Story Title: Our Wind Will Shake the Earth and Stars
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Author's Notes: Much appreciation goes to henslight, mysticalgems, Tapix, Tavi, and Kit for reviewing.
May just be my own opinion but this chapter is mostly transition, lots of description, with some plot advancement. And Ooccoo Jr. Next chapter promises to be more action-orientated. Thanks for reading.
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Chapter Four: A Scholar and His Library Are Soon Reunited
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Put simply, the City in the Sky was magnificent.
Really, Shad wanted to use a stronger word, but right now his mind was rather preoccupied with memorizing and organizing new knowledge and sights than to peruse his lexicon for a word that might not even exist.
But there was just so much. So much to say, so much to ask and still so much to see…. Nothing could be left out or forgotten. Shad had to remember everything. He was determined to, so that when he found the time, he could transcribe every bit into his father's journal. Shad had no idea if his impeccable memory would hold the surge of information, but he would find out.
Shad stepped and looked about a large room that Shad surmised from studying Link's map of the City (yet another valuable piece of information Link had overlooked to offer until now) was a sort of great hall and the central heart of the City. The room indeed was the largest one Shad had seen yet and was open and airy. Upon first sight, Shad noted the large moving fan directly across the room.
Like the first room, this room also appeared worn and dingy. The walls were a faded white-gray and were discolored with brown water stains. Ivy coated the four pillars stationed in a square in the middle of the room. Shad looked up and saw in the ceiling another large fan, this one immobile, and to his fright, also saw the shapes of creatures moving about that did not appear to be Oocca…
The scholar swallowed his concerns and moved on to memorizing the smaller elements of the room. Shad was very good at noticing things others did not, a skill he quite prided himself on and his father often praised him for. It was, in his experience, often the little things about a society that made big connections to the culture of its people. Shad liked finding these little facets—they were as intriguing to him as any large statue or a new room.
It did not take long before Shad was absorbed in the various faded ornate patterns about the room, such as red and blue lines on the stairs or the pillars that were very similar to the lines around the Oocca's heads or the purple ovals decorating the ovoid-shaped window ledges that were reminiscent of the Oocca's eyes.
Thankfully, the Oocca keeping watch on him and Link were patient with him, though Shad did notice that Link was a bit restless just standing around. Shad murmured a soft apology to him and noted to attempt to not get too lost in his wonder. Realistically, Shad knew he would but he was assured that Link would pull him away when he did fall victim to his propensity to wander off point. As it was, Link was engaged in listening to Ooccoo as she animatedly spoke to him about his previous visit to the City in the Sky and how interesting that occasion had been as well.
Shad walked about lost in awe and rapture. He decided to go ahead and made notes and sketches in his father's journal, figuring it was best he had both a tangible and intangible copy at hand. That and there really was just so much that it was wiser if Shad began marking down everything now just in case his memory, for some unfathomable reason, did fail him.
Along with drawing out his father's rashness in him, the City in the Sky also had a peculiar effect on Shad's loquacious tendencies. Never once had Shad ever been this quiet in his short life and in truth a thousand and one questions bubbled inside him but could not escape for his awe stealing away his breath. It was an unusual feeling, Shad noted, having simultaneously everything in the world to say and a mind as clear as air.
When Shad finally had every bit of interest in this room wrote or drawn down, Shad contemplated his next option to take on his route throughout the City. What Shad deemed as the western entrance—since according to Link's map, the City in the Sky's basic shape was that of a cross and it helped Shad remember rooms better if he thought of the City's design utilizing the shape—was inaccessible to Shad without Link's assistance, what with the missing pathway. And up the platform of steps would lead to the northern entrance, but Link assured Shad would need his aid crossing that passageway as well.
And so that left the scholar with no other choice but to take the eastern entrance.
"When you cross these," Link said, pointing at the blue blocks making up the path to door, "Run. Don't stop. Go as fast as you can."
"Very well then…" Shad was confused but he took Link's advice for it. After all, Shad thought, in this set of circumstances, he is more knowledgeable than I. Best to do what the old boy says.
Shad took his first step onto a blue block and as it sank and ground against the others, Link's advice swiftly made perfect sense. Why ever would the Oocca have necessity for footpaths like these? Shad wondered as he picked up speed and followed Link into the next room.
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With Link's assistance crossing the windy bridge, Shad arrived in the next building. A shrill pig's squeal immediately greeted and frightened Shad but Link quickly stepped in front of him and dispatched the small, silver-helmed creature charging toward them. According to Link, the foul little beast was a helmasaur.
