Outset's Philharmonic Disclaimer: I don't own them...happy now? I had a lot of fun with the charcters, as I'm sure you can tell XD I feel so bad for Link, I kind of unintentionally bashed him...literally *bandages him up* don't worry, I still love him XD and the other parts won't be as randomly crazy, I think... Anyways, read on, and thanks to all of those of you who reviewed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The King of Red Lions landed delicately on the waters of the great sea, just outside of Outset's square on Link's map. The shadowey outline was faint, but it was there. "Hang on tight." Link said to Tetra as he pulled out his Windwaker and pointed the winds in a favourable direction. Then he straightened out the sail and the boat lurched forward. Tetra fell a bit, but quickly gained her composure. "Saw that." Link smirked at her, his voice was one of playfulness. "Sorry, I'm just not used to such a small, rickety boat." her face and voice remained serious, but only for a second as her mouth turned into a grin and she winked at Link. After sharing a laugh, the two remained quiet as Outset grew closer. Tetra felt adrenaline in her stomach. She wasn't sure why she was nervous, she had been for a vist on Outset once before, but the proclamation of declaring this island her home...it was all to much. Soon the outline faded as the features of the island, such as the mountains, forest, and homes became visible. Withen a few minutes time, Link was about ready to pull into the dock. That's when Tetra heard a voice shouting out. "Hoy!" it called. Tetra looked around as Link tied the boat to the dock. "That's Aryll, more then likely." Link said from where he was kneeling, still working on the knot. "Hoy Big Brother." Aryll called, Link waved lazily from behing the rope. Then Aryll spotted Tetra. "TETRA!!!" she shouted, rushing over and jumping on the boat, knocking poor Link out with a splash. "It's been such a long time!" Aryll was now in her mid teens, with long hair and glorious brown eyes. Her Grandma ofton talked about how much Aryll looked like her mother. "It has been awhile, it's so good to see you." the girls clasped hands as they began to catch up. Link pulled himself up over the side of the boat, drenching wet, unnoticed by the two. "I'm glad to see my sister misses me." Link said sarcastically as he stood up, sopping wet. "Bro, you're getting water all over my new outfit." Aryll motioned towards a bit of water on her khaki capris and orange tank-top. "Now who's fault is that? I didn't fall out of this boat on my own." Link said, frustrated. Tetra had been holding back a laugh, but couldn't stiffle it any longer. Link stood there staring at her as she laughed at his wet appearance. Link sighed in defeat and had a chuckle as well. "I needed that laugh, Link." Tetra sighed as she wiped a laughter-tear from her eye. "Anytime..." Link said as he shook himself like a wet dog does, spraying the two girls with water. "Link." they giggled. A splash fight soon followed, leaving everyone drenched and happy. "Well, we better go see Gran, she'll be so happy to see you Tetra." Aryll pulled Tetra towards her house, Link trying to keep up behind them. Aryll dragged Tetra up the steps and then inside the house, closing the door on Link, who seemed to not have noticed as a thud was heard not soon after, along with an unappropriate word. Link then stepped inside as well and shut the door behind him, glaring at Aryll. "Hello Aryll, and who's this? My heavens, Tetra! It's been so long," Grandma then brought Tetra into a warm embrace. In that moment, Tetra had never felt so at home. "It's so good to see you again, my family owes you so much. Please, feel free to stay here as long as you wish." "Thanks, that offer is really so kind of you, is there anything I could do for you?" Tetra asked as she stared into the deep, old, caring eyes of Aryll and Link's Gran. "Tetra, we owe you so much, you don't owe us anything." Link's Gran smiled at her. "Elixer soup will be ready for you guys later tonight. Tetra, it will be our honor to have you." she then went back to cooking. Tetra stood there. She hadn't felt a love like that since her mother died. Such a warm welcome, Tetra was deep in thought until she felt a soft, warm hand slip into hers. Her heart sped up as she turned around and saw Link's smiling face. He placed a finger to her lips and pulled her outside. "Now let's hurry before Aryll catches up to us." Link led Tetra through the village of Outset, as many people harolded Tetra with Hellos and other friendly greetings. Tetra was grinning, a much wider grin then she could ever remember. So was this what it was like to have a home island? Link took her up on top of the island to the mountain just opposite the one where the forest was located. There, on top of the mountain, was a house that looked almost like a pirate ship. Tetra put a hand to her mouth. "Link, I've never seen anything like this before, what is it?" "Like it? Mr. Hoho, you know that weird little man in the purple hat and white coat who travels the world with his telescope, he gave this house to me. Well, in exchange for the Tingle Tuner, which I never used anyways...for a good reaosn. I had enough of Tingle when he had to decipher my Triforce charts. Calling him on a GBA-like phone would have just been too much." Link handed Tetra a peice of old, rolled parchment. "The deed, for you madam." Tetra unrolled the parchment and looked at the writting, "This deed shows that Homer Hoho declines ownership of the boat house