Naia sat perched on a jam jar. She was humming gently to herself and swayed as if tipsy, or entranced. She suddenly swayed too far and toppled off the shelf.
Hermione heard a soft thump as she said, "No sugar, thank you, but I'll have lemon if you have any."
"Ahm." Impa said happily, busying herself with lemon.
Link had his forehead buried in his hands. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment and letting himself go off in a daydream, his eyelids drooping.
"Impa, I think Link needs to go to bed." Harry said, shaking Link's shoulder. He sat bolt upright, stifling a yawn.
"I think you are right there." Impa chuckled, setting down a cup of tea before Hermione. She nodded at the stairs. "The guest bedroom is up the stairs, second room on the left. There should be a couple of mattresses stacked against the wall when you three want to use them."
Link nodded and stood up, "Thanks for letting us stay here." He smiled then went up to the spare bedroom.
Once in the simple but cosy room, he dragged a mattress into a spare space, thinking that Hermione would like the bed, just being a gentleman.
He then collapsed onto it, wrestling his tunic off him and lowering himself down onto the mattress.
All of a sudden, a searing pain shot through his left palm and he yelped in shock. "Ow." He muttered, massaging his hand. The skin seemed a lot paler than usual... He shrugged. Must just be the lighting.
Yawning again, Link closed his eyes. Tomorrow they will go to Death Mountain, get the wand, then take it back to Zelda. Everything would be back to normal and he could keep searching for Navi.
Once he found her he would go to Lon Lon ranch and...
He smiled. He'd like that.
Hermione sipped her tea, "Impa, could you please tell us about... Death mountain and ... The goddesses wand...?" She nibbled a small biscuit.
Naia flew lazily up, "Psssssssh... Don't... Mind me... Just…" She fell with a Soft FLUMP onto the table, near Hermione. "Naia needs sleep too! I'll take her up..." Hermione stood, cradling the blue fae in her hands; she found a cushion and placed her delicately on it next to Link.
"To be honest, I don't really know anything about the Goddesses Wand." Impa said to the remaining two boys, "All I know about it is that it is rumoured to be the most powerful wand ever made, being crafted by Goddesses, it is bound to be." She said. "Now all of you, off to bed, go on!" She shooed them up the stairs.
Harry and Ron entered the room, spotting Link, who was already asleep.
"Poor guy." Ron grunted, pulling a mattress down and handing another to Harry.
"Yeah..." Harry lowered his onto the floor beside Ron's, shaking his head, "I just feel guilty that we were sat there on the edge of the lake whilst he was getting battered by a giant squid." He laid down in bed, sighing as Ron did the same.
"Missing Hogwarts?" Ron whispered.
"A little, yeah."
"I am too. It's weird here. Really different from our world."
Harry nodded, "I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm missing Potions and History of Magic, though."
They both laughed quietly.
"I agree with you there." Ron smiled and yawned, "Good night."
"Good night." Harry replied.
Ron's snores started up after a few minutes of silence, but Harry still lay awake.
Hermione lay in the bed. She knew it was silly, but she felt like a princess in these clothes. She had read about adventures in many different books, more than she dared to count. But they were all about boys having a swashbuckling time, fighting and being heroes. Girls only showed up when they needed rescuing. She was going to change it, her and Naia. real girls rescue themselves, she had read that somewhere too.
"Harry. Go to sleep." She said in a tired voice and drifted off herself.
Harry nodded slightly, "Right." However, he just lay awake still. He yawned, blinking up at the ceiling and after a while, he drifted off to sleep too.
Hermione dreamt about swimming in the Zora domain, swimming in the crystal clear waters, but the squid held a wand and he grabbed her and dragged her down in to the black depths.
There was a cave, with many lights in the water. She drew onto the beach gasping; She was cold, and shivering. She lay there wrenching and gasping; One of the lights was washed onto the shore. It was Naia. They were all drowning fairies. She crawled over and tried to scrape the lights onto the shore, but a black dog pulled her onto shore. He bit and tore at her leg.
