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“The Isle of Koholint is but an illusion… Awaken the dreamer and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle.”
Link sat on a ledge at the bay, his boots barely grazing the water below. He was unsure how long he’d been there, or if time had actually passed since he woke up at Marin’s. Was this state even considered “awake”?
“Just as you cannot know if a chest holds treasure until you open it, so you cannot tell if this is a dream until you awaken.”
He turned the Face Key over in his hands, a repetitive motion mirroring the jumbled thoughts in his head. He should be heading to the next dungeon now, right? To find the next instrument and continue with his quest? That’s why he was brought here, after all, to wake the Wind Fish. But if the words were true…
“Koholint is but an illusion… Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle… Koholint will vanish-”
“Oh, there you are, Link!”
He snapped to attention, a wave of gratitude rushing over him as Marin approached. Quickly he fumbled to stuff the key in his pocket. “Marin, hi!”
“I was looking all over for you!” Her smile as big and bright as ever, she yanked him up on his feet by one arm. “Come on, you’re gonna miss the party!”
“What party?” he asked.
“The party for you, silly! To celebrate the first outsider to come to the island!”
“I, uh…” He was hesitant to accept, knowing he should be staying on track with the mission. But Marin was so excited, and it would be rude not to attend a party in his honor… “Okay! Let’s go!”
The Wind Fish could wait another night, couldn’t he?
*********
Night had fallen on Koholint, or at least it seemed that way. Link wasn’t sure when the sun had actually set. One minute he was following Marin back to Mabe, the next he was surrounded by the townspeople - plus a few animal residents from across the island - all dancing and feasting around a modest bonfire in the field between the shops.
The hero sat by the fire, enjoying some of Chef Bear’s stew. Nearby, Marin had been requested to sing, and she obliged without complaint, her voice melting away any uncertainties he had about coming. Of course, being the guest of honor didn’t allow him many moments of peace, and everyone was asking him where he came from.
So he did his best to tell them all about Hyrule, speaking highly of its beautiful forests, mountains and fields. He told them about his uncle who raised him (he wondered how he was doing, pushing away any thoughts that some new terrible misfortune had befallen the poor man without him) and the people he met around the country. He even mentioned the princess, and couldn’t help but notice Marin tense up and stop singing just for a moment.
The evening began to wind down and the partygoers returned to their homes until Link was the only one left, trying to keep the fire going with magic powder. The party was a welcome distraction from the news, but now that it was over, the earlier sense of dread was returning. In the morning, he’d have to get right back to work.
“Everything okay?”
It was Marin again, standing in a plain white nightdress with a heavy black blanket around her shoulders, her orange bedhead glowing in the light from the matching flames. “We made up a cot for you, you know.”
“Thanks.” He added his last fistful of powder to the fire and tucked the empty pouch away. He’d have to buy more first thing tomorrow.
She sat on the ground next to him, offering him a corner of her blanket he wasn’t in a position to refuse. “The stars sure are lovely tonight.”
“Yeah…” Was this the first time he’d seen Koholint’s night sky? He wondered if Marin was seeing the same constellations he recognized from Hyrule, or if the dream was just filling in the gaps from his mind.
“It was a pretty great party, wasn’t it? You looked like you were having fun,” she said. “And I loved hearing your stories about home.”
“Thanks.” Link hadn’t actually realized how homesick he was until he started talking about it.
“Hyrule sounds so beautiful, I’d love to see it sometime.”
He didn’t say anything. Easier to avoid telling her the truth and crushing her dreams.
“You’re a terrible conversationalist, you know?”
“N-no! I-I mean I just-”
Marin giggled as he floundered for words and only proved her point, resting her head on his arm with a sigh. “I can’t lie, I’m a little jealous. You’ve seen so much more of the world than I have.”
His throat tightened. He wanted to tell her everything about his life before, about traveling across Hyrule and the Dark World, saving Zelda and defeating Ganon, though he was certain some aspects of the tale would frighten her. The worst threats the islanders ever faced were the moblins, they had never known true danger or fear in their little world. If only…
For a moment, he entertained the idea of telling her the truth. She’d probably think he was messing with her, but what if she did believe him? Would she just sit back and let him destroy her home?
