Chapter Text
“Hey! I’m not going to hurt you! Stop running away!”
The shouts from the Mer chasing Hyrule did nothing to persuade him to slow down. The other Mer hurting Hyrule was the least of his worries. Of course he wouldn't hurt Hyrule. He’d seen Hyrule use magic. Everyone knew that there was more to gain in keeping a magic user alive than killing one.
Hyrule cursed himself. He’d gotten a few light scrapes on one of his tentacles on a sharp point of rock that stuck out of the coral reefs he was swimming through. /thinking he was alone, he hadn’t hesitated to use a small amount of his magic to heal them over enough that they stopped oozing blood. Blood in the water was never a good thing when you were trying to be sneaky in another pod’s territory.
But of course, the goddesses were never kind to him. The moment he’d been done healing himself, another mer came out of the rocks, eyes wide as he stared at Hyrule’s hands. And that led to the situation they were in now: Hyrule swam as hard as he could through the reef to escape, with the other Mer easily keeping pace with him.
If he could just lose the other Mer in the maze of coral, he might be able to get away. Before he realized the situation and darted away from the other Mer, Hyrule had seen that they were a sea slug. Sea slug Mer were notoriously slow, even if this one seemed faster than they should be. As long as Hyrule got a large enough lead, he should be able to find a good hiding spot or outpace the other mer.
A high rock formation loomed to Hyrule’s left, which had been keeping him from turning left into a more open ocean, but as Hyrule moved along as quickly as he could, he spotted a narrow crack in the rock. The faint coolness of a fresh current coming from the crack told him that it went all the way through the rocks. The opening of the crack would be too small for most Mer to slip through, but as an octopus Hyrule was more flexible than others.
He wasted no time in shoving himself into the crevice, body nearly weak with relief from finding a way to get away. Almost immediately that relief turned to horror. No more than a few feet into the opening, he found his way barred by more rock. The crack didn’t lead all the way through. There was a small gap where he could see the open ocean on the other side, but it was a dead end for anything bigger than a small eel.
The crevice that Hyrule could fit into wasn’t deep and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t fit more than an arm’s length into the crack. The other Mer could reach in and pull Hyrule out if he wanted, and Hyrule wouldn't be able to stop him.
Hyrule squeezed his eyes shut in despair, gills fluttering as he breathed in quickly to try and calm his pounding heart. A trill of panic escaped him, and he hoped the other Mer hadn’t heard that. He didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
Wind, Wild… I’m so sorry. Hyrule thought miserably. He should have been more careful and more aware of his surroundings, but ‘should have’ didn’t fix anything. All that mattered was that Hyrule had made a horrible mistake, and now he was going to pay for it.
It didn’t take long for the other Mer to appear at the opening, peering in with eyes that were a starling shade of violet. “Come out.” The other Mer was out of breath, but still able to demand Hyrule leave the limited safety of the crevice.
Hyrule didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay here, but the other Mer could very easily reach in and grab him if he wanted to. He probably wouldn’t be gentle about it either. He wasn’t much bigger than Hyrule was, but his lean form was filled out with muscles, and a healthy layer of fat offered him protection. It was obvious that his pod kept him well-fed and healthy. If Hyrule wasn’t so overcome with terror, he would have felt a flash of envy.
His pod didn’t do nearly so well for themselves. They were a pathetically small pod, too small to really support themselves. There was only Hyrule himself, Wild, and little Wind. Only two juveniles and a pup. They couldn’t hold down a permanent territory, so they were forced to eke out a living on the edges of other pods’ territories, constantly on the move so as not to overstay the generosity of those whose prey they stole.
Even Wind, who was given more food than either Hyrule or Wild, was still concerningly skinny for a Mer his age. He should be plump with baby fat, and if he was in this stranger’s pod, Hyrule was sure he would be.
(When food was particularly scarce to come by and when they were sure Wind was asleep, Hyrule and Wild argued about leaving Wind on the edges of another pod's territory. A kind pod, who might adopt him and feed him better than they could. They’d never tried, but it had come close, sometimes.)
The other Mer was still staring at him from the opening of the crevice. Slowly, knowing he had no other option, Hyrule let out a small warble of submission to tell the other Mer he would capitulate. The Mer blinked at him, backing away from the entrance, leaving enough room for Hyrule to exit.
He thought about darting away again but he knew this close, the Mer would catch him easily. He emerged slowly, hands held up to show he wasn’t armed.
The two Mer observed each other in silence. They hadn’t had the chance to get a good look at each other during the chase.
