How to lose weight fast! Want to lose 5 lbs in 5 days? Just get RPG Maker (which was 50% off on Steam a week ago) and you’ll never want to do anything else again, including eat and sleep!
But I finished this chapter, although it is not as good as I would like. I really wasn’t sure where it was going. For some reason my outline seems more dynamic than the story itself.
Not sure how to show Rana, since I don’t want her to either take over the story or be annoying, and also Link’s supposed to be kind of oblivious to what she’s actually feeling. For now, at least. It was fun to write Impa and Darunia, though! (Impa, stop throwing tantrums.) And now we get to find out where they’ve been, and Shoza, too. I keep forgetting what things Link already knows, though. Like… “has he figured out Ganondorf was behind everything yet?” or “does he know about Ruto?” both of which were answered a couple chapters ago. : P
It might be helpful to know that Love Over Gold by Dire Straits is Rana’s theme song. : ) Also I think she’s going to have a ‘snap back to her true being’ moment sometime soon, because girl needs it, yo.
So… about RPG Maker VX Ace! I’ll be posting screenshots of the various games I’ve made, soon. I made a tiny little level in which Flaire, Gullac, and Prince Cedric (of Fire Emblem 9.5 origin) traipse around a place, fighting slimes and giant bees, and then they challenge Gyoriing, who’s training them. I made a second tiny level of Prince Cedric, his social knights, and his Jeigan fighting some bandits. Unfortunately I forgot Cedric is a lance user, but other than that it was okay. My brother can beat that in 60 seconds, haha.
The last game is a game version of The Totally Not-Canon Adventures of Flaire: Part 1: Lost Blackbird, which I will actually make available for people who want to play it… after I completely redo the graphics. The game itself works pretty well. But I used a lot of premade images which don’t really match up to what I have in mind. However, it was a lot easier to make the game than it was to draw the comic, so from now on, all the Totally Not-Canon Adventures will be little videogames. It should take about 15 minutes to beat Lost Blackbird, but the other parts will be longer, of course. I’m excited for it! Although that means I have to draw things. I should get on that after I finish this story… and maybe another 6Pianos arrangement.
And my friends have asked me to be in a collaborative writing project, and now all my characters want in.
Chapter 15: Triumph of the Geeks
Chapter 16: The Ancients
“Hero!” said the old lady, in an old, withered voice. “It took you long enough.”
Link glanced at Navi, and turned back into a human. “Wait. You knew I was the Hero? Even though I was a wolf?”
She glared at him with her hands on her hips in a strangely familiar way. “I can sense things that ordinary folk cannot, Link of the Kokiri.”
“…Impa? What happened to you?” She had been shrunk and aged, coming now barely to his waist. Her figure was dumpy, her face lined and her hair wispy, but she was still the cranky Sheikah bodyguard he remembered from before.
She tugged self-consciously at the shawl she wore. “Zant happened.”
“You didn’t face him alone…”
“I wasn’t going to face him at all. But he caught me in transit as I attempted to make my way to Hyrule Castle to be at the Princess’s side, and this happened. If I hadn’t known of the existence of this village, I would never have survived and the position of the Sage of Shadow would be empty.”
“I would hug you in relief,” Link said, “but I think you would still kick me into the sun for it.”
“But you’re so cute as an old lady!” Navi said.
“I am not cute!” Impa snarled. “This is demeaning! I am a Sheikah in my prime, not a grandmother! I hate this creaky old cold stiff weak miniature body!”
“She’s furious at not being able to join in warrior’s work,” said Darunia, coming up behind him. “Understandably. She couldn’t even use her power as a Sage to fight, because that would still be too risky.”
“Yes, I do understand,” Link said. “In my travels, I was once transformed into a Deku Scrub. It was… uncomfortable, at least at first. And you’re not the only one who’s been cursed. One of my companions says that the form I know her by is not hers.”
