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It was by the time the first warm safflinas bloomed and the first fairies left their fountains, that Time knew the goddesses had already sent down spring to start her journey in Hyrule.
Years ago, spring would have been the old man’s favorite time of the year. Memories always take him back, where he was just a young boy dressed in green; for him, spring was sacred.
For him, spring equaled fond memories and celebrations.
For him, spring equaled a lush green forest flowing with fairies.
For him, spring equaled sitting under the great Deku tree with loved ones.
For him, spring equaled Saria’s warm smile.
For him, spring equaled music.
For him, spring equaled love.
“The flow of time is always cruel.” A wise sage once said, and they were right. Time chuckled dryly to himself as he remembered that quote. It was true, his heart was always aching, longing for a past long gone, for people he left behind, for a life that he could never go back to. Although Time knew his sacrifice was the right thing to do, it left a wound that forever remained open. And yet, he never let that wound stop him; even though it did hurt from time to time, the old man never let his guard down nor showed how he truly felt. He built a wall around that wound, firmly believing that the past remains in the past. And all it took was a single tear falling down Wind’s cheeks for that wall to all come crumbling down.
It was a windy night; the nine heroes had just settled down for camp after a long battle against some unexpectedly strong enemies. Swords were broken, arrows were fired, blood was shed, and hope was less and less present in the hearts of the nine young men. After barely making it out alive, the boys decided to rest for a while before hitting the road once again. Once healed up with the help of some fairies and Hyrule’s magic, everyone went to sleep with the exception of Time, who volunteered to stay on watch duty despite Twilight’s offer to take the watch in his stead. After all, the old man knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyways; for him, spring also equaled nostalgia and sad dreams.
Once he convinced Twilight that he was alright, and after making sure everyone was asleep, the old man decided to pull out a rag and start cleaning and polishing his arsenal; something to do to prevent him from succumbing to his heavy depressing thoughts. While he was busy making sure he could see his reflection on the Biggoron sword, his ears almost missed the sound of footsteps nearby. As he quickly turned around, he noticed that the youngest of the heroes had already left his sleeping place.
“Everything all right, Wind?” The old man asked.
“Yeah, bathroom break. Don’t worry.” Said the young boy in a hushed tone, slowly making his way away from the camp.
“Alright, don’t take too long. You never know what these woods hide.” And with the location of Wind in mind, Time went back to polishing.
The old man knew he shouldn’t be overthinking, but his mother hen instinct is telling him he should be ready if anything happened to the young boy. And so, following his instinct, he put his sword down and quietly waited for Wind to come back, just listening to the sound of the wind rustling the trees.
And as the long minutes turned into half an hour of silence, Time could not stay in place anymore. He had to go look for Wind. The old man sent a silent prayer to the goddesses above and prayed for everyone’s safety before he finally took off to where he had last seen the young hero. Making as little noise as possible, Time slowly approached the small grove Wind went to. He couldn’t see much in the darkness, but he did his best to remember the pathway the young hero took. His heart was beating so fast, his palms were getting sweaty and the anxious thoughts in his mind were getting worse and worse. He felt the wind intensify, and the air became colder as he approached some bushes, just when suddenly, among all the noises; he heard the sound of someone sniffling.
His ears slowly guided him to the source of the noise and the silhouette of a trembling Wind curled up against a tree finally came into view. He slowly exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Time spoke softly to announce his presence without scaring the kid
“Wind?”
Suddenly, the hero lifted his head; eyes puffy, nose and cheeks clearly red; all detail of his crying face illuminated by the moon’s watchful eye.
“Geez, old man, ya scared me.” Wind spoke in a shaky tone. Time noticed the crack in his voice and was certain his successor had been definitely crying.
The sight of the heroes crying wasn’t an unusual sight for Time. They all have cried at some point in front of him, even Legend, in the rare moments where he let down his strong facade, but the exception of them all was Wind. There was something about the sight of Wind crying that felt so different from the other boys. Wind; the one who’s always optimistic, who always stays strong and who’s not afraid to voice his feelings. It felt so wrong. It felt so unusual. It felt so out of place; and it was the only thing that was taken to finally shatter the walls Time has built around himself.
“Are you okay?” the old man asked hesitantly, not wanting to state the obvious.
“Huh, me? Yeah I’m fine. Just some allergies. Y’know, it’s spring after all.” The young boy replied, looking away.
Ignoring the young boy’s answer and the heartache that was getting bigger and bigger, Time sat down next to the sailor.
“You know, sitting under a tree away from the group won’t cure some spring allergies.” The old man looked down at Wind’s reddening ears. “You know you can’t lie to your old man, Wind. You know I can always see the truth.”
Wind slowly looked up at the sky and let his tears cascade down his cheeks.
As the young boy shakily opened his mouth to speak, Time spoke in his stead “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, sailor. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you, and that you don’t have to carry this burden on your shoulders alone.”
It all became so clear; it wasn’t only just Wind that was hurting, it was all of his boys.
The old man took a deep breath and joined Wind to look up at the stars. “Even I, wish to cry under a tree sometimes, and yet I do not have the strength to do so. I cannot show my true emotions, and yet strong heroes like you inspire me to do so.”
