This is PROBABLY, PROBABLY the final part to this originally a two-shot now a series fic.
The final part consisting of at least four chapters, including this one. And an epilogue, if I feel like it. WHAT HAVE I DONE.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Other Perspectives
Fi Majut'wahsodh saw things for what they were, which did not help with making friends.
It was useful enough, and a relatively powerful Sight when applied to plants, and animals. She could see and therefore know at a glance whether a plant was edible or poisonous, whether an animal was rabid or friendly, when the weather would turn for the worse. But when applied to people, it usually showed the darker side of them first, because her Sight was supposed to keep her safe.
Chatt was a petty person, and manipulative if she wanted to be. She was also protective and warm, but Fi's Sight made it hard to see past her flaws so it was a while before she could feel at ease with the redheaded Sheikah. Chatt's little brother Torail, younger by two years, was a pushover, a coward, but fiercely loyal and aware of his shortcomings. Fi still hesitated to trust him in a fight.
Fi tried. She tried not to judge the people in front of her with the impressions her Sight gave her, but it had been the case since the moment she'd been born, and it was near impossible to control. Especially with her teenaged peers; they were often victims of their own insecurities, and Fi probably was just as bad as any one of them, but her Sight did not apply to her reflection.
Fi had tried especially hard for the woman her brother had fallen in love with, and what she had Seen had terrified her.
"So?"
"She's…" Fi cocked her head, thinking. "She doesn't speak much. She doesn't like being touched. But she's nice."
Chatt groaned, throwing her head back. "That's it? Tharlaigh hasn't slept with anyone for months for this girl, and that's all you have? Come on, Fi!"
It was well known that her brother was not averse to sleeping around, but Fi didn't like being reminded. It reinforced what her Sight made her see about him. Needy, vain, trivial.
"She's very powerful."
This tidbit was a little more interesting, apparently. "Is that what your Sight said?"
It was, and that she was dangerous. Fi hadn't expected that of the short blonde woman, grumpy and tired and messy. But then Fi had really looked at her hands, harmlessly brushing down a large chestnut horse, and known that those very same hands had battled and fought and killed and conquered more than armies combined.
And Tharlaigh loved her.
"Yes."
Chatt brooded on this briefly. "I could take her, though, couldn't I?"
The redhead's Sight saw when harm was coming to her, which was an excellent advantage in a fight as long as she knew how to react. For the last few years Chatt hadn't lost a bout or sparr to any of her peers, and many of the adults as a result. Fi actually snorted. "The probability of that is virtually zero."
Everyone knew that if Fi started spouting numbers, she was never wrong.
Chatt glowered at their respective brothers, Tharlaigh training Torail on how to fight bigger monsters. Her little brother could now face tektites without flinching, but soon he would be assigned to scouting and hunting teams, which usually involved half-sentient beasts, often armed with weapons picked off of dead wanderers. But monsters was not what concerned them.
"How likely is it that his Sight will get him killed?"
Fi pondered on it. Torail Saw a person's emotional state, and was deeply affected by it as a result. If, say, a bandit attacked him, he would See their confidence, their bloodlust and intent to harm, and even possibly how they planned on doing it. And as Fi knew from her own Sight, Torail was a pushover.
"It could be an asset, if he let it."
"Yeah, if he's protecting someone. But on his own?"
Fi placed survival rate at forty-three percent. "I don't know. There are too many variables."
"Your Sight can be so useless, Fi."
Fi wished it was the case. They sat in sullen silence, until Chatt broke it. "Did you see that Hylian messenger today?"
Fi hadn't been aware that a messenger was even coming. "No."
"His Sheikah was terrible."
"Not many Hylians speak Sheikah at all."
"Yeah, but we have Tharlaigh to do the diplomatic stuff with the Royal Family. Why did they need one of their own?"
"You could ask him."
"Rather not. He looked scruffy. Like a stray dog."
"Fi?"
