Work Text:
One second Wind was stepping through a portal, and the next he was spluttering to the surface of what had to be an ocean, coughing and hacking the salty burning brine from his airway.
Something was splashing around off to his right, so he paddled over to investigate. It was Hyrule, flailing much more dramatically than Wind had. The traveler swiped at his hair, attempting to dislodge the thick wad of wet bangs that threatened to suffocate him, only to dip underwater.
Wind grabbed him under the armpit and hoisted him back to the surface.
“Agh!” Hyrule gurgled.
“Same,” Wind agreed. Salt water burned when it got in the wrong places.
A wave buoyed them up, and Wind took the chance to look around, not liking the distinct lack of land he was seeing. His legs were already getting tired.
“Can you float on your back?” Wind asked, carefully keeping the strain out of his voice. He could probably use his tunic to make a floatation device and buy them some time.
“Wha—?” Hyrule made another swipe at his bangs, plastering his hair into something reminiscent of Wild’s moblins. “Raft,” he choked, fumbling around somewhere under the water.
And then, somehow, the traveler produced an entire raft.
Wind blinked and almost forgot to keep swimming, then decided not to think about it too hard, dedicating his remaining energy to boarding the raft. Hyrule dragged himself up and flopped face-down across the logs. Wind laughed, taking a deep breath of the tangy sea air he’d been missing. He pulled out Aryll's spyglass, sweeping it across the horizon.
No portals. No drowning Links. And, perhaps more worrisome, no land. Just a lot of water and a westering sun.
Wind didn’t like that much. Rafts didn’t tend to last long on the open ocean.
“See anything?” Hyrule asked, sitting up and squinting out at the horizon.
Wind lowered the spyglass. “Not yet.” He pulled out his pirate's charm and tapped on it, but the stone remained unresponsive. His mouth twisted into a squiggly frown. “This isn’t the Great Sea, and Wild isn’t answering his slate.”
They sat staring at the charm. The boards creaked as the little craft crested each swell, then slapped back down into the gap before the next wave. Wind shook his head and strung the charm around his neck.
“What do we do?” Hyrule asked, eyes wide as he looked out across the endless sea. “You’re a sailor, right?”
Wind hummed, removing his left boot and pouring it out into the ocean.
“Well… hmm.” He frowned. “It’s not the Great Sea, so I don’t really know what seamarks to look for. We can watch for birds?”
Hyrule blinked. “Birds?”
“Yeah,” Wind replied. “It’s sunset, so they’d be returning to their nests. We could follow them to land.”
“Oh,” Hyrule said, a little shaky, “yeah, good idea!” He looked out at the sky.
“How do you usually navigate?” Wind asked, curious.
“Oh,” Hyrule said, glancing back to him with a sheepish grin. “Well, I could always see where I wanted to go, so I, uh, never really needed to figure out much beyond steering.”
Wind smirked. “Well lucky you, I’m going to show you all the ropes. Starting with the ropes.” He picked at an— interesting— knot for a few moments, then tied a better one. “This is a bowline knot.”
He pulled out a length of rope and handed it to Hyrule, demonstrating the knot again.
“Why do you need a special knot?” Hyrule asked.
“Different knots do different things,” Wind explained. “This one won’t slip around after you tie it, but it’s still easy to untie.”
Hyrule nodded, watching again before attempting to copy the motions. Wind pointedly ignored the way the traveler's fingers twitched as he fumbled with the rope, finally tugging the finished knot into place. “This does seem better than a regular knot I guess.”
“It is. Keep doing it until you have it memorized.”
Wind checked for birds, then examined the sail. The raft was a rudimentary setup with a rudder, mast, and two ropes to hold everything at the desired angle. It would do.
The sun set and the sky darkened quickly. They hadn’t seen a single bird, and Hyrule twisted the rope in his hands, intermittently remembering to tie a knot. Wind pulled a piece of all purpose bait out of his bag, offering some to Hyrule.
Hyrule took a nibble. “Is this ham?”
Wind nodded, popping a piece of the salty meat into his mouth. “Yeah, I use the little pieces as fish bait, but it’s edible.”
“Same,” Hyrule replied. “I use my food as bait too.”
“For fish?”
“Monsters.” Hyrule clarified. “They go for the food and I sneak by while they’re busy fighting over it.”
Wind laughed. “Monsters are dumb.”
Hyrule nodded, flinching as the raft slapped down particularly hard on a wave, spraying them both.
“I can’t swim.” Hyrule admitted, knuckles white as he clutched the rope.
