THE GROUP of three traveled along at a brisk pace along the spine of the island, Komali occasionally flying up above them, trying to get a look at the smoking mountain.

"It's getting worse," he said as he landed on the loose stones.

"Do you think they'll be able to finish the evacuation?" Link asked.

"I saw the first flocks leave the caves the time before that I flew up," Komali said. "It'll be close. But I'm worried about Medli. She can be reckless, in a very formal, kind hearted way."

"Hey," Tetra elbowed Link a bit hard, "you two were made for each other."

"I'm not reckless," Link protested. "I'm bold, but I don't risk my well being for no reason."

Komali shot him a look. "Medli does not do things like this for no reason. I'm going off for another look."

He took off again, and Tetra made her stupid smirk. Link immediately pushed back that thought. That was judgmental of him.

"He's head over heels for her."

"Huh?" Link glanced to Tetra.

"I thought it was obvious," she said. "He's dropping everything as his home is facing total destruction, all to go after her. Awfully fond of her for her being a servant."

Link felt foolish for not noticing it. Now it did seem obvious.

"Hey," Tetra asked, pointing to his hand, "what's that?"

He'd been fidgeting slightly with that blue stone, mostly without noticing.

"Hand it over."

Link straightened up his expression. "No."

Tetra stopped, her face twitching slightly. "What?"

"Give me a good reason why you should have this back."

"It's mine."

"Is it yours," Link asked, "or does it belong to some elderly man with eyesight too poor to see you snatch it from him?"

Tetra's eyes narrowed. "You treat me like I'm no better than Ganondorf. He was a thief. Do you think I'm the same? Do you think I'd steal a kingdom if I could?"

Link stared her down for a moment.

"We need to keep moving," he said, continuing down the barren rocky trail again.

"Answer the question," Tetra said.

He looked on straight ahead, as the repetitious sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet thumped in his ears.

It was a foolish question, of course. No one was as evil as Ganondorf. Even the worst murderer... or yes, pirate, hadn't brought a civilization to his knees, and threatened the Triforce itself.

But Ganondorf, though Link had spoken to the dark creature, was not someone he hated. Ganondorf was almost like a force to Link, extending his subtle power across the land.

Tetra in contrast was constantly demeaning him, got him angry, and blasphemed the goddesses with a tongue well calloused from cursing. From the beginning, she had seemingly been an antithesis to everything his family held sacred.

Then the goddesses had shown him more of her. He had seen a truer, purer person that seemed to be lost. A person wracked with guilt. A person who wanted to change.

And then she continued to berate him, continued to commit wrongdoing, and overall be a villain. She may feel herself inside to be a good person, but her actions said otherwise. Link wished that she didn't have that softer inside, or that he couldn't see it, so he could be free to hate her.

Link felt a painful pulse in him as he thought those words. Ganondorf he was afraid of. But Tetra was who he wanted to hate.

He left the realm of his thoughts, and looked at her. Her expression had become hard, furious, yet stoic.

"You... you frustrate me Tetra."

She did not give him a glance, and continued to look down at the ground.

"Every time I'm around you, it feels like you're deliberately attacking the things I care about, just for your own personal enjoyment."

"Maybe," Tetra said, "you're just too soft, and need to learn to take a joke."

"A.... a joke," Link said, dumbfounded. "You... you think this is all some big game don't you? You thought that leaving me on Outset, and letting my sister die was a joke?"

"My crew and I helped you!" she yelled. "She's probably already home. I came to that horrible place of my own free will. Nayru pressured me, and I chose to help you. I fought that stupid bird, and could've left you to die."

"You know what," Link said, "I see. Nayru pressured you to do it. That's why you're doing all these nice things. You're annoyed that a deity is making you feel bad, and - "

"Gerudo Link, shut it!" she balled her fists, halting in her step for a moment.

She shook, and strained to bring her eyes in contact with his.

"There is a cliff," she said, "right behind you. I could kick you off, right here and now."

Link was silent. There was no voice of Farore in his mind now.

"If all I cared about was getting rid of that voice," she said, "I could throw myself off instead. But I want to listen to that voice, I want to be the girl that they think I am."

The wind howled around them, and the mountain of smoke and ash rumbled far in the distance.

"You've frustrated me too," she said. "You've stabbed me repeatedly, in many painful places. You've awakened a turmoil in me that I never could've imagined."

Her rigid face seemed to weaken.

"But fletch it, you act Link. You were nearly killed numerous times, and you still kept going. And I've resented that. The fact that you can keep trying, while I stay locked in who I am. That I am too afraid to try to gain the respect of others by means other than the sword."