Impa looked behind her into the house. “Yes, that’s him.” She turned back to the others. “Come inside. Introduce yourselves, newcomers.”
“I am Franz Jurgensson Graveling, Prince of Labrynna, and this is my guard Jakob.”
“Is that Shoza?” Link interrupted. “Shoza, what happened to you?”
The Zora lay on a cot, heavily bandaged. He turned his head to grin weakly at Link. “A lotta stuff happened, man. This, though… got shot by an arrow. Darunia couldn’t hold them off forever, and we barely made it here to safety in time.”
“And then the Twilight came down,” Darunia rumbled. “And then that girl came and went. And now you have come, and not a moment too soon, because our food was running low.”
“I actually came on Ilia’s behalf,” Link said. “She’s lost her memory. She managed to remember you when she recovered her Sheikah statue, that I assume you gave her, but she can’t remember before that.”
“She did leave something with me,” Impa said, and moved to a chest of drawers. “A horse whistle.”
“Ilia doesn’t have a horse,” Link said, confused.
“Maybe she was planning to get one,” Navi said. “After all, horses would be useful in Ordon.”
“She is a lovely young woman,” Impa said calmly. “Very kind and brave. She was patient with me in my frustration at my new form. She left this to me as all the valuables she carried with her, although I promised her I would return it once we met again. I hope the best for her in life.”
“She is nice,” Navi said. “I like her, too.”
“So you finally made it to Hyrule,” Impa said to Franz. “It can’t have been a pleasant welcome, Your Highness.”
“It wasn’t, no,” Franz said. “But Link saved Jakob and me, took us in, healed Jakob, and let me fight with him. I’d say that besides the war and the loss of five of my guard, my reception has been very welcoming, and I look forward to the renewal of ties between Hyrule and Labrynna after our inevitable victory. I take it that you are the Impa that Princess Zelda spoke of in her letters.”
“I would be, yes.”
Link had moved over to Shoza while the Franz was explaining things. “How are you doing? I wondered where you were when I visited Zora’s Domain and didn’t see you.”
Shoza coughed. “Did anyone tell you about Ruto?”
Link nodded, his eyes sad and sympathetic. “Nabooru told me.”
“Darunia told me. I’ve been… I’ve been looking for a way to bring her back. There must be a way. I mean, Rana-girl got brought back only a few days before, and Ruto didn’t leave a body… I can’t give up hope, Link! I can’t!” He reached up and grabbed the front of Link’s tunic, holding on with a surprisingly strong grip, his black eyes blazing and determined. “I need to know she’s alive. Even if…” He sagged back suddenly, looking weary. “I’m not saving her so I can date her. I just want to tell her that I love her, and… and see what she says. My rescuing her doesn’t give her any obligations.”
“You’ve been looking for a loophole in death for three years for the woman you love, and you’re not even going to ask for a date?” Navi said. “Respect, dude.”
Shoza grinned weakly. “Well, that’s how it works, isn’t it? Maybe she’ll just see my work as creepy, and be all ‘ewww, you were obsessed with me for three years? Get a life, man!’. But I don’t care. Not yet, anyway.”
“We’ll find a way to get her back,” Link promised. “Although I may have to put that off until after we finish saving Hyrule from Zant. But if I find anything, I’ll let you know.”
He turned as Darunia called him. “Link! We should move to Kakariko. It is much more defensible, and we can plan things with other strategists!”
“It certainly seems to have become our main base of operations,” Link said. “I think the Resistance started in Hyrule Castle Town, but almost half of the original members are in Kakariko now.”
“Then let us go there!”
Link looked at Shoza. “Are you well enough to travel? Not really?”
“I have something that may help,” Jakob offered, coming forward and handing Link a bottle full of red liquid. Link uncorked it and gave it to Shoza, helping him sit up. Shoza gulped down half of it.
“Thanks, man,” he said to Jakob. “That really helps. I think I can walk, now.”
“Can you ride?” Link asked.
