Vocabulary Lessons

At first, nothing seemed wrong with the forest at all. It was green and smelled crisp. Flowers bloomed around the bases of the trees. Birds sang in the branches. Haunted forest? Absolutely not.

And then it started. Faint at first, unintelligible, but it was definitely there: a voice yelling angrily.

Odie grinned at Zelda, who beamed right back. "I think that's a ghost," Odie said, clenching their fists.

"What, do you plan on trying to fight it?" Zelda asked, and Arson had to admit that she had gotten the measure of his ridiculous friend pretty quickly. He didn't tell her how Odie had been startled by a Goron. That would ruin their image!

"Well, if I have to," Odie said with a smirk. "I'll fight anything if I have to. Nothing scares me!"

"Gorons," Arson said, deciding to go ahead and ruin his friend's image if they were going to be bragging like that. Everyone knew that Arson was the truly courageous one. Odie, though… Odie had a punch that would down a grown man, and they knew it.

"Shut up," they protested. "I'm not scared of Gorons!"

Arson went to say something else, but a shrill voice cut across: Come at me, whale licker! I bet you can't--

The group froze on the spot, listening as the cursing continued. Odie nodded in approval, mentally taking notes from the voice in the forest, seeming disappointed as it faded away.

"Well, I suppose that's what's haunting this place?" Zelda asked.

Odie shrugged. "I dunno. It doesn't sound like a ghost."

"What's a ghost supposed to sound like?" Arson asked sardonically. "'Oooo I'm going to kill you'?"

"How'm I supposed to know? I've never met one," Odie said, splaying their hands out. "But definitely more warbly than that."

"Come on, let's go see if we can find the source," Arson said, grinning. Now that they were in the forest, he did want to explore. There had to be something here contributing to all the rumors of being haunted, after all.

"I'm not sure that's wise," Zelda said, but she tightened the strings on her sleeves and stepped forward anyway. It didn't seem as if she would be easy to put off of a challenge.

As they walked, it grew darker and the air became more oppressive. The voice drifted along the wind more than a few times, making Odie chuckle or smirk every time it came up with some new, ridiculous insult.

"Whoever that ghost is, it's got quite the vocabulary," Odie said in appreciation. "I've learned six new swear words and two new curses already, and it hasn't even been an hour!"

"Shrill, too," Zelda mused.

Arson chuckled. "I like it."

"You would," Odie said, rolling their eyes. Their friend's taste in humans was undoubtedly questionable. That was why they were around, after all: to make sure that Arson didn't make any unreasonable friends. They still weren't sure about the princess.

"—feeble-brained son of a—" was the newest one, only half catching their ears as they stepped through a stone arch into what almost looked like a ruined town. There were carvings in the stone, swirls and birds and symbols that Odie and Arson had never seen before.

Zelda stepped closer, fingers going to trace the carvings as her head tipped, and she whipped out a pad of paper and some charcoal, noting them down. "I've never seen anything like this before!" she said enthusiastically, going up on her toes to see the higher ones better. "Ruins like this are hard to come by. There's a few here and there, but — oh! Look at this bird! I know this symbol! It dates back to the era of myth!"

"What do you know, you pile of pebbles?" the voice snapped, suddenly clearer than ever.

Arson immediately drew his sword, sliding into a fighting stance. Odie, likewise, raised their fists and put their back to the princess.

Zelda, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed.

"Well, you see, this particular style of bird drawing relates back to a really old story that's about Hyrule's creation," she chirped, as if she was talking to one of her two new trouble-making friends. "I've only ever seen it in that context before."

The voice was silent, allowing Zelda to continue making notes on the carvings in the pillar. She dashed to another one, a bright smile on her face. Odie and Arson followed, eyes peeled in the half-light for any threats.

"Get out of here you great ugly foul beast!" the voice suddenly snapped, centered to the left of the group. Arson stepped forward, his eyes seeking out whatever had upset the ghost.

"Uhh, freeze," Odie said cautiously, spotting the threat first. Their eyes were glued before them on a very large, black wolf with white markings on its body and a white swirl on his face.

The wolf was sitting in the clearing, watching the group with curious eyes. Who knew how long it had been there! Odie did not like this one bit.

Arson, on the other hand, perked up and immediately re-sheathed his sword.

"He's wagging his tail, see?" he pointed out with a grin, indicating what was definitely not just a stray dog.

"Guys?" Zelda said, having turned around to see the target of the conversation. "That's a wolf. It will eat you if you try to pet it."

