Chapter 22

Ravi's boots splashed through the thin waves, and he stumbled to a stop in front of Link. He gasped for air. "Did you kill the monsters? How many were there? Did you kill a boss bokoblin? I was thinking, if there were any left, we could hit them with muddle buds. You have muddle buds, right? That's how I would have killed them. I would sit up on the mast and make them fight each other."

"Let's take a walk," Link said. He headed west along the shoreline.

Ravi's hands tingled like he still held the cannon, and he jumped at the screech of a seagull. A crab skittered across the sand and he almost bolted. His heart hammered like a drum.

Link took off his boots and walked barefoot through the warm, white sand. As the waves crashed on the shore, Ravi winced. The ocean was too loud, too bright. He squinted as the glare of the sunset reflected off the water.

"Where are we going?" Ravi glanced back at the pirate ship, at the smoke rising from the battlefield.

Link said nothing. He rolled up his pant legs and waded through the foamy waves, following the coastline as it curved around the hill. The beach ahead of them was empty of monsters, the sand scattered with tangles of black seaweed and colorful shells.

When the village vanished behind the face of the cliff, the swordsman stopped at a cove ringed by black rocks. He tucked away his weapons and unbuckled his belt. "Let's go swimming."

"Now?"

Link bent forward and shrugged his chain mail shirt past his shoulders, letting it fall heavily into the sand. He straightened with a sigh and rolled his shoulders, then dressed down to his undershorts. He smiled as he waded into the tide. "Now this is why I came to Laurelin."

The waves struck his knees and swept around his waist as he moved further out to sea. As the waves rolled toward him, he jumped, letting the water lift him with the swell. Turning back to Ravi, he grinned, then dove into the next wave.

Standing over Link's clothes, Ravi watched the man's head pop up. He swam into deeper water and climbed up a black rock. Barefoot, he balanced backward on the edge, then crouched and back flipped into the water. A second later, he resurfaced, flicked his wet hair out of his eyes, and climbed back out to jump again.

He's playing.

Ravi felt rooted to the sand. He leaned forward, like a string was pulling his heart toward the sea, but his ears still rang with explosions. He stared down the beach toward the village. Shouldn't they be cleaning weapons? Gathering up monster bones to dump into the Depths? Reassuring the villagers? Link climbed up on his rock and performed a front flip, landing with a giant splash in the turquoise water.

Ravi took off his boots. His stomach tightened, and he hesitated before laying down his weapons. But he set the swallow bow and his sword beside Link's belt.

He even left his magic pouch behind.

The boy pulled off his shirt and stepped out of his worn pants. He clutched his skinny arms across his chest, expecting to shiver, but the sun warmed his shoulders and his chest. He stepped up to the waves, toes curled in the sand, bracing himself. A part of him wanted to run straight into the water, laughing, and crash into the waves. But he flinched as the first wave crept swiftly toward his toes, and held his breath, like expecting a blow.

The water was warm. It washed past his feet and curled around his ankles, soft. Like a bath. Ravi sighed. He bent and touched the water, letting tiny particles of sand run over his hand. A seashell tumbled past with the tide; he snatched it up. It was pink, shaped like a half-moon. He curled the shell in his fist and waded deeper.

His knees, then his thighs, sank into the water. The current rushed past him, pushing him toward the beach, and on the backwash, tried to suck him out to sea. A wave curled forward like a hand, high and blue and clear, with the sunlight twinkling through the crest. Ravi held his breath, raised his arms, and dove.

Bubbles rushed around him. Salt stung his nose. He kicked to the surface, coughing, grinning. The ocean swelled, lifting him up like he was weightless, and he performed a surface dive, wiggling down to the sandy bottom. A yellow fish darted past his face. A string of seaweed wrapped around his leg.

He swam to Link, standing on his rock. As he approached, Link aimed for Ravi and jumped, one knee tucked into his chest. A violent splash burst into the boy's face. He coughed and spat salt. Link popped up, grinning.