Shoza shuddered. “I really don’t like horses.”
“Well, you can ride with me. Epona won’t mind. We need to get you back as quickly as we can, and night is falling. Monsters will be coming out.”
“I’ll take Lady Impa,” Franz volunteered.
“I will roll,” Darunia said. “I can keep up with horses.”
“Come on,” Link said, and helped Shoza stand, putting an arm under his shoulders. “It’s really not that bad to ride a horse.”
“Maybe I’ll pass out,” Shoza grumbled, but mounted Epona as Link helped him.
Impa tucked a book into her shawl. “This should be given to a student of history.”
Navi laughed. “Boy, do we know one of those!”
They arrived again at Kakariko after midnight. Renado was still awake, and came to assist Shoza, who had been sick on the way.
Ilia, too, had waited up, and ran to greet Impa. “You’re alive! I’m so glad. I was worried… well, ever since I remembered what happened.”
“I am alive, child. It will take more than a pack of Bokoblins to slay me, even in this old body. And here, here is something of yours again.”
Ilia took the horse whistle, and her eyes opened, wide and unseeing. “Oh!” She paused for several moments. “I remember!”
“What do you remember?” Impa asked gently – as gently as Impa could ask. Link was surprised. He had only really seen her harsh, warrior side.
Ilia’s gazed travelled around the room, glancing down at the whistle she held, and finally focused on Link. “I remember you. And Daddy, and Ordon, and everyone… everything…” She buried her face in her hands for a minute. When she came up again, there was a tear track on her dusty cheek.
Impa took her and led her to the couch to sit down, while Darunia hovered over the back of it. “It’s all right, child. It must be a shock. Take deep breaths.”
Ilia did, and Franz brought her a glass of water. “Thank you. Oh, I’ve been so… aloof with Beth and the others. I know I couldn’t help it, but… I’ve worried everyone so.”
“No one thinks any less of you,” Link said. “In fact, you’re one of the real heroes of Hyrule. What good is it for a soldier to keep fighting if the people can’t keep going? You’ve kept going through some incredibly dark times, despite having no memory, which probably made it orders of magnitude more difficult. It’s that spirit that Zant will never overcome.”
Ilia blushed deeply. “Or made it easier, since I didn’t remember anything else… Thank you.”
“No problem.”
“So, wait. I know Colin said that you were Green, but you were actually Link, but I didn’t understand what he meant until now. I… what were you thinking!?”
That was the Ilia he knew, berating him for his obvious stupidity. He smiled. “I think a lot of things. But I’m glad you’re mad at me. That means everything’s back to normal.”
“Well, mostly. We’re all changed, aren’t we.”
“It’s true. But now you can appreciate that.”
“Yeah. Well…” she lifted the horse whistle, looking at it, and turned to Link. “I… I was making this for you… So you could call Epona with it. I know you have that little Ocarina…” He still had the Fairy Ocarina that Saria had given him. “But I thought this might be helpful, because its sound can carry farther. So, if you want it…”
“Thank you very much,” Link said, accepting it. “It’s lovely.”
Ilia smiled wide. “I’m so glad you like it!” And she blushed a little, and huddled up as if embarrassed.
She stood. “I should probably sleep, now that my little crisis has been resolved. Thank you so much, everyone… Impa, Darunia, Franz, Jakob… Link…”
“She forgot me,” Navi said, unsurprised, on the front porch a few minutes later. “Oh well. She never really met me. It’s easy to do.”
Link held up a finger for his fairy. “I won’t forget you. Not that such a thing is even possible.”
“Oh, well, you know. I do what I can.”
“I couldn’t fight the evil without you, Navi. Or anyone else here. I need everyone.”
“Don’t you dare start,” Navi warned him. “Don’t you dare start on that speech where if you lose any one of us, you’ll never forgive yourself and you’ll be a failing failure who failed. I hate that speech.” She paused. “Though, fortunately, you haven’t seemed to have been in that mood recently. I hope that’s a sign of how things are going to continue.”
