The Oracle of Earth

By Pata Hikari

Based off the game Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons by Nintendo and Capcom

Chapter 17: Marching on

"…it's a… beach."

Saria found herself staring out into an endless plane of water, the sun dipping down as if sinking into the sea.

"So this is what one looks like." Saria had never been to a beach, she hadn't even known the word until Link had told her about them. The idea that there was an endless stretch of water, somewhere beyond her home was strange. And yet, now, here she was, facing it.

Maybe.

"Still… didn't I…?" Saria sighed, she remembered grabbing the Essence, and ending up here. Odds are, this was a dream.

"Hello?" Saria turned away from the water, looking around the stretches of sand. "Anybody here?"

"Hi! Want a hot dog?" A voice piped up behind her.

"Gah!" Saria jumped.

Laughter echoed behind her. "Hi Saria!" The source of the voice jumped in front of her. It was Din.

"L-lady Din…" Saria shook her head, "How did you sneak up on me?"

"Because, like all Quantum beings, I both exist and don't exist in every point in space-time, until something else observes me and defines my location." Din said cheerfully.

"…what?" Saria just stared. "…never mind." She smiled, "It's nice to see you again… though I wish I could remember you outside these dreams."

"Sorry, it's the rules." Din shrugged, "To directly affect you as you are now would be breaking them."

Saria sighed, "But I thought you and the other two Goddesses made the rules?"

"All the more reason for us to obey them!" Din said seriously, "If we, who made the rules, don't obey them, how can we expect anyone else to?" She held up a sausage that was held between two pieces of bread, "Now, do you want a hot dog or not?"

"Umm… OK." Saria took the food, "Thank you." She bowed respectfully (to Din's giggly delight). The "hot dog" was covered in chopped pickles, onions, and various other vegetables. She shrugged and took a bite. "…pretty good."

"Good to hear!" Din patted Saria on the head. "Hot dogs are important food for any beach trip." She paused, "But you're not dressed properly for it…" She waved a hand, "Let's fix that up."

In an instant Saria was looking at Din at eye level, where was before she had to look up. "Huh?" Then she noticed that the breeze that was blowing was a lot more noticeable. She looked down, and noticed two things.

One, her body had changed. It was as if the process that had started after she began to grow suddenly had sped up and stopped. It was easy to notice this because of what she was wearing. Or rather, what she wasn't wearing. All that was on her was a two piece bathing suit that covered nothing but her bottom and her breasts.

"Eeekk!" Saria's face turned red, she desperately tried to cover herself, all the while Din just laughed.

"Awww so this is what you'll look like in 5 years, how cute!" Din giggled.

"How!?" Saria just whimpered, still blushing.

"Well, this is a dream realm, changing things around is trivial." Din shrugged.

"Oh gee, thanks." A slight hint of sarcasm escaped Saria's lips.

"Anyways," Din was suddenly sitting in a long chair, "You had a hard time just now, huh?"

"Oh… yeah." Saria sighed, "I kind did."

A chair appeared behind Saria, "Poor dear…" Din sighed, "Tell me about it, will you? Take a seat."

"…ok." Saria sighed and sat down.

"How long is this going to take?" Maple looked at the sleeping Saria.

"Who knows?" Link sighed, "It's always different."

"We'll just need to wait." Shadow had been keeping himself busy, gathering up the fragments of the Kokiri Sword that had scattered around the room, there was now a neat little pile of metal on the ground, a faint formless light hovering above it.

"And what's going to happen with this?" Maple pointed to said pile, "That ghost boy is bound to the sword, right? Is he going to be OK?"

I'll… be fine. A soundless voice echoed through the room.

"Somehow that doesn't sound like fine…" Navi whispered.

"Yes…" Din sighed, "Poor Makan… he's a good guy."

"Will… will he be OK?" Saria whispered.

"At the moment he's using the strength of your spirit to stay bound to this world…" Din folded her arms. "He'll be fine as long as you fix up his body as soon as possible."

"His… body?"

