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there’s a certain style of stories she’s heard, throughout the seas they travel. they are stories of people who ‘came back wrong’. people who died, or vanished, or simply left on some kind of journey—and came back changed, in a way that only causes problems. these are people who return from their encounter with death, unable to be who they once were ever again. sometimes it’s a dead person whose corpse is granted life again. sometimes the ‘dead’ person only wishes they were, having been forever scarred by how close the end was.
sometimes the person isn’t aware that anything happened. they live their life feeling that something is wrong, but they can’t figure out what it could possibly be until someone else tells them, and then it becomes impossible to ignore.
that one feels more familiar to her now than she wants to admit.
in a lot of stories she remembers, one of the hardest parts for the one who came back was dealing with the new way they were treated by those around them. people who used to feel like beloved family would become distant and awkward, unsure of how to act around the person who was no longer the one once known.
the other hardest part, one that was even more common than the new treatment by others, was always the struggle to accept the new circumstances. to find peace with their new existence, or in some less happy stories, find a way to end it.
the double threat of difficulties that is reconnecting with others and coming to a resolution regarding the new self is a dangerous one, and some of the tales she’s heard end with the character in the narrative unable to take it any more. more frequently, she hears the stories end on a brighter note, with the character patching the cracks that have formed in their whole self.
once, she was told a tale about a family heirloom. an urn that broke so often it became an unintentional family tradition to break and repair it. the urn, which was said to hold the spirit of the family’s first matriarch, always seemed to break into roughly the same set of pieces, and putting it back together so that it looked unbroken was a simple task. despite that, there were exceptions. members of the family or even guests of the house who broke it and left their own mark as they repaired it, whether that was by placing it back together differently, or by spilling pieces of the vase in paint. no matter how the urn was broken, it was always repaired eventually, and each change only made it more beautiful to the family, who felt that by repairing the urn each time, they reaffirmed its meaning and legacy, and that if the matriarch’s spirit hadn’t left the urn after the first few breaks, she sure as hell wasn’t going to leave now. and if she had left, so what? that didn’t matter to the family. they would keep breaking and fixing their urn until their line died out, and even then they believed there would be someone else to keep it going.
when she first heard that story, tetra loved it. the girl telling the story made it hilarious, and tetra found the idea of a broken sculpture being repaired and made better for it to be an oddly wonderful concept.
she hates it now.
she doesn’t understand what she used to like about it anymore.
if something breaks, you can’t really fix it. you can repair it, sure, but you won’t be able to put it back exactly how it was.
if that were possible, she wouldn’t still be broken.
tetra looks at the unnaturally ridged scars crisscrossing her skin with the one eye she has left. the scars are lighter than her normal skin, and on her arms and legs there’s so many of them that her limbs look a shade lighter in some areas. in a lot of places across her body, there are gaps and chips, places where there used to be normal flesh. the worst remnants of what happened are on her limbs, where if she’s not careful about keeping them secured, it’s entirely possible they might just…fall off. she doesn’t know all the details—link refuses to tell her, and she hasn’t asked linebeck yet—but she suspects the reason she doesn’t have her left hand anymore, and the reason she ‘woke up’ with her limbs wrapped in bandages so much tighter than her normal ( cooler, better-looking ) ones, is because they learned firsthand (she almost chuckles at that) how easily she could fall apart, when they were trying to fix her. how easy it is to lose pieces of something once it’s broken.
tetra looks at her remaining hand, the biggest crack on the arm exposed to the air. she gets the feeling if she messes around in a certain way, the thick lines around her hand and forearm will crack open, and the appendage will crash to the floor, and she’ll be useless. she’s vaguely curious what it would look like to see inside of herself. if it would look like a human injury, or a broken statue. it’ll probably be some weird combination of both (just like tetra herself) but it bugs her sometimes, that she doesn't know how her body really works anymore. it’s not really a human body, she’s certain of that, but it imitates one pretty damn well. that unfortunately means it’ll still hurt like a bitch if she wants to try anything, which has done a fairly decent job at stopping her from investigating the nature of her second chance. so far all she knows is that she doesn’t seem to bruise anymore, and that knowledge came at the price of a chip of her ‘skin’ that she’ll never get back, so she’s not exactly planning to try again.
