Born a Weapon
A Twilight Princess Fan story
Chapter 4
Why did it have to be morning?
Link grumbled to himself as he was awoken by the sounds of conversation outside his residence. He sat up from his makeshift bed, which was wet from the tears he had shed the previous night. Link felt much better after letting out all the feelings inside him that had just become too much to hold in. He slowly got to his feet as he discovered he was not a morning person. He retrieved the blue rupee he had thrown the previous night and opened the door to head outside.
"Woah! Who's that?!"
"That's obviously the guy who showed up before!"
"You mean the guy who practically dyed the floor red with his blood?"
Link looked down the small ledge he was standing on to see three children looking up at him. There was a young boy with green eyes, brown hair and was wearing a red headband, a white sleeveless shirt, a yellow belt, and a blue bottom. Slightly behind him was a blue-eyed young girl with brown hair and freckles on her face, a white belt, purple pants, and a sleeveless white shirt. Next to both of them was a small green-eyed boy with short brown hair tied in a bun who didn't seem more than four years old with a white sleeveless shirt, a red-orange belt, and a long orange bottom that completely concealed his legs. As Link descended the ladder, the boy with the headband spoke up
"Hey! Is your name Link?"
"Obviously, Talo! He's the only new person here!" The girl snapped at him
"Well excuuueeeese me, Beth! I was just asking a question!"
"Will you two please be quiet? You're arguing like toddlers."
"And what are you, Malo?"
Link was very surprised that the youngest of the three had said the others were acting childish. Link looked to his right to see Colin and Epona just next to the entrance to the rest of Ordon village.
"I still can't believe they're selling a slingshot at the store right now! A SLINGSHOT!" Talo shouted
"I wonder how powerful it is… I… I need… I must try it…" Malo mumbled
Link was surprised at how quickly their conversation shifted to a different topic
"Talo, if you and Malo want it so badly, just buy it at my parent's shop!" Beth suggested
"Do you see any rupees in my hand? I can't afford that thing! C'mon, Beth, can't you just loan it to us for a while?"
"You know I'd get in trouble for that! If you two want it, save up your allowances or something."
"But…our allowances are terrible… Aww, I wish I was born into a family with a slingshot instead of one with a waterwheel…"
Link left the children to their conversation/argument and went over to greet Colin
"Hi Colin"
"Hi, Link… I finished a fishing rod I was making yesterday. I made it so I could go fishing with someone, but I don't know who to go with…" Colin seemed pretty nervous, as if he was afraid to ask something. "Do you… Do you want to go fishing with me?"
Link smiled at the boy's invitation, as far as he knew, it was the first time he had been invited to anything. "Sure, but just so you know, I probably won't be very good, I've never been fishing. At least not that I can remember…"
"My dad told me you forgot a lot of stuff, and we should all be really nice and try to help you remember! So, I came to ask if you wanted to go fishing!"
Link enjoyed the expression of joy on the young boy's face. Maybe he could get that slingshot for the other kids and make them happy too.
"My dad put the fishing rod in our house, but my dad's out today, so would you ask my mom about it? I think she's by the river."
"Ok" Link gave Epona a gentle pat before proceeding down the path to the village. He spotted a woman standing by a river and assumed that was Colin's mother, and headed over.
"Oh, um, good morning to you" She said once she spotted Link. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and she wore a white shirt that actually wasn't sleeveless with dark green trousers and was holding something wrapped under her left arm, but Link noticed she appeared to be several months pregnant. "Are you feeling better?"
"I am. My name is Link, nice to meet you, are you Colin's mother?" Link asked as he extended his hand to her
"Uli, and yes, I am" she said as she took his hand and shook it. "You gave everyone quite a fright when you came in hurt the other day."
"Yeah, sorry about that"
"Don't apologize, I'm sure it wasn't your fault."
I really hope not Link thought
"I heard you have lost your memory. I'm sorry."
Link smiled as the opportunity for a joke presented itself. "Don't apologize," he said with a large grin. "I'm sure it wasn't your fault."
Uli let out a giggle at Link's choice of words
"Colin asked me to ask you for a fishing rod" Link informed Uli
"I'm really sorry, but would you hear me out first?" she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "You have not seen a cradle come floating by here, have you? It's a baby's cradle made of finely woven tree bark…"
"No" Link answered, shaking his head. "Sorry I haven't."