All the tears drained from Wind’s eyes, as he looked at Time, the young boy was in shock. He never expected such a strong figure in his life to say those words to him. All he could do was stare at his mentor, unable to find the right words.
Time chuckled quietly: “It’s quite funny, getting all emotional the night of a big day.”
The young hero questioned, not knowing what the old man was talking about: “Why? What’s big about tomorrow?”
Time took a deep breath and said with a smile on his face: “Thanks to you, dear sailor, tomorrow we shall celebrate.”
“Celebrate what? We’ve lost everything in that battle!” Wind cried out.
Time got up to his feet and extended a hand for the sailor to take. He looked at the young boy with a smile still on his face: “Tomorrow, dear Wind, we shall celebrate us, the heroes of Hylia.”
Wind took the old man’s hand and stood up. “Get a good night’s rest tonight and tomorrow will be on me. I won’t let any one of my boys shed a sad tear ever again.”
And as Wind went to sleep that night, all that was dancing through his dreams were Time’s words from their conversation in the meadow.
The next morning, Wild woke up as usual just a little before sunset to cook the daily breakfast for his companions. He stared at the cooking pot only to find Time, to his surprise, already cooking breakfast.
The old man raised his head and smiled at the champion: “Good morning, Wild. Surprised to see me taking your place?”
Wild looked puzzled and tried to answer honestly: “To be frank, yes, I am surprised. Is there anything going on today?” he wondered.
The old man grinned: “Today we shall have a celebration, champion. We’re celebrating Hylia’s heroes. Now, come and help me, we shall prepare a feast today.”
Slowly, but surely the cooking’s smell woke the rest of the heroes. All were confused on why the old man was in such a good mood this morning. Once they were all up, he called them to gather around the cooking pot.
“Good morning heroes, come gather around! It’s our holiday today.”
All nine heroes sat down in a circle around the cooking pot and looked at their leader, waiting for him to explain what was going on.
“So, uh, we have a holiday?” Asked Sky, still sleepy and confused.
Time happily looked at the heroes; his heart full of love. It was spring after all, and Time would not waste a single minute of this sacred season.
“Yes, dear Sky. Today, I have gathered you to celebrate us; Hylia’s heroes. Us; who defeated Ganon’s malice 9 times and even more.” Time smiled once again.
“I have gathered you here to remind you that I am so proud of you boys. No wound shall define us as losers, and no tear shall ever make us feel weak. You are the strongest boys I’ve ever met and I cannot say this enough; I am so proud of you heroes.” Time could feel a tear falling down his eye as he spoke his words. He looked at Wind.
“Today would have been the day I celebrated spring back in my childhood.” His voice was cracking already.
“Today would have been the day the Kokiri children and I gathered around the great Deku tree and danced the day away.” He closed his eye and took a deep breath.
“Today, we would have celebrated spring, and Saria’s birthday.”
All of the boys were stunned; this was a first sight for them; they’d never seen Time in such a state. Wind finally understood what Time meant. Tears are meant to make you stronger. Tears make you feel lighter. Tears truly are magical.
The silence after Time’s small speech was broken by Warriors crying out: “Old man! How dare you make eight grown boys cry!” And with that, all nine heroes burst out laughing and crying at the same time, and it made them feel much, much lighter. And then, Hylia’s heroes ate their modest feast and spent the rest of their day telling stories and celebrating.
Once the sun had set, around their campfire, Time looked at his heroes and announced with a prideful tone: “Well now boys, no celebration is over without some music. I know some of you can play amazing notes.” He looked down, blushing. “You know, back in my day I was quite the musician. I played the ocarina, the Goron drums, the Deku pipes and even the Zora guitar.”
“Old man, that’s impressive!” Exclaimed Sky. “I only learned the harp!”
“Well, you’re in luck, Sky. I used to follow the tunes of a friend who played the harp with my ocarina.” He smiled sadly. “But now… I honestly haven’t been playing much. Malon loves singing and I would join her sometimes, but it had been a long time since I truly played something.”
“I… have sung before.” Whispered Legend, barely audible. “and I have some experience with different instruments.” He blushed.
“I may not look like it, but I sure can conduct an orchestra!” Yelled Wind proudly.
“I harmonized before.” Added Twilight.
“My friend Kass taught me how to play the accordion, he even gifted me one! Let me just grab my slate…” Added Wild, looking for his instrument.
“I definitely can’t play any music, but I sure can dance!” Said Warriors proudly. “After all, the ladies always compliment my dancing.” He finished with a smug smile.
“Oh I bet you don’t even have that many partners! I can dance with three partners at the same time! Let me just show you…” said Four, excitedly.
“I haven’t done it in public before but I do enjoy singing as well… May I try?” said Hyrule shyly.
Time smiled from ear to ear, his heart and soul fully healed just by the sight of his boys celebrating together. “Of course you may, dear Hyrule.” He smiled and put his ocarina to his lips. “This will be the song of spring… Wind, take the lead. And now on the count of four…”
The young boy pulled out his baton and stood up. “And One, and two, and three, and four!”