Once Link took care of a second helmasaur that came barreling from the right, things were at last clear for Shad to begin looking about. The main feature of this room was the continuously whirling fans blowing blasts of air into the room and into a deep drop space. Peering over the perforated metal guardrail, Shad reminded himself to not get too close to the fans' high-velocity winds.
A pair of Oocca sat perched atop the guardrail and watched Shad with impassive stares without end. One detail I can speak truthfully of the Oocca is this—they keep their assertions.
Shad tried to not let the Ooccas' constant and off-putting stares get to him and focused on other parts of this new room and deliberated on what to sketch first. He had made a few more notes in his father's journal, but so far his attention narrowed on one specific question. So far, the question and his weak, illogical explanations bothered and annoyed Shad as much as a wrinkle bending his bowtie or that obstinate curl of hair of his that refused to lay anywhere else but on his temple.
To put an end to his annoyance, he decided to inquire for the answer.
"Madam Ooccoo," Shad searched and to no luck found her anywhere. "Madam Ooccoo?"
Shad at first thought she had remained in the previous room but at last found her casually perched on top of Link's head, much to the swordsman's evident unawareness as he turned his head and looked about trying to help Shad find her. The sight made Shad smile and stifle a laugh.
Apparently deciding to make herself found, Ooccoo leapt up and flapped over to join her brethren on the guardrail. "Yes, scholar?"
Shad gave a little bow, as he was certain would become habit before he spoke to Ooccoo, "If I may ask, how ever did the Oocca construct the City in the Sky?"
She was silent for a few breaths. "Gracious… I don't know."
And again with a short bow, "Please, if I may request, can you ask them?" Shad gave a quick glance and nod over to the watching pair of Oocca.
Ooccoo turned to the pair and chirped. Both Oocca too paused before they gave a reply. "They don't know either."
Shad's shoulders drooped and he made a quiet, frustrated sigh. "Then perhaps your leader? Might he know?"
"We have no leader," Ooccoo explained. "And I doubt anyone would. There are many things we no longer know, things we've forgotten."
Both Link and Shad looked bewildered at Ooccoo and blinked. "Then do you have any records? Documents? Scrolls?"
"There is a library…" Ooccoo said.
Shad's hopes lifted.
"…But we don't remember where it is."
Shad's hopes dropped like a Goron in deep water.
Shad felt the stress furrow his brow and weigh heavily against his shoulders. He frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought and thought. He was, after all, so close to finding out more about the Oocca, his only obstacle being the sky beings' ignorance of themselves.
"Then where did they take the Ancient Sky Book? Where else would you put a book but in its library? I say, they must know." To his horror, for some reason, Shad imagined the Oocca who took the Sky Book simply dropped it haphazardly in a remote room, breaking its spine, as those beastly, squealing helmasaurs rampaged over and across its valuable and informative pages.
Before he was ill, Shad reminded himself that the Oocca valued the Sky Book very much (equally as much as he) and that it would be quite unlikely they would do something so unspeakable to the irreplaceable tome.
"Oh, that. Our library doesn't have books. We hold information in…well, I don't remember," Ooccoo said. "But the Sky Book is in the Messenger's Library and there are other books belonging to the messenger there as well."
"Perhaps we should start there," Shad suggested, quite hopefully and with a hidden plea due to the truth that he really wanted to peruse the Messenger's Library but feared he would not be permitted on account of him not being the messenger and Shad already knew well what the consequences were for someone other than the messenger to touch a book only for the messenger. He rather not have the experience repeated.
"You've got a point, scholar," Ooccoo said. "Perhaps you should. The Messenger's Library is a bit a ways but my son can get you there in an instant."
Shad quite expected another Oocca or at least a smaller chick-like creature to appear but no, that was not quite the case. What came at Ooccoo's call was a head, an infant's head, a flying infant's head. Shad blinked and stared dumbfounded at the little flying head as it spoke briefly to his mother and then flew very close to Shad's face.
"I say, my, you're a peculiar little thing, aren't you?" Shad said, smiling and half-giddy with excitement as he admired the younger Oocca's tiny wings on each side of its head flapping rapidly away like a hummingbird. Fascinating! The Ooccas' physiological structure is simply a wonder. How I cannot wait to examine the physical maturation of the Oocca from child to adult!
"You say I'm odd," the young male Oocca, apparently named Ooccoo Jr., said, "but you're wearing mirrors on your face."
Shad's eyes widened as he stared back at Ooccoo Jr. in mild stunned surprise. Link snorted and turned his head away quickly to hide the rest of his amusement.
