Chapter Text
The new land they had ended up in was bright, colorful, and festive. At least, as a first impression. They quickly found a road and followed it until they found other travelers.
A pair of redheads in gear suited to extreme weather nodded as they approached.
“Ah, are you also on the way to the Picori Festival?” the younger of the two asked. Link had never heard of such a festival, but the name Picori rang a bell from when they were a sprite.
“Picori Festival? What's that?” Wind asked.
“Wow, I thought everyone knew the Picori Festival,” they said, “you must have traveled a long way?”
“I guess we have. Are we on the road to Hyrule Castle?”
“Yeah! Hey, if you all have swords, does that mean you're good at sword fighting?”
Link thought this was well beyond trusting and right into naivety even for the peaceful worlds Time or Sky boasted, but it wasn’t their place to judge others.
“Yeah, I'd say we're pretty good,” Wind boasted.
“There’s still time to register for the sword fighting tournament. I hear the hero, Link, is making the prize sword.”
“They're also joining, so it must be a masterwork.”
“Oh, that's helpful. We came here to ask after the hero,” Warriors said, “so if we join, we would meet them?”
“I guess so! That's great!” they clapped their hands and did a little hop in place.
“There are extra rules for outsiders, but if you get past the entry, the tournament should be fair, and Link will call it out if it isn’t,” the older redhead spoke up.
A bit more talking and they got the rules and a rundown of the festival and what it was about.
As soon as they got into town, the redheads booked the last room at the local inn, so the chain agreed to just camp out somewhere outside of town. They got directions to sign up for the tournament, too, and Wind was forced to sit out. Link, Sky and Legend chose to.
The town was full of life, yet not a hint of wariness, for even their own large group of armed strangers.
Then Link mentally spotted a bright patch of light magic, so reminiscent of Dawn and Aurora, and they nudged Legend and started toward it.
Time noted them and spoke up, “we have some time before sundown, why don’t we explore a little before the festival starts?”
Wild whooped.
“Meet back at the south gate in two hours, and if you aren’t back in two and a half, you had better have a good excuse.”
Link nodded and started off. Legend on their heels.
It took about ten minutes to find the source, a woman who could be none but the princess (or maybe queen?), standing beside a very short person who radiated wind magic like they were made of it.
“The registry doesn’t close for another hour, you know. You could still join and remind everyone you don’t need a hero.”
“And here I had thought the most interesting person I could cross blades with if I joined was a meathead with an appreciation for a good sword,” Legend spoke up.
The short person sent them a narrow-eyed gaze, the first sign of wariness this whole Hyrule, and the woman smiled thinly at them.
“I suppose you know a lot of those,” the woman said.
“I'd say with most of them, it's less an appreciation and more a recognition,” Legend said, “sorry, ‘Rule.”
“It's true,” Link allowed, “I don’t really know what goes into making a sword, let alone a good one.”
“I haven’t registered, as I'm sure you heard.”
“Neither have I, but I would if it meant dueling royalty. My sister cheats.”
“I would wager you just don’t set the rules correctly,” the woman said.
The short person snorted. “You've been spending too much time with Vio.” Their gaze flickered for the barest moment to Link before landing on Legend, “from what kingdom do you hail? Your highness, I assume.”
“Would you believe me if I said Hyrule?” Legend asked, “and I'd prefer to drop the title. It's Legend.”
The short person sighed. “Of course you are. The name's Green, and you can call my companion here Pink.”
“Out of curiosity, same title?” Legend asked.
“That's correct,” Pink said.
“Technically, I'm a Sir, but I prefer Ari if you were to call me by a title.”
Link blinked, “elder?”
“Dare I ask how you know that?” Legend asked.
“It's not a hylian title,” Link said, “it's a… Picori title?” They looked to Green for confirmation.
“Picori, like the name of the festival?” Legend asked.
“Minish,” Green corrected, “the proper name is Minish, and the festival is named for Hylian misunderstanding of a magic language.”