind when it didn't budge. Dagg shoved him aside as a lightning bolt struck the ground not far from them and Link looked worriedly at the metal sword at his hip. The big man kicked in the door, splintering the wood frame.
The main room was almost completely empty, save for some hay in a corner and dust on the inside, Link hurriedly threw down his bag and went to shut the door. The wind kept pushing it open, and since the frame was broken, he could do little to keep it closed. Sheik walked over, chain in hand, and wrapped it around the handle, circling around the support column and twisted it in a knot.
"There, that should hold," he said, breathing loudly. Link stood away from the door, wary if it might open again. It didn't and he sighed with relief. Dagg had already gone over tot he small fireplace at the opposite end of the main room, trying to start a fire. Link shivered in his wet clothes as a cold draft blew in through the many cracks in the house. He stripped down to the bare minimum, wringing out his shirt. He saw Sheik do the same; Dagg already had his clothes slung across Sheik's chain.
"Well, unless we can find some dry wood, we'll not be having a fire to warm ourselves," Dagg said, rubbing his hair dry.
"Yeah, and we better do it quickly, or else we'll catch our deaths in this cold," Sheik added, his teeth chattering. Link went to the door at his right and opened it. Luckily, this room was still sparsely furnished. He brought out what he could, and Sheik broke the furniture down quickly, handing it to Dagg, who set it alight as quickly as he could.
"Lucky for us the last tenants had wood furniture, huh?" Sheik said as the fire took hold of the aging wood. "Imagine what we would've done if they had iron, or stone?"
Dagg went to throw some of the hay into the fire when Link grabbed him arm, stopping him. "Not yet, put as much as you can into your boots. It'll warm your feet."
"That's gross," Sheik muttered, wrinkling his nose. "What if there's bugs?"
"Then you'd better hope they're not deadly," Link said offhandedly. He shoved the straw into his boots, packing it as much as possible. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sheik reluctantly did the same. "I hope we won't have to stay the night," he mumbled.
"Why?" Sheik asked.
"Because them we'd have a tough time getting you to shove straw into your tight fitting clothing," he said with a smile. Dagg looked at him and gave a deep laugh. Sheik narrowed his eyes at him, his cheeks reddening.
"Do not worry overly, Sheik; we could always share body heat," Dagg added, to which no-one laughed. Link looked between Sheik and Dagg, both of whom looked embarrassingly away from everyone, not liking the awkward silence. "You've grown thinner, Shiek," Dagg pipped up, trying to change the subject.
"Money's been hard to come by these days," the ninja responded, shrugging. "I'm wanted in Kakariko for arson, which no, I didn't commit. And now that Ordon's burned to the ground, all that's left is the Citadel, and I refuse to be employed there."
"Matter of pride?" Link asked.
"Try circumstance," Sheik rebuffed. "And principles, too."
"You could've come work for me," Dagg said, shrugging. "I'm always in need of a 'gopher' to bring and do paperwork."
A woodland creature? You can employ them? Link thought, but remained quite.
"Yeah sure; could you imagine that?" he said, turning to Link now. "A warrior, a stealthy Sheikah, being forced into employment as a pencil-pusher? Ha, no thanks."
Their conversation became more relaxed and floated from topic to topic, none of which were terribly interesting to Link. He felt his attention falter, addled by the sleep inducing warmth emanating from the fire. He sat against his pack, which thankfully had been water-proof, and let his eyes drift close. Within seconds, he was asleep.
He felt something drape across him, covering his bare chest from the draft. Link cracked open one eyes to see Dagg with his back turned to him as he walked back to the fire. He looked down at himself, eyeing the cloth wrapped around his midsection. Huh? When did I...
"I found them in the other room," Dagg said quietly. He was sitting with his back against the wall, watching Link intently. "We can't have you getting ill, not so soon after getting well," he added with a flash of a smile.
"Thank you," Link managed, shifting his position when he felt something uncomfortably poke him in the back. Someone sighed to his right, and Link saw Sheik huddled in a corner, asleep, a blanket covering his entire body.
"No problem," Dagg said, waving it off. He looked at Sheik as he moved again and frowned. "He really has gotten thin. I hope he's not in any danger of becoming malnourished," he muttered, half to himself.
"You two are pretty close, huh?" Link said, his mind battling to keep itself awake.
"He was the first person to accept me as I am, for who I am," he said sadly. "When I arrived in Kakariko, people were initially... discouraged by my appearance."
"Like me," Link stated.
"Yes and no," Dagg answered, reaching for his glasses. "Some were so frightened they refused to speak to me. Others took action against me; insults and violence were a daily harassment. This was all before I became a doctor, when I younger than you are now.
"I'd just about given up hope of succeeding, sitting on the street, contemplating my next move. Then he came around the corner, such a small and young child back then. His arm was broken, and he was crying, sobbing for help. But no-one did, because they did not really care. Kindness is a luxury in these times, and one not so easily found. So I went to him when no-one else did.
"At first he was frightened of me, but then, he was scared of everything then. I shushed him, and sat him down on my knee. As I set the bone back in place, he stopped crying. And that's when I noticed he was different; not human, not Hylian, but something else. I bandaged his arm and set him down. When I asked him were his parents were, he looked up at me defiantly and said he had none—they are dead, apparently. I asked him his name, he said he had none, but to call him Sheik, because he was the last of his kind.
"After that, he lived with me in a small apartment in the drudges and slums of Kakariko. It was hard, having to look after a child and still trying to make my way in the world. But I never gave up hope, because I thought if one small child allowed me to treat him, then I'd have done what I set out to do in the first place—help people, any person alive. That's why I'm helping you now," he finished, rubbing his neck as he stretched. Link looked at Sheik, then back at Dagg, a newfound respect for both of them burning in his chest now.
"Thank you," Link muttered, humbled. "For everything."
"Like I said before, think nothing of it. Now, get some sleep while you can. I doesn't look like the weather's going to improve any time soon."
"Really?" Link asked, barely able to stay awake.
"Yes, it began hailing just before you fell asleep, and now that hail has turned to snow," he said, indicating at the window. Indeed, Link could see flurries drifting in the light wind that blew around them. "Hopefully it will melt before to long. I don't have the mindset for traveling through snow drifts," he added with a frown.
"Same here," he said, adjusting his pack and turning onto his side. As he tucked an arm under his makeshift pillow, he noted he was now fully dressed. Dagg, no doubt, he thought as he fell into a dreamless sleep again.