All characters and direct quotes from LoZ:BotW belong to Nintendo, not me.

Selmie

Chpt. 1

It was the icy cold that woke me. The sound of the wind that got me out of my warm bed. A blizzard was sweeping the Hebra mountains where I called home. I urgently threw on my coat and rushed over towards the empty hearth. The fire died at some point during the night and my one room cabin was cold and dark. I turned on an oil lamp overhead to see.

Bright sparks of orange and yellow flew from the stones I struck to relight the fire. One finally catching and growing into flame. I sighed and turned to head back to bed when the cabin door slammed open. In stumbled a young man shivering and dressed as warmly as seemed possible for him with what he had. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity when he slowly walked up to me.

"Where am I?" he asked in a weary voice.

"Huh…Welcome to the middle of nowhere. Population: us."

"What do you mean?" he continued with a dazed look.

I don't know how you made it up here in a blizzard at night or why you would do such a crazy stunt but, there isn't another person around for hundreds of miles. Honestly, you are incredibly lucky to have found my cabin!"

"H-hey!" I shouted as the young man fell forward with a grunt. Slipping one of his gauntleted arms over my shoulders, I hoisted him somewhat upwards and onto my bed where he tipped face first unconscious.

"Great." I said with hands on hips. "Guess I have an early day today."

Around midday while I was chopping firewood, my cabin door was opened for the second time that day by someone other than me. I kept at my chore while he approached quietly.

"Hello…um…Thank you for helping me last night during the blizzard…er…"

"Don't mention it." I grunted with the swing of the axe. Chop-thunk! My axe thudded into a chunk of wood. "Although, I do live all the way up here to avoid wandering strangers." Small white clouds puffed into the air with each heavy breath I took. I turned to pick up another piece of wood and set it on the stump used as a chopping block but as I set the wood down the stranger was next to me. His hand reached out and rested on the axe handle.

"Let me."

"Excuse me?" I asked, startled at how quietly he moved.

"Let me finish. It's the least I can do to say 'thank you'."

Looking at him in the daylight I realized that he couldn't be much older than I. Amusingly I pointed at the nearly empty firewood stack alongside the cabin and said: "If you insist."

He merely nodded and began to deftly attack each piece of wood with the axe. The tool looked light as a feather in his hands. I perched myself on a fallen log nearby and worked on repairing a hunting bow. I lost myself in the work and soon an hour passed without anymore thought towards the young stranger. The sound of humming lifted my head and I saw him dusting off his hands after having completed cutting and stacking the wood along the cabin wall. He was wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt, his cloak and coat were draped across a branch, but he didn't look cold now. I laid the almost finished bow on my lap.

"What is your name?" I asked suddenly very curious.

"Huh?" he turned, seemingly surprised by my friendly tone. "Link." He paused before continuing. "And your name?"

"Selmie." I said with a smile. "Thanks for helping with the firewood. You didn't have to fill the whole thing ya know."

"No, it is fine. I wanted to do it. Besides, it gets so cold up here it wouldn't be good to run out of firewood."

"You would know." I laughed. "You looked almost half dead last night. What brought you up here?"

"It's a long story." He said guardedly. "I'm on a quest to put it simply."

"Hey…wait a second… You hiked all this way to meet the best there ever was a shield surfing, right?" I said with a grin. Link smiled and shook his head.

"No but I read the journal at the other cabin. You sound like you are quite famous with other shield surfers."

"You bet I am! Best there ever was, Duchess of Downhill they called me." I boasted, recalling my shield surfing days.

"Why did you stop?"

"Oh…an injury…one fall too many…" I absently rubbed my shoulder but abruptly stopped when I noticed Links gaze. "Your quest then, what is that all about?"

"It's complicated." He said shortly. I could tell he didn't want to talk about it.

"Hmm. Sounds like trouble. More trouble than it is worth if it was the reason you were in the Hebra mountains in the middle of a blizzard at night." I said sarcastically. He looked away and changed the topic.

"Why do you live up here by yourself?"

"I thought that was obvious!" I grinned and spread out my arms. "It's quiet, peaceful, no robots, and most importantly…no people!" Link looked back at me, his bright blue eyes slightly confused.

"Doesn't it get lonely, though?"

I felt my smile stick on my face. The genuine expression gone like a snowflake that landed on an outstretched hand. "No." I partially lied. But I miss my family.

"So! When are you continuing your "quest"? It's a full day's hike out of the mountains, two or more if you take the wrong route. There are bokoblins, moblins, lizalfos, and most dangerous of all—ice chuchus." Link looked at me skeptically, but I continued. "No! Seriously! Ice chuchus explode out of the ground when you least expect them and WHAM! Your frozen. People have died more from ice chuchus in these mountains than from the other monsters that lurk the paths." Link still looked as though he didn't believe me but I just shrugged.

"I will be staying in the Hebra mountains for a while, actually." Link said while tugging on his coat and cloak. "I have never been this far north before."

"Obviously." I stated rolling my eyes. I picked up the bow and tool bag and headed towards the cabin. "Well, you are welcome to stay for dinner and the night if you want before heading out. But I get the bed this time if you stay."

"Thank you."

The rest of the day we spent in companionable silence occasionally chatting and laughing. I learned that he was somewhat of a loner as well. A wanderer on some secret quest. That he too had no home or family to go back to. The both of us shared embarrassing stories of our times out in the wilderness. Like freak rainstorm during a climb up a mountain or cooking the wrong things together and eating it anyways because you were starving. Normally I am not so relaxed or open with other people but something about Link is different from others. He listens when you talk and seems to care about what you say. Has a kindness not found in many people.

I told him that he was welcome to come visit whenever he was in the area, helped him restock food supplies, and lent some firewood. He was gone before I woke up the next day. Guess he doesn't like saying goodbye either.