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“Hey, Twi,” Wind said, plopping down in the grass next to the older hero, “You know what I just realized?”
Twilight looked up from the long strands he was absentmindedly braiding together. “What’s that?”
“You’ve never met Wolfie!”
Twilight’s hands stopped. “Oh.”
“You know,” Wind continued, “The wolf that shows up around camp sometimes! He seems to hang around Wild a lot. And he’s even helped us in a battle before!”
“I’ve heard you all talk about this wolf a couple times, yes,” Twilight said. His throat felt dry.
“Anyway, I was just thinking of how sad it is that you’ve never met him,” Wind shrugged. “I hope you’re around the next time he decides to show up.”
“Yeah. I guess we’ll see.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Hyrule asked, joining Wind and Twilight in the grass.
“Just how Twi’s never met Wolfie before.”
“You’ve never met Wolfie?”
Twilight turned towards Hyrule and saw how his eyes were widened in surprise. “Nope. I just haven’t been here whenever…’Wolfie’ has decided to show up, apparently. But I’m sure I’ll meet him one day.”
The glint in Hyrule’s eyes went from surprised to excited. He stood up again. “Come on, I have an idea.”
Wind jumped to his feet. “What is it?”
Hyrule stared towards the forest behind them. “Let’s go find him!” The group had made their camp at the edge of the forest just this afternoon. It had been a long day of traveling, and they wanted a good rest before venturing in.
Twilight’s stomach churned. “I, uh, I’m not sure if that’s the best idea. Wild will probably be ready with dinner soon, and it would be really disrespectful if we—”
Hyrule waved a hand. “Nah, Wild’s still out hunting. We’ve got time.”
Wind pulled Twilight’s arm. “Come on! Let’s go! You’re going to love Wolfie, he’s just so cute and soft, and also ferocious at the same time, but loyal and—”
Wind’s voice became an incoherent ringing in Twilight’s ears as he pulled him towards the trees. Passing through the camp, Twilight vaguely registered Legend and Warriors sparring. Or maybe they were actually fighting, he couldn’t tell. Sky was knelt next to the fire-pit with Time, trying to get a small blaze going with some kindling. Time looked up as they passed. “Where are you boys heading?”
“We’re going into the woods to see if Wolfie’s around,” Hyrule explained. “Twi hasn’t met him yet.”
Time’s gaze shifted to meet Twi’s. “Oh, really? Is that so?”
Twilight knit his eyebrows together ever so slightly. Please help, he silently tried to communicate. Please, please help.
“I know!” Wind cried in response to Time, “I couldn’t believe it either!”
Time’s mouth curled upwards in a small grin. “You all be safe, now,” he said. “Just be back before it gets too dark.”
“Will do!” Wind said, tugging at Twilight’s sleeve again. Twilight cast one last desperate glance back at Time, to which the elder hero only chuckled and shook his head.
Betrayed! By my own mentor!
At the forest’s edge, they ran into Four emerging with a bundle of larger branches in his arms.
“Hey Four,” Hyrule greeted. “Wanna come with us to search for Wolfie?”
Twilight shook his head at Hyrule. “Four seems pretty busy at the moment—”
Four’s eyes immediately flashed to Twilight, and the laugh that forced its way through the small hero’s throat quickly turned into a cough. The way he smiled sheepishly afterwards let Twilight know he had turned it into a cough on purpose to disguise his initial reaction. Or at least, he had tried. “I’m all set,” Four said. “Gotta bring this bundle back to Time and Sky. You’ll probably run into Wild back there, though.”
Twilight held out his arms to the small hero. “You know what, I can actually help you with that if you’d like—”
“No, I think I’m good.”
“Really, Four, I insist—”
“It sounds like you’re about to go on quite the adventure,” Four’s straight face faltered. “I wouldn’t want for you to pass that up.” His lips trembled and parted with one final laugh-cough. Wheezing, Four turned and walked back towards camp.
“Is he okay?” Wind asked.
“Maybe he’s just got a bit of a cold,” Hyrule said. “Good thing he’s bringing back a bunch of firewood.”
“That’s not how curing a cold works.”
