“Where have you been young man?” The old hag (a.k.a. Mrs Igbo) demanded. Link had just returned from his very unusual walk and was sitting at the table eating his breakfast. Her two friends were there too. Turns out, they never went home. “And what is that you are wearing?” she challenged. Link was still wearing his old clothes since he couldn’t get back to his room with the rope still dangling at an unreachable length.
“Firstly, I went for a walk in the woods. The clothes I’m wearing now are the ones I arrived in. Why?” was his cheeky answer. The hag’s patience was running out. If her friends weren’t there, she surely would have started shrieking. But to keep her manners, she talked coolly,
“I told you to get rid of them didn’t I? Why don’t you go and get changed and freshen up while the maids dispose of it for you?” Link absently munched at his porridge, pretending to ignore her. “Link. It’s rude not to answer.” There was an edge to Clarinda’s tone.
“Sorry. Had my mouth full. Mum told me that it was rude to talk while eating.” The guests and some of the maids giggled, enjoying this verbal brawl. “Anyway,” Link continued, “I thought you were joking, so I didn’t really pay attention. I’ll get changed when it’s time for school. Walking in the snow was quite refreshing. You should try it.” He pointed his spoon at his foster mother. She turned beet red with anger.
“As a new member of my family, I’m afraid you’ll have to behave like one. I will have those clothes burnt with your other possessions you may be hiding.” Link shrugged again,
“You’re going to have to find them first. Thank you for the breakfast, I’ll take the plates.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

“Someone’s feeling rebellious today?” Rachel took Link’s plate and spoon and dumped them into the sink.
“By Din I have a good reason.” Link leaned against the kitchen table, sulking.
“Want to tell me?” she inquired,
“Nope.” Rachel decided not to probe him with questions. Once she had finished cleaning and drying, she patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. “C’mon. We have to get you changed for today’s lessons before school.” As the two walked out the kitchen and towards the second floor, Link had a brain wave
“Do you think you can cancel the after school lessons for me? I really want to play in the snow with my friends.” Rachel sighed in defeat.
“I must be insane to be doing this.” Link shrugged
“Everyone’s insane to a certain extent.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The morning lessons went without problems. Link did well in music and art, and was improving on his schoolwork subjects. The snow steadily fell, the bears would be hibernating, and so it would be much safer to play in the woods. Today’s cloths were no better then yesterday’s. A navy blue (turtle neck) sweater like shirt with ridiculous silver threaded designs all over, thick muddy green trousers with a golden logo of a phoenix at the bottom, and a golden chain embedded with emeralds rested around Link’s neck like a collar. Today’s ear pierce was in the shape of the crescent moon, blue and silver beads covered it, making it look like they were hovering under his pricked ears. Most people of the school wore their cloaks, thinking they’d die from cold. Link mentally scolded at their behaviour. It was one of nature’s most obvious rules. First snow never kills. But then, he wasn’t surprised at them for think that. A blanket of snow covered the whole scenery, making the town look like a creamed decoration on a cake. The snow was about 20 cm deep, and Link wondered what possessed the goddesses to making so much snow pile up in mere hours. I wonder how Naia’s doing in this cold. The sight of her tear stained face lurked in his head. She had talked to him a little more after her out burst, how she had promised herself that she would never cry, how she had become scared that maybe she would go insane with grief. He almost couldn’t bear it and decided to push those thoughts away, trying to look forward to the silvery snowy day.

