Chapter 5
The woods were quiet at first - deathly quiet. Out in the open, there had at least been the occasional sound of the howling wind to fill their ears. But here in the shelter of the Lost Woods, the trees mostly blocked the rushing wind, resulting in a silence that was downright eerie. Not one for details, Lydia hadn't really noticed or worried about it at first, but when one of the Links quietly muttered that even he couldn't hear so much as the sound of an insect, it made her pretty nervous.
This certainly wasn't an ideal situation. Aside from Lydia's very brief visit before, none of them were familiar with this new Hyrule. To make matters worse, they were putting their trust in this suspicious-looking man that was leading them to who-knows-where in a secluded part of the forest. This was how a lot of police cases started back home.
In an attempt to not get too uneasy, she reminded herself that this guy was completely outnumbered. She alone was going to be a nightmare for him if he tried anything funny. She hadn't really exercised her magic to any extent in four years. Aside from that major burst of magic she had used to save Link's life after she found him in Ganondorf's tower, she hadn't really used it at all this whole time. How could she back home? Even a light spell would have freaked people out. Lydia wasn't one to be too cynical about human nature... but even an optimist couldn't completely deny that while a person is generally rational could come to accept something new and unfamiliar, people were afraid of what they didn't understand, and if you didn't tread lightly, things could get ugly very quickly.
That being the case, Lydia had kept her magic bottled up for four years, and she was absolutely dying to let loose on something, like the old days. And if this Sheik character made any sudden moves, he would bear the brunt of it. And he probably knew it. But even so, all of his nervousness and caution seemed to be directed at the world around him, not at the people with him. He had made it clear back in the field that he knew who they were, so he of course must know how dangerous they all could be. And yet he seemed to be at complete ease about them, as if he'd known them for years.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a snapping sound. She looked over to see her brother lift his foot from a broken twig, looking around apologetically. Sheik had stopped in his tracks, his one visible red eye glaring in alarm. When he realized what the source of the sound was, he relaxed again, and continued onward without saying anything. The Links all followed right away, their feet effortlessly avoiding the noisy underbrush. They seemed to do it unconsciously.
The sorcerers looked at each other, obviously afraid to move. Their human-ness made them way too clumsy to move soundlessly. Lydia considered for a moment that maybe they could just not touch the ground at all. They were sorcerers, after all, right? She whispered this suggestion into her brother's ear so quietly that she wasn't so sure he'd be able to understand it. But he did, amazingly, and replied just as quietly.
"Do you see how on-edge that guy is?" he whispered. "Even in the shelter of the forest, he doesn't want our passage to be noticed. Using any kind of magic might not be a good idea."
Lydia rolled her eyes. "It's a levitation spell, for heaven's sake. It's not exactly the magical big-leagues. I don't see why we can't just--"
She cut herself off mid-sentence when she noticed that Sheik was standing next to her, with his leering red eye staring her right in the face. She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a surprised yelp.
"I do appreciate your efforts to be silent," he said, his voice no louder than a passing breeze. "But we are drawing close to where Hyrule's survivors hide. The young one is right. We do not want to risk detection by using magic this close to the hiding place."
"...Okay," the girl mouthed silently, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry."
Sheik stepped back, turned around, and continued on into the forest.
Lydia rolled her eyes again, at herself this time. She glanced over at the imposing-looking group of identical warriors, and saw that they were all giving her encouraging smiles. Blue broke from the rest of the group and quietly backtracked to where she was standing. Grinning, he offered her his hand.
"Just step where I step," he whispered.
Shaking her head with playful exasperation, she took his hand. She offered her free hand to her brother, so that he could follow as well. Blue led them quietly in a zigzag pattern through the brush.
The deeper they went into the forest, the thicker the foliage got. What little sunlight there was became even more blocked out with every passing minute. There was still enough light for the sorcerers' weak human eyes to see, but the shadows were intermingling in a rather disorienting way. Lydia was really glad that Blue was there to lead her through the brush, because otherwise she probably would have found a tree with her face by now. But amazingly, though her short-distance perception was completely off, she still had a pretty good general idea of where they were. Ever since entering the Lost Woods, they have been heading straight east. If she or her brother had to come through here alone in the future, it would probably take them longer, but they would find their way eventually. She took a little comfort from that knowledge as the trek continued.
Gordon wasn't quite so at-ease. He also noticed that they'd been traveling in what was pretty much a straight line. How well hidden could this place be when all it took to find it was to walk in a straight line? After a moment of considering, he had another thought. Maybe it was for that very reason that it stayed hidden. When one was looking for something that was supposed to be well-hidden, would they bother to look in the really obvious places? Also, he thought to himself, perhaps it wasn't so much the location that was hidden, but rather the entrance. These were the Lost Woods, after all. Things were never as they appeared here. It could be that what they sought was in plain sight.
The sorcerers were so lost in their thoughts that they were taken completely by surprise when the group stopped walking. Lydia didn't stop quickly enough and smacked right into Blue's back, almost knocking him over. He regained his balance, then grabbed her shoulders and helped her regain hers, too. The endearing smile on his face made it clear that her clumsiness didn't bother him in the slightest. She grinned an apology, then looked around, trying to see what had stopped the progress.
