“Link!” The concerned voice of Groose rang through the temple, and the redhead dashed over, grabbing Link’s arm to support him. “Ya okay, buddy?”

Link groaned and eased himself gently to the floor, wincing in pain. “Yeah, I’m fine….I think,” he said, unslinging his sword and shield from his back and setting them down beside him. He shut his eyes, enjoying the feel of just sitting and not doing anything.

Groose sat down on the cold stone floor beside him, and for a moment there was a strained silence between the two. Although Link and Groose were friends now, there were still some things they each found hard to forget, and, after being enemies their entire lives, it was strange to them to suddenly interact normally.

At last Link opened his eyes and spoke. “Where’s the old woman?” he said.

“Granny?” Groose scratched his head. “Gee, I dunno. She went off in the woods a little while ago, mumbling something about speaking to the...Kiwi elder? Whatever that is.”

“Kikwi,” corrected Link, shifting his position. He looked sideways at Groose. “And...Zelda? Have you...checked in—” He broke off abruptly, his eyes filling with sadness.

“Uh, yeah, buddy,” Groose said awkwardly, coughing into his hand. “About that.”

Link quickly raised his head and stared at him. “About what?” he demanded.

“Granny said...said we shouldn’t do anything that might wake Zelda up. Ya know? She might...I dunno...react if we tried checkin’ in on her. Might wake up, and maybe then Big Ugly might break loose again.”

Link looked at him aghast. “But...but—”

Groose unexpectedly reached out and laid a hand on Link’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, relax, ok? Zelda’s tough. She’ll be all right. And she wouldn’t have done this anyway if she didn’t know it would help ya, right?”

Link swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I...I guess.”

Groose got slowly to his feet. “I bet you’re hungry,” he said, changing the subject. “I can get ya some food if ya like…”

Now that he thought about it, Link realized he was hungry. “I’ll come with you,” he said, standing and stretching his sore limbs. “I’d feel bad just sitting here.” “Ya sure? I mean, you’re already doing a lot,” Groose said, scratching the back of his neck.

Link nodded, picking up his sword and shield. “Yeah. Besides, you don’t have anything to protect yourself with. There could be Bokoblins or some other type of enemy out there.” Groose shrugged. “Fair enough, I guess.” He turned and strolled toward the temple doors that led out to Faron Woods, Link following at a slower pace. He still felt sore from his recent journeying and dearly hoped that they wouldn’t run into any monsters. Maybe after he got some food in his system, but not now. Now he just wanted to collapse in exhaustion and not do anything for the rest of the week, or even year.

But Zelda, he thought, going yet again to the one thing that motivated him to keep going. Zelda needs me.

He let out a soft sigh as he followed Groose out into the sunshine, walking up the steps that led towards Faron Woods. Groose halted suddenly and turned to look at him, his brow furrowed in perplexion. Link halted, tilting his head. “Something wrong?” “Uhh…” Groose chewed a fingernail. “What kinda food can ya find out in these woods, anyway?”

Link resisted the urge to smack his forehead and said carefully, “Lots of things. Deku fruit, for one. Mushrooms...fish...different kinds of seeds and nuts...Come on, I’ll help you look for some.”

The two of them walked along the path until they arrived in Faron Woods. Link pointed at the trees. “Those yellow fruits up there,” he said to Groose, “are safe to eat. They’re pretty good, too.” His face fell a little. “I wish pumpkins grew down here, though.”

“Oo, pumpkins,” Groose said with a sigh. “I could do with a nice big bowl of pumpkin soup right now. Couldn’t you?”

“Mhm,” Link agreed, watching in slight amusement as Groose struggled to hoist himself into the lower branches of one of the trees. A fruit above his head wobbled dangerously, broke loose, and fell, smacking Groose directly in the face.

Link hid a snicker behind his hand.

“Ouch,” complained Groose, wiping smashed fruit off his nose. “I sure hope it didn’t mess my hair up. Does my hair still look good?” he questioned anxiously.

“Oh, sure, yes,” said Link, a little too quickly. He turned away and began hastily plucking some edible grasses from the ground, tucking them in an empty part of his adventure pouch. Behind him he could hear various grunts and grumbles as Groose tried to grab a fruit.

“Almost gotcha—OH NO!” The next thing Link knew, Groose was screaming in terror. Link spun around in time to see Groose sliding from the tree and landing with a thud on the ground.

“Are you okay?” Link asked, biting his tongue to keep from laughing.

“Yeah...yeah, I think I am.” Groose looked a little dazed.

Just then, another fruit fell onto his head and splattered, sending yellow goo all over Groose’s pompadour. “Augh!” Groose yelled angrily, swiping at the fruit. He sighed. “I think you’re better for this,” he said to Link, getting to his feet. “I think I’ll go get some morshums...shormurs...whatever you said earlier.”

“Mushrooms,” Link said, scooping a handful of edible nuts into his pouch. “They’re big and colorful. You can’t miss them.”

“Okay,” Groose mumbled, wandering off a little ways. Link continued to gather various nuts and grasses, at last standing up and brushing dirt off his tunic. He pulled out his slingshot and shot down a few deku fruits, catching them before they could hit the ground and smash.

After placing the fruits under a tree to return to later, he went to find Groose. The larger boy was struggling with a gigangic red mushroom, trying to tear it from the earth.

“Don’t go for the big ones,” Link advised. He pointed to a patch of small mushrooms. “Those are much easier to gather, and they taste better.”

“Good to know,” Groose said with a nod, gingerly getting on his hands and knees and beginning to pull up some of the fungi. He looked at Link. “Say, how do ya know so much about the surface already? How do ya know all this stuff isn’t poisonous?”