"I dunno about that. He seems friendly," Arson said, edging closer to the canine, hand out slightly in front of him.

The wolf looked between the three in the group and directly at the princess to huff, as if annoyed by this boy's foolishness. Its tail thumped rhythmically behind it, though, and its body language was relaxed, despite its annoyance.

Arson approached and knelt, hand out for the wolf to sniff. Frankly, the wolf was tempted to give him a little nip to teach him a lesson about approaching wolves, but he sniffed instead. This kid was a disaster. Arson immediately beamed and gave the wolf a scratch between the ears, which made the wolf's tail pick up its pace.

Well, at least this kid was a polite disaster.

"See? Friendly!" Arson declared as the wolf pointedly rolled onto his back in a ploy to get the much-coveted belly rubs. There weren't many to be had in this weird forest, after all. His quarry conceded and immediately began rubbing the wolf's belly and chest. Perfect.

"That's a wolf, you idiot, get the fuck away from it! How stupid can you be?" the ghost voice snapped again, shrill as ever and very annoyed.

"Oh, shut up! I'm fine!" Arson snapped back, hand still on the wolf.

The wolf rolled over onto its stomach and put its head on the ground, looking between the other two children standing by the pillars. They didn't seem so sure.

"Get out of here, you stupid dog!" the ghost snapped.

The wolf put a paw over its ears and huffed in annoyance. Shrill jerk.

Odie just stared.

"Did you just make friends with a wolf?" Zelda asked, just as bewildered. The wolf barked in confirmation and stood up, approaching the girl. He took two sniffs of her hand and lowered his head, front limbs bending slightly.

Odie stared some more, their jaw gaping. Was that wolf bowing?

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, too," Zelda said gently, kneeling and putting a hand on the wolf's head. "You're not a normal wolf, are you?"

"No shit," Odie said, echoed by the voice in the forest.

"Are you going to calm down, now?" Arson asked pointedly, staring at the forest in its entirety and raising his hands.

"Chosen, my ass," the voice griped. "You're an idiot and you're going to get yourself and your friends killed. Right here. In this forest. There's some nasty shit in here."

"Which you would know about, of course," Arson snapped back, folding his arms as he argued with what was definitely just air.

"Officially the weirdest day of my life," Odie said, bending to speak into Zelda's ear.

Zelda shrugged. "I dunno. I've seen weirder. Ghosts aren't that bad, especially if they're not trying to kill you."

"Yeah, but the bowing wolf takes the cake," Odie mumbled. The wolf huffed and wagged his tail, looking around. Were they done talking yet?

"I got better shit to do than talk you out of getting yourself killed, you dumbass," the voice continued to snarl. "We are utterly and completely doomed!" Somehow, the ghost's voice had become even more shrill with this dramatic statement.

The wolf looked to his right and barked, a huff of a noise as he trotted over, gaining the attention of all three children.

Arson, who had more sense than the voice gave him credit for, drew his sword once more, eyes on the trees where - it seemed - some shadows were congealing.

"What, you're staying?"

The wolf borfed pointedly.

"Are you going to be useful at all?" the shadows asked the wolf, who borfed again and looked to the three children. "Good. Keep them away from the hinox, if you care about your skin." The wolf borfed once more and looked directly at the shadows once more.

"I think I'm going to give up on asking what's happening," Odie said quietly, their head tilted in utter bewilderment.

"Probably a good idea, four-eyes."

"Hey!" Odie protested.

Arson stepped in front of the shadows, chin lowered and a dangerous look in his eyes. "Don't insult my friend," he warned, hand tight on his unsheathed sword.

"Okay, enough fighting," Zelda said, hands up as she approached the glop of shadows that was currently the center of attention. The shadows formed a slightly more human shape, which bowed to the girl. "Hm. You do have manners."

"When I want."

The wolf huffed another bark, this time stepping forward into the thicker trees and turning around, as if saying follow me.

Arson followed without hesitation, slanting a glance to the side when the humanoid shadows dissolved. "It seems like we're going to have to be on our guard," he said, turning to speak over his shoulder. "Odie, you guard her. Zelda, I'm assuming you know how to use your sword?"

"Yes," she said quietly, drawing it from its sheath. "I have been trained from a young age."

"Yeah, we have too," Odie said, pulling two knives from their belt. "Let's get to whatever this wolf is wanting us to get to and then get out of here."

"Lead on," Arson said to the wolf.

The wolf huffed and turned around, glad they had finally gotten around to listening. Honestly, he didn't think he'd been anywhere near as dense. He pitied his predecessor if he had.