to Link. It is for him to do with as he deems fit." Tetra looked up from the parchement and over the ledge. She could see the look out on one of Outset's docks. She could also see the bridge that connected the two parts of Outset together. Link's house was just beyond that bridge, by Outset's single mailbox. She could also see the shadowey outlines of islands that lay beyond Outset. "Are you sure you want to give this to me?" she said softly, staring at the parchment. "Of course I do." Link put an arm behind his head. "Did you read that last line? This house is for me to deal with as I see fit and I see it fit to give to you." Tetra rolled up the parchment and put it inside the pockets of her baggy gray pants. "What are you waiting for, let's check it out!" she ran inside, and Link followed, however he did not notice that the door had swung shut behind Tetra. Another crash and another unappropriate word followed. Tetra opened the door up to see Link sitting on the porch, glaring at her. Tetra gave him a bemused look. That's all it took, they were both enveloped in laughter. Tetra helped Link up and this time she made sure to hold the door open for him. The house was very roomy and it was very much like the interior of Tetra's own pirate ship. There was a room that she entered in that was almost like her quarters. There was a wide hall like the hull of the ship, and several rooms branching off from that. Tetra was in love. "SO whenever you become tired of your pirate days, or just need a rest, you have a home to come to." Link placed a hand on her shoulder and walked outside. "What's up with him?" Tetra said to herself as she, as well, walked outside. Link was sitting down on the ledge beside the bridge, looking towards the forest on the mountain across from the one they were on. "What's up with you?" she asked him as she sat beside of him. "Nothing, it's just, you'll have to go back with the pirates soon..." Link stopped as he looked towards the forest. The sun was getting low in the sky and the setting sun was tinting everything orange. "Says who? I'm not done exploring the great sea with you. Now come on, we don't want to miss your grandma's Elixer Soup." Tetra had never seen Link so out of charcter, so she had to drag him down the mountain to his house, making sure that the door didn't hit him on the way in. The dining room table was set up with four bowls, each full to the brim with yellow elixer soup. The room smelled wonderful from the arouma of the soup as it wafted delicately around the room, enticing both the nose and the taste bud. "Dinner is served." Grandma bowed low as she turned off the lights, leaving only the glow from the fire in the fireplace. The room was pleasantly warm. Tetra looked around Link's house. To describe it simply, it was basically a one room house, there was a small area that had been fixed up to cook and across from that were Aryll and Grandma's beds. There was a loft with a ladder leading to it where Link slept and the family sheild had once hung. it was a decent sized loft, about the size of a small room. This is also where Tetra would be sleeping while she was at Outset. Tetra filled a spoon with the yellow soup, and led the contents to her mouth. She let them slid over her toungue and sat as she savoured the taste. Food was never this good back on the pirate ship. Everyday it was fish, potatoes, bread, milk, cabbage, and onions. If they were lucky, they sometimes had chuchu jelly as well. The manners aboard the ship also weren't the best, which is why Tetra was trying to eat like a civilized person at the moment. Though the fact she had been savouring the same mouthful for about a minute wasn't much better. Link was giving her a funny look, and was trying to stiffle a laugh. Tetra swallowed her mouthful of soup and glared, "What?" "Do you always eat like that?" he asked her, picking up his bowl and draining the remainder of his soup. "Do you always eat like that?" she inquired, motioning towards the empty bowl. Link refilled his bowl and began shoveling it down as well. He winked at her, and Tetra sighed as she gave into temptation and shoveled down the soup, draining it faster then Link. Aryll just shook her head with a laugh at how ridiculous Tetra and Link looked as they were now in some kind of eating contest. Grandma just smiled, happy to see that her family was finally whole, ignoring the fact that soup had somehow made it's way onto the ceiling and walls of their home. The contest ended with a loud belch from Link and an even louder belch from Tetra as the two sat back, covered in soup and stomachs full of it. Tetra could not remember the last time she had had such a wonderful meal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Night time had fallen on Outset and Link had not had one time alone with Tetra since he had given her the boat house. Aryll had been hogging her. Aryll wanted to know everything about Tetra's adventures, and Tetra loved to share them, though Link was sure that she was exaggerating several of them. Link wanted some alone time with Tetra, but Tetra seemed to enjoy sharing her adventures so much that he had not the heart to stop her. Link knew well that Aryll was an excellant audience for stories, gasping at all the right places, she was so enthusiastic when she listened, as Link had shared his adventures with her many times. "Aryll, aren't you getting sleepy?" Link called from the bunk above Grandma's bed where he had slept when he had been very young, and which is where he was perched now, secretly listening