“I hope so too.”
Casually, he glanced around at the quiet town, and blinked at Rana, huddled under a corner of the porch. “You all right?”
She wiped her eyes quickly and tried to smile at him. It looked ghastly. “I’m fine.”
“You sure? Because…”
“Go to bed, Link, you of all people can’t help.” She took a deep breath, and her face set. “I’m fine. Really.”
That stung. “I guess you’re right.” She flinched almost imperceptibly. But she was determined to look strong in front of him, and he wouldn’t push that, so he went back inside.
He crept upstairs, glancing in the room where Renado was working with Shoza. “Need any help?”
Renado looked up. “Thank you, but no. He will heal in due time. Go to bed, Link.”
He turned in to his room, pulled off his gear, and flopped on the bed, stretching out. It was nice to be in bed at last. Maybe that was why people kept telling him to go there. Navi was already asleep. She must have been even more tired.
He frowned, his eyes still closed. He could hear murmurs from outside, below his window. It sounded like Rana and… Midna? He wouldn’t have pegged those two for being particularly close friends, but he was glad they got along.
“…every woman in Hyrule loves him…”
Wait, he could actually tell what she was saying. That was bad. He rolled over noisily and put the pillow over his head.
That was too hot. He couldn’t breathe under there, and anyway that was a dumb idea.
“…your point being?” Midna asked.
“It’s better now, because maybe he’ll meet the one who’s for him. She’s obviously crazy about him. Maybe she’ll be able to make him happy.” Did he really need a girl to make him happy? The issue was more Rana was unhappy because she had no boy, wasn’t it? He couldn’t remember her needing someone before.
He really ought to have told them to go somewhere he couldn’t hear them, but then they would know he had been listening. So unhealthy curiosity and awkwardness kept him there, still, silent.
“You just saying that because you’re too subservient. If you love this guy, go get him! I thought you were getting better with it when you joined us at the last place.”
“Don’t be silly, you can’t make people fall in love. And I’m just getting better at hiding it. He surprised me tonight.”
“Maybe you can’t force it, but I have this feeling – back me up here, fairy – that you’ve been trying too hard to be something that you think he wants you to be, instead of who you are, and that’s certainly not helping.”
“I don’t know who I am,” Rana mumbled. “If someone could tell me…”
“I’ll tell you,” Naeri said, her voice confident and oddly strong. “You’re still the little girl you’ve always been. You know pain, and fear, and suffering; you know loss and rage and all those things that you hate to show.”
“I heard about your past,” Midna said. “You are strong, if you lived through all those things and hide them so well now. I wouldn’t even guess that you could want vengeance so badly. Geez.”
“Despite all these things,” Naeri continued, more softly, “you still hold on to your innocence, your energy, your ability to laugh in the face of evil as if it was some cute little thing that you want to pet. I remember when you were small; even when you were terrified of the forest, you still found pleasure in the strange things, the unknown things. You scampered all around like a hyperactive kitten, looking wide-eyed at everything, climbing the trees, dragging Link and Saria into mischief. You gave Mido as good as you got, and more, because you loved everything.”
Midna laughed. “No, I can’t see that Saria person getting into much trouble on her own.”
“Guys, I tell myself these things in my head, but it doesn’t help.” Rana sniffled. “I just feel empty. I can’t be that person right now. I don’t know who she is.”
Midna sighed. “You just asked us to tell you who you are.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know… Thanks for being here, though. I hope I’m not annoying you…”
“Hey, what about Franz?” Midna asked. “He’s pretty cute. Go make eyes at him.”
Rana snorted. “He’s cute. But that wouldn’t work. I’d be fooling myself and treating him unfairly. I can’t forget Link so easily, even if we only had a few days together in our relationship. I waited three years for him, and he waited ten for me… He’s done so much for me, and I’ve done so little in return…”
“Well, that’s because his loyalty is like yours – once he gives it, he doesn’t take it back. I guess love is different from loyalty. How do you give it so easily, though?”
