WARM SUNLIGHT streamed down upon his skin. He felt the wood of Outset's lookout tower beneath him.
No, not the lookout tower, it was the crow's nest on the pirate ship. He felt the wood rock beneath him to the rhythm of the ocean. It had all been a terrible dream.
No. It wasn't that either.
The rocking beneath him was not the rocking of a large ship's mast, high above the deck.
Link opened his eyes. He saw a natural ceiling above him, formed by the underside of a rock face.
Memories returned to his mind. He had gotten to Aryll, and then the Helmaroc had gotten him. Now... where was he?
Link achingly sat up, his back hurting. He was on the shore of an island, sitting in a boat. The boat sat in an open rock enclosure in the cliff-side of an island.
He looked over himself. All of his clothing, Aryll's telescope, and even his sword and shield were still with him. He didn't feel like he was dead, so what happened?
Link turned around, facing the back of the small boat's figurehead. There was no one here. How did he get here? He saw no sign of the fortress, the pirates, or anyone.
"You're awake."
Link glanced from side to side, but he could not locate the voice.
"Who said that?" Link asked.
Link turned back to the front of the boat, and to his unbelievable surprise, the figurehead of the boat turned to face him, as though alive, revealing a carved red face.
Link was speechless, his eyes widening.
"There is no need to be afraid," the carved face said.
It resembled the face of an animal, though what animal it was Link couldn't tell. The living figurehead blinked its painted wooden eyes.
"What is you name?" The figurehead asked.
"Uh, um," he stuttered, "Link."
Of all the things Link had done in his life, none of them had been as strange as talking to a boat. Perhaps he was dead. Things like this did not belong in the world of mortals.
"Link," the boat repeated thoughtfully. "Well Link," it went on, "I shall introduce myself. I am the King of Red Lions, the only vessel upon all the Great Sea which speaks the words of men."
"Ho..how can you talk?" Link said, mesmerized by the strangeness of it all.
"I was enchanted long ago in ancient times," it responded, "and now I have come forth once again. I came to your aid."
"I... I...I did not call you," Link said, confused.
"Your call," the King of Red Lions replied, "is not the one I answer. I answered the voice upon the waters of the Great Sea, and I was led to you."
Link stared at the red face of his rescuer. This was... very peculiar. He wasn't sure if he had gone completely mad yet, but if he hadn't already, he certainly would soon.
"Where have you taken me?" Link asked.
"To Windfall island," the King of Red Lions answered, "it is a large island of many inhabitants."
"I've heard of Windfall," Link stated, trying not to sound rude. Everyone knew about the island.
He was trying not to sound rude.
To a ship.
Now he had gone mad.
"Why had you traveled to the forsaken fortress?" the King asked.
"To... to rescue my sister," Link explained. "She'd been taken by a large Helmaroc bird. She's still there."
"You should not have gone into that corrupted place," the King reprimanded.
"I know that it's dangerous," Link replied, "but I need to save my sister."
"Link," the King answered very solemnly, "you cannot."
"Why?"
"The forsaken fortress is not a simple hive of moblin pirates," the figurehead explained, "what is occurring there is the terrible construct of a terrible mind."
Link thought of the figure he had seen; the one who wordlessly ordered his demise.
"The name of the man in that place," the King of Red Lions continued, "is Ganondorf."
Link's heart almost burst, it was seized with such a great amount of fear. He collapsed to the deck, his mind wanting to flee to the farthest stretches of the Great Sea.
"No," Link refused, shaking. "That's not possible! The hero of time and the sages defeated him a thousand years ago!"
"Yes," the King said, "but he did not destroy him. He could not. Ganondorf was too powerful. The hero of time weakened him, and cut him off from his power. The seven sages then confined Ganondorf to the realm of evil. He has since escaped."
"No," Link panicked, "this can't be happening! The hero had sealed him away forever!"
"Not even the hero of time," the King said, "could do such a thing I'm afraid."
Link's heart beat faster and faster. He was so afraid he forgot about the strangeness of talking to a boat.
"What does he want with my sister?" Link asked nervously.
"I am not aware of his schemes," the King said. "I am however, aware that Ganondorf is powerful in measures that you cannot comprehend. He has access to the very tools of the goddesses."
"The... Triforce," Link uttered reverently, hoping not to diminish the word.
"Yes," the King said, "since the day he was cast into his cosmic prison, the king of demons has still possessed the triforce of power."
Link put his face in his hands.
"I have even less chance now than I had before!" Link cried out. "The ancient hero has long since departed this world. There's not a soul who can stop Ganondorf."
