[h1][center]A Confrontation with the Goddess[/center][/h1]

[center][h2][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h2][/center]

[center][h3][color=red]Merge Rate: 32%[/color][/h3][/center]

[center]Word Count: 4244 [/center]

[center][color=darkgreen]Level 9 [/color] - (82/90) + 5[/center] 

[center]Location: Wildwood Glades[/center]

[i]With @Lugubrius[/i]

[hr][hr]

Linkle didn’t understand that bit about names having power. That wasn’t a sort of magic she had ever heard of, but then again she wasn’t the witch here. So she nodded her ascent to keeping both the witch's name and home secret. That was one witch stereotype the woman lived up to: she was reclusive. 

She was a bit confused when the Witch came over with their tea and Albedo didn't take it, his eyes distant. She was about to stick her foot out and give him a quick prod when their host broke his concentration for them. She gently rebuked him for being rude, but when he looked to Linkle she piped up. “Yeah. Albedo is a scholar. He thinks a lot.” She wondered, briefly, what it was he might have been thinking about. Maybe the name thing. 

Regardless, when the woman turned her attention to Linkle and asked if there was anything she could help them with, Linkle was all ready to answer. “We came here from the monastery at the top of the cliffs hoping to get help from the Goddess, Freya. And help Freya. Help each other, I guess. Mr. Tuley told us that if anyone knew her, you would.”

Something in the witch’s manner changed instantly, involuntarily. Her posture stiffened, her expression grew guarded, and the muscles allowed to relax in the familiar and secure comfort of home tightened. Though she did her best to hide it, her guests were either observant or empathic enough to notice that even the mention of the name alerted her, maybe even alarming her. When she spoke, her tone was intentionally even, her politeness came as if forcefully extracted, and her encouraging smile, deprived of its warmth, had grown thin. “Where did you hear that name, my child?”

“Her mother.” Linkle said quickly. Even her, oblivious as she was to the tension between the witch and her companion, could tell this was a sensitive subject. “Her step-mother, anyway. Skadi. She lives right up at the monastery.” Was this woman also protecting the goddess, keeping her hidden with the same sort of spells she used to conceal herself? “Please, I don’t mean any harm. I’m sure Skadi would have destroyed me if she thought I did.” 

At the mention of another name the witch’s recoiled slightly, her defensiveness turned to thinly-veiled confusion. “...Skadi?” she whispered. “But she…” With a shake of her head she cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. “Excuse me. I know of this monastery, but I had no idea that Skadi dwelled within. It would seem I must pay the place a visit some time. But if you were acquainted with and on terms with her...well, I must confess that makes me all the more interested to hear what business you might have with Freya.”

“If you do, it might not be the Skadi you’re familiar with. She…” Linkle started regretfully, but then she scrunched up her face trying to figure out how to put it. She guessed the woman needed context. “I think you know that Freya is being hunted by someone. He came there looking for her, and when Skadi refused to tell him where she was he beat her until she went...strange. In the head, I mean. Not like any god I had ever imagined. It was like she was a frightened little kid.”


“When I first got here, he tried to do the same to me. Beat information about my friends out of my head, but he fell into a chasm and I managed to trap him in there with my ice magic so he couldn't get out so easily. I didn’t know anything about him, other than he couldn’t be hurt and that as soon as my friends got here he was going to try and kill them. But that’s when I met Albedo.” She looked over at him, smiling. “He’d made Albedo run some tests on him, and he found out that the guy’s powers were divine. That’s why we went to the monastery, that’s how we met Skadi, but Skadi couldn't even tell us his name. When I promised I’d protect Freya from him, though, she told us the Goddess dwelt down here in the glade. We think that if anyone knows anything about this man, it would be the goddess he’s hunting.”

During Linkle’s whole story the witch of the woods kept quietly attentive, and with a much tighter grasp over her composure no cracks now appeared in her guard through which her true feelings might be glimpsed. Of course, to Albedo that seemed to indicate that she harbored an intense interest for the subject on hand, one that outstripped even the interest she’d taken in the blond teenagers originally. He watched in silence until his new friend finished recounting the last day’s events. For brief moment he spotted the witch’s eyes flicker his way when Linkle brought up his examinations, but even then she betrayed no emotion.

