Chapter 2

"Warriors Revealed"

"Yeah," I replied, "I'm fine. The nut bounced off my arm."

He helped me up; the crack in my arm ached painfully and twinged when I pulled on his hand. He looked at me with a mixture of concern and confusion, he didn't let go of my hand as he checked my arm where the nut bounced off.

"Prick," I mumbled under my breath.

"Excuse me?" Link asked offended.

"The business shrub. Didn't mean you; he nearly killed me!" I hastily clarified.

The shrub stood not seven feet away from us, crossing its arms in front of what would be a genital area, except, I'm pretty sure plants don't have genitals. It rocked from foot to foot, shivering from its sudden uproot into the crisp Autumnal air.

"Spare me, little girl! Please! I'm sorry for attacking you!" It said.

Like hell it was. On what little of a face it had, the stupid bastard still looked smug. In fact, the little prick looked so smug for a plant, that it appeared to be PLEASED that it'd managed to attack and piss off a little girl. I let it know this through the best glare I could muster.

"I'll sell you a shield if you spare me, little girl!" It added hastily.

If Link wasn't standing next to me with his hand on my shoulder to keep me from moving, I would've killed it right then and there. It had just done two things that pissed me off: called me little girl, and attempted to brown-nose his way out of a sticky situation. Why the gutless, yellow bastard, I was about to lunge at it and strangle it until it was past purple, when...

"Yeah, how much is it?" Link said.

I stared at Link incredulously. Was he really letting the damned thing just sell its way out of an ass-beating?

"Forty Rupees," The Deku shrub replied, eyeing me nervously

It was then that I noticed the ache in my left foot that felt like small, sharp pebbles being pressed into my flesh with the force of a thousand boulders. Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but the feeling persisted until I was forced to take my boot off. I tipped it upside down and four small crystalline objects fell onto the grass. Luckily, the grass was shorter here, so I didn't lose any of these small things. They were rupees, and I had three green ones, and one blue. All in all, I had eight rupees. I wasn't quite sure how I learned this, but, it was okay with me, since I liked money. Who doesn't? But I checked my other shoe to find no more money, and that's a problem even if you don't really have to buy something.

"Uh-oh" I said, "this is all I've got. Could I buy it later?"

Link shook his head, "I'll pay for it," He told the deku shrub.

Humiliated, I looked at Link, but he wasn't paying attention to me, he was looking at the shrub. If I looked at the shrub, I would likely kill it, so I looked elsewhere. There wasn't much to look at, really: some dead trees, some live trees blocking my view of Hyrule Field, that bloody Business Shrub, Link, the grass the sky, a rock, the cliff walls, so I finally settled on looking at my boots and focusing on putting my left one back on. I sat down on the ground and adjusted my sock. That was good, at least I was wearing socks, even if they itched. I put my leather boot back on, and Link still wasn't done haggling with the bush, so I lied down on my stomach and rested my chin in my right hand. Watching Link's back, my eyes grew heavy.

The next thing I knew, Link was tapping my newly-bought deku shield against my head and trying to shake me at the same time.

"Hylia, wake up," He said with his hands on my shoulders, "I think you fell asleep."

I couldn't hold the stupidity from my face.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"You were asleep, weren't you?" He patronized.

"I-I-I-I... No I wasn't," I replied hastily.

Actually, I do remember nodding off, but not going to sleep. While Link and the stupid bush were haggling over the price of the shield so long, I'd found it hard to keep my eyes open. It was possible that I'd fallen asleep, but I wasn't about to admit that to Link.

"May I have my shield now?" I asked innocently.

He rolled his blue eyes. Even though he seemed exasperated, he handed me the newly bought shield. We walked back to the bridge, and had a little problem once we got closer to it.

"Now what do we do, Miss jump-off-the-bridge?" Link asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey," I said, trying to defend my pride, "I was pushed. YOU jumped."

I pointed at Link's face, and made poking motions with each word I said.

"I think I've got a solution, anyway," I said, "I'll cup my hands, you step into them, I'll lift you up. You jump onto the bride and pull me up." I held a finger in the air as if it was ingenious.

