Nagori, Saimon and Senkyoku - A Wind Waker Tale

Chapter Two: Missing Tetra

Link leaned forward, yawned, and let his chair clunk back onto the floor. He set his instrument on the table beside him and looked out the window. He wondered if the girl in his dream had been Tetra, she surely acted like her. It was the first time in weeks that he'd even seen himself in one of his dreams. Lately they had been full of Pirate adventures. He tipped back on the chair again, closed his eyes and listened, the only sound heard was the creaking of the wooden ship as it echoed eerily off the cave walls. Alone on the great pirate ship everything was so quiet. He wondered how had they had managed to get it in here to begin with.

The disappearance of pirates would probably have gone unnoticed except for, as Tetra put it, "His unreasonable need to explore every bit of the world". He really only came home for Zill's party and to take his sister back to Windfall. Aryll helped Miss Marie with the school and her holiday was over. He'd not been back this way in years and would not have even come this way at all if he hadn't promised to take Zill out for a trip around the island for his coming of age party. He had wanted to see the cave where the Jabun had been hiding. That was exactly how he had found her just more than two weeks ago, silent and empty.

He thought back to a previous trip home. He had come to the fountain to take a pictograph of a fairy to get a figurine made. When the Great Fairy had appeared, that was remarkable enough, but when she also gave him a warning he knew it meant trouble. She said an ill wind was blowing in from the west and that he should be careful not to sail when the moon was full for an old enemy waited. Likewise, he should warn the Princess. All the Great Faries referred to Tetra as the Princess, which really seemed to irk her.

He actually had no wish to track her down again. They'd not seen each other for months and she'd been more than clear the last time he had seen her on Windfall that they were done. That was just fine with him since all they did was argue. Still a promise made had to be kept, especially to the Great Fairies.

He recognized now that he probably could have been a little nicer about it but in the last six months her anger towards him, for whatever it was he did, had gotten completely unreasonable. Lately, it only seemed to feed her unquenchable thirst for vengeance. He was tired of pointless battles fought for no real purpose.

Once he found them getting ready to set out from Great Fish Island, as promised, he had let her know what the Fairy had said. She just looked at him, rolled her eyes, and said "Great now the fairies were getting into the act?" Foolishly, he asked her to put off sailing for just a few days until the full moon passed and that was when the real argument started. He realized now, the Great Fairy of Outset had been right and Tetra and the others must have run afoul of whatever it was. He also knew he still had absolutely no idea where to start looking for them.

He rubbed his eyes and mulled over the few things he did know, which was not much. They left Great Fish in the evening, by afternoon of the next day, they somehow managed to get the ship in this cave more than three sectors south of where he'd left them; all without anyone on the island seeing.

He lit the small lamp nearby and pulled out one of the few books he has discovered while poking through some ruins on a nearby island. Most were written in an old form of Hylian. The only reason he knew it was because the Deku Tree had been kind enough to tell him. The great tree had even taught him most of the alphabet. He was getting better at reading the ancient scripts but it was still hard to understand. What he found were the stories of Hyrule. Some mentioned the Hero of Time and the Princess Zelda. Others talked about the old prophecies and how they were fulfilled. He was sure there had to be a clue in there somewhere as to whom this enemy was.

He remembered what the King had said about the hero becoming separated from the part of himself that held the Triforce of Courage. How was that possible? He was so engrossed in his reading that he almost didn't hear the creak of footsteps on the deck above. Link looked up at the ceiling and listened intently. It was unlikely that Zill managed to find his way back here again so decided it would be better to be cautious and blew out the lamp. He could hear muted talking but could only make out one voice, an older man's voice from the sound of it.

He leaned back in the chair to grab his pack off the bed, but was startled when his Triforce piece resonated in a strange way. It had a hollow sound to it, like a distant echo. Next thing he knew he managed to get a strap tangled in the backing of the chair, still leaning, now hopelessly overbalanced, gravity mocked him as he, the chair and his pack crashed to the floor.

He stifled a yell and rubbed his head all while trying to lie as still as he could to listen for a reaction from above. He knew it was a slim chance that the racket had been missed but lying there tangled up with his pack and a chair wasn't very helpful either. So as quietly and quickly as he could he began to extricate himself. He managed it just in time to hear the door handle turning. Thankful for the darkness he braced himself.

