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It was a nice afternoon. Just sunny enough to be warm, but just breezy enough to not be hot. It was good adventuring weather.
The nine Links would have been out adventuring regardless of whether the weather was good or not, however. There was a shadow to chase, and they would have to do this whether or not the outdoors was feeling friendly.
After walking for most of the morning, they had chosen to set camp near the shore of a large lake.
Warriors felt like he could still walk around a little longer, though. Plus, the scenery didn’t seem too bad. He stood up.
“I’m going out on patrol.”
The question of whether anyone wanted to come with him went unsaid. It was Legend who answered it.
“I’ll go with you, then. Someone’s going to have to keep you from looking at your reflection instead of your surroundings.”
“I check my face in your mirror shield once—”
Time cleared his throat loudly. “If you want to go on patrol, get going on patrol.”
He had a point. They could always bicker while walking.
Warriors and Legend talked a little while they walked. Apparently, Hyrule had told Legend that he wondered what commanding soldiers like Warriors had would have been like. Apparently, Legend did not like this. Something about being a “bad influence.”
“Have you seen him around fire, Veteran? I don’t think we should be worrying about others being a bad influence on him.”
“Don’t change the topic. I’m just trying to look out for the Traveler. He’s too free a spirit for that world of rules that comes with being a knight.”
It was a little impressive how much distaste Legend could channel into a single word, Warriors had to admit.
After talking in circles for a good few minutes, the two Links finally found something interesting: an abandoned dock that protruded a little into the lake. It looked a little rickety and some of the wood looked badly rotten.
Legend tested his weight on one of the planks before walking onto it. “I wonder how long this has been disused. Definitely at least a few years. It looks like this was probably used for boats of some kind.”
Warriors waited for him to say the words.
“I think this could be a decent fishing spot.”
There they were.
“I’m sure the Old Man and the Ranchhand would be happy to hear about this,” Warriors said.
“Well, if we have a reason to go in this direction, we should consider spending some time here. As long as someone is on hand to make sure the Champion doesn’t do that thing with the bombs. There’s no way this structure would survive that. Plus, it’s cheating.”
Legend walked down the dock. The planks creaked under him. Warriors silently decided to stay on solid ground.
“I’m sure Traveler or someone could find an appropriate diversion for him without him bombing the lake or jumping in there to swim after the fish.”
“And then we’d have to find them afterwards.”
Twilight wouldn’t be happy about having to sniff them down, for sure.
“Well, Ranchhand might hate the idea less than all the fish being scared off,” Warriors decided.
“Go ask him yourself.”
Legend turned away from him, walked to the end of the dock, and looked out over the lake. “Traveler once told me about this enchanting experience he had finding a lake when he was really young. I wonder how that must have looked like to him. It could have been something similar to this, though I have to admit that when you’re that age, there’s a lot that would seem enchanting.”
“I wouldn’t really know. I never really left Castle Town before I joined the army.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.” Legend paused. He was about to say something when a loud CRACK came from beneath his feet. He startled and managed to get a foot on a different plank of wood before the one he was standing on snapped in two in a shower of splinters, but with most of his body weight now above the water he was unable to regain his balance before toppling backwards and falling into the water with a surprised yelp.
“Veteran!” Warriors ran up to the edge of the water next to the dock, hesitated, and then gingerly stepped into the water. There was only so deep he could wade in like this, since his armor made swimming basically impossible.
He was ankle-deep when Legend surfaced. He was breathing heavily and looked shaken. Anyone who had just unexpectedly fallen into water would probably be too.
“Veteran!” Warriors shouted. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah! Just caught off guard. I can swim to shore myself, so no need to worry.” He didn’t seem too happy himself and actually seemed a little embarrassed. Which was fair, given what just happened.
“What’s bothering you? Did you get a splinter from the wood?”
Legend shook his head. “…I just didn’t want people to find out like this.”
“To find out what?”
“You’ll see.” Legend swam to the shore. It was only a few seconds before he was in shallow enough water for his body to become visible. First his shoulders, and then his torso, and then…
“What?”
Legend got his arms onto dry land and pulled most of his body out of the water. He turned himself onto his back and gave a rueful look at his lower body. “I’m sorry you had to find out about my curse this way.”
His lower body had changed. Below his waist were, perhaps unsurprisingly, his legs, and at the end of his legs were his boots that covered his feet and most of his shins. His lower body was the same, actually. But on his boots were a pair of blue flippers.
“You… put… on… flippers?” Warriors didn’t know what to say.
Legend gave out a melodramatic sigh. “No, I didn’t put them on! They magically left my bag and came onto my feet.”
“Do they help you swim?”
He nodded. “Can’t swim without them, in fact. I’d sink like a stone.”
“Isn’t that a good thing, then? You don’t have to spend time trying to get them out of your bag and onto your feet and makes it a lot harder for you to drown.”
“You don’t understand! Nobody does.” Legend let out another melodramatic sigh.
“Veteran, are you feeling all right?” This was not how Legend acted. “Was there something in the water? Did you hit your head? C’mon, talk to me.”
Legend shot him a glare.
“…okay then. So, uh, where did you get these flippers?”
“Bought them from King Zora for a lot of money.”
“Well, I guess that’s why they cost so much. I take it you only have one pair, then?”
“I have five sets, all magic.”
“You know what, I shouldn’t have doubted you.” Legend would have five sets of flippers. “Still, if you don’t like having flippers that suddenly attach to your feet, why not put them somewhere far away?”
Legend took exception to that suggestion. “And not have them on me in a pinch?”
Yup, that was the hoarder all right.
“So, what’s it like having this… curse?” That was definitely not the right word for whatever these flippers did.
“Absolutely terrible. I have to keep this a secret from everybody, or who knows what’ll happen!” Legend wailed. “And people could hunt me for what I am!”
“Hunting… down… a person with flippers on.”
“Exactly!” Legend said, entirely seriously.
Warriors pinched his arm in case he was dreaming. The only thing this accomplished was that his arm now hurt. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“As much as I could be with this curse!” Legend somehow had it in him to sigh melodramatically a third time. “And the fact that I’m adventuring again when I fucking hate adventuring and want nothing more than to retire, and it’s all because of that damned Hylia…”
“Hylia?”
“That fucking lake……”
Warriors shook off his surprise at the non-sequitur mention of the lake. “Did you just say you hated adventuring?”
“More than anything!” Legend said, completely sincerely.
Warriors had had enough with this. Legend had always talked about how he never wanted to retire and wanted to continue travelling as long as he was able. “That’s it. We’re going back to camp. You probably have a concussion or something, and that’s why you’re acting weird.” He grabbed Legend’s hand and started dragging him back.
“NO ONE UNDERSTANDS!” Legend wailed behind him.
Warriors sighed. He told himself it would all be worth it in the end when he could tease the veteran for this relentlessly whenever he became lucid again.
He really hoped it would be.