"Yeah," Din shrugged, "He's not exactly dead, instead he was put into that sword as an immortal body. He then uses Astral Projection to interact with people." Makan's story didn't really need to be told right now, so Din figured the quick explanation would work.

"Oh." Saria sighed, "So, what about that… person? He's part of the five you mentioned earlier, isn't he?"

"Yup. The Destroyer. The one who will herald the shattering of the world, before the final Decay." Din sighed, "First, it will be Foretold, that has already happened. Then, all will be deceived. Thankfully that hasn't been finished yet. Then War will come, and all will be Destroyed. And finally, all will Decay into nothingness. That is Ragnarök." She closed her eyes sadly, "The forms they take this time are far more powerful then last time."

Saria gasped, "This has happened before?"

"Yup. The Seven Sages, your predecessors, stopped them before Destruction could be complete." Din looked straight into Saria's eyes, "I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This world was broken long ago. Only in the past two centuries has it started to fix itself." She smiled, "But don't worry Saria!" She patted the girl on the back, "This time we know they're here, we know their M.O, and we're going to stop 'em! And you're going to help!"

Saria shot up, "Yeah! I'll do my best Lady Din!"

"That's the spirit Saria! Now go wake up and get them!" Din pushed Saria forward.

And the girl vanished as she went back to the waking world.

"Let's go!" Saria shouted, startling everyone awake.

"Huh… wha?" Link rubbed his eyes, "Oh, Saria, you're up."

"Come on guys! We need to fix Makan! And then we need to find the next essence, as fast as possible!" She ran over to Maple, "Come on Maple! Get up!"

"…Saria how the hell can you be so damn hyper." Maple muttered.

"…I don't know, exactly, all I know is that when I woke up I felt the urge to do something." Saria dashed to the fairies, "Navi! Kalo! Get up!"

"You seem in a strangely good mood." Navi groaned.

Oh… Miss Saria… it does my heart good to see you so eager to help me.

Saria looked over to the where what was left of the Kokiri sword sat, "Um, thank you Makan." She looked around, "Where's Shadow?"

"Out on patrol." Kalo flew up to her shoulder, "He figured that it would be best if he went out and checked if any of that brute's friends were still around."

"Well let's go meet up with him." Saria walked over to the metal pile, pulled out the sheath for the Kokiri Sword, and using magic scooped up the shards into it. Then, she topped it off with the handle. "Come on everyone, get up!" She began marching towards the door.

Only to suddenly kneel down, gasping for breath.

"…ow… my whole body aches…" Saria groaned.

"I guess her eagerness to do something finally lost to pain." Maple dryly commented.

"Come on Saria," Link slowly helped her up, "We'll wait for him to come back, then we'll go. First, let's patch you up a bit more."

By the time Shadow returned, Saria had already fallen back asleep. And as such, they were all able to sleep till morning.

"So our first priority is fixing up sword-boy." Maple said as they ate some food that Link and Shadow had scraped together.

"Yeah…" Saria picked at her breakfast, "It's kind of my fault he's like this."

Silence followed. Link and Shadow were both too focused on digging through their sacks, looking for any more food (Having fed the girls before themselves). Navi and Kalo were discussing something among themselves, and Makan was in no condition to chat.

"Hey, Saria." Maple broke the silence, "You'll need a blacksmith of some sorts to fix him up, right?"

"I'd assume so."

"Well... there's a Goron city nearby, actually." Maple looked down at her food, taking the final bite. "They're probably the best smiths in the whole country." It'll be OK, she thought as well, It's not like they need to go anywhere but Mt. Cucco.

"Really?" Saria beamed, "Thank you Maple! That's just perfect! Can you take us there?"

"Of course!" Maple smiled weakly, it's pretty easy to spot. Let's start soon, OK?"

"OK!" Saria nodded.

"We're out of food." Link said flatly.

"All we have left are two chocolate bars and a piece of sourdough bread." Shadow added.

"Stale sourdough bread." Link finished.

"Did you check my Sack?" Saria asked worryingly.