Sheik was standing before a very large tree. It wasn't much taller than any of the surrounding trees, but it was clearly quite a bit wider. It seemed to have about the same width of five people standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
"This is it," came Sheik's quiet voice. "Here dwell the survivors of Hyrule's cataclysm."
"This tree?" Red asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "If you're hiding them in the branches, you've done a nice job. I don't see anything."
Everyone else was too surprised by Sheik's response to react to Red's attitude. He chuckled lightly, and was probably smiling slightly beneath his face coverings. "Watch closely," he said, with a confidence that almost sounded like pride.
He raised his hand to place it against the tree's thick bark. When he touched it, his hand went right though it and disappeared, leaving only the rest of his arm visible.
A little smirk appeared on Gordon's face, having guessed it would be something like this. The Links barely even stirred as they watched. They had been around magic users too long to be surprised by things like this.
"Nice," Lydia said with a wide smile, making no effort to disguise how impressed she was. She approached the spot where Sheik's hand had disappeared inside the trunk of the tree. "A barrier. A really well-made one, too. I didn't even feel any magic around here. We would have walked right past this."
Sheik nodded. "We were very careful. Our very lives depended on keeping this concealed. For beyond this illusion lies our safe hold, where we recovered from the catastrophe, rebuilt our lives, and trained ourselves in the hopes of someday reclaiming our land."
Without another word, Sheik stepped forward and disappeared completely into the tree. The illusion steadied behind him, once again having the appearance of being nothing but thick bark.
Red sighed. "Are we really going to trust this guy?"
"We don't really have a choice," Vio answered.
"I know, I know. I just like to know what I'm walking into. This whole business makes me nervous."
Lydia walked over with a playful grin and patted him on the cheek. "Don't worry. If any baddies try to get you, I'll be your protector!"
Not able to help himself, he laughed. "Thanks. I feel much better now."
"Let's get going, then. Nothing's gonna get done unless we go forward."
To drive the point home, she broke free from the group first and jumped right into the tree with no hesitation. The others followed one by one, until the forest was once again empty and quiet.
------
On the other side of the tree, the light was brutal. It bore down so intensely from above that everyone had to shield their eyes. Coming from that dark forest into this bright space with no time to adjust was unbearable.
It took several awkward, blind moments, but eventually they were able to lower their hands and squint into the light. And what they saw, or what they were only somewhat sure they saw, left them all in stunned silence.
The source of the light was the sun. It was directly above them, shining down in all its golden glory, set in the background of a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds the likes of which Hyrule clearly hadn't seen in a long time. The sun illuminated a great meadow that stretched out before them, rich in green grasses, flowers, and many large ponds. A thick line of trees acted as the meadow's border on all sides. The border of trees gave the whole scene a look of having been designed. The beautiful meadow was quite large, comparable to Hyrule Field before it was ruined. The ground was not quite flat, but rather rolled gracefully up and down where it was dotted with hills.
For several moments, everyone just stood with their mouths hanging open. It was Red who finally found his voice.
"Well, I told you so."
Green raised an eyebrow and somehow managed to pull his gaze away from the meadow long enough to look at his twin. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"I'd think it was obvious what on earth I'm talking about. Sheik killed us all once we let our guard down. We must be in heaven now."
"If that were the case," Blue asked with a smile, pointing ahead of them, "why would he be here, too?"
Sure enough, Sheik was standing not too far from everyone, at the base of the nearest hill. He turned and spoke to them, his voice not the whisper it once was. It seemed like he felt safer here. Safe enough to speak in a normal voice, anyway.
"I'm afraid this is not heaven, my dear friend," he said, "but I've tried to make it as close as possible."
"Make it?" Vio asked. "I'll admit this clearly is not part of Hyrule as we now know it. It doesn't seem possible that a place like this could exist there. What kind of power could create all of this?"
As Vio as asking that question, Lydia had finally decided that she wasn't imagining what she felt. This place... it was completely saturated with magical energy. She could almost inhale it. Judging by the look in her brother's eyes, he was feeling something, too. His eyes suddenly widened with recognition. His head snapped up and his eyes met Sheik's.
"The Triforce of Wisdom?!"
"What?!", his sister exclaimed. "Are you sure?"
Gordon continued to stare. "I used to have it. I remember that energy well. There's no mistake."
"Why the hell does he have it?" Red growled, taking an aggressive step toward Sheik. "Last we knew, Ganondorf had all three pieces. That's how he was able to trash Hyrule like that!"
"And why didn't I notice it before?" The sorcerer looked a little dismayed. "I should have been able to pick up on it..."
Finally, Sheik spoke. "My apologies. I owe you an explanation."
"Damn right!" Red shouted.
Green put his hand on his angry companion's shoulder and held him in place. "Easy now..."
Straightening and looking at the young sorcerer, Sheik said, "You are correct. I do possess the Triforce of Wisdom. You didn't feel its presence until now because I was using all of my will to suppress it. It's the only way I can survive undetected on the outside."
He looked from face to face, then gently brushed his hair out of his eyes. "But we are safe now, so I can tell you the truth."