The stranger was a sea slug Mer, as Hyrule had noticed. His tail was a baby pink, with a few sparse lines of a darker maroon color. The bright pink showed he was no longer a pup- as no pup would last long if they were born such a bright and obvious color- and the red streaks coming in showed just how close he was to hitting his last growth spurt and becoming an adult. He was older than Hyrule was, in any case.
His hair was a dark golden blonde, with a pink stripe along one side. Hyrule distantly wondered if the stripe was natural, or colored with dye. Wild and Wind would love that, he thought despairing. Wind would have a blast dying his hair outrageous colors, and Wild, who was always a bit envious of the pods who had enough resources to spare on fancy clothing and decorations, would enjoy it as well.
Speaking of decoration…The Mer wore a plethora of sparkly rings and a pretty necklace studded with bits of sea glass that had been polished to a shine by the waves. He even wore a golden tail ring. Perhaps the Mer was courting someone who had an expensive taste in gifts. He wore little clothing, in the typical fashion of the warmer shallow waters they were in. His only covering was a red shawl wrapped around his shoulders. It was made of gauzy silk-like material with small golden beads woven into the edges, and looked expensive.
A large net bag was tied around his waist, filled with several fat fish. The scent of their blood in the water would have made him drool at any other time, but the wickedly sharp blade of a fishing spear strapped to the Mer’s back did a very good job distracting him. Hyrule tore his eyes away and tried not to imagine that blade piercing his own flesh.
Hyrule reevaluated his previous thoughts about the Mer’s pod. Not only were they well-off, they were downright rich. (With the territory they possessed, he wasn’t really surprised. There was more food here than anyone could eat. They could easily trade extra food or even temporary hunting rights with neighboring pods. And that wasn’t counting other goods they might produce.)
As for the other Mer, he took the moment to glance Hyrule up and down. Hyrule tried not to let his tentacles squirm under the scrutinizing gaze. He knew he wasn’t half as impressive as this Mer was. He’d grown into his juvenile colors- going from a dull olive green brighter, leafy color- but he hadn’t started to get his adult markings yet.
He wore no clothes or decorations except a roughly woven band of seagrass around his waist with a knife tied to it. His Pod had no time to learn the skills required to make clothing, and they couldn’t afford to buy things unless it was absolutely necessary. His knife, the only personal object he had, had been stolen from a pPod whose territory Hyrule had passed through when he was still a loner.
(He did not dare try and use the knife on the Mer in front of him. Hyrule wasn’t going to escalate it to violence if the other Mer hadn’t. He knew wouldn’t win.)
The final difference between him and the other Mer was the scars. They both had them- it was unusual for a Mer to grow up without accumulating a few- but Hyrule had more by far. The few he could see peppering the skin of the other Mer were old and had healed over nicely. Nothing at all like the scars that littered Hyrule’s body, which showed the poor healing they had undergone.
(There was no time to rest and let the skin heal when one of them was injured, and there was only so much Hyrule’s healing could do. His pPod had to move ever onward.)
After a moment, the other Mer stopped his inspection. He sighed. “I guess I gave you a bit of a scare, chasing you like that. My bad. I didn’t want to lose track of you. My name is Legend.” It was a good sign Legend had apologized to him. Maybe this pod would be kind?
After a pause, when it became clear Legend was waiting for a response, Hyrule offered his own name. “Hyrule,” was all he said, so quietly the other could have missed it.
Legend nodded in acknowledgment. “That was impressive magic. Healing is a rare skill, you know?” Hyrule did know. He knew very well.
The other Mer continued, not noticing or caring about Hyrule’s anxiety. “I can’t do magic myself, but I have a collection of magical items back at my pod’s grotto.”
Oh, great. A collector of magical items, was he? Hyrule knows better than to hope that the Mer doesn’t see him as a magical item to collect.
“Do you want to come back to see?” And there it was. The question that wasn’t really a question.
Hyrule bit his lip, restraining himself from giving a sad trill. With one last thought of Wild and Wind, he closed his eyes and nodded his assent, sealing his fate.
Wild remained ever thankful that his scales had turned a dark blue as he had left pup-hood. It was a pretty color, the same shade as the deep ocean and dark trenches. More importantly, it wasn't overly flashy like the scales of tropical Mer could be.
The color made it vastly easier to be stealthy. He was an ambush predator, lying in wait along the sea bed for unsuspecting prey to pass over him. His dark color helped him blend into the rocks and coral. He couldn’t imagine how much harder it would be to hunt if he were, say, a bright red.
