Welcome to Gaia! ::

Just what it says! These are things I posted in the old thread before the creation of this new one. This isn't EVERYTHING I've drawn before now. Honestly, that can't be done with my current resources, since a lot of my art is in my BFF's attic in Louisiana, and everything older than Autumn of 2007 is... well, let's just say I'll probably never see it again. ANYWAY. Here, have some things.




My first banshee:




"Coke":




HA Me:

Well, that's about all of the older stuff for now. I might post other old pictures and junk on here at some point, but it's not really on my ever-growing list of stuff to do. ANYWAY, have some new stuff.





Broken Carapace
This was the first thing I drew yesterday at work - and honestly, the first thing I've drawn in a little while, other than maps. I had my notebook out but I was too miserable to focus on writing the Zelda thing, so I just started drawing whatever. Annnd then I drew a bunch of other stuff. The stuff that was actually good, I'll share here with y'all, starting with this one.

_________________________________________





This person right here doesn't have a name. Just a dragon. I haven't finished them yet because honestly I don't know what the Dark World I want to do with their legs. Probably will never finish it, but at least it's presentable like this.

__________________________________________




11/24/16
This one has turned out to be my favorite of today's... yesterday's... whatever.... batch, and has inspired some awesome story elements that I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with yet but I will put them away in the drawer to mess around with later. Either way, it came out fantastically and I am even more convinced than I used to be that I'm the most talented when I'm depressed or otherwise feeling like s**t.

So, I'm inspired to do more drawings, so hopefully I'll actually keep this thing updated every now and then. Granted, I literally just now ran into a self-created roadblock of self-esteem-killing in my mind, and I'm working my way out of that right now, so it's gonna be a long road no matter what. Ugh. I'm rambling. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Aww thanks, Fern! <<33

I LOVE your avi, by the way.

So, some backstory might be helpful. XD And I'll try to keep it brief so you can go ahead and read the story. (Actually, you can just skip this if you want.)

I participate in NaNoWriMo every year, since November of 2013. I also do the Camp NaNo thing some years, and I try to get as much writing in as possible during the "off-season" - aka The rest of the year - by setting smaller, easier goals for myself. Or at least I'm getting there. XD

2013 was the only time I actually achieved the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. I exceeded it, actually. But I've failed every year since then. I figured I'd do better this year than I did in 2014 and 2015 because I actually picked something that I WANTED to write this time, instead of saying "Oh hey yeah sure I'll write this, whatever". I wanted very badly to reach that 50k goal again. But honestly, I also really wanted to do better than the past two years. So... I'm happy. Because I didn't hit 50k. Nowhere near. Not even halfway. But I wrote a little more than 20,000 words (12,000 without counting the notebook words), which is worlds better than anything I've produced the past two Novembers.

The story I chose for my NaNo project, and which I am continuing now because I can't put it down (I should've known!!), is basically me merging all of the Zelda fanfic ideas I've been dying to work on for years, but have not allowed myself due to already having way too many projects going on at all times, and then this year of course because I finally did the impossible and stayed committed to just one story for a whole year (minus November), which is a completely unrelated story and has nothing to do with RAMBLING ANYWAY BACK TO THE OTHER TRACK. These projects were:

1.) A Legend of Zelda game retelling with a female Link. Not necessarily with other characters' genders changed as well, just, focus on female Link.

2.) A Zelda and Digimon crossover, which I have been trying to get started on since sometime in 2012. Which is way too long for something that awesome to wait to be worked on.

3.) An adventure through lots of original, me-made countries and kingdoms and otherwise just original locations that could possibly exist on the same planet as Hyrule.

4.) A prequel to my "Tales of Free Hyrule" series that I started coming up with about a decade ago and STILL haven't gotten anywhere with. The series, that is. The prequel has yet to be written. Except in my head.

5.) The fanfiction I said I would write with Noelle as Link and all of us (the other Guildies) as Sages and other NPC-ish important people, ALL of which have to be rescued by her, because of that ONE THING that was said that ONE TIME over Skype. XDD


Obviously (as you might guess by reading the story, if I ever let you get to it.... Gwahaha... the Digimon crossover has been removed from this melded puddle for now. But I took elements of number 4 to use as backstory, and mixed number 1 and number 3 together into an awesome plan of awesomeness, and decided "Hey yeah, sure, I'll try to blend this with the Noellink idea and see what happens." And so I had a basic idea. So I took it and ran with it for a whole month. And what came out of it is the 12,071 words you can see below the colorful lines down there. As well as the amazing plans and character creation and map-making that I was doing when I could've been adding to my word count... XD

I don't know how I'm going to un-meld this awesome story that I've come up with over the past month. And I honestly still don't know how much of Noelle's story is actually in - or going to be in - this story, if any at all. I wish I could tell, but honestly, I feel like I don't even know some of you well enough to write characters based off of you well, so I don't even know how well I'm going to write an us-inspired fanfic. Which is sad, because you've been my family for almost a decade and I love you all dearly. I hope I can do this for all of you. Right now I have solidly planned as far as Link getting to Hyrule. Which is quite far ahead. After that, everything is liquid, so we'll see what happens.