tetra tries to look over at her left arm. she manages about five seconds before jerking her head away, which is two seconds better than last time but not as long as when she first realized what was missing. linebeck told her later she’d spent “what felt like half an hour, but might’ve just been ten minutes (which is still a while, ya know!)” just staring at the stump where her hand used to be.
yeah, not eager to repeat that. tetra tries to wrap the bandages back around her arm, but it’s hard to wrap up a forearm when your only hand is on that forearm, and she settles for just tightening around the biggest cracks. she’ll get someone to help her with the rest eventually, but as long as her hand stays on, tetra can handle the rest of the bandages just fine.
she leans down to start on her legs, trying to ignore the slight cracking noises and the mild losses of sensation that come from the same direction as them.
***
linebeck’s the last person tetra would expect to spend this much time with, but something about the way he treats her makes it easier to be her old self around him than her actual crew these days. after their initial panic and concern for her new body-wide scarring, the crew fell into this uncomfortable routine, where the idiots tried not to treat her like she could shatter at any moment and failed miserably while she did everything in her power to ignore their fussing. she’s not entirely sure where link fits into that, but he’s never really been a ‘crewmate’, exactly, and that didn't change after the ocean king sent them back. he’s been spending a lot of time on linebeck’s ship instead of hers, and while she tries not to let it worry her (or make her jealous of that loser), there’s something so much more uncomfortable about the way he looks at her now.
tetra’s crew looks at her like she could break at any moment.
link looks at her like she already has, and he’s watching a ghost walk around and bark orders.
maybe he is.
it’s hard to argue that tetra didn’t die and come back, when she knows what happened to her. it’s not hard to guess at why upon waking from being a statue, she had a variety of scars that looked suspiciously like sealed cracks in a pot. her body looked like it had shattered and been glued back together, so the natural assumption to tetra is that it did. it’s basic logic, and tetra’s not stupid. but link, linebeck, and those fairies were the only ones who seemed to know what happened with her, and none of them would willingly tell her anything other than what she should be careful of now. she can’t ask the fairies now that they’ve left the world of the ocean king (the concept of which still kind of confuses her), which leaves link and linebeck. link seems terrified of being alone with her, so she’s here now, trying to drag some more answers out of linebeck. it’s been plenty effective so far, and she expects that to continue.
this would probably be easier to get something important out of if linebeck wasn’t so fun to verbally spar with, but can you really blame her for indulging? it’s been a little while since tetra last really got ‘into it’ with someone, and her only chance to really get going is with someone who’s not on the crew, meaning she doesn’t get many chances. and here comes a cowardly braggart, who knows his weaknesses and doesn’t care if tetra points them out, instead jabbing right back. he’s weirdly refreshing compared to the respect and adoration the crew and link give her—or, well, used to give her. now they watch her with poorly hidden pity and tetra hates every second of it. she’s the captain, for crying out loud! they shouldn’t be pitying her like this; she can take care of herself just fine, thank you!
linebeck agrees, though his reasons are…different to hers. according to the man himself, his logic is that “if you’re so determined to be captain, then who cares what you look like? look at me, blondie! the noisy pipsqueak said i look ‘super shady’ or something ridiculously untrue like that, so if i’m such a fantastic captain—“ and here tetra chuckles, because he’s frankly a terrible captain. he’d be much better as a crewmate, in her opinion, but she’s not actually his captain so it doesn’t matter, “—then your little cracks shouldn’t mean squat to your crew either!”
linebeck seems very proud of himself for that one. from what tetra knows of him, maybe he should. “i can’t say i saw you as the type to give out wisdom like that, captain linebeck.” she emphasizes ‘captain’ to make sure he gets what she means. he probably doesn’t, but tetra’s enjoying this anyway. “surprisingly good advice, especially coming from you of all people.”
the smug, proud demeanor shatters, and linebeck actually pouts at her. a grown man, pouting like a little kid. it’s hilarious. “and just what is that supposed to mean, you little–hey, quit laughing!” tetra can’t help it; linebeck’s just too easy to mess with. guess there was something good to come from that whole mess.
