#400th post!

Some of the Smithy’s little minish friends scurried over the patch of plotted earth as Wind and Legend looked down at it. Wind wondered if they helped out with the magic, or if this was just one of those weird things that happened sometimes.

“So these are Gotcha Seeds?” Wind held up his loot from the last dungeon. He had been disappointed when he first pulled it from a chest. Hyrule was still winning the competition for who could collect the most rupees. Wind hoped to find a nice orange, maybe even a silver, but he got a stupid seed instead.

Legend, much to everyone’s surprise, started seething with jealousy the instant he saw it.

Apparently, Wind had found a Gotcha Seed. If he planted it in a certain plot, it would grow a tree, which would grow a Gotcha Nut. Which would probably burst open to reveal a tiny Tingle that shouted “Gotcha!” at you as he stole your rupees. That was Wind’s theory, since the Vet had failed to tell him anything useful so far.

“Gasha Seeds,” Legend informed him. 

“Got it. Gotchya Seeds.”

Legend sighed, as if he was disappointed in Wind’s parents for having the sheer gall to give him vocal cords. He took out a shovel and dislodged some dirt. Wind dropped the seed in the hole.

“What can I do with the nut?” Wind asked. The others used seeds as slingshot ammo, but Legend had a reputation for hoarding the weirdest stuff. Like Pegasus Seeds. The Collector had the boots, why did he need the seeds?

“I don’t know.” Legend answered.

“What!?” Wind exclaimed. “How?”

Legend rolled his eyes. “The nuts grow things inside them. Fairies, Rupees, potions, and”--here his voice took on a reverent tone–“Magic Rings.”

Wind almost made fun of him for being a Hoarder when he thought better of it. He peered back over the plot of land his seed now rested in.

“So I could get one of those weird rings? What kind?”

“Yes. No way of knowing what it will be capable of–lots of  unpredictable factors.” Legend bent down and carved something into the little sign on the plot’s border. “There. They say it’s bad luck to take someone else’s nut. If we come back to this Labrynna, or one slightly in the future, you should be able to grab it.” 

Wind squinted. “And if we don’t come back here?”

“Well, I didn’t write ‘Sailor’ on the sign,” Legend smirked.

...............................................................................................................................

“CYCLOS!” Wind cursed as he tumbled ass-backwards out of the portal. He wiped his bleeding nose on his sleeve, and his bag smacked against his back as he turned around. Readying himself, he scanned the area for monsters.

A few minutes passed, and nothing happened. Wind plopped on a fallen log, huffing.

The Chain was separated five days ago. The group walked through a black arch together, and never met back up on the other side. The Shadow sent him another portal two days later. Another two days after that, Wind got stuck fighting a small group of black-blooded monsters. 

He took care of them because he is awesome. Don’t let Tetra, Aryll, or his own bloody face convince you otherwise.

Wind snacked on some nuts, dried fruit, and one half of a sickly-sweet potion saved in his pack. Growing bored with the tree trunks, he started walking eastward, eventually finding a path to follow. Normally he would be all for exploring, but if any of the others were here, finding a town was a good bet.

A few hours later, he saw gold.

Legend’s house! 

Wind whooped running up to the door, he suddenly remembered that Ravio guy. The merchant house sitting for Legend. Welp.

He knocked on the door and waited patiently. No one answered. 

His grandma raised a polite Hero, so he waited. There was no movement. Wind knocked again.

“Uh-Mister Ravio!” he called. “Vet?”

No one answered. The sun was starting to set, and the windows were dark.

Well. Grandma may have raised him to be polite, but she had also proudly raised a pirate. And a Hero, which at this point seemed to involve even more criminal activity.

The door was locked, so that was a no-go. Walking around the building, he saw that there was a slightly ajar window on the upper story, as if someone was letting in the wind while they slept. 

Sorry, Vet, he apologized, insincerely. 

Wind grappled onto a metal hook next to the window, and hauled himself in. Being considerate of the security of his friend’s house, he closed the window once he was inside. 

“Achoo!” he sneezed, sounding remarkably like a kitten.

The setting sun illuminated the room in a deep orange light. The place was tidy as could be. Clothes were folded and in their drawers, the bed was made, and the writing desk was as perfectly organized as a neat-freak like Legend could make it. Despite the cleanliness, he would probably be frothing at the mouth if he saw the state of the room. 

Everything was extremely dusty. The candle on the desk was unused and clearly new, yet even it wore a thin coat of age. Wind, spooked, left it alone.

