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The night was quiet. A refreshing breeze ran through the trees and danced around the clearing. The group of heroes had finally found some peace after a hectic day of travelling and fighting a couple of monsters in the still new Hyrule. It was some time during dinner that everyone’s spirits started to lift up, making way for stories to be shared and jokes to be told. All in all, they were having a good time, even Legend seemed to be enjoying it.
It was Time who looked up at the sky looking for the moon, not finding it in sight. He took it onto himself to kill the amicable time they were having and call it a day, ordering the heroes to clean up and go rest. With a couple of groans of reluctance, the boys got up from their spots and started to put everything away.
“I saw a stream nearby, I’ll wash the dishes,” Four said as he collected a bowl from each hero.
A mixed round of ‘thank you’s and ‘don’t bother’s was the response, but Four just nodded at the former and dismissed the latter; he knew they had it a bit rough, and he could stand it, but he was also starting to get disgusted by having to eat from unwashed dishes for three days straight.
He also gathered the pots, pans and other utensils Wild had used to make dinner. He swung his sword over his undershirt and put all the items to be washed on the back of his shield, making use of it as a platter. He picked it up and walked to the direction where he remembered seeing the stream.
Time turned to Wind, who had just discarded his tunic and was in the process of taking off his boots.
“Go with him.”
Wind looked down at his naked left foot and then at the direction in which Four had left. He quickly put it on again and dashed behind Four.
“Boys, I’ll take first watch. You go to sleep”
“Hey!”
Four looked behind him and stopped walking, allowing Wind to catch up with him.
“I’ll help you with these,” Wind took some items off the shield.
“Thanks,” Four smiled.
The more they walked, the louder the sound of running water got. They go to the small stream and plopped down by the edge, just were the soft dirt was enough dry for them to sit comfortably without getting damp. Four had brought two rags with him and handed one to Wind. He took it and looked at him with curiosity, almost thinking that Four had anticipated anyone joining him.
“I’ll wash and you’ll dry, alright?” More than a question, it was a statement as he was already dumping the smaller bowls into the water.
Wind watched him as he moved some rocks, creating a small barrier so that the bowls wouldn’t float away. When he was happy with his impromptu well, he grabbed a bowl from the water and opened a bag at his belt, dipped his hand in it, sprinkled a fine powder over the wet bowl and started scrubbing with the rag.
It was a short moment of silence before Wind’s curiosity won over him.
“What’s that?” he asked, a brow high in both confusion and interest.
Four had already finished scrubbing and rinsed the bowl in the water, “sand,” he passed it to Wind for him dry, “it’s really good for cleaning, I always carry some with me because I don’t like my hands being dirty.”
Whatever that was, Four could tell that wasn’t exactly the answer Wind was expecting. His face just looked like he might have encountered a rare Chuchu.
“I’ve lived all my life in the sand and didn’t know that.”
Four let out a soft chuckle and handed him another bowl to dry.
“What do you use in your Hyrule, then?”
“Soap.”
Four choked on air and almost dropped the pan he was scrubbing.
Wow, rude.
Kid’s fancy.
Show-off.
Oh, shut up.
He looked at Wind, surprise evident in his face, “Of course you’d use soap.”
Wind hid his laugh behind the drying rag and placed the bowl with the rest to the side, “Why is that surprising? You don’t have soap in your Hyrule?”
Four shrugged, “Not really, it’s just too expensive.” He tried to recall the price, but immediately stopped, he didn’t want his wallet to shiver in fear, “I mean, being the Hero has its perks and all but most of the time I still have to pay full price. And that’s fine. But soap? It’s so unfair, it’s almost ridiculous,” he scrubbed a little bit harder, the price of a small bar soap sneaking into his mind and scoffed, “Absolutely asinine.”