“Marin-”
But he soon realized from her breathing she’d fallen asleep. As the last embers of the fire fizzled out, he let his own eyelids slip, just content to be with her tonight.
*********
Link opened his eyes still in the field at Mabe, where the grass had already grown back to reclaim the burnt ground. How long had he been asleep? Marin was already gone but had left him the blanket, which he draped over his arm to return later.
As his senses recovered from his rest, he could make out a familiar hooting in the distance and dreaded the talking-to he was surely about to get. He followed the sound out to the prairie, where the owl sat perched atop a lone tree.
“Hope you had an eventful evening,” he said, tone free of the condemnation the boy had braced for, “because it’s time to get back to your mission.”
Link didn’t say anything, but as usual, his guide understood. “Young hero, don’t think I haven’t noticed your affinity for Koholint’s inhabitants, especially the girl who sings the Wind Fish’s song-” He didn’t acknowledge the boy’s blush. “-but if you don’t complete your quest, you will never return to your world. The Nightmares will consume the dreamer’s mind and everything in it.”
All he could muster was, “Yes, sir,” which was apparently satisfactory enough for the bird to take off, leaving Link standing in silence before heading back to the village.
Marin was already in her usual spot by the weathervane, singing for the village’s children. He stood back to listen, unwilling to interrupt one of the only things that could soothe his worries right now.
As she finished, she noticed him waiting off to the side. “Oh, hi, Link! Did you need something?” she asked, so innocent of what was really weighing on him. It pained him.
“I was wondering…” He forced a smile for her. “Would you… like to join me… on the beach?”
“Of course!”
She took his hand to walk with him, leaving the young boys snickering behind the couple’s back.
*********
“It’s just as beautiful as last time, don’t you think?”
“Yeah…” Link stared out at the vast blue expanse. He wondered how the islanders perceived the passage of time. How long had it been in her mind since they first sat on this log? It felt like only hours to him, even when including the celebration.
Marin frowned. It was the simple response she expected from Link, but she was getting better at reading the boy the more time they spent together. “Link, if something’s wrong, you can tell me.”
No, of course he couldn’t. How could he just tell her Koholint wasn’t real, that she wasn’t real?
“Thinking about home again?” she ventured a guess.
“…I’ve been wondering if I’ll ever be able to go back.” Did he even want to anymore? He winced just thinking about it. “Sorry, forget it.”
“No, I understand.” She placed her hand on top of his on the bark and she felt real. The warmth of her skin, the scent of salt on the breeze, the calls of the seagulls, how could it all just be imaginary? “Until then, I’ll do everything I can to make Koholint feel like home.”
“Thanks, Marin.”
The owl said he couldn’t tell if this was all a dream until he awoke from it. Maybe he didn’t want to wake up.
*********
He stayed with Marin and Tarin at first, and though they said they didn’t mind sharing what little they had, he insisted on earning his keep. Every morning he would make his modest cot before helping with breakfast, and always offered to help clean up afterwards. Then he’d join Tarin on his mushroom hunts, which the man claimed he didn’t need any extra hands for, but Marin frankly didn’t trust him alone in those woods after the raccoon incident.
After those first few weeks (or what felt like weeks anyway), he decided to find a place of his own, and he knew just where.
Everyone thought he was crazy at first, believing the house on the bay was haunted, but Link promised it wasn’t (and made sure to ask permission at the former resident’s grave first). A number of volunteers came to fix the crumbling floor, patch holes in the walls, clear out the overgrowth. With everyone helping, it didn’t long for the old house to become a home fit for a hero.
The first few nights were rough, with only his thoughts about everything he was leaving behind for company, but he adjusted well enough. Besides, it was only a short walk to Animal Village, or a quick warp to Mabe, and he had no shortage of ways to occupy his time. He would pick apples or walk Bow-Wow for Madam Meow-Meow, or give in to the kids pestering him for more stories of his adventures (not that he minded). He even visited Dampé a couple times, though these became fewer and farther between when the gravedigger began to wonder why he never had anything from new dungeons.