With a flash of light, the symbol of the Triforce of Wisdom appeared on Sheik's forehead. The symbol glowed more and more brightly until they once again had to shield their eyes. Wind swirled around them and drowned all other sound from their ears. After a few moments, the wind died down and the light faded. When they lowered their hands from their eyes, they found themselves once again stunned into silence.
Sheik was gone. Where he had been, a very happy-looking Princess Zelda now stood.
The entire group erupted into excited shouting. Lydia covered the distance between them in what looked like a single bound and wrapped her arms around the princess's neck. Zelda returned her embrace, trying and failing to hold back tears, and pulled Gordon into the hug when he got close enough.
"I can't believe it!" Lydia shouted, half-laughing from excitement. "You're really okay!"
"I was so afraid I'd never see you two again," the princess choked through her tears. "You've done so much for my kingdom... It ripped me apart inside to think things had ended that way."
The two sorcerers released Zelda from the embrace, and the princess approached the four Links, still rooted where they stood, all with triumphant looks on their identical faces.
Zelda wiped a tear from her eye, trying to compose herself again. "Goodness," she whispered. "There are somehow four of you. I don't even know where to..." Her voice trailed off for a moment. She finally approached Green, perhaps because he looked most like the original Link, and placed her hands on both sides of his face in an older-sister sort of way.
"I thought you were forever lost to us," she said, her voice breaking again. "Everyone thought you had fallen in that battle. And here you are again, as if returned to us by the goddesses themselves."
"Mercifully, no," he said, taking the princess's hands in our own. "Luck was on my— our--- his side, it seems."
Blue approached and said, "Ganondorf was holding us in the tower the entire time."
The princess looked appalled. "For what purpose?!" After a second of thought, her face fell. "Of course. It's Ganondorf we're talking about. He must have been pretty proud of himself."
"But it's all right!" Blue declared with a wide smile. "Lydia came to our rescue!"
Zelda looked at the sorceress, who grinned sheepishly and said, "He was the last thing I expected to find there. There I was, all ready to avenge Link by removing Ganondorf's eyes from his head and feeding them to him... and..."
"And you gave all of Hyrule their hope back." The princess smiled gratefully.
Lydia blushed. "I do what I can."
Composing herself, Zelda stepped back and straightened the folds of her royal gown. "But why are there four of you?" She looked back at the sorcerers for an answer. "How is it possible?"
Vio stepped forward, slowly drawing the sword from the sheath strapped to his back. "It's because of this," he said, handing it to the princess, who began to examine it closely.
"So...," she finally said quietly, with her eyes still locked on the sword. "So you really don't have the Master Sword."
"No, I'm afraid not," Vio replied with a sigh. "Gordon found this sword as a temporary replacement, but it seems there was a catch. It split the original Link's personality into four separate parts, and here we are."
"Fascinating. I've never heard of anything like it. Where on earth did you find it?"
"More like when," Lydia chimed in. "Would you believe we had to time travel to get that thing?"
Zelda gave her a blank stare.
"Oh, uh, we did that the same way the kid and I got back here. It took me years to do, but I developed a cross-dimensional spell. Ugh, time travel is so dangerous, though. Once we put that sword back where we found it, I swear I am never doing it again."
"Of course, we can't do that until we find the Master Sword again," Gordon added. "Do you know where it is now? I can only assume Ganondorf's got it stowed away in his tower somewhere."
Looking suddenly bothered, she answered, "If only it were that simple."
"What do you mean?"
The princess looked cheerful again. "We'll discuss that soon. There is much to talk about. Before that, I think there are a lot of people that will be happy to see you. Come."
She turned and started up the nearby hill. When standing just inside the entrance to this beautiful place, it was easy to get the impression that you could see everything from there. But it wasn't until they were climbing the hill that they realized just how much these low hills were hiding from them. Just how much this hill had been hiding once again took them by surprise as they stood up on the top and looked beyond.
The greatest portion of the center of the meadow had been cleared and cultivated, and had been turned into a sprawling city. It was rather make-shift and thrown together, but everything looked very sturdy and safe. Homes of all designs had been built, probably using materials from the surrounding trees. Crops were being grown along the outskirts of the city. And there were animals of all sizes grazing out in the distance. Sheep, small cattle, horses... all of the major species were represented here. Birds flew over their heads, casting the tiniest of shadows on the ground below.
The most amazing thing was just how many people they could see milling about. People of all races - Hylian, Gerudo, the Kokiri children, the rock-like Gorons... Even the Zoras were clearly managing to live here. At first glance, it appeared that each race had carved out its own "home base" in the city, resulting in the varying designs in the homes, but everybody mingled together in the center square, where it looked like trading posts and shops had been set up.
Standing in awe and amazement, the entire group simply stared for several quiet moments. Green was first to speak. "By the goddesses!" he exclaimed happily. "There are hundreds of them!"
Zelda smiled. "That's right. By a heavenly miracle, we lost very few when Ganondorf made his move and took over Hyrule. By the time he was strong enough again to act and strike out upon us, we had mobilized and were ready to evacuate to a safe haven. Better to fight another day and win than to fight unprepared and die."
"I can feel the magic here. You created this?"
"Indeed."
"With the Triforce of Wisdom. How did you get it back?"