The two teeangers spun round, a Hylian waving at them from a distance, coming closer. Chatt whispered sharply at Fi, sounding indignant. "You said you didn't see him!"
Fi held back a groan. "Well that's because… That's Lin."
"Seriously?"
Fi wasn't sure what Chatt had expected. Maybe someone more… obviously gendered. Lin was pretty, but in a boyish way, and the clothes and weaponry didn't help. And she did look scruffy, clothes tattered and patched, boots worn, dirt in her hair and a cut on her forehead. She was holding a jar full of something that glowed.
Fi stood, raised her hand with fingers splayed. "Lin. Welcome."
A small smile fleeted across the Hylians' face as she pressed her own hand against the blue-haired Sheikah's. "Thank you, Fi. She?"
"Chatt, my friend. Chatt, this is Lin, brother's… partner."
"What is this hand thing?" Chatt asked, peering suspiciously at her.
"It's how she hugs strangers. She doesn't like touching, I told you."
Lin had her hand up, waiting with a rather determined look to her face. Chatt dubiously did as Fi had, eyeing the Hylian up and down. Lin did not look that powerful, at all.
"How are you?" she asked, and Chatt shrugged.
"A little bored, but nothing a sparr won't fix. Are you really the girl Tharlaigh's so faithful to?"
"Uh... Slowly, please, my Sheikah is bad."
Chatt suppressed an impatient sigh. "I'm good, thank you. And you?"
"Tired. But I am always tired."
The redhead blinked, turning to her blue-headed friend. "Was that a joke?"
"I don't know."
The opportunity to clarify the point was lost, as Lin handed the glowing bottle to Fi. "Gift."
It contained two pink faeries. Chatt gawped. "Is that- They can't be real."
Fi couldn't help but gasp, too. "They're real."
A small tremor of fear trickled down her spine as she wondered how Lin had obtained these creatures. They were notoriously hard to find, infamously surrounded by monsters, and more than eighty six percent of people who had quested for them perished. "Thank you, Lin. Brother's over there, practicing."
The Hylian peered over the two girls' shoulders, looking curious. She made an appreciative noise as she saw Tharlaigh instructing Torail, going through a few moves with spears. "Weapon name?"
Fi sat down, cradling the bottled pink fairies. "Spear."
"Spare?" Lin tried, sitting down also.
"Spear."
As Fi and Lin went back and forth perfecting the pronunciation of the weapon Chatt held back the urge to growl into her hands. They sounded like idiots.
"Who with Sheik, uh, your brother?" Lin stuttered, a pained frown creasing her forehead.
"His name is Torail. He's Chatt's brother."
"Little?"
"Younger, yes."
Fi was usually not this helpful, with anybody. Chatt glowered at the blond little chit, wondering how she could possibly be so special, or powerful.
"Younger," Lin repeated, nodding slowly. "Younger brother."
"How have you been, Lin?"
Fi had never been very good with niceties, either, but here she was, making conversation with a girl that her brother wanted to do sinful things to. Chatt watched from behind, still standing, crossing her arms and keeping back scoffs, eyeing the shield strapped to her back, over the sword nestled across her spine. The shield had seen better days; well serviced, but scratched and chipped. Hard to say what the sword itself was like, but the sheath was battered, weathered, old. One would have thought a servant to the Royal Family would have better gear, especially if they were hear to do… whatever this girl was doing here.
"Your pronunciation is much better."
Lin sighed. "Still can't say his name correct."
Chatt's eyebrows shot up. "Tharlaigh?"
Lin peered back, gave a twitch of a rueful smile. "Yes. Thereleigh."
The question How? just tumbled through her mind. How had this girl won Tharlaigh, and not Chatt? How?
They were watching the match, oblivious to her indignant fuming.
"Practice for?"
"Bigger monsters. There are some lizalfos in these parts, and dodongos."
The Hylian scratched her head vigorously, sending her hair sticking up in violent spikes. "I know monsters. Lizerlfus? Common?"