Wind was at loss for words, he didn’t expect Four, of all people, to have strong opinions on soap, of all things. He definitely needed to sort his priorities, just like the rest of the heroes. He feared he had opened a conversation deeper than he could ever imagine, so he just decided to change the subject. He glanced around, trying to find anything to talk about. His sight landed on Four’s shield. The moonlight was so bright he didn’t even have to squint his eyes to look at the design, not like he ever needed to, he knew the design from memory. He was sure that was the same engraving his family shield had, he would recognise it anytime from having seen it all his life hanging on the wall back at home. It was his first shield; he would just know.
“Hey, I’ve been wondering for a while,” he took the pot being handed to him, “Care telling me about your shield? It feels familiar.”
Four glanced back to his shield and smiled at it fondly, then he returned to furiously scrubbing the wooden ladle in his hand.
“What do you want me to tell you?” his lips still pulled in a gentle smile. “It’s just a normal shield.”
Wind mused for a moment, what did he want to know? He figured the best was to be direct and explain his line of thought.
“I- um,” he opened his mouth to start a new sentence but then quickly closed it.
Four handed him the last utensil as he sorted his thoughts out.
Wind dried the ladle idly, “I just feel like I’ve seen it before.”
Four hummed in acknowledgment but didn’t look at him. Instead, he started collecting the bowls and pans.
“I think it looks a lot like my family’s shield,” Wind put the ladle with the rest of the utensils and gazed at the shield, “Can’t really remember what it looked like right now.”
Four stilled at that. He looked at Wind and then at his shield. He blinked, a perplexed look on his face, and then shook his head. He grabbed his shield and held it between Wind and him.
“When I said that this shield is normal, I meant that it isn’t a magical item nor a blessed one. It’s just a common shield, but it’s still special; my Zelda got it for me at a festival, the very same day my journey started.” A tender smile appeared again at the memory. “I nearly lost it many times, but I refused to let go of it.”
Wind eyed the shield, he slowly raised a hand to touch the steel rim and the wooden body.
Four flipped the shield and started placing the smaller items on it, leaving the pots and pants for Wind to carry.
“As I said, my Zelda got it at a big festival. It really isn’t a unique thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the vendor found a way to mass-produce it and make a profit out of it after my journey.”
“It was just a thought,” Wind said as he stood up and stretched his legs, “I don’t know much about that shield, anyway. Just what grandma told me.”
They gathered everything and started heading back to camp. Four appreciated the silence of the night-
“But don’t you think it’s weird?” Wind broke the peaceful silence.
Four let out a resigned sigh and turned to hear the turmoil in his head.
What’s his deal?
Yeah, he’s hiding something.
He’s acting weird.
Four squinted his eyes in pain, a headache was starting to form at the back of his head.
“What’s wrong?”
Four shook his head, “nothing, I’m just tired.”
They reached camp, waved at Time upon arrival, and tried to quietly leave all the stuff next to Wild’s things. They took their bedrolls and placed them in the empty spots available. Before laying down, Wind noticed Four talking to Time; he pointed at Time, then at himself, and lastly at the sky.
Wind got up and interrupted their conversation.
“Are you talking about shifts?”
Time nodded, “Four will be taking second.”
“I can take it.”
“It’s fine—”
Wind held a hand in front of Four’s face.
“Just minutes ago you said you were tired. I can take it. You go rest.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry. I don’t mind!” Wind shot a bright smile at him and then at Time, secretly looking for approval.
Time’s sharp look softened just a bit and shrugged, “if the boy says it’s fine, we gotta trust him.”
Four looked from one to the other, and his faces just said that there was no point in arguing anymore. With a bit of hesitation, he accepted Wind’s offer and bid them good night.
“Good night, little one.”
“Good night, Four!”
For the following couple of days, the conversation about the shield wouldn’t leave Four’s mind. It entered his mind and decided to stay there, piling on the many other things he had already to worry about. Wind never brought it up again, and so neither did he. And the thing is, he didn’t know why it bothered him, but also part of him knew exactly what it was all about. It was almost like—surprise, surprise! — no part in him could agree to ignore or do anything related to the issue. It was like having the answer on the tip of your tongue, but his mind just refused to collaborate. After the fifth day, the idea was out of his mind as if had never existed in the first place; archived in the depths of his mind, along with late-night talks and random interesting, yet useless, facts.
