The world had just begun to anticipate winter. The few remaining dead leaves blew away from the branches of the trees, revealing their crooked grey figures. Rainy clouds covered the moon and stars, painting the long cold night black. Wind whipped around the old Picori sage as he walked through the quiet side of the Minish Village. He was nearly frozen to the bone already, and to make it all worse, it was beginning to sprinkle rain.
“Almost home. I’ll put on a nice hot pot of soup when I get there,” he said, willing himself to go on fighting against the incoming winter winds.
Something stopped him in his tracks.
A noise came from underneath a shivering leaf- a tiny sneeze. He stopped, turning his attention to it, perplexed and curious. It sneezed again, followed by some pitiful coughing.
“What have we here?” He mused as he lifted the edge of the leaf up. Underneath the thin shelter, he found a Minish child. Shocked, he stared at him for a few moments.
The child looked back at the old sage with wide red eyes, trembling from the bitter cold. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air once, then sneezed pitifully again.
“What are you doing out here, little fellow?” Ezlo asked softly. “Are you lost? Where are your parents?” He reached for the child, gently touching his hand. “Why, you’re as cold as ice…”
The little creature spoke no response, only coiled away from him, frightened.
“I won’t hurt you,” Ezlo told him. “Why don’t you come home with me for now? I can’t have you staying out here alone, especially on a brutal night like this.”
Cautiously, the boy allowed Ezlo to lead him out from under the leaf and proceeded to follow him to his house, clinging to his green robe for the whole trip.
Once inside, Ezlo set a pot of soup over the fire, just as he had promised himself. As starving as he looked, the little pale boy refused to eat at all. He only curled up by the fire and fell fast asleep.
“You’re a strange one, aren’t you?” Ezlo said to himself as he listened to the child’s soft breathing, a slight smile on his face. “Red eyes, purple skin… I’ve never seen one like you.” He chuckled a little. “There, just rest now,” Ezlo whispered as he laid a blanket over him. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the village market and look for your parents.”
~*~
“What do you mean he has no parents!?” Ezlo exclaimed, shocked.
“I don’t know, he just showed up here one day,” the shop owner shrugged. “No one ever claimed him or took him in. He hangs around the outskirts of the village most of the time.”
“Are you meaning to tell me you knew he was an orphan, yet you and everyone else who knew refused to do anything about it!?”
“Mister Ezlo, we didn’t refuse, it’s just…” the shop owner trailed off as his gaze slid down to the boy who was standing behind Ezlo. “He’s strange, is all.”
“You’re meaning to tell me everyone turns a blind eye to this boy because he looks different?” The shop owner stared down, silent, not daring to answer. “He could have died out there.” There was still no response. “You minish sicken me,” Ezlo growled as he turned and stormed out, the boy trailing close behind.
They had walked about half way down the path in silence, Ezlo stomping on with an angry expression on his face. The little minish tugged at the edge of his robe, tilting his head as they met eyes. Ezlo calmed himself and gave the boy a reassuring smile.
“It will be alright, little one,” he sighed. “You’ll stay at my place for now. Is that alright?”
The child looked up at him with wide bright eyes, nodding. Ezlo chuckled.
“You don’t say much, do you? Obviously, you understand me. Can’t you say something?”
“Yes,” the little minish squeaked.
“Ah, so he does have a voice! Does he have a name, too?”
The child giggled a little, but shook his head.
“No name? Well, then I’ll have to find one for you later.” Ezlo sighed in pity. “I’ve been looking for an apprentice. Would you like to be my student?”
“Yes!” He said, a smile beginning to curve on his little mouth.
“Wonderful! Then, I’ll teach you how to speak properly… staring today.”
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Ezlo's Apprentice
FanfictionBefore the great Wind Mage, before the curse upon the land of Hyrule, before the dark intentions of an apprentice... there was but an innocent Minish child. Something had to make him into the villain he became. Something had to drive him into his m...