"Good idea," Link replied, "but how about I lift YOU up?"

"I'm stronger."

"You're a girl. How can a girl be stronger?"

"I'll arm wrestle with you to prove it."

I held up my hand, and Link looked at me like I was from a different planet.

"Just take my hand. I don't have cooties."

"What are cooties?" He asked, and all I could do was roll my eyes.

"JUST... Take my hand. Don't you know how to arm wrestle?"

He did, but he got it wrong the first three times. I corrected him until he didn't seem uncomfortable. He was strong all right, but it seemed we were equally matched. We were sitting at a stump that looked like the tree was larger than a mighty oak, straining and going red in the face. I silently wondered what would happen if one of the Kokiri came up and saw us off the bridge and arm wrestling on something they could use as a dinner table.

Eventually, the arm wrestling got boring, so I devised a strategy to win.

I snapped my fingers in his face.

"I win!" I said, quickly forcing his arm down.

"Hey! That's not fair! You cheated! I want a rematch!" He said in choppy sentences.

"Nope," I replied, sticking my nose in the air, "You lost fair and square. You saw my fingers coming, you could have stopped me. You're just a sore looser."

He was pouting at the fact a girl beat him, but I was still laughing. We walked over to the bridge, and he stepped into my hands so I could lift him up. He grabbed the side of the railing and pulled himself back onto the bridge. I raised my hands in the air, and he grabbed my arms and pulled. It was a team effort to get me up as it's easier to push someone than to pull them up.

I barely got onto the bridge; my foot caught on the rope siding, and I fell on my face.

"Ow," I said with a mouth and nose full of salty-tasting bridge wood.

Link thought this was the funniest thing. I gave him the Italian gesture for good luck, and he helped me back up, for the third time that day, by my middle finger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, uncertainty playing jokes with his voice.

"You don't want to know if you don't all ready."

I wiped my hands on my dress and looked over the side of the railings. It was somewhat of a miracle that I didn't smack my head on the ground and die from that distance, and it was more of a miracle that we managed to get back up. I let loose with a low whistle.

"Someone needs to put a ladder against this bridge," I said.

The second tunnel lead us out of Kokiri Forest and into Hyrule Field. Well, not yet. It lead to a semi-tunnel formed by more cliffs. At the end of the "road" there was a clearing to Hyrule Field. I took a tentative step forward to begin the adventure that was trying to navigate such a huge open space, but before we could leave, we heard a "hoot, hoot" from above us.

Link rolled his eyes again, and whispered in my ear, "I'm really getting sick of this guy. I think he stalks me."

"Hey Link," the Owl said.

The only thing I could think was "!" and a gasping noise.

The owl then acknowledged me, "And Hylia," he continued speaking, but I didn't hear him.

Promptly after, I found myself hiding behind one of the trees, hugging my knees and hysterically saying "Talking owl knows my name! Talking owl knows my name! TALKING OWL KNOWS MY NAME..!"

Then next thing I knew, I was being shaken, and I had grass in my mouth.

"Hylia, are you okay?" Link asked me, "You've got me worried! First, mindlessly going on like a lunatic, then next passing out. Are you sure you're fit to go to Kakariko?"

"Mm-hmmff," I mumbled with a mouth full of grass and dirt, "I swear. I just... didn't expect a talking owl."

Link helped me to my feet, and I spat some of the gunk out of my mouth, but I couldn't get it all.

We continued onward, Link watching me carefully. Nonetheless, I had a few almost nonchalant questions to ask him.

"How did Keapora Geabora know my name?" I asked, trying not to sound shaken as I was.

"He followed us. How do you know his name?" He replied.

I stuttered for a few minutes.

"I have no idea," I finally managed.

"Okay. That's weird," he said, stopping in his tracks to look at me, his eyebrow cocked.

'You should talk', I thought, 'you're the weird one. Blond-haired, blue-eyed, dress-wearing boy.'

"What?" I said, stopping a few feet away.

"You knew his name, and you don't know how?"

"Yeah..."

"All right..." He said, hesitantly, in a tone that screamed of disbelief.

We had continued walking, me sticking my tongue all the way.

