Link is Not the Only One That Can Cut Grass

Date: September 5, 2012
Time: 10:30 am

*THUNK!*

"There we are… one more eyesore removed…"

It had only been a few hours since Vaati had returned to his ruined palace, and although the repairs were only in the earliest stages, he wanted to take the time to go ahead and handle even more of the return of the true Palace of Winds before Xiao Xiao insisted that she make lunch for him.

Right now, that found him doing the next part of some much needed housekeeping… and strangely enough, the damage inflicted on the palace was making his job even easier here… and possibly even more satisfying.

After the End of All Things had come to pass, finally marking the completion of the Reformat, Vaati had returned to his true self. Xiao Xiao had remained effectively the same after having been refreshed, but the other two residents of the Palace of Winds seemed to have… fallen under different fates.

Shadow Link had apparently been refreshed to the point of defeat… the impish shade had not shown his face or any other signs of himself for quite some time after the Reformat. Even whenever Vaati attempted to summon him, he was unable to… and he knew deep down that that had nothing to do with his magic still being in a weaker state. The trouble-causing chaotic had disappeared… most likely for good outside of the ways that the Wind Mage knew he could make another Shadow Link.

… if he ever needed such an unpredictable pawn, he could always summon him the proper way… the Dark Mirror was still in one piece, after all…

Shadow Link was but a copy of the hero. And a copy could always be made again.

As for the other one who had taken to the Palace of Winds, one who had been far less invited… well, Vaati was doing some creative gardening right now. Those blasted plants had thankfully disappeared back at the Reformat… and now… now he was able to truly start to do away with more of the technology that he had not already dealt with.

Technology…

*THUNK!*

Ever since he was pulled the the Breach, Vaati had begrudgingly begun to learn and accept that technology could do marvelous, wondrous things. Even the most modern and foreign varieties to him very very intriguing… it was often interesting to see just what it was capable of in the city, whether it was originally here or here by the product of other citizens.

It could to amazing things, much like magic… and sometimes, the combination of the two was even more spectacular. It had to be done just right, though.

*THUNK!*

"Ugh, what was even the point of this one?"

However, even with as useful as technology was, Vaati knew that as with so many things, it had a time and a place. The times were rather frequent, the places however, were far more constant and unmoving. There were many places that technology was wonderful… but there were just some… just some places that it did. NOT. Belong.

*THUNK!*

The Palace of Winds was just one of those places.

Vaati had previously taken care of the more obscene additions and the more easily removable ones to the Palace of Winds back in the spring, but now that he had the best chance to properly deal with the rest…

*THUNK!*

Oh, it was just so satisfying.

With another wind spell having severed yet another large piece of machinery, Vaati had dropped it off in a pile in the middle of the room right with the others. Here, a part of him wished he had dealt with these relics sooner, but at the same time, another part felt that this time was even more perfect.

After all, it would have been a pity to have removed it all and THEN to have fix the Palace of Winds… here, it could all be part of one grand project.

A small part of him had left some of the devices in tact after the End of All Things just in case the impossible happened… but that generous time he gave those plants had long since passed. He had left them up for far longer than he should have… but here, he supposed that his own strategy of biding his time was proving just right again.

"Hm-hm-hm-hm…" Vaati laughed softly, soon aiming his hand at the next offending contraption, set to cast his next wind spell.

*THUNK!*

In the simple motion of his arm, the next heavy piece of machinery soon found itself broken and dented in a pile of the other devices the Wind Mage had unceremoniously deposited in the middle of the room. As he let that one drop with a particularly loud and satisfying crash, Vaati narrowed his red gaze, effectively glaring daggers into the ever-growing junk pile. How had all of these abominations even made it up to the Palace of Winds? It was as absurd as it was offensive!

Vaati knew now that his mind had been foggy and his decisions not entirely true to himself prior to the events this past spring, but even today with all of his wisdom, he could hardly fathom just how he had let such an affront to his palace take place. Had things really been that different then? Perhaps… but most importantly was that he had been able to steal and sap that power for all that it was worth.

Now though? It had been expended. It was gone. Obsolete. Useless.