Tears - honest, Nayru-blessed tears, fell from her eyes, in big droplets.

"You have opened wounds in me I've never let anyone else see," she said. "You've... you've caused an incredible pain that I'd never wanted to know... a desire to change."

"Tetra," Link countered, "it is great to hear some remorse out of you. Some real, genuine, remorse, but I have a hard time forgiving you, let alone trusting you. I didn't trust you before, but after we talked in ancient Hyrule, I thought that maybe I had misjudged you. Now I'm not sure. But I'll need some serious signs of change before I consider you my friend again."

Tetra looked down again, this time not in anger, but in real shame. Link wondered, a bit, if she was manipulating him. Perhaps. But what for? Was that stone really that important to her?

He took her hand, and forcefully put the stone into it.

"Here. I'm not going to be another pressure for you to change."

They walked on, and her heard her whisper something, her mumbling barely audible.

"You... you... already are...."

****

The heat in Link's veins cooled to a simmer by the time Komali rejoined them. It seemed he had wanted to remain away from their argument.

Finally, after what had seemed like a long hike, but was really mostly strenuous from the elevation change, they reached one of the lesser peaks on the island. Thankfully, they found Medli there.

She sat on a rock, surrounded by a circle of rocks, all of them cut into smooth circles, with patterns etched on top. Most striking however, were small patches of grass and flowers around the circle.

Medli quietly strummed a golden harp. She did not seem to notice the volcano in the distance to her left, looking ready to burst. Her eyes were closed as she listened to the gentle melody.

"Medli," Komali said with worry, "we need to go, now."

"If I leave," she said, not breaking her well plucked notes, "the mountain will surely erupt. My petition to the goddesses has already extended the time we had greatly."

"Medli," Komali said with more urgency, "the whole island is already in danger, but this peak will almost certainly be in the path of the ash flows. Staying here is incredibly foolish."

"Awfully rude of you to say such a thing," Medli said, her tone still pleasant.

"Medli," Link said, "we need your help."

"Ah, Link. Pleasure to have you here again, though I'm afraid you picked a bad time."

"Komali's father said that you may know something of the ancient sages," Link said.

Now Medli stumbled in her playing, only to start again.

"I... I may know something. What do you need to know?"

"I have the ancient master sword in my possession, and -"

Medli jumped as though she'd been dreaming, and been suddenly woken up.

"What?" her wide eyes stared, "You, you... what?"

Link drew the blade from his back. He held it for her to examine.

"You... you really are special Link, I'll give you that."

She touched the blade delicately, like it was piece of old pottery.

"It... it feels... wrong, somehow."

Huh. Link had never felt that. The sword had always felt good to him.

Medli stood, and attached her small harp to her waist.

"The call of the goddesses has come," she said, "as my mother promised it would. And I will answer it. I am the sage you seek."

Link felt a rush of energy, and relief. "Thank you. Can you fix the sword?"

"Fix it? Do I look like a divine blacksmith?"

"Well, I uh..."

"I will heal it," she corrected. "I will draw the poison out of Ganondorf's bite. But it will require a holy place. And I cannot do it alone."

The mountain exploded.

A massive plume of smoke and ash shot into the sky, and soon, other parts of the volcano's mouth fractures, firing more plumes into the air.

Medli was a sage - she really had been staying back the mountain.

"Farore's winds!" Komali cursed, "the people will never escape in time! We'll never keep everything organized, and - "

"Run idiot!" Tetra ordered.

Komali gave her an angered look, and then took to the air. He snatched up Link a moment later, and Medli soon took Tetra into the air as well.

Fiery ash flakes streaked down around them, one of them hitting Komali's wing, which he quickly shook off.

"Can't you two go any faster!?" Tetra complained.

"The faster air is higher," Komali huffed, "and higher right now means the flaming cloud of doom!"

They whizzed suddenly through some rock gaps, wrenching Link's stomach. Their weaving around in the slots continued for a brief few seconds, and they broke free.

As they flew over the ridge they'd hiked before, Komali stalled for a moment. They could see Rito leaving caves in the distance.

"They're still evacuating!" he cried out in terror. "There's probably hundreds still in there! Even if we outrun the ash flow, they'll -"

Medli dropped Tetra and herself to the ground.

"What in the - !" Tetra yelled.

Komali hesitated. The ashflow had been obstructed in those warrens of rock they'd passed through, and taking the path of least resistance, flowed down the cliff face. They were safe for the moment.

"My playing is the only thing that can give them more time," Medli unhooked her harp from her back quickly, yet calmly. "Get yourself over there now."

