#gully!

“ZINGA-DINGDING!”

The Thunder Dragon flies over Skyloft, a few people waving to him from the Knight Academy’s balcony. Although Link and Zelda no longer live up here, the locals have gotten to know him a little from his frequent visits. It is quite nice to be around people…something he was deprived of for centuries.

“Mighty Thunder Dragon!” a young boy calls out. “Sing for me!”

Lanayru groans quietly, aware that his strength is beginning to fade. The fatigue from being so active the last few days has finally gotten to him. But it would be a shame not to please the boy…and so he slows his glide down slightly and opens his mouth to sing.

The sweet melody of the Song of the Hero, the same song he performed for Link all those years ago, fills the air. He tries to ignore how it takes some breath out of him, and his spinning movements through the sky are flimsy and uncoordinated. His deep, booming voice still echoes through the clouds and makes its way to the young boy’s ears.

“More! More!” the kid chants. “Sing another song!”

“Now now, dear. I think you’ll have to wait.” A woman puts her hand on the kid’s shoulder…most likely his mother. “Mr. Thunder Dragon, you don’t look quite right. You should go home and rest.”

Well…shit. Of course this lady noticed. Lanayru floats on his back and lets his eyes droop closed.

“Mr. Thunder Dragon?” he hears her ask, but he is too absorbed into the calming feeling of resting at last.

“Lanayru?”

He snaps his eyes back open. “Ah, yes…my apologies.”

“What’s wrong with him, Ma?”

“Overworked, I assume,” she answers. “Gully, go see your father. I’ll be right with you.”

The boy turns to jog away, giggling, and mutters Lanayru’s signature line repeatedly:

“Zinga-dingding!, zinga-dingding!, zinga-dingding!, zinga-dingding…”

Gully’s voice fades off into the distance, and Lanayru brings his focus to the mother. He chuckles slightly, but she only frowns.

“Please go, Mr. Thunder Dragon. Go lie down, I’m serious.”

Lanayru scoffs. Besides the hero Link, he never likes to take orders from someone a fraction of his size. But this woman seems persistent. A little too persistent.

“…Fine, I guess…”

“Good. You can come back when you’re better, okay? Gully will love it.”

The Thunder Dragon grins, giving her a thumbs-up with his claw, before pushing himself forward through the clouds. I can’t look that tired, right…? His condition must appear even worse than he thinks…surely the lady was right. He does need to lie down.

“Tell the boy I’ll be here tomorrow,” he calls out, most likely loud enough for her to hear.

Leaving Skyloft behind, he continues straight until he approaches the yellow beam cutting a large hole through the cloud barrier…the one Link and his sword spirit created at the start of the hero’s adventure. Squinting from the incredibly bright glow of the beam, he dives down into the skies over Lanayru Desert. His former home. The air warms up, sunlight beating down onto the sand, but Lanayru doesn’t mind too much. He can handle the heat just fine.

His body continues to weaken from the effort of flying, like a robot slowly running out of power. But he pushes on, past the dry sands of the desert and into the grassy area beyond…closer to his current home. The tops of trees become visible soon, and he starts tilting his glide down to meet their level.

You’re almost there, he assures himself. Almost there.

He wonders how Faron would react if she found out about all this…the Water Dragon would definitely not be happy. Especially since she’s always on his ass about caring for his own health.

As he reaches his large forest clearing, the place where he normally resides, he finally slows to a stop. A few LD-301’s scurry around, carrying various materials like sticks and pinecones, but his eye is quickly drawn to something else. Or rather, someone else, lying right on the grass of his sleeping area, the sun brightening the oranges and reds of his body…

“Eldin?? Wh-what are you doing here? I told you—“

Oh.

The Fire Dragon’s eyes are closed, and his breaths are deep and even. He’s asleep.

In my territory??

As Lanayru lowers himself to the surface, taking a seat on the grass in front of Eldin, he rubs his temples with a groan. Too tired to yell at his brother and push him around for breaking several rules, he simply nudges Eldin on the shoulder, digging his long pointy nails into it to wake him.