And of course, he spent plenty of time with Marin. Every chance he could be at her side he was, in town or on the beach. He showed her how his ocarina skills had improved, and was always happy to accompany her voice. He even offered to show her around areas of the island she’d been too wary to visit before, deep in the woods or high in the mountains, sword at the ready to easily dispense of any creatures that might threaten their day. Nevertheless, they always managed to gravitate back to the safety of Koholint’s settlements.
Every once in a while, he caught sight of the owl silently watching from a distant branch or cliff, no doubt judging him for his decision. Every time Link was quick to look away - or steer Marin elsewhere if they were together - desperate to shove the truth far down where he wouldn’t have to think about it.
*********
He didn’t even register when his appearance began to change. It was as if he just looked down one day and didn’t recognize the hands in front of him, larger and rough with callouses. He refused to believe it even as he immediately went to check his reflection in the bay. The young man staring back at him ran his hands over the light stubble along a sharp jawline framed by a mane of shaggy blond hair as Link touched his own face.
Later, under the shade of a prairie apple tree with his blade resting against the roots in case any monsters came by, he asked Marin if he looked different to her, and she responded with laughter. “Link, you look fine, handsome as always. Why do you ask?”
“No reason, forget about it.” He tried to shake it off, taking another bite from the half-eaten fruit in his hands. His mind wandered to what must have become of his real body. Had he continued to age outside the dream as well? Perhaps he’d washed up on another beach somewhere, or was just left waterlogged in the open sea. Suddenly his mouth tasted sour.
Marin leaned over to peck him on the lips, his cheeks burning with a shade of red matching the apple he let tumble to the dirt. She laughed again. “I swear to the Wind Fish, how are you still embarrassed after all these years?”
He had no answer, only questions of his own that would make him sound crazy. What was their first kiss? Just how many years had it been since he came to Koholint? Every day since he strayed from his path felt like a blur, memories so far away and hard to pin down.
She passed him a replacement apple, and he couldn’t help but notice her long delicate fingers. Stranger than his own aging, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized what a beautiful young woman she’d grown into. He reached out to brush away a stray lock of her luxurious red curls - just to touch her, to make sure she was still here - and she didn’t even flinch, like this was natural for them.
He took a fresh bite of apple and was quick to put this incident past them.
*********
He told Tarin of his plans first, just to make sure. His response after only a few seconds mulling it over was a smile and an all-too-casual, “Well, I certainly ain’t gonna stop you.”
Across the table, Link’s fingers were twisting together in his lap. “Do you think she’ll say yes?”
The older man with his greying hair and mustache chuckled and raised his glass. “Boy, Marin’s been crazy about you since she found you on that beach. I guarantee she will.”
In the evening, Link took Marin to “their” spot on the beach. She suspected nothing as they gazed out over the familiar view, dyed shades of pink and orange by the setting sun. The look on her face when he took her hand and dropped one knee in the sand to ask her he’d remember for the rest of his days.
He wasn’t sure what to expect of Koholint wedding traditions or how they might differ from Hylian ones. There was no temple service, they simply recited their vows in the village center. There were no holy men to bless the union, only their friends from across the island. A length of cloth was wrapped around their hands to symbolically bind the couple together, surrounded by their loved ones who sang hymns to the Wind Fish, and everyone cheered and cried as they shared their first kiss as husband and wife.
The resulting festivities passed in a blur, as everyone danced and feasted in celebration of the happy couple. It reminded him of his first Koholint party as a boy. A few guests encouraged Marin to sing, others chided them for asking on her special day, but she told them she didn’t mind.
Link remained seated while she performed, enamored by her melodies as always. He remembered what the owl had called her so long ago, “the girl who sings the Wind Fish’s song”. For a moment, his eyes wandered to the looming egg on the mountaintop, haloed by the setting sun. He wondered-
No. He clenched both fists in his lap, focusing on the music to anchor himself down. When the song ended, he rushed over to lift Marin up around the waist and spin her around in a flurry of giggles and kisses.
Forget about the Nightmares, the instruments, all of it. He was done dwelling on the past. All he had to do now was focus on the future.
