Ocarina of Time II: Parallel Symphony

Standard disclaimer: I don't own any of these people, places or things. Heck, even most of the verbs belong to someone else. :-) All characters and settings © Nintendo. Hey, they've earned it.

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Part One: Boy

Interlude Two: Winter, Twelve

Link rubbed Epona's neck, smiling broadly. He pulled his fur-lined cloak around him more closely, however, the moment it opened. "I love winter, Epona," he said, brushing a light dusting of snow from the filly's mane. "You know why?"

Epona snorted and shook her head, slowing to a canter. Lon Lon Ranch slowly grew in the distance.

"No fighting." Link chuckled. "Well, not a lot of fighting, anyway." He looked around at the silver-white gleam of Hyrule Field and sighed in relief. "I mean, winter's beautiful, too, and there's not as much regular work to do either. We get to play at the ranch, and Zelda actually has some real free time..." he glanced over at Castle Town. Even at the Hero's distance, the towers of Hyrule Castle shone clearly in the twilight. "Even with that, though, all the bandits going into hiding, Ganondorf's Gerudo and Lizalfos and Moblins going into hibernation or whatever? Best part. Definitely."

A screech of wood and metal stressed to their limits shattered Link's peace. "Farore," he swore tonelessly, following the sound to the west. A carriage with enough silver trim and iron banding to mark the owners as lower nobility came into view, its two horses fleeing wildly. When will I learn to keep my mouth shut? Less than ten seconds after Link spurred Epona towards the distressed passengers, a pack of bandits came riding over the hill into view. Whooping and snarling, they chased the carriage with merciless abandon.

#So much for that thought,# Link 'pathed to Navi with a grunt.

#Hnh? Wha'?# Navi blearily rose from her blanket of cap rim and blond hair, rubbing her eyes. #Are we there yet?#

#Brigands, Navi,# Link replied curtly, sending her the mental image. As always, the sight of innocents in distress burned the cobwebs from the fairy's tiny eyes. Navi appeared over the Hero's head, an angry halo marking the coming of the Hero's wrath.

It was hardly a minute before Link and Epona had wheeled to come alongside the carriage, the Hero blocking a few half-hearted shots with his shield. What he saw made him hiss through his teeth in empathy and outrage. Lady Uli, he thought, his mind snarling, and little Colin.

Lady Uli was clutching a shallow slash across her belly as if trying to protect Hyrule itself. The wound would have been of little account to even Lady Mila, let alone one of the finest witches in the kingdom, but Uli was also bulging with pregnancy. Please, Nayru, Link prayed, don't let her go into labor yet. Colin, not even a year younger than Link but a full head shorter, was clutching the reins with terrified determination, his face drained of color. Link tightened his grip on Epona's reins painfully. The driver was dead next to the poor boy, an arrow driven straight through one eye. The Hero turned and loosed an Ice Arrow in front of the brigands' horses, and the murderers slowed to avoid crashing onto the path. "Turn right, lad!" Link shouted as they headed along the road, veering towards Lon Lon.

"What about Castle Town?" Colin shouted even as he obeyed.

"We'll never make it!" Link explained. "They wouldn't leave the drawbridge down for anyone short of Zelda herself!" He stood in the stirrups and cupped one hand to his mouth. "Malon! Talon! For the love of Nayru! TALON!"

In moments, both 'Lons' of Lon Lon were at the gates. "What in the name of Din is going on out there?" Talon roared back. "Can't a man even take a nap?" He blinked his eyes clear, then leaped in place at the sight coming straight at him. "Farore!"

"Daddy!" Malon objected when she heard his oath. "What's going on...Farore," she breathed. Ingo ran up, took one look at the havoc headed toward them, and ran back.

"The moment Epona's inside," Link shouted, "you close that gate!" He grunted in annoyance when an arrow landed in his back with a meaty thunk. Malon screamed. "Talon, you keep Malon and Colin away from that wall!"

"Right!" Talon replied emphatically, much to the young Hero's relief.

"What? Daddy--" Malon objected, but Talon was already taking her in hand. The entrance to Lon Lon approached in a blur of speed. Lady Uli's carriage stormed through, and Ingo waved the horses down, to Link's surprised relief. He did a backflip off of Epona, throwing back the cloak and drawing his bow even before he landed, and glanced over his shoulder to check on both horse and ranch. Talon slammed the gate shut with an explosive wooden shudder. "What -- no! Daddy, Link's still outside! LINK!"