(( Oh yeah, and just a warning, there's some weird stuff in here, and one or two things is bound to make you go "WHAT???" Enjoy~ ))

She woke up and started the day the same way she always did, getting a full breakfast in before heading outside to start working on the farm. Autumn was in full swing, and time had come to harvest her crops. After gathering and storing many pumpkins, melons, tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables, she poured a bit of water over her hands inside her cottage and walked back outside to sit down and take a break, but found that one of her cuccos, running loose, had picked up one of her tools and was walking and hopping around with it ever so happily.

“Dafina, come here,” she called to the cucco, but the bird ignored her and went along its way, the small closed knife tucked within her beak. She took a few steps forward and reached out her arm to pick up the bird, which suddenly clucked loudly and ran off into the woods, dropping the knife. “Great way to start a day.” She reached down to pick up the tool before chasing after the rogue chicken. After running through the evergreen forest for some time and not finding any sign but a few loose feathers, she came out on the other end at the foot of the lone mountain on her island, to see the bird clucking and jumping up and down halfway up its Eastern side. “Oh, you’re gonna get it,” she mumbled, taking a few deep breaths before running up toward Dafina. The beginning was an easy ascent, but as it got higher up it became more and more difficult to climb. Dafina, on the other hand, seemed to be having no problem at all.

While she was still climbing, she noticed a purple light shining on and off from somewhere higher up, closer to the top of the mountain. Curiosity digging at her brain, she climbed up to the summit and found a hooded person standing within a circle of giant stones, chanting unfamiliar words. She tried to sneak up to the circle, but the hooded person turned around and shot a violet beam out of her hand, knocking Link to the ground.

“Don’t worry, ranch-girl, I’ll be out of your domain once I’m finished with my task here. I won’t harm your precious animals.” Link couldn’t answer as she was still catching her breath when she saw a glint of metal up on an outcropping and soon saw someone jumping down with a sword in their hands, the tip of the blade aimed down toward the hooded woman. The sorceress quickly turned and blasted this newcomer, as well. “Well well, if it isn’t the brave knight! You followed me all the way out here to the middle of nowhere, eh?”

“Curse you!” the other person yelled.

“You wasted your time. I have released the seal and absorbed the Forbidden Power. There’s no force on the planet that can stop me now.” She cackled and sent a red bolt of energy to strike the swordsman, who groaned and fell back down. She then turned to Link and threw back her hood, revealing a pale-skinned face with bright red eyes. “Well, it’s been nice to meet you, farmer. Don’t worry, you’re too small and insignificant for me to worry about. I won’t kill you. Just don’t think of getting in my way. Farewell~” She raised her arms up into the air, and a loud crackling sounded as a red lightning bolt struck her hands and swirled around her body. Link rose to her feet and ran as fast as she could to charge the woman, but her target vanished with the red swirl of magic, and she ran past the place she had once occupied at the center of the stone circle. She turned and glanced around frantically, but the woman was gone without a trace.

The sound of painful groaning reached her ears and diverted her attention, and she turned to where the swordsman lay, writhing in pain from being struck by the yellow bolt. She was just about to ask if he was alright, when suddenly golden-brown feathers burst out of his right arm, then out of his left, and his body began to shrink down to a smaller size while feathers burst out from his back as well. Soon he was coated in feathers, his arms transformed into wings and his feet transformed into huge, sharp talons. In place of a swordsman, she was now staring into the eyes of a large brown owl.

“O… Oh… Are you…?”

“What did she do to me?” the bird suddenly hooted, taking Link by surprise.

“Uh… Umm…”

“A bird!” he shrieked, flapping his new wings frantically, throwing feathers everywhere. “A bird! She turned me into a bird!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, placing a hand on the top of his head to try to calm him down, though this did no good, and he merely shook his head and went hopping and tumbling around. “I didn’t… mean for this to happen.” After more jumping and falling down and crazed flapping, the owl screeched loudly, letting out an incomprehensible line of curses and otherwise loud, angry and nasty words. Eventually his speech turned into something intelligible, and he glared at the young lady.

“If you hadn’t come along, I would have been able to kill her before she absorbed the power! It’s all your fault!” Link didn’t stoop down to answering the yelling with more yelling, only stood up straight and crossed her arms. “Now she has enough power to destroy the world! No one can stop her!”

“That’s not true!” a voice piped up above the screeching. Both Link and the owl turned toward the center of the stone circle to see a ball of green light with wings rising out of the ground. This strange creature flew over and landed on Link’s outstretched hand, and faded its light just enough to let them see itself: a miniature girl tiny enough to stand on Link’s palm, wearing a flowing light-brown and orange tunic which appeared to be made from leaves. This girl had large wings akin to those of a dragonfly, and sparkling dust fell from her when she moved.

“Oh, goodness,” Link exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anyone like you before, little girl.”

“Hey, I’m not a little girl!” the tiny person said indignantly. “I’m a faerie. You’d think people would know the difference.”

“Well, I’ve read stories of faeries, but I’ve never… seen one…”

“Anyway, what you said isn’t true, Mr. Owl. There is a way to stop that evil enchantress.”

“How, then?” the owl asked.

“Well, the legends say that those who seek the Forbidden Power will be vanquished by a hero wearing a green garb who shows up in times of great distress. And I’m guessing that’s our farm-girl here.”

“Because she’s wearing green?”