Wild knew hunting down in the depths would be even easier for him, where he could hide away completely in the darkness. He couldn't say he minded, though. He might not catch something every time he tried hunting up here, but there was so much more prey in the shallows. He had more chances to hunt in a day than he would in a week down in the depths.
That was what had drawn him up to the shallower waters in the first place. At first, he’d been following the prey. A lone Mer, freshly out of pup-hood, seeking the easier prey the shallows offered. And even if he hadn’t managed to catch anything, there were always mussels or clams to eat as long as he could pry the shells open.
The abundance of food might have been why he had come to the shallows, but it wasn’t why he stayed.
That honor went to the small figure Wild was currently holding in his arms.
Wild sighed, tightening the grip he had on the pup. Wind was young, and had been even younger when Wild had found him. Too young to be all alone. His birth pod had been driven out of their territory by a larger pod, and he’d been left behind in the chaos. Thankfully, the encroaching pod had been kind enough to leave Wind on the edge of the territory, in case Wind’s old pod came back for him.
They hadn’t.
Wind had been left to wander by himself when he wasn’t even seven years old. He was lucky Wild had been the first thing that found him.
Before he had met Wind, Wild had never counted himself as very parental. His species was solitary, only ever coming together to trade and breed. Wild had never thought he would ever sire a pup, much less raise one. Pups of his species stayed with their mothers until they gained their juvenile coloring, and then they left to strike out on their own.
Other species might think it was cruel, but it was simply the way it was. Wild did not resent his mother for it. He even had many fond memories of her from his time as a pup. When he’d grown into a strong young juvenile, she had paid less and less attention to him until his own instinct had driven him to leave her territory.
He had not known his sire, and did not ever think of him. Wild knew that even if he did ever sire a pup, he likely wouldn’t know that they even existed.
But here he was. Even his species knew that pups could not be left alone. Once they were juveniles they could look after themselves, but pups were mostly helpless. They couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t hunt. They weren’t even strong enough to break through the shells of clams and mussels.
So when he’d seen Wind, Wild had known he couldn’t leave him alone. He’d taken the little pup under his fins, lack of parental skills be damned.
It had been hard at first. The addition of Hyrule to their group- which had made them a proper pod rather than a pair of loners- had only made things a little bit easier. Wild thanked his lucky seastars that the two of them had wandered into the meager territory that Hyrule had been camping out in. The octopus Mer had been kind enough to let them stay, even though the space hadn’t been enough to sustain three Mer. When Wild and Wind had left, Hyrule had left with them.
Neither Hyrule nor Wild were meant to be part of a pod. Wild’s species was solitary, and Hyrule’s usually preferred to be by themselves or in bonded pairs. Neither of them was built to be social. Yet neither of them could bear to leave a pup by himself.
Wild frowned at the thought of Hyrule. The Mer had left three days ago to hunt. He hadn’t returned, and Wild and Wind were growing hungry.
Wild would have to leave soon too.
Carefully, Wild released Wind from his grasp.
He slipped out of the cave as stealthy as he could. Mostly because he didn’t want to wake Wind, but also because they were in another pod’s territory. He didn’t want to be caught. Anyone who could hold onto territory like this must be fearsome fighters indeed. He didn’t want to be spotted if one of their patrols came this way.
Wild’s pod had already cleared the area directly around the cave of shellfish, so Wild had to move further away to gather an armful of clams. He didn’t have to go too far though. This territory was truly rich in prey. Wild envied the pod that owned these waters. They must never go hungry if it was this abundant here.
When he returned, Wind was awake. The pup was still curled up, but was blinking up at Wild with big blue eyes as he shook off lingering sleep. The sight of the food Wild had brought back roused Wind enough for him to uncurl. The pup gave a tired trill in greeting, and then an inquiring buzzing sound low in his throat.
Hello, good morning, I love you. Food?
Wild gave a comforting warble in return, and then an inviting chirp.
My pup, good morning, I love you. Come eat!
They ate quietly, focusing on breaking apart the shells rather than speaking. The only sounds in the cave were the occasional chirp of happiness from Wind as he filled his belly. Wild ate only enough to give him the energy to hunt, leaving the majority to Wind. He needed it more, as a growing pup.
When they finished eating, they curled up, twining their tails together, purring at each other. The sound was meaningless but comforting, and they spent an hour or so just enjoying each other's company. They both knew that Wild would be leaving soon. He needed to hunt. Shellfish were all well and good, but they needed more substantial meat.