The princess smiled again. "Like I said, we have much to talk about. But first..." She put two of her fingers in her mouth and whistled very loudly in the direction of the city. Without another word, she started to lead them all down into the city.
The people that had been milling about in the square had all stopped and looked at their direction in reaction to the whistling signal. A few people appeared to recognize them, and started to cheer. As they got closer, more people recognized them, and more cheers erupted. By the time they crossed the threshold into the city, the entire square was in an uproar. Some people were breaking away in running off, maybe to tell people they knew what was happening.
"Whew," Lydia breathed, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "What a commotion."
"Can you blame them?" Zelda asked, still smiling. "We thought we'd be fighting back against Ganondorf ourselves. I've tried to keep their spirits up, but they've been pretty convinced that we had no chance. Seeing you all back with us gives them hope again."
Once they entered the square, they were completely mobbed by people of all of Hyrule's different races. They were all pouring into the square from their respective parts of the city. The Hylian women that had been mulling about the shops in the square surrounded Lydia, bombarding her with excited questions. Gordon was doing his best to stay on his feet as some rather large Hylian men kept clapping him on the back.
It wasn't long before the edges of the city had emptied. The square was completely packed. Lydia looked around, trying to take everything in and not miss a moment of it.
A large group of Kokiri children had surrounded Green, pulling on his clothes and all yelling excitedly. His face lit up when his eyes fell on one in particular, and he picked her up, holding her close like an older brother would his baby sister. The sorceress recognized her right away. It was Saria.
She broke away from the people surrounding her and picked her way through the crowd back to where Princess Zelda still stood, her face beaming with happiness. "I just saw Saria!" she said to her with no small amount of excitement. "Are the other sages here, too?"
"All except for Rauru," the princess replied. "He insists that his place is in the Sacred Realm."
Lydia nodded. "I guess someone has to hold down the fort."
"But everyone else is here. Look, see?"
Zelda pointed off toward a group of large rocks towering over the people around them. A second look revealed them to actually be Gorons, and they had pulled Red aside. One particularly large Goron towered over him so greatly that he was completely blocking out the sun.
"It's wonderful to see you again, Hero Link!," his said about as excitedly as a Goron could manage.
Red craned his neck in his best effort to look the Goron in the face. "Um..."
"I'm Link, remember?" He grinned widely. His teeth were all the size of large rocks, and were probably as tough.
"Oh! Oh, right! You... sure grew fast, didn't you? Last time I saw you, you were only about..." He held his hand level at his waist.
Link the Goron looked up suddenly. "Oh, here comes Dad!"
Before Red could even turn to look, two huge tree-trunk arms wrapped around him from behind and lifted him a dozen feet up into the air. "Well, well!" Darunia's powerful voice boomed. "Look who it is! We thought you were a goner, brother!"
"Y-You know me!" Red managed to gasp. "Tough as nails! But I can't breathe now, so if you could just--"
"Dad! Dad! I found another one!" Link the Goron's huge arm disappeared into the crowd, and when it reappeared, Vio was wrapped up in the crook if his massive elbow. The scene looked similar to a little kid bringing home a stray cat, asking if he could keep it. Vio was surprisingly tolerant of the whole thing. His actually looked pretty amused.
"By the great mountain!" Darunia bellowed. "There's two of 'im! Come on, son, let's show everyone else! They'll be thrilled!"
The two Gorons started pushing through the crowd, still carrying Red and Vio with them like the day's vegetable harvest.
A small group of Zoras had crowded around Blue. He smiled as he talked to them. A female voice shrieked from somewhere in the crowd. "What?! Where?!" Several bystanders were knocked aside as Princess Ruto exploded out into the open and tackled Blue at a full sprint, knocking him down.
“I can hardly believe it!” she squealed. “It’s like you’ve come right out of my dreams!”
She continued to giggle uncontrollably and cling to him as he struggled to get up. He managed to prop himself up on his elbows, but seemed to give up there. He smirked over at Lydia, with somewhat of an “Oh, well” look on his face.
As Lydia tried to decide if this was making her jealous or not, Zelda interrupted her thoughts. “I have a tent set up in the northern part of town. It’s large enough for all of us to sit comfortably. I’ll be waiting there. When you are able to…” She snickered a little. “When you are able to reclaim the others from their various captors, come and meet me. We have much to talk about.”
“Hm? Oh, right. Sure. Say, I haven’t seen Impa or Nabooru yet. Are they around?”
“Yes, they’re probably out at the training field.”
“The training field?”
Zelda opened her mouth to say something, but Lydia waved her hand. “Right, right. Tent later. Much to talk about.”
With another smile and a nod, the princess turned and disappeared into the crowd. The mass of excited people parted respectfully to let her pass.
“Ah, man,” her brother groaned as he approached her from behind. His smile showed that he wasn’t nearly as irritated as he sounded. “I thought they were going to smother me.”
Green rejoined them then, still carrying Saria. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and was humming happily. When she saw Gordon standing there, she used Green as a springboard and leapt through the air into the sorcerer’s arms. Taken by surprise, he struggled to keep his balance as Saria attached herself to him in much the same little-sister way.
“Whoa!” Gordon laughed. “Hey there!”
Saria grinned at him. “You got taller!”