“It’s who she is,” Naeri said. “Sometimes, it has to be earned, like when she met Ashei. But in general, she can decide on the reality of her world very easily – and then it sticks come hell or high water.”
“So she decided she was in love?”
“I didn’t mean that,” Naeri said. “But it doesn’t change the fact that she will love him for a very long time, even if he turns into a jerk. And it’s not faked, either, and I’m pretty sure it’s mostly based on the reality we all share.”
“He’s not a jerk,” Rana said. “I don’t think he will turn into one, either. He was probably still just depressed. And now he’s not, which is good for Hyrule – we need an undepressed Hero. But I’m depressed, and I’m being selfish, and it all hurts. And it’s going to keep hurting for a long time, according to the people I know who’ve had their hearts broken. But I’ll keep trying. I really will.”
“I’ll drag you kicking and screaming into personal interaction with other humans,” Naeri promised. “Some days maybe you won’t do so well. But I’ll keep you up. You just stay strong the way you are. Go back to your past to find your future.”
Rana snorted again. “Sure. Okay. I’ll go try to pretend to sleep now. See you later.” He heard a creak and a shuffle.
He rolled over. That was the most uncomfortable thing he had ever heard. But it was at least partly true that he liked Rana; it just didn’t feel right to be in a relationship with her. Still, he wished she wasn’t hurting so much even now. She seemed to want him to be happy, and he was, though the world would just keep throwing low and high points at him randomly because that was how life worked. He wished Midna hadn’t encouraged her about him. She was just making Rana’s spiral worse.
Maybe… maybe he should try to help her. Except that would also encourage her. Surely Rana could have any man she wanted. She was a little crazy, and reckless, but she was also kind, brave, loyal, and loving, and she could fight as well as any Sheikah…
But all the women in Hyrule liking him? That was just ridiculous. Half the people didn’t even know he existed, or who he was, and even if they did, he was sure they didn’t all find him that attractive.
Although… a lot of people said that he was. So what did he know, maybe they were right.
He woke to find Shad sitting in the corner of his room, curled up in a decidedly uncomfortable position, studiously flipping through the book Impa had taken. “Good morning!” he called cheerfully as Link raised his head blearily and peered at him through drooping eyelids. He was practically bouncing, and his normally pleasant face was almost cracking in half with the force of his smile.
“What time is it?” Link mumbled. “How long has he been looking like that?”
Navi fluttered down to eyelevel. “Long after sun-rise. You slept very well! I’m pleased. Although it reminds me of when we first met and you would sleep all the time.”
“I did?” Link asked, surprised. “I guess I did. But I didn’t really notice once our adventure began. How did you know?”
“I’m smart,” she said, smugly. “I heard about it from Saria. Anyway, Shad asked if he could see you when you woke up, and he said he would be quiet, so I let him in. He just got back an hour ago, with good news, I take it. You wanna talk to him?”
Link yawned and stretched, twisting in the bed, pulling the sheets out from their position tucked neatly under the mattress. “Ow. I’m really stiff today. I thought I stretched yesterday… Yeah, that’s fine. But I might not be a very good conversationalist at this exact moment.”
Shad waved that off. “Fine, fine. I just want your ear. I think you’ll be interested. You see, this book is all about the Attic of the Sky, and the great Wings that rule there. Or maybe just live there. I’m not sure about the wording.”
Link sat up. “You think they have the mirror piece in this Attic in the Sky?”
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t know. This mirror was only broken a few days ago, wasn’t it? This book is several hundred years old.” He caressed it lovingly. “It’s in magnificent condition. I’m glad my cry of joy did not wake you earlier, when Lady Impa gave it to me.”
“He squealed like a girl,” Navi giggled, and Shad blushed.
