UNITING THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH

Chapter 15: The Flow of Time

The world as it was lay between depths and heights and it lay in layers. There was the sky above and the secret places of the earth below, the past behind and the future before, water, stone and fire, life and death.

A hunched old man hobbled along a cobblestone trail through a patch of forest to his home. His mustache was white and had curls on its ends. His white hair was done up in the bun that had been customary for him for many years. He was practically ancient now, in body, and knew that he would seen be exiting immediacy and entering the world of memory quite soon. He still had people to counsel, however, and people desperate to know what his visions of the future were.

Sparrot preferred to be called a man and to be addressed with male pronouns, but the truth about him was that he was caught in-between. He dressed the part, preferring robes and to keep his hair in a feminine style, while never shaving his mustache. He disliked being asked what he "really was" as he found it damnably rude. "Having been born to walk two worlds," he thought, made him especially qualified for his profession. He walked both the material and the spiritual worlds, as well as the past, the present and the future. He was an enigma to the "normal" world and quite liked it that way.

He briefly wondered if the man being haunted by a lovelorn ghost was having any luck with the exorcism techniques he'd taught him. Sparrot felt bad about that. Even though his client was married and did not need or desire a spectral mistress, he knew the poor thing had been a lonely young girl when she'd died and only followed her intended because of his eloquent words. Mr. Cawlin had told Sparrot a story about how he'd crafted a love letter for a lady who'd rejected him and had thrown the thing down a toilet in frustration. It was indeed a strange place for a haunting – a toilet, but apparently, that was where the ghost had chosen to be before attaching herself to a frustrated boy. The key, Sparrot said, was to make the ghost understand that her "boy" was now a man and that he was a living man with a living wife. The wife knew nothing of the haunting. She could not see or hear what Mr. Cawlin was plagued by and never believed him when he tried to tell her about it.

Not everyone could see the things that Mr. Sparrot could see. The King of Hyrule had sometimes spoken to him of how nobody believed him when he spoke of the spirit in his sword – now the Master Sword – at first. He'd seen the toilet-ghost, too, but had kept quiet about it. Sparrot thought that the people would be more accepting of the strange and ethereal upon finding out the Goddess had been made flesh in their current queen, but people were still not quite easy with magic that seemed a little "too magical."

Sparrot, for his part, felt vindicated when he'd first come to the Surface. He had dreams about it all the time and had seen visions of things in his crystal ball that he had never seen in life – things like the "sea of sand" and the "fire-mountain," – things that were impossible, things that sometimes earned him ridicule if he spoke of them to the wrong people. They existed. They had existed the entire time.

He made it to his little cottage and eased himself into a plush chair. Despite the dangers of the lingering monsters on the Surface and the tensions that had come to the people with Surface-life, Sparrot still kept his door unlocked, always. He never knew when someone might need his advice or when some tired soul might need to make use of his cushioned couch or bed. If he had one vice it was, perhaps, that he had a strange fascination with watching people sleeping. He liked to guess at their dreams by reading the twitching of their eyelids. He tried to reach into their minds, which was easier to do when a person was asleep and their mind was unguarded. The truth was, Sparrot wasn't much of a mind-reader. He was a psychic, but that was not his particular gift. He had a level of intuitive empathy, but his gift lay more in the reading of Time than in anything else. His empathy-ability was really no more than what one would get with a good therapist, one self-taught in the art of observance. People gave themselves away in subtleties that were purely physical and able to be seen readily. A sufficiently-observant person never needed to "tap into the mind" in a supernatural way to get a good idea of what a person was thinking.

No, Sparrot's Goddess-gift was Foresight and even that was incomplete. Everyone at the Bazaar made fun of him the time he'd dropped and broken his crystal ball. They asked him how that could have escaped his prediction. What they did not understand was that his sight was not for the "smaller things" like that and that he'd been ignoring an overwhelming feeling of foreboding the entire day before the fateful accident. He'd broken his ball because he did not listen to his intuition. That was the way things went for him. Even the clearest of visions he saw when he did his scrying were a matter of possibilities rather than certainties.