*********
“Mommy, Daddy!” The gleeful toddler’s bare feet splashed in the water rolling over Toronbo’s sands.
“Careful, Nakura!” cautioned Marin. He was up to his thighs before Link stepped in, lifting him around his middle.
“Hey!” He kept squealing and kicking his chubby legs while his father chuckled. “I wanna go, I wanna go!”
“And just where do you think you’re gonna go?” Marin asked, shaking her head at her silly boy.
“Hrmm…” Nakura settled down some, but his gaze was still intently fixed on the sea before him. “Wha’s out there, Mama?”
“That’s a question for your father, sweetheart.” She kissed the top of his strawberry curls.
“Why?” Not surprising, it was every toddler’s go-to question.
At first, Link wasn’t sure he should tell him the truth, but decided there was no harm in it. “Well, I was born outside the island.”
A simple answer, but enough for Nakura’s baby blues to widen. He craned his neck around to stare in awe of this man, once again squirming about in excitement. “I wanna see! Take me, Daddy, take me, take me!”
“Maybe someday.” Another vague response, but enough to satisfy Nakura for now. Link set him back on the sand and the rambunctious child took off down the beach once more.
Marin snorted. “You’ve been telling me that for years.”
“I know, songbird.” Link‘s attention was drawn to the horizon just as his son’s was. It was the exact same ocean view as always, untouched by the passage of time. He instinctively wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist to pull her closer, a habit he’d developed over the years to make sure she was still there whenever he was lost to deep thought, one she’d picked up on but never questioned nor complained about.
At the same time, a much ruder awakening cut through the calm afternoon, the unmistakable screams of a terrified child.
“Nakura!” Marin realized.
Again, Link’s nerves acted on their own, mentally cursing himself for taking his eyes off the kid. Boots tore across the sand as he unsheathed the sword at his hip. He kept it on him at all times out of habit, but never expected to use it at a time like this.
He saw the moblins first, blue beasts dwarfing poor Nakura, who’d fallen on his backside into the sand. The boy didn’t notice Link approaching, whimpering as he cradled one arm sporting a bloody cut. One lifted its snout, realizing they had company. Both turned to face the new arrival, eyes wide and jaws dripping at the thought of a much larger piece of meat practically offering itself to them.
“Daddy!” Nakura covered his eyes as the creatures charged his father with their spears poised for attack. He only heard the startled squeals, peeking through his fingers just in time to watch the moblins exploding into dust.
“Nakura! Oh, my poor baby.” His mother appeared to scoop him up from behind and hold him for dear life. He burrowed into her dress and immediately began to sob. “What was that? I didn’t think moblins came out on the beaches.”
Link didn’t have an answer. Though it took very little effort to slice through those enemies, his heart pounded in a way it hadn’t in years, not since the last time he’d stepped into a dungeon master’s chamber. His right hand twitched at his side and every breath stuttered in his chest-
He shook the feeling off, putting his weapon away to attend to his son.
*********
“Now this might sting a little…”
“Waaah!” Nakura protested as the cold salve contacted his moblin scratch, his flailing legs dangling over the edge of the dining table.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” Marin apologized with a kiss on the injury, already starting to mend. Link watched from the fire pit tending to the simmering stew, and couldn’t help but smirk, considering how many times now that medicine had brought him back from near-death. “Better now?”
Nakura nodded, still sniffling, and she helped him down to the floor. “Come on now, dinner’s almost ready.”
The following meal was uncomfortably quiet. Usually his wife and son had more than enough to fill the empty space Link left, but after today’s incident no one had much to say. The silence only allowed Link’s thoughts to scream louder in his skull. Marin was right, what could have possibly brought those moblins to the shore?
One particularly loud voice in his head kept suggesting they might have been looking for him. He shoved that thought as far back as he could and tried not to make it obvious it suddenly hurt to swallow his stew.
After everyone had finished their food and the table was cleared, Marin announced it was time for bed. (Was it really that late already?)
Nakura shifted where he stood, absentmindedly rubbing his arm long after his moblin scratch had faded into a pink streak across pale skin. “But Mommy, what if the monsters-”
“Sweetie, the monsters can’t get us inside the house,” she assured him, “and if they did, Daddy wouldn’t let them hurt either of us, right?”
