Chapter 11: Searching
"Ooh, this is scary! Are you sure we can do this, Medli? It's so high up!" Tael bobbed nervously from side to side.
Medli stood on the edge of the walkway, looking down at the swirling clouds beneath them. She knew that they had to get down from this temple in the sky. But she'd never been a very strong flier, and the winds up here were so fierce. Plus the clouds blocked her view and she had no idea how far away ground was, or what was down there. For all she knew, it was an ocean beneath her. What would she do if that was true?
"Don't worry, Tael. Hold onto my shirt. We'll be fine."
Medli slid the Ocarina of Time safely into her pocket, took one more deep breath, and then dove off of the platform.
Tael let out a frightened cry and hung tightly to the fabric on Medli's shoulder.
As they fell into the clouds, Medli extended her wings and slowed their descent.
The cold, wet fog drenched her clothes and feathers, making her heavy. It instantly became harder to fly.
They dropped beneath the clouds and found themselves looking out over a vast field. There were mountains in the distance, and a forest. Even a golden desert shone way off to their side.
But directly beneath them was water. A vast lake.
Medli beat her wings desperately. They were still a long way up, and they did not want to fall into water from this high up.
Tael whimpered as he felt them dropping much too rapidly. Medli had never gone high enough to touch clouds before, and she didn't know that they'd drench her so much that she wouldn't be able to stay airborne.
Tael fluttered too, trying to help Medli stay in the air. Of course he wasn't' much help for that. He was too small.
The lake was approaching rapidly. Barely moments later, it was almost upon them. Medli flapped her wings once more, slowing her descent just enough. The landing knocked the wind out of her, but didn't break any bones.
She kicked to the surface. "Great. I'm all wet again," she sighed.
Tael hovered over the lake, following her as she swam to the shore.
Medli felt something brush her leg. She gave an involuntary squeal and tucked her feet up.
A moment later, a face appeared in front of her. A face half human and half fish. A Zora.
"Are you all right?" He asked. "It looked like you fell into the lake. You didn't fall off of the bridge, did you?"
"Oh, uh, no, I…" she trailed off.
"Come on. I'll help you to shore. I'm a good swimmer."
He offered Medli his finned forearm . She hesitated, then took hold.
This Zora seemed pretty young. A little older than her, maybe. She'd never met a Zora in person. She'd met with a Zora spirit, and she'd also seen Shadow Link turn into a Zora. But this was her first time meeting one.
The Zora boy bulled her to a ledge right outside of a cave. The sign said that the cave led to a spirit's spring.
"You're all right?" Asked the Zora. "You're not hurt?" His eyes fell on the fairy and he cocked his head.
"Yeah. We're fine," Medli replied. "Thank you."
The Zora took in Medli's beak and the feathers on her arms. "If you don't mind me asking, what race are you? I've never met a bird race before."
"Oh, I'm a Rito. Well, I come from really far away. My name's Medli."
"My name's Tael."
"And I'm Ralis. I came down to check on the water temple, as is my duty occasionally. Link got rid of the monsters, but we have to make sure that the temple remains that way. I guess it's lucky I came down now, huh?
"Yes," Medli agreed. "Thanks again. My feathers aren't supposed to get so drenched, so it'll take a while before I can fly. But maybe you can help me. We're looking for some people."
…
Following Skull Kid's directions, Din and Tatl headed out of the forest and across a bridge. Before long, they arrived at a house. They could see that the path continued on to a village, and that the house stood outside of the town. This must be Ordon Village that Skull Kid had told them about.
Next to the house, there was a horse grazing on the grass. She was brown with a white mane and tail.
"That's Epona!" Tatl whispered. "Link's horse! Except she's a lot bigger than when I saw her last."
Just then, a young boy holding a wooden sword stepped out from behind Epona and stared at them.
"Who are you?" he asked, cocking his head.
"Oh, my name's Din," she said smiling. "and this is Tatl. Tell me, is that Link's horse there?"
The boy turned to look at the mare. "Yeah. This is Epona. Ilia and I have been looking after her since… since Link disappeared. Do you know where he is?" he asked hopefully.
Din shook her head. "No, we're actually looking for him too. But we got separated from our companions. You haven't seen any strangers come by, have you?"
He shook his head. "No, I haven't. You're our first visitors in a while. My name's Colin, by the way."
Tatl buzzed up to Epona's head. The horse shied slightly as the fairy hovered in her face.
"I guess this isn't the same Epona," Tatl sighed. "She doesn't remember me."
Epona turned and stepped up to Din, nudging her in the shoulder. Din stroked Epona's face.
"Animals like you, huh?" Tatl said, landing on the mare's back.
"Are you really looking for Link?" Colin asked hopefully.
Din nodded. "Yes. But we can't do that unless we find the rest of our group. They have something we need if we're going to succeed."
Colin hesitated. "You can borrow Epona if you want to. If it will help find Link."
Din smiled. "That's very kind of you. That might be just what we need. We won't need her for very long. Just until we find the others."
"That's OK. When you're done, you can let her go and she'll find her way back here. She knows her way around. I'll tell Ilia where Epona went. She can be a little overprotective of Epona sometimes." Colin gave a small smile. "But Epona likes you. And I think you'll take good care of her."
Din nodded again. "Thank you. We will take good care of her. And we appreciate it. I hope we'll be able to find Link soon."
"Me too. Oh, you don't have a weapon, do you?" He hesitated, then held out his wooden sword. "I know it's not really much, but it's kind of sharp."
"Are you sure you don't want to keep it? These are dangerous times."
"That's why I want you to have it. I want you to be safe while you're looking for Link. Besides, I can get another one. My dad can make another."
Din accepted the sword. "Thank you again." Din hopped easily onto Epona's back. "Be careful. I hope we can send Link back to you as soon as possible."
"Good luck!"
Din twitched the reigns and Epona set off at a trot. Colin ran to the corner and watched them canter out of sight towards Hyrule Field.
Tatl zoomed along beside Din. "Do you really think we'll find the others in this time?" she asked. "What if they went to a different era?"
"I think they're here. The ocarina was trying to send us all to the same place. We weren't standing near each other, so the time travel made us land in different places. But I think the others should at least be in this land."
"Well, I sure hope you're right."
…
Volvagia labored to stay airborne. He could feel the arrow still in his side, but he couldn't get it out.
He was still in the desert. He'd barely managed to escape the boars and their riders by flying over a canyon. But he didn't think he could go much farther. It hurt.
He was losing altitude too. It was all he could do to keep from skimming the sand. And to top it off, it looked like a sand storm was brewing.
"It… hurts…"
…
Shadow Link's cloak kept most of the sun off of him. And the sun was partially behind the mountain since it was in the evening. But still, he wasn't at his strongest during the day. He wanted to find a dark place to sit until night fell.
Really, he wasn't at all concerned about losing the others. Except Volvagia. Volvagia was the only other "person" he could tolerate. Honestly, dragons are actually useful. They fly and breathe fire.
What did worry him was losing the ocarina. Did it get left behind? What would he do if he couldn't find it?
But he was still stuck with Navi. At least she was being quiet now. Sulking along behind him. Man, fairies are useless.
A tunnel. There was a tunnel ahead.
Shadow Link quickened his pace and finally stepped into the darkness of the tunnel.
"How can people do everything during the day," he muttered. "I can't stand it."
He sank to the ground, appreciating the cool tunnel.
At the same time, it was so annoying. He was stuck in this tunnel when he should be out looking for the ocarina and his dragon.
He started to stand up, but stopped. Should he continue to search, or wait for night to fall?