“Hnngh-ahh!!” Eldin gasps, eyes snapping open. “Wha…?” His gaze meets Lanayru’s. “Oh…guess I dozed off, I’m so sorry—“

“No need for an apology, fire boy. I’m not pleased with you, but I’m letting this one go.”

“Wait…really?” The Fire Dragon yawns, rubbing his eyes before squinting at Lanayru. “Hold on, something’s not right…oh, you look awful.”

“Well, thanks a lot,” Lanayru mutters. First the Skyloft woman, and now Eldin…Although he figures that is most likely true, if he does indeed appear as worn-out as he feels.

Eldin’s brow furrows. “Lanayru…have you been overworking yourself again?”

…Shit.

“What? No, of course not! I—“

“Nuh-uh. I can literally tell by looking at you, Lanayru. I know how much you like to zip through the air and do your singing and take Link for rides and all that…but you got a limit, old thunder man. Ho! You like to think you’re invincible! But you’re not.”

“You…do remember what happened to me, right?” Lanayru asks, arms folding across his chest. “All those years ago?”

“Of course. Yeah, you nearly lost your life then, but you don’t seem to have learned! You’re a bit weaker than Faron and I, that’s just how it is, and so you need more rest and more breaks.”

“…Ugh, I know…” The Thunder Dragon tries to ignore the dull aches throughout his large body.

“You are so darn stubborn. Like you’ll admit to your tiredness when you’re parenting us, but not now?”

“That’s because you and Faron exhaust me so much more…” he mumbles. “You two act like five-year-olds sometimes and it takes a lot out of me.”

Eldin gapes at his brother. “Five-year-olds?? Since when have we acted like—“ He pauses, seemingly in thought. “You know what, you kinda have a point. But what you’re doing now isn’t much better.”

“…Stop it. Just…stop it.” Lanayru’s head begins to throb at Eldin’s booming voice. “I’m fine.”

“Totally not fine! Can’t you admit to neglecting your own health at least once? Isn’t that how you fell ill in the first place??”

“…I don’t know, Eldin, it was so long ago, I…I don’t really remember how it happened.”

“Well, I can bet ya it was from your stubbornness, thunder boy. Cause ya know, you claim to be the Mighty Thunder Dragon and all…but that almost killed you. And Hylia blessed us with eternal life, Lanayruuuu.”

He scowls at the way Eldin whines his name. It would have killed him had Link not intervened…he knows that. Eldin knows that.

“I get it, okay? I was really bad…but not anymore. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Well, if you keep this behavior up, I will.”

Lanayru breathes out a long sigh, a light fog beginning to fill his aching head. Maybe Eldin is right…perhaps he is too stubborn. But the last thing he wants now is to admit it.

“Mrmmm…” he mutters. “Your call, fire boy. I won’t change…”

Eldin’s face begins to blur, darkening at the edges, and Lanayru feels his head loll slightly. He snaps it back up, blinking several times to focus once more. But it’s beginning to get harder now.

No. Don’t fall asleep, Lanayru. Not now—

“Haha, someone’s feeling reeeeally sleeeeepy,” Eldin teases, cackling. He reaches a claw forward and waves it back and forth in front of Lanayru’s face. “Veeeryyy sleeeeepyyyy…”

“Shut up.” Lanayru pushes the claw away, his lightning bolt ring clinking against one of Eldin’s. “Maybe if you go away I’ll sleep.”

“Nope, can’t trust you! I’m not leaving til you’re out like a light, thunder man, because you’ve been at this too long. Link can wait.”

Eldin rises up from Lanayru’s sleeping area, floating behind him with another laugh. Soon Lanayru feels the Fire Dragon’s warm claws pushing up against his back. He is much larger than Eldin, and normally he’d be able to resist it…but this time he doesn’t have the strength; he lets his brother shove him down onto his back with a thud.

“Now, do you want a bedtime stooory?”

Lanayru glares at him with all his might. “No.”

“Or maybe I’ll sing you to sleep with the Song of the Hero.”

“Nnngghhh…no.”

At last, he lets his heavy eyelids close as his body sinks into the warm grass. “Don’t…need that…”

But Eldin doesn’t seem to have listened. Soon the Fire Dragon’s mighty but calming voice fills Lanayru’s ears, a bit more higher pitched than his own. The Song of the Hero indeed.