THEY SAT on the shore. The seagulls chirped, flying high above them. The waves slowly flowed back and forth. For the first time in ages, Link had his boots off, and he felt the water flow the sandy grains between his toes.

He breathed long, and full. The breath of freedom. 

Link confidently took Tetra's hand, and wrapped his fingers in with hers. She accepted.

Most of all, in that moment of calm, he felt the wind. He smelled that wonderful scent it carried, that brisk wetness. It felt as much of a friend to him now as Tetra. It was something he could command, but it felt more like a joint effort, where he helped encourage it along, even as it invigorated him. Just like him and Tetra.

"It feels good to be home," Link said, finally breaking the silence.

"It's good to see your sister is doing alright," Tetra said. "She's awfully chipper considering what she went through."

"Thankfully, it seems like other than her meager eating, she wasn't hurt much. I hope that she'll be alright."

"If she's anything like you," Tetra smiled, "she will be."

Link looked away from Tetra, and out onto the horizon. Would he really be alright? That feeling that had started in him some nights ago was growing. It felt horrible, and parasitic. He couldn't get it out.

It felt joyful to have final fulfilled his duty to the goddesses. It was comforting to know that this evil was gone forever. And it was freeing to know his family was safe, and to not agonize over whether he was good enough.

But he felt empty. His parents lived a simple life, where their family and village was all they needed. But it was also a harsh life, living on the whims of if crops would grow, if fishing would yield a catch, if the weather would spare them from destructive storms.

Scattered on the islands, Hylia's people were weak. If they'd been a person, they'd be gravely ill.

All of it was forcing Link to acknowledge something he wasn't sure he wanted.

"Link," Tetra said.

He looked into her eyes.

"This... this is probably harsh of me to say," she said, "but I think it needs to be said. You can't stay here."

"Why not?"

"I've seen that fire in your eyes Link," she said, "when you're on the warpath."

He looked at her with confusion.

She shook her head. "Manner of speech. What I mean is - you were so full of vigor, and had an intensity. You know what you needed to do, and you wanted to do it well. Now... now it's nice that both of us have been able to have rest. But I don't see that in you anymore."

"I think I feel plenty invigorated," he said.

"You look relaxed. You look happy. But you don't have that fire within you. I can't bear to watch you just wane into oblivion. I know you feel the desire in you, the desire to do something more."

"We defeated Ganondorf," Link said. "I think that is enough."

Tetra let go of Link's hand, and placed hers on his shoulder.

"Link - sometimes, the goddesses aren't going to spell everything out for you."

"I don't think they do," he defended, "it certainly hasn't been that way throughout all this."

"Not just that," she said with a stern look. "Sometimes, they give you an opportunity, but not a clear command to do something."

"They didn't command -"

"Oh Link, you know what I mean," she groaned. "They won't hold your hand with everything. Sometimes, you've got to take a leap. Isn't that what the virtue of courage is all about? Risking danger for a greater prize?"

"Well what then," Link smiled softly, "does the embodiment of wisdom say?"

"Ugh," Tetra said in disgust, "please don't call me that. But personally.... "

Tetra trailed off. Her expression softened, and she looked out to the distant horizon.

"I... I've felt... lost Link," she said after a few moments. "I've distracted myself with... with being a pirate. With seeking always the next rush of glory, and spending everything we find quickly. But it never gave me purpose."

For the first time, Tetra was the one that took his hand, that tightened her grip firmly into his.

"And then... then you shattered the dirty window I looked at the world through. You forced me to look into the harsh sunlight, and acknowledge my wrongs. But as I became more willing to give all that up, I finally felt real purpose to my life."

She hung her head, and planted one of her feet into the wet sand, pushing it into a retreating wave. 

"And then it ended. As quickly as I had found meaning in my life, we did it. Well, you did it, and I helped. So now I feel like I don't have anything again. I feel lost."

Link nervously got close to her, and taking a quiet breath, put his arm around her. He felt a bit pathetic. He had fought Ganondorf  but physical contact with a girl? Oh no, that was far more terrifying.