"Any food in there has likely evolved into a primitive lifeform by now Saria" Kalo rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on!" Saria reached into her sack, "I know I have some stuff in here, like some Milk!" she pulled out a bottle… filled with a solid substance.

"Saria, if you open that I will kill you." Maple stared at it.

"Umm… there's the… umm…" Saria pulled out rotten food after rotten food. "Ummm…"

"I keep telling you to clean it." Kalo muttered.

"Darn it I thought these things preserved food!"

"They don't freeze them in time." Navi rolled her eyes, "Eventually they'll go bad."

"…oh. Um, Link." Saria blushed, "Remember when I lost your Birthday cake a few years back?"

"…yeah…" Link did not like where this was going.

"I found it." Saria pulled out a cake, hardened into a rock practically, the fossilized frosting saying "Happy Birthday Link!" On it, the candles long since embedded into it all.

Maple just started to laugh.

The list of things they needed to do had grown longer.

"OK. Step one, get food. Step two, fix Ghost Boy, Step three, save the damn planet." Maple nodded, "Such an interesting life I've started living."

They were outside now, snow was once again falling.

"Now, for meat we can hunt for it." Saria looked around, "However that would take time, and we'd need vegetables anyway, so we'd have to buy some things." She turned to Maple, "Is there a place where we can buy food?"

"…um, the Goron city?" Maple said hopefully.

"Maple, have you ever had Goron food?" Link asked seriously.

"No…" Maple whimpered, "Have you?"

"Yes. Let me tell you something, Rock Sirloin is surprisingly good. Provided you have someone to heal your teeth after they shatter from trying to chew it. It's not worth the pain and trouble. Is there any settlement for like, Hylians, Sheikah, etcetera?"

"Um…" Maple sighed, "There's a city at the base of Mr. Cucco, where the Gorons live, it's called Terra. It's a central trading point, a lot of farms and trading routes meet up there." She winced slightly. Come on Maple, don't be so worried, it's a big town, odds are you'll just get your food and then head up north without any difficulties.

"So why is it called Mr. Cucco?" Kalo hovered behind Maple.

"Oh, that's cause there's a weird rock formation on the top of it. Looks like a Cucco if you look at it from Terra." Maple replied, "Kind of funny, if you ask me. I remember as a kid being dared to fly to…"

"Oh so does that mean Terra is your hometown?" Saria asked cheerfully.

Damn it! How could Maple have let that slip! "Yeah… I haven't been there for quite some time though." There, technically true, after all, it had been some time since she has left on her grandmother's errand.

"I see." Saria nodded, "I bet you'll be happy to see home again, huh?"

"…umm…" Maple didn't really know how to answer that one.

It was noon by the time the small city came within view.

"…oh wow." Maple stared.

The entire town was swamped, water sat around everywhere in the streets.

"I'm guessing it's not normally like this." Link commented. "The screwy weather caused this, right?"

"…yeah." Maple sighed. I just know we're going to be blamed for this.

"OK!" Saria clapped her hands, "Link, Maple, Shadow, how about you three go over to the mountain and see if you can arrange a meeting. I, Navi, and Kalo will go buy food. Any objections?"

Maple nodded, "I have none!" Yes! "It won't take long, there's a small message station on the road to the Goron city that they use, we'll send a message there, and you can meet us at the northern gate, OK?"

"Got it." Saria nodded.

"OK Shadow, let's go." Link turned around, "See you three in a few hours."

"See ya." Navi nodded.

Saria counted the money they had all put together.

All in all they have three hundred and twenty one rupees. In Castle Town, Saria knew from her limited shopping experience, that they could get a week's worth of food with that much money if they didn't get anything extravagant.

"But what happens when we run out of food?" Kalo asked the question that all three were thinking.

