Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
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Zelda Art Stormy Skies: the Fanfic
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
Tried to pump up the descriptions here, as Keith suggested...did I do well enough?
PART 1 - CHAPTER 7
Groose could sleep through a fire alarm.
According to Cawlin, a keese had gotten into the royal quarters in the middle of the night, and between Fletcher screaming his little head off, Zelda running around trying to find where it got in, and Link in attack mode, the situation was pure noisy chaos. And since the knights’ quarters were in the next hallway over, plenty of the knights were woken up. With that patched burn on his eye and his mouth twisted into a scowl, Grenn looked like an angry pirate. He didn’t find that observation amusing, but since Groose could probably pound him flat any day of the week, he just got up and stomped away.
It seemed like he was the only one who missed the action. That was until Cass said she also heard nothing. That girl...was kind of like a female version of himself. Talor had seemed to read his mind, making a comment on how they would be “an interesting pair”. What was that supposed to mean? He wasn’t going to make a move just because they both slept through the keese incident. That would be stupid.
But...he was going to have to do so eventually. Zelda was off limits now, and he was fine with that, even though the fact that Link of all people ended up being chosen by the gods still made his brain hurt. Zelda too...and the old prophecy that everyone thought was eons away from happening had happened. Long story short, Cass was his best bet if he ever wanted what Link had.
A council meeting had been scheduled for after the breakfast hour. The knights gathered in the main room of the castle, waiting for the exact time. It actually appeared more like a fort than a castle, it was still quite small, and the decorations were simple: lanterns hung here and there, curtains on the windows, potted plants, and scattered furniture. But it served its purpose, and there was no need to expand it at the moment.
Grenn hadn’t showed up yet. The doctor had probably told him to rest because of his injury, so that made sense. Pipit had his arm around Karane, Katherine was at the front door making sure nobody but the knights and council got in, Brandon was wandering around socializing, Cawlin was reluctantly helping Strich try to catch a fly with a bug net, Cass had a rolled up piece of paper in her hand and was also chasing the fly, Fledge was perched calmly one of the chairs, and Talor was sitting there shaking his head and chuckling.
“I don’t see why you want that stupid annoying filthy insect as a pet!” Cass rolled her eyes at Strich.
“Me neither.” Cawlin said in his usual blunt tone. “I’ll never understand what’s so great about bugs. All they do is fly around and eat poop and land in your food and not leave you alone.”
“But this is a fruit fly!” Strich whined. “I don’t have one yet. Fruit flies don’t eat disgusting things like other flies do.”
The paper roll collided with a small table. Cass grumbled as the fly zigzagged out of the way. “Missed.”
Groose walked over and sat down. “Seriously? I thought you had enough bugs.”
The front door opened, and in came the royalty. The fruit fly darted past them as they entered, then disappeared into the courtyard, causing a disappointed frown to form on Strich’s face. Link shook his head, slightly smiling, at the sight of the bug net and paper roll. “Can’t I be gone for five minutes without you guys turning this place into a circus?”
“Sorry, there was a fly in here.” Cass threw the paper in the garbage.
“That explains a lot.” Zelda commented. Fletcher was wiggling in his mother’s arms, trying to keep his eyes open, but not doing a very good job. His eyes were narrowed into slits, so it almost looked like he was glaring at the scene in front of him.
Link smiled. “You need to take a nap, young man.” Fletcher seemed to perk up at that, opening his eyes fully and looking up at his father. “Let the grownups have their meeting.” Link continued, gently patting Fletcher’s tiny head. “Everything will still be here when you wake up.”
Fletcher’s nose wrinkled, and his mouth opened wide, letting out a big yawn. His eyes squeezed shut. Within a minute, he was asleep.
“If only I could fall asleep that fast...” Pipit stifled a yawn. “After what happened last night, I’m pretty much running on like four hours of sleep.”
“You poor thing.” Karane laughed and patted his hand.
“Get used to it, because when you have a kid, every night will be that way.” Link sighed and rolled his eyes. “Learned that the hard way...”
Zelda placed Fletcher on one of the couches and sat down. “Yeah, well...We DO have more important matters to discuss.”
“Demon problem.” Link added, sitting down on the couch. “We have a really big one. We need to think up a solution. Before they come back.”
Groose raised his hand. “We can find their base and run them out. I can bring the groosenator and some bombs, when I run out I can use whatever else is there. Big rocks, logs, even freshly killed demons! That’ll show them, right?”
“You mean, throw their dead friends back at them? I don’t know whether to call that awesome or disturbing.” Cass said.
“Call it awesome! That’s what they used to do back in the olden days on the surface!”
“What book did you read that in?” Cass raised one eyebrow.
Pipit snickered. “When does Groose read at all?”
“I think that’s...a bit risky.” Link shrugged. “We have no idea where they’re coming from, and even if we do find their base, they have the advantage of knowing the area better than we do. And they are demons after all. They probably live somewhere that’s very dangerous to people.”
“So the reverse also applies, right?” Karane scratched her head. “We know the area in and around the town better than they do?”
“Yes.” Link nodded. “But we still need a plan. We have to be ready when they come back, and it has to be more than just killing everything in sight.” At that moment, Grenn strolled in and sat down, grumbling and scratching around the eye patch. His expression told everyone that he wasn’t in the mood for questions or comments.
“I think...I might have something.” Talor raised his hand slowly. “But it will only work if they’re targeting our leaders. And it might be a bit crazy...”
“The female who looked like she was in charge seemed to know I was calling the shots. Once I showed up, she was going to make them all pile on me until Groose bombed her.”
Talor shuddered. “Makes me wonder how exactly she knows that...”
“Who knows.” Link shrugged his shoulders. “But if you have an idea, spill it. Crazy or not, at least you’re contributing.”
“Set up a trap in the woods, and have one of the knights wear green and lead them to it. We should use a guy so the decoy looks more convincing, dunno if the demons will be able to tell the difference, but yeah. Also paint the decoy’s loftwing red and Firebolt a different color, maybe gray or brown or black...and put Link in a recruit uniform.”
Cass clapped. “Brilliant. I didn’t know you were such a tactician...we might have to have three of those instead of two!”
“I have my moments.” Talor smiled awkwardly. “But like I said, it’s crazy. I’d be better off in the rank I am now...”
“Crazy, but it just might work!” Zelda said, grinning. “So...are you volunteering to be the decoy?”
Talor gulped. “Um...I guess if nobody else will...”
“Frostbite will be easy to make red, but he might be pink for awhile afterward.” Link paused, then added: “And Firebolt...he can be Mudbolt for a day while Frostbite is Flamebite.”
“We don’t need to go as far as changing their names.” Zelda shook her head. “But yes. White feathers are easy to dye. And if he ends up pink, it will only be temporary.”
“Okay okay okay...” Talor sighed. “I’ll do it.”
PART 1 - CHAPTER 7
Groose could sleep through a fire alarm.
According to Cawlin, a keese had gotten into the royal quarters in the middle of the night, and between Fletcher screaming his little head off, Zelda running around trying to find where it got in, and Link in attack mode, the situation was pure noisy chaos. And since the knights’ quarters were in the next hallway over, plenty of the knights were woken up. With that patched burn on his eye and his mouth twisted into a scowl, Grenn looked like an angry pirate. He didn’t find that observation amusing, but since Groose could probably pound him flat any day of the week, he just got up and stomped away.
It seemed like he was the only one who missed the action. That was until Cass said she also heard nothing. That girl...was kind of like a female version of himself. Talor had seemed to read his mind, making a comment on how they would be “an interesting pair”. What was that supposed to mean? He wasn’t going to make a move just because they both slept through the keese incident. That would be stupid.
But...he was going to have to do so eventually. Zelda was off limits now, and he was fine with that, even though the fact that Link of all people ended up being chosen by the gods still made his brain hurt. Zelda too...and the old prophecy that everyone thought was eons away from happening had happened. Long story short, Cass was his best bet if he ever wanted what Link had.
A council meeting had been scheduled for after the breakfast hour. The knights gathered in the main room of the castle, waiting for the exact time. It actually appeared more like a fort than a castle, it was still quite small, and the decorations were simple: lanterns hung here and there, curtains on the windows, potted plants, and scattered furniture. But it served its purpose, and there was no need to expand it at the moment.
Grenn hadn’t showed up yet. The doctor had probably told him to rest because of his injury, so that made sense. Pipit had his arm around Karane, Katherine was at the front door making sure nobody but the knights and council got in, Brandon was wandering around socializing, Cawlin was reluctantly helping Strich try to catch a fly with a bug net, Cass had a rolled up piece of paper in her hand and was also chasing the fly, Fledge was perched calmly one of the chairs, and Talor was sitting there shaking his head and chuckling.
“I don’t see why you want that stupid annoying filthy insect as a pet!” Cass rolled her eyes at Strich.
“Me neither.” Cawlin said in his usual blunt tone. “I’ll never understand what’s so great about bugs. All they do is fly around and eat poop and land in your food and not leave you alone.”
“But this is a fruit fly!” Strich whined. “I don’t have one yet. Fruit flies don’t eat disgusting things like other flies do.”
The paper roll collided with a small table. Cass grumbled as the fly zigzagged out of the way. “Missed.”
Groose walked over and sat down. “Seriously? I thought you had enough bugs.”
The front door opened, and in came the royalty. The fruit fly darted past them as they entered, then disappeared into the courtyard, causing a disappointed frown to form on Strich’s face. Link shook his head, slightly smiling, at the sight of the bug net and paper roll. “Can’t I be gone for five minutes without you guys turning this place into a circus?”
“Sorry, there was a fly in here.” Cass threw the paper in the garbage.
“That explains a lot.” Zelda commented. Fletcher was wiggling in his mother’s arms, trying to keep his eyes open, but not doing a very good job. His eyes were narrowed into slits, so it almost looked like he was glaring at the scene in front of him.
Link smiled. “You need to take a nap, young man.” Fletcher seemed to perk up at that, opening his eyes fully and looking up at his father. “Let the grownups have their meeting.” Link continued, gently patting Fletcher’s tiny head. “Everything will still be here when you wake up.”
Fletcher’s nose wrinkled, and his mouth opened wide, letting out a big yawn. His eyes squeezed shut. Within a minute, he was asleep.
“If only I could fall asleep that fast...” Pipit stifled a yawn. “After what happened last night, I’m pretty much running on like four hours of sleep.”
“You poor thing.” Karane laughed and patted his hand.
“Get used to it, because when you have a kid, every night will be that way.” Link sighed and rolled his eyes. “Learned that the hard way...”
Zelda placed Fletcher on one of the couches and sat down. “Yeah, well...We DO have more important matters to discuss.”
“Demon problem.” Link added, sitting down on the couch. “We have a really big one. We need to think up a solution. Before they come back.”
Groose raised his hand. “We can find their base and run them out. I can bring the groosenator and some bombs, when I run out I can use whatever else is there. Big rocks, logs, even freshly killed demons! That’ll show them, right?”
“You mean, throw their dead friends back at them? I don’t know whether to call that awesome or disturbing.” Cass said.
“Call it awesome! That’s what they used to do back in the olden days on the surface!”
“What book did you read that in?” Cass raised one eyebrow.
Pipit snickered. “When does Groose read at all?”
“I think that’s...a bit risky.” Link shrugged. “We have no idea where they’re coming from, and even if we do find their base, they have the advantage of knowing the area better than we do. And they are demons after all. They probably live somewhere that’s very dangerous to people.”
