Nagori, Saimon and Senkyoku - A Wind Waker Tale

Things are going to be a little odd for a bit, but this needs be - otherwise Tetra will never figure out what I've been trying to tell her. Hopefully this chapter passes KR's inspection - wouldn't want to disappoint....

Remember - arguments are fun!


Chapter 30:
This is all your fault...

Link stood and stared unbelieving as he looked all the way around.

"Tetra?"

He'd never seen so much grass in his life. Knee-high, it stretched out in every direction for miles. Stranger than the grass itself, was its lack of color as everything around them appeared in washed out grays and browns.

"Tetra?" Link asked again and he pulled her up beside him. "Please tell me I'm not seeing what I think I'm seeing..."

"Okay, Link, if that's what you want," Tetra said but her voice also held the same disbelieving note, "but if you're seeing a sea of grass where the ocean used to be...I can't help you."

"Where are we?"

"You think I know?"

"Well this isn't Tingle Island and I since I'm pretty sure you managed to pull me into the time loop, I thought you might."

Tetra just stared back at him for a moment and said, "Cocky bastard, and here I was worried how I was going to explain that."

"So you thought you'd surprise me with it?" he asked and when she gave him an innocent look, Link added, "You have been known to be a little vague with the details, Tetra. You know I hate guessing. You could have at least warned me though."

"The truth is, Link, I wasn't actually sure it was going to work." When his mouth dropped open she said, "Hey, you did say you'd do anything I needed you to."

"I did, and I will, but if you keep leaving things out, Tetra, you're going to get me killed."

While Link expected her to start shouting at him, she instead surprised him when she looked back over the grass. She closed her eyes as she struggled with something and after a deep breath Tetra sighed.

"You're right, Link. Everything has been moving so fast these past few days, I truly hadn't considered that. I should have mentioned it," Tetra said.

Link scratched his head and said, "You're scaring me again."

"And this is new, how?"

"Okay, then I guess we should work backward. Do you think you have anything with you that would cause something like this? I'm not carrying anything new, beside the staff."

"Not that I know of, unless..." Tetra groaned as she shrugged off her pack. She knelt down beside it and reached inside.

"What are you looking for?"

"A box," she said as she reached deeper. "I can't believe I forgot about that damn box." There was a note of anger in her voice that made Link nervous.

"Which box?" he asked cautiously.

"My birthday present."

Link cleared his throat and said, "Oh yeah, that box." He hadn't actually expected to be around when Tetra opened it. Link rubbed his chin as he remembered the circumstances surrounding the box's acquisition. Circumstances he was not prepared to discuss.

When Tetra finally found it and pulled it out, Link felt a moment of extreme apprehension and was half tempted to snatch it away, but knew that would only make things worse. They both looked closer and Tetra noticed the latch, so stubborn before, was undone.

Link's curiosity overtook his uneasiness and he asked, "How did you get that open?"

"I didn't," Tetra said as she examined it. She turned it over and they both noticed the carved full moon glowed dimly. "At least I don't think I did, exactly where did you find this thing anyway?"

'Uh oh' Link thought, "Ummm..." Detail number one was rearing its ugly little head. He sat down next to her and said nothing while he tried to come up with a good answer that wasn't a flat out lie.

"Well?"

He scratched his head and stood up. "I don't recall actually," and wondered how long he could stall her.

"Don't recall?" Tetra eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "What are you hiding Namaki?"

"Not a thing, I, uh just don't remember that's all."

"Fine," Tetra said as she returned her attention to the box. "Keep in mind I don't believe that for a second..." Tetra just let it hang there and Link sighed inwardly and thanked the Goddesses when she changed the subject.

"The Deku Tree says this is a kagenmi and if used properly will show you either the past or the future depending on which side you activate," Tetra paused and flipped the box over. "This is mirai, or the future side. Personally, I have no wish to see anymore than I already do and you shouldn't either. Believe me when I tell you half of what you'll see will be useless to you until it's too late to change anyway." She turned it back and traced the lightly glowing moon. "This is kako, the past, this might actually prove to be useful."

"How so?"

"There's so much about this we don't know. Like where we are now, or worse if I'm right, when."

Link pulled up a handful of the washed out gray-brown grass and said, "Well, my bet's for before the flood."

"Exactly my point. Everything looks and feels so damn real, I mean I never thought it would actually take you into the past," Tetra said as she smacked the grass in front of her. "I suppose I should be thankful and the Deku Tree did say the past was unchangeable, at least with this. So, I guess we should be safe enough."

