Legend of Zelda Deluge: December part 9

    After leaving the main square, Link and Hena went through the noisy, gossiping crowds, finding their way to a small, well-lit, warm restaurant that was less crowded than the outdoor food booths. The restaurant had several high tables with no seats, so they stood as they ate a quick dinner of soup in hollowed bowls of bread.

    "So, you saw the candidates together," Hena spoke up when she was nearly finished with her soup. "What do you think of them? My uncle sure can go on, can't he?"
 
    "He was very friendly," Link replied, then gulping down the rest of his soup and biting into the bread bowl.

    "Yeah, he's always been like that." Hena's smile was a little crooked. "He's really popular with just about everyone in town thanks to that. But, as an outsider who just met them, who do you think will win?"

    After considering for a moment, absentmindedly tearing off a large piece of the bread, Link answered slowly, "It depends on what the people in town are looking for in a Mayor."

    "Yeah, yeah." Hena nodded. "It depends if people want someone official and fancy or somebody… well, like my uncle. And as I said last night, people are leaning towards fancy. Not that Brian Koru won't do a good job."

   They finished in silence. After paying, they headed outside, where a twilight sky loomed above them, a pale, washed out orange to the west that faded into a dark blue, partially hidden behind dark clouds that were thickest to the north. Link took a long breath and smelled snow on the chilled northern wind.

Legend of Zelda Deluge: December part 8

    The next couple hours flew by as Link wandered around the lakeside town, only able to observe a small fraction of the variety of booths, games, and other festivities stands and events occurring through the town. As the afternoon began to wear on, the crowds started to gather around the gate of the city, waiting, talking up a din so loud that the noise and beat of their chattering and laughing could be heard clearly on the other side of town. Eventually Link joined them, getting into a crowd further from the gate, waiting along the decorated main street of the town, which mounted town guards were trying to clear of the crowds, that led to the immense main square where the crowd wrapped around the large, raised stone dais in the center, which had wooden poles erected at the corners, covered in ivy, topped with lanterns, and connected by ropes with small, colored flags. There was a small group on the dais, but Link only spotted them a second before several people taller than him blocked his view.

Legend of Zelda Deluge: December part 7

     Link opened his eyes to pitch darkness all around him. After staring blankly for a moment, he rolled over, looking at the fireplace. The unattended fire had burnt low overnight, leaving only lingering embers behind. In its absence, the chill from outside had crept in, its claws gripping the room. Slowly Link rose up into the cold, noticing that his neck had gone stiff. Yawning, he rubbed his neck methodically, and reached around blindly for his shoes until he realized he was wearing them.

    He stoked the fire for a while, slowly remembering all that had happened last night. Recalling his disorientation from the mulled wine, he noted with relief that he only had the slightest traces of a headache. After the fire was stable, he got a spare piece of wood and lit it, using it as a makeshift torch as he rose, searching the room for the oil lanterns and lighting them.

     The light swept the shadows away, revealing that the entire interior of the small building was a single room, separated into two parts by neatly stacked wooden crates. The larger section had a long wooden counter, with large drawers built into its far side, several of them locked. Behind the counter was an assortment of clean, though clearly not new, fishing equipment, including sealed bait. On the opposite side of the room was the door, and again it's the far wall between door and counter was an empty glass tank, spotlessly clean, though still bearing a strong smell of fish.