-Lake-

“Link! Oh, Link!” My ears perked up, at the sudden voice that broke the silence. I was sitting on one of the benches, in the castle courtyard. The castle was still being fixed after the fight between Midna and Ganon, two weeks ago. The whole entire castle was destroyed except for the courtyard. The town wasn’t even damaged.

I had my hand on the hilt of my sword, in case the person brought news of danger. I got off the bench, turning around swiftly.

“Oh, nothing’s wrong, Link,” said the girl. I smiled weakly, and took my hand off my sword. I looked up at the girl’s face, and it was Princess Zelda. I bowed at Zelda’s presence.

“You don’t need to do that,” she smiled. I rolled my eyes and shrugged. She smiled at me again and then asked, “Do you want to go fishing down at Lake Hylia?” I gave her a worried look. There were a lot of monsters on the way there.

“Don’t mind me. I’ll be fine. I’ll bring my sword too,” she answered.  I hesitated, and then nodded. She wasn’t that bad of a swordsman. She still had a lot to learn, but she could still fight enemies quite well.

“I’ll go grab my sword and fishing rod, then,” Zelda beamed. She pulled up the front of her dress, and ran off. I sat back down on the bench, awaiting her return.

She came back quite quickly. I stayed sitting on the bench, while I watched her put her hair up in a ponytail. She looked funny, with the fishing rod in her mouth, while putting her hair up. I laughed loudly, once she took the rod out of her mouth. She gave me a questioning look and I laughed again.

She shook her head and then said, “Daddy doesn’t want me going out, so you better take good care of me.”

I nodded seriously.

“And he also doesn’t want me going out because I don’t look ‘formal’ enough for him.”

This time, I laughed. She didn’t look anything like a princess, with the clothes she were wearing right now. She had her long, brown hair pulled back in a low ponytail and she was wearing a dark blue tunic, with silver chain-mail underneath.

“How do I look?” she giggled, and she twirled in a circle. I smiled, giving her the thumbs up.

“Good,” Zelda said, “And now I have to find my horse...”

I shook my head and grabbed her hand. She looked at me with curiosity. I shook my head again and pointed to my chest.

“We’re taking your horse?”

I nodded.

“Can she carry both of us?”

I nodded again.

“Oh okay. Well, let’s get going...”

I smiled back at her and we left the courtyard. We walked through the town square and we left out of the east exit.

Before we got out into the field I pulled out the charm I used to call Epona. Ilia gave it to me, during my quest. It’s very useful, when I blow into it, Epona comes.

Epona came galloping very quickly and for sure, I thought she was going to flatten us. She skidded, to a stop, whinnying happily. She stook out her tongue, licking my left cheek, covering in saliva.

“She’s very fond of you,” said Zelda, looking up at Epona with admiration.

I nodded, wiping off my cheek with disgust. Epona was always fond of me, even when she was a little mare. We were always fond of each other, ever since we met. She’s another person – I mean horse, that I could talk to.

I helped Zelda onto the saddle first and then I got up after her. I sat in front of her and she was behind. I was about to point to my shoulders, to tell her to hold on, but she was already doing it.

“Go...” she whispered into my ear. I shivered slightly, from the sudden cool air, passing my ear. I swished the reins and Epona started to gallop.

*  *  *  *  *

It took us about an hour’s time to get to the bridge right over top of Lake Hylia. I told Zelda, of course using sign language, that there was no way down and if we jumped we would die of the impact on the water.

“So how did you get down there on your adventure?” I ignored her question. On this side of the bridge, we were standing on a piece grassy land right over top of the clear, calm waters. We peered over the railing which prevented us from falling.

“Wow, it must be at least one hundred or two hundred feet down... so how did you get down there on your adventure?” She asked again, still looking down at the blue water. I look around. Behind us was the path leading back to Hyrule Castle and to the left of us was a little house, attached to the side of the rocky wall. I tapped her shoulder, and pointed at the house.

