Chapter X: Trust No One

And so it was that the shadow-born being, nameless and with no place in the world, was allowed to return with Link, Sheik and Navi as they made their way out of the depths of the Water Temple. The going was slightly easier on the return path, but the dark haired young man was slow-moving and frightfully clumsy, not to mention extremely talkative. He chattered incessantly the whole way. Link refused to help him over obstacles and across moats, not even wanting to touch him, certainly not after their close encounter earlier, which still made his blood boil. So he ignored—or tried to ignore—his twin as much as he could, and suddenly wanted nothing more than to be back in Hyrule, toss in his mission, and resume his life as it should be.

Sheik, on the other hand, listened patiently to the shadowy youth and helped him to keep his footing. He kept apologizing to the Sheikah again and again for every trifle, and soon Sheik began to doubt there being so much as a speck of malice left within the shadow’s fiber.

“. . . You see, the door on the other side of the chamber was locked shut, and I could not even leave the room to explore the temple,” Link’s copy explained pointedly. “I was trapped down there for centuries.”

“Watch your step,” Sheik admonished. “Centuries? It has been only seven years.”

“Only seven?” the shadow replied in pained wonder. “But it felt like much longer . . . perhaps it was the lack of the Master’s presence which made it seem like an eternity. At any rate, this is the first I’ve ventured from the room since the Dark One put me there. I forgot what varying heights the ground can be. Oof! Oh, I’m sorry! I almost toppled you over. Please pardon me. My mind is still foggy. Ha! Wasn’t that a humorous statement? I say my mind is foggy because I’ve been locked in a room filled with fog for the past seven years. Ha—augh!”

“Do try to mind the ledge, won’t you? You nearly fell over that time.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. I must be more aware of my surroundings. Hopefully I won’t remain this clumsy once I’ve grown adjusted to new landscapes. I suppose if I stopped talking it might help out somewhat as well, but you must understand, I’ve been so terribly, terribly alone for years and I’ve never had anyone to talk to, or-or even just listen to me!” His gray eyes grew soft. “Until the Master came and freed me, just like I knew he-”

“Will you shut up?” Link snapped, turning about with a horrid scowl on his face. “You babble like a lovesick idiot and my patience is waning—now stop your flapping tongue or you’ll be wearing it as a scarf.”

“I . . . I’m sorry, Master,” came the injured reply.

“Don’t apologize. Don’t say anything at all. And don’t call me ‘master’, understand? Now move it.”

Sheik sighed lightly and whispered to the shadow, “Don’t mind him. He’s just tired and cranky.”

“He’ll be much better once he’s had some rest,” Navi added, leaving her position flying at Link’s side to join the two young men walking behind. “Speaking of better, has your wound stopped bleeding?”

The shadow nodded, still holding the bloodstained cloth Sheik had given to him to place over the clean slice on his face made by the Master Sword; he mouthed ‘thank you’ to Sheik, who could not help but to feel pity for him, no matter how evil he may have been in the past.

When they at last reached the entrance corridor to exit the temple, Sheik called to Link, who was removing his normal boots and strapping on his iron ones: “I think perhaps it would be best if we both walked the shadow through the passage; it shall be quicker and we won’t have to worry for him drowning.”

“You needn’t fear my death,” the shadow spoke up. “It is impossible for me to drown.”

“How would you know?” Navi asked.

“Because I’ve tried,” came the soft reply, and a heavy silence followed thereafter. He continued, “Being alone for so long was unbearable . . . but there seemed to be no way to end my misery. I do not know why I am like this, but I suppose it’s a sign that I was meant to stay alive.”

“A sign,” Link muttered loudly. “Pity you didn’t succeed in killing yourself; it certainly would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

Tears of hurt welled within the dark haired youth’s eyes as he asked gently, “Why does the Master say such things?”

“For the last time, I am not your master!” Link shouted. “Now stop calling me that!”

“What shall I call you then?”

“Nothing! Just pretend I’m nameless like you.”

“Name-less?”