"Keep that gate closed!" Link yelled back, then turned his full attention to the approaching thugs. Navi darted into place over the front-most villain's head. The other thieves were lean, literally hungry Hylians, their clothes hanging loosely on their bodies. Their horses were in somewhat better shape, but clearly hadn't eaten well either. To Link, they seemed haunted, with dark circles around their eyes, and the ones who looked at the massive figure Navi targeted flinched away immediately. Some who saw his tunic gaped at the sight. He dismissed them for the moment as minor threats.

The huge man in front was another story. His eyes gleamed like a rabid wolf's, and yellowed teeth showed through an expression that could have been an evil smile or a snarl. Maybe something of both, Link thought, battle focus preventing the feeling from being more than mild disgust. He was eating much better than his gang, if his muscle was any indication. His ears were rounded, like an Altean's, which surprised Link the most. The bandit leader laughed harshly at the sight of the boy pointing a bow at him, then held up a fist. He reined in his horse, the others following suit immediately. 'Rabid,' as Navi had dubbed him, jumped out of his saddle, landed some twenty feet from the Hero and rested his hand on a mace head. "What's this? Some kid wants to be next?"

Link said nothing, merely keeping his arrow pointed at Rabid's head. The brigand bared his teeth again. "Drop the bow, boy, and maybe we'll just add you to the fun instead of ripping your arms and legs off and leaving the stump for the Stalchildren." Two of the Hylians swallowed, and one laughed with manic nervousness. "I want that woman." His eyes gleamed wildly, fully mad now in the moonlight.

"Yield or die," was all Link said in response. He drew forth mana, and the arrowhead became sheathed in frost. The Hylian bandits recoiled. Rabid's eyes bulged, however, and he drew his mace and charged. Before he had taken two steps, Link fired, and the lunatic's head was instantly covered in a block of ice. The Hero summoned his Hammer, walked calmly to his target, and brought the weapon down on the frozen cube. It shattered easily. Link banished the Hammer and summoned the bow again. "Yield or die," he repeated evenly. The Hylian criminals raised their hands immediately, an air of relief around many of them. "Ingo! Talon!"

Talon opened the gate slightly and peered out. "Is it over?"

"I think so," Link replied. "Get some rope. We'll tie these brigands up, then I'll bring them to Castle Town in the morning with Lady Uli and young Colin." The Hero guarded the thieves closely, but they didn't resist, even though Talon and Ingo didn't spare them while binding them.

"Honestly!" Malon sighed, striding towards Link and the older ranch hands. "I'm not some newborn foal that can't...handle..." Link's heart leaped into his throat when Malon trailed off. She stared at the headless body, eyes flickering to the gruesome shards of ice spread around its shoulders. "What in Farore's name..."

"Get inside, Malon," Link insisted, voice thick with emotion. "Make sure Lady Uli's okay."

"She'll be fine," the redhead replied quietly. "Got her bandaged up and a pint of warm Lon Lon milk in her. She could use a potion, but I'll bet a red to a green you've got one."

Link nodded. "I'm coming," he said once Talon nodded back, Ingo pulling the last knot tight on the final thief with a satisfied grunt. Link turned to follow Malon, jogging up to her when he saw that she was shaking. "You okay?"

"I..." Malon shivered and hugged herself. "Not as tough as I thought, I guess."

"Tough isn't the same thing as strong, Malon. You're strong." Link rubbed the back of her shoulder fondly. "You follow the way of Nayru, that's all. You believe in people. Like Zelda."

"Like you, too," Malon half-insisted, half-asked. Link sighed heavily.

"I belong to Farore, Malon," the Hero said quietly. "What I do, I do so people like you don't have to suffer the way..." Link remembered a teenage Malon looking up at him with desperate hope, having endured a vicious, terrified Ingo's cruelty to protect her father and her horses. "...Lady Uli has." He glanced behind to make sure the bandits weren't giving Talon or Ingo any trouble. Confident that they were suitably cowed, he followed Malon.

He saw Lady Uli resting weakly on a bale of hay, Colin clutching her hand, and darted to her side. The Red Potion was already in his hand. "Drink slowly," he said gently, handing her the bottle. "Pregnant women shouldn't swallow healing fluids too quickly."

