Chapter 78 Another Adventure

"Link," the winds whispered behind him.

He didn't break his stride. The winds could say whatever they wanted as far as he was concerned. Dreams seldom made sense, and strange murmurings weren't half as fun as the other things he'd witnessed. He trekked through the woods, enjoying the beams of sunlight piercing through the leaves. The once gloomy forest was now lit and easy to traverse. He still did not quite know the path, yet his feet never took him far from where he needed to go.

Link ducked beneath a branch and found himself back home—his real home, where all his brothers and sisters still lived. The Kokiri went about their chores. While still at a distance, Link could pick out Fado with her basket full of mushrooms and Vernus collecting eggs from the cuckoo pens. Even Mido took part, strengthening the border-wards.

Link loved this dream. But it was different this time. As they worked a flute played, comforting all who heard it. Someone stood on top of Mido's rock and danced as she performed. It took him a moment to recognize the Kokiri with green hair, who stood at the center of this dream. And perhaps, all the others.

A crowd gathered around the rock. There were so many to listen to her, most of whom did not belong. They were what made this place his favorite of the dreams. Where else could all his friends come together in peace; to talk, and laugh, and play?

"Hello, Malon!" Link called to the nearest of his friends.

Malon stopped brushing Epona's mane to look at him and smile. She shouldn't be smiling. The real Malon had promised to punch him if she ever saw him again. But here his friends would never hurt him.

"I missed you," she said. "We all missed you."

"I missed you, too, all of you."

So many gathered around them. Talon stood just behind his daughter, while Dembugi laughed beside him. The knight from the alley stood tall and strong and whole, while the Skull Kid sat on top of his helmet. Tatl and Tael flew around his head while they gossiped with the other fairies who were just as happy to see them again.

"What are you making?" Link asked Rosa as she sewed on a large linen. He tried to pick up a corner to look at, but she pulled it away.

"It's not ready yet."

"But what's it going to be?"

"You will have to wait," Miashir said for her.

"We can't always see where the river goes," King De Bon of the Zora agreed, "but know it will reach the ocean."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, 'have patience', my son." The great tree's branches spread wide to protect them all, even those who didn't deserve it, like the cheating slingshot gamesman and Ingo. Bethmasse stood apart, along with the other Gerudo, and saluted him when their eyes met.

He loved this dream, but he could never stay for too long. There was so much else to see. There were still mountains to climb, rivers to swim, and fields to race across.

But some were missing this time.

"Where is Navi? Where is the princess?"

"They are not here," the Kokiri stopped playing her flute to respond, and her every word contained pure joy. "They wait outside."

"Outside?" What could that mean? Ganondorf killed Navi, he said so when they fought. Was outside death? Did he kill the princess too? But the Great Deku Tree was here. "What about Saria, and-"

Before he could finish his question, the crowd divided revealing six figures standing apart.

"Link!" Saria shouted and leaped toward him. She reached to grab him in a hug, but the arms that gripped him were not hers.

Darunia lifted him off the ground. "Young hero! We feared for you, you were gone a long while."

"Has it been that long, truly?"

"It has been seven years!" Ruto huffed as she let him go. "How dare you keep me waiting?"

"I'm sorry," it was best to just apologize to her. Even in dreams, you couldn't argue with Ruto. But her words gave him pause. It couldn't have been seven years since he came to this dream, could it?

"Have you kept up your training?" Nabooru asked. She lifted one of his arms and gave a disappointed tut. "Still scrawny."

"Of course I have." Link pulled his arm away.

"There is more than just strength you'll need," the princess's guard, Impa said.

"I've been doing other things, too."

"Well, my boy," Rauru, the old priest, said, "tell us. Where have you gone? I cannot wait to hear what new tales you have to share."

"So many!" Link laughed before the gathering crowd. "I crossed a hundred dreams and saw a thousand places."

"Well don't keep us waiting," the flutist said. Now she stood before him with the other six, while everyone else drifted away. He had not seen her in all the while he'd been traveling these dreams. A Kokiri, most certainly, but her eyes made her appear far older. She wore an acorn as a necklace and grass stains left streaks across her frayed frock.

"There's so much out there," he told what remained of his audience. "I passed the mountains and the seas, and I spoke to three sisters who planted seeds in their garden. They tended to them and let them grow. But then they had to leave, for there were other gardens to plant. Before leaving, they instructed their children to tend the garden in their stead. But no sooner had they left did the children bicker amongst themselves."