“Yep!”

“Give me a break,” the owl sighed before flapping his wings and trying to take off of the ground.

“Wait, where are you going?” Link asked.

“I have to get back to my home and find some way to protect it,” he screeched. After two failed attempts, he finally hit the air and flew off to the Northeast. The two watched him fly away until he was out of sight.

“Well, I guess it’s just me and you now,” the faerie said with a shrug.

“What do you mean, ‘me and you’?” Link asked as she walked back toward the spot from where she had climbed up. She spotted Dafina just a few feet down on a wide outcropping and, momentarily pushing to the back of her mind everything that had just happened, climbed and slid down to pick her up. Dafina clucked and happily jumped into the open arms of her keeper, and Link sighed and caressed the feathers of her capricious cucco. The faerie had followed her down, obviously intent on sticking with her.

“I mean, it’s up to the two of us to save the world,” the tiny winged one stated, as if this were as obvious as the sky being blue. “Hey, is that your chicken? Are you really a farm-girl?” Link stared at the glowing winged ball of light and raised an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about? Who are you? Where did you come from? Did you hear what that woman was saying before she disappeared?”

“I heard everything,” the faerie said. “I’m sorry, let me start from the beginning. My name is Tavo. I’m a faerie, as I said earlier. I was locked in by that seal, too. And that ‘woman’ is gone now. She’s been taken over by the Forbidden Power.”

“What is this forbidden power you keep talking about?” Link asked as she continued the long climb back down the side of the mountain. “Why was it sealed away, and what does it have to do with me?”

“Well, if the legends are true, which I believe they are, then you’re the one who’s supposed to keep it from destroying the world. So that would mean it has everything to do with you. I guess maybe you’ve really never heard of it, but… It’s something that hurts people. In more ways than you could imagine. And if nothing is done to stop it, you’ll see for yourself firsthand.” Link stared into Tavo’s eyes for a long moment, thinking to herself.

“What makes you so sure that I’m this legendary hero? If there even is such a thing? Is it really because of my clothes?”

“It’s all in your eyes,” Tavo simply replied. “I can see your heart through them.”

“What does my heart have to do with anything?”

“It’s a good heart. The kind of heart that wishes nothing but good things for others. The kind of heart that would never try to hurt anyone. That’s the kind of heart that can stand against the Forbidden Power. There may be plenty of people with those hearts all over the world these days. But when I was last above the ground, there weren’t many at all. So even if there’s no such thing as a legendary hero… A heart like that is something I can believe in.”

——————————




“And just where have you been, young one?” demanded a blue-haired man standing outside the back door of the house.

“Oh, sorry, Uncle Dallin,” Link said as she placed Dafina back into the chicken coop and brushed the dirt from her hands. “Dafina ran off with my knife.”

“Well, that’s all well then, you’ve got the two back. I’ve got food fixed and ready for you.”

“Uncle, I already ate breakfast,” she argued, shaking her head, but the older man just chuckled.

“It’s lunch time, Link,” he said as he turned and walked into the house. “Come on inside and sit down a while. And bring that faerie with you.”

“Oops, busted,” Tavo shrugged as she floated out from behind Link.

“Uncle Dallin, you really did see faeries before?”

“Thought I was making that story up?” he laughed, taking a seat while Link went to the stove and prepared a plate for herself. “Ah, my apologies, ma’am,” he said, bowing his head to their flying guest. “My name is Dallin, and you might’ve guessed already, but I’m Link’s uncle. And who might you be?”

“My name is Tavo,” the faerie said, landing on the wooden kitchen table and giving the man a low bow and a half-curtsy. “Pleased to meet you, Sir Dallin.”

“Uncle, where did you see them again?” Link asked, refusing to let go of the present subject.

“I don’t know where it was, really. I was just a little boy myself, much younger than you are now. I just remember I was playin’ outside and fell down a hole somehow, and ended up in a faerie fountain.”

“Oh, you must be very lucky,” Tavo said.

“I like to think of myself as a lucky person,” Dallin nodded, smiling at his niece. “But what about yourself, Madame Tavo? It was to my understanding that there hadn’t been any faeries in this part of the world for a very long time. You must be awful lucky to have lived here and avoided being seen for so long. I’m sure there’s an interesting story there.”

“I haven’t actually been here very long… Not outside, anyway.”

“Uncle,” Link cut her off, “have you ever heard of things being sealed away… Locked up by magic or anything like that?”

“Well, there’s the old folk tale about a demon being locked by some kind of seal somewhere under the beach to the west there,” he said, pointing a finger in the direction of the front door. “But you know that one. Why the sudden interest, hon?”

“No reason,” she shrugged, sitting down with her plate and digging in while Tavo chatted up her uncle about the state of the outside world, which, as Link was aware, he knew very little of. He told the faerie the tale of how he and his family had come to settle on the island, started their farm, and how their lives had gone since then. Link had heard all of this before, but listened with a new insight. Even though there was no difference in the tale-telling from the hundreds of times she had heard it, it seemed to her that she was hearing it anew. Maybe it was just the fact that he was telling it to someone else; for the longest time, it had just been the two of them on the island, so hearing it being told not to her, but to a guest, was a new experience.

