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“More walkin’,” Wind groaned as Twilight beckoned to them all from on top of the hill. He stared upwards in resignation, still hearing Twilight’s voice ringing in his ears.
‘We’re ‘bouts halfway to Ordon! It ain’t gonna be long now!’
“Maybe we’ll be able to take a break soon,” Sky said, wheezing beside him.
Unlike the rest of their companions, he was bent over resting his hands on his knees. Sky could reach devastating speeds compared to most of the others, but like Wind, he preferred to travel via other means than simple walking. They often ended up lagging behind the others, half out of exhaustion but also because they could then grouse to each other about the seemingly endless walking they’d found themselves doing on this new adventure.
“Twilight’s lookin’ proper ready to put a boot up someone’s ass if they’re keepin’ him from home much longer,” Wind muttered. “Just ‘cause Ordon’s the first of our homes we’re gettin’ to visit don’t justify settin’ such a pace.”
Sky let out a startled laugh as he reluctantly straightened up so they could begin the long upwards climb. “So, do you think Ordon will be like the village we stayed in a few nights ago? Are all villages like that?”
“Dunno,” Wind said, keeping easy pace beside him. “None of the village on the great see are like that. It’ll be right interestin’ to see, I’m thinkin’. And he keeps talkin’ ‘bout all kinds of animals, so I’m thinkin’ there’ll be a lot of news things for the both of us.”
Sky let out a sound of interest and grinned faintly. They hadn’t known each other long, but Sky didn’t exactly hide how fascinating he found all the different kinds of Surface animals. “I wonder… if they’ll be big animals or small animals?”
“Could be either, or in between,” Wind snickered. “The pigs we be keepin’ on Ordon start out small but can be growin’ proper big!”
“Pigs,” Sky repeated, testing the word out with obvious fascination. “Will Ordon have pigs?”
“We’ll find out! It’s a wonder, really, that Twilight went off adventurin’ in the first place, honestly,” Wind said with a snort. “The way he be talkin’ ‘bout home somtimes… I’m thinkin’ he weren’t ever have been leavin’ without bein’ a hero.”
Sky’s face seemed to fall and he went quiet. They were about halfway up the hill now with the others waiting impatiently for them at the top. Although, it looked like Twilight and Hyrule had already started down the other side. No doubt they’d all have moved on by the time the group’s two slowpokes got to the top.
“It isn’t fair sometimes,” Sky admitted, “what we have to do. I don’t regret saving Zelda and- and seeing through everything else that happened, but… I guess I just wish it hadn’t had to happen in the first place.”
Wind glanced at him in surprise. “It’s upsettin’ what was happenin’ to all our homes, but I don’t see evil bein’ willin’ to just… stop bein’ evil. They’re dicks,” he added, drawing out the word with obvious relish.
Sky started, then giggled. “Well, you aren’t wrong about that. I just… There wasn’t anyone else who could have done what I did, quite literally. Hylia… chose me… even though there were others who probably would have done better. Mostly, I guess I just wished I could have chosen.”
“But… you were chosin’,” Wind said in confusion. “Just because the gods picked you don’t mean you had to act. You could’ve just stayed home and complained. Or left it all undone. You were chosin’ to step up and be a hero.”
“If I hadn’t acted, then Demise would have taken everything,” Sky protested.
“And Aryll would have stayed kidnapped and Ganondorf would’ve taken the whole Triforce if I’d been stayin’ home,” Wind shot back at him. “There weren’t no gods pickin’ me to be the hero. I made them recognize me, actually! The line of heroes ended before the Great Sea covered all the land, see, so there weren’t any heroes to step up. Not without chosin’ to do so!”
“The line of… Wait, you weren’t chosen?” Sky asked, seeking confirmation. “After what Demise… But if the line of heroes ended, then his spirit couldn’t have…” Sky’s voice drifted off before he finished a single sentence and Wind just gave him an expectant look, waiting to get a proper explanation. “It’s just… with no herofs spirit, then I don’t see how a great evil could have arisen like that. Those… those go together.”
Wind’s expectant look turned into pure bafflement. “Well, that’s just soundin’ like nonsense. People don’t only be good or evil ‘cause of someone else’s presence. They just be like that. Bein’ a hero just means you’re standin’ up to that, and it don’t take anythin’ special to be doin’ that.”
Sighing softly, Sky flexed a hand in an absentminded gesture. “Maybe… it just feels unfair sometimes, how all of us- most of us, I mean- were called to become heroes. It doesn’t feel like there’s much of a choice when the alternative is the end of all things.”
That didn’t clarify anything as far as Wind was concerned. “You still chose to step up, though,” he said. “Lots of people on the Great Sea weren’t wantin’ to help out when my sister was kidnapped. And my friend Linebeck spent most of his life runnin’ away from proper heroin’, and he was havin’ plenty of opportunities to be one.
“It seems to me,” he added as they finally began to draw near the top of the hill, “that you’re thinkin’ havin’ the gods say you’re the hero means you don’t ever be havin’ a choice. That just don’t be true. You don’t know for a fact how things would of gone without you steppin’ up. But it’s th’ fact that you were chosin’ to answer that call is what’s makin’ you a hero. And that just don’t be true, or else Linebeck wouldn’t never be able to call himself a hero! It’s that choice that’s matterin’, not some stuffy god givin’ you the finger.”
Sky let out a strangled gasp and shoved Wind hard when Wind demonstrated exactly which finger he meant. But he was also laughing at the same time, which Wind took as a good sign. All that fretting… it seemed utterly ridiculous to him. But grown-ups did seem to overthink a lot of easy things, so that tracked.
Once Wind had his feet under himself again, they both took a moment to stare resignedly down the hill. Sure enough, the others were following Twilight, having clearly decided to leave them behind.
Wind let out a small huff, then drew out his deku leaf and the Wind Waker. “I’m thinkin’ we should show them that there be much better ways of gettin’ around than walkin.”
Sky giggled softly and nodded as he drew out his sail cloth. It didn’t glide as well as other tools that had been shown off, but Legend had done something with some feathers and thread and a lot of muttering that let Sky do more than just drift serenely downwards.
The wind obediently changed directions as Wind flicked the magical baton around, dancing and twirling happily around him before settling in its new proper direction.
“Hey, Wind?” Sky said as they readied their gliders.
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good kid.”
Laughing, Wind jumped off the hill and let the wind carry him forwards through the air. “Yeah, well, you’re spendin’ too much time worryin’ ‘bout things! Stop frettin’ and just have some fun!”
Sky was quick to throw himself into the air as well, and the wind carried his laughter to him. “Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?”
“Nah, we’re makin’ a point! And catchin’ up in an efficient fashion.”
The ground fell away from below them as they continued soaring forwards. It didn’t take long before their shadows reached the others and then swept past them. An entire series of hoots and catcalls began to float up to them as the others broke into a jog to try and keep up.
“Beat you to the ground!”
Wind gasped in shock and immediately tilted his deku leaf to adjust his course. “No way I’ll lose!”
“Just give in! You can’t beat a knight of Skyloft in the air!”
When he said to have fun, he hadn’t meant Sky should target him!
That was pretty fun, though. Wind would just have to show him like a proper un-chosen hero.