And when things became useless to Vaati… there was little option but to cast them aside.

Just. Like. SO.

Another wind spell, another severance, another cathartic drop.

*THUNK!*

Before too long, Vaati had managed to disconnect and rip out every single piece of obsolete machinery that was left in the Palace of Winds. Thankfully, most of it had been in a central room, one of the more damaged ones after Xiao Xiao's recent… escapade. For the others though, he had swiftly dealt with them as well, and they soon found themselves in a dinged up, broken heap in the center of the primary defiled chamber.

Now then... just where to drop all of this... junk...

Vaati knew exactly what he was going to do with it... he was going to dispose of it and make sure that there was not a single trace left of it in his palace. Whether he dropped it out of the palace to the ground below or did that and THEN destroyed it as soon as it was gone was yet to be seen, but right now, he just needed to figure out where the best place to get rid of it all was. He did have very many options, after all.

Vaati had further compacted the wreckage and obsolete mess from where he had gathered it in the center of the room, taking a special delight in further destroying the machinery from where he had already rent it from the walls and other surfaces. Honestly, this mess should not have even been able to function here... there was plenty of magic and energy to sustain everything, but did these contraptions not need to run off of electricity? Was that not how the more modern technologies worked?

The less than sensical nature of it all was yet another reason that it had to go.

Now where to... perhaps the Daemon Wastes?

Given the layout of the Breach below his palace, Vaati knew he had plenty of options for which to dispose of this junk. However, these things had to be done a certain way, and regardless of the old Tech Dome and other ancient areas scattered about the desert, the Daemon Wastes seemed to be the most logical option to him.

There, things could get buried by the sands and punished by the hot, scorching sun… it would be an even more fitting fate than some of the ruins lost to the Lanayru Sand Sea of old. Some of those, he had no quarrel with, much like some of the ruins of the Castor Wilds. Other pieces however… it was best to let the past bury itself, for only then could new life and legends spring forth from it. As the saying went, the past would be in the past. It was time to let it go.

Smirking slyly to himself, the Wind Mage could not help but think that even though this upcoming disposal was nowhere near anything of such regard from Hyrule's own history, the fate of things being lost to the wasteland was perfectly fitting here.

The formation of the Palace of Winds was something that Vaati had been set to achieve back during his own time in Hyrule, but he had not yet been able to turn the place that housed the Wind Element to his own fortress yet, much less make his own domain. The floating fortress was more of a dream of his to be acted upon after he had accomplished his primary goal there… namely, the acquisition of the Light Force. He had been whisked away to this world before he had been able to actually locate it, yet as unfortunate as that had been, it seemed to have followed him here. The Wind Mage still had no idea just where that powerful force was of course, but he did at least know that it was here… another piece of his world, another source of power to strive for.

As for the palace itself, it had been more of a stroke of luck that this very object from what he could only presume was his future (although he had no idea just how distant into the future it had actually come from) had found its way here. Although his goal of forming the Palace of Winds as he saw fit had not been realized back in Hyrule, it was satisfying to know that at some point, he had accomplished it.

Not having been there to see it himself as well as finally having that goal of his were two of the reasons that the Wind Mage was especially agitated that such eyesores had infiltrated it. At least they were all removed now, in part thanks to both the events in the spring and autumn of this year. Between the End of All Things and the Phazon Crisis, not only had Vaati been reborn as his true self, the Palace of Winds was returning to its true form as well.

And soon, all of this debris would not only be gone, it would be destroyed further.

Whilst a part of Vaati wished he had fully taken care of this mess back in the spring, somehow, everything felt so much more cathartic now. Perhaps it was because he was able to more thoroughly rip everything out without being quite as delicate since the Palace of Winds was already in a state of disarray, and perhaps it was the satisfaction that came after one had waited a reasonable amount of time for something. He had a strong feeling that it was both of those things combined with the general fact that he enjoyed taking such a personal hand in setting up his domain… and honestly, it was just far nicer than he could put into words.

Taking a break from rending the machinery from the walls, he whisked himself away with a wind spell to one of his balconies, taking the chance to better survey his potential drop zone. Hm… now that was looking quite nice even from all the way up here…