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“It’s just a little further up ahead!”
“Wild, you said that an hour ago,” Warriors protested. “I’m starting to think you’re just leading us in circles.”
The teen grinned down at him from a ledge, his blond hair snapping behind him in the wind. The champion always looked the most at ease far from civilization, but sometimes he could pass for a mischievous forest spirit with the crooked grin and the way his feet and hands could find purchase on even the steepest hills. Warriors had long ago stopped worrying – okay, worrying too much – that the teen was going to fall. The kid must be half mountain goat.
Twilight, on the other hand, was shooting Wild worried looks from his place in the group. He hadn’t said anything against it when Wild scuttled off, unwilling to take away something the younger kid clearly found joy in. He just wasn’t as good at hiding his unease as Warriors, and Four had valiantly thrown himself into the task of keeping Twilight distracted. Right now the smithy had claimed half his attention by telling some story about the forge in Four’s home.
“Where are we even going?” Hyrule asked. He was eyeing the cliff like he desperately wanted to take a shot at climbing himself, which had Warriors feeling much more alarmed. The traveler was a great adventurer and liked running off with Wild whenever they got the chance, but he wasn’t much of a climber. Luckily, Legend was keeping a keen eye on his brother’s back. Warriors had no doubt the veteran would intervene before anything happened.
“You’ll see!” Wild yelled mysteriously back and turned back to face the cliff. In the blink of an eye, he had scaled another twenty feet and was out of yelling distance.
“Well, that’s not ominous at all,” Legend remarked dryly.
“Don’t be so grumpy, Vet,” Wind complained. “Come on!”
He grabbed Legend and Hyrule around the wrists and dragged them with him. Warriors shared an exasperated look with Time. Some of the younger heroes had so much energy. They’d been forced to deal with one of Wild’s lynels just earlier today, and it was getting late. And yet Wind and Wild’s excessive energy still had them running circles around the group.
“You don’t get to complain,” Warriors told him. “You were just as bad when you were a kid.”
Time just chuckled.
Wild suddenly appeared from behind a boulder and nearly scared poor Sky to death.
“Wild! What’s going-”
“We’re here!” Wild exclaimed cheerily. He sprang down in front of them and spread out his arms.
“Welcome to-” he walked backwards under an arch of stone and gestured to the place behind him, “Mount Satori!”
The Chain scuttled closer to see what he was pointing to. When Warriors caught sight of it, his jaw dropped.
It was a small plateau at the heart of the mountain. A shallow lake filled most of it, the still water a perfect mirror of the starry sky. A tree with pink blossoms stood on the far bank, the moonlight filtering through the leaves like silvery magic. Fairies fluttered around the flowers, and small, blue creatures with golden antennae cuddled beneath the tree canopy. Blupees.
“I’m sorry, when did we step into paradise?” Legend asked quietly, awe shining through his voice. “What is this place?”
A nearby blupee cracked open an eye, and for a moment Warriors thought they might have ruined the peaceful scene. But the rabbit-like creature didn’t turn to run, instead just staring warily at them from its cuddle pile.
“It’s home to the Lord of the Mountain,” Wild said. His eyes had always been eerily blue, but right now more so than ever. They shone like the blupees’ fur, bioluminescent in the dark. He looked back at them with a gentle smile.
“Wait here for a moment.”
Wild took a few steps forward while the rest of the Chain held their breath. He reached the shore of the lake and stepped into it. Everyone was watching him now, even the blupees.
“Lord of the Mountain,” Wild said. “We come to your home in peace. Please grant us sanctuary for the night.”
Suddenly, the lake lit up with blue light. Wild stood as a silhouette against it, in Warriors’ eyes more akin to a spirit than ever. Then the light pooled together in the middle of the lake, slowly rising and taking the form of a four-legged creature.
It had shining, blue fur and golden antennae that looked like a wreath of laurel leaves. Its face was flat with a white mane and four burning eyes. Perhaps strangest of all, its hooves didn’t touch the ground. Instead, it stood on the surface of the water.
