The city was the same as it had been when he'd left. This time he knew the way to Telma's bar, and he let out a small sigh of relief when he saw the Tear of Light still floating where he'd left it. However, that left him with no more leads as to where the other insects were. Maybe there were more somewhere else in the city?
He walked down an alley, ready to jump into combat at the slightest sign of another shadow insect. There was an opening to one side, and he turned to see what was there.
To his surprise and delight, there were two cats and two kittens, laying curled up in a small yard that sat in front of a house. To his continued surprise, the cats were talking amongst themselves.
The black and white cat stretched with a yawn. "So the city finally got running water, huh?"
One of the kittens meowed. "Does that mean the others can come through?"
The orange cat sneezed - or perhaps scoffed? "No, not with that line of people to the south."
Link tilted his head to one side. 'Others? Are there other kittens somewhere?' He left the alley, noticing a line of spirits to one side. 'This must be the south, then.'
A small Goron stood to the side of a shop, with another Goron seeming to be running the shop. "No pushing! If you want hot spring water, form a line!"
Meanwhile the larger Goron was chuckling to himself as he counted Rupees. "The race goes to the swift, as it is said!"
The people in line were murmuring to themselves, about how badly they needed hot water, or about how long the wait was. 'I can't see any kittens, though... Maybe they're hiding until the line clears up?'
He continued back down the alley, until he noticed a large building with a sign on it that read "Medical Clinic". The door was closed, leaving Link to only stare into the building in the hopes no shadow insects had crept their way inside.
Eventually, he found himself at the fountain again, which now had water flowing through it. Some of the people of the city were surrounding the fountain, talking amongst themselves about how happy they were that the water had come back. When one person commented that the water smelled like beasts, Link wasn't sure whether he wanted to smirk or to growl. Perhaps it depended on what kind of beast the man meant.
Since there were no insects in the city, as far as he could tell, it made no sense to keep wandering the streets. The sooner he found all the bugs, the sooner he could help the Zora prince, the sooner he could help Ilia, the sooner he could help Midna, the sooner his life could go back to normal.
As he walked, he pondered this. Normal. What was that like, again? Herding goats with Fado, practicing swordsmanship with Rusl, keeping an eye on the kids so they didn't get into too much mischief. It all sounded so distant, like he was listening to someone else's life. But it had been his life, hadn't it?
He stopped at the split in the path, uncertain of where to go. 'I didn't see any insects at the bridge, so I probably shouldn't go there. But where do I go, then?'
Then it hit him. 'The Zoras! I didn't check if there were insects there, did I?'
'Hey, Midna? Could you warp us to the Zora's Domain?'
This time the warp seemed to take almost no time. There was no sense of weightlessness, there was no sense of timelessness. One moment he was standing near the city, the next he was splashing into the still-warm waters of Zora's Domain.
Some of the Zoras were up and moving around, at least. One of them was peering down into the water, likely at the Death Mountain rock. Others were still reeling from being frozen in the ice. Another Zora seemed to be mourning the death of Rutela.
As he walked through the circular room, he spotted it. A shadow insect, perched high on the wall. He growled and leapt at it, but it was too high even for him to reach, and instead he crashed snout-first into the wall. He let out the smallest of whines. 'Ow...'
The insect, to his surprise, flew down after he'd crashed into the wall. 'Well, if it's stupid enough to fly down to me, might as well take advantage of this.' The insect, seeing him, hissed and crackled as it flew low. He dodged the insect's charge, and then countered with his own.
'I don't see any other insects here, so let's check the rest of this place.' He walked along the path next to the flowing water, not wanting to fall unconscious again. It led to an outcropping that hung over the water at the bottom of the waterfall. He let out a gasp. 'What a view...'
There were ornate pillars carved out of the rock, as well as gently sloping cliffs near the bottom. He could see dozens of Zoras, swimming in the water, walking around the cliffs and behind the pillars, even some swimming up the other waterfalls that fed into the center. Gone was the frozen wasteland the area had been. Now, Zora's Domain was as alive as the city.
With his senses, he could just barely see another insect crawling around near the lake down below. He huffed.
"What's the matter?"
'The last time I went down this waterfall, I fell unconscious.' Surely she could understand his hesitance? Midna floated off of his back, and he turned to see where she'd gone.
"The water has slowed down from earlier." She floated out over the edge of the waterfall, looking down. Link wasn't entirely sure why the sight brought a moment of panic to his chest. Thankfully Midna didn't notice, focused on her musings.
"Still, that is quite a far drop. Maybe there's another way to get down from here." With that, she floated over and sat on his back again.
Link found himself walking back along the outcropping, glancing around with each step. Suddenly, he noticed it. A cave in the wall, across the river. 'Might as well see where this leads.' He glanced down at the rushing waters, and decided to instead walk across the metal grate that crossed the river.
The cave led down through the cliff walls, until it opened onto a flat walkway with pillars along the edge. Zoras walked past him into what looked like doorways in the rock walls. He slowly walked out to the edge of the walkway, looking down. The water was still far below, but not as far as from the waterfall. He took a breath, and leapt from the walkway into the water.
The water was calm, thankfully. He paddled to shore, to allow himself another glance around the area before looking for any other bugs. There was another cave, though before he could get the chance to walk very far into it a sudden gust of wind blew into his face. Both he and Midna shivered, and for a moment it felt like some of the water that still clung to him had already frozen just from that breeze. 'Those bugs better not have scurried back there...'
He looked out at the lake. Sure enough, another bug was flying around in the center of the lake, over some lilypads. 'Might as well start there.' He jumped again into the water, grateful that it was warmer than the air from the cave behind him.