“So the reverse also applies, right?” Karane scratched her head. “We know the area in and around the town better than they do?”
“Yes.” Link nodded. “But we still need a plan. We have to be ready when they come back, and it has to be more than just killing everything in sight.” At that moment, Grenn strolled in and sat down, grumbling and scratching around the eye patch. His expression told everyone that he wasn’t in the mood for questions or comments.
“I think...I might have something.” Talor raised his hand slowly. “But it will only work if they’re targeting our leaders. And it might be a bit crazy...”
“The female who looked like she was in charge seemed to know I was calling the shots. Once I showed up, she was going to make them all pile on me until Groose bombed her.”
Talor shuddered. “Makes me wonder how exactly she knows that...”
“Who knows.” Link shrugged his shoulders. “But if you have an idea, spill it. Crazy or not, at least you’re contributing.”
“Set up a trap in the woods, and have one of the knights wear green and lead them to it. We should use a guy so the decoy looks more convincing, dunno if the demons will be able to tell the difference, but yeah. Also paint the decoy’s loftwing red and Firebolt a different color, maybe gray or brown or black...and put Link in a recruit uniform.”
Cass clapped. “Brilliant. I didn’t know you were such a tactician...we might have to have three of those instead of two!”
“I have my moments.” Talor smiled awkwardly. “But like I said, it’s crazy. I’d be better off in the rank I am now...”
“Crazy, but it just might work!” Zelda said, grinning. “So...are you volunteering to be the decoy?”
Talor gulped. “Um...I guess if nobody else will...”
“Frostbite will be easy to make red, but he might be pink for awhile afterward.” Link paused, then added: “And Firebolt...he can be Mudbolt for a day while Frostbite is Flamebite.”
“We don’t need to go as far as changing their names.” Zelda shook her head. “But yes. White feathers are easy to dye. And if he ends up pink, it will only be temporary.”
“Okay okay okay...” Talor sighed. “I’ll do it.”
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
PART 1 - CHAPTER 8
It had been two weeks since the demon attack, and the paranoia was starting to wind down. There had been no more demon sightings. A kargarok had almost flown off with the potion shop owners’ three year old daughter, but she was rescued, and the general consensus was that the incident was unrelated.
For the knights and council, however, the danger was all too real. Especially for Talor. He had been ordered to carry around a can of red paint and green clothes in his pack at all times, so when the next attack happened, he would be ready. He secretly wished he hadn’t said anything during that meeting. His twin had said multiple times that the idea had been “crazy, but brilliant.” Easy for her to say. She didn’t have to actually do it. And his parents weren’t much help either. His mother kept insisting that he also have a bunch of heart potions available constantly, which was understandable since no parent wants to outlive their child, but not coming back alive was the last thing he wanted to think about.
“You seem worried.” The young woman looked up from her breakfast, her brown eyes full of concern.
Talor blinked. He had been seeing Jayla off and on for the past month, and she had noticed his sudden mood change...but she couldn’t know why! Not only was it classified information, but also, he was supposed to be a fearless knight. Jayla was a civilian, she didn’t have to deal with the dangers he faced just about every day. She wouldn’t understand.
A crash sounded from behind him, and garbage rolled across the floor. A fire orange loftwing began pecking at the spilled contents of the garbage can as her human companion spouted a slew of curse words. “I’m worried that Blaze will get sick from all that rotten trash. She does that every chance she gets.” That wasn’t a lie, even if the main reason he was worried had nothing to do with his sister’s loftwing’s gross habits.
Jayla shrugged. “I wonder if the vet can do something about that? I know they make sprays that are foul tasting to remlits that you can put on whatever you don’t want them to eat. Then again, it might be too much trouble to spray all the garbage cans in town...”
“Bzzt! You get that big feathered nuisance out of here this instant, human! But clean this up first!” The scrap shop robot was literally steaming. If looks could kill, and if robots could make facial expressions, Cass would be dead.
“Who died and left you in charge?” Cass snapped back. “Can’t you see I’m trying?”
“Scrapper! It was an accident, leave her alone!” Gondo shouted from his workshop.
“I better go help...” Talor stifled a grin.
Jayla smiled. “Okay. See ya.”
“Perfect timing.” Talor said as soon as he was out of Jayla’s earshot. “I almost spilled the beans...”
“Yeah, I don’t think that would go over too well.” Cass replied, chuckling. “And as for you,” she added with a slight glare toward Blaze, “I feed you enough. This is ridiculous.”
Blaze’s head shot up. She squawked and began hopping toward the bazaar entrance. There was no room to fly in a building, but loftwings were clumsy on the ground, so she almost ran over several people in the process.
A dusk blue male loftwing was at the entrance. He chirped a greeting to Blaze and the approaching humans, looking around like he was confused.
“What are you doing here, Nimbus?” Talor asked the bird. “Why aren’t you with Zelda?”
Cass shook her head. “Doesn’t Nimbus have purple wing tips? I don’t think this is him.” Each loftwing had a secondary feather color that appeared on the tips of the wings, on the chest, and around the eyes. While this one was the same main color as the queen’s, he had brown for his other color, not purple.
“I guess not.” Talor shrugged. “He’s friendly though. He can’t be from the wild...is Brandon’s loftwing still missing?”
“As far as I know, he is. Only one way to find out.” Cass snapped her fingers to get the loftwing’s attention. He looked at her, blinking. “That’s a good boy...” She patted his head. “Are you Rob?”
The bird blinked again, then flapped his wings and screeched softly.
“Looks like that’s a yes.” Talor shoved past Rob and walked out of the bazaar. “While I go get Frostbite, can you ask around to see where Brandon is?”
“Sure...”
When Talor returned with Frostbite, Cass was waiting outside the bazaar. “Pipit said he saw him go toward Skyview Temple, everyone else said they had no idea. And Zelda told me to tell you to keep the paint and the green tunic.”
“Like I have any other choice!”
Cass smirked. “She knows that. I think that’s just her way of giving us permission to go.”
“Well there are better ways if you ask me.” Talor said bluntly. “But then again, it is Zelda. Her method of courtship involves pushing the guy she likes off high places.”
“Yeah, Link never lets her forget that.” Cass laughed. “But it obviously worked. Even if it is risky. She’s lucky she didn’t make him break his neck.”
Rob waddled over, positioned himself between the twin knights, and clicked his beak loudly.
“Right. Let’s go.” Cass hopped onto Blaze and led the way.
Deep in the forest, there was an old overgrown building known as Skyview Temple. It had a serene, yet possibly dangerous feel to it. Strands of cobwebs hung from the entryway.
“Either the skulltulas moved, or someone or something came in here.” Talor announced.
Cass had a piece of paper in her hands. “There’s a spring in the back of this place? Wow...”
“Wha?”
“Zelda gave me Link’s map.” Cass showed Talor the paper.
“Link makes maps?” Talor blinked.
“Pretty sure he just marked it up, and that spirit that helped him out made it. Look at it, the captions are written in black ink, and everything else looks like it was burned on, almost like a magic brand kind of thing.”
“I still wonder if that spirit had any relation to the desert robots. From the way he says she had a statistic or a percentage for everything...sounds robot-y.”
“He also said she looked more like a person than the robots, but who knows.” Cass shrugged, then turned to the three loftwings and pointed to the roof of the temple. “Up there. Stay.”
Blaze and Rob flew up and perched on the roof. Frostbite stood there and looked at his master. “Din, Nayru, and Farore!” Talor snapped. “You go up there too, unless you want to be attacked by moblins!” Frostbite chirped and obeyed.
“Won’t listen to anyone but me...suppose that could be a good thing.” Talor walked into the temple, keeping his hand on his sword, with Cass behind him.
The building was full of mushrooms, cobwebs, and small trees. It smelled a bit musty, and the pollen in the air wouldn’t be good for someone with allergies. One sneeze would likely stir up a massive cloud of dust and attract the attention of the monsters in the area. Luckily, neither of the twins was allergic to anything.
Talor pointed at a tree with a broken branch. “You’re the tracker, Sis. Does this mean anything?”
“It could...” Cass looked at the branch. There was a clear, sticky substance where the break was. “But it looks like a skulltula bit it.”
As if it heard, a skulltula dropped from the ceiling, and would have landed on Talor if he didn’t move. The silk thread holding it up was promptly cut, and it fell to the ground, landed on its back, and was stabbed in the belly.
“Oh my gods, we’ve killed a pregnant skulltula!” Talor had a ball of silk on the end of his sword.
Cass made a disgusted face. “Yeah, that’s definitely an egg sack. We better smash it up. We don’t want a bunch of skulltulas with a vendetta against us for murdering their mom.”
“I’d rather have stupid bugs for an enemy than smart demons though.”
“Well, you’d end up having both.” Cass took the egg sack and chopped it into a pile of shredded silk, then looked at the map. “There should be a shortcut somewhere around here. It’ll take us to a big room, then there’s only one room between us and the spring. Otherwise we’ll have to go through more rooms and hallways. The sooner we get out of here, the better. We’ll be lucky if we don’t run into any more monsters.”
“You sure he’s at the spring?”
Cass shrugged. “Or near it. It’s a pretty straightforward path through the place. I’m thinking anyone would gravitate toward it anyway...” She scratched her head, then pointed to a note on the map. “Shortcut, look up. What?”
Talor glanced upward and saw a hole in the wall. It was big enough for the average person to crawl through. Climbing up would take some effort, but it was still possible. “You think that’s it?”
“Wow. That’s...the most unique shortcut I’ve ever seen.”
Talor chuckled. “Yeah. Looks just like something our lazybones king would try shoving his way through, too. He probably found out it was a shortcut on accident. This time it looks like curiosity did NOT kill the remlit.”
Cass was already climbing the wall. Slowly but surely, she was getting to the hole. “Gods, I wish I was better at this.”
“You look like a drunk squirrel trying to get to a songbird feeder. In the rain.”
“Oh, and I suppose you actually know what that looks like?” Cass had reached the hole and was now crawling through it. Talor shook his head and followed. He wasn’t much better at climbing the wall than she was. He kept his mouth shut this time.
On the other side of the wall, there was a moment of silence, then a loud yell sounded from the next hallway over. “That sounded like Brandon!” Talor grabbed his sword and started running toward the sound. Cass did the same.
A blade wielding skeleton had Brandon cornered. He had his sword out, and was backed up against the corner of the wall, glaring up at the monster.
“Leave him alone, Bonehead!”
“Go back to the cursed crypt you came from!”
Amazingly enough, the stalfos could still tell it had company, even without functioning ears or much of any other senses that the living take for granted. It rotated its skull and neck bones to look at what was approaching. Its eye sockets glowed red with undead energy, and its teeth chattered menacingly.
With the monster’s back turned on him, Brandon struck. The blade connected with the ribcage and crushed one vertebrae. The stalfos quickly whipped back around, flashing a blinding light from its eye sockets and holding its weapon above Brandon’s head. Then two swords slashed at it from behind, hitting the neck and disconnecting the skull. The stalfos collapsed into a pile of bones.
“Somebody didn’t pay attention in school...” Cass put her sword away and kicked the remains of the stalfos. The skull rolled away slightly. “Stalfos are easily disposed of by getting rid of the head. Aiming for the chest is asking for trouble, all that does is piss it off.”
Talor blinked. “There weren’t stalfos in the sky. We didn’t learn about them in the academy. They were one of the monsters Link told everyone about, remember?”