This was routine by now. Wild and Hyrule would go out one at a time to hunt and bring back food to wherever they were staying. It was unusual that Wind would be left alone, but this time they had no choice. Hyrule was gone, had been gone for almost four days. That was longer than they usually spent away from each other.
In such a prey-rich territory like this, it shouldn’t have taken the octopus Mer two days to bring back food.
Wild tried very hard to ignore the explanations for why he might not have returned. It didn’t matter why Hyrule had not returned. They could wait no longer. Wild must hunt.
But hunting meant leaving Wind alone. He didn’t want to do that. Usually only one of them went out at a time, leaving the other to watch over Wind. That wasn’t an option this time.
Wild wrapped his tail tightly around Wind’s, cuddling the pup closer and tucking his head under Wild’s chin. Wind gave an inquiring buzz, and Wild sighed.
“I have to go.”
“Don’t want you to.” Wind complained, and when Wild pulled back his face was scrunched up in an adorable scowl.
“I know, but aren’t you still hungry? I have to go get us food. I’ll try and get some octopus for you, if you want '' There wasn’t a taboo against eating the animals that you looked similar to, but Hyrule didn’t like eating octopus anyways. Wild didn’t exactly blame him, but octopus had become something of a special treat shared between Wind and Wild.
“Hyrule will come back soon. You don’t have to go.” Wind protested. Wild said nothing in response, not voicing his own doubts. He pulled away reluctantly, removing Wind from where he clung to Wild’s tail. He swore, sometimes he thought Wind was the octopus Mer with how clingy he could get.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, pup. Stay here, and be quiet as a cuddle fish for me, okay?” Wild purposely mispronounces the word, hoping it would make Wind laugh. It didn’t.
Wind’s lip wobbled. Wild would admit, he fled like a coward. If he had stayed to hear Wind’s sad little trills, he might not have left.
Wind wasn’t crying.
For one thing, Mer couldn’t cry. What was the point of leaking water from your eyes when you were already underwater? Wind thought Hylians were very strange for leaking water, even if they did live above the waves. They wasted water when they did that. With the dry environment they lived in, it didn’t make sense to go about spilling water from their eyes whenever they were upset. Then again, things above the surface of the water rarely made sense, and Hylians could be a little stupid sometimes.
So no, Wind wasn’t crying. But he was releasing the semi-involuntary squeaks, trills, and wails that counted as the same thing, to Mer. It was meant to signal to his pod that he was in distress and needed comfort or help.
Wind was a big boy, though. He should be able to control his calls. It was especially necessary for him to learn how to do so. His pod was so small and only consisted of him and two juveniles. They absolutely could not afford to attract predators or rival pods. No matter how upset you were, nothing was more important than keeping yourself hidden.
Wind’s pod couldn’t afford to fight. They’d learned that a long time ago, and Wild had paid dearly for it. It was only by the grace of Hyrule’s magic that he’d survived, and even then he hadn’t come out of that encounter in one piece.
So Wind knew how to be silent, even if he was upset. He knew how to muffle his wails as well as any adult could. At least Wind had thought he could, but here he was, wailing desperately for his pod.
Wind wanted them, where were they? They wouldn’t leave him alone, would they? They said they would stick together for as long as they could.
Wild and Hyrule’s species were usually solitary, but they had promised Wind that no matter how much they each wandered, they would always return. And usually, they made sure one of them stayed with him while the other went hunting to blow off steam.
Their species might typically be solitary, but Wind’s wasn’t , and he was only just shedding his pup fat. The scales along his ribs and the end of his tail were a slightly brighter orange, hinting at the colors his scales would turn in a few years, but the rest of him was still firmly the dull orangey-brown of a pup. He was still too young to truly be alone.
When Wild and Hyrule had found him, Wind had thought the universe had been kind to him. He’d thought he had found a replacement pod for the one he’d lost. But it’d been five days since Hyrule had wandered off last, and Wild had gone hunting, but that was two days ago!
Wind was hungry , but he didn’t want to leave to try and find something to eat, because what if his pod came back when he was gone and they couldn’t find him? And Wild had told him to stay here and stay quiet.
Wind couldn’t make himself quiet, no matter how hard he tried. But he would stay here. He could at least do that much.
So he curled up on the cold rocky floor, his tail coming up to drape over his neck protectively. Normally it would be one of his Wild’s tail draped over him to keep away the chill, or Hyrule’s arm slung around his vulnerable neck. But they weren’t there, so he had to do it himself. He did his best to ignore the calls that still escaped him.