The gods that created their universe had given them the ability to choose and to seek the future – it was an open road, a blank ticket. Sure, there were many probabilities and the call of Destiny, but even the Hero had not known the outcome of his battle against Evil when he'd taken up the sacred sword. Life would be boring, Sparrot supposed, if everyone knew exactly what lay ahead of them. Every "future" Sparrot had ever seen was unwritten, something that could go one way or another. His Foresight was usually accurate, but if he had a dire prediction, it could be thwarted with the right choices on the part of the people he'd delivered the prediction to. So, too, a favorable prediction could be swayed if someone made the wrong kind of choice or became greedy and overeager to force it to happen.

"I'm glad the world didn't end," he said to himself dreamily as he settled deeper into his chair. King Link had done well as the Goddess' Chosen Hero. Sparrot was proud to have been able to help him. When he'd told him of treasures to be found, Sparrot knew that his predictions were spot-on, unlike the Foresight, for he had seen lands that already existed and the things that were already present within them. Farsight was much more reliable than Foresight.

Indeed, Link and the Goddess Hylia, now Zelda, had done well in leading the settlement of the Surface. The people had made quick work of establishing themselves in the frontier, so much so that by now, the Sky was empty save for a few stalwarts.

Sparrot thought to various people he'd met along the journey of life and of how they'd fared in creating the Surface. He'd seen their possibilities and probabilities and, most important of all, he'd seen what they'd created. His big, lovely eyes were old now, rimmed in wrinkles. They had seen many things.

The strong, red-haired boy: If every life is a story, this boy's life was a tale of transformation. As a youth, his psyche was ruled by the concept of power and he used his physical prowess to lord it over others. He thought mostly of himself and of how to get what he wanted. Sparrot did not need his crystal ball to see that he was insecure, however, and that his cruelty toward others was only a way to tell himself that he was stronger than he was.

His pride was broken by the Hero – and not in a way that was on purpose, but merely through the events of Destiny. The red-haired boy began thinking of others. Having a heart beneath all of his muscle, he determined himself to protect a wizened elder and to help the Hero in his quest in whatever way he could. For the first time in his life, the boy found worthwhile work and hidden talents. Ultimately, however, these things left him with a feeling that he did not belong in his own era and could do better in the age of lost technology. His energy had, at one point, completely vanished from the current age.

Sparrot knew that he had met some of the boy's descendants when a strong people native to the Surface had come to the land of Hylia's children. He did not need Foresight or Farsight for that. He saw it in their faces – a peculiar shade of gold to the eyes and blood-bright hair…

A look into his crystal ball once told him that these people would become mighty, but that there was a distinct possibility of something very unfortunate happening to them in the form of a birth beneath a bad sign. There was a distinct feeling to the vision that one person would spark the unraveling of the very people he was to come from. Sparrot had no idea if it spelled extinction or just dispersal, but he did not foresee a particularly favorable future for the children of the strong boy who lived outside of Time.

The young knight of honor and the lady-knight of honor: During the wedding of the king and the queen, Sparrot had given fortune-readings to the wedding guests. He had to make a living and business was good this day. Of course, Link and Zelda were to be read for free. Everyone else got a discount of the usual Bazaar-rate.

Sparrot got a sinking feeling in his spirit when a laughing young couple came up to him.

"Oh, Karane, this is ridiculous!" the boy said.

"Oh, come on, Pipit! I know it's silly, but it'll be fun!"

"Alright, but I can't say I trust anything that comes out of someone staring at something shiny and saying some magic words. The future is what we make of it."

"Oh, that is true, young man!" Sparrot agreed, to the young Skyloft Knight's surprise. "The things I behold with my lovely eyes are mere possibilities, but I assure you, I am almost never amiss! Ask dear Link about my services if you will!"

"Okay, so what do you see for the future of our relationship?" Karane giggled. "Will our wedding be half as grand as this one?"

