1st Shard

[cantstopme]

Characters: Lil' Link and you!
Setting: Room 1-18 and both dorm floors.
Format: Either or!
Summary: Link freaks out and then freaks out a little more.
Warnings: None I think; will change if it happens?

[Room 1-18 and probably the hallway too.]

[Of all the ways Link has woken up before, this had to be the worst. First was the sleep paralysis; that gave him a good spook, since it's definitely never happened before. Only thing that equals paralysis in his mind are those stupid Redeads - but after gaining movement again, he already checked the room for those.
Thank goodness there aren't any. Yet.

But second was realizing, hey, this definitely is not anywhere he remembers being. Definitely, definitely not. This place is too... fake feeling to be anywhere on the Great Sea. So of course, he got up to check the room out.

And that's when he noticed the third thing - that collar clamped around his neck. Oh, this ain't good, no sir; it feels like something evil, and just looking at what he can see of it gives him a little bit of the heebie jeebies. Which means it must come off, and now.

So if you pass by that room or are lucky enough to be in it, you may or may not find Link with his back to the floor, hands clasped on what he can grab of the collar, and his little legs scooting him backwards across the ground like he expects it to help. It's probably pretty dumb looking.]

[Around the dorm areas.]

[Later, of course, is time for a little exploration; he's grabbed all he can carry out of his trunk, and he's making his way around to try and find the door outta here - which in his logic means "go around and open every door you find". So feel free to notice the little nine year old hero peeking his head into your room, there.]

Comments

[ocariness]

[ Eh...? A girl? ]

... You saw a girl? Did she by chance have green hair in the picture?

[ It's worth a shot. Goddesses, do they miss Saria. ]

[cantstopme]

Mhm! She was in a window; a stained glass one. In Hyrule's castle.

I don't know why, I think she was really important though.

[Headtilt?]

[ocariness]

[ ... There's a small, somewhat melancholy smile. Might as well explain it, they suppose. ]

A stained glass window... were there others there? The Castle I knew before it was destroyed didn't look like that... her name is--was--Saria.

[ Link is silent for a moment, before looking back to the other Link. ]

She... was my very close friend. We grew up together, in the forest. You see, my people, the Kokiri, they don't age. They all look like you, around your age, and are forever children.

... But I was Hylian, like you. They were just adopted family, though I never knew it. The Great Deku Tree was our guardian, and... he was my father. I never knew my Hylian parents, and Saria was... my friend, and something like a mother as well.

[ Almost. Link... loved her very much. ]

Unfortunately, she was also destined to be the Sage of the Forest, so we could not live together...

[cantstopme]

There were a lot of other windows like hers, mhm. Lots of people I didn't recognize, and some of them didn't even look like people.

[Like Laruto.]

... I kind of hope I get to meet her, she sounds really nice.

But, um... I'm not Hylian.

[That term doesn't even exist on the Great Sea, after all... they're just long eared humans.]

[ocariness]

No, you are definitely Hylian. Your ears make you so. Though, I suspect the term may have been lost with Hyrule...

[ To illustrate the point, Link gently pokes them. ]

Our ears as well as our affinity with magic. I have heard that the reason we've longer ears than humans is because that we can hear the voices of the Goddesses.

[ Anyway. ]

When you say they did not resemble people, do you mean that one had white skin and fins, another was brown and very muscular...? Was there also two other women, one with red eyes, and one with darker, tanner skin?

[cantstopme]

[He blinks at that, tugging on the ends of his long ears a bit, curiously, and nods at the rest of it.]

Mhm. I think that's what they looked like; and the end windows had the Triforce on them.

[... He's also making a face a bit, as if he's trying to hear something really, really quiet.]

One of the sages really had fins though. I had to help a friend of mine learn her song and go through her temple, since she was the new Sage there.

[ocariness]

[ Link looks surprised. ]

The people you saw on the windows were the original 6 Sages, then. ... To be truthful, my duty was to awaken all of them so that we could defeat Ganondorf, though from my perspective, I suspect I have lost the last one, the Sage of Spirit, as I have not purified her Temple yet...

