Destined to Fight (GhiraLink)

Trapped

It was ten minutes in and Link had already zoned out of the discussion around the fire, which was of course about this currently fictional kingdom called Hyrule. He sat next to Tirai, the only one aside from Peater (who basically led the discussion) who actually paid attention.

Groose and Zelda were also there, and although they probably should have been listening, Zelda was asleep on Groose's shoulder and Groose appeared to have zoned out just like Link.

A few feet away, children played tag and hide and seek, those that weren't participating in the discussion playing with them. Their ecstatic screams, both from the children and adults, replaced birds' chirps and animals' heavy yet swift footsteps as they darted around the woods.

Link sighed, gazing up at the sky. Despite living on the Surface for six years, he was still not used to seeing the sun blotted out by storm clouds.

"Well, we can't stay here forever."

That simple sentence quickly brought Link's attention to the old man sitting next to him. He'd hardly noticed him before, but now the man stood out like a stain on a clean freak's clothes. He was dirty like everyone else, so he appeared to be nothing special until you took note that he wore traditional Skyloftian clothing. Not the clothing had been made on the Surface over the years with the large amounts of cotton that grew in the rich, untouched soil, but traditional Skyloftian clothing, the stuff that had quickly become rare due to people no longer wanting to wear hand-me-downs.

"What d'ya mean?" Peater asked, frowning at the old man. "We can't be constantly movin'. Our first priority is to rebuild ourselves, ain't it?" Link could tell from experience that he was about to get angry, based on how his eye twitched. With amusement he recalled the days when he'd been dating Peatrice and the father had been furious since "some guy" had been flirting with his daughter. It had been a little more obvious then, but that didn't stop Link from recognizing the signs now.

"The Kikwi told us that they wanted us gone as soon as possible," the old man said. "Right, Link?"

As all eyes turned to him, Link was thankful that he had begun to pay attention at the last second. Shrinking his existence down as much as possible, he reluctantly nodded.

"Well, yeah, but can we leave the woods?" Peater asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course we can! We know about the fields and we got a way to leave!" the elder retorted, spit flying from his mouth. Peater grimaced, but said nothing of the spit.

"It's not safe," Link broke in, quiet. He motioned towards the sky, where the sunlight was filtered by ominous dark clouds. It had been nearly a week since they appeared, and they showed no sign of letting up. Around the same time, Zelda began to grow weaker and paler; now she looked like death himself.

"Yeah, listen to him! It ain't safe!"

"Whad'ya mean it's not safe? I saw that shit myself!" the old man snapped, earning a glare from Link. "Everybody's talkin about it!"

"Didn't you see that smoke? It's not natural," Link said, his voice growing louder.

"You think Link here's talkin' bullshit?" Peater said. "He knows more about this place than any of us!"

The old man was seething. "Then make the field safe!"

Yeah, give us an idea, and make it snappy, Link thought bitterly.

"You got any genius ideas?" Peater snapped, most likely thinking the same thing Link did. Except he had the courage to voice it. Ironically, Link could throw his life on the line as soon as needed when it came to saving his friends, yet when it came to most social situations unless angered he barely had the courage to get his voice above a whisper. And even then, angering him didn't always mean that he would speak up.