“What are you guys doing here?” Brandon asked, blinking.
“The question is, why do you wander away from the colony so often?”
Brandon hung his head at Talor’s question. “I search the woods as much as I can for Rob. I’m beginning to think he’s gone for good...”
“No he’s not.” Cass smiled. “He’s outside. He came back to the bazaar this morning.”
The flight back after the happy reunion was quiet and uneventful. Nobody noticed the glowing pair of yellow eyes hidden in one of the trees, watching...
It had been two weeks since the demon attack, and the paranoia was starting to wind down. There had been no more demon sightings. A kargarok had almost flown off with the potion shop owners’ three year old daughter, but she was rescued, and the general consensus was that the incident was unrelated.
For the knights and council, however, the danger was all too real. Especially for Talor. He had been ordered to carry around a can of red paint and green clothes in his pack at all times, so when the next attack happened, he would be ready. He secretly wished he hadn’t said anything during that meeting. His twin had said multiple times that the idea had been “crazy, but brilliant.” Easy for her to say. She didn’t have to actually do it. And his parents weren’t much help either. His mother kept insisting that he also have a bunch of heart potions available constantly, which was understandable since no parent wants to outlive their child, but not coming back alive was the last thing he wanted to think about.
“You seem worried.” The young woman looked up from her breakfast, her brown eyes full of concern.
Talor blinked. He had been seeing Jayla off and on for the past month, and she had noticed his sudden mood change...but she couldn’t know why! Not only was it classified information, but also, he was supposed to be a fearless knight. Jayla was a civilian, she didn’t have to deal with the dangers he faced just about every day. She wouldn’t understand.
A crash sounded from behind him, and garbage rolled across the floor. A fire orange loftwing began pecking at the spilled contents of the garbage can as her human companion spouted a slew of curse words. “I’m worried that Blaze will get sick from all that rotten trash. She does that every chance she gets.” That wasn’t a lie, even if the main reason he was worried had nothing to do with his sister’s loftwing’s gross habits.
Jayla shrugged. “I wonder if the vet can do something about that? I know they make sprays that are foul tasting to remlits that you can put on whatever you don’t want them to eat. Then again, it might be too much trouble to spray all the garbage cans in town...”
“Bzzt! You get that big feathered nuisance out of here this instant, human! But clean this up first!” The scrap shop robot was literally steaming. If looks could kill, and if robots could make facial expressions, Cass would be dead.
“Who died and left you in charge?” Cass snapped back. “Can’t you see I’m trying?”
“Scrapper! It was an accident, leave her alone!” Gondo shouted from his workshop.
“I better go help...” Talor stifled a grin.
Jayla smiled. “Okay. See ya.”
“Perfect timing.” Talor said as soon as he was out of Jayla’s earshot. “I almost spilled the beans...”
“Yeah, I don’t think that would go over too well.” Cass replied, chuckling. “And as for you,” she added with a slight glare toward Blaze, “I feed you enough. This is ridiculous.”
Blaze’s head shot up. She squawked and began hopping toward the bazaar entrance. There was no room to fly in a building, but loftwings were clumsy on the ground, so she almost ran over several people in the process.
A dusk blue male loftwing was at the entrance. He chirped a greeting to Blaze and the approaching humans, looking around like he was confused.
“What are you doing here, Nimbus?” Talor asked the bird. “Why aren’t you with Zelda?”
Cass shook her head. “Doesn’t Nimbus have purple wing tips? I don’t think this is him.” Each loftwing had a secondary feather color that appeared on the tips of the wings, on the chest, and around the eyes. While this one was the same main color as the queen’s, he had brown for his other color, not purple.
“I guess not.” Talor shrugged. “He’s friendly though. He can’t be from the wild...is Brandon’s loftwing still missing?”
“As far as I know, he is. Only one way to find out.” Cass snapped her fingers to get the loftwing’s attention. He looked at her, blinking. “That’s a good boy...” She patted his head. “Are you Rob?”
The bird blinked again, then flapped his wings and screeched softly.
“Looks like that’s a yes.” Talor shoved past Rob and walked out of the bazaar. “While I go get Frostbite, can you ask around to see where Brandon is?”
“Sure...”
When Talor returned with Frostbite, Cass was waiting outside the bazaar. “Pipit said he saw him go toward Skyview Temple, everyone else said they had no idea. And Zelda told me to tell you to keep the paint and the green tunic.”
“Like I have any other choice!”
Cass smirked. “She knows that. I think that’s just her way of giving us permission to go.”
“Well there are better ways if you ask me.” Talor said bluntly. “But then again, it is Zelda. Her method of courtship involves pushing the guy she likes off high places.”
“Yeah, Link never lets her forget that.” Cass laughed. “But it obviously worked. Even if it is risky. She’s lucky she didn’t make him break his neck.”
Rob waddled over, positioned himself between the twin knights, and clicked his beak loudly.
“Right. Let’s go.” Cass hopped onto Blaze and led the way.
Deep in the forest, there was an old overgrown building known as Skyview Temple. It had a serene, yet possibly dangerous feel to it. Strands of cobwebs hung from the entryway.
“Either the skulltulas moved, or someone or something came in here.” Talor announced.
Cass had a piece of paper in her hands. “There’s a spring in the back of this place? Wow...”
“Wha?”
“Zelda gave me Link’s map.” Cass showed Talor the paper.
“Link makes maps?” Talor blinked.
“Pretty sure he just marked it up, and that spirit that helped him out made it. Look at it, the captions are written in black ink, and everything else looks like it was burned on, almost like a magic brand kind of thing.”
“I still wonder if that spirit had any relation to the desert robots. From the way he says she had a statistic or a percentage for everything...sounds robot-y.”
“He also said she looked more like a person than the robots, but who knows.” Cass shrugged, then turned to the three loftwings and pointed to the roof of the temple. “Up there. Stay.”
Blaze and Rob flew up and perched on the roof. Frostbite stood there and looked at his master. “Din, Nayru, and Farore!” Talor snapped. “You go up there too, unless you want to be attacked by moblins!” Frostbite chirped and obeyed.
“Won’t listen to anyone but me...suppose that could be a good thing.” Talor walked into the temple, keeping his hand on his sword, with Cass behind him.
The building was full of mushrooms, cobwebs, and small trees. It smelled a bit musty, and the pollen in the air wouldn’t be good for someone with allergies. One sneeze would likely stir up a massive cloud of dust and attract the attention of the monsters in the area. Luckily, neither of the twins was allergic to anything.
Talor pointed at a tree with a broken branch. “You’re the tracker, Sis. Does this mean anything?”
“It could...” Cass looked at the branch. There was a clear, sticky substance where the break was. “But it looks like a skulltula bit it.”
As if it heard, a skulltula dropped from the ceiling, and would have landed on Talor if he didn’t move. The silk thread holding it up was promptly cut, and it fell to the ground, landed on its back, and was stabbed in the belly.
“Oh my gods, we’ve killed a pregnant skulltula!” Talor had a ball of silk on the end of his sword.
Cass made a disgusted face. “Yeah, that’s definitely an egg sack. We better smash it up. We don’t want a bunch of skulltulas with a vendetta against us for murdering their mom.”
“I’d rather have stupid bugs for an enemy than smart demons though.”
“Well, you’d end up having both.” Cass took the egg sack and chopped it into a pile of shredded silk, then looked at the map. “There should be a shortcut somewhere around here. It’ll take us to a big room, then there’s only one room between us and the spring. Otherwise we’ll have to go through more rooms and hallways. The sooner we get out of here, the better. We’ll be lucky if we don’t run into any more monsters.”
“You sure he’s at the spring?”
Cass shrugged. “Or near it. It’s a pretty straightforward path through the place. I’m thinking anyone would gravitate toward it anyway...” She scratched her head, then pointed to a note on the map. “Shortcut, look up. What?”
Talor glanced upward and saw a hole in the wall. It was big enough for the average person to crawl through. Climbing up would take some effort, but it was still possible. “You think that’s it?”
“Wow. That’s...the most unique shortcut I’ve ever seen.”
Talor chuckled. “Yeah. Looks just like something our lazybones king would try shoving his way through, too. He probably found out it was a shortcut on accident. This time it looks like curiosity did NOT kill the remlit.”
Cass was already climbing the wall. Slowly but surely, she was getting to the hole. “Gods, I wish I was better at this.”
“You look like a drunk squirrel trying to get to a songbird feeder. In the rain.”
“Oh, and I suppose you actually know what that looks like?” Cass had reached the hole and was now crawling through it. Talor shook his head and followed. He wasn’t much better at climbing the wall than she was. He kept his mouth shut this time.
On the other side of the wall, there was a moment of silence, then a loud yell sounded from the next hallway over. “That sounded like Brandon!” Talor grabbed his sword and started running toward the sound. Cass did the same.
A blade wielding skeleton had Brandon cornered. He had his sword out, and was backed up against the corner of the wall, glaring up at the monster.
“Leave him alone, Bonehead!”
“Go back to the cursed crypt you came from!”
Amazingly enough, the stalfos could still tell it had company, even without functioning ears or much of any other senses that the living take for granted. It rotated its skull and neck bones to look at what was approaching. Its eye sockets glowed red with undead energy, and its teeth chattered menacingly.
With the monster’s back turned on him, Brandon struck. The blade connected with the ribcage and crushed one vertebrae. The stalfos quickly whipped back around, flashing a blinding light from its eye sockets and holding its weapon above Brandon’s head. Then two swords slashed at it from behind, hitting the neck and disconnecting the skull. The stalfos collapsed into a pile of bones.
“Somebody didn’t pay attention in school...” Cass put her sword away and kicked the remains of the stalfos. The skull rolled away slightly. “Stalfos are easily disposed of by getting rid of the head. Aiming for the chest is asking for trouble, all that does is piss it off.”
Talor blinked. “There weren’t stalfos in the sky. We didn’t learn about them in the academy. They were one of the monsters Link told everyone about, remember?”
“What are you guys doing here?” Brandon asked, blinking.
“The question is, why do you wander away from the colony so often?”
Brandon hung his head at Talor’s question. “I search the woods as much as I can for Rob. I’m beginning to think he’s gone for good...”
“No he’s not.” Cass smiled. “He’s outside. He came back to the bazaar this morning.”
The flight back after the happy reunion was quiet and uneventful. Nobody noticed the glowing pair of yellow eyes hidden in one of the trees, watching...
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
PART 1 - CHAPTER 9
“Wow, really?” Link said to Zelda when she told him that Rob had returned. “That bird’s been missing for months!”
“I know. Loftwings can usually find their way back to their masters when they’re separated, eventually.” Zelda replied. “Cass and Talor are tracking down Brandon. And it’s a beautiful day, so why don’t we take Fletcher and sit outside? We can greet them when they come back.”
“Not without a weapon, you won’t!” Gaepora came running from across the room. “You know what almost happened to poor little Maggie the other day!”
Link looked at his father-in-law and shrugged. “You’re probably right. Fletcher’s still pretty small though...I don’t think he’d make an entire meal for a kargarok.”
“He would be an easy snack! We don’t want that!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s safe.” Link grabbed a bow and arrows from the closet. “If I see any kargaroks, I’ll nail them before they can even get to him.”
After about an hour of sitting and enjoying the weather, three knights and loftwings swooped down and landed. Firebolt was standing close to his master, not taking his eyes off of Fletcher. He and Nimbus were enthralled with the human hatchling. They had seen the chemistry between their masters and knew they would breed eventually. To them, Fletcher was like a baby brother, one whose flight feathers hadn’t grown in yet and who needed constant care and supervision.
