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This really was the life. Robin couldn't stop herself from grinning as the rip closed. The third one of the day, in fact. They were getting faster.
After Dorothy and Tetra had decided to give everyone a blessed heart attack Alice had been more careful about not wearing herself and Calanthe out as much, so they could return to one of their own times to sleep in a properly guarded palace, in a real bed, every night. Robin was a bit sad about that, sleeping rough for the first time in her life had been amazing, but it had led to one of her favorite parts of this new trip.
“Exploring time!” She announced cheerfully.
Piper grabbed her before she made it more then three steps. Robin pouted. They were by the sea! Robin could hear it! This was the first and last chance she'd ever have to really have an adventure, let her live a little!
Without looking, Piper grabbed Tetra, too.
“Oh, you might as well let them go,” Alice laughed, “Calanthe and I need to catch our breaths anyway.”
Well, never let it be said that Robin didn't recognize an invitation when she heard one. She twisted her arm out of Piper’s grip and ran for the sound of the waves. Bursting through the scrubby trees and underbrush, Robin was delighted to find that they backed out onto a beautiful sandy beach. And there, in front of her, the sea.
Tetra charged past her with a whoop, straight into the water without missing a step. Robin laughed and ran to join her, promptly receiving a mouthful of seawater for her troubles as Tetra kicked at her.
Pushing her sopping wet hair out of her eyes, Robin looked over at Tetra.
She was smirking, posed to splash Robin again. “Aww, is the pretty princess going to call her guards on me? Can't take a little water?”
Robin looked at her for a moment, then smiled, and set her feet.
Tetra had the advantage of knowing the water better, but Robin had height, weight, and the element of surprise on her side. Her tackle took them both down with a magnificent plume of water and a loud crash.
The resulting splash war was glorious. Robin had never had so much fun in her entire life. If Link got to do this kind of thing all the time she was never listening to him complain about quests ever again. This was amazing.
Eventually Tetra got her with such a bombardment that Robin was forced to concede, and she slogged back towards the beach, soaked to the skin and giggling helplessly.
Briar and Alice were wading, too, although they'd left their shoes up on the beach where it was dry. That probably would have been smart. Robin plopped down on a large rock beside Diana and started on the work of wringing out her hair, skirts, and socks.
Diana did not look like she shared the good mood. Everyone else had scattered across the beach and into the water to enjoy themselves, even Selene and Piper had dug a blanket out of the bags and were sitting together having a snack, but Diana was glaring at the horizon like she was personally offended by the concept of fun.
“Hey,” Robin elbowed her gently, “Careful, or your face will freeze like that.”
Diana turned her scowl towards Robin. “We should be looking for Link. All of them! Not just sitting around the beach hoping they turn up.”
“Relax!” Robin laughed, still trying to get her skirt to stop dripping, “If yours is anything like mine, they'll be meeting us halfway out with the kidnapper dead behind them and make fun of us for missing the shortcut. No need to worry.”
“Yeah!” Dorothy popped out of nowhere, nearly startling Robin off the rock, “Lighten up! Quit being such a downer!”
“Is this a joke to you?” Diana demanded, “Some creature with power over time and space itself has stolen our friends and is ripping holes in history! They're depending on us to save them! And you all want to just sit back and…”
She gestured at the beach and the rest of the Zeldas, now starting to turn and notice the argument.
“I'm sorry, I really don't mean anything by it,” Robin felt rather guilty. She'd thought Diana was just fretting, not seriously frightened, “I suppose I just have a hard time coming up with any kind of trouble Link couldn't get himself out of way before I get there.”
“Well, I don't,” Diana scowled.
“Hey, I'm sure they'll be fine!” Robin smiled as brightly as she could and laid a comforting hand on Diana's shoulder.
“Wow, your Link must be a wimp if you're this worried.”
And suddenly Robin was reminded that Dorothy's love of drama outweighed her good sense! And apparently her compassion, too.
“Do you have any kind of a filter?” Robin snapped.
Diana lunged to her feet, grabbing the hilt of her sword. “How dare you!” she shouted, “Link is the bravest person I've ever known, and now he's gone, taken captive somewhere, and we're all just playing on the beach like he isn't counting on us!”
Now the others weren't just looking, they were moving to intervene. Alice got there first, but Selene looked like she'd walked halfway over before stopping awkwardly.
“I know it's hard,” Alice said soothingly, trying to lay a comforting hand on Diana's shoulder.
Diana shook her off with a glare. “Do you? Because right now it looks like no one cares!”
