Shadow: Who's ready for some lore?

Wang: Me! Oh, me!

Shadow: Just remember, we don't own Legend of Zelda.

Chapter 8: Midnight Picnic

Nadai glanced up as Link appeared from the underbrush. Night had almost fallen.

"What took so long?" She asked.

"Talked to the monkey and found out where the princess is. But I couldn't escape myself until just now."

Nadai got up, stretching out her legs. "So where is the princess?"

"They said something about a place of worship." Both of them looked to Tatl. "You know anything about it?"

The fairy looked down at them from the branch she was on. "I have heard of it, but I haven't seen it before."

"So how do we find it?"

"Well, I would say go back and ask the scrubs, but it took so long in the first place for you to get out."

Link nodded. "Then what about the monkeys?"

Nadai finished stretching. "They should know." She agreed. "We should fly north."

Link brought the saxophone to his lips. "Then let's go."

Playing the song, the two children grew wings and flew up into the twilight air. The air was far crisper than earlier that morning. It filled their lungs and awakened them. They turned north and flew close to the tree-line.

Link caught sight of it, a hut in a clearing. Several small fires dotted around the clearing. The large form of Kaepora Gaebora could be seen surrounded by the small white monkeys. The monkeys scattered as they landed. Nadai did a quick tally in her head. The monkey had been right; if the monkeys had decided to attack back at the Deku Scrubs, they wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" The injured monkey called out to them. "Where's the elder!"

The other monkeys slowly quieted down as Link told his tale. Bit by bit they came closer to the three of them. By the end of the story, all of the monkeys were hopping about, their terrified cries identifiable even to Nadai and Kaepora Gaebora.

"But how do we find this temple?" Link ignored the other monkeys.

"We know how to get in the temple, but not where it is." The injured monkey closed his eyes.

"What?"

"There is an ancient song that opens the doors of the temple." The monkey went on. "I can teach ye the song, but the way to get to the temple is unknown."

"Teach me the song then." Link brought the saxophone to his lips. "Anything helps."

Nadai shifted her footing. This part of the swamp was very much soggier than by the Deku Palace. She brought her flute to her lips. The monkey started to howl, its pitch changing here and there. The mournful tune was echoed by Link and Nadai.

"Ye plan on heading to the temple?" A voice caused all of them to turn.

Kotake and Koume were walking to them.

Link's mouth dropped open. Nadai whirled about and brought out her daggers. Before they were halfway from their sheaths strong hands locked her arms in place. Magical hands, one red pair and one blue pair held onto Link and Nadai respectively. They were captive, they couldn't move under the powerful strength of the conjured hands.

"Easy child." The red haired witch smiled. "Ye mistake us for someone else, right?"

Nadai stared up at the woman. "You're not Kotake?"

The witch laughed aloud. "So ye know our sisters? Ye must be Gerudo!"

The hands that held them back released themselves. Link brought his hand up to his face and pulled off the mask. Instantly he was taller, and back to his Hylian body.

"Who are you?" He asked.

The witch with blue hair laughed. "Intersting curse ye have boy." She grew more serious, but the smile remained. "We're the witches of the swamp. Me name is Koume."

Both Link and Nadai's faces screwed up in confusion. "W-What?"

"And me name is Kotake." The red haired witch said. "Ye see, we were Gerudos once ourselves before we were sent away."

"Sent away?" Nadai asked. "They never mentioned when I was there that you existed."

"And they wouldn't." The blue witch pouted. "Ye see, long ago we were once whole with our sisters. But there was evil in their hearts. They performed a dark ritual which separated the good out of them. We coalesced from that good. We tried to help them, but instead they banished us. We've been here in the swamp since."

"That's not mentioned in the old stories." Nadai shook her head. "But I can see why those two witches would do such a thing."

Kotake smiled. "That's why we also look so young. Doing evil adds years to yer complexion." Nadai smiled too; their smiles were contagious. It was true. Both witches looked as if they were middle-aged, and not ancient crones.

"So where are we going?" Link asked. "Where's that temple?"