Nimbus was the first of the royal loftwings to notice. He raced to Rob’s side, chirping happily. Firebolt did the same. A lot had happened during the time their friend was gone, they had to catch him up on current events.
Zelda smiled. “Everything is back to the way it should be. I’m glad to see it!”
“As am I, your highness.” Brandon was grinning from ear to ear. “Honestly, this made my day...say, what’s with the bow?”
“Because of the recent kargarok attack, we have a paranoid grandpa.” Link said bluntly. Fletcher was on his lap, and both father and son had lazy looks on their faces. That was until Zelda turned to Link and gave him a confused look. “What? He is! Do you honestly think anything will happen on my watch?”
“How many homework assignments did you misplace back in school?”
“May I butt in?” Cass raised her hand. “Babies aren’t homework. Replacing a measly piece of paper is a hundred percent easier than replacing your own flesh and blood.”
“Thank you-”
“But I do agree that it would be stupid to not have some sort of precaution.”
Link opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the crisis alarm went off. “Take him somewhere safe!” He handed Fletcher to Zelda, who hopped onto Nimbus and flew farther into town. He then addressed the gathering knights. “Alright everybody! Remember the plan! Get out there and kick some butt!”
---
Frostbite screeched softly as he flew toward the trap that had been set up in the woods. Talor sighed. “I know. I’m worried too...we have to try, everyone’s counting on us.”
“Wow. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was beside the king instead of the brother I know and love.” Cass and Blaze approached and flew next to them. “Very convincing disguise.”
The alarm had sounded at the first sign of the demon army, which had been at Ancient Cistern. The scout had gotten back with time to spare, but the enemy was advancing quickly. A few demons had already reached the Hylian troops. Both twins saw them at the same time. They waved at each other and separated without another word.
There were no furnixes this time. Melantha had dubbed them useless and stupid since they weren’t much help before. Her wing still wasn’t completely healed, but it was well enough to fly with. The chaos of battle would make any average creature not be able to look for a single enemy effectively. But Melantha wasn’t average. She hadn’t earned her rank for nothing.
Torsten was darting back and forth between two of the humans, a male on a gold bird and a female on a green one. He would slash randomly with his claws, then fly off when the human tried to slash at him. Melantha found this amusing. For a typical dumb male, his strategy seemed to be working. The humans were getting sloppier with their counter attacks. Not hitting the enemy on purpose and waiting until they were worn out to move in for the kill...she had to remember that one.
And then she saw her main target: the human king and his red bird. Snickering and showing her teeth, she placed herself in front of him. “Golden maned demon slayer, we meet again.”
Golden maned? Talor wanted to laugh at that. The demon lady obviously didn’t notice that his hair was red, not dark blond. There ought to be a picture of her in the dictionary next to the word “gullable.”
Keeping a straight face, he pulled the reins and sent Frostbite into a hover above a tree branch. Some of the bark had been peeled off. This was the sign that said the trap was there.
“Cut to the chase, you ugly witch. I don’t have all day. Get your sorry hide over here and fight me, unless you’re afraid of ending up like that worthless son of a ***** you call a god.” His tone was calm and confident, even though he was shaking in his boots on the inside. He had never really considered himself an actor, so this surprised him a bit.
“Nobody insults Lord Demise and gets away with it!” Melantha roared and lunged toward him.
This was it. Talor had the demon exactly where he wanted her. Right before she reached him, he launched upward. She landed on the branch, and it snapped, sending her into a pit of spikes below. The other demons, seeing that their leader was down, began to retreat, hissing and snarling.
“You did well.” Link landed beside Talor and gave him a pat on the back. Scraping sounds came from the spike pit. He walked over and kicked dirt into it. “Looks like she’s still alive. Go finish her off.”
Talor blinked. “Why are you asking me?” He noticed who had just landed in front of him. “ZELDA? What the...”
Zelda chuckled. “I figured I better be more useful this time. Dad’s babysitting.”
“And you were fantastic! The sight of you out here, walloping those demons...if I wasn’t in a blood frenzy myself, it would’ve turned me on. Big time.” Link kissed Zelda on the cheek, then turned to Talor. “I’ve already had my chance to be a hero. Go ahead. You’ve earned it.”
Talor hesitated for a second, then plunged his sword into the spike pit a few times, until the scraping sounds stopped and the blade was covered in black demon blood. The cheering of the knights was nice for a second...then he had had enough. “Okay, I get the point, everybody! Really. You can stop now.” Then he realized something: he hadn’t seen Cass since before the fight. He scanned the crowd frantically, and found her limping toward him.
“I’m fine...I think.” She had a big bleeding gash on her side below her ribs. Her breathing was slightly labored. “Pretty sure...the demon that did this...is dead now.”
“Where are your red potions?”
“Fell out...couldn’t catch them before...they hit the ground.” Cass fell to her knees, holding her wound.
“I used mine, damnit!” Talor ran to his sister’s side. “Please tell me one of you has some left!”
Pipit grabbed his pack. There was a hole in the bottom, and nothing was in it. “Well, I DID have some...that yellow eyed demon must’ve decided he wanted them.” His expression was grim.
Groose stepped forward, holding a red potion. “This is my last one. Here.” He put it on the ground in front of Cass. “Drink up. Before Liam comes to take you where he is. And you’re welcome.”
Talor’s jaw dropped. He could hardly believe that Groose, the same guy who used to throw everyone’s textbooks in the toilet and steal lunch money from underclassmen, had just saved his sister’s life. And...that look in his eyes! It wasn’t cocky or arrogant, it reminded him of the look his father had given his mother when she was bedridden with a nasty flu...that could only mean one thing...and oddly enough, he was okay with it.
“Coming through, everybody move.” A medic pushed through the crowd, then knelt and examined the wounded knight. “It’s already starting to heal. I have a feeling it will scar over though...but you’re lucky you got a potion in you soon enough. Without it, you would either bleed to death or have to retire early.”
Cass was loaded onto a stretcher. Before hauling her off, the medic put his hand on Talor’s shoulder. “This is why I do what I do.” His voice was lowered almost to a whisper. “Out of the twenty years I’ve been doing this, never once have I seen a scoundrel like him donate a potion to a lady. I think he likes her, and I don’t mean as just a friend. Brace yourself, boy...the ice has been broken.”
Those words echoed in Talor’s head the whole flight back. Blaze flew beside him and Frostbite, keeping a close watch on the stretcher below. Yes, the ice had been broken. And when they were all safely back at the colony, he was going to thank Groose personally...or should he say, thank his future brother-in-law personally?
He was getting ahead of himself...
END OF PART ONE
“Wow, really?” Link said to Zelda when she told him that Rob had returned. “That bird’s been missing for months!”
“I know. Loftwings can usually find their way back to their masters when they’re separated, eventually.” Zelda replied. “Cass and Talor are tracking down Brandon. And it’s a beautiful day, so why don’t we take Fletcher and sit outside? We can greet them when they come back.”
“Not without a weapon, you won’t!” Gaepora came running from across the room. “You know what almost happened to poor little Maggie the other day!”
Link looked at his father-in-law and shrugged. “You’re probably right. Fletcher’s still pretty small though...I don’t think he’d make an entire meal for a kargarok.”
“He would be an easy snack! We don’t want that!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s safe.” Link grabbed a bow and arrows from the closet. “If I see any kargaroks, I’ll nail them before they can even get to him.”
After about an hour of sitting and enjoying the weather, three knights and loftwings swooped down and landed. Firebolt was standing close to his master, not taking his eyes off of Fletcher. He and Nimbus were enthralled with the human hatchling. They had seen the chemistry between their masters and knew they would breed eventually. To them, Fletcher was like a baby brother, one whose flight feathers hadn’t grown in yet and who needed constant care and supervision.
Nimbus was the first of the royal loftwings to notice. He raced to Rob’s side, chirping happily. Firebolt did the same. A lot had happened during the time their friend was gone, they had to catch him up on current events.
Zelda smiled. “Everything is back to the way it should be. I’m glad to see it!”
“As am I, your highness.” Brandon was grinning from ear to ear. “Honestly, this made my day...say, what’s with the bow?”
“Because of the recent kargarok attack, we have a paranoid grandpa.” Link said bluntly. Fletcher was on his lap, and both father and son had lazy looks on their faces. That was until Zelda turned to Link and gave him a confused look. “What? He is! Do you honestly think anything will happen on my watch?”
“How many homework assignments did you misplace back in school?”
“May I butt in?” Cass raised her hand. “Babies aren’t homework. Replacing a measly piece of paper is a hundred percent easier than replacing your own flesh and blood.”
“Thank you-”
“But I do agree that it would be stupid to not have some sort of precaution.”
Link opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the crisis alarm went off. “Take him somewhere safe!” He handed Fletcher to Zelda, who hopped onto Nimbus and flew farther into town. He then addressed the gathering knights. “Alright everybody! Remember the plan! Get out there and kick some butt!”
---
Frostbite screeched softly as he flew toward the trap that had been set up in the woods. Talor sighed. “I know. I’m worried too...we have to try, everyone’s counting on us.”
“Wow. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was beside the king instead of the brother I know and love.” Cass and Blaze approached and flew next to them. “Very convincing disguise.”
The alarm had sounded at the first sign of the demon army, which had been at Ancient Cistern. The scout had gotten back with time to spare, but the enemy was advancing quickly. A few demons had already reached the Hylian troops. Both twins saw them at the same time. They waved at each other and separated without another word.
There were no furnixes this time. Melantha had dubbed them useless and stupid since they weren’t much help before. Her wing still wasn’t completely healed, but it was well enough to fly with. The chaos of battle would make any average creature not be able to look for a single enemy effectively. But Melantha wasn’t average. She hadn’t earned her rank for nothing.
Torsten was darting back and forth between two of the humans, a male on a gold bird and a female on a green one. He would slash randomly with his claws, then fly off when the human tried to slash at him. Melantha found this amusing. For a typical dumb male, his strategy seemed to be working. The humans were getting sloppier with their counter attacks. Not hitting the enemy on purpose and waiting until they were worn out to move in for the kill...she had to remember that one.
And then she saw her main target: the human king and his red bird. Snickering and showing her teeth, she placed herself in front of him. “Golden maned demon slayer, we meet again.”
Golden maned? Talor wanted to laugh at that. The demon lady obviously didn’t notice that his hair was red, not dark blond. There ought to be a picture of her in the dictionary next to the word “gullable.”
Keeping a straight face, he pulled the reins and sent Frostbite into a hover above a tree branch. Some of the bark had been peeled off. This was the sign that said the trap was there.
“Cut to the chase, you ugly witch. I don’t have all day. Get your sorry hide over here and fight me, unless you’re afraid of ending up like that worthless son of a ***** you call a god.” His tone was calm and confident, even though he was shaking in his boots on the inside. He had never really considered himself an actor, so this surprised him a bit.
“Nobody insults Lord Demise and gets away with it!” Melantha roared and lunged toward him.
This was it. Talor had the demon exactly where he wanted her. Right before she reached him, he launched upward. She landed on the branch, and it snapped, sending her into a pit of spikes below. The other demons, seeing that their leader was down, began to retreat, hissing and snarling.