Link smiled softly at her confidence in him before picking their son up and carrying him to his little bed in the corner. Nakura still looked uncertain as he was tucked in, but when Marin sat on the edge of the mattress, stroking his hair and humming one of his favorite lullabies, the parents watched him slowly ease himself into sleepytime bliss.
“Daddy,” he said, stifling a yawn, “can you tell me a story? The one with the princess and wizard?”
His father was more than happy to oblige after such a stressful day, beginning as he always did: “Long ago, in the beautiful kingdom of Hyrule surrounded by mountains and forests…”
*********
“…and the Master Sword slept again, forever.”
The boy was already snoozing before the tale’s end. Still smiling, Link kissed Nakura’s forehead and joined his wife in their own bed on the opposite end of the room.
Marin propped herself up with one elbow on her pillow. “Poor baby, couldn’t even stay up for the whole thing. The ending’s his favorite part.”
Link shrugged as he climbed under the covers. “He’s heard it a million times.”
“That’s true, he loves that story.” She shook her head. “To think that I used to be jealous of that princess…”
Her husband seemed genuinely confused by this. “You wanna be sacrificed to a demon king?”
“No, dummy!” she said, flicking his ear like a child. “I meant I thought you had a thing for her!”
“For the princess… in the story?”
“Well, the real one you knew back home, yeah.”
Link visibly tensed, a rush of memories flooding back to him: the cold rain, the soft hand of a young girl, the dim glow of a lantern and the stench of the sewers as they made their way to Sanctuary. How could he have just forgotten about Zelda, about his former life in Hyrule?
He had to wonder what was going on there now. Was the resurrected king still in power, or had Zelda since taken the throne? She probably had a husband and children of her own by now. What about his uncle? Was he okay? How had he handled his nephew's disappearance? What even was his uncle’s name again?
“Link, are you okay?” Marin asked.
“Yeah, just… tired.” He rolled facing away from her and pulled the blanket over his head. Maybe after a good night’s sleep he could convince himself Hyrule was the fantastic dream all along.
*********
“Help! Somebody!”
The young rabbit scampered through the tall grass, the few meters home feeling more like miles to such a small frightened creature. He tripped over a loose patch of ground, a sharp pain travelling through his foot. All he could do now was duck and cover and pray to the Wind Fish.
An arrow flew out and pierced the bulbous creature’s side, its eyes wide with terror as it flipped onto its back with tentacles flailing before finally popping like a balloon. The rabbit cautiously raised his head to see Link standing before him with bow in hand, notching another arrow to shoot down an approaching peahat
“Sonny!” The bunny parents ran over to help their injured child up.
“Mama!” He immediately broke down crying into his mother’s soft white fur.
The couple tried desperately to soothe his worries, the father turning to the Hylian to say, “Oh, thank you so much, Link! Who knows what that thing would’ve done to him?”
Link nodded, still coming down off the adrenaline of the kill, before he turned back towards the row of houses as the villagers emerged from their shelter, including his own family.
“I don’t understand,” Marin said, keeping an arm around a shaking Nakura clinging onto her skirt. “Monsters usually avoided population centers. They’ve never attacked a town before.”
Once more, Link couldn’t give his wife a satisfying answer, not without-
He could hear an all-too-familiar hooting nearby and hastily excused himself, Marin barely able to ask where he was going.
The owl was waiting for him on the cliffs north of the village, appearance unchanged since they last spoke years ago. “I trust you’ve already figured out what’s going on, boy.”
The now-grown man didn’t appreciate his former guide’s condescension, hard as it was for him to accept all the time that had passed.
“While you’re off playing house, the Nightmares grow stronger, feeding on the Wind Fish’s power and mind. If he does not awaken soon, he will die and Koholint will fall to darkness.”
Link didn’t say anything. What could he say to that?
“You made your choice, Link. Now you will watch those you love suffer with the rest of the dream.”
“Link?”
“Marin!” One of these days she would stop surprising him like that. “I-I was just-” He looked back at the owl, who had already flown away.