"Oh, such a misfortune… How far could it have drifted, I wonder…"
Link slowly left the woman to her thoughts, and she did not notice him move away. She seemed to have a lot on her mind, and Link decided to see if he could locate the cradle anywhere. After searching the village and speaking to its residents, he saw no sign of the cradle but did locate the shop selling the slingshot the children were talking about, and quite a few rupees scattered about. As he entered the building, he saw a large woman with blue eyes and, of course, a sleeveless white shirt resting her head on a counter staring at a bottle of milk. Behind her, he saw three items on a shelf, one of which was a slingshot.
"Ohhhh… Aww…" the woman mumbled to herself before spotting Link in her shop "…Oh, my… It's young Link… Welcome, m'dear… You feeling better?"
"Much better" Link replied. Although he appreciated the concern, he had answered that same question to everyone he had seen in the village and was starting to get a little tired of it.
"You… You didn't happen to see my little cat out there, did you? He ate the fish we were going to have for supper last night, and I gave him a good scolding… but then he went out and hasn't returned…"
"I'm sorry, I haven't seen him" This was the second time Link had to tell someone he hadn't seen something that they were looking for it. It was not something he wanted to do anymore.
"I'm so fraught with worry for him… I've exhausted myself… Ohhhh… I'm terribly sorry… but my mind is so filled with thoughts of my little cat that I simply can't deal with customers right now… Ohhhh… If I had known this was going to happen, I would have let my little kitty eat fish to my heart's content… Link, m'dear… I'm sorry, but would you leave me be? You can buy something later."
"Of course" Link said as he turned and departed the shop.
Ok, so a baby cradle and a cat Link thought as he wondered where he could possibly search next.
"Yo, Link! Yo! Up here! I wanna talk to you!"
Link turned his attention up and saw a man on a platform looking down at him. Link recognized the man with another white sleeveless shirt, blue eyes, flat hair, orange belt, and blue bottom as Jaggle, one of the villagers he had spoken to before.
"Jaggle?" Link asked
"Hey, there you go! Over here! Yeah! Your voice carries well!" the Ordonian shouted down to Link. "So listen, why don't you climb up those vines there, Link?"
Link saw vines were leading from the ground up to the top of the platform Jaggle was on and gave them a tug. They seemed strong enough to hold his weight, so he carefully began making his way to the top.
"Yo! There you are!" Jaggle said as Link got to his feet at the top, "Check this out…" he gestured to a creek on Link's right next to a house with a waterwheel. "You know Sera, at the general store? Well, isn't that her cat over there?" Sure enough, next to the creek was a cat staring at the water next to the house. "He's just been sitting there next to my house, having a staring contest with the creek." Jaggle turned his gaze back to Link. "You don't suppose he's thinking he's gonna catch a fish, do you? Ha ha ha! A cat can't catch no fish!"
He probably does, actually Link thought. He ran off because of an argument over a fish, maybe he's looking for another one?
"Anyway, that's not what I was meaning to tell you about. I want you to take a look at something…"
Jaggle turned his gaze to another rock on Link's left and said, "See that grass growing on the edge of that rock? I heard you can whistle with those to call down a hawk!"
"Wait, really?" Link asked
"Yeah! I figured it was pretty rare to see it growing in a place like that, so I thought I'd let you know. I bet you could just hop across these rocks with no problem, couldn't you? Maybe give that whistling a shot, see if it works?"
"I'll try" Link said as he jumped the small distance between the rocks and approached the grass. Interestingly, it seemed vaguely hawk-shaped, so link plucked one of them out of the grass and placed it between his lips. It took him the better part of 10 minutes, but he eventually managed to make a whistling noise with the grass.
"Hey! I did it!"
"Yo! Link! Nice job! And hey, look up there!" Jaggle pointed to a Spot above Link's head at a hawk that was descending toward Link. Link held his left arm out to the side, and the hawk perched itself on it.
Glad I have a bandage where he landed, he thought, But what now?
Link then remembered another villager speaking about how he was trying to knock down a bee nest. Link was very close, so he tried to send the hawk to knock it down. The hawk flew at its target and smacked the nest, and departed. The hive fell to the ground and broke into five pieces.
"Yo! Nice thinkin' Link! Hanch was goin' to knock that down, but I guess there's no need now!"
Link smiled and turned to head over to the cat by the creek.
Wait… what's that?
Link looked to where the water flowed and saw something in the distance.
A monkey? Wait… what's it holding? Is that a "baby cradle made from finely woven tree bark"?
