It was a murderous day on the Great Sea. Though the usually turbulent ocean was as
calm as a sleeping baby the Sun was unrelenting, like an enraged Dodongo with severe heartburn. The sweat was pouring down his face, but Lenzo was feeling uplifted.
After months of nothing but blue sea, finally something appeared on the
horizon, first a smudgy dot, then lo and behold! An island!
Finally he had a chance to drop anchor and recuperate after all that
time beating about on a boat. For almost
two and a half years, Lenzo had been travelling
across the Great Sea, taking pictographs, sometimes
weird, sometimes chilling and sometimes extraordinary. But now after months of loneliness, boredom
and seasickness, Lenzo was hoping to taste the fruit
of civilisation.
However, while he still a few miles off shore, he noticed a
flock of gulls hovering above him. Then
everything around seemed to take a blacker shade of grey, and then, it
surfaced! That most dreaded of
sea-creatures, the Big Octo! Until that moment, Lenzo
had never laid eyes on this notorious sea-villain. He only had heard about from the sailors of Windfall Island, and usually after they had drunk
too much coffee in the Windfall Cafe. He
had garnered from them that a possible weak point was the yellow eyes dotted
all around it – like someone covered in boils full of puss which were on the
verge of bursting.
But he had nothing that he could aim at it with.
Suddenly the monster struck Lenzo’s
boat with the force of a hammer of the Gods.
Feeling as though he has been rammed by a charging Darknut,
Lenzo’s world began to fade to black. In those last few seconds of consciousness,
he though he saw out of the corner of his eye another
boat. But it was too late: he had fallen
into the pit of unconsciousness.
“Hello?” Lenzo could hear a soft voice, like a gentle sea breeze,
soothing and yet commanding. Slowly he
opened his eyes, and behold, a wondrous sight materialised in front of him: a
young slim girl with blonde hair as bright as a Peahat’s
feather, and a face which shined as though it belonged to one of the
Goddesses. “I am Lydia, and you
are...?”
“Lenzo...” replied he, still
feeling a bit groggy.
“Lenzo, I like the sound of your
name. It has an air of mystery about
it. What do you do?”
“Well I...” Lenzo was about to go
on when Lydia
said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Giving you a hard
time by diving into a question like that!
I suppose I should tell you how you got here.”
“Yes,” said Lenzo, “I would like
to know what happened to that Big Octo.”
“You see,” explained Lydia, “on this island we live our
lives in peace. We do not believe in
violence and warfare, our lives are peaceful and we make our living by
fishing. This island may not be buzzing
like Windfall, but people here are warm and friendly. Only the young man Orca is interested in
swordplay. Indeed he goes off on
adventures, like you probably. He seems
to have been collecting Knight Crests.
They just seem like junk to me, but apparently he had to go through a
lot of blood, sweat and tears to get them.”
“It was by sheer fortune that he was returning to Outset Island
at the same time as you. Being a
warrior-type, he naturally had a bow and arrow with him and so was able to
defeat that horrible octopus. He brought
you to shore. But that was two days ago,
I thought you’d never wake up! How are
you feeling?”
Lenzo, now fully awake felt
hungry, thirsty and as though one of the ancient Gorons
had punched him in the head. “Oh my head
hurts.” He groaned. Lydia smiled,
“I think I’ve got the just the thing for you, just wait a minute while I go and
make my special soup.”
As she left him to prepare his meal Lenzo,
despite his discomfort, felt strangely comforted. A feeling came over him, something which had
never struck him as hard as it did now.
For most of his life up to this point, he had been married to the art of
pictography. It was his burning desire
to take the rarest, most daring and beautiful pictures. It was his life, but now something new
entered his heart. An even more powerful
feeling...
“Oh my,” he said, “I think I’m in love!”
“Pardon?” said Lydia as she handed him her
speciality Elixir Soup.
“Drat I shouldn’t have said that out loud!” though Lenzo, “Uh...I mean I’m going to be in love with this
soup. It looks absolutely
delicious!” He said, looking somewhat
sheepish, and a little red.
“Oh you’re not the only one to say that!” smiled Linda,
“Everyone on the island loves my cooking.
In fact, when it’s someone’s birthday they all come round to my place
and taste my Elixir Soup!”
“What’s the secret to it?” asked Lenzo.
“Strictly confidential.”
“Oh right.” Replied Lenzo groggily. “I
think I’ll stop talking and eat now.
Would you like to me show you some of the pictographs I took later
on?” Luckily his cloak had deep pockets
and his photos have fortunately survived intact.
“I would love that” said Lydia, more than a little bit
interested in this mysterious and wistful man.
The next morning Lenzo walked
round the island with Lydia. But despite the interesting scenery, he was
not concerned with detail today. All he
could think about was Lydia. While she pointed out different places of
interest and introduced him to the small number of residents his mind was fixed
on her. As they climbed up the mountain
to cross the bridge over to the forest, Lydia suddenly changed.
“So, where do you come from?” she asked.
“Windfall
Island.” Replied Lenzo, perking up now she was
giving him some attention. “It is
an island of merchants and the main trading port on the Great Sea.”
“Oh yes!” replied Lydia, “I’ve always wanted to go
there. It sounds so much more exciting
and vibrant than our little community.”
“Well,” replied Lenzo, “you would
think that – and you would be right. But
despite the hustle and bustle, the gossip and all the goings-on, something is
lacking. Despite their boisterous
attitudes the people on Windfall seem to be quite content to remain on their
island, no sense of adventure at all.
The world comes to them, but they don’t seem to want to go out into
it. Many will stare out at the distant
Dragon Roost island, for example and will say “If I only I could go there” or
“I wish I could get a close look” but that is all the say, they do not act!”
“Oh,” replied Lydia.
“Sorry, I am going on too long?” said Lenzo,
feeling as though he had bored her.
But in fact she was very interested, “No I could listen to
you all day! I agree with what you say,
for except Orca, the Outset Islanders are the same. Apart from me, I’ve always wanted to travel
but the problem is....”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to be alone on a boat at sea. Not on a dark night when the wind is
screaming and waves are lashing down. I
need someone to be with me, but nobody here would go with me!”
“So, you would say you’re an adventurous woman?” asked Lenzo, a little suggestively.
“Yes.” Replied Lydia.
“Perhaps then, I could be your....companion.”
The conversation ceased as they came closer and closer, then
it happened. Lenzo’s
first kiss! A whirlwind of passion swept
him of his feet, as their lips locked together in a tidal wave of romance. After what seemed like an age, they stopped
kissing.
“Well, you’re certainly...adventurous.” said Lydia.
“Well, you’ve only scratched the surface.” Said Lenzo, his body numb with the
ecstasy of that glorious first kiss.
“Perhaps you would like to explore...deeper?”
Laughing softly, Lydia replied in silkily, “The
adventure’s not over until I reach the climax!”
Hand-in-hand, the besotted young lovers crossed the bridge
into the hilltop forest. Local legend
maintained that a great fairy once lived there and that the forest had an air
of magic about it. But faerie or no
faerie, one thing was for sure. Lenzo and Lydia
would not forget this magical night for a long time!