When he came to the part about her mother and father, if he ever did bring it up, he usually glossed over the details to spare her feelings. This time, however, he told the full story to their faerie guest.

“When Link was still a baby, we lost my sister and her husband. They were out in the ocean when a monstrous storm swept in and… Their boat capsized… I found them the next morning. And… I’ve been raising Link on my own since then.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, for both of you,” Tavo said, holding her hands up to her heart and breathing deeply.

“Well, you heard him,” Link said, pausing from her steady devouring to use one hand to wipe a tear from her uncle’s cheek and the other to grab her mug of juice. “I was just a baby. I don’t really remember them at all. It’s more my uncle’s loss than mine. Whenever I think of them, I don’t get sad. Except… for him. I just wish there was something I could do for him.” Dallin chuckled and leaned over to kiss the top of his niece’s head before getting up from the table.

“I don’t know how I did it or what I did for that matter,” he said as he stretched, “but apparently I raised a good one.”

“You’ve raised a sweet child, Sir Dallin,” Tavo said, nodding in agreement. “She has a very good heart.” Link had nothing to say to this, only answered with a glare at the faerie before gulping down large quantities of her juice.

“Well, I’ll leave you two ladies to whatever you’ve got going on,” Dallin said as he headed out of the kitchen. “I’ve got plans with Jude today.”

“Oh, you guys going for the record this time?” Link asked, while Tavo gave them her inquisitive smile.

“No, first thing’s first - he’s getting a bath whether he likes it or not,” Dallin chuckled before leaving the room. Link smiled and went back to her food.

“Jude?” Tavo asked.

“Our horse,” Link replied once she had swallowed her food and rose to wash off her plate.

“I figured it was an animal of some sort,” the faerie laughed as she flew across the kitchen to follow her new friend. “So, what are your plans for this afternoon, Link?”

“I’m not sure. I might just go into the woods and practice my boomerang throw.”

“Oh, you have a boomerang? Sweet! Why don’t you bring it over to the beach?”

“Why the beach?”

“Oh, no reason,” Tavo laughed as she flew off toward the front door.

“You’re not going to go looking for that seal, are you?”

“Nahhhh.”

“Tavo, you shouldn’t mess with things like that… if it really is there, anyway.”

“Hey, I at least want to see if it’s anyone I used to know trapped under there,” the faerie said, turning around to give her a mischievous smile before flitting past the door.

“Tavo!” With a sigh, Link ran upstairs to her messy room and grabbed her boomerang before running back down and out the door. “Tavo, come back here!”

“You’ll have to catch meeee!” the faerie taunted. Link followed her out of the grove, through a small wall of trees, and out into a small stretch of grassland that gave way to yellow-white sand of the Western coast of the island. To their right was a small strait which ran between the island and a much larger shore to the North. Other than the larger island, there was no land in sight, only ocean.

“How do you even plan to find out where this supposed seal is?” Link asked, to which Tavo shrugged and kept flying. While Link ran after her, she suddenly gasped as, where she expected to find the ground beneath her right foot, there was nothing, and she fell into darkness, scraping her knees and forearm and dropping her boomerang.

“Oh my gosh!” Tavo exclaimed as she flew down into the hole Link had found herself in, and cast a bit more light than what was coming out of the cave opening. “Are you okay, Link?”

“I’ve been worse,” she groaned back. “It feels like I’ve scraped my skin pretty bad, but I can’t see. Oh, thanks,” she added when Tavo flew in circles around her, shining her light on the human’s wounds. Her knees, shins, and right forearm were all scraped and bleeding, and she could tell from the pain that her back was as well. There were also bruises on her arms, and she didn’t even want to know where else. After taking a moment to breathe, she got up to a sitting position and glanced around at her surroundings, but it was hard to see with the faint light from up above. Then there was also Tavo…

“Hey, Tavo, where does your light come from?” she asked, wincing between words, as she rose to her feet ever so slowly.

“So you really aren’t acquainted with faeries,” Tavo said as she flitted around the cave. “Well, it’s a long story, but if you really want to hear it…” She began to fly farther into the darkness, shining her bright orb of light over the cave walls and floor wherever she went, and soon that light would be beyond Link’s vision.

“Tavo, come back!” The faerie wasn’t listening, though, and simply kept moving and talking.

“The first faeries came from the first burst of life that Farore brought into the world. That spark split up into countless pieces and poured over the planet, entwining with its very existence, providing it with the means to produce and support life. But one of those pieces didn’t land with the others; it floated around and made its own way, not stopping its random dance until long after, when animals filled the ocean and forests burst from the ground. Watch out for that gap,” she added, pointing downward to where she had just passed over an opening in the rock floor. It was just small enough for Link to step over by stretching, but if she hadn’t seen it, it would have caused her more trouble and pain.

“Thanks, Tavo.”

“Not a problem! I used to be a navigational faerie, you know. I traveled all over the world, having adventures, helping people… Of course, that was a long time ago. Oh! Anyway, so that one tiny shard of the life force finally came down into the forests and stayed there. Instead of becoming a part of the overall life force of the world, like all the other pieces had, it simply floated around the forest on its own, eventually splitting up into its own many pieces… But that was something that happened over time, instead of instantly. These tiniest of tiny fragments of Farore’s gift basically developed bodies, hearts, minds and souls of their own. And those were the first faeries.”