“Ah, er, yes, well… I was excited. You can surely excuse a little bit of high-pitched enthusiasm…”
Link smiled and yawned again. “Sure.”
“So as I was going to say, you could certainly take the Attic in the Sky as a starting place, ask the natives if they’ve seen a mirror. I wonder how Zant got it up there?”
“He wouldn’t have done it himself,” Midna said, popping up from the foot of the bed.
“What were you doing down there?” Link asked. “I thought you were hanging out with Rana last night.”
She shot him a glare. “I’m bound to your shadow, not hers.”
“I thought that was a choice thing, even more so now that you’re able to live in the Light World.”
She hesitated. “You got me. Still. Zant probably broke it and gave it to his servants to take care of. Three of those birds, in three directions, with the power of the mirror… they would get a long way. I could believe one of those birds made it to the sky.”
“Could we get one of those to carry us?”
“Probably not. I think they only live in the Twilight.”
Link sat back, deflated. “Well there goes one brilliant idea.”
“Don’t worry,” Shad said, wriggling in excitement. “I feel this book might give us some more clues as to how the ancient Hyrulians kept in touch with with people of the Attic in the Sky… I just need more time to study it. But it is promising! Look!” He suddenly jumped up, bounding across the room to sit beside Link on the bed, showing him some kind of picture.
“What am I looking at?” Link asked.
“This!” Shad said, pointing more vehemently, as if it would help make the picture more clear. “A bird statue! It’s very stylized, but there’s no doubt.”
“Hang on,” Link said, putting a hand to his head. “I think… Renado has one in his basement.”
Shad jumped to his feet. “Are you serious?” he yelled. “He had one all this time, and I…? Come on! Don’t even bother getting dressed, this is important!”
Link laughed heartily. “I’m getting dressed. But you go on ahead and talk to Renado about his basement.”
“Oh!” Shad said, turning around in the doorway, just as Link pulled his tunic over his head. “I almost forgot!” He reached into his pack and pulled out the Dominion Rod, good as new. “It worked! I found the Word of Power in my notes! Isn’t it beautiful!?”
“It is,” Link said. “Have you tried it out yet?”
Shad’s smile only diminished the tiniest amount. “Unfortunately, it probably only reacts with statues created with certain… characteristics, the likes of which are not commonly found in Hyrule now. But I look forward to experimenting with it! Ah, carefully, of course, and with your permission. I certainly wouldn’t want to break something that we went to all this trouble to find and fix.”
“Go ahead,” Link said. “If I go to the Sky Attic, I’ll probably take it with me. Perhaps you can come. But you can have it back after.”
“Don’t tease me!” Shad moaned. “I would give anything to go see the ancient city with my own eyes. But in the meantime, I must speak with Renado.” He disappeared, and Link could hear his shoes galloping away, taking stairs two at a time.
By the time he got down to Renado’s house, the trap door to the basement was open. He let himself down, and then noticed that there was a ladder. He could have taken the ladder. Next time.
A short way into the corridor, there was the bird statue he had seen once before, when he was banishing Twilight from the land. But it… was in a different place. There was a small entrance in the wall, hidden when the bird was in its normal place. He passed through it, turning sideways to fit, and made his way slowly down the stairs.
There was something large, egg-shaped, and vaguely gleaming like metal or maybe enamel down there. There was also Renado, bending over Shad.
Renado looked up. “He passed out.”
“Hi!” Luda said from behind him. “Breakfast is ready, Daddy. Wow, what a strange object! What does it do?”
“It… it’s a sky cannon,” Navi said in wonder. “Like in the book. Wow.”
Midna flew up to be closer to it. “It’s very old. It might not work anymore. But since when have we let that stop us?” She turned back to Link, her old devilish grin in place. “You want me to take this outside and we’ll have a proper look at it? We can send you catapulting into the sky. Won’t that be fun?”