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Above decks an old man walked and marveled at the ship, "Can you believe it, he said, waving to the air in awe. "We made it." He paused as if listening. "Yes. Yes, I know that. I'd change that if I could; we are out of place here. I only hope the goddesses grant us enough time to-" he was interrupted by the sound of a muffled crash somewhere below him. He stopped and listened carefully, smiled and then turned to head below. Coming down the stairwell the hushed sounds from the room up ahead where just too tantalizing to resist. He had to see if his guess was right, just what was down here in this otherwise empty ship. When he reached the door he leaned toward it and listened. All was quiet again; whoever was in there, was trying very hard not to be heard. "Do we go in?" he asked, over his shoulder.
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Link watched as the door handle slowly turned. When the door swung open he let the boomerang go. He let out a cry of surprised dismay when the figure plucked the deadly projectile out of the air and smiled as he turned the weapon over in his hands.

"That really wasn't necessary, I mean you no harm," he said as he offered it back, "but understandable under the circumstances." Link just stared. "You know I had one of these when I was a kid, best thing for picking apples." Link was still gaping at him and realized his mouth was still open so he shut it and took the proffered weapon. "Are you all right?" the old man asked, "You're looking a little pale."

Link stood up and reached for his pack, his uncertainty must have shown on his face because the old man tilted a little to the left and said, "You know I think he still thinks we're here to hurt him." Link leaned a little to see whom the man was speaking too, but the old guy seemed to be quite alone. "Oh right," he said turning back to him. "My name is Dalkin," he said as he bowed slightly "but you can call me Al."

"Nice to meet you, um . . . Dalkin?" Link said as he bowed in return. He noticed the look of disappointment on the old mans face he added, "I mean Al." The old man relaxed a bit but still seemed to be waiting for something. It dawned on him after a moment or two of silence. "Oh right, I'm Link."

"Link?" Al's eyes narrowed a little as he said, "really? That's quite an unusual name, where is it from?"

"I don't really know." He said as he shoved the boomerang into his pack "My grandmother might though." He made a mental note to ask her one-day. "Should I know you?"

"That's quite an assortment of weaponry you have there." Al said, changing the subject. "May I?"

Link caught completely off guard by the older man's mixture of calm self-confidence. Al had a very disarming sort of charm about him that made Link want to trust him, but . . . there was something else to it, something he just could not quite put his finger on. "Sure, I guess so." Link fumbled to get the lantern relit and managed to burn his finger on the still hot glass "Ouch!" Hanging the lantern on a hook above the desk Link sucked on his finger and watched as Al rummaged through most of the pockets of his pack, even those that were not so obvious.

Al turned each item over in his hands and commented to himself on this and that. Each item after a thorough inspection then returned to their original positions. Occasionally he would comment to his invisible companion, wait for a reply and either grunt or chuckle at whatever response he'd received. He turned suddenly and held up the Wind Waker "What's this?" he asked, "I've never seen one of these before."

"That's the Wind Waker." Link responded.

"Wind Waker?" he held it out and waved it a bit. "What do you use it for?"

"Mostly, I use it to get the wind moving in the direction I want to sail."

"Really?" he said with a devilish grin on his face. "Fascinating."

Um . . . Al?"

"Yes?" he replied, while swinging the baton about.

"Please, be careful with that. The old man stopped waving the baton and looked back at Link. "If you hit the right combination of points . . . " Link sighed. "It would just be better if you didn't do that."

"I apologize," he said, as he turned back around. (I should have realized)' He replaced the wand back in the pack.

"Pardon me?" Link asked not quite catching the last part of what Al said. (I will be more care)ful in the future."

"Al?" The old man looked up. "Where did you come from?" He did not answer, instead he cocked his head as if listening. He muttered something unintelligible then frowned. Link used the time to take a closer look at the old guy. His clothes were worn and a bit on the dated side but nothing out of the ordinary, except for that hat. It had every appearance of being a large bowl place upside down on the old man's head. What really caught his attention, was the small fragment of gossip stone hanging just out of sight under his tunic.

Link now knew the reason he could not understand all of what Al was saying. They were not speaking the same language. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the stone Tetra had given him. He whispered into it "Cucoo." Al's stone seemed to glow a bit brighter. Link smiled, so that was it then. Finishing his debate, he seemed to be mulling over his answer. Link decided to repeat his question and see what he would say. Al glared at the air beside him, batted his hand into the air as if fending off a gnat, and said somewhat angrily. "I can't tell you." Link felt the stone in his hand pulse with the warmth of the magic the rock used.

"Why not?" LInk asked

"It's complicated," the old man answered.

"So is Six Guns, but I'm a smart guy. Why don't you give me try?"

Al paused again, as he considered what to say next. "I'm afraid it's the only one I'm able to give you at the moment. What is Six Guns?"

"Pirate card game and your changing the subject." Link said.

Al just blinked, then said, "Alright then south."

"South of here, this place?"

Al only nodded. Neither said anything and after an uneasy silence Al asked, "Link the girl that you're looking for, Tetra I believe?"

"Please, stop doing that." Link felt himself loosing patience.