Link shrugged. “I had to take chances. Fi’s told me about some of the plants, but some of them are new and she can’t gather enough information yet. The Kikwis and Mogmas helped a lot, though.”

“What are those, anyway?” Groose asked.

“They’re creatures. The Kikwis live in Faron and the Mogmas live in Eldin.”

“Huh,” Groose mused, standing up. He held out a large pile of mushrooms. “Here. I got enough, I think.”

“Probably,” Link agreed. “Now cmon. There’s an area up near the entrance to the Deep Woods where we can catch fish.”

“I’ve had fish once or twice,” said Groose as he and Link walked to the small area of water near the Great Tree in the middle of the woods. “The restaurant in the bazaar caught some once in a while out of the lake and fried the fish. It was pretty good, I think.”

“Yeah,” Link agreed. “I’ve had it a couple times while I’ve journeyed. I’ve never had it fried, though.” He nodded. “Here we are.”

Groose peered into the clear depths of the water and looked dubiously at a few purple fish swimming around. “How do we catch em?” he wondered.

“With this!” Link flourished his bug net. “They’re small enough to catch, we just have to catch a lot.” He looked wistfully at the small amount of fish. “If we could go to the water dragon’s realm, that would be great. There are loads of fish there. However, you wouldn’t be able to stay underwater, nor without one of her scales, and it’s a pretty long trek over there anyway. We’ll have to stick with these.” He flopped on his stomach and dangled his bug net into the water. Before long, a few curious fish began swimming around it, looking at the net curiously. With an expert flick of his wrist, Link swept them into the net.

“There. I think we’ve got enough food now,” he said in satisfaction. “I might even be able to make some tea with some of the grasses I found.” He got to his feet.

“Great!” Groose said. “I’ll carry the moorshums—” Link didn’t bother to correct him this time— “and the fruits ya got. Ya did get some, right?” He shot a look at Link.

Link nodded. “Yes, of course. I left them under a tree back there.”

Groose grunted in acknowledgment. “All right.” He began following Link back to the tree Link left the fruits under.

Once they had collected the fruits, Groose and Link went back to the Sealed Temple. Link gathered some wood and got a fire going at the top of the Sealed Grounds, then he and Groose stuck the fish they had caught on sticks and cooked them over the flames. Link also heated a pot of water and crushed some grasses into it to make a sort of very weak tea.

As they ate the fish, which was mostly burned, and the fruit, nearly all of which was bruised, the silence between the two boys was relaxed, not strained like it had been earlier. Link would even have described it as...friendly. He shot a glance at Groose as he took a drink of the weak (and rather gross, if he was honest) tea, and was surprised to find Groose looking over at him. The redhead looked strangely thoughtful as he ate another mushroom.

“Ya know...all our lives we’ve been taught that the Surface is some evil place, to be feared. But...now that we’re here, it’s not that bad, is it?” He smiled hesitantly, reaching for another mushroom. “I think….I actually like it better than Skyloft. Ya know? Skyloft is just so safe. This place has so much adventure….so much to explore.” Awkwardly he glanced at Link again. “Ya know what I mean?”

Link nodded, because he did. He still loved Skyloft, of course, and couldn’t wait until he could go back, but there was something about the Surface that filled him with a sense of awe and adventure. “Yeah, I get it,” he said slowly after a moment, a grin tugging at one side of his mouth.

There was another silence. Groose twisted a blade of grass in his fingers, looking like he wanted to say something else but like he didn’t know how to approach it. Finally he sighed. “I keep thinkin’ about how I’ve been mean to you all these years. Beating you up...teasing you...sometimes taking your things.” He tore the grass blade viciously in half, then let the pieces flutter to the ground. “I guess what I’m trying to say is...I’m sorry. You’re a great guy and...I’ve just been stupid.”

Link nearly choked on his drink, staring at the other in disbelief. Groose...Groose...was sorry? He was apologizing? Link knew he had had a change of heart, but he hadn’t expected that Groose would actually say he was sorry for the things he had done in the past. Link thought he was too proud. But now, sitting looking across at the other boy, who had dried fruit in his hair, branches stuck in his collar, and dirt on his boots, he realized maybe he had been wrong.

“That’s okay,” he finally said, offering a smile. “I think I forgave you a while ago, to be honest.”

Groose looked relieved. “Well, that’s good.” He cleared his throat, looking a bit awkward, and then stood. “We should probably clean up, huh?”

Link nodded and got up to help him. They tossed the remaining food to a small group of birds outside the Sealed Temple, then dumped out the pot of tea.

“There’s one more thing that needs cleaning,” said Link.

Groose looked confused. “What?”

“Your hair,” said Link, trying to keep a straight face.

Groose gasped and reached up to touch his pompadour, horror crossing his face as he felt the dried fruit juice that had stuck to it. “Gee! Ya should’ve said something before now!” he said accusingly. “Well, I guess I’ll go back to that little area of water where we caught the fish and rinse the stuff off.” He paused, looking at Link, who was gathering up his sword and shield. “Where are ya going?”

Link fastened his shield on his back, answering, “I have to go find the second part of the Song of the Hero.”

“But it’s getting dark soon,” Groose said.

Link shrugged. “I know.” He hesitated, casting a glance toward the doors behind which Zelda slept sealed in the crystal. “But the sooner it’s done…”

“Ah,” Groose said softly. “I get ya.” He nodded. “Go do what ya have to do, buddy. Zelda will be fine.” He smirked. “After all, she’s got Groose to look after her.”

“Look after the old woman too, ok? Make sure she gets back before dark,” Link said, trying to speak around the lump clogged in his throat.

Groose nodded. “I will.”

Link took a deep breath, waved, and headed off towards Eldin as the setting sun turned the sky to blood.

~~~