and just like that, her good mood vanishes again. that’s the main issue with linebeck. he’s great fun as a person, but being around him always reminds tetra of how she can’t go back. how the ocean king’s world and that stupid fucking squid left their permanent mark on her, and now she’s always going to be less than what she was. it’s not linebeck’s fault at all (in fact, he’s one of the main reasons she’s able to be here), but he was still a resident of that realm, and seeing his face sometimes makes tetra wonder about the what-ifs.
linebeck makes a face at her. “blondie, you’ve gotta stop getting caught in your own head. you cut more of a ‘piratey’ image than before, what with your no-eyepatch look and the missing hand. think of the intimidation factor from being covered in scars! and just imagine the potential for a hook!”
huh . she hasn’t really thought about it, but he’s got a point. she hasn’t looked at herself in the mirror much, but she does look kinda cool, objectively speaking. nobody’s said anything like that to her yet, so it hadn’t occurred to her that maybe she doesn’t look one fall away from breaking. that maybe, she actually looks kinda badass. especially to someone who doesn’t know how she got this way.
well. now tetra has something more to think about. for that, linebeck has her ‘thanks’—a mocking response, a quick punch of the arm (she remembers to use the arm with a hand on it this time—it was really awkward to try and punch with a stump), and a light, offhand “thanks and bye, loser” before tetra makes her retreat, leaving linebeck spluttering. he regains his composure a lot quicker now than he used to, but tetra can get back to her ship from his a lot quicker than she used to, and she’s out of sight by the time he starts yelling indignantly. tetra smirks to herself. yeah, linebeck’s fun.
***
normally when the ship approaches outset island, the only one nervous out of their mind is link. he’s always worried that something bad happened while he was gone, and when he can be talked down from that worry he moves on to being terrified aryll won’t like what he tells her, no matter what it is. they could have literally gone shopping at windfall to grab a shirt or some food or whatever and link will be sure there’s some way telling aryll about it could go wrong. as if the kid’ll take offense to the pattern on the cloth, or whatever.
today, though, link’s not the only one nervous out of their mind. tetra is too. she knows aryll isn’t one to judge scars. in fact, aryll will probably think the new scars are cool as shit, even if she won’t phrase it quite so crudely (at least, not in front of her grandma, which tetra can understand. that lady is the kind you don’t want to see disappointed in you), but the worry is still there. this will be the first time since…well, since she woke up, really, that someone tetra actually cares about who isn’t from the crew sees the cracks in her body. she’s not sure what aryll is to her, because she’s not sure what link is to her and that pretty much determines what his family is to her, but right now tetra’s pretty sure that aryll is basically her younger cousin, or something like that. not quite ‘immediate-family’ close or anything, but there’s a sibling vibe going on there with some distance involved. ergo, younger cousin.
all that aside, tetra recognizes that aryll won’t care. aryll will think her scars are cool, and beyond maybe asking how it feels, won’t push her too much or worry over nothing. it’ll probably be a refreshing change of pace, actually. but there’s still that worry, that the girl will ask some innocent question or say some innocuous comment that’ll bring it all down. the fear that a simple sentence might ruin this slow-building confidence in herself that’s taken tetra embarrassingly long to accumulate.
it’s really annoying and now tetra can’t stop worrying about it.
she shakes her head a few times, and slaps her face once for good measure. there’s no use worrying about what’s going to happen on outset. whatever happens is gonna happen whether or not tetra does anything. with that in mind, she decides to start preparing to land.
the ship docks at outset without much fanfare. after the first few times they showed up, the residents started to view the arrival of tetra’s ship as something more akin to how the rest of the great sea views beedle’s ship: something out of the ordinary, but not necessarily something to celebrate, exactly. it just means a change in the routine for all parties involved. the crew makes an effort to act as a merchant ship and not pirates when at outset, if only for link’s sake; and the residents welcome the trade, because it’s not like many other merchants come to the island more than once every few months. that’s not what tetra tends to do here, though.
