Oct 16, 2012

Terminan Journal: Entry #7

I've relived these same three days several times since my last entry. I haven't yet gone to the eastern canyon to begin working on freeing the final Giant. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I've become compelled to do what I can to help the people of Termina in any way possible, no matter how small. I can't just leave these people to suffer before my very eyes, even if their peace is short-lived. Tatl became increasingly annoyed at my delaying of our journey to the canyon, but still accepted my reasoning that these people could give us vital information about the Skull Kid, and I could give myself as much time as I needed.

I did many things in this time, from removing dark curses to listening to guilty confessions. I played games with people, I reawakened forgotten passions, and I helped those who could not be helped by anyone else. It's almost hard to remember everything I've done, or when I've done it. However, there is one chain of events I will never be able to forget. Like most of the stories contained in this land, it is a story of mistrust and fear. It is a story of pain, and a story of loss.

But most importantly, it is a story of love.

Throughout my many cycles of time, I would often run into or hear of Cremia's good friend Anju, the girl that runs the Stock Pot Inn. I would most often see her out in the rain, crying silenty to herself. The stories I had heard all involved her lover, Kafei, and how he had suddenly vanished mere days before their wedding, set to occur on the Carnival of Time. Some even said he had run off with Cremia! Of course I knew that to be false, but it drove me to find the truth even more.

I eventually met with Kafei's mother, Madame Aroma, wife of the mayor of Clock Town. She mistook me for a private investigator and asked that I help find Kafei. I agreed, and she handed me a mask in Kafei's likeness to help me describe him to people. As I left the city hall, I noticed something new; I saw the postman entering the Stock Pot Inn. I entered just as he handed a letter to Anju, who seemed very surprised at what was written inside. After the postman left, I told her I was searching for Kafei. With a jump and a yelp of shock, the timid girl requested that I talk to her that night, alone.

I met with Anju at midnight in the inn's kitchen. She told me that the letter was from an anonymous sender, but she still knew it was from Kafei. She briefly told me about him, and their relationship, and asked that I help find him. Before departing for the night, she handed me a letter to Kafei and asked me to deliver it to him.

Since the postman had Kafei's letter to Anju, I figured that he was hiding somewhere in Clock Town. Of course the postman knew where, but the man is incredibly devoted to his job, and would never tell me what he knew. So in the morning, I dropped Anju's letter into the post box, and waited. When the postman came to collect the mail, I followed him. It took a while, but he eventually lead me to the laundry pool, and delivered Anju's letter to a small boy wearing a mask. I followed the boy into the nearby building in order to ask him if he knew where Kafei was.

But to my surprise, the boy WAS Kafei! It seemed that the Skull Kid had transformed him into a child, and a wandering thief had stolen the ceremonial wedding mask he was to give Anju. Because of all of this, Kafei felt he could not show himself to her. Anju had written about me in her letter, and Kafei took that as a sign that I could be trusted. He asked that I help him recover his stolen mask, and gave me a pendant to give to Anju as a promise that he would return.

Anju was overjoyed to receive Kafei's pendant, and swore to wait for him instead of fleeing to the ranch along with her family.

Kafei and I spent the next day looking for the thief. I had not seen him at all, but when I returned to his hideout, I was instead met with the man that runs the "curiosity" shop. It seemed that the thief had come in to sell some stolen bomb bags, and Kafei had followed him back to his lair... in the eastern canyon.

The land of Ikana Canyon was a dreadful place. It seemed that nothing lived there at all; even the trees were all dead. The only living soul I found was the keeper of the nearby cemetery. He told me that Ikana Canyon was a cursed place where the dead reigned supreme, and the ancient Stone Tower seemed to be the source of the canyon's plight. But I couldn't worry about that at that time. I showed him Kafei's mask and asked if he had seen him. The gravekeeper simply pointed further up the canyon's walls.

I followed just in time to see Kafei disappearing into a hidden cave. Inside was the stolen mask, but Kafei triggered a security system, sealing the mask away from us! We had to work together to get the mask before it was lost to us forever. With mask in hand, Kafei rushed off to Clock Town to meet with Anju. I used my ocarina's magic to return much faster.

It was midnight of the final day of Termina's life. The ground violently quaked as the moon drew ever closer, but still I waited with Anju for Kafei's arrival. I grew increasingly nervous as the ground shook harder, but Anju was more at peace than I could believe. She simply said that she trusted Kafei, and would await his arrival no matter what.

For a time, I thought Kafei would never show up, and with the sun rising in the distance, I began to reach for my ocarina. But just at that moment, he burst into the room.

Kafei defensively approached Anju and apologized for being late. But with an enormous amount of joy, she simply welcomed him home and embraced him.

The two of them held each other for a long time, but a particularly jarring quake shook them out of it. They then finally exchanged their masks, officially marking them as a couple. They handed me a special mask to commemorate the event and mark me as the wedding's witness, and swore to each other that they would wait to see the next day together.

It was never harder for me to play the Song of Time as it was right then.

I've done many things in the past several days, and helping Anju and Kafei felt the most rewarding. But after seeing Ikana Canyon with my own eyes and seeing how bad it is, I feel I must finally leave Clock Town behind and resume my journey. Something horrible is happening in that canyon, and I have to find out what. And maybe, after it is all finished, I can help them regain their happiness once more...

The boy's dedication to helping those in need is both admirable and disconcerting. It is good that he wishes to spread joy, but what could it mean that he temporarily ignored his far more important quest to do so...?

Blast Mask - The Guardian
Bremen Mask - The Confidante
Bunny Hood - The Companion
Kamaro's Mask - The Teacher
Circus Leader's Mask - The Reaffirmer
Stone Mask - The Invisible
All-Night Mask - The Student
Mask of Truth - The Hunter
Kafei's Mask - The Detective
Keaton Mask - The Friend
Postman's Hat - The Liberator
Couple's Mask - The Uniter

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