"You don't sound very sure."

"I don't feel very sure; see how the box itself is still shut? Only the latch is undone and look where we are." Tetra said and pushed her finger along the seal. "Makes me wonder what would happen if we opened it. Got anymore paper and maybe a pencil?"

"Uh, yeah," Link said and reached back and came up with the now blank letter and a very short pencil.

"I gotta know how you do that," Tetra said as she took the items from him.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Tetra shook her head as she unfolded the paper and laid it atop of the box and made a rubbing of the scripts that ran along the outside edge. She studied it for a few minutes and frowned.

"This dialect must be really old; I don't recognize any of this script. That's why I took us to Tingle's Island, he's an annoying little s.o.b., but he's always been able to decipher this kind of stuff for me in the past."

"I think that's his only redeeming quality, but maybe I can help," Link said and reached back again. This time he came up with the bottle that contained Kage.

Tetra's eyes went wide and she asked, "You're not thinking of setting him loose are you?"

"Not yet, I need to talk to him first," Link said as he looked at the fairy through the glass and saw Kage's orange glow was missing and he appeared to be sleeping. "Hey, wake up you."

The fairy opened his eyes and sat quietly. Link was taken aback by how sad the little guy looked.

"Do you really think its safe?" he heard Tetra ask, the concern in her voice obvious.

Link shrugged. "Got any better ideas?"

"Jinchi warned me that it was dangerous just to be near them, though he did say I should be safe enough if I was with you."

"Really? That's odd, it certainly didn't help Master Sturgeon. That was the reason I asked Jake... I mean Jinchi to find Aryll, but we really need to get this translated. I'm pretty sure Kage can read, Saimon could." Tetra's apprehension was clearly written on her face but she nodded when he asked, "Then we're agreed? Kage?"

"I am lost."

The fairy sounded so mournful that Link frowned when Kage repeated, "Lost..."

"Kage, what happened to your glow?" Link asked.

The fairy looked up at him through the glass then and said sadly, "The Goddesses have taken it from me. Now Hito can no longer find me and I can no longer hear him."

"But why?" Tetra asked.

"Because I wished it to be so."

"I see," Link said. Maybe Tetra was right about him wanting to help. The Fairy Queen was certainly hopeful. As long as Kage was bound to Saimon, he was relatively safe from the shadow. Link realized now he had been led down the path on that one, that shadow obviously needed his tekuragari and went to a lot of trouble to get Link to break that binding. So why would Kage help him? It's not as if he done him any favors by breaking it. "Can you still fly?"

"I do not know."

It was scary how flat and lifeless the fairy's voice sounded. Link turned when Tetra lightly touched his arm and walked a few feet away.

"I'll be right back," Link said and set the bottle down next to the box and went over to where she waited.

"You can let him out anytime," Tetra said as she looked past him at the bottle.

"Well that was a quick turn around, what brought this on?"

"Keep in mind what I said earlier about him helping you," Link nodded and Tetra added, "I think I know what activated the box."

"What?"

"Kage's essence."

Link stared at her for a moment as what she said sunk in. "You mean he traded his..." Link glanced back over at the bottle again and asked, "Is he gonna be alright?"

"I don't know. It really all depends on him," Tetra said, "but, if he can't find a purpose for being, all fairies have one." Tetra frowned and added, "That's why Nagori left me, she went off to find her purpose."

"I remember you mentioned that, when did she leave?"

"Right after we got to Outset, she helped me see why I had to accept myself as the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom and Keeper of Knowledge."

"But I thought..."

"I told you, I was living in denial," Tetra said and she looked at the Triforce symbol on her hand for a moment. "I walled off that part of myself and locked it away, I thought for good, but I was wrong. I can never go back to being just Tetra, pirate captain and adventurer, because I am also Zelda, Princess and heir apparent to the throne of Hyrule, charged with building a nation from the remnants of the old."

"Sounds stressful."

She smiled. "It was so easy to let myself get sidetracked too, I just let the days slip by and here we are seven years later and what do I have to show for it?" Tetra didn't wait for an answer. "Not a damn thing. I'm frittering away all the hope that old man gave his life for."

"Well we were both pretty young then, but I suppose you're right, we'll need to get moving on that. Assuming of course we survive this."