Yeah, Wind had known for about an hour now. “Plenty of sailors can’t, you know? The whole point of boats is to not be in the water, and swimming doesn’t help much when there’s no land in sight.”
Hyrule stared at him, a distant look in his wide eyes. Yeah, maybe that hadn’t been the right thing to say. Wind winced and backtracked.
“Don’t worry,” he jabbed a thumb at himself, “I can swim well enough for the both of us if anything happens!”
It was a lie. Wind was terrible at swimming for extended periods, but the traveler didn’t need to know that.
The sail above them was a dark blob against the sky, a curtain of stars beginning to unfurl behind it as the light faded to nothing more than a pale line on the distant horizon.
“What now?” Hyrule asked as they bobbed over another wave. “Do you know how to do star navigation stuff?”
“Yes. No.” Wind flopped into his back. “On the great sea I could, but this isn’t the great sea, so I wouldn’t know how to find Hyrule—“ he trailed off, sitting up slowly. “Wait.”
“What?” Hyrule leaned forward, hopeful.
Wind looked up at the sky, searching for the three brightest stars, aaaand— there it was. The Triforce constellation. The surrounding stars were still mostly aligned where they would be in his own era. He turned slowly, catching sight of the seven sages and following them down to the polar star.
“There,” Wind pointed excitedly above the horizon, holding his arm out, hand up with his thumb at a right angle to his palm. “Where I come from, Hyrule is submerged beneath the great sea. So, technically, I do know where it is, or at least where it should be, assuming the whole kingdom didn’t get up and move.” He eyeballed the distance, the polar star only half a finger from the tip of his hand. “We need to sail South until that star reaches the tip of my finger, that’ll at least put us in the right latitude!”
Hyrule wobbled to his feet, unfurling the sail and tying it into place using a carefully executed bowline knot, to Wind’s delight. Wind turned the rudder, holding it steady as the raft rotated, then locked it into place.
“Watch this,” he smirked, pulling out the Windwaker. A flick up, left, and right had the wind surging forward. Hyrule laughed in surprise as the sail caught on the wind.
They both sat back down, Wind demonstrating how to check the horizon against his hand to correct their alignment. It felt good to have a direction. Hyrule had perked up at least, the shadow of his outline seeming less stiff as he looked up at the sky.
Wind tilted his head back and closed his eyes, enjoying the fresh breeze as it brushed through his bangs and wicked away at the lingering dampness. There was something about the movement of it all, the wild freedom of the air as it tumbled and surged around him, that made him feel alive. The wind was the great life breath of the world, cruel and gentle in turns, carrying him forward towards a future just out of sight.
“Hey Wind?” Hyrule’s voice broke into his thoughts.
“Yeah?” Wind replied.
“I think something’s following us.”
Wind sat up, listening past the snap of the sail and the hiss of the water. He peered out into the dark, catching a glimpse of a long slender fin.
“Oh, good eye. That’s a gyorg.”
“A what?” Hyrule shifted closer to the mast.
“It’s a big monster fish with an armored head and lots of teeth. They like to ram boats—” wait, maybe that part wasn’t the best thing to tell the traveler. Wind backtracked. “Uh, just throw a boomerang or a few bombs or something and it’ll go away.” Wind pulled out his boomerang and demonstrated, whacking the creature on the head.
“Huh,” Hyrule said, retrieving his own boomerang and giving it a shot. The gyorg jerked back, disappearing into the black water.
Wind pulled out a long length of rope and tied it to the mast, looping one end around his waist and handing the other end to Hyrule.
“Just in case.” He winked the way Tetra always did. “There’s usually more than one.”
Wind peered out into the dark. The pitch blackness of the sea contrasted the pale swathe of stars above, and he would have appreciated the view, but something splashed. Wind whipped his boomerang out at the sound. It whooshed and spun out into the dark, grazing a fin before returning to his hand. Wind cursed, then cocked his head, listening. There was another splash off to starboard, then a rushing sound from port.
“Incoming!” Wind shouted just before it impacted the raft, throwing him head over heels into the cold water.
A flurry of bubbles escaped his mouth as the rope went taught, dragging him just below the surface. Water rushed past his face in a disorienting whirlwind of sound and movement. He grabbed the rope, towing himself back towards the raft.
He gasped as his head finally breached, an arc of flame roaring overhead and gilding the edges of the waves in orange and gold.
“Wind!” Hyrule shouted as he launched another beam of flame into the dark, followed closely by a boomerang. “Look out!”
Wind heard the rush of water and turned just in time to see a gyorg about to take a bite out of his face. He loosened his grip on the rope, sliding back at the last second. The gyorg missed him, catching his lifeline instead and snapping the rope.