as the captain, she can have her crew handle the selling. she’ll check in on them later to make sure everything’s in order and accounted for, but…well, it’s outset . there’s not much profit to be made here, and everyone aboard knows it. if one or two items go missing from their stock anywhere else, it’d be cause for revenge, but here the ‘fearsome pirates’ just let it happen. link and his family have that effect on them. also, no one wants to take the chance and loose soup privileges. in a way, link’s grandma holds the most power out of anyone over the crew. tetra would be annoyed by that undermining of her captainly authority, but the soup is really, really good. in fact, it’s why she makes an effort to drop by link’s house when the ship docks here.
linebeck, who last she checked isn’t aware of the wonders of granny’s soup, follows after her absently. since link practically flew off the ship before it docked, out of the rest of the crew tetra is left as ‘the one who knows where things are’ in linebeck’s mind. “we’re heading to link’s house, right?” she nods. “soooo…which one is it?” tetra sighs.
“just keep following me. it’s been, like, a single minute. wait five more, and then come crying to me about how you can’t find the right house.”
“ouch, that hurts! i’ll have you know i’m a master of navigation! i could find my way around any place there is! i–”
“then why are you following me around, if you know exactly where to go?” tetra smirks. there’s no good response to that, and both of them know it. linebeck scowls, but it’s a friendly one.
“you win this round, blondie.”
“that’s captain to you.”
“whatever, whatever.”
tetra turns back towards link’s house. it’s right in front of them, but now that she’s here, she feels something holding her in place. the insecurities are bubbling up again, in full force. what if aryll is disgusted by her? what if the kid gets scared, or something else that would devastate tetra to experience? She tries shaking her head a little to clear the thoughts, but they won’t go away.
linebeck seems to be picking up on her dilemma, and she can see him starting to speak up out of the corner of her eye when the door to link’s house flies open and a yellow-and-blue blur flies out, barrelling straight for tetra.
in that moment, tetra is suddenly terrified. a new fear rises in her mind, even greater than any fear of rejection by link’s sister. the speed aryll’s approaching at makes tetra wonder what will happen when the kid flies into her. will she break apart again? and even worse, will aryll blame herself for it? the worries return in full force. this was a mistake. she should’ve waited a bit longer, or stayed somewhere where she couldn’t be tackled.
it turns out she doesn’t actually have to worry. a blue-coated arm comes out in front of her, and its owner follows suit. “hey, slow down, brat! don’t wanna run anyone over, do ya?” and with that, the blur slows down and solidifies into a little girl.
“oh, sorry mister!” then aryll turns to her, and tetra mentally braces herself. “hi, miss tetra!” so far, no reaction. without thinking, tetra responds the way she always does.
“how many times do i have to tell you, kid? it’s captain, not miss.”
it’s all nice and familiar. she almost forgets anything’s changed. does aryll not notice her new appearance? that can’t be right. tetra’s new appearance is very noticeable. people keep commenting on it in all sorts of patronizing ways, which is not only rude but also kind of stupid when the subject of your conversation is currently robbing you (regardless of if they know that or not). sometimes it strikes the right kind of intimidation into folks, but that’s not as frequent as she’d like.
“right, right! hi, miss captain tetra!”
being a little shit absolutely runs in that family. tetra ignores linebeck’s cackle beside her. “...i am once again going to ignore that. how’ve things been? anything neat happen?” it’s always interesting to hear what outset’s been up to. last time she was here, aryll was teaching some of the gulls to do fishing for her. the time before that, orca was proudly demonstrating his newfound technique for spinning a weapon so fast it slowed his fall when he jumped.
aryll nods. “yeah, i taught the seagulls something fun! but it’s a little hard to do it here, so i’ll show you later!” that sounds vaguely terrifying and tetra can’t wait to see it. “but aside from that…not much, i guess? what about you guys?” tetra winces. here it comes. “where’d you pick that guy up? he’s got a cool coat!”
tetra blinks. “what?”
aryll points at linebeck. “where’d he come from? he’s new.”
does…does she not care? she has to have noticed. aryll’s not stupid. tetra makes the executive decision to focus instead on this fantastic opportunity to fuck with linebeck that aryll’s handed her. “oh, we got him in exchange for a spare mop and one of our extra buckets. i still think we got scammed, linebeck’s not as useful.” linebeck chokes, and aryll’s smile grows wide with laughter. “he did come with some extra storage space, though. that part was a decent bargain,” tetra continues. “i’m still trying to decide if it was worth it, but every time i start talking about dropping him off somewhere link gets all sad like i’m threatening to throw his pet pig overboard, so for now he’s staying.”