"A sad beginning," said the green-haired girl. "But what else did you see?"

"I saw a monster from the dark, and he gobbled up all who crossed his path. A great warrior saw the people being devoured, and yet he was too afraid and did nothing. And in the end, he was alone."

"And what did you learn?" Darunia asked.

Link frowned. "I didn't much like the warrior. Was I supposed to learn something else?"

"Perhaps, goro. Perhaps not. What else did you see?"

"After I left the warrior, I came upon a singer. She sang so prettily that crowds came from across the world to see her, and they cheered and cheered after every performance. But this singer wanted more, she did not care about the crowds if one person was not in them. So, she locked the person away so that they would always be there to hear her song."

"And what did you learn?" Ruto asked.

"Don't do that, I think," Link said.

"As if crowds would ever come to hear you sing. Tell another story."

"I met a soldier who fought in many bloody battles. He did things in the war he regretted. But there came a call to fight once more, this time to protect those he once terrorized. He had the chance to redeem himself, but he chose not to go. He lived long, but his regrets haunted him all his days."

"And what did you learn?" Impa pleaded for an answer.

"Don't dwell on your past? That sounds like it could be the answer."

"Do you know or are you guessing?"

"I'm guessing," Link admitted. "After the soldier, I met a woman who lived in a house her father built. But he built it so tight and strong that no one could get in or out. And when people came to collect her father's debts, she refused to help them, for they would never be able to break in. Only, they were already inside, and she could not escape."

"And what did you learn?" asked Saria.

"Always have a key to get out of a building? No. That can't be it.

Saria grinned at him before stepping back.

"And who came after the woman?" Nabooru stepped forward.

"Then I met a group of friends who spent all their days together. They traveled across the world on grand adventures. Yet one of the friends grew bitter and spiteful and angry. The others saw this change in them, but they did not know what to do, so they did nothing."

"And what happened to those friends?" Nabooru asked.

"The friendship broke. They all ended up hating each other."

"And what did you learn?"

"I don't know! Don't grow spiteful? Or maybe try not to be mean to my friends? I don't think I'm getting any of these."

"Your answers are certainly interesting," Rauru said. "I'm not certain I'd have interpreted them the same way."

"Did I get any of them right?"

The ancient Kokiri grinned. "Dreams can have many meanings, or they can have none. What matters is what you take from them."

"That's not much of an answer."

"Well, my constant delight, most of yours weren't so profound either."

All around them, the others in attendance stepped away. Link could see their shapes, but their faces looked hazy and masked as though he was looking at them through the mists of his home. If they spoke, he could not hear them.

But one voice pierced the fog. The distant call returned, again calling his name. "Link. Link wake up." It was a familiar voice, but he couldn't quite place who it belonged to.

He waited for the speaker to continue, but it went silent once more.

"Did I fail your tests?" Link asked the green-haired girl. "I was supposed to learn more while I was here. I don't know if I learned anything."

"Oh, don't be so glum," she said. "You aren't chosen because of your knack for articulating your thoughts. You already speak more than half the ones that came before you and those that will follow. Life isn't a test with one correct answer."

"Then why ask for them?"

The child grinned before she struck a forced serious expression. "Because of the grand ineffable plan. So mysterious are my works. Tremble, ye mortals!" She laughed and held out her hand for Link to take. When he did, she led him through the worlds of the dreams. The greatest knight of his age traveled across the desert, fleeing an abandoned temple with two children and their mother. He vowed to protect them from the evil that once held them. In another dream at another time, a great whale slept inside an egg and spun a world all his own. A world of shadows, a frozen mountain, a falling moon with a monstrous grin. A mother crying over her son as vines pulled him up.

"I don't understand. I never understand."

"But will you continue to think on it?"

"Of course."

"And why would you do that, since you never understand?"

Link frowned. "I don't know. I guess I don't like giving up."

"When you first came to me, I did not tell you to learn, I did not command that you grow wise, strong, or anything. I only asked for one thing from you, do you remember what it was?"

Link tried to think back that far, it had been so long. When Ganondorf cut him across the chest and set him into a cage of light the goddesses spoke to him about his failures. But, no, before then. When he first took hold of the Master Sword, what had her voice asked of him? "To keep my heart and retain my nature, you said. No matter what happened, I was to remain true to myself."