“Why, yes, thank you.”
Lydia looked up at Green and asked, “Hey, can you go save Red and Vio from the Gorons and pry Blue away from Ruto? We’re supposed to go meet Zelda in the northern part of town.”
Green sighed through his smile. “Yes, I suppose we don’t have time for this right now.”
She looked at him apologetically. “We need to know where we’re going from here.”
“Yes… yes, I know.”
“Okay. She says she has a tent set up where we can all talk. Go rescue the others and meet us there.”
When he started to walk off, she suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Wait, wait…,” she said. “Listen, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be insensitive. I know this is a big, happy reunion for everyone. It is for me, too. It’s just that—“
“It’s just that you spent four long years stewing over Hyrule’s fate and you want to see it finally saved.” He gently wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, pulled her closer, and kissed her forehead. “I understand. I do, too. So let’s make it happen.”
With that, he turned and started away.
Saria let go of Gordon’s neck and slid to the ground. “I’ll go help him,” she said. She bounded a few feet away, then turned around briefly. “I’m so glad you’re all back. We missed you.”
Lydia smiled back. “We missed you all, too.”
The Kokiri girl grinned. “I’ll see you later, okay?” She turned again and skipped off into the crowd.
The sorcerers stood silent for a moment, watching the commotion around them. This was indeed a momentous occasion. A couple of weeks ago, they had been sitting in their respective homes back in their world, having assumed for years that the best they could hope for was to get back long enough to avenge Link. Now they suddenly had everything they had lost back, and then some. It was the new dawn they only dared dream of.
“Kind of unbelievable, huh?” Gordon asked.
“Yes, sir… To be honest, I’m afraid I’m going to fall asleep here tonight, then wake up back in my apartment… with that huge hole still in my life…”
Her brother reached over and pinched her arm hard. She yanked it away with an angry yelp.
“Aagh!”, she groaned, rubbing the sore spot. “God, man! What was that?”
“I’m just proving to you that this is real.”
“There are better ways to—“ Her voice trailed off, and her grimace slowly changed to a smile.
Gordon smiled back. “So, where is this place we’re meeting Zelda?”
His sister waved him north, and they started walking. The sounds of the excited voices in the square didn’t seem to quiet at all, no matter how far away they got. This was probably going to continue long into the night.
------
Later that evening, the four Links and both sorcerers had gathered with Princess Zelda in the royal tent that had been set up for her in this place. Although the word “tent” left much to be desired in its description. It was pretty large, for one thing, plenty large enough to accommodate all seven of its current occupants, and then some. There were very nice sitting pillows scattered around the covered floor, and Zelda had a very comfortable-looking sleeping space. There was a low table in the center that probably served several purposes, like eating, socializing, and planning. It was large enough that all seven in the group were able to sit around it with plenty of elbow room.
Lydia stretched momentarily and shifted her position on the sitting pillow. “Well, now that we’re all here…” she started. More or less in one piece, she thought to herself with a grin as she glanced over at Red, who was cursing under his breath as he waited for feeling to come back to his upper body.
Zelda nodded. “Yes, I’m sure you’re all eager to hear everything that happened. I can only hope that once are finished here, we’ll have some idea of what to do next, because I admit I am somewhat at a loss at this point.”
She hooked some of her blond hair behind her ear absently. She stared down at the table, trying to decide where to start.
“A lot happened very quickly after the…” she stopped, swallowing. “After the last battle. It was truly our darkest hour as a kingdom. The Hero of Time had fallen, the sorcerers banished from our world, the Ocarina of Time destroyed…”
“And what of the Master Sword?” Vio asked. “We were wondering if Ganondorf had stolen it, but I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
“Well, it seems that the Ocarina and the sword were more closely connected than we’d realized. When Ganondorf destroyed the Ocarina of Time… the sword disappeared.”
“Disappeared? As in… into thin air?”
“Yes, it disappeared right from its sheath. No one has seen it since.”
They were all silent for a moment, gawking at the Princess. Finally, Red waved a hand in the air in exasperation and grunted, “Well, that’s just terrific. What are we supposed to do without it? The Master Sword has always been the key to everything! How can we hope to defeat Ganondorf, especially as he is now?”
“Have faith,” Green said. “There’s always a way, and we’ll find it.”
“Well, I thought I would be able to find it,” Zelda cut in, “if I got the Triforce of Wisdom back. The Master Sword is the key to the Sacred Realm, so I naturally thought that perhaps the Triforce was connected to it.”
“How did you manage it?” Vio asked.
“Since Ganondorf is not suited to carry the Triforce of Wisdom, I thought that launching a sneak attack against him while he was still weak from his battle with you all would give me the best chance to take it back. So, even before the dust from the battle had settled, I set out to sneak into his tower.”
Red looked even angrier than he had a moment ago. “By yourself?!”
“I know what you’re thinking, but a single person had a much better chance of sneaking in. And I was the only one who could have taken the Triforce of Wisdom back.”
Vio placed a hand on Red’s shoulder to steady him. “You can’t deny the logic of it.”
Red took a breath to steady himself. When it appeared he was ready to listen again, Zelda continued.
