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The Skyloftian had managed to keep a gentle expression in front of the group, but inside he was freaking out. Seeing the Master Sword, which was supposed to be at rest, in the hands of multiple other people was surprisingly one of his lesser concerns. It would’ve been much higher on his list if Fi hadn’t seemed so content in the faint impressions he was able to get from her. He was glad to be able to hear from her at all.
There was a lot to think about. He was in the future. He’d traversed time before, but it was always to the past to make sure Zelda would make it back to the present unharmed.
Zelda…
One of the boys had mentioned “the Princess Zelda” of “that time.” And the others had easily assumed that there would be a Princess Zelda of this time. Would Zelda live forever with the blood of the goddess? How would she gain the title “princess?” He hoped she was still happy after all these years. He already missed her terribly. At least they were all trying to make their way to her. If all went well, he could see her soon.
He could ask her why she gathered such a large group of men and boys – even young children – all named Link. Was there a connection between them?
His thoughts were interrupted as an absolutely tiny child bounded up to the Skyloftian.
“Do you really live in the sky?” Mini asked excitedly. He wasn’t the only one interested to know. The royal guard in particular seemed to be lending his ear.
The Skyloftian smiled. “Yes, I did. And many of my friends still do. But more and more people are joining us on the surface.”
“Why don’t you want to live in the sky anymore?”
“Look around! There’s so much to see and explore. Skyloft is very small, and I’ve already seen all there is to see up there. But down here, everything is new.”
“Well, I met some people who wanted to live in the sky even though they weren’t born there... Do you really ride on birds to travel everywhere? I’ve flown with a bird before, but it was much too small to ride on its back. Are there birds that big?”
The Skyloftian looked taken aback. “You’ve never seen a loftwing before?” His expression grew sad. “I guess there would be no need for them on the surface.”
“So there really are giant birds? How big are they?”
“Taller than me by quite a bit.”
“Woah.” The child paused with a thoughtful expression. “Why isn’t your hair pink?”
“Why would it be?” he sputtered in confusion.
“Everyone in the Wind Tribe has pink hair. …Or maybe it’s kind of reddish.”
“The only person I know with red hair is Groose. I haven’t met anyone with pink hair until now.” He gestured to the pink-haired man in the group.
“Oh yeah!” the child said like he had been reminded of something. He fell back to where the pink-haired man was walking.
“Are you a part of the Wind Tribe?”
The man raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of the Wind Tribe.”
The man’s scowl failed to hide his interest as the young boy told him all about how the Wind Tribe managed to live in the clouds and how the wind kept the people abreast of all that happened in the world below them.
“Huh. So they managed to do it after all,” the royal guard said to himself.
The Skyloftian didn’t bother asking more about it. His mind was already tired. Instead, he focused on the beautiful world around him. The closest comparison he had to a place like this was the Faron Woods. But it was so remarkably different from the woods he had traversed before. The trees were much taller than those in the Faron Woods, with the exception of the large tree that stood in the center. They were a different kind too – straight trunks with limbs high above that carried what appeared to be green needles instead of leaves. He wondered if they would hurt to touch. The sounds, too, were different from anything he had ever heard before. The chirps of the birds were an unfamiliar variety. And the chitterings of small animals he could not see were mostly foreign to him. It reminded him that despite spending months on the surface, he still had much more to explore. Zelda would have loved to see these sights. Or perhaps she already had by now? It was still a strange thought to him. He wished desperately to see her.
——
“So if you're not from the Wind Tribe, why is your hair pink?” Mini asked the teenager.
“Can't a guy have pink hair and not belong to a certain clan?”
“I don't know. I've never seen it before.”
“How about mine?” Parka, who had disposed of his parka and was now wearing a red tunic, slipped into the conversation. His hair was strawberry blonde with green tips. Most of his hair was pulled into a lazy topknot. A little bit was left down in the front to frame his face.
“I've never seen green hair before! Why does it have green in it?”
“My teammates and I had our hair dyed on my last adventure so we could easily recognize each other from a distance.”
“Dyed?”
“Yeah. See the color of my eyebrows?”
“It matches the top of your hair!”
“Yup. That’s my natural color.”
The child scrutinized the pink-haired man’s face.
“So is your hair dyed too? Your eyebrows are different.”
“Yeah.”
“Why? Did you get it dyed with your friend, too?”
“Nah. Just wanted a change.”
“I don't see dyed hair very often. How did you do it?” Parka, sans parka, asked.
“A witch, a cauldron, and lots of experimentation. I think Maple enjoyed herself a little too much.”