“Oh… Is that the way you remember it, or…?”

“Hey! I wasn’t one of the first. I’m not that aged. This is just the way it was told to me by my father.”

“So, the reason you have that light is because of the… life force?”

“Yep,” Tavo said, flying back and tapping Link on the chest. “The same stuff that’s inside of you, that makes you… well, alive. The same thing that’s in the grass, the trees, the stones, the wind, the ocean… Everything.”

“Inside of me…?”

“That’s right!”

“So… Why don’t I glow?”

“I told you, silly,” she laughed. “You’re made of other things, as well as the life force. But honestly, you really do. I can see the light coming off of you right now. It’s in everything.”

“Really?”

“Yep, the only reason you can’t see it is ‘cause you haven’t trained yourself to see it yet.”

“Yet…?” she asked slowly, following after her once again.

As they walked into a new chamber, the light coming off of Tavo glinted off of something farther in.

“What’s that?” Link asked, to which Tavo had no answer, so they both proceeded. Near the back of the chamber, there was a rise in the ground, and wedged into the cold stone was a short sword, its ornate red and gold hilt and guard and the metal blade shining in Tavo’s light.

“Oh, well there’s your answer,” Tavo said. “It’s a sword.”

“But what’s a sword doing stuck in the ground in a cave?” Link asked, stepping forward.

“I don’t know,” Tavo said, glancing around the cave. “But it’d be better not to touch… it…” She had spoken too late, as Link had already pulled the sword out of the ground. “Great,” she sighed, then gasped when she saw black and purple energy bursting out of the sword, throwing Link back and causing her to drop the weapon as she hit the ground. While she tried to get up, catching her breath after having it knocked out of her, she saw the dark energy taking the shapes of large beasts - three of them, to be exact. One was a dragon with shimmering golden scales, the second an enormous scorpion, and the third a lion that was almost the size of the dragon. Another burst of magic, this one colored red, knocked the three through the roof - literally - breaking through the cave roof and causing sand, dirt, and rock to fall down into the chamber at the same time that sunlight flooded the cave from above.

The three monsters were gone, but in their place was a human - or so it seemed to be - with a flowing red cape that seemed to be made of fur. They were kneeling on the cold stone ground on all fours, but only for a moment. They rose up to their feet and soon floated into the air, rushing forward to pick up the sword Link had pulled from the ground. They stared closely at the blade, rising up into the air, their dark brown hair seeming to turn red in the sunlight, their brown eyes glinting amber, as a smile suddenly split their pale face.

<”Well, it’s good to finally be out of there. Who do I get to kill first? Is it Void? Or maybe Collapse? No, no, the only one who would be brave enough to free me and face my bloody wrath would be… Tempus!”> She looked around but, apparently not finding what she was looking for, rubbed and blinked her eyes and took a second glance. That was when she saw Link and Tavo. <”Hm, no, this one doesn’t look familiar. YOU! Human filth! Are you the one who pulled me out of the ground?”>

“Um… I think she’s looking at me, Tavo, but I can’t tell what she’s saying.”

“That’s because she’s speaking in the original Language of Hylia,” Tavo explained, to which the cloaked floating individual snapped her gaze at the faerie.

<”You! Child of Farore’s Breath! Tell me, what is this tongue you use?”>

<”W-w-well,”> Tavo stammered, <”that is the modern language of Hyrule.”>

<”Hy-rule? I’ve never heard of any such person or place. Don’t tell me lies, or you’ll find the dust choked out of you!”> Her hair really was turning into fire now. Tavo found herself shaking and letting out loud sounds like the ringing of a bell.

<”Oh no,”> she began in the ancient dialect, but shifted immediately to Modern Hylian as she flew closer to Link. “You really, really shouldn’t have pulled that sword out, Link.”

“Why is that?” Link asked, gulping, as she rose to her feet, afraid of the answer she might receive.

“Because this is Koray the Wolf King. She was one of the most deadly warrior gods in the old days, before the dark forces from the beginning of time were sealed away and the Kingdom of Hyrule was formed. She was famous for killing on a whim, even her own soldiers. If she’s anything like she used to be, she could burn down this entire island just because she felt like it!”

“That’s not going to happen,” Link said, rearing back her left arm before releasing her boomerang. The weapon smacked right into its target and came soaring back in a wide arc. Link raised her arm and jumped up to catch the twirling boomerang, while Koray laughed.

<”Seriously? You think that a piece of wood could hurt me?”> Link threw the weapon again, but this time it hit a wall and fell to the ground with a series of clacking sounds, not coming back.

“Oh no, that wasn’t as good as the first throw,” Tavo cried.

“I know, I told you I’m still practicing.” The Wolf King rushed through the air and picked up the farmer girl by the throat.

<”What are you trying to prove, attacking me? Are you trying to make a name for yourself by dying a painful death at my hands? You have no power! I can sense that easily. You don’t even know how to use magic! What do you hope to accomplish when your only weapon is a pathetic plank of wood?”> Of course, Link couldn’t understand any of this. She raised her arms up and grasped the strange woman’s wrists with her hands, though she couldn’t pry herself free.