“I have to admit, I was terrified as I snuck through the corridors of his tower, but I knew that my people were counting on me, and I had to do this if we were to have any chance of surviving now. Since I didn’t have the Triforce piece at the time, I didn’t have to mask its presence, and it was just a matter of not making any sound.
I found him in his quarters. I had brought weapons with me. I knew they were only going to serve as a distraction to him as he was now, but that was all I needed – just a moment of distraction. I attacked him before he had even realized I was there. I came at him with a sword, and he managed to parry the blow… but he was mentally weak, and that exertion left him open. In that moment of weakness, I took the Triforce of Wisdom from him.
I barely escaped with my life. I thank the goddesses he was still so weak. Because of that, I managed to stay a step ahead of him. He chased me all the way to the forest, and as I had hoped, he was unwilling to follow me in.”
Tear started to well up in her eyes, and she turned her attention to the four Links. “I didn’t know you were in there,” she said. “We had no idea you were still alive. If… If we had known, I swear, we all would have laid siege on that tower with all of our power to get you back. Element of surprise be damned.”
They all smiled in response. “We know,” Green reassured her. “It’s all right.”
Zelda wiped her eyes, calming down again. “You have no idea how difficult it was to suppress the surprise and relief I felt when I found you in the field today. All of you. I had to keep my cover identity as Sheik intact out in the open.”
“That’s how you’ve gone all this time without Ganondorf finding you,” Gordon observed.
“Correct. I knew that it would be wise for Ganondorf to never see Zelda again, at least not until it was time to strike back. So if I ever have to go out into the open, I go out as Sheik. Impa helped me perfect the disguise.”
“Yeah, we had no idea it was you.”
“But you’re safe in here?” Lydia asked. “What is this place?”
The princess smiled again. “My greatest work,” she declared with a playful smirk. “Taking the Triforce of Wisdom back from Ganondorf left him even more disoriented. It bought us a little time. The sages went to their respective homes and prepared everyone for evacuation. In the meantime, I stayed here in the forest and slowly created this place using the power of the Triforce of Wisdom. It is not a place that physically exists, per se. I’m actually not entirely sure how to describe it…”
“Is it kind of a dimensional thing?”
“I suppose you could put it that way. We’re still associated with Hyrule here, but we are not a part of it. We exist separately. In order to find us, Ganondorf would have to not only know exactly where to look, but exactly what to look for, and I find that highly unlikely.
When this place was finally complete, Hyrule’s people left everything they had known and traveled here. Ganondorf tried to amass attacks to stop the evacuations, but we were constantly a step ahead of him. Like I mentioned, we lost very few people. Most everyone made it here. We even managed to save a good number of animals, too.”
Her face fell slightly. “Of course, when he failed at his attack against Hyrule’s people, he took out his rage on her landscape instead, as you saw. If we do manage to reclaim Hyrule… it’s going to take many years to rebuild.”
“I’m sorry to sound like a pessimist here,” Gordon said, “but the land out there is pretty wrecked. Can it even recover from that?”
Zelda nodded. “I wondered about that, too, but the more I go out into Hyrule, as Sheik of course, the more I can sense a persistent dark energy all around me. It may very well be that some sort of nasty magic has blanketed the entire kingdom and is preventing even the most basic cycles of nature from taking their course. I’m hoping that once Ganondorf is gone, the land will be freed from that curse and will begin to recover.”
“Slow down, I have a question.” Lydia cut in, raising her hand as if she were in a classroom. “This whole discussion about the Triforce of Wisdom leads back to the Master Sword disappearing, right? How do you know for certain it disappeared? You would have to be there to see that happen, right?” Her eyes narrowed. “You weren’t there, were you? I certainly hope not, Miss Zelda. That would have been way too dangerous and I’d have to yell at you for it, even four years after the fact.”
The princess smiled at her and answered, “No, dear, I wasn’t there. But we do have a witness. Speaking of which…” She leaned to the side to see past them, toward the entrance to the tent. “You don’t have to hover out there forever trying to be polite. You can come in.”
“Thank goodness!” a tiny voice shouted. “I’ve been dying to see this for myself!”
A small ball of light that looked almost like an overlarge firefly zipped through a small gap in the tent material and started excitedly weaving around one Link at a time. “Wow, I thought people were exaggerating, but they were right! There’s four of him!”
“Navi!” Blue shouted happily, raising his hand up for her to land on. She perched there like a little bird.
Lydia couldn’t help but laugh. “Hey, bug! I’m glad to see you made it through!”
Gordon looked at Zelda. “This is your witness?” he asked.
Navi answered for her. “Yes, I was there. I know I was supposed to watch over Zelda, but she insisted I follow you all around so that she could know what was going on. So I… I saw everything.”
“That’s how we know so much about what happened during and after your battle with Ganondorf,” Zelda explained. “Navi saw the whole thing from a distance.”
“I was so upset!” Navi’s tiny little voice rang. She fluttered off of Blue’s hand and settled again up in his hair.
“It’s okay, Navi,” Blue said gently. “We’re all here now.”
“I’m glad. Didn’t know what I was going to do.”
Her wings drooped, and she appeared to be resting. She must have grown tired from eavesdropping outside the tent for so long.
