She didn't see him and said to herself, Ten minutes ago I wasn't allowed out of his sight, now he's up and disappeared on me. The dim light cast by the portal that lent an eerie glow to the place and she scanned the darkness for any signs of him. She took a few steps further into the cavern but what caught her interest was the sound of water running.
Her grandpa, she decided, wouldn't let her come down here if it were dangerous so started forward. The air around her cooled as she neared a small fountain. Water bubbled up from the center from some unknown source and formed a small reflecting pool whose waters overflowed its edges. Tiny motes of light drifted over the clear water on an undetectable breeze. She looked up and noticed the lichen on walls made for a peculiar light but the ceiling was lost to the darkness. She hadn't traveled that far down, had she?
"So what do you think?" The sound of her grandfather's voice made her jump.
"Gah!" she cried. "Don't do that! You trying to give me heart failure?"
Her grandpa smiled and pointed at the water. "Do you see those bits of light?"
"Yeah I noticed them, what are they?"
"Fairies."
She looked back at them and became aware for the first time, they were pink. "So that's why you wanted the bottles?"
"Yes." A mischievous grin crossed his face and he said; "Now all you have to do, is catch them."
"I have to catch them?"
"Yes, you're young so it shouldn't be too hard for you."
"How the hel- uh...heck am I supposed to do that?" Lunnaei waited for the expected lecture. It didn't happen, instead she felt him reach into her pack and pull out the four bottles inside. She heard him uncork all but one. The last he gave a shake.
"Should I ask how this got in here?" he asked as he showed her the small lizard inside.
Lunnaei scratched the top of her head and looked back over the water. "So, how do you go about catching one of those..." she said and pointed.
She heard him chuckle as he replaced the bottled lizard in her pack. He turned her around, took a step back and said, "You hold the bottle like this," and he firmly grasped the wide neck of the bottle. "Then you walk into the water and scoop them up." He demonstrated as he made a broad swoop with his arm.
"Just scoop them up?" she asked.
"Yes. They're quick though and not real partial to being stuffed in a bottle."
"Does it hurt them?"
"No."
She reached for the bottle, hesitated, "You're sure?" He nodded and she stopped again and asked, "They can't hurt me, right?"
"They're health fairies Luna, if anything, you'll feel great when you're done." He handed her the bottle and shooed her toward the fountain. "Remember only one per bottle and put the stopper on quick so she stays inside."
"She?"
He nodded. Lunnaei sighed and stepped into the fountain. There were a few nearby so she tried for those first. She splashed toward them and sent fairies scattering in all directions. Crap, she thought, 'they are fast. She caught one, after a several near misses and grinned as she held up the bottle to show it off. Her grandpa smiled and motioned for her the put the cork in the bottle. She lowered it quickly and stuffed the cork inside.
She got the next bottle and caught the second without much incident. This was hard work and though she'd slept late, she was tired. She was surprised by a sudden and almost overwhelming feeling of well-being. All her aches and pains from the day before melted away as she found herself twisting her head as she tried to watch the little pink fairy that swirled around her. When the fairy passed by her face, she followed it as it flew a short way up into the air and disappeared.
"Where did it go?" Lunnaei asked, as she came back to get the last bottle.
"She."
Lunnaei rolled her yes and sighed. "Okay, where did she go."
"I'm not sure," he said, and handed her the bottle, "She's fulfilled her purpose so..."
"She's just gone?"
"Yes."
Lunnaei looked at the still empty bottle in her hand, she liked it better when they were still 'its' and asked him, "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"I didn't realize it was a problem."
Lunnaei sighed and turned back to the pink motes still free and caught the last one she needed. When she left the fountain, she shrugged off her pack and placed the bottles carefully inside. She looked up at her grandpa and said, "It's just so sad."
"Is it?" He asked, as he walked closer to the fountain. Lunnaei nodded but noted he did not go near the water's edge. "Lunnaei, every fairy has a purpose. Whether it's to guide a forest child or aid a weary traveler. They are gifts from the Goddesses to aid in times of need."
"I guess...but." She faltered then.
"But what?" he asked.
Lunnaei pulled on her pack. What she really wanted to do was ask a question about Navi, but with everything that had happened, she felt uncertain if she should. She knew that Navi had left the Hero at the end of their journey and she wondered why Navi would do that. Did she leave because she'd fulfilled her purpose? Did she just fade away too?