Link hopped onto the store's roof and then to another rock and another, noting this was the last rock, and he could get no closer. He strained his eyes to see the object the monkey was holding and found he was correct. A monkey was hopping up and down with the cradle Uli had lost, but he was on a small island in the water, and Link found a fence blocking the path, so he could not swim there. But he noticed more of the hawk-shaped grass next to him. He was still holding the grass he used before, so Link did not pick another piece, but he used the one he was holding to resummon the hawk after a few more unsuccessful whistles. The hawk landed on his left arm again, and he gave it a smile.
"All right" Link said, "let's see if you can get that cradle so we can return it to its owner."
Link released the hawk, and it flew over to the monkey, snatched the cradle from its grasp, and returned to Link. The hawk deposited the cradle into Link's hands and took off once more.
Wow! That hawk is really nice!
Link turned around and headed back to Uli so he could return her lost cradle.
"Oh! Link! That cradle!" Uli said with joy upon seeing what Link was holding, "Did you go to the trouble of finding it for me? My thanks to you!" Link was glad to see the sorrow wash away from her face and be replaced with joy. "Oh, that reminds me! You wanted the fishing rod Colin made, right? Do you think you could carry that cradle and come with me back to my house?"
"Sure" Link said with a nod.
They proceeded to head back up to the house Link had awoken in after his near-death experience. And Link placed the cradle where Uli requested while she headed into the house and soon came back out with a fishing rod. "My thanks to you, Link. All right, here you go!" Link took the fishing rod with a 'thank you.'
"It's a little… unpolished." Uli said, "my son Colin made this under the instruction of his father. You can use it if you like."
Link thanked her again, bid her farewell, and examined the fishing rod as he headed back down the path. It was a simple piece of yellow-colored wood the length of other fishing rods with a grip and a bobber with a stick with the colors yellow, red, and green. Link remembered that the cat was looking for a fish by the river and thought if he could catch one for it, it might return home.
He headed over to the creek where the cat was and prepared the rod. He sent the bobber into the water and waited. After several failed attempts, he finally got a bite and wrestled the fish out of the water. He detached the fish from the hook, and it fell to the ground, where the cat immediately snatched it up and took off. Link followed it with his eyes and was relieved to see it ran back to the store where it belonged. Link headed into the store once more to check if all was well inside and saw a very happy-looking Sera looking at a cat drinking milk out of a small wooden plate.
"Oh, my, Link! You simply MUST hear this! Just take a look! My little kitty came back! And he brought a fish back with him. He was worried about me being angry!" Link smiled at how he had brought joy to another one of the villagers who kindly allowed him to remain. "Ohhhh, just look… Isn't he so cute, the way he laps up that milk? Say, m'dear, why don't you have some, too! I'm in a good mood, so it's on the house today!" She handed Link a half-empty bottle of milk, and he thanked her as he took it. "Oh, don't worry, you don't have to return the empty bottle, m'dear. You can reuse it—you know, put something else in it. Recycling is a very important thing, m'dear! I'm sure YOU'D never door anything of the sort, but kids these days toss things out like the whole world was disposable! It's criminal! So what do you say m'dear? Is there anything you want today?"
"I heard the kids talking about a slingshot, and I figured I'd buy it for them."
"Oh yes!" she said as she turned and picked it up off the shelf. "I got this in for the kids. It's just a toy, but it stings something AWFUL when you get hit by it! It's 30 rupees m'dear."
Link reached into his pocket and pulled out a few rupees before realizing he only knew the value of a blue one, vaguely remembered something about the green one from Ilia and had no idea how much the others were worth.
"What's the matter, m'dear?"
"I… only know how much a blue rupee is worth…"
"Don't worry, m'dear, I'll tell how much each is worth, a green rupee is worth 1, a blue is worth 5, yellow is 10, red is 20, purple is 50, orange is 100, and silver is 200."
"Thanks" Link said as he handed her enough rupees to purchase the slingshot, and Sera gave him the item and 50 pellets in a bag to use with it. Link thanked her before exiting the shop and headed back to the children with both a fishing rod and slingshot. And saw Rusl heading down the path.
"Ah, Link! I hope you don't mind, but I just put something in the storage building. I know you're sleeping there, but at the moment, we store everything in there."
"Don't worry, it's still your storehouse."
"Oh, I see you got the fishing rod. Colin will be pleased. And it works better than you would think, right?"
"It works wonderfully" Link said
"Well, I should get going, have a good one…"
"You too."