“You did well.” Link landed beside Talor and gave him a pat on the back. Scraping sounds came from the spike pit. He walked over and kicked dirt into it. “Looks like she’s still alive. Go finish her off.”
Talor blinked. “Why are you asking me?” He noticed who had just landed in front of him. “ZELDA? What the...”
Zelda chuckled. “I figured I better be more useful this time. Dad’s babysitting.”
“And you were fantastic! The sight of you out here, walloping those demons...if I wasn’t in a blood frenzy myself, it would’ve turned me on. Big time.” Link kissed Zelda on the cheek, then turned to Talor. “I’ve already had my chance to be a hero. Go ahead. You’ve earned it.”
Talor hesitated for a second, then plunged his sword into the spike pit a few times, until the scraping sounds stopped and the blade was covered in black demon blood. The cheering of the knights was nice for a second...then he had had enough. “Okay, I get the point, everybody! Really. You can stop now.” Then he realized something: he hadn’t seen Cass since before the fight. He scanned the crowd frantically, and found her limping toward him.
“I’m fine...I think.” She had a big bleeding gash on her side below her ribs. Her breathing was slightly labored. “Pretty sure...the demon that did this...is dead now.”
“Where are your red potions?”
“Fell out...couldn’t catch them before...they hit the ground.” Cass fell to her knees, holding her wound.
“I used mine, damnit!” Talor ran to his sister’s side. “Please tell me one of you has some left!”
Pipit grabbed his pack. There was a hole in the bottom, and nothing was in it. “Well, I DID have some...that yellow eyed demon must’ve decided he wanted them.” His expression was grim.
Groose stepped forward, holding a red potion. “This is my last one. Here.” He put it on the ground in front of Cass. “Drink up. Before Liam comes to take you where he is. And you’re welcome.”
Talor’s jaw dropped. He could hardly believe that Groose, the same guy who used to throw everyone’s textbooks in the toilet and steal lunch money from underclassmen, had just saved his sister’s life. And...that look in his eyes! It wasn’t cocky or arrogant, it reminded him of the look his father had given his mother when she was bedridden with a nasty flu...that could only mean one thing...and oddly enough, he was okay with it.
“Coming through, everybody move.” A medic pushed through the crowd, then knelt and examined the wounded knight. “It’s already starting to heal. I have a feeling it will scar over though...but you’re lucky you got a potion in you soon enough. Without it, you would either bleed to death or have to retire early.”
Cass was loaded onto a stretcher. Before hauling her off, the medic put his hand on Talor’s shoulder. “This is why I do what I do.” His voice was lowered almost to a whisper. “Out of the twenty years I’ve been doing this, never once have I seen a scoundrel like him donate a potion to a lady. I think he likes her, and I don’t mean as just a friend. Brace yourself, boy...the ice has been broken.”
Those words echoed in Talor’s head the whole flight back. Blaze flew beside him and Frostbite, keeping a close watch on the stretcher below. Yes, the ice had been broken. And when they were all safely back at the colony, he was going to thank Groose personally...or should he say, thank his future brother-in-law personally?
He was getting ahead of himself...
END OF PART ONE
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
You paired him with Orielle, remember? And I remember you saying that! Cerai's based on myself, and Leo's the twin brother I never had, but wish I did. I do have a brother but we're not twins. He's 10 and I'm 22.
Thanks for finally reading it! Made my day!
Thanks for finally reading it! Made my day!
Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
PART 2 - CHAPTER 1
The sun rose over the small Hyrule Kingdom. A few people were up, some were even in the bazaar waiting for it to open so they could have breakfast. It had been twelve years since the demon woman had been killed, and since then, the colony had grown. Many of the knights no longer lived in the castle. There was a series of cabins right outside the courtyard for them and their immediate families.
In one of these cabins, a preteen boy woke up and noticed it was light outside. He sprang out of bed, left his room, and ran down the hall to his parents’ room. “Is it time yet?” His excited squeal resonated throughout the cabin.
“Your son is up...” Cass rolled over and punched the lump of blankets on the other side of the bed.
The reply was a string of incoherent babble, followed by a yawn. Cass grabbed the blankets and tossed them upward. “Oh really? I didn’t know you spoke bokoblin.”
“I said, thank you Captain Obvious.” Groose rubbed his eyes and yawned again.
The door to the room flew open. Cass and Groose’s son, Roc, was standing there bouncing on his tiptoes. He had inherited the flame red hair color of both his parents. His father had had his hair styled in a pompadour once when he was five, and if it wasn’t for his green eyes, he would’ve looked like a miniature Groose. Today, his messy and slightly spiked hair style made him resemble his uncle Talor, only without the birthmark below the eye.
“It’s six-thirty in the morning.” Cass said. “The loftwings aren’t even awake yet.” She elbowed her husband in the ribs playfully. “And neither is your father...”
Roc frowned. “Then I got dressed for nothing?”
“I wonder what they’re serving for breakfast at the castle...” Groose wondered out loud. The knights, knight students, elders, and royals got to eat half an hour earlier than everyone else if they wanted to. The king still overslept one or two times a week, but he usually got to the castle mess hall before it closed.
“I forgot to eat!” Roc slapped his forehead, just like his mother often did when she felt stupid, then turned around and left.
“Forgetting about breakfast?” Groose blinked, dumbfounded. “You sure he’s my kid?”
Cass laughed. “Take my word for it.”
---
The castle mess hall was buzzing with activity already. Roc could smell the pancakes, which perked him up right away. Pancakes were his favorite.
At one of the tables, a girl was addressing her father in a whiny voice. “It’s not fair! I want a loftwing too!”
Link took the bottle of syrup from his daughter. “Save some for the rest of us.”
“Quit changing the subject, Dad! This isn’t fair and you know it.”
“You’re only eight years old. To get a loftwing you have to be at least ten.”
“Change the rule then! You’re KING.”
Roc walked past on his way to the line. “There’s a reason that rule is in place.”
“Yeah. Too young and you’ll fall off and crack your head open.” Fletcher walked by with a plate of pancakes.
“They’ll be scrubbing blood off the pavement for weeks.” Roc added from his place in the line.
“What have I told you about minding your own business?!”
Roc’s mouth snapped shut. He took his plate to a table that three other boys including Fletcher were sitting at, then sat down and began eating. All without another word.
Link looked at Groose and chuckled. “I wanted our sons to get along, but I didn’t want them to get along quite like that.”
“At least they get along at all. When we were their age, we hated each others’ guts.”
“That’s because you were always threatening to shove my head in the toilet, hang me from the flagpole by my underwear, among other things. You would have too, if I wouldn’t have fought back.”
Groose shrugged. “Water under the bridge.” He looked at Kestrel, who was sitting there pouting. “How long has she been like this?”
“All morning. And most of last night.” Link groaned. “Zelda pretty much just pawned her off on me this morning because she wouldn’t stop begging her to change the tradition. Now she’s begging ME.”
“Changing it would be SO easy! What’s the point of being king if you’re not going to do anything to make things better and more fair for everybody?”
“You’ll be fine, Kes.” Brandon, having heard the whole thing, got up from a nearby table. He patted Kestrel’s head. “I once went months without my loftwing. I thought I’d lost him for good. I survived, so you can too. Keep working hard in school, and before you know it, the time will come when you can race your brother through the treetops.”
Kestrel looked up with big round eyes. “How’d he get lost?”
“I don’t know, but that’s not the point.”
“Okay.” Kestrel noticed her friends had arrived. “I’m gonna go see what Estelle and Raiden and Tyto are up to.”
Link watched her move to the other table. “Thanks.”
Brandon smiled. “Don’t mention it. Stubborn little thing, ain’t she? I don’t see any of those three complaining.” Raiden and Estelle were eight, Tyto was nine. And it was true: Kestrel was the only one out of the four who were still too young for loftwings causing a scene.
“She gets it from her mother.”
“I don’t know.” Cass had just arrived, but she heard the last bit of the conversation. “I see some stubbornness in you too. I think she gets it from both parents.”
“Maybe...” Link shrugged, then noticed an empty table out of the corner of his eye. “Those boys left already. I hope they’re not doing anything stupid.”
---
Fletcher and Roc were at the goddess statue, with the two others. Orion was Brandon and Orielle’s son, and Allan was Katherine’s. Allan’s father had been killed in a routine patrol by a particularly aggressive furnix. He hardly remembered him since it had happened when he was three. These four, along with Pipit and Karane’s oldest daughter Amaya, were going to get their loftwings today and begin their knight training.
“Let me get this straight. Your parents STOOD on the HANDS?” Roc was baffled.
Fletcher nodded. “That’s what they say. And I guess Mom pushed Dad off a couple times.”
“I would pay to see that.” Orion commented.
“Well you won’t be able to. It happened before I was even born.”
“My dad can invent stuff. And there’s those weird time travel rocks in the desert-”
Allan cuffed Roc over the head. “They’re called timeshift stones. And your dad can barely add a cannon attachment to his catapult without it backfiring and making a whole bunch of smoke. Do you honestly trust him with a TIME MACHINE?”
“Wouldn’t be a good idea anyway.” Fletcher laughed. “You know that old story about the guy who went back in time and stepped on a butterfly? When he came back everything was different just because that one butterfly died. We might end up making the world be ruled by remlits or something.”
“What are you doing? Aren’t we not supposed to mess with the goddess statue?” Orion said to Roc, who was climbing on the statue.
“I’m trying to see if I can get to the hands.” Roc was near the statue’s waist, and scaling it surprisingly well. That was until he lost his footing and slipped. There was a flash of white, and he landed safely on the back of a loftwing.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Talor gave his nephew a stern look.
“I told him not to.” Orion blurted out. Fletcher nodded in agreement.
“Too fast, Dad...” Tyto, who had been riding with his father, was dizzy. “You almost made me puke.”
“You’d puke for sure if your cousin went splat on the ground. And your aunt would have my head.” Talor nudged the cousins off of Frostbite.
“...Sorry.” Roc hung his head.
“You’re just lucky your uncle was around. But...you’re probably going to be in a lot of trouble.” Allan smirked at that last sentence.
Talor sighed. “I won’t say anything, UNLESS someone asks. The goddess statue isn’t a toy, got it?”
“Got it...”
Talor looked at his watch. “Almost time for the ceremony already. Stay out of trouble. Come on, Tyto.”
Tyto shuddered. “Can I just walk? That was enough flying for me right now.”
“As long as you go straight to your mother. She’s in the bazaar at the diner. Tell her I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“Okay.”
Talor launched into the air and headed towards the bazaar. “Well buddy, my sister’s going to have to give flying lessons. In a couple years it’ll be my turn.” Frostbite chirped in response. Talor smiled. “Course, she’ll have help. Unlike me. But don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade Jayla for anything...”
He just hoped he would have the patience to pull it off.
The sun rose over the small Hyrule Kingdom. A few people were up, some were even in the bazaar waiting for it to open so they could have breakfast. It had been twelve years since the demon woman had been killed, and since then, the colony had grown. Many of the knights no longer lived in the castle. There was a series of cabins right outside the courtyard for them and their immediate families.
In one of these cabins, a preteen boy woke up and noticed it was light outside. He sprang out of bed, left his room, and ran down the hall to his parents’ room. “Is it time yet?” His excited squeal resonated throughout the cabin.
“Your son is up...” Cass rolled over and punched the lump of blankets on the other side of the bed.
The reply was a string of incoherent babble, followed by a yawn. Cass grabbed the blankets and tossed them upward. “Oh really? I didn’t know you spoke bokoblin.”