She woke in a cold sweat, with a small shout and whimpering. That was a horrid nightmare. She got up, still shaking to close the window. She stopped dead as she saw two yellow eyes in a bush. "Boy-Boys..." The she quivered and squeaked, hoping one of them was still awake.
Link woke with a start, "Hermione?" He said drowsily. None of the others had awakened, "What is I-I-I-It?" He yawned in the middle of the sentence.
" A... The...Gr..I mean black dog... G-g-giant... Nightmare... From my nightmare..." She shook with tears. " I-it's real!"
Link's eyes narrowed at the window she was pointing out of. He got slowly out of bed, his eyes unwavering from the window, his hand curling over the Master Sword. He got to his feet and crept over. Looking out the window, he heard some rustling in the bushes below.
"Stay here." He growled to Hermione, and then tip-toed from the house, still shirtless and very cold.
Link closed the front door behind him as he got out into the fresh air and suddenly realized how foolish he was. He had just come outside to challenge a giant black dog with nothing on except some trousers, bare footed, no shield, and his only weapon being the sword. His teeth chattered; it was extremely cold.
He heard the rustling again and he saw a bush a few metres away from him shake. A few leaves drifted to the ground.
The silence was so tense that he could hear the tiniest leaf toughing the cobblestone ground.
Mist rose above Link's face as he waited, not exactly wanting to make the first move with how unprepared he was.
The bush shook more violently this time and he raised his sword.
Suddenly, it shook even more and out jumped... A cucco.
Link sighed in relief and embarrassment, letting his sword drop to his side.
A hoarse bark and Link was pinned roughly to the ground on his back, looking up into the face of a terrifying black beast, it's jaws foaming and gnashing at his face, fierce yellow eyes gleaming.
"AGH!" Link yelled, struggling with the dog to keep his jaws away from him, wincing as the monster's claws cut into his bare skin. His sword was laid on the ground inches away from the point where he could reach it from. He stretched out his hand, flailing for any weapon, all the time, that sinister growl rumbling like a volcanic eruption waiting to happen.
His head snapped around to the other side. A log was strewn on the ground next to him. Link reached out, grabbing the log and heaving it around in a swipe at the dog's shoulder.
It smashed into the desired place of target and the beast whined, rolling to the ground beside him.
Link scrambled to his feet and snatched up the Master Sword, holding it aloft as the dog got to it's paws, turning and snarling at it's prey.
Naia woke and flew to the window and the crying girl. " Naia... We... You have to..." Hermione gasped.
"I must have been reading too many of your story books, kid, because that looks like... " The blue sprite pointed and Hermione shouted, " HURRY!" Naia flew down and hid in the bushes, waiting to think of someway a two inch tall fae could bring down a giant dog.
The dog lunged at him, but Link sidestepped it and lashed out with the sword, however the blade met nothing.
The black nightmare turned towards him yet again, snorting a little and rushing at the Hero of Time, who very foolishly stayed put to try and land a hit. The dog dodged the blade and fastened it's jaws around his left hand, biting in hard.
"OW! YOU DAMN MUTT!" Link kicked it in the stomach and switched hands with the sword, swinging out clumsily, seeing as he was left handed, but managing to drive the blade into it's leg.
The dog whimpered and let go of his arm, limping back wards. It gave Link one last death glare and growl, then fled, galloping away.
Link held his hand, watching blood bloom over the skin. He panted, stumbling back to the house, but not getting there in time.
His knees buckled and he fell against the door, reduced to just knocking slowly as he lost blood. It seemed that the dog had broken slightly into the artery in his wrist.
"IMPA!" He bellowed when no one answered the door, "HARRY! HERMIONE! RON?!"
The door opened and he looked up to see Impa, her face riddled with shock and concern. She started to blur. "D-dog." He tried to explain before he passed out, "B-big black d-dog." He raised his good hand and pointed at the way the dog had fled, "Attacked..." He sighed as everything fell to black and he swayed.
Impa caught him as he fell, putting pressure on his wrist. She silently lifted him inside, casting an uneasy look around the village before she closed the door.