The King of Red Lions was silent for a moment, then spoke again.
"It is when the people of this land say things like that, that their chance of victory goes from slim to nonexistent."
Link wiped away the pools of tears in his eyes.
"What makes you think that there is any way that I could stop Ganondorf?" Link asked.
"You cannot stop him," the King stated.
"You're supposed to be reassuring," Link said in weak annoyance.
"I cannot be reassuring any more than you are willing to listen," the King said. "If you believe it is impossible, then you will not be able to stop him."
Link was growing frustrated.
"What can I do then?" Link asked.
"Right now you can do nothing," the King said. "You have no way to get to anywhere."
Link rubbed the palm of his hand against his face, exasperated.
"You are a boat," Link stated matter-of-factly.
"I do not have a sail," the King of Red Lions responded, reflecting his own tone.
"How did you get here then?" Link asked.
"I floated on the current," the boat replied.
"Where would I find a sail?" Link asked.
"That is what you will have to find out," the King of Red Lions said.
Link half sighed, half groaned, and stepped carefully out of the boat and onto the shore.
The King of Red Lions did not ask where he was going, or stare at him. The speaking figurehead quietly turned to face forward again.
This is absolutely horrible, Link thought, walking in the sand. Ganondorf, the living embodiment of all evil, had his sister.
Link had heard the name Ganondorf just as often as he had heard about the ancient hero. Even for the hero of time, the thief from the deserts had been a formidable foe.
He walked along the rocky cliff-side, his boots collecting grains of sand.
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Link reached into his pocket. His clothes were now dry, and he still had Tetra's crystal. He shook the crystal.
"Tetra?" he said to it.
Nothing happened.
He put it back in his pocket. The pirates had said they needed to go to Windfall for something. Perhaps he could plead with them to let him go back. He didn't feel too comfortable with riding a talking boat.
He sat down on a rock, and looked over the breaking ocean surf. He watched wave after wave, as they continued repeatedly breaking. Just like his situation. Repeatedly, endlessly breaking.
It could be a good long while before he saw the pirates again. He grudgingly decided to go along with what this talking boat was telling him. He didn't know what was going on, but the boat seemed confident in what it had told him.
Link really was afraid he was going mad. He didn't feel crazy though. The world seemed just as real as it had in the past. He sure hoped he wasn't dead, especially because he had expected the next life to be a time of rest.
Link walked up the hill from the beach, and gradually the sand turned into a surprisingly green stretch of grass. Large, tall buildings were clustered tightly together in the distance.
He had never seen so many stone buildings. There were many different kinds of shops, and large crowds of people flowed around the streets, like a river of people. A group of young girls Aryll's age were playing in the grass, picking the flowers.
Link turned his view away.
It hurt him to watch. He walked down a hill towards fone of the streets, maintaining his averted gaze from them while trying not to think about Aryll.
Link walked down the street, and tried to decide where he might find a sail.
"Young man."
Link turned around to find an old man with worn, patchwork clothing standing before him.
"Um, hello sir," Link greeted slightly confused.
"Young man," the old man said again, "I'm extremely sorry to bother you, but... its my granddaughter Maggie."
The old man began sobbing. Link glanced around. He felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward. He hoped no one would notice.
"My granddaughter," he said, "she's been kidnapped. Along with another young girl in town. Her father is tossing mountains of rupees towards her rescue, but I have nothing to give. Will you help me?"
"Umm..."
What should he say? Think of something! he thought to himself. Why did this old man single him out?
"I'll find her," Link said, just wanting the awkward exchange to end.
"Oh thank you so much young man!" the old man said. "I am forever in your debt. I will reward you somehow."
"No need," Link said.
Yes, no need. Because he would not be able to find the girl.
"My young girl Maggie," the man added, "was snatched up by a bird, as well as the other girl on the island. I hope you will find them."
Oh no. Now he really didn't know how to help this man.
"Thank you," the old man said, putting on an old leather hat and walking away.
That was... unexpected. Link walked up the street to his left, curving upward around the island. This whole situation wracked his nerves. He attempted once again not to think about it, but wasn't too successful.
There was person after person walking, running, or simply milling about in the street. The street was lined with colorful buildings, each serving different purposes. There was a pictograph shop, a school, and even a gigantic windmill that formed the centerpiece of the whole island.
Link walked the streets several times, but found no sign of any sort of naval shop. He did find an apothecary, but he'd heard several adults on Outset say those were usually a ploy to swindle people.