“I said, thank you Captain Obvious.” Groose rubbed his eyes and yawned again.
The door to the room flew open. Cass and Groose’s son, Roc, was standing there bouncing on his tiptoes. He had inherited the flame red hair color of both his parents. His father had had his hair styled in a pompadour once when he was five, and if it wasn’t for his green eyes, he would’ve looked like a miniature Groose. Today, his messy and slightly spiked hair style made him resemble his uncle Talor, only without the birthmark below the eye.
“It’s six-thirty in the morning.” Cass said. “The loftwings aren’t even awake yet.” She elbowed her husband in the ribs playfully. “And neither is your father...”
Roc frowned. “Then I got dressed for nothing?”
“I wonder what they’re serving for breakfast at the castle...” Groose wondered out loud. The knights, knight students, elders, and royals got to eat half an hour earlier than everyone else if they wanted to. The king still overslept one or two times a week, but he usually got to the castle mess hall before it closed.
“I forgot to eat!” Roc slapped his forehead, just like his mother often did when she felt stupid, then turned around and left.
“Forgetting about breakfast?” Groose blinked, dumbfounded. “You sure he’s my kid?”
Cass laughed. “Take my word for it.”
---
The castle mess hall was buzzing with activity already. Roc could smell the pancakes, which perked him up right away. Pancakes were his favorite.
At one of the tables, a girl was addressing her father in a whiny voice. “It’s not fair! I want a loftwing too!”
Link took the bottle of syrup from his daughter. “Save some for the rest of us.”
“Quit changing the subject, Dad! This isn’t fair and you know it.”
“You’re only eight years old. To get a loftwing you have to be at least ten.”
“Change the rule then! You’re KING.”
Roc walked past on his way to the line. “There’s a reason that rule is in place.”
“Yeah. Too young and you’ll fall off and crack your head open.” Fletcher walked by with a plate of pancakes.
“They’ll be scrubbing blood off the pavement for weeks.” Roc added from his place in the line.
“What have I told you about minding your own business?!”
Roc’s mouth snapped shut. He took his plate to a table that three other boys including Fletcher were sitting at, then sat down and began eating. All without another word.
Link looked at Groose and chuckled. “I wanted our sons to get along, but I didn’t want them to get along quite like that.”
“At least they get along at all. When we were their age, we hated each others’ guts.”
“That’s because you were always threatening to shove my head in the toilet, hang me from the flagpole by my underwear, among other things. You would have too, if I wouldn’t have fought back.”
Groose shrugged. “Water under the bridge.” He looked at Kestrel, who was sitting there pouting. “How long has she been like this?”
“All morning. And most of last night.” Link groaned. “Zelda pretty much just pawned her off on me this morning because she wouldn’t stop begging her to change the tradition. Now she’s begging ME.”
“Changing it would be SO easy! What’s the point of being king if you’re not going to do anything to make things better and more fair for everybody?”
“You’ll be fine, Kes.” Brandon, having heard the whole thing, got up from a nearby table. He patted Kestrel’s head. “I once went months without my loftwing. I thought I’d lost him for good. I survived, so you can too. Keep working hard in school, and before you know it, the time will come when you can race your brother through the treetops.”
Kestrel looked up with big round eyes. “How’d he get lost?”
“I don’t know, but that’s not the point.”
“Okay.” Kestrel noticed her friends had arrived. “I’m gonna go see what Estelle and Raiden and Tyto are up to.”
Link watched her move to the other table. “Thanks.”
Brandon smiled. “Don’t mention it. Stubborn little thing, ain’t she? I don’t see any of those three complaining.” Raiden and Estelle were eight, Tyto was nine. And it was true: Kestrel was the only one out of the four who were still too young for loftwings causing a scene.
“She gets it from her mother.”
“I don’t know.” Cass had just arrived, but she heard the last bit of the conversation. “I see some stubbornness in you too. I think she gets it from both parents.”
“Maybe...” Link shrugged, then noticed an empty table out of the corner of his eye. “Those boys left already. I hope they’re not doing anything stupid.”
---
Fletcher and Roc were at the goddess statue, with the two others. Orion was Brandon and Orielle’s son, and Allan was Katherine’s. Allan’s father had been killed in a routine patrol by a particularly aggressive furnix. He hardly remembered him since it had happened when he was three. These four, along with Pipit and Karane’s oldest daughter Amaya, were going to get their loftwings today and begin their knight training.
“Let me get this straight. Your parents STOOD on the HANDS?” Roc was baffled.
Fletcher nodded. “That’s what they say. And I guess Mom pushed Dad off a couple times.”
“I would pay to see that.” Orion commented.
“Well you won’t be able to. It happened before I was even born.”
“My dad can invent stuff. And there’s those weird time travel rocks in the desert-”
Allan cuffed Roc over the head. “They’re called timeshift stones. And your dad can barely add a cannon attachment to his catapult without it backfiring and making a whole bunch of smoke. Do you honestly trust him with a TIME MACHINE?”
“Wouldn’t be a good idea anyway.” Fletcher laughed. “You know that old story about the guy who went back in time and stepped on a butterfly? When he came back everything was different just because that one butterfly died. We might end up making the world be ruled by remlits or something.”
“What are you doing? Aren’t we not supposed to mess with the goddess statue?” Orion said to Roc, who was climbing on the statue.
“I’m trying to see if I can get to the hands.” Roc was near the statue’s waist, and scaling it surprisingly well. That was until he lost his footing and slipped. There was a flash of white, and he landed safely on the back of a loftwing.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Talor gave his nephew a stern look.
“I told him not to.” Orion blurted out. Fletcher nodded in agreement.
“Too fast, Dad...” Tyto, who had been riding with his father, was dizzy. “You almost made me puke.”
“You’d puke for sure if your cousin went splat on the ground. And your aunt would have my head.” Talor nudged the cousins off of Frostbite.
“...Sorry.” Roc hung his head.
“You’re just lucky your uncle was around. But...you’re probably going to be in a lot of trouble.” Allan smirked at that last sentence.
Talor sighed. “I won’t say anything, UNLESS someone asks. The goddess statue isn’t a toy, got it?”
“Got it...”
Talor looked at his watch. “Almost time for the ceremony already. Stay out of trouble. Come on, Tyto.”
Tyto shuddered. “Can I just walk? That was enough flying for me right now.”
“As long as you go straight to your mother. She’s in the bazaar at the diner. Tell her I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“Okay.”
Talor launched into the air and headed towards the bazaar. “Well buddy, my sister’s going to have to give flying lessons. In a couple years it’ll be my turn.” Frostbite chirped in response. Talor smiled. “Course, she’ll have help. Unlike me. But don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade Jayla for anything...”
He just hoped he would have the patience to pull it off.
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
PART 2 - CHAPTER 2
The dark haired, dark eyed boy had always felt like the odd one out. But today, it was hitting him especially hard.
Lorcan had been born with a twisted foot, making his right leg weak. He needed a leg brace to walk, and even then, he couldn’t keep up with his peers well. His walk was more like a hobble than anything. His useless right foot dragged behind him like a heavy chain. He would never be a knight like his father. He was stuck at the item check shop that his mother owned.
He knew his father was disappointed, and why wouldn’t he be? The poor man wanted nothing more than to be able to give his son flying and combat lessons. Lorcan was convinced that this was the reason his parents were considering having a second child. If his future sibling had two good feet, he was jealous of him or her already.
“Morning, Lorcan. I’m here to store some things.” A girl with rusty colored hair and blue eyes came up to the counter and smiled. She had a slingshot and a bag of pellets.
Of course. Slingshots aren’t something that’s needed for getting a loftwing. Without replying, Lorcan turned to the cabinet in the back of the shop and took out Amaya’s box. He took the items from her, put them in the box, and locked it up again.
Amaya noticed the glum attitude of the shopkeeper. “What’s wrong? Today’s loftwing day...” She paused for a second, then frowned. “Oh...I forgot.”
“You actually thought for a second I was knight material? I’m flattered.” His voice was laced with sarcasm.
“Hey, I’m not perfect either.”
“At least your parents are proud of you.”
Amaya’s heart ached for her friend. He wanted to fit in so badly, the poor guy. There wasn’t much she could say to make him feel better, but she was certainly going to try. “Don’t say that. You’re doing what you can. That’s all they ask.”
“Dad wants a knight son. It’s not that hard to figure out. I think he envies your dad for having three strong healthy kids.” Lorcan’s father Cawlin appeared to be holding a grudge against Amaya’s father Pipit. But whenever Lorcan brought it up, both his father and mother skirted around the issue. His mother Peatrice kept saying it was nothing major. His father refused to say anything at all about it.
Amaya didn’t know how to respond to that. Even though her little siblings weren’t old enough yet, they would be when the next bond ceremony came around. Lorcan was at that age, but he would never be anything more than a merchant. It was really sad.
“Look at the time.” Lorcan announced. “You better get down to the goddess statue.”
Amaya started to leave, but when she noticed he wasn’t following her, she turned around and stopped. “You know you can come along just to watch. If you want.”
“This is the only place I’m useful. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Lorcan went back to doodling in the item check’s record book. He had gotten that habit from his mother. The page margins were covered with geometric patterns, lines, and shapes, but the doodles never interfered with the actual content of the record book. When one’s job involves sitting at a desk all day guarding items, one tends to have ways to cure boredom.
---
The four others were already at the goddess statue. Fletcher was the first to notice they had company. “Where were you all morning?” He asked Amaya. “I didn’t see you at breakfast.”
“I was there, but you know...those tables can only seat four.”
“Oh.” Fletcher blinked. He still had the ice blue eye color. Some people had thought his eyes would darken as he grew. Those people turned out to be wrong. His little sister, however, had eyes the typical, everyday shade of blue.
“Quit talking to her! Your parents are about to start the ceremony!” Roc pointed at the tower that overlooked the whole town. It was known as the light tower, and was used mainly for ceremonial purposes. The king and queen were visible in the top of it.
Link was wearing his green tunic and a red cape that he got out only for special occasions. He looked quite dashing and heroic, and fit the description of the ancient hero who had sacrificed himself during the first war with Demise. Fletcher often wondered if his father actually was that hero, reborn into a new life. If he was, he certainly didn’t remember. Zelda had on the maroon dress she had worn at the last wing ceremony in Skyloft, and despite having given birth twice since then, she still fit into it perfectly. She didn’t wear dresses often, only for ceremonies and other similar events.
Firebolt and Nimbus perched on two trees near the light tower. They were each holding a pouch in their beaks. As the crowd gathered, Zelda began to speak. “Welcome to bond ceremony number fifty-six. This bond ceremony is special, it’s the first one that takes place in our true home. Even though the loftwings no longer bond with every one of us, I pray that they will continue to be with us for generations to come.” After the move to the surface, the civilians no longer needed loftwings. Only the knights and royalty kept theirs.
“You already know how this works, but I’m required to explain it anyway.” There was a soft chuckling sound, the people were amused by the king’s bluntness. “Each trainee will receive a small slice of bread, made from the plant seeds that are a loftwing’s natural diet. The birds love the taste of this bread, to them, it’s like candy. When I blow this whistle,” He held up a gold colored woodwind whistle. “The loftwings in the area will hear it and come to pick their new lifelong companions. They will eat the treat out of the hands of their choice, and the bond will be made.”