Ravi flipped up his legs and kicked, splashing back. Link slipped underwater, avoiding the wave. Ravi scrambled up the rock, digging his fingers and toes into the rough barnacles. He climbed onto the summit. Above the water, he felt tall as a king. He braced to jump, then he saw the pirate ship and the smoking coast. Away from the coastline, his angle had changed, opening his view of the battlefield.

"Ignore it." Link floated on his back in the water and closed his eyes.

This is a lesson, too.

Ravi exhaled. The last of the ringing faded from his ears. Gazing into the water, he lifted his arms and dove.

They sat side-by-side on the sand, wet skin drying, sand in their hair. Link pulled a hydromelon from his pouch and cracked it open with a knife. As the sky shifted orange and the sun sank on their right, they took turns digging out chunks of sweet red flesh. Juice trickled down Ravi's wrist to his elbow. He felt warm, like the sun was simmering inside him. He felt full. Whatever happened tonight, or the next day, whatever happened at the end of the world, this moment was enough.

Link burst a splash fruit over his arms, cleaning the melon juice away. He handed a second to Ravi, and the boy bit a hole in the fleshy skin, sucking quietly at the water.

You don't have to explain the lesson. And the swordsman didn't. He sat with his elbows propped on his tented knees, hands clasped, gazing out to sea.

"I want to go there one day," he said to the horizon. "You feel it, don't you? Calling?"

Ravi nodded.

"I was getting bored," Link said. "I spent three years following her around. Maybe it would have been enough, if being a knight was all I knew. But they gave me freedom when they told me to save the world. They let me do it my way." He filled his lungs with fresh ocean air. "The wild is intoxicating."

"Don't you love her?" Ravi asked.

"I do." Link frowned. "I wish I could take her with me." He sighed. "I love Hyrule, too. The mountains, her people. I died for her. I don't think I can ever give it up." He gave Ravi a grin. "Maybe you can sail there for me. Tell me what it's like."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard." Ravi folded his legs and stood, washing his arms down with the last of the splash fruit. "If you want to sail the ocean, do it. Don't wait for a girl." He shook sand out of his pants. Balancing on one leg, he pulled them on over his damp shorts.

Link stood. "I will. I'll go to sea if I defeat Ganon, and Zelda says there's no future for us." He froze, arms halfway through his sleeves, face locked in horror, like the thought had just occurred to him.

Ravi tugged down his shirt. "If Zelda rejects you, after all you've done for her, she doesn't deserve you."

The swordsman wasn't breathing.

"Link."

He flinched. His eyes darted to Ravi, latching on to the boy like a lifeline.

"She's not going to say that."

Link swallowed. "I don't want her to feel like it's her duty to love me." His cheeks flushed red at the word. He pulled his undershirt over his head and tied his damp hair back, staring at the sand. Quickly, he finished dressing and shook sand out of his chain mail shirt. Then he began picking at the particles caught between the round links, fixated on his work, like he was desperately trying not to think of Zelda, and failing.

Ravi strapped on his belt and quiver. "You could show her the Destroyer."

The swordsman grinned. He lifted the shirt over his head and shrugged into the weight.

"What does she like?" Ravi asked.

"Animals." Link pulled on his outer tunic and fastened his hauberk. "I saved Aurora, but I lost her cat. A few months ago, he ran off somewhere when I was moving to my new house. I searched for him, but cats aren't like cuccos. He does not want to be found." He snatched up his boots and began walking toward the village.

As they rounded the corner of the hill, Ravi glimpsed torches bobbing along the village beach, and the shadows of people darting along the shore. A bonfire burned at the base of the wharf.