This insect, this insect was like the one on the strange man's floating house. It avoided him, buzzing and crackling almost like it was laughing at him. He growled, never letting it out of his sight. He would just have to be patient. The lilypads were thankfully large enough to support his weight, and so he waited until the insect was stupid enough to fly into his reach-
In an instant, his opportunity came and he took it. He leapt through the air and dug his fangs into the insect, and it was dead before he splashed back into the water. The pleasant feeling of a Tear of Light being absorbed into his body greeted him again, washing away the rest of the chill from the frigid cave.
The only other insect he could see was the one he'd seen from the outcropping, on the other side of the lake. Thankfully, the swim across to where he'd seen the bug was uneventful. Peaceful. Maybe even pleasant. It almost reminded him of swimming in the lake back home.
The insect panicked when it saw him, starting to dig into the ground, but Link was faster. He sighed.
"Hm. That's odd." Link tilted his head.
'What is?'
"There's still empty spaces in the vessel, but it doesn't look like there's any more bugs."
'Maybe we should go ask Lanayru if they know where they are. It's their light, after all.'
"Want me to just warp you down to Lake Hylia?" Link nodded, and he was whisked away again, finding himself at the island near the strange floating house. It was a simple walk to Lanayru's spring, now that shadow beasts weren't here to ambush him.
"Hero... What brings you... back to my spring?"
"There's still Tears of Light missing from the vessel, but we can't find any more of the insects. Mr. Important Hero here thought you'd know where the rest are, it being your light and all." Link could only imagine the light spirit pondering this, deep in thought.
"I see... It appears... that some of the insects... have combined... their strength. They are... gathered... in front of my spring. The nerve... of those infernal... creatures..." Link winced at the malice that tinged the spirit's voice.
'I'll collect them right away.'
"How... curious. The hero... has learned... telepathy. You will... have to explain... once I have... my light." Link nodded, and left the spring.
"Well! Aren't you an impressive wolfy? Learning telepathy, and now you can use it to talk to light spirits!" Midna let out a laugh. "Maybe you could have used it to talk to your friends!" Link stopped in his tracks. Why hadn't he thought to try that?! Midna laughed again.
"Well, let's get going! The sooner we collect that spirit's light, the sooner you can get what that Zora queen promised to you!" As if to emphasize her point, she nudged his sides with her legs. He huffed.
'I'm not a horse, you know.' Midna giggled, but didn't respond. Rolling his eyes, Link looked out over the lake in front of him. 'Lanayru said the bugs were in front of their spring..' He couldn't see any insects, however. None were scuttling in front of the entrance to Lanayru's spring - surely Link would have seen them when he walked in - and as far as he could tell there didn't seem to be any swimming out in the water. He blinked. There was, however, something floating out in the water, in the distance. 'Might as well see what's out there.'
Something, as it turned out, was a loose collection of boards and boxes. 'Maybe this is what's left of what those archer monsters had in that tunnel.' As he swam closer, a strange and unnerving feeling wormed its way into his stomach. The feeling that he and Midna weren't alone in the lake anymore, and that they were being watched.
He reached a board and clambered up onto it. Apparently, whatever was watching them took offense to this, as the water nearby started bubbling furiously. He growled as he waited for whatever-it-was to emerge.
Suddenly, a frighteningly large shadow insect burst up from the water, crackling and hissing. Its head and torso were like the other insects, but its gut was so much larger that it didn't even look like it was part of the same creature. It towered over the two of them, almost looking like a flying spider. Link fought back a shiver. Then Lanayru's words floated back to his ears, and he fought back a gag.
'Midna... Did this thing... eat the other insects?'
"No time to think about that! It's about to charge at us!"
Link only narrowly avoided the insect, whirling around to growl at it. The insect floated in the air above them for some moments, almost like it was catching its breath, before it flew up and dove down into another charge. This time, Link wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and he was struck both by the insect and the crackling energy that surrounded it. He winced as he was thrown into the water. But now he knew when his opportunity was.
He swam back onto the wooden board, glaring up at the insect as it reared up for another charge. This time he did dodge, stepping back and waiting to counterattack until its crackling stopped. Then he leapt up at the insect when it flew the lowest, digging into its flesh with his claws and his fangs. He bit the insect, again and again and again, doing his best to ignore the taste like he'd learned to with the other insects. He only stopped when the insect threw him off and back into the water.
As he swam back onto the board, he noticed the giant insect swimming furiously through the water. He was careful to avoid where it swam, though the fury of its swimming still rocked the wooden board he stood on. Suddenly it sprang up from the water and charged directly towards him, and he wasn't able to dodge it. Again he winced, though thankfully this time he landed on the board again. He lunged for a counterattack before it could circle around again. This time he could taste the essence of the foul creature, and by the fangs of Ordona was it horrid.
The insect slowly floated up from the water, on its back, clearly dazed. If ever there were an opportunity (or perhaps a trap), surely this would be one of them. Link decided to test his luck, and swam onto the disgusting creature's bloated body. Its legs were flailing in the air, which gave him an idea.
'Midna! The legs!' Hopefully she knew what he meant. He braced himself against the insect's stomach. To his relief, Midna created another circle of whatever magic it was she used, and it encompassed the creature's legs. He closed his eyes, trusting Midna's magic to work, and leapt forward. He felt himself fly through the air and tear through one of the insect's legs, then land in the water. Then again. And again. And again. Until finally he landed in the water a final time. He opened his eyes just as the creature let out an ear-piercing shriek of pain, before its body fell limp and then exploded into several Tears of Light.
Link panted as he swam towards the first Tear. He let out a relieved sigh as it restored the energy he'd used up in the fight, as it healed the thankfully minor injuries the creature had given him.
Like always, collecting the last Tear saw his vision fill with white.