It took a few moments for the witch to put her thoughts together, but when the time came to speak her mind, her face no longer held any warmth. Instead her eyes were icy and imperious, driving back the heat of the fire and provoking an involuntary shiver from Albedo. “I am sorry that this man brought you harm, and I truly regret what happened with Skadi. But Freya does not need your protection, and I can tell you nothing about that man other than this: it would be wise of you to forget about him. Whatever your reasons, I must demand that you leave him alone. Do not speak with him, do not seek him out, do not fight him, and more than anything, cease this...investigation into his ‘powers’, as you put it.” Her frigid gaze turned upon Albedo. “You, homunculus, must be perceptive indeed to have learned so much. But know that not all secrets are meant to be uncovered. Since the dawn of time the quest for forbidden knowledge has driven men to death and madness. It is no different for the likes of you. So please, for your own safety...” She glanced back at Linkle, wearing a worried look. “Stay away.”

[i]She knows.[/i] The alchemist had frozen with his mouth half-open and a look of something like fear on his face. He glanced at Linkle, hoping that she didn’t quite catch on to what the witch had at some point determined, but quickly turned his attention back to his host. Gone was the genial, motherly figure who’d invited some children to her house for tea, replaced by someone who insisted that the pair must abandon their path. Something about her manner made him doubt that her words came from a place of concern, at least about them. He began to wonder if this witch was hiding more than she let on.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I made a promise to Skadi.” Linkle replied, her voice more forceful than before. She didn't know what a homu-whasit was, but she saw Albedo’s reaction to being labeled one. She could only assume she had called him something as bad a whoreson, if not worse. “Besides that, he hasn’t left us with any choice. He’s teamed up with...whatever caused this mixed up world. My friends are trying to fix things, so he’s got to fight them no matter what. [i]He[/i] came after [i]me[/i], he’s not going to stop just because I managed to beat him one time. Just like he’s not ever going to stop hunting Freya.”

[color=red] This is a farce. You will not convince this one with words. Reanimate her and compel what she is withholding from her skull.[/color] 

Linkle shook her head. That was just what she needed, two upset voices. The witch was obviously just as intimidated by the Stranger as Skadi was. It wasn’t fair. The only reason he had even been able to beat a god in the first place was because nothing could hurt him. The only reason Freya had to be afraid was because she had done something to make him invincible in the first place. If she would just lift whatever it was she had done she and her friends wouldn't have to live in fear like this. It was so selfish, which was a sacrilegious thing to think but it was true. 

The Skullgirl’s determination did not rattle the witch, but it did serve to fully dissolve the veneer of concern she’d been wearing in hopes of convincing her guests via empathy. That left the woman openly disgruntled, suppressing the tranquil fury of the mother bear who’d spotted a threat too close to her cub. “Look,” she began. “I am sorry he picked a fight with you. Truly, I am. Nobody knows how difficult he can be more than I. But it’s a big world, and if you leave the Highlands, or just lay low, the chance of him finding you again are slim to none.” With her arms crossed she sniffed in disdain, clearly unhappy. “And the odds of him finding Freya are lower still. This place is enchanted; he’s explored it several times and not once seen the goddess hiding under his own nose. As for the world…” Her sunset-splashed eyes narrowed further still. “It makes no difference to me. If you will not heed my wisdom…” The witch stood and gestured toward the door. “I must ask you to leave.”

Albedo waited a moment before he rose. With his host’s ultimatum laid out, it was the time for action, whether that meant a peaceful departure or something altogether different. Knowing what truly mattered and unwavering in that knowledge, he had no qualms about taking decisive action, but it wasn’t his call to make. Instead he waited for Linkle to make up her mind about what to do, although the alchemist felt rather assured that she wouldn’t do anything unbecoming of a hero.