"Well, there's still hunting… and perhaps there are wild vegetables we could find…" Saria sighed, she hated to admit it, but in all honesty she doubted that they could survive on just that. The forests and trails in Holodrum that they had traveled so far were too civilized, humans walked the various paths all too often. Most prey animals had long since left to less inhabited areas, where humans wouldn't hunt them. And with them went the predators that could at least have provided some meat. And meat was important for them at the moment, it provided a lot of energy, and with all the traveling and fighting they've had to do so far and will continue to do, they needed all the energy they could get.

"Plus there's the issue you're all forgetting." Navi folded her arms. "Goron Blacksmith's ain't cheap."

Oh. Right.

"We're screwed." Saria sighed, slumping her head against the wall.

"Hey, maybe, Saria, we could sell something?" Kalo asked hopefully. "That way we'd have more money."

"Yeah but what could we sell?" Navi gave Kalo a narrow stare, "Do we have anything valuable, yet expendable on us?"

"Ummm…" Saria reached into the sack, pulling out the bracelet that she had taken from the Aquamentus' horde. "There's… this." She sighed. She really liked this bracelet, but if it let them get food…

"...wow Saria." Navi flew down to examine the bracelet, "Where did you get this?"

"A Dragon's Horde." Kalo said proudly.

"…either the dragon's dead or you're very stupid." Navi replied, again giving that narrow stare.

"It's dead." Saria said simply.

"OK good, then it's free game." Navi smiled, "We just need to find an appraiser, and then someone willing to buy it. Something of this quality shouldn't take long." She flew up high, "OK.. let's see… Hey! You!" she shouted down to a man walking by.

"Huh?" The man looked around, "Who's there?"

"Above you." Nave called back.

"Oh.. What?" He clearly looked confused.

"Do you know where an appraiser is? Hopefully one approved by the International Jewelers Union?"

"Um… there's Dr. Hander. He's a jeweler and he kinda appraises stuff in his spare time… I think."

"Thank you, directions please?"

Dr. Hander was a lanky, short Zora. Thick glasses that seemed glued to his head, even as he examined the bracelet. "Hmmm… well Miss…"

"Saria."

"Um, yes, Miss Saria." He set it down, "Even with a simple cursory examination, this is definitely a very high quality piece of jewelry. I can't identify the maker… but still, an excellent piece."

"And it's worth?" Saria asked hopefully.

"Well, um… you see, I can't give an exact value right now. It would take a few days to properly examine it. And sadly the current travel embargo means I can't consult some friends… but as a rough estimate I'd say at least one hundred thousand rupees. An excellent piece... is it an heirloom?"

"Um, no. Not exactly. I… um… explore old ruins, yes. I found it in one." Saria figured there's no way he'd believe what actually happened.

"You're a very lucky girl." He chuckled. "Now, Miss Saria, with your permission I'd like to examine it further."

Saria sighed, "Well, OK. How many days?" She figured that they could take a few days off, have Makan fixed, get the bracelet appraised, sell it to someone and get enough money to get food for the rest of their little journey.

"Three at most." He nodded.

"Thank you." Saria bowed, "I'll check up on it tomorrow, is that OK?"

"No problem at all Miss."

"Ever been to the Goron city?" Link asked.

"Once or twice, my Grandmother took me there for business." Maple replied, her guard still up. So far so good, nobody that can recognize me has shown up.

"Most Goron settlements are pretty similar." Shadow said, "A long tunnel dug downwards, with branching tunnels leading to houses. The richer ones live closer to the bottom."

"Yeah, yeah, nice." Maple was sure she had seen someone! Ok, false alarm...

"Let's see..." Kalo looked down a list they had devised, complete with a budget. "We need some painkillers."

Saria nodded. She had a dull ache over much of her body, and she was sure the others felt the same. Traveling like this, especially when on wasn't used to it (like Maple and to a lesser extent, herself) was always stressful. As such they were looking around the large marketplace in the center of town. The flooding hadn't managed to deter some shoppers or the salesmen, thankfully the market was on higher ground.

"Oh!" Saria smiled, looking around for any plants for sale that she knew had medical painkilling properties. "Hmm... Ah!" One of the farmers selling her produce had a large amount of various herbs hanging from the sides of her stall, and Saria recognized one of them. Baleaf. She quickly ran over and began inspecting them, looking for the ones with the roundest leaves.