As Link gazed at the fire, a smile slowly spread across his face. "Zelda and I came here about a year ago for a wedding. It was her invitation," he added quickly. "I followed her, like I always do. There was a lot of food. They had this crab dish steamed in coconut. Wish I got the recipe." He shook his head. "Zelda tried to get me to dance. Instead, I asked her down the beach for a walk. She took off her boots and splashed in the water. The moon was out. We were alone. I tried to tell her." His eyes fell to the sand. "She looked so happy. I didn't want to ruin it."

"That's when you should have pulled out the Destroyer."

Link laughed. He shoved Ravi's shoulder. "Girls don't care about weapons."

"They care about scars." Ravi lifted his chin, displaying his cut. "Especially if you got them saving her."

The swordsman drew in a slow breath. After a moment, his eyes darted to the boy. "How do you know all this? You're twelve."

Ravi shrugged. "My parents loved each other. I guess it stuck." He walked ahead, biting his cheek against a grin.

The rest is on you, Link.

But an ache pulsed in his heart. If Link married Zelda, they wouldn't have room for a teenage boy.

Link followed him at a distance down the last stretch of beach, eyebrows furrowed, thinking intently. As they neared the village, they passed scoured palm trees and scorch marks in the sand. A dozen refugees clustered around the bonfire, talking and gesturing with quick, excited hands. As Link and Ravi stepped into the firelight, someone cried out.

"The savior!"

And the people swarmed them.

They pressed in tight, everyone talking at once, asking questions. Thanking Link. Exclaiming about his machine, the magic in his arm. Link nodded and thanked them, looking quietly pleased. But he answered none of the questions, except one.

"Who's the boy?" someone called.

Link brought Ravi in front of him and laid his hands on the boy's shoulders. "This is Ravi, my squire. He's come a very long way looking for his mother, Kira. Do any of you know her?"

"I do," a voice called out.

The crowd silenced, then they parted.

An old woman stepped through the avenue of villagers. White braids swung around her cheeks, set with colorful beads. She stopped in front of Link and peered down at Ravi. Sun and years had creased her brown skin into leather, and her dark eyes glittered in the torchlight. "I know Kira," she said in a hoarse, weathered voice. "She was my daughter."

Ravi stared at her, at this image of his mother, thirty years older, and he couldn't speak. Muddy balls of memory flung themselves at his skull—all the mistakes he'd made in the past five years. The food he'd stolen. The lies. Mouthing off to Master Kohga, to Link. Blasting Link. The Zora knife, still in his saddlebag. His toes curled with shame in his boots. His backside stung, anticipating his mother's switch.

"Been a sorry long ride, chasing you boys down." Myra's face snapped up. A starfish hung from her neck, dangling from a string of tiny shells. "Almost caught up to you at Lakeside Stable, but you're too fast. Too eager to get away from me." Her eyes twinkled. She caught Ravi's chin, turning his face to one side, then the other. "Yup. You're him."

She folded Ravi into a hug.

His cheek pressed against her scratchy dress, woven from coconut fibers. She smelled sharp like smoke, and creamy, like coconut lotion. He stiffened, unsure what to do, and she released him. "Nothing for your old grandmother?"

Ravi blinked up at her.

"Is he mute?" she asked Link, and the swordsman shook his head.

"What are you all staring at?" Myra narrowed her eyes at the villagers. Glancing curiously over their shoulders, the crowd trickled away, returning to the bonfire. Myra began walking down the beach, away from the bonfire. She limped, favoring her right leg, up to the stump of a palm tree, then sat with a grimace and massaged her right knee. "You did all this?" She gestured to the smoking ship and the battlefield.

"Link helped," Ravi said.

A grin teased at her lips. "You gonna stay to rebuild it, or do you burn and run, like your father?"

Ravi stiffened.

"Ack." The woman shook her head at herself. "It's been a hard ride, child, on my old horse, with this knee. About a week ago, I was camping in Faron Woods when I met an old friend. She said she received a tip from Traysee that Kira's son was looking for his mother. I knew you'd end up here. This isn't much of a place to come home to, for you or me. But sit. Tell me where you've been."