Fi repeated the sentence in Common, and Lin clicked her fingers, saying of course, we're pretty close to Mount Death, I should have guessed. Or something like. Chatt's Common wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than this messenger's Sheikah.
"Why not just speak Common? We all understand it."
Lin peered over her shoulder again. "I need practice."
She said it perfectly. Clearly, one of her common and practiced phrases.
"Younger brother? Name again?"
Chatt grunted it. "Torail."
Lin turned to the bluenette.
Fi said it slowly. "Torail."
"Torail. He… not very good."
Chatt's temper flared. "Excuse me?"
Lin raised her hands, in a universal show of apology. "I don't know how to say it correctly."
"You said that just fine!"
"Chatt, please."
Oh, no. This stranger had taken away a chance at some fun flirting with Tharlaigh (a part of Chatt had dared hope that something more serious would evolve from it, too) was now criticising her brother. "I'd like to see you do better, if you say so."
She must have understood enough, and a pensive look crossed the Hylian's face.
"What more difficult? Lezelfus, or…" she didn't even try pronouncing dodongo, wincing at herself.
"Lizalfos, but, Lin," Fi protested, standing with the Hylian as she shucked extra layers and armed herself with sword and shield, "This is supposed to be Torail's training, we shouldn't interrupt."
Chatt noticed with some renewed consternation that Lin was actually shorter than herself, as the Hylian spoke her native tongue and Fi spoke in kind. The word sight often came up, Fi obviously trying to stop Lin and the Hylian taking none of it, shrugging it off. She didn't even sound offended by Chatt and her outburst, just saw it as a fair point.
Then she grinned. She said your brother and surprise, and Fi hesitated. Lin told her to shout something, impishly repeating surprise, and the blue-haired girl relented.
"Alright."
"Alright. I go."
And the Hylian jogged towards the two boys, gaining speed. After five paces Fi cupped her mouth and shouted "Lizalfos incoming!"
The boys turned, mid sparr. Chatt saw true horror cross both their expressions as the Hylian yowled like the genuine article.
Tharlaigh rushed to meet her, spear raised. "Torail get back!"
Her brother did no such thing. He collapsed, shaken, and Chatt's spine crawled with dread. What was he Seeing in this Hylian's heart?
Lin fought with no finesse. Her shield she kept firmly behind her, sword raised high before her, barking like a monster. She kept circling Tharlaigh, always shifting from side to side, and when she didn't have her back to the two sisters they could see the feral snarl pasted on her face. She swung her blade in wide arcs at the tip of the spear, the metal blades clashing with disturbing accuracy.
"Watch!" Tharlaigh insisted, keeping the point of his spear firmly on his supposed sweetheart, "See how she keeps moving? Lizalfos use their terrain to their advantage, they'll try to trip you into a pothole, or a cliff, maybe a wall, anything that'll make you lose your footing so Torail get out of the way she's backing me into you."
She really was. Torail scrambled out of the way and Tharlaigh rolled in the opposite direction, striking forward in smooth arcs, the Hylian dodging them all just as smoothly, tilting her body away. "As nice as it is to see you Lin, we're-"
She roared bloodlust, leaping forward, swinging her blade in a whipping slash.
Fi's brother swore a blue-streak and dodged, swinging the butt of the spear at her back, which she dodged just as neatly by rolling away. "Right, Torail, that was a signature attack of a Lizalfos. Pretend you have your guard down and they usually go for the bait. I usually would've just killed it by now but considering-shit!"
Lin had gone for the signature attack again but she full-circled and drove the shield forward in a deadly spin, and Chatt could've sworn she'd seen the deranged Hylian smile.