“link has a pet pig now?!?” aryll is looking at tetra with stars in her eyes.
“no, it’s just an expression. sorry to disappoint.” the girl’s downcast expression brings down tetra’s mood with it, and she searches for a quick solution. she finds it in a certain man still trying to recover from a little girl laughing at him. “blame linebeck!”
aryll brightens. “okay! i’ll do that!” linebeck makes a sound between a wheeze and a sob. tetra knows it’s performative, and so does aryll. smart kid.
“alright, brats, very funny,” linebeck grumbles. ”now, where’s link at? i need someone who won’t disrespect me like this!” as if link wouldn’t just join in. aryll points back towards her house, and linebeck picks himself up (when did he fall?) with an exaggerated groan and begins walking towards the house. he glances back at tetra for a moment, and keeps walking. tetra watches his coat disappear through the doorway. she sighs.
she’s been doing that a lot lately.
then a small arm tugs at hers. tetra is briefly filled with panic, mind swimming through all the ways her right hand could come apart, before she remembers where she is. there’s no danger here. she’s standing on the beach of outset island, looking at link’s house, and aryll is next to her.
aryll.
aryll, who is probably the source of the arm that just pulled on hers.
uh oh.
the nervousness from before comes back in full force as tetra turns to aryll. what will the kid think? all she did was try to get tetra’s attention, and unless tetra hid it really well then she probably saw the minor panic attack that just occurred. tetra swallows her dread, and tries to school her face in something less…fearful. “what’s up, kid?”
“are you okay?”
“...huh?”
“are you okay? you’re acting like something’s wrong. do you want any help?”
the quiet worry in aryll’s voice is what gets her. it’s not fear, or disgust, or anything tetra expects. it’s simply concern for the wellbeing of someone who matters.
it’s such a simple sentiment, and yet it manages to pierce her to the core.
aryll must see something in her face, because she starts frantically trying to reassure her. “i’m not trying to say anything bad! you just seem really unhappy right now and i thought maybe you’d wanna talk about it but if you don’t that’s fine too!” the words pass through tetra’s ears, but she doesn’t really hear them. aryll notices. “um…miss–” she starts to catch herself, then perks up a little. “sorry, not miss. miss captain tetra?” that, of all things, is what snaps tetra out of her little moment with a snort. aryll smirks back, before the smile fades again. tetra doesn’t say anything. “do you want to talk about it?”
well, if that isn’t one hell of a loaded question.
to be honest…no, she doesn’t. it’s a lot to unload onto a kid, even if the kid in question is aryll. and beyond that flimsy excuse, tetra just…doesn’t want to. she doesn’t want to explain what happened. there’s no real reason. she’d just rather move on, than make this the thing that defines the rest of her life. but aryll deserves something from her, even if it’s a non-answer. and lying to aryll doesn’t feel right.
before she can make a decision, aryll makes it for her. “it’s okay. you don’t have to tell me. i know there’s a lot that link won’t tell me about what he’s done, but i don’t mind it when he stays quiet. i don’t like it, but if i forced him to talk about it neither of us would like it. so you don’t have to tell me,” she finishes, with an air of undisputable wisdom about her. tetra feels a smile forming on her lips, forlorn in a way that doesn’t suit a pirate captain. but right now, it suits her, and she’s a pirate captain, so actually it does suit a pirate captain, thank you very much.
tetra huffs. “thanks for the consideration, kid. that’s real kind of you.” aryll smiles nervously. “it’s alright. you can ask.” she takes a breath to steady herself.
