The Edge Of Darkness (Link x Dark)

Chapter 13: Taking A Deep Dive

The evening air felt unusually warm, and Dark couldn't help but feel a little envious of Link as he plunged into the cool water of the lake once more. "'It'll be easy to find him,' you said. 'The Zora are a friendly race of people,' you said. And I listened to you!" Dark sighed, hanging his head down. While Link had been actively searching for Javo, he had done nothing more than lay face-down in the grass, letting the afternoon sun beat against his already too-warm clothing and his unprotected skin. Now that the sun was beginning to set, he was finally sitting up again, watching Link swim around with growing irritation.

"Cheer up, young man!" a voice next to him rang out in optimism, and Dark jolted in surprise, staring at the space to his left. All he saw was a pair of scarecrows sitting among crops that looked like they required some attention, not that he knew much about gardening. "What? You've never seen a talking scarecrow before?" At this, Dark jumped to his feet. He most certainly was not prepared to deal with this today.

"I don't think he has, Bonooru!" Another voice, lighter than the first, spoke up. It sounded like it was making fun of him, and Dark clenched his teeth as he glared at the ground. Was he really going to tolerate being taunted by a scarecrow?

"Is that so?" The first scarecrow inquired in a kinder tone of voice. "What do you think, Pierre? Should we sing for him? We are multi-talented, after all."

"I don't want to hear a single note out of you," Dark growled at them, his fists rolling into tight balls and raising without a second thought. The straw-like voices emanating from the structures in front of him already set him on edge, and that was just from talking. It would probably be much worse if they were singing.

"What a shame," the second scarecrow, Pierre, sighed theatrically. "I do so enjoy a good tune."

Dark crouched slightly, circling closer to the pair of scarecrows. He expected Link to jump from behind them at any second, with a smile on his face that said he played the best practical joke of all time. But he knew that was an impossibility. Link was still on the other side of the lake - he had seen him with his own eyes. "This isn't funny," he said flatly.

"Of course not!" The first scarecrow said in shock, swaying on his post in a way a gathering of straw should not have been able to. "We're Bonooru and Pierre, the scarecrow musical geniuses! We would never joke about that."

"Musical...geniuses," Dark repeated, hardly able to believe he was participating in this ridiculous conversation. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We hear a song once and we never forget it, baby!" Bonooru belted this out with a bit more gusto than Dark would have liked. "Give it a try! Lay a tune on me!"

He could think of a lot of things he could be doing right now, but laying a tune on a scarecrow didn't even make it into the top five. "How does this even happen," he muttered to himself, meaning it as more of a rhetorical question.

"Magic water." The sudden sound of Link's voice caused him to whirl around, taking in the sight of him emerging from the lake and running his fingers through his hair; droplets of water sparkling in the rapidly-fading sunlight. It hardly felt fair that Link could look so perfect even when he was soaking wet, and Dark couldn't help but feel a little awed.

"I knew that," Dark replied tartly. "You've been gone a long time," he commented, changing the subject. "How long does it take to find one Zora in a small lake?"

"Oh, a very long time, indeed!" Pierre said, seemingly happy to have another person to converse with. "My, but they do enjoy hiding. I've never seen such a distrust of outsiders before."

If Dark had not currently been attempting to suppress his feelings, he might have shouted at Pierre that he would show him a distrust of outsiders, and if humans looked anything to the Zora like a talking scarecrow looked to him, he didn't blame him for hiding. But instead he contained the comment, shifting his gaze to the ground.