The blizzard made it impossible to traverse the mountains at night. They were lucky to find a large enough cave for the nine of them and settled there for the remainder of the night.
The cave was oddly quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were the strong winds outside and the cackling of the fire they hardly managed to start. Everyone was soon gathered around the fire while they waited for Wild to finish cooking dinner. Once it was ready, bowls filled with steaming hot stew were passed around until everyone had one. Almost as work of magic, the spirits in the room were lifted up and conversations between them started.
There was no point in assigning watch to anyone, they knew the storm was bad enough that no monsters nor wild animals would be coming into the cave during the night; for the first time in weeks, it would be a night of rest for everyone.
After an hour or so of trying to fall asleep, Four sat up, and although he appreciated the warmth, he untangled himself from Sky’s arms. He knew there was no way he’d be able to sleep with this cold, he’d need close to a thousand of covers and heating pads and flaming swords to be even close to comfortable enough to sleep. So he just wrapped himself tighter in the couple of sheets he had been buried under. Even with Wild’s cloak tightly secured to his figure, the cold was still finding his way into his bones.
The fire was close to dying completely, so he rummaged into his stuff to find his fire rod. He took note of everyone sleeping as peacefully as they could with a raging blizzard outside; he tried not to make as much noise while restarting the fire.
Four observed from his spot at the rest of the boys sleeping closely to each other. He smiled at the sight of the small families that had formed within the group; Hyrule was clinging to Legend as if his life depended on it; next to them, Wild and Twilight were both draped over Time, limbs intertwining; Sky was back to back with Warriors, and he couldn’t see it but he was sure Wind was somewhere underneath Warrior’s cape.
A relaxed smile formed on his face at the scene.
“Can’t sleep?”
The unexpected voice made him jump in surprise, almost letting a curse escape his breath. He put his hand on his chest and let out a deep sigh as Wind sat down next to him, shoulders touching.
“You sneaky sea rat, you scared me,” he laughed nervously and elbowed him playfully on the side. “Yeah, can’t sleep.”
“Me, neither.”
He nodded his head and turned his sight to the fire. They were quiet for a good long minute.
“Are you okay?” Four asked. “You were too quiet during dinner, that’s not very like you.”
He didn’t need to see Wind to know he had shrugged.
“I think I’m just worried about my family.” Wind said but did not elaborate more, and Four was not about to pry.
Four felt Wind felt adjust his own blankets over him.
“I haven’t left them alone for so long since my journey finished,” he barely made it without his voice cracking.
Four knew how much Wind cared for his grandma and sister; if he wasn’t talking about his adventures with the pirates, he was always talking about them. He would show them all the letters and drawings his sister would send him, saying how proud of a big bro he was. And his grandma, even though she didn’t know any of the people Wind was travelling with, she had already sent each of them a protection charm.
“Oh, c’mere,”
Four stretched his arm around Wind’s shoulders and embraced him in a side hug. He fixed his sheets on both them and pulled him closer to his side. Wind quickly tried to hide in the crook of his neck, he couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.
Four patted his back gently, in an attempt to provide comfort.
After a couple of minutes, he could feel Wind’s breathing go back to normal, and for a moment he thought he had fallen asleep. But Wind raised his head from his hiding spot and rested it on Four’s shoulder.
“Feeling better?”
Wind nodded.
It wasn’t the first time Four had to comfort someone while being one, but it still didn’t feel right.
We gotta do something before this turns awkward.
You’re the only one feeling like that.
I know! Guys, we could do that.
I don’t see how that won’t work. I say we give it a try.
But, if there was one thing they agreed on, it was that they could always find comfort in music. If it worked for them, why wouldn’t it work with Wind, too?
