Babble - Beyond Dimensions

Chapter 16: The one where they have a good time

The reunion on the ranch was always beautiful to watch. First there was a passionate kiss once Malon, who had been cleaning up the kitchen at the time, had realized just who was standing there in the doorway.

The Links stayed quiet while their Leader had his reunion as they carefully piled into the thankfully large enough room, whilst above Babble’s head there seemed to be a huge question mark as soon as they had carefully puled the door closed and turned their view forward, their height making it possible to see what was happening.. Confused they goggled at the reunited pair, their head tilted sideways and the workings within their brain seemed to almost cause smoke to leave their ears.

Twilight, who had been taking in the peaceful atmosphere that the ranch house had, saw their plight, and gently lifted his left hand to point at his right ring finger. Understanding seemed to bloom across Babble’s face at that and they gave a firm, thankful nod.

And then finally Malon and Time parted and turned to the others in the room, their leader had a love-sick, dopey look on his face while Malon seemed a little giddy.

Twilight watched them and wondered if his own parents had been like that, too. It was clear that Time was his ancestor and while Twilight looked up to the man as is father figure he couldn’t help these thoughts. He had been very young when he’d become part of Ordon village, so whatever memory he had from his real parents was almost non-telling just as he never understood why he had been found that day in the village, as he couldn’t remember how he got there.

After his adventure Twilight had travelled Hyrule searching for his missing past but had never found out anything. And so the only thing he had from his parents had been the only thing he had always clearly remembered: Epona’s song.

And knowing that it had been Malon’s mother who wrote that song made it pretty clear which way Twilight’s lineage went. And as he soaked in the warmth that was Lon Lon Ranch he couldn’t help the thought that this reminded him of the feeling he had in Ordon. The feeling of home.

“Oh my, if I had known you came today, I would have prepared more lunch” Malon lamented, but Wild quickly interfered: “That’s no problem, really. I think if we work together we can quickly make something.”

Malon smiled, nodded and then she took care to hug each of them as a greeting, whether they acted like they liked it or not.

And then, finally her eyes found the newest member of their group. “Oh my…? Another one? And who might you be?” she asked curiously as she neared them. Babble’s eyes widened almost comically before they nervously gave a soft “Hi”.

“We call them Babble cuz they do not understand us” Wind, who stood next to them, explained quickly. “Four’s learning their language so we can communicate.”

“You’re learning their language and yet you haven’t even bothered to learn their name?” Malon chided, crossed her arms and gave the smallest Link the from mother’s patented Disappointed Mom stare. The colorful hero seemed to shrink away by instinct and Twilight wondered if the teenager had activated his Minish powers. But then he seemed to catch himself to finally explain: “Look, it’s not like we didn’t ask, it’s just like we cannot speak it.”

Quickly Four turned and babbled spoke something to Babble at which they seemed to pout for a moment, before sighing and then opening their mouth to speak, only to have once more a bubble escaping them. And what was that with them being unable to say their name?

“Oh” Malon only muttered, watching as the bubble float up to the ceiling where it burst. “They can’t say their name, then?”

“Yes” Babble replied, their pronunciation absolutely terrible but definitely understandable. Four stood next to them, grinning and clapping on their shoulder as a praise for a job well done. Though Babble had probably guessed what the question was, it still meant a small success. While the learning seemed to have been mostly one sided they seemed to have listened enough to what Four was learning to repeat the most simplest words. Which was a huge step forward.