She swept a glare across the entire beach, and Robin shrank back, slightly. Part of her was starting to feel guilty about playing around, but she knew that was silly. Link could take care of himself, and running herself and the others ragged wouldn't do anything to help him, and frankly she refused to feel guilty about enjoying this, her only chance to really experience life outside the castle before she came of age and was crowned.
And yet…
“Why are we wasting our time with all these random tears?” Diana demanded, “Why aren't we going straight to the heart of the problem and worrying about cleanup after?”
“I wish we could,” Alice went back in for a hug again, not deterred, “But, well, how do I put this…”
Robin traded a glance with the nearest other Zelda, who turned out to be Briar, and grimaced. Nothing understandable ever followed Alice saying “how do I put this.”
“I have it!” Alice snapped her fingers. “It's a lot easier to fill a lacuna than overflow an excess.”
Robin understood several of those words individually. What they actually meant in the context of the conversation? Not a clue.
Calanthe cleared her throat. “I think what she means is it's easier to locate and travel to a time where something is missing than to a time where there's something extra. Like water on a tarp. Even if you don't know where a rock or a divot underneath it is, the water will still pool in the divot and flow away from the rock. We can find our own times because we are supposed to be there, and we can find the tears because they're a break, an absence, not an addition. But if someone were to try and travel to us right now, they wouldn't be able to find us easily, because we are something extra.”
Robin nodded slowly. That made a bit more sense.
“But we can find a rock,” Diana insisted, “Why can't we find Link?”
“Perhaps…” Lucinda tapped her chin thoughtfully, “It is less like the movement of water and more like…knitting.”
“Knitting?” Tetra sounded disgusted.
“A missed or dropped stitch is easily noticed, much like a tear, because both leave a very obvious hole,” Lucinda explained, “But if you accidentally work a stitch more than once, you may not notice until rows and rows down the line, when your count is off or your finished project doesn't quite lie flat.”
Alice snapped and pointed at her, “Yes, that's it exactly! Something missing is impossible to miss. Something extra is hard to notice.”
“So, what, we just can't find them?” Diana asked angrily, “They're just on their own?”
“Of course not!” Alice finally managed to put a comforting arm around Diana's shoulders, “We know that at least one of these tears leads to either the kidnapper, the boys, or both. Every tear we close is another possibility eliminated.”
Had anyone actually said how many tears there were? Robin wasn't sure. There had to be a lot, considering how many they closed each day and how long they'd been working for. Actually, hadn't someone said something about technically closing each tear twice because they had to close it from each end? It all went above her head a bit. She was pretty sure the only ones who understood it at all were Alice and Calanthe. And maybe that Lana woman that Diana was friends with.
“Every pathway we close is a pathway we deny the enemy.”
Robin jumped a little bit. Piper was not a talkative person. She’d kind of thought she wasn't paying attention. But now Piper was looking straight at everyone, an odd red glint to her eyes, and speaking like some of Robin's old generals.
“Our enemy loses ground with every tear we close,” Piper continued, “Each one is a route that they cannot use or must take the time and energy to reopen. His wasted time is our advantage, and protects the people near the tears.”
“Since when are you a strategist?” Dorothy asked. Clearly she hadn't learned her lesson yet.
Piper blinked a couple times and shook her head rapidly. Her eyes were blue again now. Robin wondered if she'd imagined the red. Scowling, Piper looked away.
“So don't worry!” Alice said cheerfully, “Process of elimination means that we'll find them eventually.”
“Is that really all we can do?” Diana said bleakly, “Just wander around hoping we eventually find them and nothing bad happens to them before then?”
Robin didn't know what to say. From the looks of it, no one else did, either.
Diana shook Alice off with a scowl. Stomping down to the far end of the beach, she started doing sword drills.
Slowly, everyone wandered off again, but the mood was a lot lower. There was no point in trying to do anything, there was at least an hour until Alice and Calanthe would be willing to travel again, but now everyone was worrying instead of having fun.
Well, Robin refused to let it ruin her day. She gave up on her wet socks, just draping them across the rock next to her shoes and marching across the sand barefoot to where Calanthe was looking at some of the plants.
“What are you looking at?” Robin asked.
“Oh!” Calanthe nearly jumped out of her skin and eyed Robin warily, “I think this might be where Lurelin village will one day be founded, but the plants are entirely different.”
“Wait,” Robin stood back up, “Let's go get Briar. Lucinda says she loves plants.”