#tetlink

Tetra crossed her arms, staring him down. “You get your ears pierced today – do you have any idea how important that is—”

 “To a pirate’s identity and all the traditions that go behind it, yes, Tetra, I know,” Link finished for her, impatience and excitement mixing in his belly and jostling with the rocking of the sea. “Let’s just get to the piercing already! I’ve been ready my whole life for this!”

 Tetra sighed in exasperation. “There is a ritual involved, you know, you don’t just cut to the chase.”

 “Since when were either of us ones for rituals, anyway?” Link asked, skipping over to her. “Come on, pierce ‘em and let’s get going!”

 Tetra gave him an unamused look and then grabbed his arm, dragging him back to the center of the deck. “We are doing it right, Link. It’s bad luck otherwise.”

 Link bit his lip, sufficiently schooled. Bad luck was no joke.

 But still.

 “Okay, but how bad is the bad luck?” he inquired, enjoying her irritated growl.

 “The same bad luck that the Hero of Time had! The very same one!”

 “Tetra, come on, I already had that bad luck. And Ganondorf’s dead for it!”

 “Mighty Three!” Tetra yelled, facing away from Link and raising her arms in an attempt to ignore him. “I call upon you to look out for our newest pirate in his journeys and bring him good fortune.”

 “Or, ya know, keep bringing me good fortune since I’ve got plenty of it,” Link supplied.

 “And now I stab his heart and throw it to sea so that he can forever be part of it!”

 Link jumped. “Wait, what?”

 Tetra turned towards him slightly with a wink. “Got you.”

 Link stomped irritably. “Not funny!”

 “I thought it was.”

 “What’s next with the ritual?”

 Tetra held out her hand. “You kiss my pirate ring.”

 Link scrunched his face. “Ew. Your hands are dirty.”

 “And your whole face is dirty!” Tetra yelled, blushing. “Just do it!”

 Link rolled his eyes, grabbing her hand. “Fine, fine.”

 Leaning in, he gave it a quick peck and tasted the cloth wrapping on the pummel of her sword, the gentle scent of perfumed water from when she washed her hands, and the salt of the sea. He stared at her hand briefly, mesmerized by the duality of softness and callouses, before running his thumb over her fingers with a small smile.

 Tetra yanked her hand out of his grip with a grumble. “Okay. Now I can pierce your ears.”

 Excitement blazed through Link’s blood, and he nearly bounced in place as Tetra approached with a needle.

 “First thing I’m gonna do is get the best wax to hang off it,” Link said happily.

 “It’s definitely helpful for plugging your ears from the gong,” Tetra agreed with a smile, reaching for his ear.

 “And, ya know, plugging them so I don’t hear annoying captains, too.”

 Tetra swatted his arm, making him laugh. Then she pulled him over and held an ice cube to his ear lobe, drenching it in alcohol, and then stabbed it through with the needle. It didn’t really hurt at all, not like he thought it would, and certainly not in comparison to wounds he’d received in the past. Tetra did the same sequence for the other side, and Link automatically reached up to mess with the new earrings.

 Smacking his hands down, Tetra snapped, “Don’t touch them, stupid!”

 “I wanna feel them!”

 “You can feel them when they’re better healed!”

 Link groaned, rolling his eyes. “Tetraaaaa.”

 “Tell you what,” Tetra continued. “I’ve got a great distraction for you.”

 Link perked up, though he gave her a suspicious look. “What?”

 Tetra smiled in some direction behind him, and before he knew it he was scooped up and over someone’s shoulder and then unceremoniously plopped into some kind of confined space.

 Link blinked, dazed. Then he looked around and recognized the tight space as a barrel.

 A… barrel… wait a second—

 “The last part of the ritual is the catapult!” Tetra announced delightedly. “You’ll land on Outset Island.”

 “This isn’t part of the ritual and you know it!” Link yelled, his eyes wide.

 “I think it’s appropriate, though,” Tetra replied, winking.

 “I liked kissing your hand better,” Link protested softly.

 Tetra jolted. “What?”

 Link felt his own cheeks blush, and he backtracked. “I mean—well your nasty hand is better than being in a musty barrel, though not by much! And for another thing—”

 Tetra thrust her hands onto her hips. “That’s it! Launch him!”

Tetra was twenty-one years old today– she’d been looking for a new kingdom for ten years. Ten years. Ten fruitless years they’d been sailing, this way and that– North, South, West, East, and on one very strange occasion, Up– and what did Tetra have to show for it? JACK. SHIT. I told the old man we’d find a new land, found a new Hyrule… prove ol’ Ganny wrong, show him the gods didn’t destroy us! And we got NOTHIN’. Nothin’ but islands and ocean. Hope that stony ol’ bastard’s happy down at the bottom of the sea, cuz it looks like he was right… Tetra let out an exasperated sigh. Being down in the dumps like this wasn’t like her– civilization was still around, after all. It was just on boats and islands… Dammit, this ain’t like me! I’m Pirate Queen Tetra! Sure, she wasn’t much of a pirate– she’d never looted or plundered anything other than monsters–  and queen? Yeah, she was a queen, queen of her crew of seven. Ooh, what a mighty queendom I have! Seven people! Tetra stood and kicked a bucket across the room with a roar of frustration. Six guys who served my ma, and one guy who I DON’T KNOW why he gives two shits about me! A knock to her quarters snapped her out of her tantrum. “Tetra?” It was Link– said ‘guy who Tetra didn’t know why he gave two shits about her’. “Are you okay? I heard a crash. Mind if I come in?” Tetra groaned. Link was always too polite for his own good– too helpful, too good natured, too NICE! Tetra couldn’t help herself when it came to him– and the fact that he’d grown up into an incredibly handsome young man hadn’t helped things. “Yeah, yeah. Come on in. I’m just wallowing in my own crapulence.” She muttered, taking a swig of something that tasted like swill. “Bemoaning my own failures, like usual.”