Tetra's expression became a little distant and she asked, "Did you know that most fairies are born in the moment of time just before the sun rises or sets or on rare occasions at the height of an eclipse? Health fairies are the former, which is why there are so many of them scattered across the ocean, new ones are born every day. The Great Fairies can only emerge during a full eclipse of the sun."

While Tetra's dissertation on fairy lore was interesting, Link was starting to wonder if perhaps all her time looping was starting to affect her head, so he asked, "What has this to do with Kage not being dangerous anymore?"

"Everything and nothing I guess. He's special, born of the Fairy Queen he was created for a special purpose. Able to travel great distances, his kind has always been few and far between. Without his purpose though, he will cease to exist and pass back into the twilight of the next sunset."

"I wonder what his purpose was then?"

"The fairy will seldom know what its purpose is and will often fulfill it without realizing it. Nayru help me, I sound like a book."

"Woman, you are a bundle of information," Link said and looked back at the fairy. He tried to push aside his doubts about him, but it was hard to feel sorry for the little guy, especially after all the harm he'd done.

"Kage?" Link asked as he uncorked the bottle. "Are you coming out? I'd rather not talk to you while your in there," Link said and waited, but Kage only sat dejected. He heard Tetra sigh in exasperation. Impatient she took the bottle from him and with a few shakes dumped the fairy into her other hand.

"Hey you," Tetra said to the dazed fairy, "you're needed here, so pay attention."

"Hey!" Kage said as he righted himself and fluttered his wings in irritation.

"Look, I don't have time for you to pull yourself together so I want you to tell me if you know how that box works," Tetra ordered as she pointed to the kagenmi, "and while you're at it see if you can read the inscription." When Kage did not look to inclined to move, Tetra's face darkened and she shouted, "MOVE IT SPECK!"

The fairy jumped up and blinked a few times and said quickly, "Yes, Princess," and after a moment or two of wing fluttering took off and flew over to the box.

Link smiled. "You're good."

"No," Tetra said as she tossed the bottle over her shoulder, "I'm the best." Without looking back she added, "So which level did you find it on? Not too deep I hope."

Link fumbled to catch the bottle and said without thought, "No, it was thirty-eight or maybe it was thirty...." Link closed his eyes and sighed... here it comes.

Tetra still had her back to him when she asked, "You went into the labyrinth?"

Her voice held a dangerous note and Link eyed her warily and said, "Uh..." oh boy, "...maybe."

Tetra rounded on him so quickly Link took a step back and even though he knew what was coming and even tried to avoid it, Tetra still managed to catch the side of his head.

"Goddesses, you're a lunatic! I leave you alone for twenty minutes..." she started to mutter random pirate curses and then shouted, "You barely survived the last time you jumped down that hole!"

"Wait!" Link shouted and managed to dodge a second swipe. "Damn it Tetra! Calm down!" he cried but the look she flashed made him take another step back. "Can we talk about this?"

"Talk? What's to talk about? You promised me you would not go back down there!"

Link hated that sarcastic, patronizing tone she used when she was angry and stopped in his tracks as he felt his jaw set. Angry and irritated he shouted back at her, "Excuse me Princess, but I made that promise before your worship told me to shove off and die!"

"Well I didn't mean it literally!"

"You're nuts, do you know that?"

"At least I'm not jumping into every damn hole that comes along. You'd think I'd have learned by now you're just a shipwreck waiting to happen!"

"What?"

"And it's a good thing too... " she shouted and startled him again when she stopped and tilted her head slightly. After a short pause, Tetra looked at him as if she waited for something else. Whatever it was did not seem to happen and Tetra laughed to herself as she took a deep breath and said in a normal tone, "Otherwise, I'd still be floating about having imaginary octo battles."

Link just gaped, If at anytime during their so called relationship she'd made less sense to him than now, he was sure he could not think of when that might have been. Completely confused he trailed after her as she grabbed his tunic and pulled him back toward her pack.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked.

"It's broken," Tetra said to no one, "I hope..."

"What's broken? What are you talking about?"

"The unbinding," Tetra said as she took his hand, smiled broadly and said "I think it's finally broken."

"Nice, but would you mind explaining that?"

"It's was a spell, the magic that Nagori told me I had to break."

"Huh?"

"Remember that odd broken harmony in the garden?"

Link only nodded.

"It was like an echo of my anger. I didn't recognize it before but for the past, probably six months or so, just the sound of your voice was enough to make me so angry...I wanted to kill you," she paused and raised an eyebrow. "I think I tried once." Noting his skeptical look Tetra added, "Yes, I know I have a short temper and I tend to get angry easily, this was different. It was like I didn't have control over that anger; it would just be there, always at the worst time, pushing you further and further from me."