We came upon a patch of bushes and long grass, I noticed something within them.

"Hey look!" I said, walking in the general direction of the glinting object, "A shiny thing in a bush!"

Link rolled his eyes and slapped himself in the forehead. Boy, I must've sounded stupid. I didn't care, though, so I pointed.

"No, really," I repeated, "A shiny thing!"

I fell to all fours, stuck my head in the bush, and acquired the shiny thing: it was a rupee. I pulled my head out of the bush and stood up. I held the rupee up to the sunlight and examined it. The sun brought out its deep amethyst-purple color, that meant it was worth 50 green ones!

I held it up in Link's face, "See? Look! Shiny thing in a bush."

He stared at the rupee.

"How did you notice that?" he gasped.

I tried to repress a laugh, failed, and said, "I saw something shiny. It glinted in my eyes, so of course I'm going to notice."

"Well," he said, "you've got to stop sticking your tongue out, so why don't you use it to buy some milk?"

I nodded, that was a good idea. Even so, I didn't want to part with my new-found treasure, although, truth to be told, I was getting really tired of sticking my tongue out, the air tasted sickly sweet. So I walked passed him, leading the way to Lon-Lon ranch.

The only reason I knew which direction it was in was because of the tall buildings that made up the ranch. Even if you were sixty miles away, you could still find it almost as well as you could Hyrule Castle Towne. Almost. If you looked along the western horizon from Kokiri Forest, you could make out the distinguished shadow of towering castles lining the sky like an oil painting, but if you looked from Hyrule Castle Towne, you couldn't see Lon-Lon Ranch, but you could from the Kokiri Forest. That's the direction I lead us in, that's the way I knew to go, and that's the way I managed to get lost going.

The scenery of Hyrule Field was never very much to look at unless one liked rolling hills with nothing but the false horizon and a few mirages during midday. The breeze was enough to keep us cool, but the sun was enough to make my shoulders burn. The grass was cool against my legs, and frequently would tickle the soft bruise the rail made on my leg, and made me shudder or shiver. Sometimes a grasshopper would startle me so I would shriek, and Link would laugh at me. Lon-Lon ranch now seemed further away than I'd initially thought, and my burning shoulders made the walk nigh miserable. Every now and again, my boots would come loose and fall off, so eventually I ditched them and put them in my knapsack. My socks got wet walking through a small puddle, so I took those off, too, and walked barefoot through the grass. Field mice would occasionally skitter across my feet, causing me to jump and scream like a little girl.

After walking for an hour, Link and I took a break at the gates of Lon-Lon ranch. A small brook babbled by not twenty paces away from the entrance. I pointed to it and asked if I could just drink from that as I wasn't too fond of horses. Link shook his head and made a gesture toward the ranch.

"As long as I don't have to bother with the horses," I said.

We walked in. Someone was singing a strange song somewhere far off past the horse stalls. She began her song off very soft, just three notes, sang them twice, and then went into full song.I found her voice, and the song, alluring. I realized I was humming as we walked through the ranch. I hummed so much that Link was walking and rolling his eyes at me. I guess I embarrassed him, but I didn't care. I love to sing.

We passed a house and a barn on our way to buy milk. Before we could get further than the second door, we heard a snoring noise, and a lot of chickens.

"What's with all the noise coming from in here, I wonder?" I sarcastically thought out loud.

"Probably, Talon is asleep." Link replied, not catching the sarcasm.

"Isn't he ALWAYS?" I said.

"Yeah, he is."

"I want to wake him up!" I said brightly; it was an alluring idea.

"I must admit, that sounds fun," He said, "But that mightn't be too good an idea; he sleeps like the dead."

"So? I need milk," I said, opening the door.

We walked in and were instantly hit by the smell of overripe chicken droppings.

"EEEUWW" we said in unison.

"Okay," I admitted, "You were right. Just not for the right reason."

"Yeah, let's just get the milk and get out of here," He said nasally, holding his nose and walking in.

"Just a sec, then" I said, nodding and sitting down at the door.

I was putting my boots on because the floor was covered in a rug of chicken droppings. I didn't bother with my socks; they were still wet.