"We'll take ye there on our boat." Koume snapped her fingers and a boat came out from the edge of the swamp. "Just hop aboard and we'll get ye there in a jiffy."

Nadai smiled wide. "Thank you so much."

Kotake smiled in return. "Let me quick set ye up with a care basket."

As the red haired witch left, Koume took Nadai's hands. "Just promise us one thing."

"What?"

"Ye come back and tell us all about how Hyrule is." Nadai laughed along-side the witch. "It's been a few centuries since we have been in Hyrule. It'll be so nice to hear how everything was going."

"It's a deal." Nadai answered.

Kotake returned and handed Link a large basket. He peaked inside and spotted meat and cheese and bread and jellies. There was some fresh fruit in there, along with a flagon of what looked like milk. He lifted the basket, which was quite heavy, and made his way into the boat. Nadai joined him a moment later.

"Be careful," Kaepora Gaebora hooted at them. "May the Goddesses have their hand in your quest!"

The boat lurched forward quickly. They sped into the darkness of the swamp, lit only by the large moon overhead. They were quiet for quite some time, the only sounds came from the gently rocking of wood on water.

"They were nice." Nadai said softly, breaking the silence.

"I guess so." Link shrugged. "I was too busy trying to figure out what they said."

Nadai giggled. "You want to come back with me?"

"I'd like that." Link smiled.

Tatl watched above as there was an uneasy silence between them.

"Listen," Link began.

"What?"

"It's uh," Link stammered. "I want to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About us." He said softly. "I feel like we're –"

"Yes." Nadai rushed, cutting Link off.

"I – what?"

"I feel like we need to talk too." She whispered. "Like, a proper talk."

"About everything?"

"About everything." Nadai affirmed. She leaned back in the boat to rest against Link. "There's so many things that we need to talk about."

Link was silent. "I want to too."

"After we save the world, again?"

They both laughed softly. "Yes." Link agreed. "But…"

"But what?"

"I can't." Link looked off into the darkness. "I can't talk about it."

"But you wanted to talk about it!" Nadai leaned forward and turned to look at him.

"I do!" Link protested. "But I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Nadai narrowed her eyes. "Do you not trust me?"

"I trust you, it's just—"

"Then you can tell me."

"I can't!" Link groaned. "It's complicated."

"It can't be that complicated."

"It just is, okay?"

Tatl definitely had more than her share of confusion. "Just who are you guys?"

Both Link and Nadai turned their attention to the fairy above. Their argument temporarily forgotten, they both blushed as they stared at the fairy.

"The Heroes of Time?" Link offered.

"Nadai and Link?" Nadai said.

"No, I mean, just who are you? Why are you here? Why do you care?" Tatl flitted down to sit on the edge of the boat. An uncomfortable silence answered her. "I just feel like you two aren't telling me something that is kinda important."

Link nodded. "Because for the purpose of our quest, it isn't important." He looked to Nadai. "Can we discuss this after the world is saved?"

"The part where you tell me what's going on or the part when you don't tell me why you won't tell me." There was a bite to her words.

Link groaned, hanging his head. "Nothing I say will make you happy will it?"

"Nope." Nadai let out a grin, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

Link laughed hesitantly before looking over Nadai's shoulder. "We have less than two days to save that princess."

"One day." Tatl corrected. Both Hylians looked at her. "What? At dawn on the third day they're going to kill that poor monkey."

"And you know this why?"

Tatl shrugged. "Cause I do? Deku Scrubs don't start their festivals until either dawn or dusk. And they last until the sun either sets or rises again. My guess is that even though this isn't a festival it is going to be a feast of massive proportions. The Deku Scrubs might even go to war afterwards. They'll feast and then they'll hunt the monkeys into extinction."

"So we have just over a day to do this if we want the monkeys to live." Nadai sighed. "Let's hope this temple isn't hard."

Link laughed. "Nothing as hard as the ones in Hyrule, right?"

Nadai laughed too. "Could you imagine if that temple was something like the Water Temple?"

Link groaned. "Anything but that one."

Nadai smiled. "Imagine if we didn't have a Ruto guide us. We would've been lost for so long in there!"