He searched through the building, trying not to disturb anything for the fear that it would turn him into a bokoblin or summon the Collector himself from the darkness and dust to tell him off for messing with his stuff.

He eventually found an old candle in the kitchen that didn’t set off his spooky-sense too badly. The little light casting shadows was better than wandering through the pitch dark house in the dead silence of the night.

There was not as much to touch as normal, anyways, Wind thought. Some basic dungeon items, tools, and decorations littered the house, but they were all sensibly stored or hung. The only exceptions were five boxes lined up along the living room wall.

It was all wrong. Legend had so much stuff that the only one who could understand his meticulous inventory was himself. Even then, anything that attempted to contain the proof of his life was bursting at the seams with color, songs, and magic. This old home felt like a carefully ransacked mausoleum. Or a stone vault yet to be discovered.

“Time travel,” Wind grumbled. “No wonder the rest of ‘em hate it.”

Not wanting to touch the boxes, he descended into the basement. There were plenty of crates down there, along with some photos and old wine barrels. 

One painting in the corner stuck out to him. He moved closer to see it, only to be met with the Old Man’s face.

“What in all the seas…” he whispered. He leaned forwards and held the candle up. In the warm light, he realized the man had a few distinct features that were noticeably different from Time’s. For one, he was younger. Wind knew the Old Man had been young at some point, but still. His face, while similar to Time’s, was a bit more square, his skin a few shades darker, and his bright green eyes were very different from the Old Man’s blue ones. The picture showed him on horseback and decked out in extremely cool armor and gear. 

Wind had plenty of experience staring at artistic representations of his predecessor, so even if it was a painting showing a younger person, he was pretty sure this was a different guy. Still, it was weird.

There was a small plaque underneath the painting, and another one next to it. Wind couldn’t read the languages from Legend’s time, and he didn’t have the cheat sheet that other members of their group carried around. There was one word he knew in everyone’s scripts, and that was their name. The plaque next to the painting definitely mentioned a “Link”.

Cursing the evolution of languages over time, he backed up. Tapping his foot, he stared at the painting and the writing a second longer.

He squinted. 

He studied.

He scrunched his face up in the way that always made his sister point and laugh at him.

Nope. Nothing. Uhhhgggg.

If it weren’t for the candle, he would droop forwards in disappointment. He managed to hang his head.

His eyes caught on the shiny brass plate on the chest beneath the painting. There was an engraving on it, written in his Hylian.

For the Wind Waker. 

A series of dots were engraved above and beneath the words.

Wind scrambled to put the candle down, and pulled out his baton. Taking a guess, he played the notes in a 6/4 signature.

Click.

“Bingo,” he whispered to himself. It echoed through the dark cellar.

Opening the crate he found books, books, a few boxes, and more books. He picked up the first tome in the pile, and an envelope fell out. He nearly sobbed in relief when he saw the address.

Hey, Sailor! –Rancher

What’s up, sailor? –Traveller

If it isn’t our favorite pirate! –Captain

Ahoy! –Cook

Sailor, you godsdamned sea-rat,  –Veteran

I hope this finds you well –Sir Raven

Wind backed up until he hit the wine barrels on the wall. He slid down to the floor, placing the candle next to him. For a moment, he just smiled in relief at the ceiling, before opening the envelope. 

Hey, Sailor, it’s the Captain. 

The Rancher, Traveller, Champion, Veteran and I are fine. We slowly met up one-by-one, though the exact timing was different for everyone, and we are still trying to find the Old Man, the Smithy, and Sky. Before meeting up with us, the Champion found some notebooks in an era shortly before the Traveller’s time from you that explained where you were.

Congratulations, Sailor! You’ve stumbled into a time loop!--the Champion.

Yeah. It seems you managed to land right in between the end of the Collector’s quests abroad–the first round, at least–and the start of his next big adventure. He apparently got shipwrecked and took a while to get home, so you have a few days before you need to leave the house.

The main issue is: you are a small part of his next quest. According to the Vet, you run a minigame in a place called Street Pass Meadow. It is a little field in western Kakariko. You set up bounty signs for Shadow Links that the Vet could fight for accomplishments and to receive the money. I don’t think this counts as a minigame.

Wind thought it sounded awesome.

If he defeated the Shadow Links, which of course he did, you paid him their bounty from your own pocket. 

He squawked. Never mind, this was terrible.

When he defeated every single Shadow Link, you challenged him to a fight, transporting you both to an arena. He says you were harder to beat than Yuga-Ganon: the villain in this quest. His reward for winning was five rupees.

What was that warm fuzzy feeling spreading through his bones?