"So are you saying you didn't mean all the lovely things you said?" Link asked and noticed Kage as he struggled toward them with that piece of parchment and Link looked back at Tetra.

Her smile gone, Tetra said, "I won't lie to you, Link. When I looked back over the previous year, I can't say I wasn't trying my damnedest to chase you off before that happened." Tetra stared at nothing for a moment and said, "Whatever came out of my mouth came from somewhere. That spell fed on my already growing list of doubts about us and pushed my own fear of the future to new and exciting heights. If I weren't, I don't think the spell would have been as effective as it was."

Tetra looked down and took the paper with the rubbing that Kage was holding up for her.

Link frowned. "If you wanted me gone before this unbinding spell was cast why didn't you just say so?"

"Because..." Tetra said and looked past him, "you would have."

"Huh?" Link shook his head. "Gods, I say that a lot around you. Do me a favor and make some sense will you?"

"I suppose I can try to explain it, well at least what I've worked out so far. Even with the spell, Link, there was always some part of me that knew that I really did want you in my life. Then there was the part that didn't. Didn't you think it was strange that I would turn on you so quickly?"

"Yeah, but you weren't talking and Gonzo said I should just try to lay low for a while, but it never got better."

"Before the spell I wanted you with me but only on my terms, strangely this seemed to work for both of us," she smirked to herself, "at least in my head. Afterward, those same feelings just morphed into a twisted parody and I managed to convince myself that if I could not have things my own way then you were useless to me. To gloss it over I even convinced myself that this was your biggest weakness. I mean, why would anyone put up with that much abuse?"

So I was right, nothing's changed, Link thought. But even as he did, he knew that wasn't true. "Why are you telling me this?" Link asked and noticed Kage watching him but paid little attention when the fairy flew up and sat on his hat.

"I guess to apologize...try to make you understand..."

If she was apologizing, she sure had a weird way of doing it. He knew what she was talking about though; their relationship had never been anything like normal. He remembered spending a fair amount of time at the beginning just trying to stay out of her hair. Somewhere along the line they'd become friends, but that changed again.

He remembered that night. He was up much later than he normally would be and went on deck for some air. He thought he heard a voice coming from the front of the pirate ship. He followed the sound and found Tetra sitting on the prow, and she was singing. That's how he figured out what her little note was trying to tell him. She was singing a lullaby about ravens. He recalled how transfixed he was and even though she threatened him with bodily harm if he ever so much breathed a word, he was hooked.

Link focused his attention back on Tetra and heard her say, "...maybe try to explain why I wanted you to go..."

Link started to get that peculiar sinking feeling that only Tetra inspired in him. The awful feeling she was going to do another about face on him. While not unexpected, Link was damn sure this would be the last so asked, "Tetra, what are you getting at?"

"Only that what I thought of as a weakness, is really one of your greatest strengths." Tetra said and turned the paper over in her hands as she studied it.

That was not the answer he expected. So Link decided to keep his mouth shut and let her finish.

"People like you, Link. They trust you and not just because you are the Hero of Winds. You really are a good friend. I have never known you to turn your back on a friend, even the ones who were too stupid to admit it they needed one," Tetra said and sighed. "No matter what I threw at you, you always came back. When I think of all the nasty, cruel things I did and said..." she paused and frowned, "and after picking at you for months...you left...you never did that before." Tetra tilted her head and said, "I think the words you used were, spoiled, vain, unreasonable and my personal favorite; Your Worshipfulness."

Link felt Kage take off again though he didn't see where the fairy landed.

"Before this morning, I couldn't even remember what it is I said that made you leave that day. Then there was that strange day on Windfall during the market festival. You didn't put two words together all day. I think that's when I started to realize something wasn't right and it was more than just my attitude that needed adjusting. Why didn't you say anything?"

Link drew a deep breath, "Ummm...that was sort of my Grandma's idea. She found me moping and said I should try keeping my mouth shut for a change, since I obviously couldn't control what came out of it." Link saw the smile as it crept onto her face. "You're not allowed to laugh, Tetra," Link said as he pushed her over. He sighed as he pulled off his hat, Tetra was still laughing, and Link realized he'd missed the sound of that. "Either way, you didn't shout or glare at me once all day...or that night...so I just...didn't say anything." Tetra got her laughter under control again and after a short pause Link added, "Which of course, brings us back to the other."