"Actually, they're not mirrors at all," Shad explained, "They're spectacles and they allow me to see…" Shad's voice trailed off as Ooccoo Jr., clearly not interested in listening, flew away and darted wildly about.
"Shall I take him now, mama?" Ooccoo Jr. asked.
Ooccoo nodded. Shad watched as the young Oocca grew enveloped in a blinding white light. Ooccoo Jr. flew just above Shad's head and then spiraled down around him. Shad felt the presence of magic surround him and willed him to follow it. Shad had no other option.
Shad's body spun in a dizzying blur and before he could utter a single shout, he was gone.
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The spinning slowed and at last the magic released him. Shad staggered blindly about his new surroundings in a wobbly daze before crashing into and grabbing hold of what felt familiarly like a table. There, Shad held on with wobbly arms and stood on wobbly legs and steadied himself.
The closest comparison and best description Shad could make of what the ride of magic felt like was like how honey drips from a spoon, how it first runs down in a thick glob and then gradually thins at the top to a wispy strand. Shad's body had felt very similar to that, like his whole body had been stretched, pulled, and wrenched into a single delicate string that spiraled and stretched some more along the way before pooling itself back into his usual shape. Shad tried not to think much of the effect and stress the bizarre teleportation had had on his internal organs. For now, he just hoped everything had made it and had been put back in its proper place.
Shad heard an odd, high-pitched tittering and, with his bearings mostly restored, looked up to find Ooccoo Jr.
"You're fun," the young male Oocca said, laughing as he flew around a bit more before he vanished in a flash of white light.
"Might I dare say there's something barmy about that boy," Shad murmured softly to himself and then closed his eyes, angled his head downwards, and smiled, "Now, I say, where have I heard that before? …Suppose it requires one to recognize another."
In comparison to the previous rooms, the Messenger's Library was small, confining, and very boxy, though Shad supposed the Oocca did not allot much time in the design, seeing how the room was neither for them nor their use.
The Library's sense of spaciousness and airiness was solely due to a complete lack of furnishings, save a wooden table and a circular-backed chair. The floors were made of red blocks and the walls were the same faded white-gray chaos as before, except for a dusty yellow frieze patterned with repeating dull green wings bordering at the top. There were windows, large and perfectly round, aligned along one wall. Shad had to admit the sunlight pouring in brightened the drab room and the view of the open sky and rolling misty clouds was a welcome and cheering sight.
An Oocca watched Shad from the farthest window. Coming to accept the sky beings would not relent in surveying his every move, Shad at least preferred to stay polite and said hello and waved to his guard. The Oocca stared blankly back and did not react at all. Feeling awfully foolish, Shad circled around at once.
The presence and swell of magic drew Shad's attention. The scholar found his head and stare angled toward the proper spot even before the magic manifested itself. The magic's feel was familiar and Shad should have known, having been dragged by it so not long ago.
So it seems Ooccoo Jr. is transporting Link along to accompany me, Shad thought and massaged his aching hands. His minor gift was picking up the magic in the air and his hands were very much remembering the stretching and pulling done on his body during his turn.
Link appeared in the room wildly spinning just as Shad had been, but when the magic released him, he was not left dizzy and did not stagger at all as he walked toward Shad.
"Everything all right?" Link asked.
"Why, yes, it is," Shad replied and offered a quick smile, a tinge of pink coloring his cheeks as he compared their experiences and was embarrassed by his weakness.
"Gracious! Here we are," Ooccoo said as she hopped onto the table, "The Messenger's Library."
"Pardon me, Madam Ooccoo," Shad said, finding himself once again bowing to her before he spoke, "but if this is indeed the Library, should there…should there not be books?"
Shad had already looked around once and he had seen nothing in the Messenger's Library that by any definition resembled a book, a scroll, or barely even a scrap of parchment with a bit of scribbling on it. Link was searching about as well, and by the look on his face was as confused by the Library-that-contained-no-books as Shad was.
"You'd think we'd keep books out where anyone could find and take them, scholar? This is a library," Ooccoo replied, her voice rather aghast by the whole idea.
Ooccoo made a few short, odd chirps and Shad and Link watched as the stones in the wall across from them shifted and turned around and reordered themselves—the grating noise the process made was horrendous—until the large gap in the wall clearly revealed itself to be a bookcase.
Shad blinked and knew his open mouth was quite unbecoming but did not care. He blinked again. The scholar wondered if the Oocca had ever seen a proper library, and if so, were simply using the term ironically. Most likely they had not, for if they had, would not be calling this room the Messenger's Library. Shad suddenly had the desire to show the Oocca his research/personal library to teach the sky beings the proper meaning and usage of the word. Really, Shad slept with more books surrounding him in bed than the Oocca had in their library.