Rusl headed down the pathway, leaving Link and the children alone.
"Link has a slingshot! WOAH!" Talo shouted, spotting the contraption in Link's hand
"Wow! You had enough money to buy it, Link?" Beth asked
"You gotta show us what it can do! Let us set up some targets for you to blast!"
"Ok, I'll blast some targets for you." Link said, and the three children ran off the find some things for Link to shoot
"You mind if I blast a few things before we go fishing?" Link asked Colin, who shook his head no "I kind of want to see what it can do too."
A few minutes later, the children came and set up targets in the trees and put another dummy in the opening.
"Preparations complete…" Malo said
"OK, wow, this is great!" Talo shouted, "Let's see how powerful that slingshot is! Hit those targets AND those scarecrows!"
"I can't believe you two brats are so obsessed with this. It just shows what little boys you both still are." Beth spat at the two. "These two idiots will never shut up about it, so I guess you'll just have to show them, Link."
Link smiled at Beth's attempt to seem indifferent about what was happening but she was clearly very interested in the power of the slingshot too. Link tried holding the slingshot in both his right and left hands, but both seemed to feel the same to him.
So? Am I a righty or a lefty? They both feel the same. Maybe I'm a bothy? Is that even a word?
Link decided to hold the slingshot in his left and draw with his right, so if he messed up, he would have the green sleeve to protect his arm. He placed a pellet in the slingshot and drew it back. After taking a few moments to aim at the pumpkin head of a scarecrow, he led the pellet fly, and it blasted the pumpkin to pieces.
WOAH! This thing is a toy? It DESTROYED that pumpkin!
"That's amazing, Link!" Talo shouted
"The slingshot manual said that it's easier to hit things if you look down the two points of the slingshot!" Beth added
"Did you call US obsessed with this thing? You're the one memorizing the manual…" Malo mumbled
Link quickly destroyed the other pumpkin to divert the youth's attention before they could get into another argument. Link took Beth's advice and aimed down the slingshot between the two ends sticking up and shot each of the five targets.
"Woah! Amazing, Link!" Talo exclaimed.
"Hyahh! Thanks, Link!" Beth said.
Malo remained silent but seemed happy as well.
"Gee, you really are amazing, Link!" Talo stated.
"By the way, Link…" Beth asked, "were you expecting Colin's dad to bring something by here? 'Cause he did."
"Oh, yeah! That's right… What was that, anyway?!" Talo asked.
"I command you to tell us…" Malo demanded.
Link looked over at Colin, who said, "Just show them, Link. They won't leave you alone until you do."
Link help up his hands in mock surrender "all right" he said as he turned to face the ladder and spotted a large spider on it about as long as Link's head.
Where did that thing come from? And why is it so big?
Link quickly used the slingshot to eliminate the abnormally large spider before it could injure someone. After it fell to the ground lifeless, he proceeded up the ladder into the building he was using as a home and spotted a blue chest inside. He went over to the container and opened it, removing a wooden sword from inside.
I'll make sure to return this, but I guess I could just show it to the kids, he thought. And he headed back outside.
"Ooh, my! Isn't that a wooden sword, Link?" Beth asked.
"Whoa… She's right! Hey, can I see it for a sec?" asked Talo.
"Hold on, this isn't ours! I just got it because you wanted to see it, but we can't use it without permission!" Link retaliated.
"Seriously!" Talo insisted, "Lately these monkeys have been coming out of the woods and playing tricks on us! We want to get them GOOD! C'mon, teach us how to use a sword!"
"I don't know how to use a sword!" Link responded.
"Is that why you were so hurt when you showed up? Because you couldn't fight back against someone?" Malo asked.
"Uh…" Link said. What if Malo was right? Could he have been attacked and not been able to do anything to defend himself? That thought scared Link, what if whoever attacked him would come to finish the job? Link was so lost in thought, he didn't notice a monkey had wandered into the area he and the children were in.
"Wah!" Talo exclaimed.
Everyone followed the boy's gaze to see a monkey with a bow in its hair watching them. Once all eyes were on the monkey, it turned around and ran off.
"C'MERE YOU!" Talo shouted, and all the children but Colin pursued the monkey down the path.
"Hey! Wait!" Link's cries fell on deaf ears. "Colin! Go tell Rusl the kids ran off towards the woods!"
"Ok!" Colin said and turned and ran down the path.
Link ran after the children as fast as he could, which he noted, was very fast.