However, if grandpa knew the answer to that question, well, that would mean he was someone she did not really know at all. Her hesitation made her feel nervous and a little sad. He's still your grandpa, she told herself. Though her heart told her he was the same man, her head said something else. She just wanted everything to be the way it was before, so she asked a different question instead.
"So are you going to tell me about the big talking owl?"
Her grandpa gave her a questioning look for a moment, raised an eyebrow and let out a hmmpth. She knew he only did that when his curiosity was piqued or he heard something he just did not believe. He always knew when she was avoiding a question, but was relieved when he did not mention it and said, "I'll tell you more once we're out of the forest. I'm not taking any more chances in these woods. I'm very sure yesterday happened because I was not paying enough attention to the obvious."
She nodded. That was definitely not an experience she wanted to repeat. "Alright, so how do we get out of here?" she asked as they neared the portal.
"Just step into the column of light, like this."
Lunnaei watched as her grandpa lifted silently from the ground and out of the fountain. She shook her head and said: "Ask a stupid question." Closed her eyes and followed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Potter stood atop the hedge and looked across the maze that guarded the entrance to the sacred meadow. No wonder Lunnaei had gaped at it. He was surprised himself he'd been able to make it to the Temple so easily. He did not remember it being so large. "I guess there are some things you just don't forget," he murmured. His granddaughter, he knew, must be full of questions and had most likely come to her own conclusions by now. It worried him that she was holding back, it was not like her to do so and he was starting to wish he'd never left home at all.
Eventually though, he knew her curiosity would get the best of her and he wasn't sure how he would respond when she did finally ask. His long dead past was never a subject he'd planned to discuss with her or anyone else for that matter; better for it to remain a legend and nothing more. His stories, he thought of as just so many fanciful tales, told by an old man to entertain his only grandchild. He heard, rather than saw, Lunnaei climb up the ladder. She came and stood next to him and rested her head on his arm.
"So where now?" she asked.
"I'm not really sure," he said quietly.
"That's a problem, Grandpa."
"Yup. We should get moving though. First we need to find out exactly what time it is."
He walked across the top of the hedge toward the furthermost edge. Unlike the magical path they had traveled on yesterday, the hedge only allowed enough room for one person to walk at a time so Lunnaei followed close behind. He noticed she kept at least one hand on his coat, she was clearly still a little shaken up about her mishap yesterday. He could not even take comfort in the fact she had managed find her way to him on her own. Never in his life had he felt that kind of helpless fear, he didn't like it and once again admonished himself for being so incredibly naïve and foolish. As he neared the last area before the edge, he turned to his left. The hedge thickened here and Lunnaei came up next to him and asked, "Why did we stop?"
He pointed to and approached a large gray stone etched with a large eye. The eye sported what looked like a teardrop dripping from its center. It poked up out of the hedge and was decidedly out of place.
"What is that creepy looking thing?" she asked.
"A gossip stone," he said and whacked it a few times with the axe handle he picked up earlier. It shuddered, jiggled a bit and made an odd clockwork sound. Once it settled itself, a rather loud off pitch voice said:
The current time is: 08:45
Lunnaei jumped and grabbed his arm. "Honestly Grandpa, could you warn me before you do stuff like that?"
"Sorry, Luna." He replied absently as he turned away from the stone. He held the stick in front of him and with the sun behind him, noted the position of the shadow on the ground in front of him. He nodded to himself and headed back toward the edge. He leaned forward and looked carefully from side to side.
"What are you looking for?" Lunnaei asked in a whisper.
"Deku scrubs."
"You mean those bush plant people that spit rocks at you?"
"Yes, they guard the maze."
"Why didn't we see any last night?"
"We were extremely lucky. Deku's have excellent hearing but they also have notoriously bad eyes sight. It was dark and it also doesn't hurt that they tend to be afraid of their own shadow." Lunnaei let out a giggle and the Potter smiled. He pulled a pair of worn fingerless gloves from one of his pockets and said, "I'm going to lower you down to the ground. Just told on to the end of the stick until your feet touch the ground."