“Would you stop being so hateful?” Sheik said to Link, more of a command than a question; he was beginning to tire of the Hylian’s bad attitude, for never had he seen or heard of him being in such a foul mood before. Even Navi seemed surprised by her longtime friend’s disagreeability.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Link said with a patronizing tone, standing up and staring at his companions with an ill gaze. “Sorry that I don’t seem to be warming up and becoming best friends with the same thing that almost killed me at another point. Forgive me for being so slow to trust a being that was created by Ganondorf himself. I know: I’ll just open up my heart and roll out the royal carpet, forgive and forget, like nothing ever happened!” Link threw his arms wide open. “And I’ll say, ‘oh, I feel so sorry for you, you poor thing who has stolen my image from me! Let us be friends forever!’ Never mind the fact that he would have gladly gutted me alive in the past. After all, it is the past, and everything is changed now, right? Isn’t it? I can trust you, Shadow, can’t I? Of course I can, for I’m as stupid as a rock and I trust anybody regardless of common sense, because I believe that deep down everyone is good inside!”

Link’s mocking smile faded and his blue eyes became dark with a passive anger. “I would not have survived to meet you had I been such an idiotic, trusting fool. I have lived my life by the sword, and the sword says to trust no one.”

“Except yourself,” the shadow said.

“You are not me.”

“But I came from you-”

“You came from hell!” Link cried. “And for all I care, you can go back and stay there.” With those words, he jumped into the water and disappeared from view.

The shadowy young man trembled, and no one spoke for a while. Navi finally broke the silence with, “I don’t know what is the matter with him, but he seems to be getting worse. He is acting like a completely different person now.”

“I suppose his shadow brings out the best in him,” Sheik jested lightly, but nobody laughed.

The shadow hung his head and whispered, “He hates me. My own Master cannot stand me . . .”

“Don’t let him hear you call him that,” Sheik said as he snapped the heavy cuffs to his ankles. “Don’t tell him I told you, but his name is Link.”

“. . . Link?”

“I’m sure you heard us calling him that before,” Navi said.

“Indeed, but I thought it was merely a title. Like ‘king’ or ‘prince’.”

“He is no lord of ours,” the Sheikah smiled kindly.

“Did I ever have a name?”

“No, but I suppose that we can think of one for you in time.”

“A name!” the shadow exclaimed. “Why, I’ll be just like one of you. A real person with a real name. But I should like to receive my name from . . . him. The Link. It seems only right for my master to decide my name, don’t you think?”

Navi visibly winced. “I’m not so certain you would want to be given a name by Link, at least not until he’s in better spirits.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right—er, what is your name, little one?” he asked, looking up at the fairy.

“My name is Navi!” she replied. “I am Link’s guardian.”

“Guardian?”

She chuckled. “Well, more so when he was a wild little boy.”

“A boy? ‘Boy’ is a young person?”

“That’s right.”

“So then, you have known the Master for a long time? Can you tell me what he was like?”

“Later, I promise. Right now all this fairy wants is to do is get out of this damp, waterlogged temple.”

“Fairy . . .” The shadow mused before turning to Sheik and asking, “And, what is your name, friend?”

“My name is Sheik,” he replied. “I am a Sheikah.”

“That makes sense,” the dark haired young man said with a smile. “But I haven’t any idea what a ‘fairy’ or a ‘Sheikah’ is, although the words themselves are familiar in my head. Would Navi tell me all about Link once we have reached the surface, and would Sheik teach me what these words mean?”

“Indeed, or I shall try at least,” Sheik said, and took the young man by his hand. “Come. Let this place be but a memory to you.”

And together, they stepped off the floor of the corridor and dropped down into the water filling the passage that led to the outside. The shadow neither floated nor sank, but hovered in the middle like the weightless particles drifting within the water. It was no effort for Sheik, who, in a few moments, surfaced along with the shadow outside the temple. It was the dark of night; only the glow of the moon and stars above and the small yellow lights from the house on the lake’s shore reflected in ripples on the water’s surface.