“All right, so we know for certain that the Master Sword is gone,” Vio said. He turned to Zelda. “Once you got the Triforce of Wisdom back, you were hoping it would give you some clue as to the whereabouts of the Master Sword, correct?”
“Yes, I was hoping I would be able to feel its presence somewhere. Even if Ganondorf had shattered it into many pieces, I thought perhaps I could still feel at least its magical force, which certainly will not be damaged or destroyed so easily. But… I felt nothing. I still feel nothing.”
Silence fell over the table.
“Then…” Blue said, speaking for the first time. “Then… what do we do now?”
Zelda spoke again, her voice strong. “My next hope was that since the Ocarina’s destruction appeared to be the reason for the sword’s disappearance, maybe the Ocarina would also be the key to finding it again.”
“But wasn’t the Ocarina destroyed?”
“It was,” Lydia said, clearly confused. “I saw it happen myself. Ganondorf crushed it like an egg with his bare hands. That was how the kid and I got kicked back to our world.”
To everyone’s surprise, Zelda smiled. “It’s because you were ejected from Hyrule so fast that you couldn’t see the truth. Despite Ganondorf’s effort, he could not destroy the Ocarina of Time.”
Red tapped on the table with his index finger, emphasizing the point it was about to make. “If what Lydia said is true, it sounds like it was destroyed to me. Magical or otherwise, it was made of otherwise normal materials.”
“You just answered your own question, my dear friend,” Zelda said. “It’s magical. Although a normal ocarina would have turned to dust, the Ocarina of Time merely broke into six pieces. Navi saw that happen, as well. Ganondorf, despite his best efforts, tried to destroy the pieces there on the spot, but they would not break any further.”
Lydia noticed that everyone was looking at her. She shrugged. “I can’t really say I’m surprised,” she said. “Maya was good at what she did. Leave it to her to build that kind of safeguard into it.”
“According to Navi, a few minutes after Ganondorf broke the Ocarina apart, some sort of magic within it activated, and the pieces flew to far separate corners of the kingdom.”
“So we have to find all six pieces and somehow reassemble it,” Green observed. “Do we have any idea where the pieces ended up?”
Zelda’s mouth turned up into a mischievous smile. “Sheik has been busy.” She reached somewhere into the folds of her gown and produced a small leather pouch. She loosened the drawstrings and overturned it. Three large pieces of hard blue clay tumbled out onto the table.
Exclamations of amazement sounded all around the table. Lydia, Gordon, and Vio all reached out a took a piece, examining it.
“Sure enough,” Lydia said with an encouraging smile at her identical Hylian companions. “The Ocarina of Time.”
“You already got three pieces of it back?” Blue asked excitedly.
“How awesome is this?” Lydia said, still grinning from ear to ear. “See, I told you guys everything would work out! We just got here and we’re already halfway to winning.”
“Do you know where the other three pieces are, as well?” Gordon asked, not taking off the eyes of the piece of the Ocarina he held.
With a noticeable hesitation in her voice, Zelda answered, “Well, we’re only sure about one of them. As for the last two, Navi has her fairy friends scouring Hyrule searching for them. They possess a magical force that we hope is too small for Ganondorf to easily detect.”
“What about this one you said you’re sure about?”
Zelda’s face twisted in anger. “Ganondorf has it.”
Red’s face fell into his hand in frustration.
“He somehow got to it before I did,” Zelda continued. “As I explained before, I wasted no time in acting after that battle was over. I had to make my move when he was still weak. As soon as I had the Triforce of Wisdom back, I could feel the Ocarina’s aura. He had it in his clothes somewhere… but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to get it back. I was lucky enough to escape at all, let alone with something additional that I didn’t even know he had. I can only imagine that, by coincidence, he stumbled across it on his way back to the tower. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.” She chewed on her thumb in thought. “Though, I have no idea how he got past the guardian in his condition…”
“Guardian?” Vio asked.
“As part of whatever magical self-defense it was that sent these pieces all over Hyrule, each piece also became protected by a magical guardian. In my experience, monsters of some kind. You have to best them first in order to reclaim the piece.”
“Really. It seems Maya was quite thorough with this.”
“So what you’re saying,” Green cut in, “is that once we find these other two pieces, we’ll have to fight something in order to reclaim them?”
“Yes,” Zelda replied, “I believe so.”
Lydia stretched her arms over her head, then smacked a fist into the open palm of her other hand. “Fine by me. I’ve been feeling the need to unload my magic on something for a while now.”
“I agree with Lyd,” Red said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Here’s the problem, though… What about that one Ganondorf has?”
The table fell silent again.
“I’m afraid we’re at a bit of an impasse there,” Vio said glumly. “We can’t attack Ganondorf without the Master Sword and hope to win… but nor can we have any hope of getting the Master Sword back without the piece of the Ocarina that he has.”
“Okay,” Lydia said, “why don’t we cross that bridge when we get to it? For now, let’s focus on the other two pieces. As I hope I’m understanding it correctly, we’re currently waiting to hear back from Navi’s friends, to see if they have had any success finding them.”
Zelda nodded. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“So we sit around here, doing nothing,” came Red’s annoyed response.
“Not doing nothing,” Lydia said thoughtfully, then turned to Zelda. “You mentioned training fields. What’s the story there?”
