A Brief Change in Key

Vaati sat up, looking around. Mizu was on the ground a few feet away, sprawled out in the grass. Komali, Vaati was pleased to see, had landed facefirst. The girl stood up, shaking her head.

“Ooooh, time travel hurts.” she moaned.

“Agreed” muttered Komali, rubbing his head.

“Are you all right, Mizu?” Vaati asked, rushing to her side. He completely ignored Komali. The boy hadn't meant to anger Kai further; in fact quite the opposite. Yet Vaati still took Kai's side of the break-up; he had never really liked Komali and found it strange that Kai always had to rescue him instead of the other way around.

Mizu nodded. “So... where are we?”

“Hyrule field, I think.” replied Vaati. “I haven't been here in a long time.”

“Well that's just great.” complained Komali. “How are we gonna find Kai?”

“Shut up and let me think, bird boy.” snarled Vaati. “...She'd probably go to the Castle Town. We should start looking there.”

“Okay!” beamed Mizu, “Let's get going! Where's the Castle Town?”

Vaati was silent. He couldn't quite remember the direction of Hyrule Castle Town, but he didn't want to worry Mizu... or Komali. As much as he disliked Komali, the boy was a whiner when worried about something.

“You don't know, do you?” muttered Komali, rolling his eyes.

“I will turn you to stone and throw you in the river, so help me...!” began Vaati, but Mizu cut him off.

“Now, now. Let's not get all snippy.” she smiled, then gasped. “There's something in your hat.”

Vaati held a hand to his hat, lifting it slightly so the trapped creature could get out. A small pink fairy darted out, flashing in anger.

“MIZU!” she cried, “How dare you leave me in there!”

Mizu laughed at the small fairy. “Hi Aurore. Sorry. I'd completely forgotten you were in there.”

“Well, you should be!” sniffed Aurore.

“Wait... how the heck did Aurore get in my hat in the first place?” demanded Vaati.

“I shoved her in your hat  while you were sleeping as a joke. You never noticed, though.” laughed Mizu, stopping when Vaati glared. “Sorry.”

“Anyways...” cut in Komali. “Hyrule Castle Town. Now.”

“No wonder she broke up with you.” grumbled Vaati. “You've got a Royal Attitude Problem.” Satisfied with Komali's hurt expression, he led the group down the closest path. Behind them, Hyrule Castle Town stood in all its glory.


“I just don't get it.” murmured Link, confounded.

“What?” asked Arill, bored.

“There's nothing here out of the ordinary. I figured that since Ganondorf seems to be back, he'd sabotage the Sages or something.” explained Link.

“Well, maybe he forgot about Saria.” groaned Arill, “Can we leave now?”

Link stood up from where he had been crouched, inspecting every inch of the large colored torches in the main hall. He nodded and smiled at his sister. “Epona's probably wondering where we are.”

“Riiiiight.” said Arill, advancing rapidly to the door. “I told you there was nothing wrong here. There would have been... well... this sinister air over Kokiri Forest, and monsters everywhere we looked.”

Link chuckled and followed. “I wanted to be sure.”

Just as the siblings left the Sacred Forest Meadow and re-entered the Lost Woods, Navi seemed to explode with a desire to tell Link and Arill something, shrieking “Hey! Listen!” until Arill threatened to rip her wings off.

“Link!” she said, now deliberately ignoring Arill. “Something good will happen if we visit Death Mountain! I'm sure of it!”

“Well, we were heading there next anyways.” grinned Link. Let's get Epona and go.”

Arill noticed a sudden stone wall in the Lost Woods and tugged on her brother's sleeve. “We're at that weird secret entrance to Goron City, y'know. Why don't we just take the path here and you can play Epona's song when we get there? She always seems to hear it no matter where or how far away we are.”

Link gave his sister a rare frown. “I have been imprisoned in a jar for almost a month now. I think I want to ride my horse.”

“All right, all right!” groaned Arill. “Don't get all defensive now, it was just a question. Geez.”

“Sorry.” sighed Link. The twins mounted Epona in silence. Death Mountain awaited them.

Before I knew it, early evening had arrived. The day was over. Walcu and I had spent the entire day playing in Hyrule Market, much to Aria's annoyance.

“...Today was fun.” I said quietly, looking at the pink-tinted fountain, admiring the way sunset had transformed it. Mizu would have loved to see it all. As much fun as I was having here, I wished I could be with my friends as well.

“Yes, it was.” Walcu agreed, joy sparkling in his liquid gold eyes. “And tomorrow will be even better.”

“Walcu, tomorrow I need to begin searching for Ganondorf. He must be stopped at all costs.” I sighed. “And I don't want to hassle you.”

“Hassle me? No way!” Walcu cried, suddenly grabbing my hand. “Today was one of the best days of my life. I never could just let loose like that in my old life. Hassle, my foot! You're an amazing girl.”

“...Okay.” I said quietly, turning a little pink. So many emotions were rushing through my heart at the time. It was less than twenty-four hours since I had dumped Komali, yet I definitely was interested in Walcu. Not only was he cute, he was kind, funny, brave... Was it wrong to be falling for another guy so quickly after leaving one? Or was that normal? I only knew one thing for certain: As wrong as it seemed at the time, something was pulling me to Walcu. Pulling me... by the heart.

“I want to come with you to find Ganondorf.” Walcu said, “I can really be of service to you now that I'm myself again.”

Well... that sounded entirely made up. Did Walcu just want an excuse to stay with me? Or did he simply have nothing better to do with his time? In any case, there was no way I was refusing him. The smile I got in return made my heart melt.

“We'd better get going then.” I said quickly, blushing and turning away. “I wanna be on the road as soon as possible.”

“Kaiiiiiii...” Aria whispered, pulling me to the side.

“What's up?” I asked.

“Don't do it! He's played nice so far, but what if Walcu's some sort of creeper guy?” Aria fretted.

“He's not.” I muttered.

“How do you know?!” she whispered furiously. My response was to walk away and call to Walcu, “You coming?”

We walked for a few hours until reaching the riverside. There was a large oak tree with a massive rock crushing one of its roots nearby.

“We should stop here and make camp for the night.” Walcu said. I nodded sleepily, sitting down on part of the crushed root.I got as comfortable as I could, and drifted off into sweet dreams. Faintly, I heard a whisper of “You're all cold...” and barely felt warm hands lifting me, holding me close... Although I was asleep, the action relaxed me. I must have really looked cold. Heartbeats echoed through my dreams. A certain face was present in all of them.