Parka, who had gone by “Verdi” in Hytopia, chewed on his lip. He’d gotten off to a bad start with the man. Pink had been rude, even calling him stupid. Even if the group had been spread out enough that it wasn’t a big spectacle, Verdi felt greatly embarrassed. But he was admittedly interested in the hero who had once wielded the same sword he now had sheathed at his back.
“I got mine dyed in Hytopia.”
Verdi left it at that. As aloof as Pink made himself out to be, Verdi could tell that he was the curious sort, if the attentive ear he had given the child meant anything. The ball was in his court, and he’d wait to see if Pink would hit it back.
“Hytopia? The human kingdom to the north? How did you end up there?” Pink took the bait, and Verdi smiled.
“I was travelling. Trying to take a breather from the whole hero thing. Not that it worked.”
Pink raised an eyebrow at him.
“They were looking for a hero to rescue their princess from a curse, and they had me pegged as a hero on sight. I’d barely stepped foot in their Castle Town before they sent me to the castle to be forcefully enlisted.” Verdi laughed.
“Figures,” Pink said. “Heroes attract trouble like magnets, huh. Can’t even stop at saving Hyrule. Now you have to solve some other country’s problems.”
Verdi hummed an agreement. “It wasn’t really the sort of action I was expecting to find myself back in the middle of so soon, but it was kind of fun. I met some good people.”
Pink made a complicated expression, with tight lips but softened eyes.
“So what’s it like in Hytopia? I haven’t been. They speak Hylian there, right?” Pink said.
“Yeah. It’s a very fashion-forward place. Everyone puts a lot of stock into how they appear. Less so when I first arrived, because they were scared of the curse, but even then, fashion was the first thing on their minds. They have a high opinion of Hylians, so they were pretty welcoming, despite my initial fashion crimes.” He chuckled. “It’s a neat place. I hope you get to visit. If it’s anything like it is in my time, I think you’d get along just fine.” Come to think of it, with that pink hair, he reminds me of someone I saw there. He probably doesn’t want to be compared to a “faux hero” though.
“Maybe I’ll get the chance to visit one day. I’d probably get caught up in another villainous scheme, though.”
“How many would that make it?”
Pink did some mental math.
“I’m not sure what counts. It would be my third at a minimum, but my fifth at a maximum. Oh, wait, there’s also whatever this is. So add one more.”
Verdi let out a low whistle. “You’re a bit of a veteran at this sort of thing, huh?”
“If you say so,” he said indifferently.
“This will only be my third. And the second one was… very low stakes compared to the first one. I hope this will be similar to that, but with so many of us brought together…” It felt weird to count himself among these heroes of legend. What kinds of stories did they have?
“Don’t count on this being easy,” the veteran huffed.
“Yeah.”
Verdi used the pause in the conversation to examine the group. A man with bobbed hair and a fancy uniform seemed to be leading the group. The Skyloftian had been walking with him but was slowly falling back towards the middle of the group, looking lost in thought. Verdi had thought the small brunette who had suggested they head for the mountain would also be guiding the way, but Verdi couldn’t see him. The little kid who had been asking about the vet’s hair had also fallen back to the middle of the group. One of the men who had the Master Sword – one of the heroes wearing green, but not the one with the scarf – was holding the little one’s hand. Verdi wondered how long it would take for the spent-looking child to end up on someone’s shoulders. The scarf man was walking with the young boy wearing a mask, the sailor, and the teenager they had needed to stop for. The boys were talking animatedly, but the man kept his hand near his sword as he scanned the woods and the rest of the group. The red-haired man, whose race was completely unknown to Verdi, was walking near the front – an easy thing to accomplish with his longer stride. His head kept shifting slightly to listen for anything dangerous. Verdi got distracted by his red-tufted tail swaying back and forth as he walked.
The voice of the pink-haired veteran at his side broke the spell.
“I wonder how many people here have experience fighting alongside someone else.”
That was a good question. Verdi’s first adventure was all solo when it came to fighting. His time in Hytopia was a big 180 from that relatively solitary journey. He wondered which direction these heroes leaned.
“I have some experience with others,” he said to the vet, who gave a nod of acknowledgment.
“Those two look military.” Vet pointed at Scarf and the fancy uniform guy. “I hope that means they know how to fight without hurting their allies.” He looked skeptical as he said it.
“I bet those brothers are used to fighting together.” Verdi gestured to the quadruplets. “What about you?”
“All the problem-solving was always left up to me.” He looked irritated to admit it. “If anyone tried to help with the big stuff, it was by going off on their own and getting into trouble that I had to dig them out of. But even that guy was a refreshing change of pace sometimes.”
A bit like Verdi’s first adventure, then. All of Vet’s adventures were like that?
“I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” he said.
It would definitely be a learning curve if most of the 19 heroes here were used to working alone, but Verdi would bet that they would all be quick to adapt.