"Ah, Miss, good choice, that herb goes well in sauces." She said.

"Really?" Saria smiled at the woman, "I was planning on using it as a painkiller... you see, if you chop them up, boil them in fresh water for an hour, and add honey, it soothes a lot of minor aches."

"I did not know that miss" She smiled, "I'll be sure to try it."

Saria nodded, "OK..." She turned away. "What's next..."

"Oh that's an impressive bit of knowledge young lady." A voice said behind her.

"Huh?" Saria turned around. There was a somewhat short plump woman smiling at her, she wore a simple black dress. Dark short red hair framed her face. She had a strange combination of looks, she looked young, yet motherly. "Hello..."

"Good afternoon." She smiled sweetly. "While I knew about the drugs in that plant, I'd never thought of using honey. What's it for?"

"Oh." Saria giggled slightly, "It's because I like the taste better."

The woman laughed, "Well, that's a good enough reason for me." She smiled friendlily, "How about we shop around for a bit? I could use the company."

"Why not?" Saria pointed up, "These are my companions, Navi and Kalo." The two fairies nodded. "I'm Saria."

"Pleased to meet you Saria." The woman laughed softly, "I'm Wafla."

A gate stood in front of the road. Two guards were in front of the gate.

Maple did not remember any of those objects being there before.

"Sorry kids, the road's closed." The guard on the left said.

"When will it reopen?" Link asked.

The guard on the right shrugged. "When the smugglers are caught."

"…what smugglers?" Shadow groaned, this was just their luck.

The guard on the left shook her head, "Apparently some thieves and smugglers have been stealing Goron treasures and smuggling them out of the city. As such, all people without the proper papers are not allowed to use the roads until they're caught. It is a joint effort between the Goron Nation and the Le-din Providence government."

"Let me get this straight…" Maple said sarcastically, "To stop criminals you seal off the roads, thus stopping law-abiding people from passing through. However, criminals, already breaking the law, will have no difficulty breaking the law further and bypassing your checkpoints to continue their illegal deeds, thus, you are wasting the taxpayer's money and time on this useless enterprise. Am I correct?"

"Umm…" Both guards looked at each other, clearly not expecting a girl as young and small as Maple to say something like that.

"Come on guys…" Maple turned around, sighing, "We'll need to find another way."

"Um… how easy would it be to get these papers?" Link asked.

"Well it depends. A member of the Goron Nation can get a quick one-way pass… merchants can apply at the Magistrate's Office, private citizens as well. Religious and Political leaders can…"

"Wait, wait stop at the first one." Link said quickly.

"Members of the Goron Nation can…" The guard on the right repeated.

"Hah that's simple enough!" Link grinned, "I just happen to be a member of the Goron Nation." Link reached into his pocket, where his bag was supposed to be. "Let me just pull out my membership papers and…" He paused, "Wait. Oh… shit. I forgot, my papers are in my bag… at… home…"

"Brilliant." Maple rolled her eyes.

"Hey… look. Have you heard of Darunia le Magum? He's the Elder of the Death Mountain Gorons and my Sworn Brother… um… and well… um…" Link fumbled for an explanation.

"Kid, I have no idea what you're talking about. But you ain't a Goron." The guard on the left narrowed her eyes, "Now get out of here and don't come back without papers."

"That was a pretty lame attempt to get past." Maple said sarcastically as they walked back to Terra.

"What was?" Link asked.

"That whole "sworn brother" yarn, whatever that is. Did you make it up off the top of your head?"

"Um… no." Link blinked, "It's true. I am a Sworn Brother to Darunia. He adopted me into his family after I did him a big service."

"It's true." Shadow nodded, "I remember it."

OK… Maple decided that, who was she to judge how odd Link's life had been?

"That's fascinating." Wafla smiled as Navi detailed a story about some of her experiences.

Saria nodded, Navi had lived an interesting life.