and enjoying Tetra's tales as well. "No, brother you can have your alone time with Tetra later, as I know you will, but she's mine now!" Link could have sworn he heard Aryll growl. Link blushed and mumbled to himself as Tetra went back to talking to Aryll as if there had been no interuption. Link then spent several minutes staring at a spot of Elixer soup on the ceiling, pondering if it had been him or Tetra who had flung it up there. Finally, when there were only embers left in the fireplace, did Aryll get tired and flop into her bed, which was next to Grandma's. Grandma was outside talking with Sturgeon, the old man who lived above Orca, the swordman's home. They were brothers but completely differant. Orca was all about swords-play and Sturgeon was all about brain play. He read at least one encyclopedia set a day. He was also quite a romantic and Grandma and Sturgeon were quite sweet on each other, though they would probably never admit that to anyone. Tetra sat at the table, stiffling a yawn as she let her hair down from it's usual bun. The day had been eventful and tiring, but fulfilling none-the-less. Tetra took her vest off and threw it over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs to where she would sleep for the night. Link climbed down from the top bunk carefully to avoid waking his sister, though Link supposed not even canonfire could wake Aryll up, she was such a heavy sleeper. Link climbed up the ladder that led to the loft and found Tetra folding her vest, which she was going to use as a pillow. "Tetra, I have two pillows, why don't you use one?" Link offered the Cucco-down pillow. "I don't need a pillow, my vest will do just fine. All that cushion is a tad uncomfortable to me." Tetra said as she laid back on the vest, one of the straps of her spaghetti-strap purple, silk top fell down her shoulder, her tan skin appearing pale in the moonlight. She pulled a quilt over her that Grandma had lent her, with seagull patches sewed on it. She then folded her arms behind her head as she sighed contently. "It sounds like you've been on a lot of adventures." Link said as he tossed his shoes aside as well as his hat. Tetra kicked off her sandles next to Link's with impecably good aim. Link just stared as Tetra winked at him. "Yeah, but not many exciting ones. I just want one more exciting adventure before I become too old. The only really good one I had was the one where I met you and learned who I was." Tetra clenched her right hand into a fist, where the triforce of wisdom now lay dormant. "That one was truely spectacular, but I'm hungry for another." Link pulled off his tights before settling in the bed mat next to Tetra's. "Yeah, I guess I am too. I really want one that doesn't involve endlessly sailing, looking for a land that doens't seem to exsist." "I hear you." Tetra watched as Link pulled a matching quilt over himself. "I'm tired of searching for this land. King Hyrule promised us that it was out there, but where?" "Oh well, lets not worry about that now. I've spent enough of my life worrying about it." Link ran a hand through his tangled blonde hair. Both of them sat in silence untill Link could hear Tetra's steady breathing. Link smiled as he looked over at her sleeping form, however Link noticed something. Tetra had forgotten to take off her bandana. Link remembered that Tetra had said one time that she hated it when she fell asleep with her bandanna on, because it always left her neck stiff in the mornings. Link crawled over to Tetra and delicately untied the bandanna from her neck, however when he did so, something gold caught his eye. Link looked closer and noticed that it was a locket. Link walked over and set Tetra's bandana with her sandels and resisted the urge to walk back over and look inside the locket. He didn't resist well, because he found himself prying the locket open not even a minute later. He didn't know what to expect, but certainly not a picture of a woman that looked almost exactly like Tetra, except more frail and older, with several gray hairs, but a strong-willed spirit shining in her eyes. "This most be Tetra's mother." Link thought as he gently closed the locket and climbed into his own bed mat. Link's head swam with thoughts so that sleep was hard to come by untill the early hours of the morning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A hummingm noise and a "hey" woke Link up early the next morning, as he jumped up, swayed, regained his balance, and lost again. He fell down from the loft with a crash, the smells of breakfast meeting his nose about the same time a large pain met his head. Link got up, rubbing his head as he saw Tetra with the gossip stone out. Her bandana was tied securely around her neck, as usual, and her vest was back on. "You did like for me to contact you first thing in the morning, no?" Tetra said with a wink. Link, however, only grunted as he made his way to a floor mat sleepily, sitting on it and taking some bacon and toast from the table. "Brother, it's your turn to get the mail!" Aryll called out to him from across the table. Link nearly choked on his bacon, coughing and eyes watering, he glared at Aryll, "Come on, I just got home from being at sea for weeks. Can't you get the mail?" "Need I remind you that I've had to do your chores ever since you left. I think you owe me." Aryll winked at him, however unlike Tetra's wink which usually reduced him to feeling like a giddy twelve year old again, this one just enduced rage. To prevent bad language, Link stuffed several strips of bacon