#windfish

Holidays:

The Chain does something special whenever they get a new tribemate (and you’ll get to see it in the next fic that’s gotten waaaaay longer than I expected lol).

 I also think mer would have seasonal festivals. Historically, mer from all over would gather to be together and have fun in whichever tribe hosted that time (using a process kind of like how people decide where the Olympics will be held). But that hasn’t happened in at least a century bc of a bunch of wars … and then the Demise Tribe cut many tribes off from each other, even if they weren’t enemies.

And birthdays! Mer celebrate birthdays in a pretty similar way to us (special food, gifts, music, loved ones, etc.). But since several of the Chain Tribe don’t know their actual birthdays (Hyrule, Wild, Four, and Shadow), they celebrate it on the anniversary of their joining the Tribe, kind of like a gotcha day.

There’s also a kind of holiday/multi day party a few times a year where the Wisdom Tribe comes to visit the Chain. Officially, it’s so Time and Lullaby can talk strategy chief-to-chief, but everyone gets super excited to see their old friends. And because of the magic barrier Wisdom created around the two tribes (and the fact that Wisdom and the Chain are all very good at driving off dangers like sharks), it’s normally safe enough for Wisdom to bring the guppies along, too! Sometimes the Chain goes to visit their sister tribe instead, but it’s rare. For some reason, those visits never last overnight and Time only goes to the edge of their home …

Pets:

Pets are a thing! I’m debating if or how to bring Wolfie in (I think he’d have to be separate from Twilight), but he may not show up. Idk on him yet.

Wild’s had several pets over the years, including 3 days with a (very mad) lanternfish named Crusty until Malon found out from finding bite marks on her adopted son. She was not pleased.

Epona is a dolphin—Time and Twilight saved her as a baby when she lost her pod. Now, she helps “herd” some of the livestock and enjoys swimming (read: racing) her mer friends.

And of course, Sky has Crimson the manta ray. Who is still bright red! Whenever someone asks him why Crimson’s that color, Sky only ever responds with, “that’s just the way mantas work where I came from.” Crimson is big enough for Sky to ride, but he also helps out the guppies with their swimming lessons. As for how Sky calls him … you’ll find out very soon.😁 It’s one of my favorite pieces of worldbuilding for LS

At some point, Legend may have a Moosh. Not sure yet

Livestock:

Yes! I love the idea of cuccofish, so that’s definitely a thing now, thank you. Mer raise cuccofish for their meat and unusually large roe. The Chain also has a herd of manatees (sea cows—get it?🤣) that they raise for milk. Guppies (and sometimes undernourished adolescents) get first dibs on milk/milk-based food like Malon’s famous pudding, but everyone in the Chain has a weakness for it. They also cultivate different types of sea plants and shellfish so they don’t over-harvest from the reef. The adults go hunting two or three times a week to make sure there’s plenty of food for everyone, and to add some variety to their diets.

The Windfish and Ocean King:

Hoo hoo HOO. Short answer: yes. They’re both around as whales. Kind of. Probably.

Ok, Windfish first. Yes, he exists, and his migration pattern was responsible for creating the warm current the Koholint Tribe became dependent on for food. But Nightmare showed up with Demise Poison, and the toxin drove the Windfish insane. The Windfish destroyed most of Koholint in his rage, and Nightmare and his goons finished the job. Except for Legend, of course, who killed Nightmare and led the Windfish away somewhere he couldn’t harm anyone until the poison (hopefully) went out of his system. Legend didn’t stick around to check if the Windfish survived.

Right now in LS, the events of Phantom Hourglass haven’t happened. Yet. 😈 But Oshus/the Ocean King DOES exist, and he’s in a pretty similar predicament to what happened in-game with being stuck as a human on land. Idk if I’ll ever write the full story, but after Wind grows into an adole, he learns the mer-to-human transformation spell so he can grab human stuff for Aryll. He sneaks out with Tetra to do just that at one point, but the Ghost Ship shows up and everything from there happens pretty similar to PH. Except that now Wind and Tetra are both cursed to stay human (and they can’t even swim! He’s soooo mad about that) along with Oshus until Wind defeats Bellum. With the Ocean King restored, the Chain can start to push back some of the Demise poison instead of trying to guard whatever clean water is left. And Linebeck becomes a kind of secret liaison/surface merchant for the Chain and Wisdom tribes! Aryll loves her Human Uncle Linebeck very much (and yes, she does call him Human Uncle Linebeck every time she addresses him.😂)