So he started humming the melody that had helped him fall asleep since he had memory. It was soft and delicate, and he was sure that if he wasn’t this close to Wind, he wouldn’t be able to hear him. He brought a hand to Wind’s hair and started combing his fingers through the messy locks.
“Oh, won't you come with me,” Wind sang quietly to the melody, “where the moon is made of gold.”
Four’s hand stopped for a moment on Wind’s head. He had not expected for Wind to know the lyrics. He shouldn’t know them.
Wind continued, “And as the clouds roll by…”
“We'll sing the song of the sea.” Both finished in unison.
Before any thoughts started to form in Four’s mind, Wind spoke.
“My grandma used to sing that for me and my sister,” there was a nostalgic tone to his voice.
Four didn’t say anything. His mind already reeling with theories of how that could be possible. No one but him knew the lyrics. It was his lullaby, that his mother used to sing to him. Not even Zelda knew about it.
“Didn’t think you’d know it,” was all he could say before he felt Wind shift and sit up.
“I know, no one in Outset knows it either,” Wind replied as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “It’s incomplete, though. Grandma said something about her mother forgetting the lyrics.”
Four gulped, he already knew where this was going and he—they already had conflictive feelings about it. He had always had a family, even if his mother left them too early, he always had gramps and dad. And he loved them, but he had always yearned for more. A big family, that would be nice. He’d love that.
After being caught up in his thoughts for a while, Four’s head perked up and looked directly at Wind. He was ready to confront whatever this was.
“My mum sang it for me,” he confessed and waited to see Wind’s reaction, “came from her mum.”
Wind’s mouth dropped comically, the realisation finally hit him.
“It’s a family song!!”
“Shhh!” Four clasped a hand over his mouth and directed a look to the other sleeping heroes. Legend turned on his side, dragging Hyrule with him.
Both giggled, trying to stifle their laughs. Wind removed the hand from his mouth, but kept it between his, holding it tightly.
“This is crazy, I never—”
Four didn’t need to hear him say it, he already knew. He could see it in his eyes, so big and bright that it would be impossible to believe he had been crying not so long ago. A burning sensation filled his chest and for the first time, the cold wasn’t bothering anymore.
He smiled at Wind, “would you like to know the rest of the song?”
Wind nodded repeatedly and in the blink of an eye he was back in his previous position with his head resting on Four’s shoulder, but now he had an arm around his waist.
Four couldn’t help but let out a laugh at Wind. He adjusted the covers and Wild’s cloak over them,
“I had a dream last night,”
He sang softly.
“And heard the sweetest sound.”
Like he didn’t want anyone else to know.
“I saw a great white light,”
But he knew Wind could hear him just well.
“And dancers in the round.”
His hand traced circles on Wind’s arm, just like his mother used to do with him.
“Castles in the sand,”
And he tried not to get overwhelmed.
“Cradles in the trees,”
But his chest had never felt this full before.
“Don't cry, I'll see you by and by.”
And he confirmed that tears of joy are the hardest to hold back.
The next morning, he looked at his shield and he couldn’t help but smile widely at it.
“Hey, Wind.”
“Yeah?”
“Remember that conversation we had about my shield?” He pointed at his shield and Wind nodded, “how about we carve something out? That way we can confirm that it is in fact the same shield you have back at home.”
Wind’s faint smile turned into a big grin and wasted no time in getting Sky to lend him his carving knife.
“You do the honours,” Four held the shield in front of him.
After a minute of thinking, Wind started tracing the knife over and over the wood. When he was finished, with an even bigger and proud smile he turned the shield around for Four to see.
Four gave him a thumb up and equipped his shield on his back.
Wind left to give Sky his knife back.
Four knew he didn’t have to wait until destiny landed them on Outset to know if that was his shield. And even if it wasn’t, that was not enough proof to deny that he still had family thousands of years into the future. If anything, that newly added detail just made his shield even more special now.