[ The hero can't help but smile a little at the smaller Link's trying to hear something. Heh, they had better hearing than normal humans, but if you were used to it then you weren't going to hear a difference, silly child. ]

... Would you like to learn about them? I suspect that the Sage you met may be related to them.

[cantstopme]

[Link thinks about that, and nods, finally letting go of his ears so he could listen to the other better.]

I only know about two of them, and I didn't get to talk to them much.
They just taught me music to teach to the new Sages.

[ocariness]

[ There's a fond smile. ]

In my time, Hyrule was a large land. If you would like to know the truth, I actually have never seen an "ocean". I have... heard of it, of course, but...

[ Yeah, never saw one ever! ]

Truthfully, I had met nearly all the Sages previously when I began my journey. I was... actually, around your age, I think, although the Kokiri do not put numbers to their ages, I think about 10 cycles of each season had passed?

[ Link is normally not so talkative, but... well, it's a story, so it should be okay, right? This little Link is also a hero too, and they get the feeling they might want to learn more about the whole story, anyway, considering how excited they were about the Hero of Time. ]

As I've said, Saria was a friend of mine from the very beginning; she later became the Sage of the Forest, and gave me the Medallion of the Forest as proof of it.

Through in my journey, I met more people. The first one I met was Darunia, the Chieftain of the Gorons. He... was rather frightening, actually, but he had a good heart. Ganondorf had forced his people to starvation... it was quite amazing, actually, I played him the song that Saria taught me--it allowed us to communicate with each other. It was the same music as was in our forest, you see, the trees there have a song to them, and apparently, he really enjoyed dancing...

[cantstopme]

[The younger Link nods as he listens, getting comfy on the bench they're sharing as the older of the two tells their tale.]

Trees... that have a song? I've never heard of stuff like that. Unless the Great Deku Tree has a song, but he can speak, so I guess that wouldn't be so weird...

[Though, "dancing" just makes him think of Tott.]

[ocariness]

[ ... Hang on, let them just pull out the Ocarina and give an example. It sounds something like this, and when they are done, the Ocarina is put down momentarily. ]

The trees in our forest, especially deep into the forest, have a very mysterious melody about them that sounds something like that... though, in truth, it is more magic. Every living thing has its own rhythm to it; that is what we believe. They cannot sing, though the Great Deku Tree could speak just fine.

[ Music was a magic in and of itself. ]

[cantstopme]

[His eyes go wide a bit in wonder, and he gives a nod and a smile.]

That's really neat! I... I wish I grew up learning stuff like that, but I didn't. Even the King thought my Wind Waker didn't work until I picked it up and used it.

It's weird, thinking that everything had magic, but it was all gone by the time I was born...

[Or almost all gone, really.]

[ocariness]

[ ... There's a headshake. ]

Magic is never gone. You have just disconnected from it.

[ That's all. ]

Your Wind Waker... would you mind showing it to me?

[cantstopme]

Oh, um... not at all!

[Luckily he brought it with him - it's on his list of "things he shouldn't leave places with". He takes it out, the baton glowing and sparkling from the tip as usual.]

It's a baton used by people in the old days to borrow the power of the gods. I can conduct stuff with it, like the wind and even the time of day.

[ocariness]

[ ... They can't help but smile fondly here. ]

... Then it is like the Ocarina of Time that I hold in my hands right at this moment. The notes I play with this instrument and the songs themselves are all quite special; many of them allow me to travel throughout Hyrule between the six Temples, and others allow me to change day to night, or make a storm.

[ Link cherishes this Ocarina. It has been an invaluable asset. ]

There is one special song, though. It allowed me to open the door to the Temple of Time... where I found the Master Sword. It was also there I met Rauru, the Sage of Light.

[cantstopme]

I can do things like that too, with the Wind Waker! I know a lot of songs.
I can summon gales to travel in, and even control others with it. But it's rude if I don't ask first.

[He looks at the Wind Waker for a second, before putting it away.]

One of the Sages told me that it was used to conduct the Sages as they played for the gods, and that the king was the one who used it. I guess it kind of makes sense...