Pipit gulped. The boy's cheek-freckles gained a backdrop of red.

Sparrot stared at them for a few moments, looking back and forth between them and his crystal. He could not give them the full truth of what he saw. After all, what he saw was only a possibility – something that could change.

Within the crystal, Sparrot clearly saw the girl, alone and dressed in armor. She appeared, for a moment, as if she were a statue made of iron. The boy appeared as a statue of white marble for a moment and then the vision flashed back to the girl. He saw her traveling through the many lands of the Surface, but she was alone. The boy she loved so much was not with her. This conspicuous absence disturbed him. He was sure it was the source of the sinking feeling within his spirit.

The fortune-teller looked back at the couple in front of him and saw waves of strength emanating off the girl. Around the boy's form, he saw a dark shadow. There was only one instance in which Sparrot saw that kind of shadow on anyone. It was a sign that Death had marked them. This could sometimes be changed, but not often. The shadow was tinged in green, which denoted a death earned by courage. Sparrot tried to think of a way to warn them that would be accepted by skeptical teenagers getting their fortunes read for a lark. He stared into his ball for more than five minutes.

The girl put her hands on her hips and stared at Sparrot, her eyes narrowed. "So, what is our future together going to be like, hmm?"

Sparrot fumbled. "Clouded," he said.

"Clouded?" Karane yelped in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'clouded?"

"I mean 'clouded," Sparrot re-iterated.

"Hmmph!" the lady-knight groused.

As she turned away and the boy moved to follow, Sparrot reached out and grabbed him by the hand and looked up at him urgently. "I advise you to take caution with your activities, young man," he said.

Pipit shrugged and disengaged his hand. "You upset my girl," he said crossly and then he walked away.

The day he'd heard that his prediction concerning the boy had come true, his heart broke. He dimmed the light on the shop he had in the center of the Hylian Settlement then. There were some bright spots to Time's flow here, however.

The girl did indeed live up to the waves of strength and the vision of iron. Like the boy who'd loved her, she'd saved their king's life when it had been put in danger. She'd met another strong and gallant man and had children. Karane had only recently retired from her position of protecting the royal family. Her son, Krin and her daughter, Impala held knight's positions in her stead now.

As for the ill-fated boy, Sparrot thought that, perhaps, he didn't have such a bad fate, after all. Everyone dies, but few have brave deaths. Besides, in one life a boy could only aspire to be a knight. In another, one could become a king.

The timid-boy: Sparrot had first met him at the Bazaar. He'd come in one day looking to buy some stamina potion from the apothecaries. He did not have enough pocket-money and so had come to him for a fortune-reading just so he didn't waste his time completely in coming to the indoor marketplace.

"W-will I ever become strong?" he stammered. "I…I… I'm the weakest person in my class. I've been working out every night, but it's just no use."

The first thing Sparrot had noticed on the boy was a smell. He knew that he did not physically smell anything – it was something that seemed to be wafting in from the future, something that Time was telling him. Sparrot could not place the odor. It smelled like dust and like… animals. Loftwings had an odor to them – a scent of feathers. Most people did not notice it, but feathers gathered the oils from a bird's skin and there was a unique aroma to them. A few people on the island called it a "stench," but those who really loved their Loftwings, and especially Skyloft Knights, all seemed to love the smell. It was the scent of a noble animal. Remlits also had a subtle smell according to some.

The scent wafting off this boy was something Sparrot had never smelled before – distinctly beastly and almost like cut grass, and that mixed with dust.

The fortune-teller took a look into his crystal ball. He saw the scrawny boy with muscles – very nice muscles. He tossed heavy pumpkins into the air with ease.

Sparrot smiled. "You are going to get quite strong very soon, young friend," he said.

"Really?" the kid replied. "Will I… ever be as strong as Link? Link is a good friend of mine… You've probably met him, he comes here all the time – he's got the green knight's uniform."