"Yes, the other, you know I even managed to convince myself that was your fault too."

"My fault? What the hell did I do?" Tetra gave him that look and he said, "Okay I know what I did, obviously I didn't do it alone, why didn't you tell me before?"

"I told you I was living in my own happy piece of unreality, and since it was all you fault, you should have known."

"Okay, I suppose in girl logic that almost makes sense," Link said cautiously, obviously Tetra was not going to answer that question so he decided to ask a different one.

"So why, if I am the bane of your existence, after three weeks of searching did you turned up in an imaginary garden?"

"I have no idea; I don't know what brought me there. All I remember was waking up and feeling lost and alone. When I heard the music it reminded me of something I knew I needed, so I followed it, but it was always just ahead of me, just out of reach. If I stopped it would urge me to keep moving."

"You were pretty confused, I don't think you knew who I was at all, at least not until you got angry, but maybe that's why you were acting so strange." Link shifted only to hear a muffled squeak in his pack.

"Maybe, where were you that day?"

"I was in your cabin, wondering where you were, feeling a little lost and alone myself and kind of depressed that I hadn't been able to turn up any clues to your whereabouts."

"And the song? Where did you learn it?"

"Well that's the weird part, I'm not real certain. It sort of reminded me of one my Dad used to play when I was a kid."

Tetra was holding the parchment up to the sun now. "Was it before or after you found this?"

Link thought for a moment, "I'm pretty sure after. Why?"

"Look at this, and why is you pack squeaking?"

"Those are musical notes," Link said as he reached back and pulled Wind Waker out along with the Kage who was now dangling from one of the scrolled flourishes of the baton.

"So it's not script at all, no wonder I didn't recognize them." Tetra tilted her head and spoke to the fairy. "Should I ask what you're doing, Speck?"

"Yes Princess."

"Okay I'll bite, what?"

"To make the box work, the Hero will have to conduct the notes with this," Kage said as he let go and fluttered near the baton. "Then you will be able to tell it what you want to see."

"That's it?" Tetra asked and Kage nodded. "Good work Speck, stand down," Tetra said and handed Link the parchment. "You heard him fairy boy conduct away."

"I swear to Din, you are going to give me twitch," Link said as he snatched the parchment from her and read the notes. When he was sure he had it right, he stood up.

"Do you always have to stand up to do that?"

"Quiet woman, I'm trying to concentrate."

"Why does he not always call you Princess?" Link heard Kage asked her.

"I'll tell you later, Speck."

Link sketched out 6/4 time and conducted, up, down, left, left, right, down. With the notes conducted, Link waited as the notes died away. At first, nothing happened. He looked down at Tetra and shrugged.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Tetra said clearly irritated. "Speck I thought you said..." Tetra stopped and they both noticed Kage and the box surrounded by misty golden glow. It shook a little where it lay on the ground and popped all the way open. The inside glowed with a faint blue-white color.

"Now what?" Link asked.

"Well I'd kind of like to go to Hyrule Castle-" as Tetra said this, the bluish light brightened and suddenly burst out of the box and showered over them. Everyone ducked and Link felt an odd tug and realized the box was pulling him toward it.

"Speck!" Tetra shouted and made a grab for the fairy as Kage lifted off the ground and disappeared into the kagenmi, along with her pack. When her hand entered the light, Tetra's eyes went wide, and she cried, "Damn it, Speck, why didn't you warn meeeee... Aauugghh!" and she disappeared too.

Link noticed the pull stopped and saw the box starting to close. He pulled out the staff and touched it into the fading light in hopes of keeping it open. As all three emblems on the staff lit up at once, a second flash of that bluish light blinded Link. Uh oh... he thought and felt the strange sensation of being twisted up as he too was drawn into the box.

***********************************

Walking back through the tall grass a young man retraced his steps toward his campsite of the previous day. As he neared where he thought he'd camped, he saw the burst of light and knew immediately what caused it. He ran now but arrived only in time to see the box click quietly shut. He picked it up and turned it to over in his hands, his golden eyes narrowed and he frowned when he noticed it still crackled with spent magic.

When he saw the carved moon glowing faintly, he wondered. As far as he knew, he was the only one who knew how to open it. Well, he would have to think about that later and he placed it in his pocket and turned back the way he'd come. He could see the leading edge of the darkness over the grass and began again, to walk toward it. Another puzzle and no time to figure it out because he knew it would probably only be a day or two before he caught up with them.

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