All righty then! This is the first chapter of the promised Tetra fic! Yay! It took my forever to write, and even though I will work on this as much as I can, updates still will probably be few and in between, so be patient for me, okay?

Disclaimer: Don't own Zelda.

Oh, and this doesn't start out in Tetra's P.O.V but ends with it. Also, it's rather short.

WARNING:

This fic goes more in-depth about some things expressed but not fully covered in Windwaker. If you don't like my theory about them-poo to you, and don't flame me about it.

This will be a TetraxLink as time goes on, so if you don't like it, don't even start reading this.

"All hands on deck! All hands on deck!"

The cry woke the six-year-old girl from her sleep next to her mother's bed. She got up and looked about wildly, blue eyes searching every corner of the cabin she and her mother slept in. Her eyes themselves were wide with fear. It wasn't fear of the cry, "All hands on deck," oh no, that happened often. It was the fear that her mother had been able to creep past her without her knowing.

Mama! The girl thought, tumbling out of bed. As soon as her bare feet hit the wooden floor, she bolted for the doorway. A large-bodied figure suddenly appeared in her path, and the girl tried to skid past him.

"Oh, no you don't, Tetra," Nudge said, lifting the mini-pirate girl off her feet. Tetra growled and kicked at his arms, but Nudge took no notice as he cradled her and spoke. "Miss Kalie said you weren't to leave the cabin."

Tetra pouted. "But Mama always let me on deck before!" That was a lie-Tetra had either snuck past Nudge, or her mother had forgotten to warn her crew of the girl's sneakiness and thirst for action. Either way, it didn't matter to the mini-pirate at the moment as she tried to fight her way out of the man's arms.

"I wouldn't say that," Nudge said, reaching Tetra's tiny trundle bed but not setting the girl down in it for fear that she would run away again. As Tetra growled, Nudge sighed. "Do you want me to tell you a story?" The tone of hope in his voice was obvious-when Tetra was younger, the girl would always fall asleep to a long enough story. However, this time it was not meant to be.

"I want to know what's happening," the mini-pirate said, crossing her short, slightly-chubby arms in front of her chest. Even at age six, the girl had the commanding tone that would one day make her the respected captain of the pirate crew. Nudge could feel the headache coming on as Tetra spat a six-year-old threat. "If you don't tell me, I'll scream and then Mama will come down."

"I know," Nudge said. "It's nothing, Tetra, just a storm."

"Just a storm?" Tetra asked. Nudge winced. "Please tell me." She looked up to him, blue eyes questioning. Nudge winced again-he was bad at resisting when his young mistress begged, as she was doing now.

"We were being attacked by another pirate ship," Nudge said, readjusting his grip on Tetra. The girl tried to take advantage of the looseness of the changing grip, although Nudge caught onto her trick quickly. "While we were fighting, a storm came up." Nudge cursed softly, but Tetra heard every word of it. "Those bastards'll be lucky to survive at this rate."

Tetra sighed. "I wish Mama would let me on deck," she said wistfully. "It'd be so cool!"

Nudge laughed and ruffled her hair affectionately. "I don't know about that, little one," he said. When Tetra glanced up at him, he saw the weariness in her eyes and sighed. "You should get to bed, Tetra." The girl protested even as she yawned. Nudge frowned. "Now, don't give me that," he muttered, finally deciding it was safe to set Tetra down in the trundle bed.

"Nudge?" Tetra asked sleepily as she rolled over. Nudge tucked the blanket about her shoulders.

"Hm?"

"When will you start calling me, 'Miss Tetra'?"

Nudge only laughed.

The next morning, Tetra woke early. She got up out of bed, and-without even thinking about getting out of her nightgown-went to find her mother. Mistress Kalie was leaning against the mast of the ship, looking throughly worn-out. She smiled when she saw her daughter, and held out her arms so that Tetra could launch herself into them. Tetra buried her face in Kalie's shirt as her mother held her close.

"Mama, why wouldn't you let me come out on deck last night?" Tetra asked as innocently as it was possible. Kalie frowned, and held her arms out so that she could take a good look at her daughter. "Mama?"

"Tetra, it was dangerous on deck last night," Kalie said. "You could have been thrown overboard or easily killed by a passing arrow." Tetra averted her eyes, feeling guilty. Her mother could make her feel this way in a way that Nudge couldn't. "When you're older, ready to take over for me, I'll let you on."

Tetra looked up at her mother, blue eyes wide. "Promise?"

Kalie laughed. "I promise," she said, linking her fingers in between her daughter's.