"That, was what a experienced Lizalfos would do and yes there're experienced Lizalfos too, they use their tails." Tharlaigh clarified in Common that it was in fact the tail Lin had been demonstrating and she agreed and kept trying to kill him. "Normally they would be a little more unbalanced by that but since I seem to be facing a super lizard-"
Lin demonstrated a typical killing blow again, but this time Tharlaigh let it past him, drove the shaft of the spear into the back of Lin's legs, floored her, and pinned her down by the neck. "Dead. Alright? As I said, usually I would've killed it in the first blow by letting it impale itself on the spear, but didn't really have the liberty. This way is probably better, though, if you're unlucky enough to face two at once. If you impale it and can't get your weapon out, then you'll have to rely on the sword. Torail?"
Said dark-haired boy was shaking, but nodded.
Tharlaigh sighed and glowered at the prone Hylian. "Godsdamnit, Lin."
She sat up, smiling sheepishly. "I help?"
He told her in Common that she'd scared the trainee. She replied bluntly that Lizalfos were scarier. Chatt was tempted to disagree. She and Fi were jogging towards them, now that the mayhem had subsided.
Also, "How in the Mad God's hell does she know the attack pattern of a Lizalfos so well?"
Fi sighed, moving in a way that didn't jostle her faeries. "I told you she was powerful."
"Yeah, but not that she was a maniac. You Saw that, didn't you? When you first met her?"
Reluctantly, the blueheaded girl nodded. "Her words were 'I've killed a stupid number of monsters. I'd be scared of me too.' Or something like."
And Tharlaigh loved her?
"Come on," he grumbled, turning away from her to pull Torail up onto his feet, "Introduce yourself."
Lin clambered up, switching sword arms, holding her blade in her left hand. "Hello, my name is Lin Knightly. Please speak slowly, my Sheikah is bad."
She hardly looked winded, and there was laughter to her voice.
"Insane girl," Tharlaigh said fondly, waving at Torail.
"Uh. My name is Torail. Who are you? Not your name, I mean…"
"Princess messenger, I also Shei-uh, Tharlaigh's friend."
He blinked, and grinned widely. "You actually pronounced it right."
She sighed. "I need practice."
"No, you pronounced it right."
"...Yes? Correct?"
Tharlaigh nodded, still grinning widely, and raised a fist. "Congrats."
Lin grinned back, bumping the fist triumphantly. "Practice."
"Speaking of practice, you got that?" Tharlaigh added, swerving his attention to the younger boy, who jumped with some fright, "I won't blame you if you didn't. That… came out of nowhere."
"Do again? I do again slowly. Lezelfos difficult." she peered into Torail's face also, who flinched. Seeing it, the Hylian sighed. "I'm very sorry if I scared you. But Lezelfos more scare."
Chatt stared as her younger brother looked at the Hylian's expression, Seeing her emotions. She looked nervously hopeful, and he was not flinching. "I go slowly. I will use better hand. And, I, I am very, very sorry that I scared you. You See me monster?"
"...Yes. A little."
It was her turn to flinch. "Sorry. Still monster?"
"...No. I, how did you?"
"She's killed a stupid number of monsters in the name of Hyrule," Tharlaigh shrugged, picking up the younger boy's practice spear, "She can probably imitate any monster you can think of, so this is quite the opportunity. Come on, stance. Lin, Lizalfos. Ladies, if you want to join in on the training, do so. But uh, Fi? Are those pink faeries?"
"Lin brought them."
He gave her a Look.
She raised her hands in a universal sign of protest. "No danger, no danger. Gift."
"She will be the death of me, someday," he stage-whispered at Torail, who chuckled nervously.
Lin huffed. She muttered in Common, suspecting insults.
I hope the language shifts aren't confusing. I thought about making Sheikah in italics and Hylian in normal, but then again, other countries have their own languages, at which point I'd have to use underline, and... I just decided 'Hylian' is a common language that most if not all neighbouring countries speak with their own native dialects mixed in, just to make my own life a little easier.
Not sure if I should keep with third person. Should I go back to first person again? Let me know in the reviews!
Have a nice day everyone,
S.S.