Shad walked up and stood in front of the bookcase and gathered up the entirely of the Messenger's Library in his arms—all three books, one being the Ancient Sky Book.
Shad turned and faced Link, "I suppose this is a start…" I say, it's not much of anything, but it is a lead and Father always said to never refuse a lead however insignificant. With any good fortune, I may not require any other assistance than these books and the time it takes to study them.
I do wish there was something more, just another option. Just in case this lead bears me nowhere. I do not wish to finally be in the City of the Sky and have no method of gathering research.
"Hopefully, they'll be helpful," Link said. "If not, we'll search other rooms and maybe something'll give you a clue."
Shad was still uncertain as he moved over to the table and laid the stack of books there. "Yes, well," he said, his voice soft and like a sigh, as he rested his hands flat on the top book's worn, untitled cover, "Let us pray there are answers to be discovered and the means of discovery somewhere out there."
"If anyone could get answers, it would be you, Shad," Link said, flashing the scholar an encouraging smile. "You're good at that."
"Yes…well…thank you," Shad peered quickly over at Link and then back down and smiled.
Not a lie in the old boy. Means what he speaks and speaks what he means. Good quality to have in a hero, Shad thought as he flipped through one of the books he hadn't yet read. …Sky Writing, as I should have expected. I suppose they are all written in it. Easy enough for me to read, but it will be time-consuming to translate it so that I understand what it says.
"Link, do not take what I say as discourteous, but I would suggest, if you want to that is…" Shad said, struggling a bit with his phrasing, as everything so far was coming across ill-mannered and Shad hated the thought of being at all rude to Link, "…After all, you are free to go about as you please, but the fact of the matter is, given what I know of you and granted I may be wrong—"
"Shad, just tell me."
"The truth is that I think you will more than likely find my researching dreadful and I do not see you being content with remaining idle and watching me read for hours on end. If you want to, however, you are more than welcome to stay. I do not mind the company at all. But I believe it would be more sensible if you occupied yourself exploring or what have you while I stayed here."
"Ah, I see. Does sound boring," Link admitted. "But you're okay with me leaving?"
"I say, absolutely," Shad nodded, doubly affirming. "One could say I am quite accustomed to such conditions."
"Well, I'll leave you to your work then," Link said, as Ooccoo Jr. fluttered above his head. "If I find anything, I'll be sure to come get you."
"As I would expect," Shad said and nodded again, this time in goodbye. "Take care, Link."
Link flashed a smile and raised a hand in farewell, and seconds after, he spun and vanished in Ooccoo Jr.'s spiraling white light.
Deciding there was no better time to begin translating than now, Shad took a seat in the wide, circular-backed chair and found it to be less comfy than it appeared. It was as if, what with the drab, poorly-lit room and the uncomfortable chair, that the Oocca were trying their hardest to discourage anyone from spending too much time in the Messenger's Library, as if they didn't want anyone to read their books.
Well, I have done research in far worse conditions. No sense in permitting poor seating and lighting delay my quest for answers, not when flying snow and mud, Ashei and Rusl's boisterous practice spars, and Auru's dreadfully brewed tea could not dissuade me.
Setting the Ancient Sky Book off to the side, Shad went ahead and opened the one of two books he had not yet read to the first page. The idea to ask Ooccoo for her assistance in translating the Sky Writing into Hylian flitted quickly through Shad's mind but died rather immediately once the scholar realized she was gone, or if not that, then hiding and not listening to his calls. Shad considered it a possible timesaving loss but not a true hindrance. After all, Shad was in his element and he was more than proficient in the subject and competent to complete such a task.
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Link wandered from room to room looking for curious sorts and out of the ordinary bits that Shad would find interesting but so far was not having much luck. Nothing particularly caught his eye. He merely caught what he always caught, specifically the layout of the room and the utmost necessities needed to get to the next—things like the number of monsters he would have to take out, or the stair puzzle he would have to decipher, or the frozen eye across the room that needed unthawed and sniped. Things like that.
Put simply, when Link and Shad entered a room, they looked for different things. Link looked the necessary and Shad…well, as far as Link knew he wasn't quite sure what Shad looked for but he knew it wasn't the bare basics like him. Shad was more thorough. Anything and everything could be of importance and interest to him. And trying to discern from room to room what Shad would find significant, quite frankly, gave Link a headache. But he knew there had to be something and it was up to him to find it.
