"TETRA," LINK pled, "please. Put away your sword. We'll just talk this over."

"NO!" she bellowed. "I will not be held hostage by a little stowfish!"

Link just barely drew his sword in time to connect with Tetra's attack. She struck multiple blows at him, and one by one he glanced away her powerful strikes.

She tried to move him towards a column, to get his back up against the wall. He jumped to the side, thwarting another hit.

She made several thrusts, and Link leapt backward out of the way while guarding with his shield.

Tetra hung back.

"Stop this Tetra!" Link begged. "I'm not going to fight you!"

She didn't respond.

She jumped closer, and made a strike.

Link moved out of the way, and made a strike at her, but she parried it.

It was difficult. He didn't want to hurt her with his blows, and it made it hard to make any meaningful impact in the fight.

As he continued to defend against Tetra's onslaught of attacks, Link's heart became overcome with grief. He thought he had started to see a different side in Tetra, but now she had bloodlust in her eyes.

The vicious sound of the clanging blades filled the hall, and was the only noise in the otherwise silent room.

As the fight drew out longer, Link tired more and more. He could barely think of his exhausted muscles and heavy breath though as he struggled to hold his own against a far more accomplished fighter.

Tetra grabbed a knife from the folds of her clothing, and began incorporating the additional weapon in her fighting to exert greater pressure on him.

Link jumped backwards, not wanting to engage her any longer. Out of her reach, he rapidly back pedaled into the hallway to the courtyard.

"Come back and fight like the warrior you claim you are!" Tetra demanded.

"The kind of person I want to be," Link called to her, "is one who doesn't kill his friend!"

"I am not your friend!"

She ran at him. Link prepared to engage her charge, but at the last second, she stopped.

He was caught off guard by this, and she used his hesitation to nearly slip a thrust past his almost-missed parry.

Her sword was difficult for him to fight against, with its slightly curved blade. She also was skilled in fighting with her knife in her other hand.

She used it, he thought, as a way to scare him, her frenzied attacks seeming to have no clear pattern. Gerudo, she fought dirty.

She sliced him on the arm, cutting through his tunic. It bled slightly, but didn't seem like a serious cut. It did feel like a warning however, and it momentarily shocked Link.

They continued their dance of sword strokes, and Link finally began to feel like she was tiring. It was a short lived moment.

Tetra unexpectedly hid away her knife, and began striking with the force of a hammer against him. He found himself barely able to parry, and having to let his shield take most of the force. With her more intense blows, Link soon had retreated onto the grass of the courtyard.

"Please!" Link pleaded as he wearily guarded against another blow, "please stop!"

"I," she struck again, "am tired - of everyone - trying to tell me what to do - and tell me - who I am!"

"I'm not!" Link said.

She surprised him by kicking him painfully in the chest, and he fell down to the ground.

Link rolled out of the way before she was able to hold him down, and he sprang back up, fighting stinging pain. His body had already been sore from his encounter with Ganondorf, and he knew he could continue it no longer.

As he backed away, Tetra drew her flintlock.

There was murder in her eyes as she primed it ready to fire.

Link felt the moments thump by in line with his beating heart. The sound of it pulsing in his ears drowned out everything else around them.

Gerudo. Would Tetra really kill him?

In this desperate moment, where the immediate threat of death loomed over him, Link suddenly felt a powerful feeling of comfort come over him.

Farore.

Fighting off this emotion of great fear, of complete betrayal, Link allowed the feeling of courage to dwell in his heart.

"You've never shot someone," Link dared. "You can't do it. You're too afraid."

"By Din, Nauru, Farore, and the whole fletching Triforce," Tetra blasphemed through clenched teeth, "that is ABOUT TO CHANGE!"

A sourceless wind surged through Link as Tetra aimed her pistol.

Abruptly, a jolt seemed to go through Tetra's body. She shook with greater intensity until the pistol fell to the ground with a thud. A look of complete shock came to her face. Her sword rolled out of her hand a moment later.

Link returned his shield to his back and placed the master sword in its sheath.

Tetra's arms hung low as she breathed heavily. Her fingers were clenched in a curled position, shaking.

"Link...," she gasped out, "why!? Why are you and everyone else trying to force me to give up my life?"

"I've given up a lot Tetra," Link replied.

"Yeah," Tetra said miserably. "I know. I'm whining like a child that the goddesses want me to be some princess, and meanwhile you've been this amazing perfect hero boy, risking your life, going out and being exactly what the goddesses want."

Link stood in silence. There was even less sound now in the windless, creatureless environment.

"Tetra," he finally uttered, "I... I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

She folded her arms, her eyes piercing his. "Oh yes you would've. The goddesses would've gotten you whatever you wanted. Me? The goddesses only want to take it all away."