Sparrot looked into the crystal again and saw strange and beautiful animals. He saw a vision of the boy riding one and of Link comically falling off one of the same kind of creature.

"I think you may become even stronger, young man," Sparrot whispered.

Sparrot had never ridden a horse. They were the new living muscled-fuel of Hyrule, enabling communication and commerce overland. The fortune-teller had never found an animal tame enough and large enough to carry him. He had been quite heavy for some time, he had to admit. The old purple Loftwing was strong, but even he was aging and could no longer carry both their weights. The bird nested in a stable next to the woodland cottage.

Sparrot could see a black shadow over both their forms. It was tinged with blue, which meant that he could expect both of their stories to end peacefully.

The settling of the Surface had involved all kinds of people, including, even, those considered crazier than Sparrot was. Then again, the settlement's "Sage of Happiness" had more innocence than he had, and perhaps, considering what she had tried to do for the sake of peace, more courage.

Sparrot's friend Gondo from the Bazaar didn't need his fortune read. With his love of grease and gears, he was creating the future of Hyrule. For what it was worth, the fortune-teller's visions told him that some of the technology that Gondo was developing and reviving would be lost again in the future. He hoped the man could keep it going for as long as possible.

The fate of functional immortals was destined to be sad. Sparrot knew of the little ancient robot that lived in Hylia's Temple with the Master Sword. Sparrot had a hard time reading anything that involved electricity. He deliberately kept his cottage only on magical lighting because too much electricity buzzed in his head when he tried to do intense readings. He could work around it, but reading a being made of metal with electricity in its veins was too much for him.

The Sword, however, he could sense the destiny of. It was Destiny, with the capital letter. Link had set the spirit of the sword to sleep indefinitely as it destroyed the Source of Evil. However, Sparrot knew… he didn't just predict the possibility…he knew the sword would be taken up again in a future age. That sword was the most important thing to the future and continuance of the Hylian people (among others) aside from the Triforce itself.

And that is where everything fell to possibilities again. Sparrot once visited the Temple of Hylia and cautiously touched the top of the sword with his little finger. He dared not do anything else with it. He was sent to the ground in a trance. Gondo was there and had to pick him up off the ground and sit him somewhere comfortable to recover. The mechanic had said he'd been foaming at the mouth and spouting gibberish.

When Sparrot had recovered, he did not know how to convey the jumble of images that he'd seen.

The one set of things that were constant: The blood and the spirit of the Hero and the Goddess. The spirit of the Hero was bound to the spirit of the Master Sword, so that bond was not surprising. What was surprising was the sea of possibilities connected to the sacred blade. No future felt particularly stronger than another to Sparrot.

Sparrot actually feared the sword a little after that - The blade had the power to cleave Time.

The fortune-teller had a vision of the spirit of the Hero in another life and of the sword itself fragmenting into three parts. One fate was a tragic one for the Hero and for Hyrule – a period of the kingdom ruled by an iron fist granted power by a fragment of the ancient Evil that the sword had sealed away in this life. The sword was lost and found again. Another fragment involved the Hero victorious, only to have to leave the land. Again, this was a tragic fate for Hyrule, involving a destruction and a new frontier not unlike the settling of the Surface from the Sky. The third possibility involved the reconciling of two estranged worlds and Hyrule standing strong. There was something in the last vision about a "redemption of darkness."

Sparrot was pretty sure if he shared any of this that he would not be believed.

After all, the future was not set in stone, and even if it was, stone can be chiseled again.

Sparrot looked into his crystal and concentrated on Hyrule Castle. He saw a vision of it expanding and being added to. He saw it torn apart and warped by evil influences only to be rebuilt. Such was the fate of the land, as well. There would be wars and rumors of wars and cycles of good and bad times – and always, the spirit of the Goddess and the blood of the Hero.

The flow of time is always cruel and its pace seems to be different for every person. In time, even a newborn's life must fade.

For now, however, Hyrule was a newborn. There were many adventures ahead for this new world.

END.