Chapter 2: Just another day

"Hey, wake up, Link! It's morning already!" a voice shouted.

There was some commotion that was coming from the house such as a shuffle from the footsteps, muttering and curses and tripping. But, I finally got to the balcony to see the village kids: Talo, Malo and Beth.

Malo was the shortest of the group but he sometimes act as if he is the most mature one. Talo who loves adventures and sword fights often pleads me to teach him sword fighting. Beth is the one who always seemed to be annoyed at Talo and his childish behavior or something like that.

Sighing, I checked to make sure that my clothes were on properly this time before exiting out of my house to see what's up with the kids.

"Hey Link! Didja hear?!" Talo started, excitement building up in his voice. "There's a slingshot! A slingshot!" he raised his voice, unable to contain the excitement that was creeping up.

I chuckled. "A slingshot eh?"

Talo nodded furiously.

"I wonder how powerful it is. I must…try it." Malo's voice came. He always speaks quietly.

"Malo…Talo; if you two want the slingshot so badly why don't you just buy it from my mom's shop?" Beth said, annoyed.

"Aww…we barely get any allowance." Talo replied, his tone decreasing until a sudden idea came from him. "Hey! Why don't you let us borrow it for a while?"

"You know I would get in trouble for that!" she snapped.

Shaking my head, I walked away from the group and into the village. They want a slingshot, eh? Not to worry.

"Yo, Link! Try talking to me from there!" Jaggle shouted, causing me to look up.

I climbed up the vines to meet up with him.

"Whoa. Hey! You climbed up here without even yelling up at me first. You're a spry one, huh?"

I smirked. "Guess you could say that."

"Well whatever…Check this out over here…" he then motioned to a brown and white cat that was gazing at the clear water. "You know Sera, at the general store? Well, isn't that her cat over there? He's just been sitting there next to my house, having a staring contest with the creek. You don't suppose he's thinking he's gonna catch a fish, do you? Ha ha ha! A cat can't catch no fish!" he laughed good-heartedly.

I smiled.

"Anyway…" he cleared his throat. "That's not what I was meaning to tell you about. I want you to take a look at something…See that grass growing there on the edge of that rock? Haven't I seen you whistling with that stuff?"

I nodded. "Yeah you did. It does have a beautiful melody."

"Yup: it sure does." he agreed. "I figured it was pretty rare to see it growing in a place like that, so I thought I'd let you know. I bet you could hop across these rocks, couldn't you?"

Once that was done, I went around him to jump to the next platform then to the roof of the house so that I could reach the grass in where Jaggle was pointing at. Once there, I picked it up to blow the pretty tune which my hawk was called upon. The hawk screeched, letting me know that it was coming. It placed itself on my arm as a stand.

I heard something though I wasn't sure if I was imagining it. I squinted my eyes to see something jumping up and down ahead of me. I sent my hawk to it who in return, grabbed something out of the animal's grasp.

I realized that it was the cradle—the one where Uli was trying to look for. I carefully hopped over the platforms then jumped on the ground to race to Uli.

"Hey, Uli! Is this yours?" I asked.

She gasped when she saw the cradle. "Oh my…Link! I have been looking for that cradle! I made it when my first child was born and I have cherished it all these years. Did you know all this somehow? Did you find it and bring it back to me on purpose?"

"Perhaps." I grinned.

"My thanks to you!" she smiled. "That reminds me…There is something I am supposed to give to you…Do you think you could carry that cradle and come with me back to my house?"

I nodded. "Of course."

Even though, I knew where her house was, I still followed her. When we got there, she gently sat on the floor of the house.

"My thanks to you, Link." she thanked me again. "Yes…I had nearly forgotten…I am supposed to give you this…"

Seeing an item that was placed gently on the floor, she slowly bend over but before she could bend even further, I got it instead of her.

"Sit. I'll do it." I said, earning a smile.

"Thank you. It is a little…unpolished." she replied as I examined the fishing rod. "My son, Colin, made this under the instruction of his father. You can use it if you like."

I smiled. "I think it's lovely. If you see him, tell him that he did a fine job."

She nodded. I also thought about Sera's cat and wondered if I could use the fishing rod I currently have. Just maybe I could bring him back to Sera who looked very gloomily when I visited her.

However, before I decided to try out the rod, I slowly crept towards the cat. When I was close enough, I attempted to do a dive which failed miserably since I had got air instead of the cat, letting me to fall into the water which scared fishes away.

"Ack!" I gave a shout as I fell into the water, sinking down.

Stupid cat.

Muttering in thought, I hastily gave myself a lift off by pushing both of my feet from the bottom of the underwater ground and swam towards the surface. I sputtered some water out while glaring at the cat who gazed back at me.

People would think this would be some kind of a glaring contest.

I heaved myself up, being completely soaked (no thanks to the cat) then tried out the fishing rod…which I should've done a while ago. With a tug, I yanked my arm back and it seemed to be a tug-o-war as the fish would sometimes try to get out and I would sometimes try to get it out of the water.

Finally, I felt the fish surrendering itself and I pulled the rod out. Taking the fish out of the bait, I placed it on the ground that was between me and the cat. With a meow, the cat leaped and snagged the fish away in its mouth and then it ran towards his owner: Sera.

I grinned at the accomplishment before jogging towards Sera.

"Hey, Sera!" I replied, entering in the store. There, I saw the cat lapping away its milk while Sera looked at it fondly.

"Oh Link! Look at this! My little kitty cat is so amazing! Today, he caught a fish all by his little old self!"

Actually, he had help. I added, mentally.

"How do you think he caught it? Maybe he's a genius!" she exclaimed, happily.

"Maybe he is." I agreed.