“Link, what’s going on?” she asked, the look of concern in her eyes threatening to melt his heart. Sooner or later, you have to tell her…
“Nothing, songbird,” he said, planting a kiss on her forehead in a desperate bid to console or distract her, he didn’t know anymore. “C’mon, we should… get Nakura home… before dark.”
*********
There was truly no more horrifying sound to a parent’s ear than their child’s cries in the middle of the night.
“Nakura!” Link was out of bed just in time to watch as the front door was violently kicked in, the two hulking figures entering the house uninvited.
“No!” He retrieved his sword from the end of the bed, quickly putting himself between his son’s bed and the intruders. “Don’t you dare!”
By now, Marin was awake enough to realize what was happening and screaming herself, which only made Nakura panic even more. Link’s heart sank.
He ran his weapon through the closest moblin easily, but the second wasn’t going down without a fight. It charged the Hero with its spear, and Link barely managed to block the hit with his blade. The creature tried to force him back, but Link stood his ground, leaning back over the bed and Nakura huddled in the corner, one foot falling breaking through the old floorboards underneath him.
The moblin’s foul breath warmed his face, and Link ventured to crack one eye open. Its expression was not that of the unrelenting hunger that normally drove these beasts. He saw himself reflected in its too-intelligent beady eyes, like it would enjoy making him and his family suffer until everyone's last breaths.
That sadistic look sharply changed to one of shock and confusion with a clang!, and it fell to the ground, revealing Marin brandishing a frying pan and panting heavily. From there, Link finished it off with a single stab in the back, the body exploding into dust like the others of its kind.
“Mommy!” A tearful Nakura hopped out of bed, and she let the cookware clatter to the floor to free her arms for the child. As she desperately tried to soothe him, her eyes turned up to her husband, silent as ever.
*********
“I can’t thank you enough for this, Dad.” Marin said, as she tucked the sniffling child into the hastily made guest bed, still in her nightdress.
“Not a problem, dear,” Tarin assured her from the dining table, despite rubbing his eyes and fighting back a yawn. “You know you three are always welcome here.”
“I just don’t get it.” She lingered on the mattress for a moment. “I knew the monsters were becoming less afraid of villagers, but to think they’d actually attack a family home…”
“Well, it’s a good thing you have Link looking out for you two.”
They turned to the man in question, leaning back against the door frame. He hadn’t uttered a word since the break-in. Obviously not out of character, but Marin had noticed that gloomy look in his eyes he’d been wearing since the attack, not necessarily tired or afraid, but almost… guilty.
When he realized where their attention had turned, he opened the door and muttered, “I have to go.”
“Oh no, you don’t!” Marin hurried after him, the door swinging shut behind her. “Link, what's going on?”
He barely made it five feet from the house before she froze him in his tracks grabbing a fistful of his shirt. “Songbird, I don’t-”
“Don’t lie to me, Link, you know what’s happening!” It wasn’t a question anymore. He had never heard her so angry before. “Monsters attack every other day, everyone’s afraid to leave town. We’ve been forced out of our home. ” Her voice broke on the last word, and he understood she was more hurt and afraid than mad. “Please.”
He sighed before finally facing her. “Might wanna sit down…”
*********
He told her everything in the field where they watched the stars after the bonfire as children. He told her the truth about the Wind Fish, the Nightmares, everything. Throughout it all, she didn’t say a word, sitting in the grass with her unmoving hands in her lap.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, though her tone betrayed otherwise. “Just… not everyday you learn you don’t exist.”
How was he supposed to just smooth things over after that? “I’m sorry, I should’ve told you-”
“So if you wake the Wind Fish, we’ll all disappear? Me, Tarin, Nakura? Everyone?”
“I won’t let that happen. I’ve protected Koholint this long-”
“But what if it’s not enough?” she asked.
A few silent heartbeats passed. “What are you saying?”
“I mean, if there’s still a chance to save the Wind Fish…”
“Marin…” he cautioned.
“Link.” She reached over to squeeze his hand. “You abandoned your duty just to be with me.” She went quiet again, seemingly lost in all the years they had spent together (he was afraid to guess how many). “You showed me a whole other world without ever leaving the island.”