Linkle stood up, looking hurt but, more than that, confused. “The only reason she has to hide like this is because he’s invincible. She’s a god, without that she wouldn't have anything to fear from him. At least tell me why she won’t just...take it away. Whatever it is that she did, she could remove it. Right?”

At the mention of what Linkle had managed to piece together the witch’s eyes went wide, but the Skullgirl’s question turned her host’s fear into anger in an instant. “NO!” she fumed, her home shaking as the wood itself seemed to twist and flex. Linkle felt herself lean away when faced by the woman's fury. “It is irrevocable. Unbreakable! There is no use in trying. None! Do you understand?” White-knuckled from gripping her chair, the witch breathed a deep breath, then continued, calmer. “I am telling you that you’re wasting your time with him. Whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll have to find another way.” With a wave of her hand she opened the door from afar. “Now, if you don’t mind..?”

“But that has to be a lie.” Linkle replied, getting up. “I know it is…”

A thousand arguments occurred in Linkle’s head, her face scrunching up as she fought with herself. They were so close. At least some of the answers were locked away in this strangely defensive woman’s head. Was she lying? Was Freya lying to her? Why would she do that? Or was this whole thing a wild goose chase after? Maybe there wasn’t a way. He really was invincible, there was no path home, and they should all just give up and find a place to live in the World of Light. [color=red]Would that be so bad?[/color] What was so terrible about the World of Light anyway? Other than everyone being subject to the whims of a big floating monster in the sky? Other than the hand playing despicable games with people’s lives? Other than the fact that Hyrule as she knew it was gone? 

The witch didn't understand. The witch [i]couldn't[/i] understand. When she looked into her eyes she saw red staring back at her. Linkle could make her understand, she could dome something she had been too cowardly to do for Din a few nights ago. What would be the point? She already said she didn't care about the world at all, what would seeing it for what it really was change? This woman had invited Linkle into her home, had chased the darkness from her mind for a brief blissful moment. It was Linkle’s fault that things had turned so sour between them, could she really attack her after that? Just start a fight, out of the blue, against this woman that had done nothing to her? It was downright unheroic. Besides, what good would Linkle do anyone if the witch turned her into a bunny rabbit and left her to hop around the glade? That made it better though. It wasn’t like she would be fighting some defenceless woman. Linkle had felt the power she gave off, Linkle could very well walk out the worse from the encounter. That made it worse though, too, didn't it? The second they started it meant either winning or dying!

That was only part of the argument that went on in the girl's head. Linkle stood there in agony for a moment and an eternity, the whispers growing more and more excited as the girl struggled against herself. It was like getting front row seats to a pair of equally matched wrestlers, both jockeying for position but neither able to line up a definitive grapple on the other. They went at one another over and over again, sometimes repeating whole sequences, until one lined up the killing blow. 

An image flashed in Linkles mind, a frightful image of Snowdin in ruins. The buildings collapsed or frozen over, the tree dead and lying prone in the street, and all the pretty twinkling lights replaced by flickering little motes of rainbow. In the middle of it stood the stranger, still shaking frost from his body, his anger at his entombment taken out of the cheerful little town. 

Linkle looked up as the instant passed, eyes sad but resolved. “We have to fight. Afterwards, you’ll understand why.”

For a moment the witch was taken aback, a mixture of confusion and panic overtaken her, but when Albedo backed up Linkle’s declaration by summoning his sword to hand her guests’ intention became real. She stepped backward as if to flee and only managed to halt herself with a fortifying cocktail of anger and pride. “I see how wrong I was to trust again. To believe that innocence still existed, even in the hearts of children. Alas, your deception will have won you nothing. I cannot fight you, and you cannot make me talk. Ransack my home if it pleases you, but it will offer you no answers.” With a sudden vigor she shouted an unknown word, and the entire house began to shake. Vines launched from the floor and ceiling, creating a barrier between the witch and her questioners to buy herself a little time. After a quick about-face, the witch transformed into an eagle and flew for the front door.