"Ohhh, just look…isn't he so cute? The way he laps up that milk!? Say, m'dear, why don't you have some, too! I'm in a good mood, so it's on the house today!" she handed me the bottle in which I took it and placed it in my handy dandy pouch.

"Thanks." I replied.

She nodded. "Oh, don't worry. You don't have to return the empty bottle, m'dear." she added. "You can reuse it—you know, put something else in it. Recycling is a very important thing, m'dear! I'm sure you'd never do anything of the sort, but kids these days toss things out like the whole world was disposable! It's criminal!" she ranted until she realized that I was actually here to buy something. "So, what do you say, m'dear? Is there anything you want today? Feel free to look around!"

I didn't need to look around since I knew what I was here for. "Yeah I would like to buy that slingshot." I motioned to the one that was on the left shelf.

"Oh that toy? I got this in for the kids. It's just a toy but it stings something awful when you get hit by it! The slingshot is 30 Rupees. Do you want to buy it, m'dear?"

I nodded before grinning like a kid. Sera shook her head with amusement.

"Aren't you too old for it?"

"No way. You can never be too old to play with kid's toys."

She laughed. "You may be seventeen, Link but you still act like a child!"

I chuckled. "Well, I'm a kid at heart."

After that, I also helped with Haggle's chores such as knocking down the beehive with my hawk in which he needed for his wife or something like that. And then, I exited out of the village to meet up with the kids.

"Ah, just in time, Link! I just delivered something to your room!" Rusl told me when we met up with each other. "Oh, I see you got the finishing rod. Colin will be pleased. And it works better than you would think, right?"

I nodded. "It works great. I would have to thank Colin and I would be sure to check out the item."

He nodded. "Alright. See you soon for some practicing. You know where to meet."

I slightly tilted my head in confusion when he said 'practicing'.

Practicing…? For what?

And then, he left.

"Link has a slingshot! WHOA!" Talo exclaimed, seeing the item in my hand.

Guess I forgot to put it back.

"Wow! You had enough money to buy it, Link?" Beth asked, surprised.

Sometimes, I wonder if she has a crush on me…

"Oh we must try it!" Talo shouted, cheerfully. "Give us a sec!"

There were a lot of movements here and there while I stared at them as they placed some objects up on trees and such.

"Preparations compete…" Talo announced. "Ok, wow, this is great! Let's see how powerful that slingshot is! Hit the targets and those scarecrows!" he replied as if he was challenging me.

"I can't believe you two brats are so obsessed about this. It just shows what little boys you both still are!" Beth said, annoyed. "These two will never let it go. Link, just show them."

Taking it out, I aimed one of the targets that was nearly beside my house. With a pull and a release, the pellet struck the target causing it to explode into pieces.

"Whoa! You hit it! You hit it!" Talo exclaimed with joy, jumping up and down.

"Ooo amazing Link!" Beth responded, amazed.

"I thought you weren't interested, Beth…" Malo said in his quiet voice.

Blinking, Beth returned to her normal state. "Hmph. I-I'm not…"

Malo rolled his eyes at the sudden change of emotions.

The kids were even more surprised when I hit every single target. After that, they had "demanded" to tell them of what Rusl had placed inside my house. Widening my eyes, I sprinted towards my house as I knew I was probably late and I had slightly got an idea of where Rusl would meet me.

I gasped, a delighted one, when I pulled a wooden sword of the chest.

"Thanks Rusl." I whispered before skidding down the ladder until I was stopped by the kids who wanted to me to show them a couple of moves.

I cringed when a flash of Rusl's angry face came into my mind. Once it was done, I made my way towards the Ordon Spring.

"So you finally arrived." Rusl spoke, turning around as I panted with my hands on my knees.

"S-sorry…the kids…wanted me to…show some…moves." I replied, trying to catch my breath.

He smiled. "Doesn't matter. Come."

I walked towards him, letting the cool water greet my feet. We both bowed to one another then took our swords out.

So, it began.

Grunts filled the air while splashes of water would be thrown here and there. I swiped a sweat that would run down from my forehead. It was also hot which was why I took off my upper tunic. Panting, I eyed Rusl who gave a little smirk then I charged at him.

He easily moved out of the way when I tried to do a jump attack. My wooden sword hit the water as I narrowed my eyes. The moment I got back up, I twirled around only to be met with his sharp blade that dangerously swung across my face. I felt its breeze passing by before it vanished.

This time, I charged at him again to clash. The clashing went on for a while until Rusl shoved me back a bit roughly, causing us to lose "contact with the swords". Narrowing my eyes, I again ran towards him but Rusl had other tricks up his sleeves.

The elderly man ducked down to stuck his leg out, making me to trip and skid down on the water with a splash. His sword pointed at me when I turned to face him.

"Yield?" he asked, having a twinkle in his eyes.

Grumbling, I replied. "I yield."

Rusl chuckled, removing his sword so that I could get up. He also nodded with approval.

"But you're getting there, Link. A few more of these practices and you will be skilled as I am."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Patience is virtue. You would understand it someday, Link." he replied. "I must go. Uli is expecting me to help around the house for lunch."

We bowed once more, indicating that the session is over. Rusl left, leaving me to walk out of the water so that I could grab my tunic that was laying on the sand so I wouldn't get it wet. Just as I was about to grab my tunic, a voice that sounded panicky came.

"Link! LINK!" I looked to see Colin who's filled with worried.

"What is it, Colin?" I asked, concerned.

"Talo...Malo…Be-Beth…" he replied, unsteadily.

"Catch your breath first then tell."

"Well after you disappeared, Talo, Malo and Beth saw a monkey and they chased after it. I'm pretty sure it led them to the Woods." he explained.

"What?" I said, sharply before regaining myself. "Stay here, Colin and don't move. I'll go!"

Quickly calling Epona, I got on her and we raced towards the Woods.

My tunic, however, laid forgotten.