The Hyrulian Valhalla Saga
By Queenie Z

Pre-Pubescent Perks

Time took the grass flute in his chubby, boyish hands and put it to his lips. Then, he blew gently in it - a bit too gently, for it made no sound. Frustrated, he took a deep breath and blew harder, and the resulting sound, which fell on the spectrum somewhere between a screeching cat and a fart, caused the other young boys beside him to double over laughing.

He turned to them, flustered and frowning. "Don't laugh!" whined the young Hero of Time, "This is really hard!"

Twilight snickered some more, grabbing the blades of grass that he had stored in the rope of his traditional Ordonian waist wrap and putting together an instrument of his own. "No, it really isn't that hard," he giggled, "you're just bad at it."

"Don't you talk to me that way, Twilight!"

Sky grabbed the tips of his oversized green shirt with his fingers and chuckled. "No offense, Time, but you're not that intimidating when you're little like this."

"That shouldn't matter, though! I'm still his senior!" Time huffed. "He knows better than to be rude like that!"

"It's not rude if it's the truth," said the young Twilight with a grin before placing his own grass flute to his lips and playing a perfect little ditty with skill and grace. The only aggravated Time more, who rolled his eyes and groaned.

Sky laughed again. "I guess being kids again gave you guys an excuse to be immature, huh?"

"Heheh! Maybe," said Twilight. He crossed his legs, his tiny toes curling up in his leather sandals. "It's a little weird being this small again... but I guess it kind of makes me feel - well, freer, I guess."

"Freer from what?" asked Sky.

Twilight shrugged. "I dunno. Responsibility. Burdens. Things like that."

"Yeah," said Time, bringing up his knees and resting his head on them, "it's silly, since we're all dead and don't have any real responsibilities anyway... but I get what you mean."

"And everything's a lot cooler when you're a kid!" Sky looked out to the horizon. "Like, when you're an adult, a wooden box is just a wooden box; something you might find a few rupees inside. But when you're a kid, you can climb inside that box, and suddenly it becomes a house or a boat!"

Twilight nodded. "I remember I'd pretend that sticks were swords and try to ride on the goats when I wasn't big enough to ride horses. Those were the days, huh?"

"Yeah," added Time, "but once you're done having fun and you try and get things done, nobody takes you seriously." He scoffed and dug his heels into the ground. "Then they pat you on the head, call you 'Mr. Hero,' and laugh at you."

"You're still sore about that, Time?" asked Sky with a cocked eyebrow.

Time shrugged. "Can you blame me?"

"Come on, don't be a drag!" Twilight patted his senior's shoulder. "You're the one who said it'd be fun being kids again! Lighten up!"

"You're right," said Time with a small smile as he picked up his grass flute again, "I'll stop being a killjoy." He blew on the flute again and managed to produce a sound that was only slightly less irritating than his first try.