The crowds began to thin as time passed, many of the people going into buildings. Looking up at the sun - it was hard to tell where it was with all these buildings - Link figured it was about noon, and everyone was off to lunch.
As he was walking through a plaza, he spotted a small outdoor shop built underneath another building.
"Hello young man," the shopkeeper greeted.
"Hi," Link replied.
The man had a long black mustache, and was oddly wearing a heavy blue winter coat. Suddenly Link's long sleeved clothing didn't feel so hot.
"What are you about today my friend?" the shopkeeper asked, with some sort of accent, "you appear to be lost."
"I'm trying to find a place that I can buy a sail," Link said. Link suddenly realized that he didn't have a rupee to his name.
"Why does one so young as yourself need a sail?" he asked.
"I have a boat," Link said, "and I'm travelling to an ocean fortress to the... west of here -"
"The forsaken fortress!" the man said, "why in the world would you go there? Surely not for vacation!"
"My sister was taken there," Link explained, "and I'm going to rescue her."
"Ah," the man said, "what a noble undertaking. I myself have been on great a many adventure. On the last such I undertook, I was shipwrecked in a violent storm - oh the waves cascaded into the sky itself! The storm seemed to last for days on end. I remember it was when we had set out far into the sea, towards the far Mercay archipelago.
"My whole ship was torn entirely asunder, splinters of wood flying in all directions, all that I have left is my hardy sail, that although it was caught in such a wreck, the sail was unscathed."
He lifted up a bundle of canvas.
"Hey," the shopkeeper paused, cutting off his own tangent, "didn't you say you needed a sail?"
"Yes," Link sighed, embarrassed, "but I don't have a single rupee. I had a sort of shipwreck experience too I suppose..."
"Aha!" the man replied, "a fellow adventurer, well aquainted with setback."
The shop keeper reached under his shop counter, and in addition to the sail, dropped a small sack of rupees.
The man gestured for him to take them.
"I can't take this," Link protested.
"Why of course you can!" the man said, "it is completely within your power to do so."
This man was starting to sound like the talking boat.
"I seriously can't take this," Link resisted. "I'm not going to take something I don't deserve."
"I believe you are my fellow adventurer," the man said, "and that is deserving enough."
Link sighed and took the sail and the wallet of rupees.
"There," the man said, "now your problem is solved, and now I am relieved of a sail that is no longer useful to me."
He shook Link's hand.
"What is your name young man?"
"Link."
"I am Zunari," the man replied, "perhaps we shall cross paths once again in the future."
"Thank you sir," Link said, sliding the wallet in his pocket and tucking the canvas under his arm.
"Good day to you Link! I wish you good fortune in your endeavour!"
Though he hadn't felt very comfortable taking Zunari's gift, it did release a slight bit of pressure he felt. With some of the money Zunari had given him, Link bought a bag of provisions and a map of the Great Sea.
His old sack of provisions was now in the hands of those pirates. He had lost all his notes on startgazing, as well as the copy of the codex dad had given him for his birthday. He would likely never see the pirates ever again.
Link walked back to the King of Red Lions. When he got back, the King was still very much a talking boat.
"You found a sail," he said.
"Yes," Link replied.
"And now you wish to sail back to the forsaken fortress," the King responded.
"Yes," Link said again.
The King did not respond.
Link sighed.
He scrounged his memory to remember the times dad had taught him how to fit a sail to the mast of a boat, as dad usually helped do most of it.
With some trial and error, he got it fitted to the boom, and soon Link was able to get it fastened completely, hoisting it up the mast. He sat down for a moment, trying to recall how to get out into open water.
"You will not be able to save your sister," the King said.
"Why do you keep telling me things like that?" Link objected.
"For one," the King noted, "you are going against the wind. It will take you many days, and will exhaust your provisions."
Link checked the wind, wetting his finger. Sure enough, the wind was blowing from the northwest to the southeast.
"Secondly," the King went on, "you are challenging a foe that you are ill-suited to fight."
"I'm in a smaller vessel," Link reasoned. "I'll sail right up to it. This time I have my sword. I'll try something else. I'll slip in quickly, and grab Aryll."
"What do you believe Ganondorf will do then?" the King reasoned. "Will he be content to find a prisoner escaped? That is of course, if you don't decide to free all the young girls he has captured?"
Link had the thought come into his mind of the bird snatching Aryll up again, right as they'd be sailing on the water. The helmaroc had flown all the way to Outset.
"I'll kill the helmaroc then," Link said. "Then it can't kidnap Aryll."
"Yes," the King said. "then Ganondorf himself will come after you."