“We get down there, from in there?” she asked  in bewilderment. I nodded.

I got off of Epona and then helped Zelda off. I didn’t tie Epona up because I usually let her roam around freely. She liked it better that way and I could just use Ilia’s Charm to call her back, if I needed her.

I walked into the house without knocking.

“Uhmm... Link? Isn’t it kind of rude to just barge in?”

I shook my head. I knew it wasn’t rude because I knew the man that lived here. His name was Falbi. And this wasn’t really his house. He actually worked here to try and get rupees. He’s quite weird looking and he’s very funny. He dresses up like a female clown, just for his amusement.

I heard Zelda gasp. I stopped and turned around quickly.

“Oh, Link, I’m fine.” I sighed in relief. “I just hate cuccos.”

I laughed, looking down at the cuccos, roaming the house, chuckling happily.

We walked in a little further, noticing Falbi. I smiled and waved at him.

He waved back. “Well, hi there! Welcome to Falbi’s Flight-by-fowl.”

Zelda was staring at the man with disgust.

Falbi continued, “Are you ready for a flight full of dreams and sweet, sweet bonuses?”

By bonuses, he means rupees.

“A cucco-powered ride around Lake Hylia? You will LOVE it!”

Zelda looked at me, with wide eyes. “We’re taking a cucco, to get to Lake Hylia?”

I chuckled, then nodded.

“Next up for fantastication... ONE BIG GUY! Er, wait... two?” He looked at us with big eyes.

“No, no... no!” Zelda shook her head.

Falbi completely ignored Zelda.

He clapped his hands together. “Right, then that’s forty rupees for two tickets to the Isle of Riches. How about it, partner?” Falbi asked me.

I nodded, handing him two red rupees.

“Awright!” Falbi beamed. “Thanks partner!” He clapped his hands together again. “Now, just grab a cucco of any colour and try to sail to the Isle of Riches!”

“What?!” Zelda asked incredulously. “Ask him for a twenty rupee refund!”

“Sorry, no refunds, partner!” Falbi smiles, a huge smile.

I laughed and picked up a gray cucco.

“Link!” she squealed.

I shrugged, holding out the cucco, handing it to her.

“Ew! No! She pushed it away and she backed up slowly. I set the cawing cucco down.

“I told her with my hands, “Come on, Zel. It’s a waste of rupees and it’s not that bad!”

She shook her head.

“Come on,” my hands told her, “We can go together, if you like.”

“Fine... just for you, Link,” she grumbled.

I grabbed her hand and the cucco in the other. I gently pulled her to the open space, in the wall of the house. We both walked over towards the tiny ledge, that was connected to the house. I guess it was the take-off area. I looked over at Falbi. He was wearing big plastered smile and humming to his own little theme song.

With my left hand, I held the cucco up high in the air and with my other, I signalled for Zelda to hold me tightly. She wrapped her arms, securely around my waist and then I jumped.

We were two, normal sized people being kept airborne by one cucco. It was very strange and I didn’t think we would stay up. I thought Zelda and I would plummet to our deaths.

That gray cucco, I thought, was the perfect choice. It was very strong.

“Link! We’re going to die!” she squealed.

I started laughing my head off. We were dropping at such a slow rate, that if we landed in the water, we would hardly cause a ripple.

I decided to skip the Isle of Riches, which was the whole point of this game. You’re supposed to take a cucco of any colour and fly down towardsthis man-made island, in the middle of Lake Hylia. The island was shaped like a giant stair case and the higher the step, the smaller it was.  On the smaller steps, they held more rupees in the treasure boxes. And on the bigger steps, they held fewer rupees in smaller treasure boxes. And you also want to land on the top of the man-made stairs because that’s where most of the rupees are, on the top.

I directed the cucco to a floating raft that was nearby the Isle of Riches. We landed smoothly, on the raft and the water swayed lazily.