She wasn’t really suggesting- “I can’t-”
“Would you rather Koholint suffer in whatever time it has left, or would it be kinder to end it all at once?”
She was right. Dear goddess, she was right, and he hated it. He hated it as much as he hated himself for letting it get this far. He pulled her to her feet and kissed, savoring her warmth and taste for what he knew would be the final time. He wished the Nightmares would consume them now to take the responsibility off his hands.
When they parted after what felt like a brief eternity, all he could say was, “I’ll never forget you, songbird.”
She smiled through her welling tears. “Just… go out and see the real world for me, okay?”
*********
He sat on the edge of the bed watching the boy’s chest rise and fall, caressing his round cheek with one finger before gently jostling his arm. “Nakura.”
Nakura’s heavy eyelids struggled to open. “Daddy?”
“Hey. You okay?”
“Mm-hmm…” He forced himself to sit up in bed, propping his drooping head up with elbows pressed into his legs.
Link felt guilty for waking him up after such a terrible night, but he didn’t want to leave without seeing him one last time. “I have to go now.”
“Where?” Nakura asked, ever the curious toddler.
“There’s something I need to take care of.” There was no need to worry him with what was happening. Let him live his final days peaceful and innocent.
“No!” he protested, throwing his scrawny arms around his father in an attempt to hold him down. “Please don’t go, Daddy! What if the monsters come back?”
He was already sobbing, and this only made Link feel even worse for abandoning him now, but he had to keep telling himself this was right, that he had to do this before something worse happened to them.
“I know.” He rubbed the child’s back, desperate to console him. “But I need you to be strong for your mom and grandpa, okay?”
Nakura nodded with a sniffle. “Okay…”
“I love you, Nakura.” Link kissed him on top of the head.
“I love you, Daddy.”
Link was prepared to get up and leave then, but before he even stood up- “Daddy? Before you go… Can you tell me the story?”
Smiling, he held his son’s hand. “Long ago, in the beautiful kingdom of Hyrule surrounded by mountains and forests…”
Nakura fell asleep before the Hero and Princess had even reached the Sanctuary. Link watched the child slumber a few more minutes and kissed him again before he rose up.
Outside, the sky was streaked with pink and orange as the day began. Tarin had donned his mushroom knapsack while Marin insisted it was too dangerous to go into the woods.
“I won’t be gone more than half an hour, I promise. Who knows how long you’ll have to stay here?” The mustachioed old man noticed Link standing beside them. “Link? You off on your own adventure?”
“I…” He guessed from his grin that Marin hadn’t told her father the truth. “There’s something I have to do. I’ll be back tomorrow,” he lied.
Marin frowned at this, and she had every right to, though Tarin remained blissfully unsuspecting. “Alright, be careful out there. Then again, you’re the last person I’d have to warn, huh?”
Link didn’t speak as he shook the old man’s hand, then turned to his wife for one last kiss. She managed a quiet, “Good-bye, Link,” before he left Mabe Village for the last time.
He had a plan from there: get back to Martha’s Bay, gather up the rest of his gear that had been collecting dust over the years, head to the Face Shrine (he’d figured out the remaining instruments’ locations and marked them on his map out of habit long ago). From there, his quest would continue as it should’ve.
He noticed the owl watching him solemnly from a tree as he passed through Ukuku. Neither of them said a word.
*********
“Mommy? When's Daddy coming back?”
“Soon, Nakura, soon.” Marin said as she collected his empty breakfast plate without meeting his big questioning eyes.
“OK, listen up! If the Wind Fish wakes up, everything on this island will be gone forever! And I do mean… EVERYTHING!”
“Where’d he go?”
“He had something he needed to take care of, sweetie, something important.” She hated lying to a child, but what else was she supposed to tell him? How do you tell someone they’re entire world is a fantasy? No wonder Link kept quiet all these years.
“But you will be lost too, if the Wind Fish wakes! Same as me… you… are… in… his… dream…”
She wondered where in Koholint her husband was now? Trekking through the wilderness, fighting back fearsome beasts? Deep in the depths of an ancient dungeon, like the tales he told from back in his home country? She understood now he was a born adventurer, never meant to be tied down like this.