Link walked up closer to her. He felt a moment of fear that Tetra would pick up her sword, but he pushed the thought aside.

"Why do you say that Tetra?" Link ventured further.

She sighed, looking down. She gripped the canvas fabric of her trousers, hissing a sigh.

"My mother was a better person than I was. She slowly taught me about my heritage... but I never truly knew... I never that it would come to this."

She made a sickened groan, and picked up her weapons, putting them away, slamming her sword into its scabbard. Tetra looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I assumed it would be a daughter of mine maybe, or her daughter, if it ever happened.

"And then your friend," she went on, "- you just make buddies with everyone don't you? - according to him, my lifestyle is a waste of time, and even my own name and identity must be cast aside."

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Tetra took a deep breath, and sat down on the stone wall that bordered the pool of water. Link sat down next to her.

She seemed too tired to protest.

"Why did your mother name you Tetra?" Link asked.

She glanced into his eyes briefly, and ran her hand through her hair. She held some strands in her fingers, staring at the varying shades of gold and brown.

"It's the name of a fish," Tetra said. "They have bright, colorful scales. My mother liked them. Thought they were beautiful."

"I think that fits you," Link slightly smiled.

"Hmph," she grunted, "the goddesses don't think so. I am, in their designs, to be one of the countless princess Zeldas, scarcely discernable from all the others."

Link suddenly felt a feeling in his mind.

"Tetra," he said, "the goddesses want you to know that isn't true."

She looked up and made eye contact with him.

"They talk to you too," she stated, a whisper of shock in her voice. "I... I suppose I'm stupid for thinking otherwise. No wonder you're in this situation."

"Yes," Link said, "Farore does."

"Well then," Tetra said in an annoyed tone, "ask them why they think that."

"Why don't you ask Nayru yourself?" Link suggested.

Tetra was silent. Link waited for her to respond.

"I don't want their incessant controlling," Tetra huffed a strained sigh. "They're getting inside my head. I just want this all to end. Shortly before I first saw you, I began to hear that pestering voice. I feel like I'm fletching insane."

"You've shut it out," Link reasoned.

Tetra threw her hands up in the air.

"What'dya' want from me kid?" she burned her gaze into his, "You've never asked for money. You just keep on..." She grunted. "Fine! I'll go with you!"

Tetra started to stand, but Link placed his hand on her shoulder and halted her from getting up.

"No," Link insisted, "we're going to talk about all this. The goddesses aren't out to ruin you."

She gave him a harsh look. And sat back down on the stone.

"Kid, you aren't going to change one whit of the turmoil going on in my mind."

She looked like she might be growing angry again, but Link doused his fear. He wasn't going to worry about his safety. Right now he was worrying about Tetra.

Link placed his hand on top of her hand, where the triforce still glowed softly.

She turned to look at it. Link could feel the energy eminating from the symbol. Tetra seemed uncomfortable at the gesture.

"Tetra," he said, "I know how it feels to feel like the goddesses are wrecking your life. Everything was just fine for me. It was my birthday, and I was having a great day, and then... then my sister was taken. Then I had to leave my family. And now I'm putting my life in danger on a regular basis."

Tetra did not remove his hand.

"I feel constantly like I'm disappointing the goddesses," he continued. "Everyone is talking about me as though I'm some amazing, legendary hero who floats a foot off the ground, and only has to look at a monster for it to cower in fear. But in reality, I'm just..."

He stared out at the magnificent plains of ancient Hyrule, breathing in slowly, and nervously.

"...I'm just a fourteen-year-old boy in way over his head, who wishes that he could be a grain of what the hero of time was."

Tetra flared her nostrils.

"I don't want to be some stuffy princess."

Link felt Farore speak to him again. It was only a feeling of what he could convey, not exact instruction.

"You aren't some stuffy princess," he said. "You aren't supposed to be the ancient princess - you're supposed to follow her path. Without her wisdom, the kingdom wouldn't have stayed together long enough for the hero of time to save it. After the hero left, and the disaster that followed, she was the one that saved all of our ancestors."

Tetra quietly turned her hand and interlocked her fingers with his.

"I wouldn't have been able to get far at all without your help Tetra," Link reminded. "I know why the goddesses chose you. You are a warrior. But you also have a strong mind. You have a quick mind. You think decisively. You act."

She snorted. "I did it all grudgingly. I always felt the guilt that my mother would've been extremely disappointed in me otherwise. It is my fear of dishonoring her memory that moves me, not any kind of charity to others... or concern for myself."

Link held her hand more firmly.