“Sure it is—”
Wind and Hyrule’s chatter fell flat on Twilight’s ears as they wandered deeper into the woods. He just needed to relax. After a couple minutes they’d realize that Wolfie was no where to be seen, and they would just turn around. Oh well, maybe next time, they’d say. His cover would stay intact. And then they’d all sit around the campfire and eat dinner and everyone would laugh about the fact that Twilight has never seen Wolfie before, and Time and Four would exchange quick glances, and Wild would—
The arrow flew across the ground in front of them.
Hyrule, leading the way, stopped and held his arms out to keep Wind and Twilight back.
“Oh, come on,” a voice from up in a tree said. “I was trying to take a low-shot to kill that fox, and you just had to choose this moment to walk into my hunting grounds.” Wild jumped down from the tree, his long blonde hair in a bun on top of his head instead of in its usual ponytail.
The sounds of a small animal running off hit Twilight’s ears. “You were planning on feeding us fox tonight?”
“Legend didn’t believe me when I said it tasted like cucco.”
“Ah.”
“What are you three doing back here?” Wild asked, passing them to retrieve his arrow.
“Looking for Wolfie!” Wind chimed.
While Time had been able to maintain his composure, and Four had suffered from cracks in the surface of his straight face, Wild completely lost it. He broke into laughter so loud that Twilight was sure he scared away any other potential prey in the area. “Wolfie!” Wild said, placing his hands on top of his head and stretching his ribcage so he could breathe. “Good luck with that one, he doesn’t like to show himself very often.”
He said that last part looking Twilight directly in the eye.
“Maybe you could help us find him,” Hyrule suggested. “You’re our hunter, I can only assume you’re decent at tracking too.”
Wild slung his bow onto his back and tilted his head for a moment.
Wild, don’t you dare —
“Sure. I could do that.”
Wind’s face lit up. “Awesome!”
“Wild, could I talk to you for a second?” Twilight pulled his protege aside.
“Yeah, what is it, Twi?”
“You know exactly why we can’t do this,” Twilight said in a hushed voice. “This isn’t fair to them.”
“Oh, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt if we humored them for a couple minutes,” Wild said.
“It’s rude to get their hopes up like that! And I’m not…I’m not ready to let anyone else know about me yet. There is no situation in which they see Wolfie tonight, and I don’t feel right about dragging it out like this.”
Wild nodded. He put a hand on Twilight’s shoulder, the mischievous glint in his eye gone. “Hey, I hear you. It’s okay. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to make you this worried, so we won’t go. We can all go back to camp and I’ll make dinner for everyone and this will be behind us. What are we going to say to them to get them to turn around with us, though?”
Twilight sighed. “Leave that to me.”
Re-approaching Hyrule and Wind, who started stacking rocks on top of each other to see how high they could get them, Twilight cleared his throat. “I have something to say.”
The two younger heroes looked up. “Is everything okay?” Hyrule asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine, uh…” Twilight searched for the words he wanted to say, “I just wanted to be very honest about something. And tell you why I haven’t been so keen on trying to find ‘Wolfie.’”
“What is it, Twi?” Wind’s eyes pooled with concern.
“Well you see, the thing is, I’m…afraid of wolves.” The words felt odd and misshapen in Twilight’s mouth. He looked at the ground.
Hyrule and Wind did not laugh like Twilight expected them to. Instead, Wind smiled softly and asked, “Twi, why didn’t you just say so?”
The surprise must have shown on Twilight’s face, because Hyrule piped up, “Yeah, everyone’s afraid of something. Even heroes! It’s okay.”
“We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Wind said. “I’m sorry, Twi.”
“No, it’s not your fault,” Twilight assured. “I should have told you sooner. It’s just that they remind me of times at the Ordon ranch when I’d have to fend the wolves away from our goats. Got a couple of nasty bites.” Twilight wasn’t really sure where the words were coming from, but they just poured out.
Wind stepped closer to take his arm. “It’s okay, Twi. Really! And I promise that if Wolfie ever does decide to show up while you’re around, I’ll protect you.”
Twilight ruffled the young sailor’s hair. “Thank you, Wind.”
“Anytime. Now let’s get out of these woods before anything shows up.”