“o-okay!” she waits a moment. aryll has a look of intense thought on her face, likely trying to think of a good way to phrase the obvious questi–
“why don’t you have an eyepatch?” okay. that was not. um.
what?
she doesn’t realize she’s spoken aloud until aryll tries to clarify, “you know, an eyepatch! or a hook?”
“what’s that supposed to mean?”
aryll looks sheepish now, which is fair, but she keeps going. “well, i-i mean…” she gestures to tetra’s missing eye and stump of a hand. “i thought when pirates lose an eye they get an eyepatch, and when they lose a hand they get a hook, so why don’t you have either of those?”
tetra just stares for a moment. blinks.
“that’s what you want to ask me?”
“yeah! if that’s alright…?”
another moment passes. aryll starts wringing her hands together nervously. tetra blinks again.
then doubles over laughing.
aryll’s expression of indignant shock (and mild concern) only makes tetra laugh harder when she looks up. “it’s a serious question! stop laughing!” tetra lets the laughter start to subside. she hasn’t laughed like that in a while, she thinks. she’s missed that feeling. she’s also of the opinion that those last two statements are depressing and not at all what she wants to be thinking, and that the last few months have been significantly more ‘gloom and doom-y’ than tetra likes. she probably should work on that, huh.
she takes another second to recover, then straightens up to look at aryll. “wow , i needed a good chuckle. thanks, aryll.” tetra goes to give the girl a supportive wink, but remembers at the last second that she only has one eye now. she settles for a thumbs up instead. “you know what, i don’t know why i haven’t gotten something for my hand, actually. i should probably look into that. but an eyepatch?” tetra shrugs. “nah. they’re way more annoying to wear than you’d think.”
aryll’s eyes widen. “you would only know that if you’ve worn an eyepatch! why aren’t you wearing one anymore?! what was it like?!” the questions rush out, and tetra can’t help but chuckle a bit. she kinda wants to make up some story about a mighty battle, but she also knows how people react when she tells them the truth, so. the truth it is!
“i wore one to treat some eye issues when i was, like, four or something. it sucked then and it sucked two months ago when i decided to see what would happen if i tried one for about ten minutes. kept falling off and moving around and generally being a pain. so yeah! no eyepatch.” the kid’s disappointment is palpable. everybody always expects some tale of a grand battle or some shit like that. they never expect ‘medical reasons’, and it’s always fun. “i should look into something for my hand, though. thanks for the reminder!” tetra pats aryll on the head. the sheer disgruntlement emanating from the younger girl is putting linebeck to shame, and that’s saying something.
aryll crosses her arms and pouts.“well if you’re gonna be mean like that, then i don’t want you to have an eyepatch anyways!” she tries to make a ‘harumph!’ noise, but it doesn’t really come out right, so she tries again and it still sounds silly, and then tetra joins in with an absolutely awful harumph of her own that sounds vaguely like a low-pitched gull, and then the two of them are laughing again. it feels nice.
tetra wipes at her eye. it’s the one she still has, so it’s not awkward. “alright, kid. let’s go get some soup. i, for one, am very excited. do you know fast we go through our stores?” she sighs like before, shaking her head, but it’s a brighter sigh this time. amused, not depressed. “i swear, niko’s absolutely stealing some. i can just tell, y’know?”
aryll giggles. “i bet it’s link! he’s never able to resist sneaking extra!” the only acceptable response to such an incriminating statement is an affronted gasp and the classic offended princess voice.
“how could he do such a thing, aryll?! i’m doing my best to make him a real pirate, and this is how he repays me?” the laughter continues. it starts to die down, though, and tetra lets it. this has been fun and all, but they should probably get moving. that soup won’t stay warm forever, and tetra plans to savor every bit of her serving.
as she straightens up, aryll takes her hand. looking at tetra nervously, she mumbles a bit as she asks, “before we go eat, can i say something?” tetra nods, so aryll continues, “i just wanted to say that, um, that you look really cool. a-and i don’t need to know how you got all cracked up but i think it makes you look even cooler than before and–and–there’s one more thing?” aryll’s voice tilts up in a question, but tetra can barely hear her. her mind is whirling, filled with disbelief, and it all solidifies into a single, incredulous thought:
i can’t believe linebeck was right.
because so far, linebeck’s advice has only really affected how she carries herself around strangers, not people she knows. in her mind, the ‘grizzled scarred pirate’ look only works on someone who doesn’t know what she looked like before. everyone she knows just feels pity. but here’s someone she cares about, telling her she looks cool. she can never tell linebeck he was right. he’ll never shut up. he already never shuts up, but tetra’s pretty sure he’ll be even more insufferable, which until this moment she wasn’t sure was possible.