Uli nodded, smiling and stroking the Hero's hair, then took the bottle and obeyed. Link felt a little foolish -- she brews Red Potion, for Din's Sake -- but all he felt after that was relief as she sipped the life-giving fluid, her half-healed wound vanishing entirely and her fatigue fading away. Colin wept and hugged his mother. "Mom," the lad whispered.

"I'm here, Colin," she replied, her voice steady enough that Link let himself relax. Then she gently added Link to the embrace, and Malon giggled as a line of embarrassed crimson formed over the bridge of his nose.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Froze him solid from head to toe! And then, Mr. Ingo said, he took out a hammer as big as he was," Colin said, "swung it like it was a twig, and shattered the ice into a million pieces!" The boy acted out the swing with a tottering whirl. "There was nothing left but snow!" Several castle children gasped in amazement.

I doubt it happened quite like that, Zelda thought, smiling as she listened to the tale, but it does sound like my Link. Our Link. She kicked her feet and looked down. Once, her legs would have barely dangled past the rafter she was sitting on. Now, to the princess, they seemed to go on forever, lanky and ungainly. Some Sheikah I'll be, looking like a Tektite. The other children bounced excitedly in the stable's hay as Colin recounted the surviving thieves' surrender after a tense, dramatic staredown (also as described by "Mr. Ingo," of course). She perked up, catching activity on the other side of the castle stables. Hm. Let's see. Colin's telling an exciting story about someone's heroism over here. That particular someone is shy and humble. Now where would he bring in his horse? Zelda ran easily along the wooden beams above the horses and stable hands, remaining unnoticed in the shadows.

As she predicted, a weary-looking Hero was stabling Epona, rubbing her neck gratefully. "You did good, girl," he said, tired but proud.

"I bet she'd have a few words for you if she could talk, though," Zelda chuckled, leaping down. Link jumped halfway out of his skin. The princess laughed.

"Farore, Zel!" he gasped, clutching his chest and letting go of his sword. "What are you doing down here, anyway?"

"Checking on Lady Uli and Squire Colin," she said innocently. "Colin's been telling us all about your latest heroic rescue." Link groaned. "At least, the way he heard it from 'Mr. Ingo.'" Zelda laughed when Link sank to the ground, holding his forehead.

"So how great was the horde in Ingo's version?" Link asked quietly.

Zelda sat down next to the Hero and took his free hand. "Oh, barely two dozen or so." She smiled at Link. "Only twice the real number, from what Lady Uli tells us."

The boy sighed. Navi giggled from within his hat. "I was just -- "

"' -- doing your job,'" Zelda and Navi said in unison, "we know," Zelda finished herself. She paused at the frown she saw Link fighting back. "Link? What's wrong?"

"What? Uh, noth..." the princess glared. The Hero sighed again. "Malon saw...what I left of their leader. It really got to her."

"You too, huh?" Zelda asked gently, squeezing his hand tighter.

Link looked up in surprise. "Me? Gods, I've seen worse fighting Lizalfos. Have you ever seen how they eat?" He shook his head. "Farore, have you ever seen what Lizalfos eat?"

"I think," Zelda said as calmly as she could manage, "I do not want to know." Her other life inserted a memory of Sheik coming across the remains of a Lizalfos raid. "Ew."

"Good idea," Link agreed, not catching the meaning of her reaction. "Malon, this Malon anyway, hadn't seen anything like it either. For someone like her, it was pretty ugly."

Zelda bit her lip. "Link, are you sure you're all right? I know you've been through a lot, but Hylians don't disintegrate in Dark Fire when they die." She looked at him carefully, but he just seemed confused. Zelda brightened. "Okay, you're fine." The princess stood, still holding his hand, and all but hauled him to his feet. "Royal decision. You're done for the day."

"You're going to spoil me," Link chuckled, letting Zelda tow him off.

The Sage felt him worrying about something, but she let it go. Whatever it is, you'll have forgotten it in about ten minutes. Zelda grinned at him. "I wish. I can't wait to show you this, though. Lenzo's created a new Light Charm, one that lets anyone use telepathy."

"Really?" Link gasped. "That's amazing."

Zelda shrugged. "Well, it does have a few flaws. It floats in your hand and glows, which is a problem for...say, a Temple delver like you...and, well, let's just say it's not perfected yet." Link chuckled, no doubt remembering Lenzo's last attempt to recreate the Hover Boots. "Still, it works most of the time, and it looks really neat!" She didn't have to tow him then; one of the things they loved sharing with each other was discovery. Ten minutes, Zelda thought happily, and you'll be good as new.