"You didn't have to do it though," he said. "Just recently, you got Aryll and the other girls out while I went to battle Ganondorf. It could've gone badly very quickly if I had to do that on my own."

Tetra took a long, deep breath. She took her free hand and tiredly rubbed it against her face. She let out a drawn-out tired breath.

"I'm sorry Link," she apologized. "For all that I've done."

"I forgive you."

They didn't say anything for a moment. Gerudo, he missed the sound of waves and seagulls.

On Tetra's face, he saw what seemed to be real guilt and remorse. Tetra didn't want to be this person. At least she didn't want that to be all she was.

"I know," Link broke the silence, "that it's annoying when you want to make yourself feel miserable, and someone is trying to lighten your mood."

Tetra didn't respond.

"I'm doing it, Link said, "because I care about you. It hurts to see you like this. Because I know how it feels to think that you're worthless."

She looked him in the eye.

"I don't think you're worthless Tetra," he reassured.

To his surprise, Tetra made a very slight, hopeful smile. He saw a new expression in her deep blue eyes. She turned back forward.

Tetra let out a tired whistle. She absentmindedly rubbed her fingers against his.

"What'do the goddesses want with two little runts like us?"

Link smiled. "I suppose it's tradition. The ancient hero was an outcast among all the Korok people. The ancient princess, despite her skill in seeing visions and coordinating many affairs of the kingdom, was disregarded by many."

Tetra released her hand.

"Well then," she said, getting up, "we best get going."

They turned around and stepped up on top of the edge of the pool.

Link's vessel sat gently in the unmoving water. All the life was gone out of his former companion. There was no movement in the determined, carved eyes of the red figurehead.

Link made the short hop into the King of Red Lions, then Tetra jumped in after, ignoring his offered helping hand.

Drawing the windwaker, Link summoned the air around them, and soon a powerful ethereal updraft began to lift them off the water.

Tetra looked down over the side as the castle grew smaller and smaller. Link still wasn't comfortable with heights, but he tried his best to focus on keeping the wind carrying them in the right direction.

When they finally surfaced, Link felt a moment of relief at the return of noise and life to the world around him.

He sighed, feeling utterly exasperated. Tetra did the same. She stretched her arms along the edge of the boat, taking in the warmth of the normal world for a moment.

The light shone down onto her red sunburned cheeks, flowing down through her amber hair.

Link was surprised as the thought came to him. It was something he hadn't felt in a while.

"What you starin' at?" she interrogated.

"Um," he said nervously, "I... I just... nothing."

"That's what I thought," she said, returning to her former position.

A minute or so passed while they took a brief rest, as the boat rocked gently on the waves.

"Now," she remarked, sitting up, "where the fletch are we going?"

Link stroked his chin, unsure.

"I do not know," Link confessed.

Tetra sat back upright. "King Hyrule said we needed to do two things," she thought out loud, "we need to renew the master sword, and we need to find the triforce of courage."

"I was slightly hoping the goddesses would give us more direction," Link said.

Tetra didn't answer, closing her eyes to think. She breathed slowly, meditating. They rose and fell slowly on the water.

There was something in Tetra's quiet reflection that seemed to echo ones he himself enjoyed. It was a small thing, but it was very comforting to know that at least he wasn't crazy on his own.

"You can control the wind," Tetra noted, her eyes opening.

"With the windwaker, yes."

"Can you let the wind control you?" She proposed.

"What do you mean?" Link asked.

"Ya' know," she thought it through, gathering her thoughts, "like... can you let the wind sort of decide it's own way that it might want to go?"

Link stood up, looking around at the churning waves.

"Worth a try," he said, pulling out the windwaker.

He raised it above him, and the breeze paused in its course, curious. Link held it there. Should he speak to the wind or something?

He started to feel a pull towards the northeast, and he forthrightly pointed in that direction.

"Fletch!" Tetra exclaimed as the boat swayed, the wind gusting powerfully northeast.

Link laughed as he turned the sail to catch the wind, and they were soon speeding off into the vast stretches of the great sea.

The sun sank low in the summer sky. Picking up speed, he glanced at Tetra as he held the tiller.

Link no longer had the companionship of the King of Hyrule. But now he had with him Hyrule's princess.

In the past, she had been almost repulsive to him. But now, he felt happy to have a companion with him still.

The King of Red Lions had been very helpful. He had taught Link many things. But he wasn't a person. Well, the boat wasn't. Even his real form was still a man that was a thousand years separated from him.

But Tetra was someone just like him; adrift on the sea, trying to find their way. She too was trying to understand her place, and fulfill the role that had been offered her.

And seeing her like this, less rough but still a very strong individual - he felt like he enjoyed being around her.