He asked Ooccoo and her son to help him discover or tell him about interesting things that Shad might find fascinating but so far they found nothing and could not remember much of anything. Link now thought he understood how Shad must feel, frustrated at finally being in the City in the Sky but having no way of answering his many questions.
"Why can't you remember?" Link asked Ooccoo as they made their way to the next great room.
"Well, it's that…" Ooccoo stared down and frowned, "…we can't remember why we can't remember."
Link paused in his step and turned to her.
"Thing is…" Ooccoo said as she hopped up to sit in an ovoid-shaped window, "We do remember that we used to remember but now for some reason everything we know is gone or fades. Like I know I knew the spell to revive the Dominion Rod, but one day I forgot the beginning and then gradually it all slipped away."
"And we weren't like this a long time ago, were we, mama?" Ooccoo Jr. said, perching beside his mother.
"Yes, my darling boy, you're right. We looked much different, though how we can't recall."
"Something must have happened…" Link said. "Something that took away your true forms and your memories."
Ooccoo nodded. "Yes, adventurer, I suppose you're right. We can't remember what but we do know we were never originally like this."
Link stood in deep thought with his head bowed. A dark swell in the air surrounded him. Something like a fluttering ache spread through his bones and urged him to follow. He suddenly became restless. He wanted to get moving.
"I will help you," Link said confidently, clenching a hand at his side into a strong fist, "And Shad will be happy to, as well. We will search every stone for clues. We'll find a way to get your memories and your forms back. It would be no trouble."
Ooccoo smiled and gave a quick bow, "Thank you, adventurer. We would be forever grateful."
Link pressed his fist against his heart and returned her smile, "It's a promise."
"Mama… I think I remember something," Ooccoo Jr. said but without much certainty.
"Oh, how wonderful! My, what a good boy, he is," Ooccoo praised as her son fluttered from their perch and flew over and hovered in front of the young Oocca marking on the wall.
Ooccoo Jr. hung in the air and stared intently at the picture for the longest time. He spoke aloud to himself and struggled to recall what he had just remembered, or at least what he thought he had remembered. He was about to give up, and Link was ready to let go of his hope, when the idea fell back into Ooccoo Jr.'s head. Ooccoo Jr. turned around and laid his back against the marking. He summoned his magic and the white light briefly outlined his shape. The light then raced through the cracks in the stones and then vanished, taking with it a section of the wall.
The revealed hallway was narrow and not very long. At the end of the short hallway was a door, like any of the other doors in the City in the Sky. When Link approached, the door opened without a sound and Link stepped out onto a small balcony. The wind was tremendous here and more blustery than usual. Luckily, Link had the forethought to slip into the iron boots before walking out. If he hadn't, the great gusts would have blown him off the side of the balcony and to Link could only surmise was his eventual death.
Link couldn't recall visiting this spot before. He checked the map and indeed, there was no marking. Too dangerous a place that no one would find to waste the ink for, Link supposed.
The wind was truly terrible here. It blew much more frequently, rapidly, though it did not last as long. Link looked about the balcony. Truthfully, there wasn't much to inspect. It was a plain, regular stone balcony with not a vine of ivy, an opening for the spinner, or any sort of oddity that struck out to Link. He hung his head in disappointment. Things, after all, were going so well. He had found a new spot, except there wasn't anything interesting here.
Link turned to leave and as he did so, made one last farewell check. On a hunch, he looked to the sky and found a peahat. Not just one but a long string of them leading high up into the heavens, so high up the pathway faded into the misty clouds. He had not heard them, what with the wind too loud in his ears, and usually the sound of their spinning always had alerted him to their presence before.
Link found the path of peahats exciting. And not just for himself, though he was thrilled by the prospect of an unexplored section of the City, but for Shad as well. Link had finally found something truly fascinating. Something that was sure to please Shad and reignite the scholar's boundless enthusiasm and hopefully would provide much needed answers and clues about the Oocca for the pair of them.
Much as he was eager to go on, Link had to go back. He had to get Shad and show him this and take him along. He wouldn't have it any other way. Even if Link had no idea where they were going or how dangerous it might end up being, especially for Shad. But no matter. Shad deserved to be there and explore it with him as much as Link was entitled. And if Link was going to keep his promise, Shad would have to be there beside him.
Because of the wind, Ooccoo and her son had stayed inside. Link rushed to rejoin them and asked Ooccoo if her son would immediately bring him back to the Messenger's Library. She agreed and soon Link and Ooccoo and her son were gone.