Linkle hadn’t expected the woman to cut and run, [color=red] but then again she was a coward[/color]. The witches' condemnation halted Linkle long enough to work her magic, though, even if it was purely defensive. She swallowed the shame, whipped out her crossbows, and fired a pair of bomb arrows at the vines to blast a hole in them. She spotted the eagle a moment later, and plunged her hands to the ground. Her hair flashed blue as a road of frost raced to the open doorway to create a barrier to keep the eagle from escaping. 

Instead the wall of ice closed over the door just after the witch escaped through it. Already on the move, Albedo noted the narrow miss and quickly decided on a route of his own, implausible as it might be to catch a bird already on the wing. Rather than try his luck with the blockages he made for the window and threw himself through it, easily bashing apart the glassless aperture’s wooden fixture and then rolling once he touched down outside. He rose to his feet already running, but when he spotted the witch already impossibly out of reach, he slowed to a stop with a sigh. Although his face betrayed no anger, he couldn’t call himself even remotely satisfied with how things panned out. Forget Freya--this woman seemed much more dead set on protecting the Stranger. The encounter invited all sorts of questions, and after crossing his arms the Alchemist busied himself considering them.

Linkle plowed through her own ice barrier a moment later, the ice shattering as easily for her as glass, and scanned the sky to find the witch a spec on the horizon. At that point all the energy seemed to drain out of her as she leaned back against the doorway. [color=red]Wrong choice again, idiot.[/color] With no way to make it right the weight of the Witch's condemnation slowly pulled her down the wall until she was sitting on the ground, boiling alive in a mix of frustration and shame.

Her collapse brooked a confused glance from Albedo, who took a few moments to puzzle out that she must be disappointed and angry with the turn of events. Although this took him by surprise, it made sense the more the thought about it. Rather than rush over to try and comfort her the alchemist allowed her a few moments to cool off, cycling in the crisp alpine air to clear her head. He kept his attention mostly on the immense, flora-covered turtle who stood over the witch’s home, entertaining himself with casual hypotheses about its anatomy and behavior. Only after some time did he head over, standing over his new friend with a mildly curious expression. “All things considered, I believe we profited considerably from that encounter,” he told her.

Linkle looked up miserably from between her fingers. Profited?  [color=red] He was an unfeeling homunculus. I wish he would go away.[/color] Linkle was about to dip her face back down when she realized that thought contained a word she didn't understand. She violently shook her head, then sighed. “I killed her trust, Albedo.” She said, “And I’m never going to be able to find her to show her I was only trying to help. Heroes aren't supposed to hurt people like I just did. How did anything good come out of that?”

“Well,” Albedo began. “First and foremost, we should keep in mind how remarkably lucky we’ve been. Out of everywhere in this highland, or even this world, we could have looked, we found crucial information at the very first place we visited. That sent us on a fairly straightforward path to these glades, where we were found by the person we wanted to meet. To think that our luck would hold forever seems rather optimistic to me.”

He paused before continuing, ruminating on what he’d learned. “Besides, even if this witch refused to answer us directly, there’s still a lot she told us, with or without meaning to. Consider her reactions when we confronted her with certain questions. Despite her attempts to keep a straight face, she reacted with fear, anger, and insistence. If our man’s invincibility is truly unbreakable, what does the witch have to fear? Why would she demand that we cease our investigation, and steer clear of this man? I am not convinced that it was for the sake of our wellbeing.” Albedo crossed his arms. “In fact, she seemed much more concerned about that man’s, despite owning up to the problems he’s caused. In a rather familiar way, as well, as if she’s somehow responsible. And this is in addition to him hunting Freya, who is supposedly under the witch’s protection. And yet this Freya is nowhere to be found in this secret, secluded place. Even if the witch has other hideouts, she did seem to treat the matter of Freya’s safety with some flippancy, wouldn’t you think?”

