It was past dusk when Sheik and Impa returned back from that day's training in the mountains. The late summer moon began to rise over the horizon as they entered the town, whippoorwills began their calls and crickets chirped softly.
Lazily walking through the Sheikah village, Sheik pulled down her bandana and brushed her greasy blonde hair aside complaining, "You might as well have made me dig myself a grave today Impa!"
"It was a good day, stop whining." Impa replied sharply as they came to a halt by the paddock, she pulled out her short silver ponytail and continued as they came to a stop, "Tomorrow will be a nice and easy day, six mile run and some core training, nothing big and bad."
Sheik dismounted her mule, her legs buckled as she hit the ground, grabbing the saddle she pulled herself back up, "I'll barely be able to walk at this rate!"
"You'll be fine," Impa reassured as she undid the girth to her saddle, she walked into the tack shed and returned with a brush, handing it over she said, "I'll take the saddle and bridle, you just brush her down."
A few minutes past as Sheik brushed down her mule, she heard footsteps of another horse, it was coming from the entrance to the village, it couldn't be any of the people on watch, the change wasn't supposed to happen for another three hours. She lead the mule back into the corral, the steps were getting closer.
The other horses and mules in the corral started shifting around uneasy by the strange that was approaching.
Sheik's mule began to get antsy as well, "Hey, now, now, it'll be alright." she cooed, ducking underneath the mule's neck she whistled to get Impa's attention.
Impa heard the whistle, "What is it? Is the door not closing again?" she answer as she hung up a bridle.
"No, someone's coming, it's not one of our horses that I know for sure." Sheik hissed nervously, she looked back to find a silhouette of a person riding a horse; their head was bobbing up and down as the horse lazily clopped down the path through the center of the village.
The person riding seemed to be almost passed out, they didn't even move their head to see if anyone was around.
"How in the world did they manage to get past the watchers?" Impa gawked.
Sheik stiffly walked over to the horse as they slowly came to a stop, she examined them, "The horse is dry heaving, they're dehydrated," she examined the horse more closely, "It's also injured, not too badly though." she called.
"I'll fill the trough and grab some hay." Impa answered grabbing a bucket and walking off to the water pump, "take care who ever that is on the horse!"
Looking up at the mysterious person Sheik asked, "Hey! You awake?" she grabbed their leg shaking them, they did not answer. Huffing she pulled her hand away, only to find it was covered in blood, the person fell over and off the saddle, Sheik hastily caught them yelling, "They're injured! I'm bringing them to my cabin I'll take care of them from there Impa!" she then hitched them piggy back style over her shoulders and clumsily ran over her cabin.
"Alright, you go do that, I'll take care if the horse and get them settled, I'll stop by tomorrow morning, give me a holler if anything is really serious!" Impa yelled back as she pumped up some water.
Later on that night Sheik made herself a makeshift bed after having washed down the mysterious stranger's wounds and putting them in her bed.
The stranger, who looked to be a teenaged boy, but Sheik hated jumping to conclusions when it came to gender, did not wake once as she had cleaned them up, they cringed and growned, but that was about it. Their short blonde hair was crusted with blood due to a head wound; their ears indicated that they were Hylian, the piercing in the left ear had been ripped out, they had fair skin as well which was covered in bruises, there must have been an altercation shortly before they found the village, the wounds were fresh. She has removed their white linen shirt, as it was stained with blood, and washed it off and put one of her own shirts on them.
"Goodnight." she whispered, doubting that they could hear her, she sighed and blew out the candle.
The next morning Sheik awoke at sunrise as usual, the Hylian stranger was still sleeping, she crept out of the cabin to fetch a pail of water.
Outside it was cold and the fog was just starting to rise off the ground as the sun rose further into the sky.
As she pumped the water Impa walked past her asking, "How are they?"
"Sleeping still, I'm going to make them breakfast and make some inquiries, they don't seem to pose a threat, but you can never be too careful." Sheik replied as she pumped some more water to wash her face. Her hair was in a tangled mess, she often thought about cutting it.
"Report back to me later when we go out for herding." Impa ordered as she continued on her way to the woods.
"Yes ma'am." Sheik said as she walked back into her cabin with the bucket of water.
Later on that morning, as Sheik fried up a few eggs and rashers, she could hear the stranger shifting, she turned around to find that they were awake, "Good morning, my name is Sheik." she greeted, "How are you feeling?"