“I know,” she choked out. “I know… You have the power to kill me… And maybe you really… wouldn’t feel bad about it… But I promise… I have nothing against you… I’m just scared for the people I love… So kill me if you want… Just don’t hurt my family…” At the end of this statement, the Wolf King’s eyes grew wide, and she released her grip on Link, who fell to the ground. As the young farmer gasped for breath, her attacker seemed to be lost in thought, standing quite still and staring off into space. She eventually snapped out of her reverie, then shot up through the newly-made hole in the cave roof, flying faster and faster until she was out of sight.

“Link!” Tavo shouted, zooming across the chamber as fast as possible to float next to her friend. “Are you going to be alright?”

“I’m fine,” Link finally answered after taking deep breaths, rubbing her neck with a grimace on her face. “Tavo, I think, for just a moment… She could understand what I was saying.”

“Not what you were saying,” Tavo corrected. “What you were feeling. I think she could tell what you were trying to say to her, and something about it might have reminded her of something.”

“What could I have reminded her of?” Link asked, eyebrow raised.

“Who knows?” Tavo shrugged. “Something in the past, I guess.”

“Let’s just get out of here,” Link sighed as she finally rose to her feet.

“Sounds good to me!” Tavo cheered. After Link searched around the cave for a moment, she finally found her boomerang, and with her weapon stowed safely away, she and her faerie friend began the long climb back up to the surface. When they arrived, someone was waiting for them, arms crossed, and an expectant look on their face.

“Uncle Dallin, I can explain,” Link said, breathing hard from the running and climbing, and wiping dirt from her hands and knees.

“Uh-oh, you’re in trouble,” Tavo chimed.

“Link, you don’t have to explain,” Dallin said with a shake of his head. “Why don’t you two, uh, come back up to the house. There’s something I need to talk to you about.” Without waiting for an answer, the older man turned and headed away from the beach, back toward the woods.

“Yep, you’re in major trouble,” the faerie teased. Link gave her an annoyed glance, but then smiled and gave her friend a dismissive wave of the hand.

“Let’s go. There’s no telling what it could be. Really. He might not have even seen the gigantic monsters popping out of the ground, or the crazy demon-lady - Wait! Monsters?” She glanced around the beach, but found no traces of the three gigantic beasts, or the Wolf King.

“They’re not here, Link. Wherever they’ve gone, they’re beyond our control for now. Come on. I’m eager to watch you face your punishment.”

“It could be anything!” Link persisted as she began walking Eastward.

“Riiiight.”

“Really!”



“Jude doesn’t look like he got a bath,” Link pointed out as she headed inside, taking one more glance at the horse, who seemed perfectly content and just as dirty as before. “Are you okay, Uncle?”

“Nothing ever gets past my curious niece,” Dallin laughed, pointing to Link and giving Tavo a big smile. He turned his attention to his niece, who was just taking a seat at the table. “Link, I… I haven’t been cleaning Jude. I’ll be doing that tomorrow, though, don’t you worry. I’ve been thinking all this time.”

“Uncle, are you… What’s wrong?”

“I’ve always known you were a special child,” he began slowly. “When you were a baby, you seemed to shine with a radiant light to your parents and I. As I watched you grow up alone, I couldn’t help but feel that the gods had given our family a child who would change the world someday. Now, maybe all of that is just love pulling the wool over these middle-aged eyes,” he chuckled slightly, though it sounded more full of sadness than of mirth.

“That’s sweet, Uncle,” Link said, placing a hand over Dallin’s on the table. ‘I don’t usually see him so close to tears,’ she worried to herself, glancing to Tavo for just a moment and then staring back into her uncle’s eyes.

“I’ve got more to say,” Dallin continued. “I know what’s been going on lately. I saw the purple light this morning. Though apparently, I couldn’t see it soon enough to keep you from getting mixed up with dangers bigger than yourself.”

“Oh… Maybe I shouldn’t be here,” Tavo said, backing away slightly before Dallin shook his head.

“No, Madame Tavo, you don’t have to go. I’m not angry at you.”

“So you’re angry at me?” Link asked, pointing a finger to her chest.

“I’m not angry at anyone,” Dallin sighed. “Do you remember how I told you that I once saw faeries in a faerie fountain?” They both nodded. “Well, that’s the only kind of place you can see one nowadays. But it wasn’t always so. Isn’t that right, Madame Tavo?”

“W-well…” The faerie glanced between the two, fluttering her wings. “You know, don’t you?”

“I know that you’re not from this time. You were sealed by that stone circle on the mountain, weren’t you?”

“Well…”

“Uncle, it’s not what you think,” Link hastily explained. “She’s not the great evil whatever! She was trapped in there because of other circumstances!”

“I wasn’t accusing her,” Dallin laughed. “Madame Tavo, I’m glad you’re free now.”

“How do you know about all these things, Uncle Dallin?”