Linkle blinked a couple of times at the boy, but sat up a little straighter as he continued to talk. He had managed to get all that? Linkle had assumed all of the witches' emotions stemmed from fear. People got angry when they were scared, got weirdly insistent and irrational when they were scared, but looking back outside the heat of the moment even she had to admit the woman’s behavior had been strange. Had that all been out of concern for [i]The Stranger[/i] of all people? That was completely at odds with her thinking. Who would ever be concerned about him? As for the last point, “Well, Freya is a god,” She said. “If a witch is able to hide from him a god shouldn't have any trouble, right?”

Continuing, Albedo presented his final points and conclusion. “Well, bearing in mind that this woman is covering for the Stranger, prioritizing his safety over Freya’s, and almost certainly withholding information from us if not outright lying to us...taken into consideration with her emotional response, as well as physiological parallels...my hypothesis is that the ‘Witch of the Woods’ is in fact Freya herself, the one responsible for the blessing that protects the Stranger from harm.” He nodded as if to assure Linkle of his findings. “The turning point came when I realized my mistake in assuming that the step-daughter of Skadi must be a little girl. While my experience with gods is highly limited, it would be rash to assume that they age and such like humans do. If my hypothesis is correct, then Freya, as part of her collusion with the enemy, is purposefully trying to manipulate us to keep us from uncovering the Stranger’s weakness--which this encounter has convinced me exists.” The alchemist watched Linkle, trying to gauge her thoughts.

“But...but…” Linkle thought about it, hard. “But that...she has a broom. Her house gets dirty. She made tea like a regular person.” Linkle, who had just recently begun to think about Gods as though they were beings you could touch and speak with, looked back into the house. It was a normal house, if you ignored the turtle. The inside wasn’t that much different than hers back home. A god couldn't live the same way as Linkle, could she? Skadi had lived in a normal room, but Skadi had been broken. Freya was, assumedly, whole.

Then she thought back to when she had first met the witch, the embrace that had flushed away the skull heart for a moment. Just like the goddess Hylia had. Albedo’s mistaken assumption had been that the god they were looking for would look like a little girl. Linkle's mistake was in thinking the god they were looking for wouldn’t look like an ordinary woman, and when she was able to discard that assumption and see all the information in a line a bunch of confusing things started making more sense. 

Linkle hopped up. It was strange, but the condemnation of an ordinary woman weighed much more than the condemnation of a selfish god. “She called me a liar.” She said, shame being hastily replaced with offence. “I didn’t lie to her once. She sat there and lied to my face and then called [i]me[/i] a liar.” She let out a frustrated little grumble. If this was all true then this woman was their enemy, and it was probably true because Albedo was the one who put it together. “We should have gone with your hunting plan in the first place. It would have saved us so much time, and it’s not like she could be any more upset at us.”

“We weren’t to know,” Albedo said, shrugging. “The history of my world is one long story about the capriciousness of gods. Their words, their deeds, their wars, and their legacies. They weren’t gods because they were pure, perfect, or even good. Only because they were powerful. It stands to reason that it could be the same in other worlds.” Looking at the matter from the perspective of Freya being an enemy, he found it easier to make sense of it all. “I think you’re right to not take her criticisms too harshly. Even if she seemed pleasant at first, it may have been just because it suited her. The kindly, nature-loving hermit...a guise for the calculating manipulator. If anything, she most likely accused you [i]because[/i] of your earnest nature, in an effort to put you down. After all, only someone like that would be crushed by such reproach, hm?”

“Just like the Skull Heart.” Linkle said, reproachfully. Though even as she said it she didn't totally believe it. Whatever the Goddesses nature, that embrace had been real. She didn't think anyone capable of comforting another person like that could be all bad. “She’s going to be way more trouble to protect than I thought she would be.” Linkle was angry, but it had settled into the same sort of anger Albedo had seen her direct at the windmill cat gang. She turned back to glance at the open doorway. “We should search her room!” She had basically given them permission to do so anyway. “Turtle!” She called up. “We’re going to search you for clues. Grumble if anything hurts.” The tacit beast, however, kept its secrets to itself.