And... what's the Temple of Time like? I got the Master Sword from inside of the castle, so I didn't get to see anything like that... just the Wind Temple and the Earth Temple.

[ocariness]

[ Hmmmm. Thinking on it for a moment... ]

... The Temple's very ornate and marble. It is white, with black accents--closer to a church on the inside, almost.

But what I remember most vividly... was how it sounded. It had a very regal, almost chanting sort of heavy sound to it... it sounded sacred. Revered. Important. ... It felt like it, as well. You could tell evil was not welcome in that place, merely from the atmosphere and how it sounded alone.

[ And yet Ganondorf had still gotten into the Sacred Realm, which... was their fault. B-but skfjhg sigh. Not saying that...! ]

[cantstopme]

Sounded?

[He blinks at that, confused.]

What do you mean by that? Did the temple have someone playing music there?

And... and what's a church?

[He's never really seen or heard of one before.]

[ocariness]

[ ... Shaking their head, here at the initial question. ]

... No, of course not. Why would you need music for there to be music in a place...?

[ Confused... headtilt... ]

A church is a place of worship... or, so I have been told. There is actually one in this Tower, on one of the floors, I believe.

[cantstopme]

Because you need to play music to hear it, I thought..?

[Is this going to be a weird cycle of confusion?]

Music can't really just appear from nowhere... Someone's got to make it.

[ocariness]

[ Blinking and... sorry, laughing. ]

Of course it does... instruments are meant to convey what surrounds us. Music is just as free-flowing, if not the same, as magic itself. You just have to open your ears... it is really quite simple.

You must be very lonely, without any sound with you...

[cantstopme]

I don't... I don't know what you mean. Music can't keep a person company, can it?

And, um... I think it would get kind of distracting. I liked listening to the wind and the sea, back home. It was really peaceful, and nice to take naps to. Seagulls make weird sounds too, but I like the noises they make, because it always made me think of my sister.

Even when I was alone on my cabana that Ms. Marie gave me, I still had lots of stuff to listen to.

[He pauses then, scratching the back of his head.]

I guess it's not that I didn't have sounds around me, I just had different sounds. But now I'm starting to notice how quiet this place is...

[ocariness]

[ Link... looks a little solemn and shakes their head. ]

No, no, it isn't like that, although you can hear those sorts of things. Everything has a soft music to it, but... everyone should know that. Perhaps you simply cannot hear it?

[ Link you do not understand it is just you. : | ]

... And... I am aware. This place is unnatural and dangerous. There is no real life here, though there are forest floors.

[cantstopme]

[He pauses, straining his little ears to try and hear something, but after a bit, shakes his head with a frown.]

I can't hear any music.

I don't think I heard anything back home, either... Unless someone was playing music.

[Another pause, and he shakes his head again - but this time, more like he's trying to get something out of it.]

I don't like this place at all. You can't see the what's around it when you look out the windows, and I don't like that. I just... want to see the sea again, or at least feel the air, but all this place has is rooms, and rooms, and rooms.

[ocariness]

[ ... Okay you know what?

Little Link, you are getting a hug. DEAL WITH IT. Link is not very good at comforting nor at speeches but... well, they have to say SOMETHING... ]

... I know. I am not... accustomed to this place, either. ... I'm sorry they took you here; this place... it is vile and full of unnatural things.

However...

[ Not letting go per se, but they will pause to stroke the kid's hair a bit, offering a gentle, apologetic smile.

Link breathes a bit. This will be a lot for them to say, as Link is terrible with words and fears speaking out too much, but... ]

The sounds of this Tower are very unnatural. Perhaps it is just the difference between where we live that you cannot hear these kinds of things. I grew up in a forest with magic permeating everything, and the music was simply part of that. It was a place of nature and magic, and music... for my people it is normal to hear the trees sing quietly without a voice, and to hear earth humming with no mouth.

[ And so, they will lay a hand on the other's gently, hoping this helps, falling into silence for a few moments, before speaking once more. ]

... Do not despair. If anyone could find a way back to your home, I am certain it would be you. After all, you are a fine hero. I do not think I could ask for anything more in the one who has carried on in my image.