I threw the cucco in some random direction. It fell into the water, cackling angrily in my direction. I ignored it – well not really ignoring it, because I couldn’t hear it. Zelda was screaming into my ear. I removed her hands from my waist and I turned to look at her.

I could tell she was definitely traumatized. She had her eyes closed tightly and she was still screaming.

I shushed her quietly and it didn’t seem like she could hear me. I snapped a couple of times. Nothing. I clapped my hands together, making a loud noise. Natta. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently. That got her.

She opened her eyes slowly, mouth still open for screaming. I put a finger to my lips and pointed to the raft we were standing on.

She looked down, laughing stupidly.

“Heh heh, well... look at that! We’re on the ground. Let’s get going!”

Zelda turned around swiftly and walked right off of the raft.

I stifled a giggle then bursted out laughing. I put my hand to my gut, being able to barely breathe. I fell on to the raft, still holding my stomach, rolling back and forth.

I calmed down a minute later, wiping the tears out of my eyes. I stood back up, wobbling side to side. I looked down at the angry Zelda that was spewing lake water out of her mouth. I stook my hand out, to help her out and she grabbed it tightly. I hoisted her up, onto the raft and she stood very close to me, arms crossed.

“Sorry princess,” my hands told her.

“It’s fine,” and then she said giggling, “I should have been watching where I was going.”

I smiled and then pointed ahead of us. There were a couple other rafts leading up to a house-shaped building, floating on the water.

“Oh, we’re supposed to jump.” Zelda slapped a hand over her face. I nodded, putting a hand on her shoulder.

I then looked into her eyes, and thought back to that question. “So how did you get down there on your adventure?” she had asked. Well, first of all, I lied. I never used Falbi’s way of getting down. I usually warped. By using Midna’s powers I could warp to different places. It was quite useful and it took a lot and I mean a lot less time. Say, I was at Hyrule Castle in the Lanayru Province and I wanted to visit my friends and Rusl down at the Ordona Province that would take me about... four days to get there. But, if Midna helped me warp, it would take about... ten seconds? I really miss Midna now...

“Link? Is something wrong?” Zelda’s voice asked, breaking my train of thoughts.

I  shook my head.

“Oh, okay. So let’s get across  these and go find a good fishing spot...” she beamed.

I smiled, nodding in reply.

I jumped first, catchting Zelda right after. She laughed loudly, and then said, “Thanks for catching me. I would have fallen again, if you didn’t.”

I nodded and jumped onto the raft, with her still in my arms.

“Woah, you’re strong,” she said with amazement. Yes, I had to agree with her - I was pretty strong. I had a small frame, for being seventeen, but I was tough.

I chuckled, jumping to the next raft.

Sticking up my index finger, I told her one more jump. I took a giant leap, and we landed on a wooden deck. My hands dropped at my sides, letting go of Zelda.

Right now, we were standing on a deck that was circling a house. I grabbed Zelda’s hand, pulling her to the other side of the deck.

On this side of the house was a really big door leading into it.  And in the door’s way, was a little man, dresses similar to Falbi, named Fyer.

He chuckled, waving at me. I smiled, waving back.

Fyer and I knew each other quite well. I know Fyer a little bit more than Falbi. We’ve talked to each other more often as well – I mean, he did the talking and I did the listening.

When I need to get to the City in the Sky, where the Oocca live, he fixed a broken canon that I found. The price  was a little bit cheap though... three hundred rupees... Anyways, another thing he helped me with was to get to the Desert Province to go see the Mirror of Twilight. He got me there for free. And he got me there, by shooting me out of a canon, literally. That house-shaped... house, we are standing in front of, was a canon.

“Heh heh... How’s it going, Link?” he asked, eyeing Zelda. I gave him the thumbs up.

“Good.” He smiled at me. I nodded back and waved again, before leaving.

We walked across two miniature bridges and got into a big clearing. Right, smack-dab in the middle was that huge canon that Fyer fixed for me.