His stomach dropped as he bobbed, dead in the water. Where was the gyorg? Could Hyrule stop the raft? He was in the middle of the ocean and it was dark and he couldn’t see. A wave slapped his face, and he splashed and spluttered, salt on his tongue. Wait, splashing was bad, that attracted gyorg, he—
Something grabbed the back of his tunic, hoisting him from the water. He gasped in surprise as he was flung over a bony shoulder, bouncing up and down as his rescuer ran.
Wait.
Wind looked down. It was Hyrule, running on top of the water, flaming sword in hand.
“Hyrule?!” Wind exclaimed.
“Yeah!” Hyrule shouted back. Wind laughed and pulled out his boomerang, nailing a gyorg on the head in passing.
Hyrule dropped him when they made it back to the raft, falling to his knees.
“How many hits do gyorg usually take?” Hyrule gasped.
“Two,” Wind replied.
They shared a look. These were definitely taking more than two hits. Black blooded, probably. This called for the big guns.
“Have any arrows?”
Hyrule pulled three from his pouch and handed them over. “I can make more.”
Wind smirked. Three would be plenty. He drew the first arrow back, sharp light blooming from his hand and suffusing the air around him. A gyorg surged forward and the bowstring twanged loudly. The light arrow pierced entirely through the beast before continuing on its trajectory, lighting up the sea in glowing blues and greens and golds before fading into the obscure depths.
He drew the second arrow, pausing as a second gyorg charged towards the boat.
“…Wind?” Hyrule said, noticing his hesitation.
Wind held his breath.
“Wind?!” Hyrule called again, clutching the mast.
There.
“WIND!” Hyrule shouted at the same moment the arrow released, piercing the gyorg mid-leap. Like before, the arrow went straight through the monster before continuing on its path, piercing the final gyorg behind it before disappearing into the sea.
Hyrule collapsed to the deck, and Wind, a bit shaky himself, plopped halfway on top of the soggy traveler.
“Since when can you walk on water?!” Wind slapped his shoulder.
“Second adventure,” Hyrule shoved him off. “You can just MAKE light arrows?!”
“Yup,” Wind ginned and scooted over, allowing Hyrule to sit up. “Fire and ice, too.”
Hyrule giggled unexpectedly, causing Wind to giggle, which spurred both of them into a laughing fit that almost had Wind sick over the side of the raft with Hyrule crying behind him.
Once they’d calmed they huddled against the chill sea spray and swapped stories about friendly moblins and shattered triforces, occasionally adjusting their course until, at long last, the sun dusted pale gold across the horizon.
Wind was cold and stiff and exhausted, but in good spirits. By his last estimate they were nearly in the correct range, the polar star just shy of brushing his fingertip as the stars faded into morning blue. They rocked peacefully as they watched the sky for signs.
“Look!” Wind wobbled up, pointing as he caught sight of several sea birds flying out for the day.
Hyrule stumbled up with him, and Wind exchanged a grin as they angled the raft toward the flock's origin.
Wind kept their course steady for another hour, the sun gently warming the top of his head and shoulders. A tangle of plants bobbed by in the waves, and a flock of gulls approached from their heading, a few swooping down to follow the raft. They glided along on the crisp morning air, shrieking as they dipped and weaved on the playful breeze.
“They’re laughing at you,” Wind deadpanned.
Hyrule punched his arm, smirk fading into a frown as he looked ahead.
“Is that bad?” Hyrule pointed at some rising clouds.
“Nope!” Wind cheered, something warm filling his chest at the hopeful look he received in turn, “Clouds like to pile on top of mountains!”
They stood with bated breath, breaking out into loud whoops as the first peak rose over the horizon.
A loud static noise made them jump, and Wind scrambled to pull his pirate charm out. Hyrule huddled close.
“Wild!” Wind called, tapping at the stone. The stone flashed, and more static poured through.
“Wind?” A voice finally broke through the white noise, “Can you hear me?”
“We can hear you!” Wind shared an excited glance with Hyrule.
“Oh good, Hyrule’s with you,” Wild’s voice went distant, then returned loud and clear, if slightly out of breath. “Where are you? I had to climb a mountain to get a signal!”
Wind shared another look with Hyrule. “We got dumped in the middle of the ocean. Hyrule has a raft though so it’s cool.”
“…A raft?” Wild questioned.
“A raft.” Wind confirmed.
“Ok… meet you at the beach?”
“Sea you there!”
Wind cut the connection and stowed the charm with a hum, sparing a wistful glance back at the open sea. One of these days he’d show everyone a real boat. Until then, he’d pray for fair winds and following seas.