Link and Zelda gave the signal to Firebolt and Nimbus, who flew to the goddess statue and landed beside the five trainees. When all five had a treat, the royal loftwings returned to the light tower. Without any more words from the king and queen, the bird whistle was blown, and loftwings started to appear.
“Ooh! I want that one!” Roc was pointing at a light blue loftwing. The official term for the color was daysky blue. The bird was still too far away for the tail length to be seen, and thus the gender since males had longer tails, but Roc didn’t care either way. He just liked it the best out of the ones he saw.
“You know they pick you, right?” Fletcher rolled his eyes. He was turned away from the approaching birds, instead facing Roc when he made that statement. He felt a nudge on his hand, and turned around, startled. A pine green loftwing had eaten the treat. Fletcher grinned and patted the bird’s head. “You’re a...” He quickly checked the tail feathers. “Handsome boy!” The loftwing chirped happily, and Fletcher’s mind raced as he decided on a name. “Cedar. Yeah, that will work.”
Roc had gotten the daysky blue bird that he was interested in. It was a female, and he named her Blizzard. Orion’s was an earth yellow male who got named Heracles. Amaya got another yellow one, only it was a female, and a brighter shade known as dawn yellow. Aurora was her name. Allan’s made Fletcher do a double take. Crimson red was a color that hadn’t been seen in a long time, until now, Firebolt was the only one. It was also one of the colors that were gender specific, in this case, male. Allan named his bird Farlan.
The fifty-sixth bond ceremony was a success. As the ceremony pulled to a close, nobody payed any attention to the lone figure soaring off into Faron Woods.
The dark haired, dark eyed boy had always felt like the odd one out. But today, it was hitting him especially hard.
Lorcan had been born with a twisted foot, making his right leg weak. He needed a leg brace to walk, and even then, he couldn’t keep up with his peers well. His walk was more like a hobble than anything. His useless right foot dragged behind him like a heavy chain. He would never be a knight like his father. He was stuck at the item check shop that his mother owned.
He knew his father was disappointed, and why wouldn’t he be? The poor man wanted nothing more than to be able to give his son flying and combat lessons. Lorcan was convinced that this was the reason his parents were considering having a second child. If his future sibling had two good feet, he was jealous of him or her already.
“Morning, Lorcan. I’m here to store some things.” A girl with rusty colored hair and blue eyes came up to the counter and smiled. She had a slingshot and a bag of pellets.
Of course. Slingshots aren’t something that’s needed for getting a loftwing. Without replying, Lorcan turned to the cabinet in the back of the shop and took out Amaya’s box. He took the items from her, put them in the box, and locked it up again.
Amaya noticed the glum attitude of the shopkeeper. “What’s wrong? Today’s loftwing day...” She paused for a second, then frowned. “Oh...I forgot.”
“You actually thought for a second I was knight material? I’m flattered.” His voice was laced with sarcasm.
“Hey, I’m not perfect either.”
“At least your parents are proud of you.”
Amaya’s heart ached for her friend. He wanted to fit in so badly, the poor guy. There wasn’t much she could say to make him feel better, but she was certainly going to try. “Don’t say that. You’re doing what you can. That’s all they ask.”
“Dad wants a knight son. It’s not that hard to figure out. I think he envies your dad for having three strong healthy kids.” Lorcan’s father Cawlin appeared to be holding a grudge against Amaya’s father Pipit. But whenever Lorcan brought it up, both his father and mother skirted around the issue. His mother Peatrice kept saying it was nothing major. His father refused to say anything at all about it.
Amaya didn’t know how to respond to that. Even though her little siblings weren’t old enough yet, they would be when the next bond ceremony came around. Lorcan was at that age, but he would never be anything more than a merchant. It was really sad.
“Look at the time.” Lorcan announced. “You better get down to the goddess statue.”
Amaya started to leave, but when she noticed he wasn’t following her, she turned around and stopped. “You know you can come along just to watch. If you want.”
“This is the only place I’m useful. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Lorcan went back to doodling in the item check’s record book. He had gotten that habit from his mother. The page margins were covered with geometric patterns, lines, and shapes, but the doodles never interfered with the actual content of the record book. When one’s job involves sitting at a desk all day guarding items, one tends to have ways to cure boredom.
---
The four others were already at the goddess statue. Fletcher was the first to notice they had company. “Where were you all morning?” He asked Amaya. “I didn’t see you at breakfast.”
“I was there, but you know...those tables can only seat four.”
“Oh.” Fletcher blinked. He still had the ice blue eye color. Some people had thought his eyes would darken as he grew. Those people turned out to be wrong. His little sister, however, had eyes the typical, everyday shade of blue.
“Quit talking to her! Your parents are about to start the ceremony!” Roc pointed at the tower that overlooked the whole town. It was known as the light tower, and was used mainly for ceremonial purposes. The king and queen were visible in the top of it.
Link was wearing his green tunic and a red cape that he got out only for special occasions. He looked quite dashing and heroic, and fit the description of the ancient hero who had sacrificed himself during the first war with Demise. Fletcher often wondered if his father actually was that hero, reborn into a new life. If he was, he certainly didn’t remember. Zelda had on the maroon dress she had worn at the last wing ceremony in Skyloft, and despite having given birth twice since then, she still fit into it perfectly. She didn’t wear dresses often, only for ceremonies and other similar events.
Firebolt and Nimbus perched on two trees near the light tower. They were each holding a pouch in their beaks. As the crowd gathered, Zelda began to speak. “Welcome to bond ceremony number fifty-six. This bond ceremony is special, it’s the first one that takes place in our true home. Even though the loftwings no longer bond with every one of us, I pray that they will continue to be with us for generations to come.” After the move to the surface, the civilians no longer needed loftwings. Only the knights and royalty kept theirs.
“You already know how this works, but I’m required to explain it anyway.” There was a soft chuckling sound, the people were amused by the king’s bluntness. “Each trainee will receive a small slice of bread, made from the plant seeds that are a loftwing’s natural diet. The birds love the taste of this bread, to them, it’s like candy. When I blow this whistle,” He held up a gold colored woodwind whistle. “The loftwings in the area will hear it and come to pick their new lifelong companions. They will eat the treat out of the hands of their choice, and the bond will be made.”
Link and Zelda gave the signal to Firebolt and Nimbus, who flew to the goddess statue and landed beside the five trainees. When all five had a treat, the royal loftwings returned to the light tower. Without any more words from the king and queen, the bird whistle was blown, and loftwings started to appear.
“Ooh! I want that one!” Roc was pointing at a light blue loftwing. The official term for the color was daysky blue. The bird was still too far away for the tail length to be seen, and thus the gender since males had longer tails, but Roc didn’t care either way. He just liked it the best out of the ones he saw.
“You know they pick you, right?” Fletcher rolled his eyes. He was turned away from the approaching birds, instead facing Roc when he made that statement. He felt a nudge on his hand, and turned around, startled. A pine green loftwing had eaten the treat. Fletcher grinned and patted the bird’s head. “You’re a...” He quickly checked the tail feathers. “Handsome boy!” The loftwing chirped happily, and Fletcher’s mind raced as he decided on a name. “Cedar. Yeah, that will work.”
Roc had gotten the daysky blue bird that he was interested in. It was a female, and he named her Blizzard. Orion’s was an earth yellow male who got named Heracles. Amaya got another yellow one, only it was a female, and a brighter shade known as dawn yellow. Aurora was her name. Allan’s made Fletcher do a double take. Crimson red was a color that hadn’t been seen in a long time, until now, Firebolt was the only one. It was also one of the colors that were gender specific, in this case, male. Allan named his bird Farlan.
The fifty-sixth bond ceremony was a success. As the ceremony pulled to a close, nobody payed any attention to the lone figure soaring off into Faron Woods.
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Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
PART 2 - CHAPTER 3
“Come on, Blizzard!” Roc had spotted his parents and their loftwings. “I’ll introduce you to your new family!” He took off running, with Blizzard following close behind him.
Blaze and Dart immediately began preening the new arrival. “They’re acting like they already know each other!” Groose commented. “Almost like she’s their hatchling. How ironic would that be?”
“I actually wouldn’t be surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time loftwings have paired up because their humans did the same.”
“Cass, you’re blowing my mind right now.” Groose’s eyes were like dinner plates. Loftwings never raised their young in human territory. Every once in awhile someone would find eggs or chicks, but they were usually very good at hiding their nests. It had been that way in the sky, and it was still that way on the surface. There was little evidence to support Cass’ claim, but oftentimes, the birds would also act like a couple if their masters were.
“Wouldn’t be the first time that happened either, big guy. Or at least I’m hoping.” Cass chuckled and nudged Groose affectionately, causing Roc to groan and roll his eyes. Why did parents always insist on acting like that in public? It was lame and embarrassing.
Fletcher was already flying. “Wanna race to the lake?” He hovered in front of Roc, a big grin on his face.
“Hang on a second.” Cass stepped between Roc and Blizzard, preventing him from climbing on. “No going that far out of town by yourself until you’ve practiced for at least...a week or so. Stay here for today.”
“But Mom-”
“No buts. You may fly around within the borders of town, maybe tomorrow we can all go to the Great Tree and back.”
Roc sighed. “Well that’s better than nothing.” He got onto Blizzard’s back and turned to Fletcher. “First to complete three laps wins? Does anyone else want to come along?”
“Sure. And I don’t know. Allan and Orion are just flying around randomly. Amaya seems more interested in playing hide and seek with Raiden and Estelle. Girls are weird, right?”
“Yeah. She doesn’t know what she’s missing.” Roc pulled gently on Blizzard’s reins. They had all gotten the saddles for the loftwings before the ceremony. Blizzard instinctively spread her wings and rose into the air, and they were off.
At the sound of footsteps behind him, Groose turned around. He gave his old rival a slight bow. “The ceremony went well. You handled yourself...like a true leader.”
“Your son,” Cass added, “Thinks girls are weird. Watch out, he’s gonna be a heartbreaker.”
Zelda burst out laughing at that. “I believe it! All he’ll have to do is bat those icy blues of his. I still wonder how they got that specific shade.”
“And then he’ll break up by calling the girl weird.”
“That’s enough, ladies. I really don’t want to think about that right now. I’m still raising kids. I don’t want to think about grandkids yet.”
“Who said anything about grandkids?” Cass laughed. “But I suppose I get your point...”
“Yeah.” Link shrugged. “Let’s not go there.”
Since all the kids were occupied, the parents decided to gather in the castle courtyard, after informing the kids of course. They chatted and reminisced as they ate lunch, with only one interruption. Pipit and Karane’s twin eight year olds wandered away from their big sister and got caught throwing rocks at a group of kikwis. The little forest critters usually kept to themselves, but they were friendly neighbors to the humans. Luckily, none of the kikwis were seriously injured, and they accepted the apologies.
There was a bit of alcohol involved. Talor had wanted to toast the kingdom and how it had prospered. Nobody got too out of control. But even buzzed, the king noticed something wasn’t right.
“Anybody seen Grenn?” Link asked before everyone went their separate ways. “I don’t think I saw him at the ceremony.”
“Ren whata?” Groose hiccuped. “I don’t know no Ren...”
“Go home and sober up. You’re drunk.” Cass rolled her eyes. “This is why I tried to tell you having five drinks wasn’t a good idea.”
“I didn’t have five I had...hell I don’t know. Big whoop who’s Ren...”
“I said GRENN!” Link snapped. “Now...go. You’re no help when you’re drunk as a skunk.”