Link paid close attention to his lessons that day. He was improving rapidly and things couldn’t be better with Endu helping him out. And so, the day went on. End of school.
“Hey Link!” Link turned to see who it was.
“Oh Ren! Hi!” he waved. Ren and Lisa were running towards him, kicking away snow as they came.
“Maybe you’ve already met her, but I’ll introduce you anyway. This is my twin sister, Lisa.” Lisa a gave a sheepish smile and said,
“Thanks for getting my brother off bullying. He’s been acting insane since he hooked up with Tanji and Nigel.” Link just gawked at the two of them “Twins!?” he chocked. Ren chuckled at Link’s reaction and shrugged. “I know. Unlikely. But who cares. By the way, why did you run off yesterday?” Link opened his mouth to say something when another voice cut him off. It belonged to Endu
“Link! You forgot your pen . . .” he abruptly stopped when he saw Ren next to him. He put up his arms in front of his head and whimpered, “Please don’t hurt me.” The three exploded into laughter as Endu recoiled in fright. They talked mindlessly of nothing for a while, when something made Link think of Naia.
“Hey?” he suggested, “want to go to the woods to play some snow ball wars? I don’t have to go h . . . I don’t have to go back early today.”
“Sure”
“What ever.”
“You insane?” Endu shrieked. “The demon’s in there! How do you suppose we go in there and not get ourselves hurt?” Lisa giggled at Endu’s sudden reaction.
“You’re funny.” She giggled. Endu blushed and started mumbling. Lisa started talking to him in private, leaving Ren and Link out of the conversation. Ren prodded Link with his elbow, and pointed towards a certain tree. Link grinned mischievously and called back at Endu,
“Endu! What was your idea about going into the forest again?” cut off from the conversation with Lisa, he yelped,
“I said it was insane. The demon’s out there, and I don’t want to risk my life with the evil eye!” He huffed with the sudden lack of air in his lungs. Lisa kept laughing at Endu for being a coward. But she brusquely stopped when a feminine voice invisibly branded the air.
“Thanks for the compliment.” The two froze. Their heads gradually lifted towards the tree Link and Ren were looking at. Three squirrels flitted around on the slippery trunk, beside them sat a girl with red hair, her ginger eyes filled with child-like trouble. Lisa and Endu’s faces drained of all colour, their legs started shaking and they held each other’s hand in fright. Not being able to bear it, Link and Ren doubled up, held their stomachs and howled in laughter. As they guffawed in the snow, Naia had swung herself just beside them, chuckling at the four. Once the boys had regained control over their laughs and had enough energy to stand, they introduced the ‘demon’ to the now dazed and bewildered two. “Lisa, Endu, this is Naia. She our friend.” Endu pointed a shaky finger at the rumoured demon.
“So you’re the demon?” Naia teasingly considered and replied, “Technically, no. But there is a sprite that lives more or less 50 trunks south from here, but if you’re talking about the demon that’s been terrorising your school, that’s me.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Lisa, “That’s so cool. Can we be friends? Please? I’d really love to.” She grabbed Naia’s hands and hopped up and down, giddy at meeting a well-known legend.
Now it was Naia’s turn to be dazed. She wasn’t quite expecting Lisa to want to be her friend after the fright Naia had given her.
“Um . . . uh sure.” Naia shook Lisa’s hand and turned to Endu. “And you?” He seemed unsure at first, but then, Naia seemed pretty nice. And having the school’s biggest legend behind his back may stop people hitting him all the time.
“It would be an honour to be your friend. Sorry about what I said.” “No need. Speaking of insane, I think it’s about time for collecting.” The four kids gazed at Naia in bafflement.
“Better see then hear.” She took a few steps and indicated them to follow her. Within seconds, they were in the confines of the forest talking of pretty much nothing, and enjoying the winter evening.

“This is insane.” Gasped Endu.
“Told you so.” Smiled Naia. She was barefooted in the water of a fast flowing stream, picking up shiny objects as she waded through the icy cold water.
“Why the heck are broken Rupees rolling down stream, which pretty much comes from nowhere?” exclaimed Link. Ren looked at one of the cracked Rupees and frowned.
“Rupees are pretty hard. They’re almost jewels, just extremely common and easy to make. But none the less, hard. How come they’re cracked?” he glanced towards Naia, who was now hopping out of the river, rubbing at her numb toes.
“Don’t know. But if you look closely, they kind of look bitten.” Naia grimaced at her red feet, willing them to become warm.
“You know she’s right. I can sort of see a tooth mark. Do they always roll down around winter?” Lisa commented.
“Yeah.” Naia replied, “Sometimes, I find full ones and they tend to be purple or gold. Check it out.” She uncurled her fist and revealed three rupees, all of them purple.
“Cool!” Link exclaimed.
“Yeah. Cool. Just the kind of thing we need.” The five spun round to find Nigel, Tanji and a couple of other people around their age or younger surrounding them. Nigel smirked. “Our mums won’t give us any pocket money today, so we can’t go to the Hyrule castle city. If you don’t want get hurt, give it.”
“I seriously doubt that Nigel.” Growled Link. Tanji looked towards Ren, “Ren. Why don’t you come back? It was fun having you around. We won’t hurt you if you did.” Ren snarled in reply. Tanji shrugged his shoulders. “have it your way.” The boys advanced on the five, desperately wanting some extra cash. There was a rustling in some bushes far away, snapping of twigs came closer. The advancing kids stopped mid-step, wondering what it was. The near by shrubs crashed and split open, and a bear shot out and roared with its might. The boys screamed in terror, and ran away as soon as they saw the beast. “Hold your ground!” ordered Tanji, “It’s only a cub!” he was right. It was roughly two to three years old, and was rather small. (But here’s a warning to you readers. Cubs are not to be underestimated. They still have claws, teeth and strength enough to kill. Even if it didn’t have any of these qualities, the mother will be near. Conclusion: Do NOT approach. Now back to the fan fic.) But no one listened to him. They just wanted to be home where they can be warm and safe. The two leaders hesitantly backed away, running as fast as they can. Link, Ren, Endu, Lisa and Naia blinked in amazement. The bear cub looked at them with what looked very much like red cold hatred, and toppled into the snow, exhausted.