“miss tetra?”
oh, right. aryll is waiting for a response. tetra opts for a very eloquent response. “huh?”
“i said, there’s one more thing? can i ask one more thing?” aryll still looks nervous.
“uh, s-sure, kid.” what’s left to ask? she can’t think of anything else aryll could want to know, aside from the story of her scars; and considering aryll already said she didn’t need to tell her it probably isn’t that. so what could she want?
“is, um, is your hand…um, what’s the word…uh, can you, y’know…” aryll makes a gesture like pulling off a glove. tetra’s not sure what she means. is aryll asking if she can still wear gloves? probably not, and that seems like a weird question to get nervous over.
“what?”
“is your hand, um, de-tach-a-ble?” aryll carefully sounds out each syllable. tetra blinks. that’s four times now that aryll has completely shattered her expectations.
detachable??
“come again, kid?”
aryll blushes. “can you take your hand off and put it back? it felt kinda loose when i pulled on it earlier, but i wasn’t sure if that was the bandages or not.”
“...you know, i’m not actually sure,” tetra says slowly, “but now i kinda wanna find out.” tetra starts to walk towards the house, and aryll walks up beside her.
“do you think you could move the hand, or would it just sit there, or something?”
“i don’t think i’d be able to move it. it’d be like if someone with a hook could keep moving it after they put it down, right? so probably not.” aryll nods sagely. the smell of that amazing soup reaches tetra’s nose, and she takes a moment to thank link and linebeck (and begrudgingly oshus) for the fact that her nose of all things somehow stayed intact.
“alright, kid. let’s go eat, yeah?” aryll laughs her assent and runs ahead, disappearing into the doorway the same way she came out of it–as a blur of yellow and blue. tetra watches fondly, and keeps walking.
as she nears the house, voices rise from it. everyone sounds happy, and tetra knows the inside is exactly as joyful as it sounds. she’s missed this.
maybe she should look into hearing that story about the broken urn again. this time tetra’d be bringing her own anecdotes, her own stories about breaking and becoming something better.
yeah. that’d be fun.
tetra smiles, and walks through the doorway.
many, many years later, a young princess looks up at a stained-glass portrait of her grandmother. every line and crack in her grandmother’s body is recorded at the woman’s own request, a testament to her strength. the princess smiles when she sees the beautiful asymmetry in her grandmother’s face, her arms, everything. when the princess had been much younger, her mother had told her that her grandmother did not fear the cracks in her body, for they were proof she had lived, and kept going. then the princess’s mother told her about how if a ‘helping hand’ was requested, her grandmother would sometimes remove one of her hands, be it whatever was on her left arm or her actual right hand, and ‘deliver’ it (typically through the air) to the one in need, and the princess spent the rest of the night giggling as she tried to sleep.
now, the princess has grown, and has her own remnants of what she has been through. and just as her grandmother before her, the princess takes pride in what has changed. it has taken time, true, but she has had plenty of time, and plenty more to come. she is stronger now, not because of what happened, but because she made it her own.
also, the satisfaction of swinging around a giant sword like it weighs nothing never gets old.
the princess smiles at the portrait again, and turns to leave. out of the corner of the eye, she swears the portrait smirks at her, and gives her a thumbs up. that’s what the portrait depicts regardless, a smirk and thumbs up that was practically her grandmother’s signature pose. but this somehow feels less like simply seeing the portrait on the edge of her vision, and more like her grandmother telling her to ‘keep it up, kiddo!’
oh, yes.
she very much intends to.