There was no one to answer him anyway.
Wild hadn’t been careful enough while he was hunting. He’d stupidly forgotten that while fish and other animals might overlook him lying on the seabed, a patrol of mer from the pod that owned this territory wouldn’t. He’d been deep in thought when they’d happened upon him, and they’d startled him so badly he was struck dumb, staring up at them.
They were only feet away.
There were four of them, three adults and a juvenile. Although calling the largest one an adult was a bit of a disservice. The white Mer that led the patrol was absolutely massive .
Wild knew, logically, that Mer didn’t stop growing when they reached adulthood, but he’d never seen a Mer this large before. He was nearly three times the size of Wild! He must be positively ancient .
Finally breaking out of his trance, Wild flung himself up. He wouldn’t be caught failing in the sand. If he needed to fight or flee, he would do so, but he would not simply wait for these Mers to condemn him.
Strangely, the four Mer didn’t attack him automatically, which was the typical response when someone caught him hunting in a pod’s territory. They didn't even look mad, really, just surprised.
Okay, the juvenile in the back of the group looked pretty pissed but other than him, no one looked mad.
The largest one, however, wasn’t looking at him with surprise like the others were. He looked thoughtful. “I think,” he rumbled, “That this one might be able to shed some light on the mysterious Mer Legend brought back a few days ago.”
Wild turned tail and fled. He wanted to scream and wail and thrash in grief, but he still had Wind to look after. At least now he knew what had happened to Hyrule.
The sounds of the four behind him giving chase weren’t surprising at all.
A familiar scream woke Wind. He’d slept in late, and the sun that filtered through the shallow water shone brightly into the cave entrance, warming the water while he slept. It only took a few moments for him to shake off the haze of sleep after hearing that noise.
That was Wild’s warning call and from the sound of it, he was fighting something.
Wind was at the entrance of the cave in a flash. The relief he felt at hearing his podmate’s return was quickly squashed by the sight outside the cave.
A good distance away, Wild was facing off against four other Mer. A spear of dread shot through Wind for a moment, before relief hit him when he realized Wild wasn’t actually fighting them yet. Wild was a good fighter, but there was no way he could win against four Mer at once.
Wild had stopped a good distance away from the cave entrance, evidently not wanting to lead the strangers directly to Wind. He faced off against them, but Wind could see it was hopeless.
One of the strange Mer looked like a pup at first glance, but his colorful scales revealed him to at least be a juvenile, despite his small size. A second Mer with a royal blue tail with orange markings hovered near the back of the group, observing the goings on with a critical air.
The two that drew the most attention were the two that were closest to Wild. They were both large, especially compared to Wild. One of them practically towered over Wind’s podmate. He looked especially fierce, with scars crisscrossing his white scales. One long scar covered his eye, bisecting the red and blue markings he had on his face.
The fourth Mer had a seal’s pelt tied around his shoulders. He wasn’t nearly as large as the white one, but even from Wind’s distant point of view, he could tell the Mer was rippling with muscles. In fact, all four of these Mer looked incredibly strong and well-fed. They looked to be in better shape than any of Wind’s pod, who were all too scrawny.
Wind could see Wild pressing himself down to the sea floor. It might have been confused for submission if it weren’t for how he flared all his fins out. (And WIld had a lot of fin to flare.) His mouth was open in a silent hiss, fear stealing his voice from him for a split second. Wild’s silence only lasted a moment, before the Mer with the pelt made an aborted movement towards him.
His movement seemed to give Wild a bit of courage. The Mer flung himself up, all his fins flaring out.
Even with half his dorsal fin being a mess of scar tissue, Wild’s threat display was truly impressive. He wasn’t fully grown yet and his markings hadn’t started to come in yet, but he was still a sight to behold. Wild’s bioluminescence didn’t add much to the display in the middle of the day like this, but Wind knew from experience that at night or in deeper waters, the eerie blue glow could make even fully grown Mer back off.
These Mer remained mostly undeterred, which showed exactly how confident they were. Rightly so. Despite his threat display, it was clear Wild was no match for them.
The large white Mer seemed utterly unphased. He flicked his tail, sending himself effortlessly through the water, closer to Wild. Wild snapped his jaw threateningly, his teeth clicking together sharply. When that didn’t work, Wild unhinged his jaw fully and let it gape unnaturally open. His long sharp teeth were on full display. It was something only deep sea Mer could do, and it was a little unsettling even to Wind, who’d seen him do it before.