"Doing what? Al asked.

"Changing the subject." Link was getting tired of this round about conversation. "While you're at it, why don't you tell me how you knew that?"

"That doesn't matter right now, this is her ship right?"

"It matters, old man", Link said evenly, "Tell me how you knew that."

Al seemed to sense his growing anger and backed off. His shoulders sagged and he said in a conciliatory tone. "Link, you have to believe I am not here to harm either of you. I know that you carry the Triforce of Courage, its how I found you." He winced as if remembering a past hurt. "Believe me I know exactly what you are capable of."

Link did not like the sound of that; he could almost hear the fear in his voice. It was like being told you drown kittens as a child for fun, "If my time were not so limited, he continued, "I would tell you everything and more. All I can do is hope that, while it's a lot to ask, you'll trust me when I tell you, your courage and strength alone will not be enough to bring her back from where she is without my help."

Link's anger did a slow burn, he could tell that from Al's odd assemblage of body armor that he, like Orca, was far more dangerous than his appearance would lead you to think. The ease with which he had snagged that boomerang out of the air told him he would take more that a few lumps before that fight was over.

The only thing stopped him from dismissing him completely was Tetra's pirate charm, he still held it firmly in his left hand. One of the odd side effects he'd discovered about having his bit of the Triforce was when he held the stone and a person lied to him, it would grow icy cold. This time it had cooled only faintly then returned to its former temperature. Only the reflected residual magic Al used to translate his words remained.

The old guy was telling the truth as he saw it but he was leaving something out. Link knew exactly how deadly unknown details could be; he also knew that in two and a half weeks he had come up with nothing useful or even relevant in all his research. Though he could sense that Tetra and her crew were in some kind of trouble, he felt he was running out of time to help them. He was not even sure he could help them, so he set aside his growing list of doubts and decided see where the old man might lead. "All right then, what do I have to do," he said, as he sat on the bed. Al seemed to hear Link's misgivings in his voice but looked visibly relieved. "Do you know where she is?" Link asked.

"No, not at this moment in time."

Oh good, Link thought, he's gonna make me guess, "Okay, then do you know where she was?"

"Yes, but that was hours maybe even days ago so she could be a fair distance from there by now."

"Without her ship? And what about the crew?"

"They're with her you think?" He seemed puzzled.

"They would never leave her," Link replied flatly.

Al raised an eyebrow, as he pondered the implications of what he'd been told. "Probably not willingly, He sat down on the recently uprighted chair. "Their connection to her must be very strong," he mumbled to himself. That can only mean the magic that's holding her has grown even stronger, if it snared them as well. Well that does complicate things a bit, but I'm hoping the magic may not be able to sustain the connection for much longer. He fell silent for a moment then continued. "It's fortunate they were with her when the trap was set off. Two and a half weeks you say?"

"I didn't actually...but yes, it was just before her birthday."

"How old was she exactly?"

"What do you want to know that for?" Al just looked at him. He sighed and answered, "Eighteen."

"How old are you?"

"Why?"

"You're not helping you know."

"Nineteen."

"Actually, I was surprised to find you here. I was sure you'd be---" Quite unexpectedly, Al tipped slightly as if an unseen hand had smacked him in the head. He turned then and began speaking quickly in low tones (That was not necessary you know. I wasn't about to tell him anything of use!) He glared at the air then turned back to Link.

"Trap?" Link offered in the hope he would continue.

"Yes, and not a very nice one either," he said, as he rubbed a small red bump that had appeared on his forehead. "Have you had any odd dreams of late?"

"Odd? No, not really."

"None? Nothing that would make you wonder?"

"Well, unless you call the repeat of the same dream over and over for weeks odd."

"Repeating?" Link told him about the dreams of the pirate raids and Octo fight. "You're sure there weren't any others?"

"I did, but it wasn't really a dream... I don't think I was sleeping. Well anyway, it was probably more like wishful thinking."

"Describe it for me."

While he described the strange vision of the garden pool, he left out the parts about the music, he had a weird feeling about that part so omitted it. Al listened without comment, eyes closed as if watching it unfold in his head.

"Link, that Octo battle, do you think you could find that place on a map?"

"I think so, it was a place I had wanted to go back to anyway."

"Go back? You've been there before?"

"Not exactly, I tried to go there once, but the King of the Red Lions wouldn't let me."

"King of the Red Lions?"

"My Boat."

"Your boat wouldn't let you go?" Al asked in a skeptical tone.

"Sort of. It's actually pretty difficult to explain." Link felt a familiar twinge of sadness for the old King.

"I would say so." Al said, and noticed Link's frown and after a moment he asked. "Will it let you go now?"

Link laughed. "You know, I have no idea."

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