“I’ll escort him...” Cass sighed. “If I don’t he’ll probably try flying or something else that won’t end well.”
Talor watched them leave. “I shouldn’t have brought in those drinks. My bad...”
“Not your fault. Your sister just needs to tighten the leash on her man.” Karane’s comment caused Pipit to blink and stare blankly for a second.
But he decided to let the subject drop. “Grenn was there for a little bit, but I haven’t seen him since. Once the ceremony started, I watched that...”
“It’s probably no big deal.” Talor said. “He never has been very social. He’s probably off by himself somewhere.”
---
A man on a gray loftwing soared above Lake Floria. Faron the water dragon waved at him when she saw him, but he didn’t notice. He wasn’t feeling like chatting anyway, not to people, not to anything else that was smart enough to speak.
Twelve years ago, he had lost an eye and gained a nasty looking scar where the eye should be. Many of his fellow knights had found love since then, as evidenced by all the children. But himself? Not a chance. The ladies took one look at his disfigured face and acted like they were afraid of him. Although he wasn’t exactly sure about whether or not he wanted romance in his life anyway, he couldn’t help feeling jealous.
He remembered his own bond ceremony. Oh, how it had filled him with joy when Graywind flew and ate the treat. But he couldn’t seem to be happy for the little brats that weren’t his.
He had been the first in his class to master the spiral charge maneuver. Even the great chosen hero king had needed to practice it in a controlled environment. But noone seemed to care. They all looked past Link’s obvious flaws such as laziness and practically worshiped him. And Zelda...a reborn GODDESS? Seriously? Honestly, he didn’t see how all this was even possible.
And then there were those two blond haired blue eyed rugrats, both born with silver spoons in their mouths. It must be nice to have parents that can cough up just about any amount of rupees for a toy or whatever at the drop of a hat. Link hoarded treasure like a greedy dragon. The shopkeeper Rupin hoarded rupees. Whenever either one of his precious offspring wanted something expensive, Link could just sell something to Rupin. It worked every time.
His wandering flight brought him to Ancient Cistern. He landed on the roof of the old structure, then noticed something flitting through the trees in front of him. At first he thought it was one of the other knights. That was until he looked closer and saw that while it looked human, it wasn’t riding a giant bird, it had wings of its own. It could only be one thing...
“Show yourself, fiend!” He yelled at the demon and grabbed his sword.
The demon perched on a nearby sturdy branch, folding his leathery wings smugly. “A one eyed human. Now I’ve seen everything...” He looked at Grenn’s sword with mild interest. “You humans and your fancy weapons. It must be terrible to have to rely on them because you have no sharp claws and you can’t snap bones with your bare hands.”
“Get any closer and I’ll rip you apart! This blade can cut just as well as, if not better than, your claws!”
“Keep your shorts on, human. For both of our sakes.” The demon’s piercing yellow eyes glowed softly as he chuckled. “I’m not ready to start another war so soon after my kind lost the last one.” He growled softly, shaking his head. “The human king...we took him for granted. Now we know his victory over Lord Demise wasn’t just luck. He means business. Lady Melantha learned that the hard way. Now if you excuse me, I must be going. I’m getting hungry and the last demon who tried to eat a human ended up dead. The human, however, got away with a few minor injuries. I’ll find a fat juicy rabbit or something that can’t fight back.” He spread his wings and prepared to fly off.
“Wait.” Grenn lowered his sword.
The demon stopped in midair and turned around and landed again. He tilted his head, confused. “You’d think a human would be glad to see a demon leave. You sure are a strange one.”
“...I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
“Come on, Blizzard!” Roc had spotted his parents and their loftwings. “I’ll introduce you to your new family!” He took off running, with Blizzard following close behind him.
Blaze and Dart immediately began preening the new arrival. “They’re acting like they already know each other!” Groose commented. “Almost like she’s their hatchling. How ironic would that be?”
“I actually wouldn’t be surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time loftwings have paired up because their humans did the same.”
“Cass, you’re blowing my mind right now.” Groose’s eyes were like dinner plates. Loftwings never raised their young in human territory. Every once in awhile someone would find eggs or chicks, but they were usually very good at hiding their nests. It had been that way in the sky, and it was still that way on the surface. There was little evidence to support Cass’ claim, but oftentimes, the birds would also act like a couple if their masters were.
“Wouldn’t be the first time that happened either, big guy. Or at least I’m hoping.” Cass chuckled and nudged Groose affectionately, causing Roc to groan and roll his eyes. Why did parents always insist on acting like that in public? It was lame and embarrassing.
Fletcher was already flying. “Wanna race to the lake?” He hovered in front of Roc, a big grin on his face.
“Hang on a second.” Cass stepped between Roc and Blizzard, preventing him from climbing on. “No going that far out of town by yourself until you’ve practiced for at least...a week or so. Stay here for today.”
“But Mom-”
“No buts. You may fly around within the borders of town, maybe tomorrow we can all go to the Great Tree and back.”
Roc sighed. “Well that’s better than nothing.” He got onto Blizzard’s back and turned to Fletcher. “First to complete three laps wins? Does anyone else want to come along?”
“Sure. And I don’t know. Allan and Orion are just flying around randomly. Amaya seems more interested in playing hide and seek with Raiden and Estelle. Girls are weird, right?”
“Yeah. She doesn’t know what she’s missing.” Roc pulled gently on Blizzard’s reins. They had all gotten the saddles for the loftwings before the ceremony. Blizzard instinctively spread her wings and rose into the air, and they were off.
At the sound of footsteps behind him, Groose turned around. He gave his old rival a slight bow. “The ceremony went well. You handled yourself...like a true leader.”
“Your son,” Cass added, “Thinks girls are weird. Watch out, he’s gonna be a heartbreaker.”
Zelda burst out laughing at that. “I believe it! All he’ll have to do is bat those icy blues of his. I still wonder how they got that specific shade.”
“And then he’ll break up by calling the girl weird.”
“That’s enough, ladies. I really don’t want to think about that right now. I’m still raising kids. I don’t want to think about grandkids yet.”
“Who said anything about grandkids?” Cass laughed. “But I suppose I get your point...”
“Yeah.” Link shrugged. “Let’s not go there.”
Since all the kids were occupied, the parents decided to gather in the castle courtyard, after informing the kids of course. They chatted and reminisced as they ate lunch, with only one interruption. Pipit and Karane’s twin eight year olds wandered away from their big sister and got caught throwing rocks at a group of kikwis. The little forest critters usually kept to themselves, but they were friendly neighbors to the humans. Luckily, none of the kikwis were seriously injured, and they accepted the apologies.
There was a bit of alcohol involved. Talor had wanted to toast the kingdom and how it had prospered. Nobody got too out of control. But even buzzed, the king noticed something wasn’t right.
“Anybody seen Grenn?” Link asked before everyone went their separate ways. “I don’t think I saw him at the ceremony.”
“Ren whata?” Groose hiccuped. “I don’t know no Ren...”
“Go home and sober up. You’re drunk.” Cass rolled her eyes. “This is why I tried to tell you having five drinks wasn’t a good idea.”
“I didn’t have five I had...hell I don’t know. Big whoop who’s Ren...”
“I said GRENN!” Link snapped. “Now...go. You’re no help when you’re drunk as a skunk.”
“I’ll escort him...” Cass sighed. “If I don’t he’ll probably try flying or something else that won’t end well.”
Talor watched them leave. “I shouldn’t have brought in those drinks. My bad...”
“Not your fault. Your sister just needs to tighten the leash on her man.” Karane’s comment caused Pipit to blink and stare blankly for a second.
But he decided to let the subject drop. “Grenn was there for a little bit, but I haven’t seen him since. Once the ceremony started, I watched that...”
“It’s probably no big deal.” Talor said. “He never has been very social. He’s probably off by himself somewhere.”
---
A man on a gray loftwing soared above Lake Floria. Faron the water dragon waved at him when she saw him, but he didn’t notice. He wasn’t feeling like chatting anyway, not to people, not to anything else that was smart enough to speak.
Twelve years ago, he had lost an eye and gained a nasty looking scar where the eye should be. Many of his fellow knights had found love since then, as evidenced by all the children. But himself? Not a chance. The ladies took one look at his disfigured face and acted like they were afraid of him. Although he wasn’t exactly sure about whether or not he wanted romance in his life anyway, he couldn’t help feeling jealous.
He remembered his own bond ceremony. Oh, how it had filled him with joy when Graywind flew and ate the treat. But he couldn’t seem to be happy for the little brats that weren’t his.
He had been the first in his class to master the spiral charge maneuver. Even the great chosen hero king had needed to practice it in a controlled environment. But noone seemed to care. They all looked past Link’s obvious flaws such as laziness and practically worshiped him. And Zelda...a reborn GODDESS? Seriously? Honestly, he didn’t see how all this was even possible.
And then there were those two blond haired blue eyed rugrats, both born with silver spoons in their mouths. It must be nice to have parents that can cough up just about any amount of rupees for a toy or whatever at the drop of a hat. Link hoarded treasure like a greedy dragon. The shopkeeper Rupin hoarded rupees. Whenever either one of his precious offspring wanted something expensive, Link could just sell something to Rupin. It worked every time.
His wandering flight brought him to Ancient Cistern. He landed on the roof of the old structure, then noticed something flitting through the trees in front of him. At first he thought it was one of the other knights. That was until he looked closer and saw that while it looked human, it wasn’t riding a giant bird, it had wings of its own. It could only be one thing...
“Show yourself, fiend!” He yelled at the demon and grabbed his sword.
The demon perched on a nearby sturdy branch, folding his leathery wings smugly. “A one eyed human. Now I’ve seen everything...” He looked at Grenn’s sword with mild interest. “You humans and your fancy weapons. It must be terrible to have to rely on them because you have no sharp claws and you can’t snap bones with your bare hands.”
“Get any closer and I’ll rip you apart! This blade can cut just as well as, if not better than, your claws!”
“Keep your shorts on, human. For both of our sakes.” The demon’s piercing yellow eyes glowed softly as he chuckled. “I’m not ready to start another war so soon after my kind lost the last one.” He growled softly, shaking his head. “The human king...we took him for granted. Now we know his victory over Lord Demise wasn’t just luck. He means business. Lady Melantha learned that the hard way. Now if you excuse me, I must be going. I’m getting hungry and the last demon who tried to eat a human ended up dead. The human, however, got away with a few minor injuries. I’ll find a fat juicy rabbit or something that can’t fight back.” He spread his wings and prepared to fly off.
“Wait.” Grenn lowered his sword.
The demon stopped in midair and turned around and landed again. He tilted his head, confused. “You’d think a human would be glad to see a demon leave. You sure are a strange one.”
“...I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
Last edited:
Ocarina_Player
Will play for rupees
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Location
- Behind you!
*cue dramatic music* D:
Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
Yep. Not good, right?
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
Ocarina_Player
Will play for rupees
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Location
- Behind you!
And then poor Link is over here like "I killed the very embodiment of evil and incurred his curse that will haunt my descendants for all eternity, what more do you want from me!?!"
Some people are impossible to please I tell you.
Some people are impossible to please I tell you.
Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
xD Demons are...demons. They hold grudges. Big time.
Ocarina_Player
Will play for rupees
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Location
- Behind you!
Nah, I'm talking about that jerk, Grenn. Where does he get off selling out his people because Link annoys him? If he doesn't watch it, he's going to find out first hand why Link is the boss. 