Link was already on the shore of the small island, wringing water out of his tunic; his demeanor was still cold and unforgiving judging by the grim, silent way he squeezed the water from his clothes. Sheik could easily imagine his Hylian friend pretending that his tunic was a certain nameless party’s neck.

A sudden gasp in the Sheikah’s ear turned his attention to the dark haired young man treading the water beside him; he was gazing at the sky in wonder, his eyes wide and shining in the light of the moon. “What beauty is this?” he uttered. “Is it real or is it an illusion?”

“It is real,” Sheik replied. “It is the moon, and those lights are the stars.”

“Stars…” the shadow repeated, his voice trembling as he became overwhelmed with emotion. “In the . . . sky? Yes, it is the sky. The heavens. The firmament.”

“You seem to recognize these things even if you haven’t seen them.”

“I know only words,” the young man replied. “But my heart tells me what they mean.”

Navi wormed her way out from between the gauze strips wrapped about Sheik’s collar and gasped, “I don’t want to see water again for two thousand years! Ughhh. I feel like wet moss. What I need is a nice hot lantern and a dry hat to sleep in.”

“That sounds wonderful,” said Sheik, taking the shadow by the arm and pulling him toward the island. Link was already crossing the rope bridge with boots in hand, and the remaining three pairs of ears could hear his footsteps sloshing as he walked.

“Splendid,” Navi muttered. “He’s angry and wet.”

Sheik nodded. “But at least the water cooled him off.”

Link stepped off the bridge and stalked around the side of the eccentric looking laboratory, unable to think clearly for the audacious treason Navi and Sheik were committing by allowing that creature to come to the surface with them. Did they not know how much havoc he was capable of wreaking up here? Link’s only comfort was the thought that when the whole world was crumbling into the abyss of the fiery underworld he would be able to tell them ‘I told you so’. But all would be destroyed, so it really didn’t matter anyway. Link was so angry and upset that he felt positively, physically sick.

The horses were waiting patiently at their posts, and they nickered softly upon seeing him. The Hylian ignored them, trying hard not to think about riding across Hyrule Field while feeling as nauseated as he felt now.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he was given a start when a figure emerged from around the side of the house; it was the professor who lived there, as equally eccentric-looking as his abode. “Good evening!” he greeted, ignoring the fact that he had nearly caused Link to jump out of his skin.

“Don’t creep up on people like that!” Link cried. “You’re going to frighten the life out of someone that way, Eldwin!”

“I beg your pardon?”

Link bit his lip when he realized his err; for while he still retained the memories of his seven-year quest, the people whom he had met and become friends with did not. Professor Eldwin had been a friendly—if peculiar—acquaintance of Link’s, offering him a place to recover after the battle with Morpha and even tending to his injuries, giving him advice about battling underwater and explaining the physics of fluid dynamics. In return, Link humored the professor’s scientific tangents, oftentimes participating in seemingly inane experiments. Though overly analytical, odd, and even slightly scatter-brained, the old man was thought of fondly by Link, and it was thus that the young Hylian was overtaken with a heavy sense of loss to realize that he was once again a stranger to him.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe you know me,” he said. “I have heard of the great Professor Eldwin of Lake Hylia and . . .” This farce was getting him nowhere, Link realized, and he was not a practiced liar. “I’m sorry. My, hm, friends and I had some business to attend to out at the Lake, but now that we’re finished we’ll be out of your way-”

“Nonsense, lad!” the old man exclaimed, raising his lantern. “Look at you. You’re soaked through! Come in and dry off, at least. I have more than enough room if you and your compatriots would like a place to stay for the night.”

“Oh, no, thank you, but we couldn’t possibly impose on-”

“That would be wonderful,” came a voice, and Link turned around to see Sheik and the shadow, dripping puddles where they stood; Navi fluttered out from behind them. Sheik went on before Link could protest, “We kindly accept your offer.”