“Oh my...” Zelda put a hand to her mouth. “Is that the canon you used to get into the City and the Sky?”

I nodded, looking up at that amazingly designed canon. It was very ancient looking and it had Hylian writing all of it.
We bother looked at the magnificent canon door a while longer and then we searched for our fishing spot.

We found the perfect spot and began fishing. The both of us caught many different fish. Well, only two kinds of fish actually and they were Hylian Carp and Green Scales.

Zelda and I had lots of fun, though. We – she talked about many things. We laughed a lot, too.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was setting soon and it would take us an hour or so to get back to the castle.

“We should leave soon,” my hands warned her, “Many more enemies come out at night.”

She nodded, grabbing her fishing pole. Zelda looked around and asked, “How do we get back up?”

I smirked. This would be funnier than the flying down with the cucco.

“You’ll see...” my hands told her. She suddenly looked worried.

Well, we had to get back to Fyer’s house – er – canon.

We swam through the cold, dark water. The water was dark because the sun was about to set.

Zelda and I pulled out soaking, wet bodies onto Fyer’s porch. I took off my green cap, wringing it out and I put it back on my scruffy hair. We walked towards Fyer again.

“Thanks for flying with Fyer, fella,” he smiled at me and I nodded.

“So, wanna give it a shot, fella? No hidden fee for any flight! - ”

“Flight?! We’re flying again?!” Zelda asked in concern.

Fyer and I ignored her once again.

“Just twenty rupees, for two If you aren’t interested, you don’t have to do it!” Fyer offered.

My hands told Zelda, “Tell him the normal flight.”

“The ‘Normal Flight’?” Zelda asked shrilly. “What are you talking about?”

“That one, eh?” Fyer took that as her agreeing. “Heh heh... OK! Two for normal - ” I gave him a red rupee, and he finished what he was saying, “ – right this way.” He opened the large door leading into his house-shaped canon.

Zelda looked at me incredulously  and I pushed her into the dark entrance.

I looked back at Fyer and I smiled sheepishly.

He smiled back at me, and said mischievously, “Heh heh... hurry up and hop on in...”

I waved, one last time and walked into the darkness. The door slammed shut and I felt Zelda grab onto me.

“Link... look what you did now!” she said impatiently. I laughed and she sighed. I heard some music from outside the house. The same tune Falbi was humming to...

“That creey old clown locked us in his dark house!” Zelda shrieked. I chuckled again. The music stopped. And...

BOOM!

... we were shot out of the canon, like an arrow from a bow. I smiled, closing my eyes, letting the wind carry me back up to where we left Epona. I soon opened my eyes to find Zelda screaming beside me. I laughed, the noise unnoticeable.

I landed on my feet, not struggling to satnd. I heard Zeld’s screaming get rapidly closer and I stook out my arms.

My arms flinched slightly, as I caught Zelda. I set down the dumb stricken Zelda and I shook my arms, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation of pain, from the impact.

She stayed sitting on the ground, not bothering to get up. She had her fist clenched tightly, knuckles turning white. I noticed her glaring up at me and I stopped shaking my arms.

“WE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” she bellowed.  I bowed my head feeling ashamed.

She was now crying in anger. “WE COULD HAVE BEEN SMASHED TO MILLIONS OF PIECES, BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID IDEAS!”

I felt like crying. “I’m sorry,” my hands apologized.

She looked down at the ground, then back up at me again. Little bright tears pour out of her eyes and down her face. I kneeled down on one knee, wiping a tear off of her face.

She grabbed my tunic and pulled me closer.

“I don’t want to die...” she sobbed, into my ear.

She wrapped her hands around my neck and I picked her up. I held her close to my own chest. Her heartbeat was quickened, out of rage and the crying.

I walked over to Epona that stayed nearby to graze, and I put Zelda on the horse.

I answered her statement. “You won’t...” my hands told her. I joined her on the horse, and we rode off, into the distance.