Over the next few weeks, Tetra began to perform simple pirate crew duties-she scrubbed decks, washed clothes, prepared food (as much as a six-year-old could) She enjoyed none of the chores, but didn't complain-in fact, the crew said she was oddly quiet for such a young age. Tetra paid no attention to these comments.

"A pirate captain needs to be prepared to handle anything, just in case something happens and no one else can pick up the slack," Kalie said to Tetra one night when the mini-pirate wanted to complain. That was when Tetra bit her lip and nodded, determined to please her mother.

"All hands on deck! All hands on deck!"

Once again, Tetra found herself awoken by her mother's cry. Falling out of her bed, she managed to remember to pull on a pair of breeches before she started for the main deck. Everyone ignored her as she headed up the steps-until she ran into her mother.

"Tetra!" Kalie cried as she grabbed for her daughter. Tetra yelped as her mother caught her. "Go back down."

Tetra squirmed in her mother's grasp. "But, mama!" she cried as Kalie frantically tried to hide Tetra. The mini-pirate caught sight of the other ship that was firing on them-probably the reason that the call had been made. "Mama. . . . "

"Go back," Kalie said. "Niko! Take her down!" Niko was several years older than Tetra and just as anxious for adventure as the captain's daughter. He appeared at Kalie's elbow, nervously glancing around, still unnerved by the fact that he was on the deck during an attack. Kalie thrust Tetra at Niko, and the pirate caught her. "Usually I'd ask Nudge for this, but-" The three of them glanced over to where Nudge was fighting with a canon. "He's busy." A sudden call from Zuko caused Kalie to head for the crow's nest.

"Mama!" Tetra cried as she was half-carried away by Niko. She tore her eyes away from her mother to scream at Niko. There was a shout, and Niko, Tetra, and the rest of the crew looked toward the crow's nest. Through the confusion, all could see the arrow flying toward Kalie's back. Tetra screamed, and Kalie turned, taking the arrow to the heart. The force of the blow made her fly backwards, off the crow's nest, falling, blood trailing from where the arrow had pierced the skin. There was a sickening crack as Kalie hit the deck, and Tetra wrenched herself from Niko and ran toward her mother's body. "Mama!"

"Tetra!" Nudge was at her side in an instant, picking her up and dragging her away from the horrible sight that used to be Kalie's body. As young as she was, Tetra didn't understand death, but somehow, she knew that she would never see her mother again.

It took days for the crew to get themselves back together. Some holes had been blown in the ship during the battle, and some provisions had been lost to the

waves. With Kalie's death, there was no one there to order the pirates around, and chaos reined. Tetra, numb with shock, sat in her cabin, arms wrapped about her knees, unsure what exactly what was going on.

Tetra was eventually brought to the deck by Nudge, who had a somber look on his face. She gripped his hand tightly, afraid of his behavior and what it might mean. Everyone was gathered near the railing of the deck, Gonzo holding an awkwardly-shaped bundle in his arms. He murmured something that Tetra couldn't hear and threw the bundle overboard. Tetra swallowed hard, hearing the splash the bundle made as it hit the water.

"That's it then," Nudge said, his voice flat.

"What's it?" Tetra asked, fear heavy in her voice. She didn't know what she was afraid of-she just knew something was bad. Something. . . .

Some odd number of years later

It still hurt to pass over my mother's grave. Even though I didn't know it at the time-didn't understand it completely, I knew that she was gone. I stared down into the water as I heard Gonzo yell that we were going to make it to Windfall by nightfall. I ignored him and reached for the water, wishing I could let it trail through my fingers. Somehow, I felt closer to my mother when I could touch the water.

"Miss Tetra?" Gonzo leaned on the railing next to me and peered into my face. I let my look of self-pity melt into a scowl that caused Gonzo to back up a few paces. "Apologies, Miss," he stammered, obviously not knowing what he could have done to offend me. I felt sorry for him-just a little. "I just wanted to let you know that we'll be at Windfall Island soon, and that we need to dock there for the night."

"Why?" I snapped, unpleased at having to stay at such a populated island-it attracts too much attention to us.

"We need to restock on provisions," Gonzo stammered. There was something else in his voice. . . .

"And?" I snapped. "Spit it out!"

"There have been rumors about kidnappings on the island," Gonzo said. "Young women. Everyone thinks that we're doing it, and I thought that-"

"It would be a good idea to show our faces and dispel the rumor, right?" I asked, my words clipped. We had done this a thousand times-even before I could remember. For some reason I was pleased to note that there was a hint of concern in his voice for me. If young women were being kidnapped, I was surely no exception. "Well then, let's get this over with."