“Oh, yes. All of the men, and actually a lot of the women, as well, volunteered at the beginning of this whole thing to be trained for battle. That way, we’ll have a small army prepared for when we planned to take our kingdom back. Impa and Nabooru have been in charge of that, and the warrior Gerudo women have been of great assistance, as well.”
“Well, in the meantime, perhaps the Link troupe could help out there. Help train your recruits, I mean. I’m sure they could teach them a thing or two, and as he is now, he can cover four times as much ground.” She finished the sentence with a playful grin.
Green shrugged. “Hey, you act like you’re joking, but that’s a very good point.”
“I guess it’s as good a solution as any,” Red agreed. “At least I could feel somewhat useful if we’re being forced to wait around here.”
“And it looks like we’ll have escorts,” Blue said.
The two sorcerers looked at each other confused, and didn’t understand what he was talking about until the entrance to the tent flew open and a scantily-clad woman with red hair and dark brown skin bounded through and pounced on Lydia.
“Hello again, magic girl!” she said enthusiactically.
Lydia laughed. “Hi, Nabooru! It’s so nice to see you again.”
Nabooru let go of Lydia long enough to give Gordon a strong clap on the back. “And to you, sir! Glad to see you’re finally taller than your sister!”
“Well, you know, it was my life’s goal.” Gordon laughed.
The Gerudo warrior stopped and stared when she spotted the four Links all standing together with Princess Zelda. “Well, I’ll be. I thought it was a rumor.” She grinned from ear to ear. “Just wait until Nervani hears about this. I think she’d be a little outnumbered for that rematch she’s always wanted!”
“I’m sure she’ll get the chance,” Lydia said. “They’re going to help you down at the training fields for a while.”
“Oh, great! Impa and I can show you the way. We’re right in the middle of the evening drills right now. We just had to come down here and see what all the fuss was about.”
Lydia hadn’t noticed that at some point Impa had quietly slipped into the tent and now stood with Princess Zelda, as well. The large Sheikah woman was easily a head taller than anyone else in there. She exchanged polite nods with those around her, but otherwise kept silent. She didn’t seem the slightest bit perturbed that she was surrounded by clones.
“As for me,” Lydia declared, “I’m going out.”
Her companions all gave her a stunned look.
“Out,” Green repeated. “As in… out into town, right? To look around?”
The sorceress shook her head. “No time for that. Out into Hyrule. Keep in mind, I’m practically the person that created the Ocarina. Maybe not directly, but I’m the closest thing we’ve got. Maybe if I go take a look around, I’ll be able to sense it if I get close enough.”
“By yourself, you mean?” he asked, his eyebrows coming together. “And how can you possibly expect us to let you go out alone?”
“I’ll stay in the air the whole time. Look, if there were still just one of you, I’d carry you around with me like I used to, but I can’t take all four of you.” She stopped for a moment, putting a finger to her lip in thought. “…And something in my gut tells me that it wouldn’t be entirely wise to separate you.”
Red looked insulted. “One of us is just as good as the original guy! You know that.”
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t know any more about that sword than you do, but there must be a reason for it to work the way it does. You should stay together.”
“I’ll go with you,” Gordon said, stepping closer to her. “You wouldn’t have to carry me. And the two of us together are plenty scarier than anything out there.”
Lydia looked at her brother for a moment. For some reason, she hadn’t even considered taking him. It was an automatic ruling-out in her mind. Previously, she’d always worried that he was too young, not strong enough with the magic yet… But now, she was practically realizing for the first time that he was an adult now. He was just as strong as she was magically. Stronger than she was in some branches of it, in fact. He wasn’t a young tag-along anymore. He was a partner. She owed it to him to start seeing him that way.
“You’re right. That’s a good idea.” She looked over at Green. “Okay?”
He stared at her a moment, his face tough as stone, obviously having an argument with himself. Finally, he said, “All right. But stay in the air as much as you can.”
“Sure.”
“Can you do me a favor and wait until morning? It’s getting late, and if you’re going out there without us, I’d rather you did it during the day.”
Lydia looked toward the entrance toward the tent. The flap was partially open, and she could see now that the sunlight was turning orange. The sun was going down. “Wow, I really lost track of the time,” she said.
Princess Zelda stepped forward. “I agree. You should stay here tonight. We’ll get you all something to eat, and you can get a good nights’ rest before going out there. Best to be prepared, correct?”
“All right. I guess a lot has happened today.”
“Come, I’ll show you where you can stay.” The princess passed them and ducked back out of the tent and into the open air.
Lydia felt her brother’s hand on her back, gently pushing her forward. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” he assured her.
“Good, good. First thing.”
As they left the tent, the heard one of the Links – they couldn’t tell which; they all had the same voice – ask to be shown to the training fields.
Lydia sighed. Her first thought was that she had waited four years… what was one more night? But then she had to remember how much they’d accomplished already. A couple of weeks ago, there was no hope for any of what they now had. Now, they’d gotten Link back, gotten him a sword, got back into Hyrule, found everybody, and they knew what the next step was in their quest.
A confident smile crawled across her face, and she started to hum to herself. Yes, things were going in the right direction. All they had to do was make sure the ball kept rolling.