Link stared at it. It looked sort of like a dismembered golden ostrich with no head. “Should we really move it? It might be fragile.”
“I can deal with that,” Midna said, studying her nails. “But if you want to make doubly sure, we can wait for Shad to come round. He looks pretty happy to be lying there, though.”
Link smiled at the young man’s blissful face. “He does. This must be what heaven feels like to him.”
Shad’s eyes flickered open. “Yes, heaven, yes, sky, clouds, birds, wonderful!”
Link knelt beside Renado. “Hang on, there, Shad. You’re talking nonsense.”
“You’ve had a bit of a shock,” Navi said. “Just relax. That giant brain of yours doesn’t have to go so fast.”
Shad sat up abruptly. “I’m fine, all of you! Thanks for your concern. I’m fine, though, really. My dear chap, how can my faculties leave me now, on my greatest discovery? And it was in large part due to you, as I am pretty certain no amount of force or coaxing would have moved that statue otherwise. Now, what shall we do with this?”
“I was going to ask you,” Link said. “Do you think we could move it?”
“It’s a bit heavy, don’t you think?”
“Not for me,” Midna said, flexing her hair. “I have enough power to move this outside. Where you can look at it more easily.”
“You just want to move it, I think,” Link said. “Why’s that?”
She tossed her hair. “I’m also interested in it. Isn’t that good enough? Why do you have to doubt everything I say?”
“I’m sorry,” Link said, and he meant it. “Let’s take it outside, then.”
Midna grinned. “We’re going to be firing humans at clouds in no time!” Her hair shot forth like an army of octopuses, wrapping around various loose parts of the cannon and a large part around the egg-shaped barrel itself. With a grunt of strain, she yanked them from the ground, and they burst into small black squares.
“What’s going on?” Shad cried in alarm.
Link put a hand on his arm. “It’s fine. This is how she transports things. Including me, and I’m still in one piece. Now we have to get outside. Thanks, Renado.”
“I am glad to be of service,” Renado rumbled.
“To think, we lived here so many years and hadn’t a clue?” Luda said. “Everyone knew about the old well and its stories, but this might as well have not existed for all we knew…”
“That’s how it goes,” her father said. “The most amazing things are right under our very noses.”
Link and Shad made it out in time to see the last of the cannon come together just between the edge of the road and Renado’s garden.
Midna let go of it and took a step back in the air, examining it thoughtfully. “Well, now, this is very interesting.”
“Promising, but puzzling,” Navi said. “How are we going to fix it?”
“An excellent question,” Shad said. “I think the Resistance can find you what you need. If someone would like to go to Hyrule Castle Town…”
“I’ll go,” Rana said from behind them. In fact, pretty much everyone in Kakariko was gathered around.
Link jumped. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she said, looking at the cannon and not at him. But her face was steady, and her eyes were maybe not so deeply shadowed today. “That’s pretty cool.”
“It is more than just pretty cool!” Shad exclaimed, waving his arms around happily. “It’s the greatest discovery of the year! Well, there are so many amazing things turning up, but this might be it! Until we find the Attic in the Sky! Imagine what we’ll find in peace-time, once things have settled down and we have the resources to go exploring the forgotten corners of our kingdom! I’m beginning to realize that I’ve wasted my life reading until now.”
“Pfft, no you haven’t,” Luda said. “You have to know the theory before you can practice it, right? You need to both read and explore.”
“Yes, you’re quite right. But I shall definitely be making expeditions after this whole kerfuffle dies down. Perhaps I can request you as my guide?” He looked at Link.
“Um… sure?”
“Unless you are busy, in which case perhaps I’ll asked Miss Rana.”
She managed a smile. “Yeah.” But it quickly faded away again. “I’ll go get in touch with Auru, ask about cannoneers. There are some in Hyrule, aren’t there?”
“Yes,” Impa said. “At least, there used to be.”