"You can find purpose," Link assured. "You... you could live here. I know that my parents are hesitant, and so are the other villagers - "

"I can't live here Link. You're family seems nice enough, and Eli is pretty good with a bow - "

"Please don't call my father by his first name."

"Pff," she rolled her eyes with a smile, "but - I would go insane here. I've lived my whole life on the move. If I spend too long in one place, it makes me anxious."

"So... you're going to leave?"

Link felt a shiver creeping through him.

"I have an opportunity," Tetra said. "A way to do good. I'm going to find the new Hyrule. And I want you to come with me."

Link jolted as if struck by lightning. He felt a sudden rush of emotion, of confusion, of anxiety, and a bunch he couldn't decipher at the moment.

"Tetra, I.... I can't... I can't leave them again. I love my family..."

"Then we'll find it," she said with determination. We'll bring them back with us. We'll call out to all the Hylian people to join us!"

"You really think that we can do it though? It isn't just that we are young. This isn't some grand effort by everyone in the great sea, this would just be us and your crew."

"You know the stars," Tetra said, "some on my crew know maps. We can figure it out. And... you still have it."

She didn't have to say what "it" was.

"Are you really going to let such a powerful ancient relic, something that could be a force for good, sit on a shelf for the rest of your life?"

Link felt the gentle breeze blowing, flapping at his clothes.

"No."

"And I don't want you to just set yourself on a shelf either. I feel stupid and silly giving out compliments, so you better enjoy them, but you are a great man Link - or at least, you're growing into a great man. You've inspired me to want to grow into a great woman."

"I appreciate that Tetra... but I don't want to abandon them. Not like the hero of time did."

"You would not be abandoning them. If we succeed, we could in fact do something amazing. We would be restoring the Hylian people to all that we've lost. Imagine it, welcoming your family to a world as great as the ancient kingdom. You'd be enshrined in the history of Hyrule forever."

"It is a nice thought Tetra," he smiled, "but I don't really care about that."

"It would give you that purpose I know that both of us want. It would be something we'd spend our whole lives doing. We'd have direction, we'd have dreams to accomplish, to make real. A new world to explore and tame."

"But what if we never found it Tetra? What if we get caught in a storm, and suffer a horrible shipwreck?"

Tetra looked like she was about to give a swift rebuttal, but she took a deep breath. She gave a small firm smile.

"We'll just have to trust the goddesses, I suppose."

"And you want me there with you?"

Tetra made a grunt, then cleared her throat. "Only because you are, as an expert on astronomy, quite useful to such a expedition."

"Are you sure its not because its nice to stare up at the stars with someone?"

"Don't test me kid," she said with a scowl that was visibly forced. "I don't like to be pushed too quickly."

Link chuckled and smiled, but held back from pressing the subject. She was right after all. They were a bit young. And plus, he still felt a bit conflicted. He had seen her do many good things, but also many bad things. He wanted a little more time to know she really was different.

There was also the possibility that he was letting himself be easily distracted by youthful interest in a pretty girl. But Link was a man of science, and a noble hero. He was far too professional to allow himself to be so easily preoccupied with such things.

What did need some thinking about was all that Tetra had said. She did seem serious about this. King Daphnes had not denied that a new Hyrule was out there. It seemed perhaps, that the words of the wind had suggested that it was something in Link's own destiny.

And maybe, over the next few years, Tetra might really make something of herself. She might grow into a wonderful woman. And a beautiful one.

Distractions! He shook away the thought.

As he dwelled on it, he felt her dream growing within him. A continent for them to live. Not the war torn Lynna, or the now submerged Hyrule, but a new land they could make their own. 

He imagined it... his family, him and Tetra, and the thousands of Hylians all across the sea, all building a new kingdom.

It was a few moments before Link realized that he had watery eyes.

"Yes Tetra," he smiled, "Yes, I think I want to join you. I want to go on this great adventure."