Komali dropped Link on the ground and stayed in the air.

"But," Komali started.

"That's an order Prince Komali!"

"No!" Komali screeched slightly like a bird, "I love you Medli! I, I..."

Medli steadied her frame, and began strumming her harp, the quiet tones lost in the sound of the eruption.

"Medli," Komali said tearfully, "I'm not going to return here days from now to find you buried in ash! I can't leave this island without knowing that you're safe!"

"Get flying!" Tetra told him, throwing something to him.

"What's this?" Komali said, holding it in his feathered hand as he struggled to fly and look at it.

"Call Medli's name in it when you're to safety," Tetra said quickly over Medli's playing. "And she'll talk to you."

"What about you two?" Komali asked.

"We can run down the mountain ourselves," Link told him, even though he was very doubtful if he could do that.

Komali glanced around for a moment indecisively, and then grunted, flying off as fast as he could.

"Isn't your playing supposed to be doing something?" Tetra asked Medli.

Medli breathed quickly, yet still, her hands carefully strummed. "It is powerful. It... is something of dark powers, able to resist the divine powers I possess."

Divine power.

Link reached into his satchel, and pulled out the wind waker. Tetra looked upon him incredulously as he lifted it firmly above him. He had never explained to her what this was. It had been a private, personal thing to him. More than the bravery Farore gave him, more than the strength he felt in his sword...

Having a voice that could speak to the life giving winds felt most sacred to him. But as he held the wind waker there, he felt anything but life in them. The winds fled from this dramatic, awesome power. Link began directing the winds back in the direction of the eruption, but he felt heavy resistance.

The winds had a will of their own. This definitely was an evil power forcing the eruption into greater violence. It was not controlled like the power he could sense in him or Medli. It was power, funneled straight into the pressures building in the earth, with little direction.

Link felt the fear, the actual, tangible fear of the wind. It's normal course, determined by Nayru, that carried Farore's lifegiving seeds and water, was driven back by the corrupted force of Din. And he could feel that force. That tainted power, divine like the others, but shackled to wicked purposes.

The courage that had burned in Link, he now infused into the wind, calling it to his aid.

All of this, his sensing of the powers at hand, and his struggle with the wind, lasted scarcely a few seconds. And then, the wind listened.

Medli stumbled in her strumming for the first time as the wind flowed like thick rapids around them. After the initial wave though, Link felt the wind flow calmly, and smoothly. It was strange - he could see it rushing forcefully a few feet away from him, but around the three of the them, the wind seemed to halt, and flow gently, forming a calm island in the storm Link had summoned.

Link watched in defiant pride as the winds struck the billowing clouds of ash, casting them aside in a jaw dropping display of nature's fury. The volcano almost appeared to grapple with the wind, as the gusts tried to smother the eruption. The once deafening roar of the eruption had quieted a substantial amount, and only now Link realized how loud it had been.

The eruption was still going however. He heard a sudden crash, and it seemed that the other side of the mountain had collapsed. Link could see bright lava cascade down to the ocean below, mixing with ash.

The wind waker still in hand, Link raised it again, and felt the wind notice him. He felt their struggle against the chaos. The dark power was still fighting. It had less strength now, but still would overwhelm the wind in not too long.

"Let's go," Link said, putting the wind waker away, "the wind is holding it back, but we won't have forever. It should be long enough -"

Link had started walking, but now turned around. He saw, to his surprise, Medli kneeling before him.

"Master of air," she said, "wind waker, I will be your sage."

Tetra stared at him with a bit of shock as well, but then grabbed Medli and pulled her up.

In their careful but fast running on the loose rock, Link kept glancing back at the fiery mountain, fighting with all its might to defeat the forces of good. That's what Link was up against. Though Ganondorf appeared to be only a man, and had apparently weakened greatly, he still wielded the most destructive force every known to the races of the world.

Only now did Link truly understand the dire situation he was in. He needed to wield the triforce of courage. He needed a way to check the corrupted power.

For now though, Link, Tetra, and Medli were alright, and so was the inhabited part of the island. Fields below them, sadly had been flooded with ash. After the wind had finally dissipated before the pressure of the volcano, the eruption's strength had been similarly spent.

As the three of them were sitting on boulders for a moment, catching their breath, Medli shook in surprise.

Medli.

It was Komali's voice.

"I... I am here," she said.

You're alive! And the island... it is not destroyed... the wind... the wind saved us.

Medli glanced to Link with a smile. She gazed on him with pure gratitude in her eyes.

"It was Link," she said. "It was Farore's champion."

Link could only slightly smile in response. For once, Link was too tired to doubt himself.