“I will ask among my people,” Darunia said. “I think Shoza’s quest must wait until he is healed, and until then, I can safely make a trip home. Our people work with bombs! Someone must be able to work with cannons as well. I will see you soon.” He curled up and began to roll away.
“Hmm,” Rana said. “I have a longer journey. I’d better get going.” She turned and began jogging to the stable.
“Wait!” Midna said. “You’re not going alone! I mean, with only Naeri!”
“Oh, right.” Rana thought. “Well, I could! You need everyone you can get here. I’m good. They won’t catch me.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Midna said. “You stubborn girl. Let me come with you, then.”
“You go on,” Link said. “You can carry on with your discussion.”
Rana turned red up to the tips of her delicately pointed ears. “Fine.” She whirled, embarrassment adding energy to her movements, and loped towards the stable again. Midna glared at Link, made a horrible troll face, and followed her.
“Um, very tactful,” Navi said.
“I’m sorry,” Link said. “I keep putting my foot in it today.”
Navi smirked. “Where else do you put it?”
“Well, I’d like to put it on Ganondorf’s head, but I think that will have to wait. Shad, do you have need of me?”
“Well, I’d like to keep you nearby so I can brief you on what I learn in this book. It has some rather convoluted descriptions of the technology you’ll find in the Attic in the Sky, and I believe you will find it very useful, even if it’s probably hopelessly outdated by now. Every little bit helps!”
“This will be the most prepared I’ve ever been for a quest,” Link commented. “Usually I just jump in and wing it. Usually I’m constrained by time. Usually I don’t have even a chance to find out anything beforehand from any source. …I wonder how much better this approach will be.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to finding out,” Navi said.
“I thought you were teasing me for being a history geek?”
“Yeah, but this is different.”
“I see no difference…”
“Oh, well, that’s fine. Go listen to Shad read the nice book.” Link snorted.
They spent the rest of the day working hard, although he didn’t have any real goal until Rana and Midna came back. He practised his form. He showed Rusl some of it – he had grown better than the older man again, and it was like when he had first arrived in Ordon all over again. He hadn’t even noticed he was getting better, in some ways.
He even had time to look at the fishing rod Colin was building with Ralis. Ilia was hanging around, uncharacteristically shy, twisting her hands behind her back, and he smiled at her, and she smiled back but didn’t approach him.
Was this a taste of what it was like to be at peace, to be himself again in peacetime?
Nothing untoward happened all day, although Talo almost hurt himself in pushing himself to be better than his best at his look-out post. Other than that, Link took the first watch on the hill above Kakariko and prepared to do a lot of introspective thinking for the next four hours.
When he was relieved by Rusl, he didn’t go straight to the hotel. Instead, he wandered down to the graveyard.
Why, he wasn’t sure. He’d never really visited it, except for that one time that he had passed through to the Shadow Temple. He glanced up at the cliff face. Yes, the Royal Family’s tomb was still there, and the Temple entrance behind it.
He paced along the lines of graves, Navi lighting up the names for him. Most of them were family names of some kind or another. Some of them were so old he couldn’t read them, and he wondered how old Kakariko was compared to Hyrule.
He turned onto a newer line of graves, and noted with a frown that the date they read was twenty-one years ago. Many of the lives there had been young, or at least middle-aged. It didn’t take a genius to guess that was when Ganondorf first attacked Hyrule. But he had made it all the way to Kakariko from the Gerudo Desert?
He was suddenly glad he had never seen a battle between armies. Hyrule was at war, it was true; it was half-conquered, half-broken, and terrified, even though it hid its fear as it could. But the invasion that took place when he was born must have been much, much worse. And it wasn’t something that one lone hero could fix, even with friends. An army of friends was not a real army.
He came to one pair of names and stopped. Rin and Kulani, aged twenty-eight and twenty-four when they died. A chill ran down his spine.
Who were these people? What had their lives been like? What was it like in Hyrule before it had entered twenty years of unrest?
He turned to see the golden wolf watching him.