“I’ve explored this tiny island ever since your parents and I arrived here. I was trying to uncover the mysteries of this place. I even explored and mapped out a bit of the larger island, up until your mother and father…” He fell silent, thinking to himself. “You… Now that you’re growing up, I want you to understand, Link… I have raised you for fourteen of your sixteen years. And I have loved you the way an uncle loves his niece, and the way a parent loves their child. It’s true that I loved your parents. They were my only family. I loved them more than I loved myself. And every time I look at you, I’m reminded of them, and I miss them just as much as I have, as I always will. But I owe you every apology under the sun if I have ever made you feel like I love you only because you’re all that I have left of them. You have to understand-”

“Uncle!” Link cried out, squeezing Dallin’s hand gently in her own. “I know your heart. I know how much you loved my parents. I know that I could never understand how much it must hurt you to miss them every day of your life. I would bring them back for you in a heartbeat if I could. But I also know how much you love me. Don’t think for a second that you’ve failed in making that known. You’re the only parent I’ve ever had, and the best one that I could ever hope for. I love my family, and I love my home, and I couldn’t be happier here. I want you to understand that.”

“I know,” Dallin said. He reached up his hand and brushed a strand of his niece’s wild blonde hair out of her face. “And that’s why it hurts me now, more than any pain I’ve ever felt, to tell you goodbye.”

“Wh… What?!” Link was speechless for what felt like forever.

“I have no doubt that you’re meant to be connected to these strange happenings.”

“Y-you want me to leave?”

“I want you to go protect the world with Madame Tavo,” Dallin said. “You were born to do great things, dear.” He lifted his hand to wipe away her tears as they fell, but she slowly pushed his hand away. After giving him one long, tearful stare, she slid out from her seat and ran upstairs, forgetting about the boomerang, leaving Tavo and Dallin where they sat.



“Want me to go talk to her?” Tavo asked, flying closer to Dallin and alighting on his open palm.

“No, I’ll go up there in a moment. I don’t ever intrude on her when she needs a moment. We all deserve the opportunity to feel what we’re feeling and try to make sense of it.”

“Wisely spoken. So, Sir Dallin, what do you really want out of all this? Do you really believe she’s the chosen hero?” Dallin was silent for a moment before answering.

“I know that you believe it. That’s enough for me.”

“Sir Dallin, why are faeries so important to you?”

“Why do you keep calling me Sir?”

“Because you have the look of a knight,” she said with a smile. “Not the look you can see with your eyes. Something more subtle. I’ve known enough of them to pick up on it. So, what’s your story, Sir Knight?”

“I was raised on legends,” Dallin said, rising from his seat. He walked across the kitchen and wrapped a cloth around his hand, just as the the tea kettle over the fire began to let out its overbearing greetings. “My mother read old tales to my sister and I every night when we were younger. We learned about heroes and incredible journeys, impossible challenges, all that.” He carried the kettle back over and poured its contents into a medium-sized mug. “I don’t have any faerie-sized cups, but I can figure something out if you want tea.”

“I’m fine,” Tavo said with a wave of her hand through the air. “Were you fond of the Picori tales? Those are always a hit with children.”

“They were great.” Dallin resumed his seat and held his cup of tea between his palms. “But my favorites were the ones that had to do with faeries. They always captivated me, for some reason. I began to spend my time studying them. Of course, since it wasn’t likely to ever see one out in the wild, I studies their lore… Legends and tales about them, as well as historical accounts. I dreamed of graduation from the university with special honors in faerie studies.”

“But instead, you became a knight,” Tavo said, putting the pieces together easily enough. “Why the change of plans?”

“Love,” he said.

“Ah, no better reason,” she sighed.

“My older sister wanted more than anything to be a knight in the service of Hyrule. And of course, we did everything together. I took a short break from my dream so that we could chase hers. But a short break turned into a long one, and eventually a permanent one. I never went to the university, but the knight’s academy, and we became castle guards while we were still very young.”

“Ah, just as I figured,” Tavo grinned.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I haven’t had a good life. I loved my time at the academy, and I felt proud to serve my country. And when I was with my sister, I was happy, no matter what. But I still have my own dreams. They’ve just changed a bit over the years.”

“Sounds like a life of following your heart. And in my books, that’s always the best life.”


———

“Link, may I come in?” There was no answer at first.

“I suppose.” He opened the door slowly and walked into his niece’s room. The sky blue walls were decorated with white puffy clouds and green trees, and lined with shelves which held many books and small decorations and dolls. The disaster zone from earlier that day was gone: the clothes that had covered the room were now put away neatly, revealing proof that there was, in fact, a floor. Link was sitting on her bed, playing her recorder by the light of the full moon.

“I, uh… I brought you your boomerang.” He set the wooden weapon down, leaning it against the wall. “May I sit down?” She kept playing, but opened her eyes and made a side-nod toward the bed. Dallin took that as a yes, and sat down slowly beside her on the edge of the bed. “You look just like her,” he finally said, trying to find any way to start a conversation. “Covered with freckles. You know, my mother used to tell us that freckles meant you were sprinkled with faerie dust as a baby.” Link finally stopped playing.

“Why don’t you want me here anymore?”

“It’s not that I don’t want you here. I just think that you could make a difference out there in the world. If today’s events are to be taken seriously, and they are… I believe you were meant to play a part in whatever’s going to happen out there.”

“And what if I don’t want to play a part in it?” Link asked, sliding off of the bed and rising to her feet.

“Sweetie, you can’t fight against destiny,” he chuckled.

“Destiny? Who says my destiny’s already decided?”

“If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” Dallin said. “The goddesses guide us along their planned path…”

“I don’t believe that,” Link shook her head. “No one decides my destiny but me.”