They shrugged, eagerly looking at the cast iron skillet she was holding over the wood stove.
"Breakfast will be ready soon, we'll talk then." Sheik said as she turned back to her cooking, "Do you want chicory coffee, dandelion coffee, or tea?" she asked, there was no reply, she looked back over her shoulder they were scrutinizing her and the cabin. Shrugging she turned back to the stove.
The Hylian stranger continued to look around curiously, it was a yurt style cabin, there was an upstairs loft, the bed they sat in was on a platform adjacent to the latter that lead upstairs. The sheets on the bed were colorful quilts, at the foot of the bed was another chest. Looking up there was a window just above the bed with plants in pots across the sill, next to the window was a lyre. Behind Sheik was a wooden table with two plates and clay mugs set out, parallel to the left was a bookcase stuff with books, tomes and scrolls, next to the bookshelf was a chest with a label that read "Yarn stuff"
They looked back over at Sheik; she had long greasy blonde hair that was tied up in a braid, her bangs framing her face, she was not lanky to say the least, but had bulky muscles, but not extremely bulky, there were scratches and bruises all up and down her sun tanned skin. She was wearing an animal skin bralette and blue and white linen tapered harem pants with a light pair of leather boots.
Sheik turned around with the skillet and shovelled the eggs and rashers out on to the plates, "Come and sit down, I promise the food isn't poisoned." she smiled brightly, her red eyes glittering in the morning light.
The stranger walked down a small set of stairs to the table and sat down quietly.
"Go on, eat if you're hungry." Sheik chided as she made some dandelion coffee.
They paused for a moment then aggressively began to eat.
"Easy! You'll throw it all back up if you eat that fast!" Sheik exclaimed as she sat down with a pot of dandelion coffee, after pouring herself and the stranger a cup and putting honey and milk in her cup, they quietly ate in silence.
"I need to ask you a few questions." Sheik addressed, "This is actually kind of important, I'm not implying that you are a threat, but someone coming out of the blue like you did is a little unnerving."
They looked up nervously.
"I will first start with your name, what is your name and what are your pronouns?" Sheik asked looking them directly in the eye.
They sat staring at Sheik for a moment sweating.
"Well?"
"..."
It occurred to her that the stranger may be a mute, "I can understand sign language." she encouraged.
"My name is Link, I am a male, he/him." He gestured slowly, continuing, "I was attacked last night in the woods, my horse Epona was spooked and bolted straight ahead as these skeleton like monsters chased and attacked us, we came upon this town completely by accident."
Sheik nodded, she took a sip of her coffee then asked, "Are you a nomad? Do you have any relatives or friends?"
"No, I have been alone for about ten years, I never knew my parents I was raised by ranchers who knew sign language, but then one day we were attacked and I ran away with my horse." Link explained, his expression grew quite disturbed.
"So no friends either I take it?" Sheik commented as she stood up, "How old are you?"
Link took note of what seemed to be a branding or burn mark that peaked out underneath her bralette, "I will be turning eighteen in a few weeks." He answered.
"That's nice, I just turned seventeen last month." Sheik smiled.
"Did I cause you any trouble last night?" He asked sheepishly.
"Well, you gave us quite a scare, I'll tell you where you are, you are in a secret village of the Sheikah warriors, about forty miles west of Hyrule." Sheik explained as she took the empty plates away.
"I was coming from Hyrule last week." he gestured, "I am sorry if i have been a burden."
"No, no, you're fine," Sheik replied walking over to the small chest by her bed, taking out a white linen shirt and putting it on she continued, "Sorry to leave so abruptly, but I have to go do some chores and stuff, you get some more rest, there's an outhouse behind that door by the larder and the water pump is just around the corner to the left of my cabin. I'll be back in about an hour and a half." Sheik explained as she walked out the door.
Link looked around the cabin some more, he walked back up to the bed to lay back down, what an exhausting two nights; he was being chased by monsters left and right and barely got a wink of sleep, last night he completely blacked out after having found the path to the village. This was the first time in months he actually got to sleep in an actual bed, he felt at home in this little cabin in this remote village of mysterious warriors, Sheik seemed to be a nice girl, she was not mean, but very sweet, very different from the other people he had met before.
He closed his eyes, the smell of sawdust filled the air, he felt hazy and comfortable, this was nice.