"And have you?"

"I… I think so."

She squeezed his hand before letting him go. When he looked down his hand was no longer empty, instead, he held a bright sword with a blue guard. It had been so big when he first tore it from its pedestal, but now it fit his grip perfectly.

"Link!" The voice was screaming now.

"Do I know that voice?"

"Oh yes."

Link nodded. "Is it time for me to go?"

"That depends on you. You're in a sacred place, no one can force you to leave but yourself. So, my constant delight, are you ready?"

Link held up his sword. It was perfect. There was no other way he knew how to describe it. When he lifted it, it felt like an extension of his arm. The way the light gleamed off the edge made him feel as though the sword would cleave through steel and stone as readily as flesh and bone. And yet, the words of the Great Deku Tree came to him, how the sword could become the answer to all life's problems. This weapon was not permission to fight anyone he pleased. It was a responsibility. He bore the Blade of Evil's Bane, evil, and no one else's.

"Well?"

"I don't know if I am," he sheathed the blade and grinned at the goddess. "But I think it's time to go on another adventure."

Her giggle held all the merriment of the world.

His eyes opened.

The ground beneath him held firm. The air he breathed tasted and smelled of the living world. Stone and dust, sweat and wood, animals, people, everything that made the planet real that you never noticed until they were all taken away.

Link stood within the lower level of the temple, though it had changed since he left it. Gone were the decorations and lights, along with the companions that stood with him when he first entered the Sacred Realm. Now soot blackened the floor and burn marks marred the walls.

His friends were not there, neither were his enemies. Only a single man with a leering grin stood before the Door of Time.

"Who- ?" Link asked as he tried to step forward. The strength fled from his legs. He staggered, trying to steady himself, but he collapsed to his knees.

An arm wrapped around his chest and held him steady. "Are you hurt?" A muffled voice said.

Beside Link stood a man with his face covered in a scarf that wrapped around his head, leaving only his red eyes and a few strands of pale hair poking out. He looked old. Far older than Link, and yet, he did not look big. If anything, they were both of the same height.

"No," Link said. Was that his voice? What happened to his voice? Why did it sound so low? And his arms! When he tried to move them to grab ahold of the man they felt so long. His fingers had grown so wide and stretched out. "Zelda," he said in that strange voice. "She freed me, where did she go?"

"Oh yes," the leering man laughed. "Where could the princess be?"

"She is not here," the masked man said. "She is far away; I've been sent to collect you."

Link couldn't even hold his torso up anymore. His body ached. Everything felt stiff, crooked, and shaped wrong. He slumped in the man's arms, who lowered him to the floor, as gentle as the fellow could. But even that slight movement caused pain. All Link's muscles seized and rippled, releasing tension they'd held the entire time he'd been in the dreams.

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!" The smiling man clapped his hands. "Not as impressive an entrance as I had hoped, but the important thing is you're alive. And that means..." He gave a tittering laugh and walked away from the door.

"Help me with him!"

"I have the utmost confidence that you can handle him," he stopped before a seemingly empty wall. "Come on, he's here. Open. Open!"

"What's he doing?" Link asked through gritted teeth. The spasms in his legs sent a jolt of pain through him.

"Ignore him," the masked man said. "Can you stand?"

"Give me a moment," Link adjusted himself, trying to, at least, sit up. But even effort made the muscles of his core sear with pain.

More of his helper came into view. He reminded Link most of Impa, the princess' guard and friend. They wore similar tight clothes and had the same red eyes. In his hand, he held a handkerchief that looked wet from tears. Had he been crying?

"Yes!" The smiling man shouted.

The wall before him shook. It looked as though it would collapse. If it did the rest of the basement might collapse with them still inside. Link tried to push himself onto his wobbling feet. "Look out!" He warned the masked man.

But the wall did not collapse. Instead, the stones melted away and, in their place, appeared a door. Not a grand portal like the Door of Time, but a plain, unornamented wooden door. Then all over it and the surrounding stonework patterns appeared in letters Link could not read. They glowed bright before dimming and turned to whisps of dust one after the other. All the while the man laughed and clapped and cheered.

The door creaked open on hinges that must not have moved in years.

"Link?" Came a voice from within. "Is that you?"

The pain and soreness could not stop him, as he ran to her.