“I’m gonna have to go with your niece on this one, Sir Dallin,” Tavo said. “I’ve been around… well, a long time. And I’ve seen some of your legends take place. And if there’s one thing I can say about these ‘heroes chosen by the goddesses,’ it’s that they wouldn’t have done any of the things they did, if they hadn’t chosen that path.” Here she turned to Link. “Link, the choice is yours, and yours alone. No one can decide for you. Not me, not your uncle, not the goddesses. I’ll be leaving tomorrow either way, but if you want to come along, that’s your decision.”

“You really believe I’m the legendary hero?” Link asked.

“More than I believe in everything right now.”

“But you won’t try to make me BE that hero?”

“Like I said. It’s your choice.” Link had been pacing on and off, and now she sat down in a wooden chair on the other side of the room to think for a moment.

“This… forbidden power… It’s dangerous, right?”

“You saw what it could do,” Tavo said with a nod. “A small example of bigger things to come.” Link thought again of the knight who had been turned into an owl. Her train of thought was derailed, wondering who that person had been and where he had gone, but she eventually got back on course of thinking of the power that mysterious woman had absorbed.

“…So… There has to be somebody to stop it. Like in the legends, right?”

“I hope there will be,” Dallin said with a nod.

“If… If nobody stops it… People are going to get hurt? Maybe even…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence.

“People got hurt last time,” Tavo said. “Even with a hero to stop it. Nothing is ever perfect, Link. All we can do is what we can.” Link took in a short breath, then let it out slowly, nodding.


—————————————


Link rose from her bed before sunrise and got to work on her preparations. She got dressed in a green long-sleeved shirt under a short-sleeved off-white button-up, along with padded light brown pants. She slipped on a pair of protective stockings and brown leather boots, tying them up to make sure that they were nice and secure. She then slipped on her small grey half-finger gloves, worn in from plenty of use and with one hole each. She wrapped a cloth belt around her waist and tucked her boomerang between the folds. After tying her hair up and taking a deep breath, she stepped outside her door and headed downstairs.

“Ready?” she asked Tavo, who was sitting on the table, munching on eggs. The faerie flew up from the table, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

“Oh, you bet, sister!”

“Link, you should have some eggs before you set out,” Dallin said.

“No, thank you, Uncle. I can’t eat right now.”

“Excited?” Tavo guessed. “Nervous? Scared out of your mind?”

“All of those, yes,” she laughed.

“You should at least take some to eat on the way,” her uncle persisted, scraping food off a plate and into a small bowl with a lid. He wrapped a red ribbon around it and presented it to his niece, who placed it in her rucksack. He walked with her to the door and into the front yard, refusing to stop following her while she made a circle around the farm and said goodbye to all of their animals and plants.

“Goodbye, Dafina,” she said as she held her most rebellious chicken in her arms. “This is all your fault, you know,” she added in a half-whisper. The hen clucked happily and hopped up and down for a moment before jumping out of her grasp and running along with the other cuccos.

“You’re going to miss her a lot, aren’t you?” Dallin asked as they walked back around to the Northern side of the ranch.

“Of course, I’m going to miss all of my family,” she replied. Dallin seemed like he could burst into tears at any moment. Link couldn’t stand seeing that sight, so she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. “I’ll come back soon. I’m going to miss you the most… My uncle. My father. My mother. My parent.” Dallin’s tears fell upon hearing these words, but he patted his niece on the back and dried them off. Link put a hand on his cheek. “I love you, Uncle Dallin. I’ll miss you.”

“I love you as well, my courageous girl. Now, go. Go make a difference.”

“Okay,” she said with a nervous laugh, smiling wide at the man who had raised her as she wiped her own tears away with the back of her gloved hand. She turned away and headed Northward, Tavo following at her side. After a considerable distance, Link finally turned back to see her home, appearing much smaller now than it had. She took in a deep breath, shaking in her chest.

“Are you going to be okay, Link?”

“I need to tell him… Everything… I need to tell him to take care of the chickens and feed them early. And that Jude needs extra apples on Saturday or he’ll feel grumpy… And…” She suddenly started running Southward.

“Link!” Tavo shouted, stopping the girl in her tracks, though she was shaking where she stood.

“I need to tell him how much he means to me!” she sobbed. Tavo stretched out her arms to pat Link on the cheek.

“He knows, hon.”

“I know,” she sniffled, wiping away even more tears. After taking a few deep breaths, she turned around and smiled at her faerie friend. “Let’s do this, Tavo.”

“I’m with you all the way,” Tavo smiled.

“I hope so! This was all your idea.” They both laughed and continued on their way.


—————————————————

(( CONTINUED in the next post because character limitations. Gwahaha ))

Wanted to preserve the pencil version of my newest work before I ink and color and all that jazz. Just in case.

This is Emery. She. is a part of me. I can't really explain. I mean, I can, but I don't have that kind of time right now. Character-wise, my subconscious first portrayed her as a Sentret. Now she's gone through a lot of incarnations and has a lot of her own stories, which I will get around to writing someday.








Also, I apparently can't draw legs today. Tomorrow it will doubtless be something else. Gwahaha.

Thanks, Fern! I'll keep that in mind next time. For now, here's the finished image. Just in time for the character's birthday! XD