The spirit – because even Warriors, who didn’t have a lot of experience with such things, could recognize this creature as a spirit – bowed its head towards Wild. The young boy seemed to have anticipated this and opened his cupped hands to reveal a wildberry within them. He offered it to the spirit, which nimbly plucked it from his fingers and swallowed it. It looked at the Chain, and Warriors could almost feel a physical weight from its intense stare.
“These are my brothers,” Wild explained. “They mean your family no harm.”
The spirit turned back to Wild and blinked slowly.
“Thank you,” Wild said and bowed to it. The spirit lightly trotted away – making no sound as it walked – and laid down to rest under the tree. A gaggle of blupees immediately settled down in a pile next to it. One of them climbed up its neck and laid down on top of its head between the antennae.
Wild walked back to the rest of the group, grin wide on his face.
“We can stay here tonight,” he said. “And we won’t have to set a watch. The Lord of the Mountain will look out for us.”
“This is a sacred place,” Sky stated the obvious, eyes still locked on the Lord of the Mountain. “Are you sure we won’t disturb it?”
“Maybe no yelling, pranks, or wrestling tonight,” Wild answered. “But other than that, we’re welcome to stay.”
Warriors glanced at Time. The Old Man had already attracted the attention of two fairies, and they were currently circling his head. He had that odd, wistful look on his face, which meant he was thinking about Kokiri Forest. Time had healed a lot since Warriors first met him during the War of Eras, but the older man still longed to return home sometimes.
“Well, someone’s popular,” Legend remarked. Warriors turned to see Hyrule being mobbed by fairies, several of which were already using his hair as a nest. Hyrule blushed.
“They can sense that I’m part fairy, I think.”
A few of the less magically attuned Links stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of how to approach the situation. Wild smiled gently.
“Come on! Sit down and relax. They’ll come to you if they want to.”
They followed his advice. Warriors sat cross-legged and watched as his brothers slowly settled down. It was a nice evening. The mountainsides shielded them from the wind, and a summerly warmth coated the place.
A blupee waddled over to Legend and sniffed at his clothes. Apparently pleased with what it found, it wiggled onto his lap and laid down. Legend cautiously lowered a hand to scratch it behind the ears, and it purred. Warriors didn’t even know a blupee could purr.
Another blupee came to join it.
“Do you want to borrow the crystal?” Twilight asked and held a hand to his neck. Legend frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I think your new friends would enjoy getting some cuddle time,” he smiled and nodded towards the piles of cuddling blupees. “And I’m not using it right now anyway.”
Legend and Twilight kept eye contact for a solid moment before the veteran relented and held out his hand. He transformed when the crystal touched his fingers, leaving behind only a small, pink bunny in a vest. Just as Twilight had predicted, the blupees stockpiled on top of him the moment he changed forms. Soon, Warriors could only see a single pink ear through the pile of purring blupees.
Click.
“That better not be Wild or Wind taking pictures,” Legend grumbled from somewhere beneath the blue fur. Wind ignored him and took another picture.
Warriors laid down on the grass and relaxed. Ever since the war, he’d hadn’t felt safe, but a night like this one was about as close as it got. The idea of anything bad happening at a place like this felt almost absurd.
He didn’t notice the blupee until it was right by his face.
“Oh, hello there,” he whispered. “Did you come to say hi?”
It hopped closer and nuzzled against his neck. Normally, something like that would have been enough to induce a panic attack, but Warriors felt strangely calm, like the water of the lake had made itself home in his mind, too. The blupee’s fur felt so different from human skin, and that made it much easier to bear.
The blupee crawled onto his chest. It looked down on him from up there, big orange eyes staring into his blue ones.
Click.
Warriors sighed happily and ignored the clicking of Wind’s Picto Box. It had been a long day, and he was finally allowed to rest. He was safe and warm, a blupee with soft fluffy fur purring on his chest.
A night like this had to be cherished. Warriors closed his eyes and let himself enjoy it.