“Splendid!” Eldwin said. “Well, well, this has to be the most interesting group of guests I believe I’ve ever entertained: a fairy, a Sheikah, and twin brothers! We don’t get many twins around here.”

“We’re not brothers,” Link affirmed with a deadly glance to his shadow.

“Good heavens, really? I must be seeing double.”

“Er, let’s not get into that just yet,” Sheik cut in. “It’s a long story.”

Eldwin nodded vaguely. “Ah, well, there’s a time and a place for everything. Right then, come along! Let’s get you drenched youngsters out of this night air before you catch pneumonia. A hot bath should have you all back in good spirits, yes!”

“No bath for me, thank you,” Navi declined.

“What’s a new-moan-ya? And what happens if you catch one?” the shadow whispered to Sheik, who put his finger to his lips and indicated for him to follow Eldwin into the house.

Despite the clutter and dim light of the little dwelling, it was wonderfully cozy and warm, especially to the wet and chilled travelers: a small fire crackled merrily from across the room, casting its flickering light over stacks and stacks of thick, dusty books, ancient scrolls filled with numbers and notes, and pamphlet leaves scattered across what little tabletop was visible beneath the multicolored assortment of jars and vials.

“Do excuse the mess,” Eldwin said, leading the three men and a fairy through the sty of his studies. “If I had known guests would be staying with me I would have taken the time to tidy up a bit!”

“It’s not a bother, really,” Sheik was saying before his eye caught the shadow, walking as if hypnotized toward the fireplace. He barely managed to dart over and save the young man from searing his hands as he reached for the leaping flames. “Don’t! For heaven’s sake, you’re going to burn yourself!”

“But it’s so beautiful . . . Like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” the shadow murmured dreamily, still gazing at the smooth tendrils or orange and yellow. “So warm, so alive . . . It’s golden. Like the Master. I must touch it-”

Sheik restrained the shadow’s outstretched hands and hustled him away from the fire, and found himself on the receiving end of some very peculiar glances. “He’s . . . a foreigner. From out of town,” he said to the professor.

“They don’t have fire where you come from, lad?” Eldwin asked of the shadow.

“No, sir,” came the soft reply. “Only shadows and water.”

“Indeed? Because that reminds me, I was formulating a hypothesis a few weeks ago about the varying effects that lack of sunlight can have on water when it’s kept stale for-”

“So! Professor!” Link spoke up, taking the old man by the arm and slowly directing his attention away from Sheik and the shadow. “You said something about hot baths, yes?”

“Oh! Right. Silly me. Yes, the bath is on this floor but I’m afraid it’s only big enough for one person, so you’ll all have to take turns.”

“What a pity,” Sheik cracked, and Link cast a dirty glance at him. “Lighten up a little, would you? A few more looks like that and I’ll be turning into a shadow myself.”

“It would certainly suit you, wouldn’t it?” the Hylian replied snidely.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence. Eldwin cleared his throat. “Ahem. Yes, well. Rooms are upstairs. Just hang your wet clothes anywhere and I’ll gather them up and get them dried.”

“Thank you,” the shadow spoke up tentatively in his soft, breathy voice.

Link looked at him as if he had said something too absurd to be comprehended by human ears.

“Why, you’re very welcome, lad! Forgive my rudeness, my young guests, but I don’t believe I caught your names.”

“Sheik,” said the Sheikah.

“Link,” said the Hylian.

“Navi,” said the fairy.

Pause. He gazed at the shadow. “And you, lad? What is your name?”

The ebony haired young man lowered his head sadly. “I don’t have-”

“He’s fleeing his country and traveling incognito,” Sheik improvised with haste. “It’s important that he not give his name due to . . . political reasons.”

“Well, that’s quite a country you come from, my boy!” Eldwin laughed. “Although I can’t blame you for fleeing a land without fire! Goodness! I do hope you like it here in Hyrule.”

“Thank you,” the shadow smiled warmly and looked over at Link with nothing but adoration in his eyes. “I know I shall.”

Link turned his head away and said nothing.