IT WAS half a week later, when Link, Tetra, and Medli found themselves marching through the middle of a thick, jungle of an island. Link's sword wasn't quite sharp enough to make a big difference in cutting away the plants that blocked their way - he wished he'd thought to have it looked at before they'd left Dragon's Roost.

There was a bit of a shake in the ground, and the group stopped for a moment.

"What do you think it is?" Medli asked them.

"I don't know," Link answered. "This island doesn't appear to have active volcanism."

"How do you know?" Tetra asked. "You seem to act like the temple is for sure here."

"I'm... confident it might be here."

"Face it," Tetra said, "you have no idea where we're going."

"We were led here," he said, "there's got to be something on this island somewhere."

"Want me to fly up and scout some more?" Medli asked.

"No," Link said, "the canopy is too thick to see anything. If this temple does reach underground, it may not be very visible from above."

"Great," Tetra said, "it could be a hole in the ground, and we could spend the next thousand years looking for it and never find it. Maybe you should make a hurricane tear through here and clear all the trees out."

"That is not how the wind waker functions," Link retorted in annoyance. "I have to persuade the wind to go in a different direction, and I just can't summon a violent storm."

"Then a strong gust of wind," Tetra rolled her eyes, "I don't know. Anything to knock all this out of the way. Some kind of power of Farore or something."

"I don't think Farore would very much like that."

They spun around and looked behind them.

"Linder?" Link said with a hopeful smile.

"No," a groaning, wooden sound answered. A korok slowly drifted down on a spinning clover leaf from branches above, and landed on the ground. "Makar."

The korok was stouter than Linder was, and Linder was already the tallest korok Link had seen, reaching nearly Link's own height. Makar was more the height of one of Rose's children on Outset.

"Oh, um," Link struggled to remember, "I met you right before I left right?"

The Korok's leaf mask hid what was probably a derisive expression. "It couldn't have been at any other time, considering we were all trapped beneath a gigantic monster."

"Um, yes...," Link said, somewhat sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"Spreading seeds of the great deku tree, as our ceremony you witnessed was the beginning of. I also, it seems, am here to keep pirates from destroying a beautiful forest."

Not again. Did the korok's have a feud with her too?

"We aren't going to destroy any forest," Medli reassured. "We are looking for a temple of the goddesses."

Makar suddenly went stiff. 

"Who has told you of this?" he said with an edge in his voice.

"A talking boat," Link said.

Makar was still for a moment. Then he pressed his wooden fingers against his mask, in a way that seemed to communicate frustration.

"Him," Makar said simply. "Of course. The king who refused to die. The king who cared more for his own people then protecting the innocents in the forests."

Link hadn't expected this. Tetra, he mistrusted. The King of Red Lions however... he was trustworthy. It was hard for Link to wrap his mind around someone hating him. But of course, that is what the king's daughter seemed to have felt.

"You heard me speak to the great deku tree," Link said. "I am seeking to defeat Ganondorf, and the only way to do so is with the master sword."

Link drew it from his back, and showed it to Makar.

"Impressive," the korok said. "But also obviously dun. The power in it has been leeched."

"Are you... a sage?" Link asked.

Makar once again waited several moments before speaking. It didn't seem like it was prompted by any sort of emotion. The korok just took time with his words. In the moment of silence, Link noticed that rumbling sound again over the sounds of the forest.

"I see you have Nayru's sage with you," Makar said. "And of course, Din's sage is unknown, with the disunity of the goron peoples."

"If you're a sage," Link said, "we need you. We need to cleanse the blade."

"I'm sure that you do," Makar said. "But I also have a duty to scatter the seeds of the forest. I will finish here, and then go to another island. I do not have time to deviate."

"Are you kidding me?" Tetra said, "can it really take that long to say a prayer over a sword?"

Makar's expression was intense enough to show through his mask.

"I must be obedient," Makar said. "I am an example to the younger korok's. If I was to -"

"You are a sage of the goddesses," Medli pointed out. "You serve them first."

"I do serve them," Makar said, "I -"

"They have commanded these two Hylians two challenge Ganondorf," Medli said angrily, "and you show contempt for your divine calling when you ignore their plea for aid."

Makar made a loud creaking groan.

"Fine. Let's get quickly to it then."

Makar spun up his cloverleaf staff, and began to hover off the ground. He then led them in the opposite direction they had been going.

"I knew  you had no idea where you were going," Tetra said to Link.

"I only claim to have a perfect sense of direction when the stars were out," he said.

Fletch how he missed just being able to watch the stars without worrying about everything. He still had Aryll's telescope firmly on his belt, and he gazed at the sky at night... but it lacked the carefree feeling it had before.

And there was something else too. During his life on Outset, where his island was all he knew, looking far away at the stars was a way to venture beyond his small little world. It was a world he loved, but seeing the vast expanse of the celestial river seemed to transport him to a different place.

Now however, Link had gone beyond that tiny world. He had seen so much more. He had seen an ancient land, of rolling hills, bordered by majestic mountain ranges. It was something that the people of the sea could barely imagine. It was something he could barely visualize, even though he'd seen it himself.

Now, in comparison, his study of the stars seemed like a novelty. His interest in them had faded, when compared to amazing new worlds he could touch and see right in front of his face. His once obsessive interest now was shadowed by concerns for the whole world. In that very moment, he felt guilt that it was occupying his mind.

"Are... are you alright?" Tetra asked him.

"What?" he asked in surprise.

"I...," she said with timidity, "you were just making a bit of a blank stare."

"Can you say anything that isn't demeaning?"