“Why did you come here? If it weren’t for you, nothing would have to change! You cannot wake the Wind Fish!”
“Mommy?” the boy asked again.
Marin snapped back to reality (was she even allowed to use that phrase anymore?) and smiled for her son. “Hey, you know what, Nakura? I wanna show you something.”
Link emerged from the boiling pits of Turtle Rock wiping his brow, the words of the Nightmares still ringing in his ears. The Thunder Drum, the last Instrument of the Sirens. All that’s left now… He turned solemnly to the Wind Fish’s egg.
“This place is very special to your father and I,” the woman explained to the child sitting next to her on the log. The spot hadn’t changed at all since they were young, the wind still blowing, the sun still shining, the sea just as blue and endless. Yet everything seemed different now. She was seeing their world in a whole new light, as something fleeting and fragile.
“It’s pretty,” Nakura said, stifling a yawn. Understandable, she’d barely slept last night either.
Link hit the walls of the chamber with a sickening squish. Panting, he struggled to lift up his head, vision swirling as he looked back at the Nightmare before him.
“So this is the Hero of Koholint?” The mass of shadows chuckled as it continued flipping through various forms: Agahnim, Moldorm, Ganon, enemies he hadn’t thought of in a lifetime. “No wonder it was so easy to take over this world. Soon the Wind Fish’s mind will be all ours!”
Marin couldn’t help but notice the beach was strangely quiet. She’d expected to run into monsters on the way here, even brought Link’s old sword just in case, nothing. She hoped this was a sign that whatever he was doing was working.
Link staggered back to his feet using his blade as a crutch, just in time for the creature to consolidate into a new form, a monstrosity with two thick black appendages attached to a large disgusting eye. The Hero almost smiled at this transformation, notching an arrow into his bow.
Nakura yawned again, this time lying his head down in his mother’s lap. She couldn’t blame him, this was the most relaxed they’d felt in days, listening to the gentle crash of the waves on the shore, the songs of the seabirds she loved. That was her childhood dream, after all, to be as free as the gulls… as Link was.
“Our world is going to disappear!” the Nightmare moaned from the wet ground, its eye pulsing from the projectile still sticking out of it. “Our world…” Its body seized violently before erupting into bright light. Link simply sheathed his weapons and began his walk up the stairs materializing at the back of the room.
“Mommy, can you sing for me?” the drowsy boy asked.
“Of course, sweetie.” She ran her fingers through his soft strawberry hair as she began the first notes of the Wind Fish’s song. Her own eyelids fell shut as she allowed herself to slip into a blissful white glow…
*********
He awoke with a start, gagging and spluttering foul-tasting seawater that dribbled down his chin. His mind was still swimming as he felt around the bit of rough wood he was draped over, the mast from his boat, he assumed. Slowly his sight managed to adjust to the morning sunlight and-
Wait. He glanced back down at his reflection in the water, thinking he must have been seeing things. The face staring back was too soft, the eyes too wide and bright. It was the face of the boy who had left Hyrule all those years ago, and his chest tightened.
He pulled himself up onto the wreckage of the ship, struggling to comprehend what happened. How much time had passed out here while he had lived an entire lifetime on Koholint? Hours? Days? How could he expect to just move on after that?
A vast shadow eclipsed the sun and he looked up to see a familiar cetacean form soaring overhead. Link watched in awe, shielding his eyes from the sun reflecting from its glittering skin to watch as its massive tail propelled it through the sky as easily as water. The Wind Fish was alive, and with him the memories of his dreams.
And Link would proudly shoulder those memories as well, so Koholint and its people could live on in spirit.
*********
From there, he began sailing home. Along the way, he noticed the sounds of seagulls accompanying him and couldn’t help but smile, even shedding a few tears. What he didn’t register was two birds in particular that seemed to accompany him the whole trip, one adult whose beautiful voice put her species’ squawks to shame, and a fluffy little fledgling who just seemed to be getting the hang of flying, but ready and eager to see the big world ahead of him.