Link was seized with a chill one only felt in the winter months.
"Ganondorf has the power to lay waste to much of the Great Sea," the King added, heightening Link's fear.
"You," Link sputtered out, "are making this very difficult. You chastised me for giving up, and now you have listed all the reasons why my situation is hopeless."
"I did nothing of the sort," the King said. "I am simply attempting to keep you from pursuing a path that will likely end in defeat."
"There's no path," Link sank down to the deck, feeling very destroyed, "that will not end in defeat."
"I did not say that," the King of Red Lions said.
"Are you saying," Link timidly asked, his face going pale, "that I need to defeat Ganondorf?"
"If that is a path you have determined to take," the King of Red Lions said.
"But," Link protested, "Ganondorf... he's... Ganondorf! You said before, he was barely defeated by the hero of time!"
"Yes," the King replied, "and was the hero not your very age?"
"He was," Link admitted, "but Ganondorf only had to lift his hand, and the hero was struck down. The hero had to travel into the future seven years, and become an adult before he was able to defeat Ganondorf. I do not have seven years."
He felt some tears welling up again.
"Aryll does not have seven years."
"Are you not girded with a tunic patterned after the ancient hero?" the King said.
Link was silent. His heart crushed itself to think of the ceremony he had gone through about a week ago. He had donned the garb of the hero, and despite trying his hardest, he had effectively spat upon all it stood for.
The King of Red Lions spoke again.
"Do you not bear the hero's very name?"
Now he felt even worse. He did not deserve the name his parents had given him. His very existence mocked the hero of time's legacy. He wept.
Sobbing was not all that befitting of someone wearing these clothes. He was further disgracing everything that it symbolized.
"Link," the King of Red Lions said.
He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and faced the King of Red Lions.
"Link," he repeated, "there is a way. The goddesses will always give a way to accomplish what you seek to do, if it be right."
Link wished he still believed that. Although he believed in the goddesses, he was not sure the goddesses believed in him.
"This is something someone else should do," Link said. "I am not the slightest bit worthy to... to put myself... in the place of the hero of time."
"If all say such things," the King of Red Lions concluded, "then in the end, none step forward. The hero of time was still very much a Hylian, just like all in the kingdom, and just like you."
"The hero of time," Link replied, "was chosen by the goddesses."
"Yes," the King of Red Lions said, "because he was someone they knew would decide to choose back."
Link sat in silence, staring down at the wood grain of the boat.
"So Link," the King of Red Lions inquired, "what do you choose?"
"I'll fight Ganondorf," Link said solemnly, "and I'll die."
"No," the King said, "you will not."
Link looked up to face the talking figurehead.
"The hero of time was not left without help," the King continued. "And there is help for you as well."
"What help?" Link asked.
"The weapon the ancient hero wielded," the King said, "and you can wield it too."
"The master sword...," Link spoke in awe. "It still exists? I am not the hero of time. I'm not worthy to even look at the blade he used."
"Not yet," the King said, "but you can be. And once you wield it, you can defeat Ganondorf."
"Where is it?" Link asked.
"The same place it has been for almost a thousand years," the King of Red Lions said. "The bottom of the ocean."
Link fell back down against the deck of the boat. He laid there, hope diminishing.
"The goddesses flooded Hyrule to stop Ganondorf," the King explained, "but there is still a way to unlock the path to the ancient kingdom."
"How could I possibly do it?" Link asked.
"You must unite the emblems of the triforce," the King said. "You must find the emblems of power, courage, and wisdom."
"Where are they?" Link asked further.
"They are spheres of fine glass," the King answered, "invested with the ability to serve as keys. They are possessed by different islands upon the face of the sea, and none of them will give up these treasures lightly."
"That doesn't answer my question," Link pointed out, "where are they?"
"One is on Dragon Roost Island to the east," the King said, "another in the Forest Haven in the southeast, and the final one is on Greatfish Isle to the south."
Link stood to his feet, and leaned against the mast.
He closed his eyes, thinking in silence.
"What have you decided?" the King asked.
"I'll do it," Link answered.
The wind gusted strongly from west to east.
Link pulled the anchor out of the water.
"How do you know all of this?" he asked the King of Red Lions, beginning to turn the sail so it would catch the wind.
"I have existed as long as the Great Sea," he stated. He didn't elaborate further, as though it was reason enough.
Link grabbed the rudder, and steered them into open water. They began to rise and sink with the waves, and pick up speed.
With the sun beginning to sink in the sky, Link steered them east around Windfall's coastline, towards Dragon Roost island, and to the challenges that lay ahead.