in his mouth. Link then grudgingly got up from his spot at the table, grabbed some toast, and made his way outside. Link walked towards the mailbox and was surprised to see Quil, the mail Rito, was still there. Quil was a Rito, Rito's looked like humans, but they had dark skin, wings that hung lossely from their arms, bird-like feet, and beaks. Quil had helped Link many times during his journey to save Hyrule. Quil turned to look at Link with his stern, yet warm, eyes, that reminded Link very much of an eagle's eyes. "Long time no see." Quil held out a hand, which Link shook. "What's up Quil?" Link asked as the postman handed him some letters. One of which was written on a Kargorok feather. The feather was gold with a green center, the feathers were modertly rare and they were very valuable to the Rito people. "Well, you may not know this, but in our village, we have a ceramony for when a Rito comes of the age to choose a life mate. This year both Komali and Medli are coming of age. Also since we have named both you and Tetra honorary members of the Rito tribe, we have remembered that both of you are coming to age as well. We have invited you to the special ceramony that will take place on tomarrow's tomarrow. I decided to deliver you this invitation in person because it's such a high honor." Quil explained, motioning to the feather Link was holding in his hand. "You and Tetra must present this feather on that day, so take hold of it and don't let go. Can I expect you two?" "Yeah, we'll be there." Link smiled as he ran his fingers over the soft feather. The Kagorok birds were weak, but they were extremally annoying, especially their cawing squawks. Their feathers, on the other hand, were extremally soft. Anyone with a pillow made from them was sure to have a wonderful night's sleep. "Okay, just make sure that you arrive tonight. The festival may not be for two days, but that doesn't mean you don't have to prepare yourselves before hand. It was good to see you again, Link." With that, Quil took flight as Link waved to him until only a black outline could be seen. Link walked back into the house, the breakfast things had been cleaned away and Aryll was taping her foot impatiently. "About time bro, what took you so long?" Aryll asked, a hand on her hip. Link just tossed the other letters at her as he walked towards Tetra, showing her the feather and explaining to her it's meaning. "Whoa! We have to be there tonight?" Tetra ran her fingers over the feather. It felt so soft under her rough hands. "I say lets do it, it sounds like it could be fun." Tetra winked at Link. "Yeah, too bad we have to leave so soon, but this festival is a once in a life time chance. I'm going to go tell Gran!" Link waved to Tetra as he ran out the door to try and find his grandmother. His first thought was Sturgeon's house as that's where she usually spent her days recently. Link climbed the ladder to Sturgeon's home, which was perched above Orca's. It was funny, Orca and Sturgeon disliked eachother, but they lived in the same house. Sturgeon's door was open, so Link decided it wa sokay to just walk inside, only to see a scene so horrific, Ganondorf looked like a cute bouncey baby. Sturgeon and Link's Gran were playing tonsel hockey, and it looked like Grandma was winning. Link quickly sheilded his eyes with his sheild and backed out of the house. His prescence had been undetected so he quickly ran back outside, jumped down from the top floor, and ran back into his house. "That was fast." Aryll commented as she turned from where she had been washing some cups. "My eyes, my eyes!" Link cried, wiping them furiously. Tetra raised an eyebrow, but Aryll just smirked. "What happened, did Sturgeon leave the door open, so you just waltzed inside to find Gran and Sturgeon playing tonsel hockey? By the way, who was winning?" Aryll asked, placing the cup in the cupboard. "Gran was...wait a minute, how do YOU know this?" Link looked at her sternly. "Younger sister's intuition." Aryll began washing a plate. "If you guys want to head on, I'll tell Grandma after her and Sturgeon finish, if that's okay." Aryll was giggling madly, but Link appreciated the gesture, noding his head. Link knew that he would have nightmares of this day, and talking to Gran at the moment would only make them worse. "Do you want to go ahead and head out now? Tetra asked, taking Link's hand and leading him to a stool, then forcing him to sit down and take a swig of chuchujuice. Link nodded as he chugged his juice. Tetra just smiled inwardly. Link could act like such a child at times, it sort of added to his charm. Tetra blushed and immediantly threw this thought away as Link gave Tetra a funny look. "Come on, the earlier we get there, the better. Plus we may get a chance to catch up with Komali and Medli." Link stood up, his vigor restored. Tetra nodded and followed him outside. Everyone said their goodbyes to Aryll as they headed outside. Tetra jumped into the boat, Link followed her inside. Link brought out his windwaker and quickly conducted the balled of gales. The boat began to spin around quickly, a whirlwind forming around it, lifting the boat into the sky as Aryll watched them rise. With one final spin, the boat flew off towards Dragonroost Islae, the home island of the Rito people. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can't wait to write the next part, it'll be so much fun! I've been planning it since before part one. This one I basically had fun with Link in it, poor thing *kisses his bandaged head* read and review please.