Tetra seemed somewhat taken aback. 

"Sorry," she said. "I... didn't mean it to be."

Link wasn't sure about that. She'd asked him initially in her usual tone of voice, that is to say, her one she used when she wanted to mock people.

He chided himself. She had apologized though. Actual, real regret. Maybe he was being a bit too sensitive, and she was speaking honestly. 

"We're here," Makar said.

They walked into a clearing where the thick growth of plants finally opened up, revealing a hillside. Much of the hillside had been cut off, replaced with a face of stone blocks. An ornately carved door frame opened to a gaping dark tunnel.

"Ha," Tetra smiled with satisfaction, "I was right again. It was a hole in the ground."

"Is it still in the ground," Link said, "when above most of the ground around it?"

"Well it leads underground," Tetra said, "so I think that counts."

"You may be right on that account," Link said, "but the question I have of whether a fine stone doorway really counts as a hole."

"It's an opening isn't it?" Tetra said.

"Yes," Link said, "but your original intent with how you worded it seemed to -"

"Lost forests of ancient times!" Makar bellowed, "who cares if it's a hole in the ground! Just hurry up and go inside."

Medli followed Makar in, but Link glanced to Tetra, and couldn't resist laughing.

"He has a rather strong voice for a stump," Tetra laughed in turn.

"This stump is quite impatient," Makar said.

"If anyone is a stump," Link joked, "it's you Tetra."

"Oh?" she smiled, "is that so? Because like any annoying stump, I've had quite a hard time getting rid of you."

"I think likewise," Link said, "though don't feel bad miss stump. Some stumps aren't too bad. They're often a nice place to sit."

They had continued down a shallow incline for a while now, and Makar was summoning some kind of gentle pale yellow light, like fireflies, to light their way.

Tetra's face was cast somewhat in shadow by it. The light danced off of her cheeks, reflecting from her tanned skin. When it caught in her eyes, it was almost like a glimmer off of deep clear water.

Link blinked for a moment, shifting his face straight ahead of him. He sorted through the strange thoughts in his mind. It was something that he had thought of before... but now he began to seriously contemplate it.

Although she annoyed him often, there were things he enjoyed about being around her. She was an impressive fighter. And maybe she could be fun to talk to a bit.

But he'd also realized that she was Hylian, like him. She had seemed so mature, and so hardened. Like not even the biggest crashing wave could wear her down. But she knew how he felt. She had doubts. Perhaps she understood him more than anyone else he knew.

"Tetra?"

"Yeah?"

"I said... a while ago... that I didn't forgive you."

She didn't respond. She took in a heavy breath, and looked ahead with a stoic expression.

"We're probably getting close," she said, watching Medli and Makar talk to each other.

"Tetra," Link ignored her attempt to change the topic, "I know that you feel uncomfortable about all this. Everything. The way your life has been forced to go."

"It's only uncomfortable," she said, "because I am resisting the pain of change. It scares me."

Link took her hand.

It felt much more natural this time to him. Maybe it was because she hadn't just tried to put a bullet through his head. 

"It scares me too. I'm starting to fear that even if we succeed, that I won't be the same person I once was."

"You aren't," Tetra said. "You... you definitely aren't."

"Neither are you."

She squeezed his hand. "I was always capable of doing the things I have to help you. I just... never had the reason to do them in the past. Right now though... I still feel a desire to reclaim what I once had."

"Do we really want to relive the past though?" Link asked. "Go back to who we were? Would it really be better?"

"I'd have my mother," Tetra said, a trembling in her speaking. "My guidepost. The only thing that seemed sure to me. Then she died."

Their footfalls echoed in the tunnel.

"But she also yelled at me. She told me I'd never be as strong as even the weakest of my crew. She... she never... beat me. But everytime I did something wrong, she would strike me with a switch.

"I was afraid. But I eventually I realized she was actually annoyed when I was not subservient. So I toughened up. But the fear didn't exactly go away."

Link didn't respond. This... this made sense to him. But he didn't know how to help her. His parents had always seemed perfect to him. He had always seemed inadequate in comparison to the strength in their bodies and spirits.

"But she taught me," Tetra said, "she taught me of our family legacy. That we were the last, fringe remains of Hyrule's royal family. That Ganondorf had hunted down all the others with royal blood. It was... it was a lot of pressure to put on a little girl."

Still, Link wrestled within him for reassuring words. But nothing came. Instead. He put his arm around her. It felt odd, particularly because she was older than him by a year or so. 

She did accept his gesture however. Thin trails of tears went down her face. 

"Tetra," he said, "I think... I think you have it in you to be a good person. I don't know everything bad you've done. But you want to be better. I think that's enough. I forgive you."

She formed quivering lips into a smile.

"And I trust you," he added. "If we're going to do this, we need to trust each other. We need to know that we have each other's back."

Tetra stood up straighter, dried her eyes, and breathed deep.

"You're right. I'm not going to run from this anymore. I'm going to face it. Even if makes me absolutely terrified, I'm not going to go back."

Link smiled firmly. "We can do this. The goddesses know we can. They wouldn't give you a challenge you couldn't overcome."

Tetra maintained her own smile. "People have told me that before. But I don't think I was ready to believe it. People have told me that I could be better, that I could stop the bad I did... now though, I'm ready."

"Good to hear."

"Thank you...," she said, "for enduring me."

"Same," Link chuckled.

Tetra turned and planted a kiss on his cheek.

What?

Link was briefly dazed. When he finally was able to come to his senses, Tetra looked straight ahead, not even the hint of a smile on her face.