That display finally made the white Mer stop moving forward, but he had gotten too close to Wild for Wind’s taste. Wind couldn’t stop the chirps from rising in his throat.
Here, here! I’m here, I’m scared, I want you here!
The attention of all four of the Mer snapped towards Wind at the sound of his chirps. Wild screamed in anger at that, but the damage was done. This new figure was more interesting to the Mer than the angry juvenile they’d been chasing. No matter how Wild flared his fins, he wasn’t able to grab their attention back from Wind.
The small one with the colorful scales huffed when he saw Wind peeking out of the cave. “Exactly how many pups are we going to find swimming around in our territory?”
The royal blue Mer seemed to agree. There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he spoke. “It seems we have an infestation.” He agreed.
The one with the seal skin around his shoulder was frowning at Wind. It would be rather intimidating, especially with the crooked fangs poking out of his upper lip, but Wind got the feeling that the Mer’s frown wasn’t actually directed at him.
“Is that your pup? He doesn’t look like it.” The question was aimed at Wild. Even Wind knew he was referring to the fact that Wild was a deep sea Mer, and Wind was tropical. That and the fact that Wild looked too young to have sired a pup as old as Wind.
Wind bristled at the implication that he wasn’t Wild’s. He hated it when Mer did that. They may not be the same species, but Wind, Wild, and Hyrule were pod . Wind hadn’t seen any tropical Mer lining up to adopt him when he’d been alone and wandering.
Wild seemed to take the same offense. “He is mine! Don’t you dare touch him!” Wild’s voice had risen to a fever pitch of stress and anger. Wind flattened his ear fins to his head at the sound. He hated to hear Wild sound so distressed. He moved without thinking, flinging himself out of the confines of the cave.
Wild gave a warning call, and the strangers startled back, clearly not expecting Wind to move. But Wind only bee-lined towards Wild. The two of them were going to need to flee, and Wild couldn’t do that if the strangers got between him and Wind.
With Wild sounding so distressed, Wind wanted to be right next to him, not waiting helplessly for whatever fate would befall him.
Within moments Wind was at Wild’s side, pressed against his scales. With a movement of his tail, Wild raised himself high enough for Wind to duck under him. It was a little awkward. Wild wasn't full grown, and couldn’t hide Wind entirely. But he was still big enough to loom protectively. It made Wind feel slightly better.
(Whenever Hyrule or Wild did this, it reminded Wind of his mother and his birth pod, bringing comforting memories of being so very small and pressing comfortingly to his mother’s yellow-orange scales.)
More confident now that what he was protecting was within his arms reach, Wild gave a hiss towards the stranger. The sound was wounded, but there was a challenge there too.
Grief, grief, grief, anger, rage, I will never forgive you.
Then Wild spoke. “You already took Hyrule from us. Go away! Go away, we don’t have anything for you! We’re leaving, we’ll never come back here if you just let us leave.”
Wind felt an icy chill shoot through him. He sank down to the sandy seafloor, feeling weak. Wild followed him, keeping his chest pressed against Wind’s back.
These Mer took Hyrule? What did that mean? Was Hyrule… dead? Wind had known that Wild had thought Hyrule was dead when he hadn’t returned from the hunt, but Wind hadn’t wanted to believe it.
The white Mer slid forward a few feet, making Wild shift uneasily. “Are you sure about that? I’m sure Hyrule would love to see you.” Wind perked up from where he’d been pressed to the sand, relieved chirps welling up in his throat.
Hyrule wanted to see them? That meant that Hyrule was alive!
“Wild, we have to go get Hyrule!” Wild hesitated. He still glared at the strangers, but Wind could tell his mind was racing. Wild clearly didn’t know what to do.
The other Mer could tell it too.
“You won’t be harmed, I swear it.” This time it was the Mer who wore a long blue scarf that spoke, moving forward towards the front of the group. “It can't be easy out there, just the three of you. Come rest with us for a while.”
Wind looked up at Wild, tugging plaintively on one of his fins. “Wild, I want to go see Hyrule.” He knew he was whining, but they hadn’t seen the octopus Mer in days and Wind missed him. And the strangers didn’t seem too bad. Maybe they had food at their grotto?
Wind hoped so.
Wild only hesitated another moment more before drooping, his fins closing. He looked defeated. Wind had little time to worry about it before Wild nodded his assent and Wind was distracted by the thought that they were going to see Hyrule soon!