"You three are quite interesting. You say you're from down south?"

"Yup." Kalo said.

Wafla nodded, something was familiar about this girl… she swore she had seen her before. But where? "Saria. Do you have any relatives here?"

"Nope." She answered quickly, "I'm here on… business." She looked around, "Now where are they…" They had traveled to the northern part of the market, Saria saying that she was going to meet someone there.

Wafla shrugged, "Well, I'll be seeing you Sari-"

"Oh!" Saria smiled, "There they are! Link! Over here!" She waved towards a small group, two boys and a girl…

Wafla's eyes widened as she recognized the girl. And with that, she instantly realized where she had seen Saria before.

It was Maple, and Saria had been the girl at the end of Syrup's vision.

Maple froze in her tracks as she noticed her. The two stared for a moment.

And her daughter turned and ran the other way.

Every curse word Maple knew was running throughher mind.

It was the worst thing that could have happened.

Her Mother had seen her, and worse, she had been with Saria.

They would learn about her family, and like everyone else that she had ever started to become friends with would-

"Wait… friends?" Maple froze in her tracks, her train of thought stopping suddenly as well. "Since when did I think of Link and Saria as friends?" Shadow, yes. But the other two? Putting up with them was the best she would have described them as. It hit her that he entire state of worry had been centered on what those three had thought. Why? Shadow she worried little about, he was like her, an outcast… a… freak. But Link and Saria were normal, as far as she could tell, maybe having lived a bit of a hard and weird life, but normal people would accept them. So of course they would reject her when-

"Maple!" Her mother's voice sounded, "Maple Relom! What is wrong with you!"

She winced, slowly tuning around. Wafla was there, behind her were the rest of them. Link, Saria, Shadow, Navi, Kalo…

Two words entered Maple's mind.

"Damn it."

"So you're Maple's mom?" Link asked.

"Yup." Wafla smiled.

"Wow, how did she miss your genes." Link smirked.

Suddenly Maple, who had been trailing behind them, in a dazed state, flared to light. "What was that Psycho boy!?"

Link grinned, "Just saying Maple… your mom doesn't look much like you, she's, what's the word? Feminine?"

Wafla raised an eyebrow, what was going on here?

"Are you saying what I think you're saying!?" Maple's eyes flared, "Cause if you are…"

"Would you blast me in front of mommy?" Link laughed.

"…yes." Maple formed a fireball in her hand, grinning.

Wafla realized it then, They're playing around. She smiled, the two were teasing and messing with each other… like friends do.

Boom!

And, like all friends, sometimes they got a little physical, that's all (Link didn't even look burned, Maple was clearly holding back).

"OK kids, that's enough." She smiled.

"Huh?" Maple looked back at her, she seemed to have forgotten. "Oh… right." She once again looked depressed.

"You know…" Navi landed on Maple's hat, "I knew your Aura looked familiar, Wafla. You and Maple have very similar ones. You know? Then again, you are mother and daughter."

"Oh geez…" Maple muttered.

"Anyways…" Wafla hugged her daughter, "It's wonderful to see you again dear."

"Yeah, yeah…" Maple mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Kalo asked, "It's like you don't want us to be here?"

"Maple's a little shy in public." Wafla smiled, "I bet she's been acting like a different person around you guys huh?"

This caused all four to stare at the witches in confusion. Maple? Shy?

"Anyways, dears. I bet you're all tired, would you all like some nice soft beds tonight?"

"Of course!" Saria said eagerly.

"OK then, follow me, I'll take you to-"

"No no no." Maple said quickly. Suddenly backing off, "Sorry mom but we have important business to do and we need to leave now and-"

"Maple we can't leave this place until we get some paper to pass the gate anyways." Shadow interrupted her, "I think we could all use a good rest in a warm home. Besides, I'd love to meet your family."

"You have any brothers or sisters?" Navi asked.

"…" Maple slumped against her mother. This is it. The end.

Authors note: First update in over a year. I won't make excuses; it was my fault for being lazy. That's all.