At those words the muscles in Link's jaw tightened. Dark memories flashed in his mind, of his past. "I can imagine that quite clearly." He tried to say as light-heartedly as possible.

Nadai noticed Link's change in posture and his tone easily. But she didn't mention it. She turned around in her seat and resumed looking ahead.

Tatl glanced between the two of them confused. Sighing to herself, she resigned to sitting in the silence that draped itself back over them.

An hour passed maybe two. But before midnight struck they found themselves coming up to a waterfall. They all exchanged curious glances as their boat headed to it. As they came closer and closer to the water, Tatl got more and more worried. Just as they were about to go under the waterfall, their boat tipped itself. As if there was a rocket on the back of their boat, they zoomed straight up.

Link held onto the boat with one hand, the basket of food with another, and clenched his legs as tight as he could to the seat below him. Ahead of him, Nadai gripped the boat tight with two hands. Just as they thought they could go no higher their boat evened out and they were going upstream.

In the moonlight, they found themselves in the middle of a lake, the edges hemmed in by a large earthen walls. The boat went quickly until the water was no longer pulling them backwards. Slowing down, the boat stopped in the middle of the lake. Not the direct middle, but off a bit to the side.

"I guess this is it." Nadai said.

"We play the song then." Link brought his Ocarina to his lips.

Together they played the song they had just learned. The mournful tune echoed strangely on the lake's water. As the song ended, a large stone structure pierced its way out from the water and rose into the air. The boat rose and fell with the resulting waves, but stayed in its spot. As the water finished churning, they found themselves in the boat in front of a platform with closed and shut door.

"Nice." Link got out of the boat. He brought along the basket of food.

Nadai got out of the boat too. As soon as Tatl flew into the air the boat started on its way back, heading to the waterfall.

"Hey! That's our boat!" Tatl shouted.

"We don't need it anymore." Nadai smiled. "We have wings, remember?"

Tatl looked darkly at the retreating boat. "That doesn't mean that it wasn't ours."

"We were just using it for the time being." Link took off his boots and socks and sat at the edge of the water, dipping his feet in. He sighed. "Oh that's nice."

Nadai followed suit. "This is nice." She said softly. "Even though I did nothing all day today."

Link shook his head. "We did fight off those guards, remember?"

Nadai nodded. "That we did. I guess we deserve a break."

Link pulled the basket closer to them. "Hungry?"

Tatl looked at one then the other and then back again. "Food?"

They looked at her. "Yes. Food." Nadai said.

"How can you eat at a time like this? We have a job to do!"

Link handed meat and cheese and bread to Nadai who began to cut them with one of her daggers. "But we're hungry."

"We are on a time limit!"

"So we are." Link shrugged. "But you can't fight on an empty stomach."

"We've fought while hungry loads of times." Nadai pointed out.

"True, but we've had the blue circles and all that." Link reminded. "So we dealt with it."

"But how can you eat at a time like this!" Tatl shouted. "If you guys don't hurry, that monkey is going to die!"

Nadai smirked. "You really think that'll we'll let that happen? We'll save the princess lickety-split."

Tatl looked unsure, which Link smiled reassuringly at her.

"Trust us." Link ignored the yawn welling up inside him. "We're professionals."

Nadai nodded. "We've fought off against adults, flew halfway across Termina, and successfully change our shapes in front of you."

"I did the shape changing here," Link smirked. Nadai swiped at him, but Link dodged it as there wasn't any ill-intent behind it.

"We would think that at this point you would think that you could tell we were more than your normal, everyday average ten year olds."

Tatl went silent. It was true that the two Hylians in front of her had done some spectacular things in the past few days. Time traveling, shape changing, fighting, and flying all included. But they were only ten year old kids! They were so much younger than anything that Skull Kid could possibly through at them.

She watched as the two kids ate the food given to them by the witches. Just who were these kids? What had they done in the past? What will they do in the future? Just how strong were they?

"Hey, Tatl."

Nadai's words brought her out of her thoughts. "Yeah?"

"What can you tell us about this place?"

"The temple?"

