The Snow Maiden

Half Forgotten Monsters

The wind wavered in and out, as though unsure just how hard it wanted to blow. The villagers were still outside, shoveling snow off of other roofs so as to avoid another disaster. Link led Shadow to the Mayor's cabin. Shadow didn't ask why they were stopping here first.

Inside, Nani was just about to head out with a large, insulated canteen in her mittened hands. She stopped and looked at Shadow in confusion. Shadow looked back at her with a peculiar expression on his face.

"Have we met?" he asked gruffly.

She shook her head and looked back to Link, who was taking up an extra pair of snowshoes from beside the door and handing them to Shadow.

"Nani, do you know where the Mayor keeps his ropes?"

She nodded and led them back outside. As Link followed her to the barn, Shadow went about the task of strapping the snowshoes to his feet.

Link waited by the door as she brought him the ropes out of the darkness. She held onto them, though, as he reached for them. Her eyes gleamed like stars in the faint light of the sun outside.

"Don't do it," she said in her soft voice.

Link was surprised. She had talked to him without being directly asked anything. The look on her face unnerved him, though.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't hurt her."

At that, he tugged the ropes out of her hands.

"Nani, you don't understand. She's killed people. She's killing them now, and I don't think she's going to soften her heart anytime soon."

She shook her soft mane of hair. "No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

The way she lowered her usually soft eyes underneath her eyebrows made him uneasy. It was as though she could see through him, and what she saw she disagreed with. He shifted, wondering how such a look could have been hiding underneath such a pleasing smile.

"She isn't a monster."

"That's the thing," he slung the rope over his shoulder, not meeting her gaze, "she is."

Nani didn't follow him as he left. Shadow met him by the porch.

"What's the ropes for?" he asked.

"This girl can control the snow more or less, right?" he handed him one. "There's no telling if she'll call up a blizzard or something. I brought the rope in case she did so we don't get lost."

Shadow took up the rope and slung it back over his sheath. "Where do we plan on anchoring ourselves off of?"

"The farthest house-the one most on the edge, that is."

Shadow grinned. "You're horrible at directions. Don't you mean outlier? North? South?"

"Shut up."

"Never."

They trudged across the village, cloaks fluttering around them in the hesitant breeze. Villagers stopped in their work to watch the two brothers who had avoided each other until now. Link thought he noticed Kane on one roof nudge another youth and mutter something to him. His companion stared more earnestly now. Behind him, Shadow humped.

"The staring again," he sniffed, "I'm starting to wonder if they're all there. If they were, you'd think they would have left before the winter got this bad."

Link ignored him. He had an uneasy feeling in his gut. He couldn't shake off the memory of Nani's disappointment. No, disapproving was an understatement. But the fire in his chest wouldn't allow him to let this winter last any longer. Not when he could do something about it, and the image of the woman begging the blue corpse to wake up was far stronger than his uneasiness.

Link didn't look back as they made it to the outlying home. It was shabbier than most, for the villagers had moved inward as the snow crowded them in. He and Shadow found a post by the back door and tied themselves up.

"All right, hero," said Shadow as he tugged his last knot. "What's your plan now? Stand here until she wanders over? Look pretty?"

Link slipped out his ocarina. "No. Come on. Let's give this village some space."

When they had reached the end of the rope and the village was a good hundred yards or so behind them, Link readied his ocarina. He glanced at Shadow, whose black colorings made him stand out like a beacon amongst all the whiteness. He was squinting across the sunlit plain of snow.

"How do you know she'll come out?" Shadow asked. "As far as I know, she's not the most outgoing type."

"That's what this is for," he lifted his ocarina, "and I'm going to need you to sing."

"Excuse me?"

"She loves music. Can't ignore it. I'm not sure why, but I think she's looking for something that has to do with it."

"Or someone."

"What songs do you know?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Just play the damn thing before I change my mind. Goddesses, I can't believe I'm doing this."

Even Link was faintly amazed at how easy Shadow had complied. He lifted the flute and played an old tune he knew at the corner of his memory. When Shadow began to gently sing the lyrics, he nearly stumbled on the notes in amazement. Shadow knew this song? But he had learned it from a dead man of a lost village, far away on the edge of Hyrule. Had Shadow somehow followed him there? But he was sure he would've known if he had followed him. Shadow would never pass up a chance to ambush him.

"Take that broken thread to the street, hold it to a lover's neck, tell me if it makes you feel complete. No, rain's not coming down. No, rain's not coming down. But when it does, I'll meet you there, with that broken thread and me."

He sounded...nice. Was that how Link sounded like when he sang? He shook himself. What did it matter? How did Shadow know this song?

The low breeze grew. Snowflakes fluttered up into it and brushed around them. The sunlight flickered, making them gleam and sparkle like flying diamonds. Shadow's gaze was distant as he sang, and for the first time Link didn't see himself in his face, but someone else. The red dimmed from his eyes and his chin lifted.

" So dirty is your city holding to a lover's neck, such a pity, such a pity. So broken is your red thread, so lost and incomplete. No, rain's not coming down into your dirty city. But when it does, I'll meet you there, with that broken thread and she."

A pale, bare foot stepped out from the fluttering snow. The sunlight broke through the cloud of snow in beams. For a breath Link was caught up in the beauty of it. A great tower of sparkling diamonds and gold sunlight. He found himself even more breathless as the girl who created it stepped through the curtains, and he forgot all about his intentions with the sword on his back.

Such large, bright blue eyes, framed by lashes that could have been snow. And she was so close, he could have reached out and touched that mane of white hair getting lost in all the flying, glittering snowflakes.

All that beauty had been hidden in the blizzard last night?

Shadow had stopped singing. Link happened to look over and saw the most amazing thing of all: his dark, murderous nemesis had softened. His eyes were gentle, and his small smile kind.

"I brought him," he said.

The Snow Maiden's eyes were sharp and wary on Link, who tensed. Brought him? They had arranged this?

"Him?" she asked. "The hero of those people?"

The ocarina slipped from his fingers and he just caught it. He took a step back. Shadow turned to meet his gaze, and instantly it flicked back to his old hate.

"Yeah. You're in luck, he came right to me after last night's blizzard."

Link felt the blood drain from his face. The child of Majora and the creation of Ganon...

He had walked right into a trap.