His granddaughter gave him that look but did as she was told. The Potter put on the faded yellow gloves and felt the magic go to work as he easily lowered his granddaughter to the ground. Once she released the stick, he sat and stared at the drop for a moment. "I'm getting too old for this nonsense," he muttered, and he let himself drop off the hedge. His half forgotten reflexes kicked in and he felt himself tuck and roll as he hit the ground. Instead of getting up as he would have then, he lay a few feet from where he landed and stared at the sky and thought to the heavens, You're laughing at me again...
Lunnaei ran over to him and asked, "Gods Grandpa, are you alright?"
"I'll be fine in a moment," he said and sat up. "Glad that's over with." He waited a bit longer and pulled himself up with the stick. He led her out of the past the final hedge and looked at the clearing. He scanned the three tree trunk tunnels as he asked Lunnaei, "Which of these did you come out of?" She pointed to the tunnel straight ahead. He nodded and thought, Death Mountain? Or Kokiri Village?
Taking Lunnaei through either one held it own set of problems, but then he remembered his friend...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Village of Durstin's only tavern was located on first floor of the Crooked Hook Inn. An odd name for an inn, in a village almost fifteen miles from the nearest coastline, but it was here that Lem sat, nursing his mug of ale as he stared out the window. He'd started taking his evening meals here three days after his father and Lunnaei left for Hyrule. This is when he discovered he missed the sounds of other people around him. They'd only been gone a little over a week and he'd already filled most of the back orders, the house was spotless and he'd read just about every book in the house...twice.
With a sigh, he pushed himself up from the table and swallowed down the rest of his drink as he fished a blue rupee out of this pocket. The serving girl waved and smiled shyly, he waved back as he struggled to remember her name. Nervous, he dropped the rupee on the table and headed toward the exit.
As he made his way toward his home, he paused and looked around. He had an odd feeling, like he was being watched. He rubbed the back of his neck and continued walking. Lem paused when he reached the front door and instead of going inside, he headed toward the back of the house. The evening air was warm for this time of year so he decided to spend a little more time outside.
He sat cross-legged near the cherry tree and stared at the empty house. Again, the hairs on his neck prickled and he glanced up into the tree only to discover, he really was being watched. The luminous yellow eyes moved closer and Lem leaned back as the largest bird he'd ever seen stared down him from the cherry tree.
"Hoot, hoot." It said. Lem found himself wondering if the owl were hungry, he sure hoped not.
"Hoot!" It said and left the tree, sending a shower of cherry blossoms into the air.
Once the flurry of petals stopped, Lem looked up; the owl was gone. 'Well that was different.' He thought and started when he saw the bird had landed right nearby.
"Hoot, hoot," it said again.
"Hoot, hoot, to you too, friend owl." Lem said in what he hoped was a jovial voice, "How are you this fine spring evening?"
"I am well, friend potter, thank you for asking."
Lem looked around for the source of the voice, but there was no one else around, just him and the owl. He looked cautiously back at the bird, and thought, Okay, I know I didn't have that much to drink... Nevertheless, he decided he'd better make sure and said to the owl, "Is a beautiful night, no?"
"Hoot, hoot," It replied.
Lem let out a relieved sigh and said to it, "You had me worried there."
The owl cocked its head and twisted it as it said, "No, friend potter, you have nothing to fear from me."
"Holy Din! You can talk!"
"Of course I can," the owl said unruffled. "I have always been able to."
"Well, where I come from, this is not normal...for an owl."
"No?" the owl asked, head still twisting.
"No," Lem replied. "So what brings me the honor of your presence?"
If an owl could smile, this one seemed to as it said, "This." It held up something in its clawed foot then set the object down and backed away from it. Lem decided the owl probably wasn't dangerous, so leaned forward and picked up the object. He recognized it at once; it was the ocarina his father had given Lunnaei. He also knew his daughter had taken it with her.
"Where did you get this?" he asked, but when he looked back up the owl was gone. In its place was folded piece of parchment. Lem picked it up and carefully unfolded it. A map of Hyrule? He noted he could only see a small portion of the geography, the rest seemed obscured by age and was too faded to read properly. A small red dot on the page caught his eye and as he watched it seemed to move, though very slowly.
Lem knew enough of his father's past to know that something must have gone wrong and he decided, it was time he made a trip of his own.