"Yeah. You said you knew of it but not where it was. That means you know what's what about this place, right?"

Tatl frowned. "I only know the legends of the giants, but not much else other than that."

Link swallowed his overly-large sized bite of fruit. "Anything that you can help us with would be good." He took another bite. "Remember, we are outsiders."

Tatl grimaced as flecks of the peach came out of his mouth. "Yes, well," she began. "Long ago there were the four Giants. These giants came to Termina and decided to shape it while the land was still young. Each Giant made each place a home, leaving the center of Termina for the moon."

"Why the moon?"

"The man in the moon was good friends with the giants." Tatl waved her hand as if the point was inconsequential. "So that's why we have the mountains, the swamp, the canyons, and the sea. Over time, each of the four main races that came to populate Termina chose a region and decided to pay their respects to the Giants properly."

"And the four races are…?" Nadai trailed off.

"The ancestors to the modern day inhabitants. Zoras, Gorons, Deku Scrubs, and the Terminians." Tatl answered. "The Deku Scrubs took the swamp, the Zoras took the sea, the Gorons took the mountains, and the Terminians took the canyons. Each region made a temple to properly pay its respects. However, that was a long time ago and most of these places are abandoned."

"Abandoned?"

"The festival that will be held to honor the moon was once a celebration of a massive scale. They also praised the Giants during this time. Over time everyone moved from the individual temples to Clock Town. Now only the moon is celebrated, though most people don't know why."

"But what do you mean by abandoned?" Repeated Link.

"Just that. As the people moved to celebrate the moon alone, the temples went into disarray and were abandoned to time. The one in the canyon is lost altogether to time, as the Terminians left the canyon for the center of Termina to create Clock Town. For the Zoras, an earthquake brought the temple into deeper water. For being so used to change, I think they were the first ones to abandon the tradition. It was them or the Terminians, it's hard to tell.

"The Gorons use their temple more for a training grounds for their young males now than a place for worship. It's considered a rite of passage for their Gorons to go to the temple to pray and then to return. They may be the most steadfast to the old ways than anyone else. The Deku Scrubs only come once a year here, usually during the first week of the new year, and pray for a prosperous year for their crops."

"So that's why no one would be here now." Link surmised. "The new year was months ago."

"Maybe." Tatl shrugged. "But I'm surprised that you two want the giants to help."

"It was your idea."

Tatl blushed. "So?"

"I'm just curious." Link went on. "How does a fairy learn all this old history?"

"The Great Fairy." She answered quickly.

Nadai nodded sagely. "You really think that these Giants can help?"

"I don't know how strong your goddesses are," Tatl said proudly, "but the Giants are the strongest beings in Termina. They can do it."

"Just how though?"

"We have to rouse them, that's all." Tatl said as if it was that simple. "By going to the temples, we should be able to rouse them and bring them back to their full power."

Nadai swallowed her milk. "Full power? You mean to say that they don't have any power currently?"

"The Great Fairy thinks that they are asleep, kinda like hibernating I guess?" Tatl shrugged. "By rousing them, they will wake up and give us a hand."

"I see." Link leaned back to rest on his elbows.

Nadai followed suit, but instead of her elbows she rested on her back. "You think we should go in?"

Link yawned. "I'd rather fall asleep." He answered truthfully.

"Sleep!" Tatl exclaimed. "At a time like this?"

Link shrugged, already feeling sleep tug at his eyelids. "Hey, I'm a growing boy. What can I say?"

Within moments he was asleep. Nadai turned to look at Tatl and shrugged. Within moments she too was asleep. The fairy looked between the two of them; first one, then the other, then the other, and back again. She groaned and settled to wait until they woke up. She looked ahead to the sky and the stars. Her gaze was unmistakably tugged to the north, where Skull Kid was with her brother. There was trouble on the horizon, trouble that she couldn't handle on her own. Their fate, and hers, rested on the two sleeping kids below her.

And that frightened her immensely.

Time Stop: We probably just got all of that lore wrong.

Static: Undoubtedly.

Time Stop: But it is our story, so we'll stick with it!

Static: Possibly.

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