But Ravi couldn't sit. "You're really her? My mother's mother?"

"I am."

The boy's hand flew to his chest, but his leather envelope wasn't there. He had tucked it into Sadee's saddlebag, up on the bluff. Throat dry, he swallowed. The hydromelon churned in his stomach. "Did she come here five years ago?"

"She did."

"Did she… mention me?"

"Aye."

Ravi swallowed again. He glanced at Link, who watched the exchange with his arms folded. "What happened to her?" Ravi asked, voice thin. "Where did she go? Is she still… alive?"

Myra gazed into the boy for a moment, then her hand slid into a hidden pocket and withdrew a worn envelope. The red seal remained intact. "I think it's better if she told you herself." She extended the letter.

A thud of dread echoed in Ravi's chest, like a distant peal of thunder before a storm. Accepting the letter, Ravi pressed it to his heart. He took off at a light jog down the beach and veered onto a wooden pier. His boots tapped the hollow boards as he hurried to the end, where he sat on a wooden crate. He held the letter in both hands and held it up to the fading light. Two words scrawled across the flap in his mother's handwriting: For Ravi.

His heart clenched. Under the last of the orange sunset, he broke the red seal, pulled out two pages, and began to read.

My special, beautiful, brave boy,

You found me. At last. I knew you wouldn't stay there forever. There's a fire in your soul the Yiga can never tame.

I made the biggest mistake of my life, leaving you behind. No hero is worth the cost of a single day apart from you. That's what I've been searching for. I've been looking for him. The Champion. He's been sleeping for ninety-nine years now. There's something magical about a hundred. I think he's going to wake up soon. I aim to be there when he does, if I can find him.

Why would I leave you with a clan of assassins to go search for him? I was trying to save you. The Clan is no place to raise a child. I should have left it years ago, but I couldn't abandon your father. Now that he's gone, it's just us. This isn't the life I want to give you, hiding underground, training to be murderers. I'm not an assassin. I'm a gal who loves adventure, and I want to raise you free, in the sun and the grass and the clean, open sky.

But the Clan doesn't let a soldier change her mind. I took an oath when I joined—I thought nothing of it then. It was my oath of love for Saahe. But if I go back on it now, they'll come for us. They'll hunt us down as deserters. You don't deserve to live on the run, so I'm going to wake up the Champion and beg him to destroy the Yiga Clan.

It's been the most difficult hunt of my life. Princess Zelda and the Sheikah left no traces of the Chamber of Resurrection. They sealed him away with powerful magic so nothing would interrupt his regeneration. There are rumors when he wakes, he'll have no memories of the Calamity, or who he is or what he's meant to do. I don't care what I have to say to convince him. I'll bring him back to the desert and I'll save you.

But there's a chance I might fail, so I'm writing this letter and entrusting it to my mother. I should have told you about her, our only surviving family. Saahe lost his family many years ago—all of them in one night—when the Sheikah failed to drive back the monsters from his village. Don't think unkindly of your father. His memories of that night haunted him, drove him to dark places. But he said when he met you—a tiny, bloody bundle screaming for life—he saw there were other things to fight for in the world. He could fight for love.

That's why I'm searching for the hero, Ravi. I'm fighting for love. But I'm worried. I've been away from the Clan much longer than I told them I would be. I think I'm being followed. There are signs. I can't let anyone else get hurt. My mother understands. She'll tell you everything I meant to say.

Please forgive me, Ravi. I love, love, love you. More than the sun and the stars. More than all the treasure in the world. I hate what I've done to you, what the Clan has made you suffer. Don't let your heart turn cold. Love this crazy world. Live wild and free. Have a storybook full of adventures.

Love (again),

Mama

Hot tears rolled down Ravi's cheeks, sliding fast, one after another. They dripped on the page and he rubbed them away with his thumb. He pressed the letter to his heart, doubled over his knees, and sobbed.