The whole quest took about six months. You were there for the whole thing, unfortunately. The Collector says you could probably find an inn or an attic in Kakariko to stay once little him gets back. Things should kick off in about a month. Really, it is no wonder you only gave him pocket change.

Wind saw a lot of pot-smashing and grass cutting in his future and sighed. Part of him was tempted to “coincidently run into” Legend during the quest to mess with him a little in pre-emptive revenge.

Wait, if Wind was around for Legend’s entire quest, how come the Vet never mentioned it?

At this point, you are probably wondering why he never mentioned this.

He’s not giving you the point in a time loop, Captain.

The Vet didn’t realize it was you until now. He landed in the Labrynna you left that Gasha Tree in and was able to grab the nut. There was a Magic Ring inside that transformed the wearer. You use it as a disguise. I’ll let you discover the transformation on your own. We left it in the chest along with some notes and books on the magic you will need to run StreetPass. The Vet’s sword is also at the bottom of the chest. It is apparently his version of the Master Sword, which you need to fight him with to preserve the space-time continuum. He expects her to be returned in pristine condition the second you meet back up with us.

Wind ran back over to the chest, and started pulling things out. Stacks of books were tucked in there. Their covers were all dark brown, but there were colored marks along the spines designating what was what. Green ones had notes based on Legend’s memories. Purple had notes about the magic needed to make this work. Red ones were diaries from a guy named Raven, probably the same one who signed the letter. Wind would leave those alone.

At the bottom of the chest, he found what he was looking for. The hilt of Legend’s sword shimmered in the faint candle light. Wind reached in and grabbed her. Now that he was holding it, this sword could not more obviously be the Blade of Evil’s Bane. Any damage or fading of power over time did nothing to make that not true.

“Hey, hope you don’t mind the arrangement,” Wind said. He unsheathed it, considering its balance. “You’re bigger than mine was, so we may have to practice some. Don’t worry, I’ll get you back to the Vet in no time.” He paused, realizing something important. “And, uh, I know you burned Sky whenever he tried sparring with us, but I kinda need you to fight the Collector. He said so. Pretty please don’t do that.”

The sword was not a great conversation partner, so Wind could only hope that worked. He wrapped the sheath around his back, next to his bag.

Reaching into the chest, he pulled out the last thing. An intricately designed blue box, large enough to hold a few rings. The name “Link” was engraved on it in the Great Sea’s script. Opening it revealed a plain-looking ring wedged between some cushions. Wind put the box in his bag.

Mesmerized by the shiny ring, he just held it for a second. Slowly, he put it on.

The sensation was extremely strange. It felt like water being dunked on him that slid and hung off his form in gravity-defying ways. It settled over his hair like layers of sweat that dried in strange shapes and stuck. He wondered if this is what Tetra felt like when she was forced into the Zelda form.

The feeling didn’t fade, but it became easier to move and breathe as he got used to it. Looking down revealed wrinkled hands. He grabbed the candle and ran upstairs to find a mirror. Skidding to a stop, his eyes widened.

He was an old man! A Grandpa! 

A puffy white beard hung from his chin, while his head was smooth and bald. A great red ball stuck out from his face just above the beard. He was wearing a yellow scarf, pointy brown boots, and a long-sleeved green shirt. To complete the look, he grabbed a walking stick from a basket in the living room. 

Heading back downstairs, he picked up where he left off.

I swear the Collector’s things are so weird. 

True.

He has a ring that makes him look like me!--The Traveller.

Wait, seriously? How was this the first time Wind was hearing of it?

Also, if you have the time, could you smuggle the books about the Shadow Magic into the palace library after you are done with them.--The Traveller, again.

I don’t know if he is serious about that. I’m scared of the answer. Get a good night’s sleep, kiddo. And be careful with what you find around the house.

–The Captain

On the very bottom of the page was another little note.

Do not poke my past self too hard. Not at the beginning, at least. Let him reorient himself. If you need an outlet for your mischief, go for Ravio or Osfala. The bunny will set up shop in my house before too long. Also, I am going to gut you. Good luck.--The Vet

Ha! He’d like to see the bastard try. It was going to be a hell of a trip seeing a younger version of him wandering around. How old was he, anyways? 

Wind found one of the magic notebooks with some blank pages and started writing down his to-do list.

Ask little Collector how old he is

Find a place to stay. And some food

Figure out the Shadow Link stuff

Practice with the Master Sword

Gossip with the locals

Leave notes for the others.

Break into the palace to leave the magic stuff in the library

Annoy the Collector