This is a rewrite of a story I wrote a very long time ago (Hero's Requiem) and it is based on a persistent timeline which I researched and drew up myself. It isn't quite compatible with the two branched timeline that came after it and even less with the newest three branched timeline. All I can say is that I still enjoy the core of the story and I've made some subtle changes to make it more in line with the Adult Link/Hero Succeeds timeline. But if it seems to contradict the canon in certain points that is the reason. I may later post the timeline as a preface just so you'll know where it's coming from.

Rage; unquechable rage permeated his entire being, his skin crawled with it, his eyes seethed with it, it even polluted the rich and wholesome grasses around him, turning the rich soil to foetid char and the vegetation gray and brittle. Gannondorf had, however briefly touched the hem of godhood and it had been stripped from him, that thrice cursed and damned boy had defeated him. It was an impossibility that galled him unendingly. He would hold that power again, and he would scorch the world with it.

The sacred realm was an almost austere plane, bits of paradise floated through a nearly featureless semi twilight that bathed each floating island in a warm golden light. The horizon was dominated by an unimaginably large structure, the Temple of Light from whence came the golden light that lit the entire realm. But Gannondorf could not move toward it, he could not even avert his gaze from it, the seven seals of the seven sages held him firmly in place. His eternal imprisonment in this realm had scarcely begun and already he could barely stand it. Minutes that seemed themselves an eternity began to stretch into hours and into days until the passage of days was lost in the eternally lit Sacred Realm.

When his bonds released he at first assumed it was just a hallucination, a mad dream spawned from his desire to reach forward and claim the power that was rightly his. He lay on the twisted, rage-marred island for hours before he tried standing. As he struggled to his feet his malevolent laughter echoed darkly throughout the golden land.

The axe cleaved the morning dew in a wide arc, splitting the wood in one clean chop. Link continued until he had more than enough to cook his breakfast, he stacked the rest beneath the eaves of his cottage on the outskirts of the forest and draped a canvas across it to keep it dry. When the fire was crackling warmly and the hare he had caught that morning was heating up in the pot he headed outside for training. Putting his fingers to his lips he whistled three familiar notes and soon the vibrations in the ground heralded Epona's coming, she came over the hill at full gallop barreling towards him. Link didn't budge, he waited until the perfect moment and grabbed her around the neck, swinging himself onto the saddle.

"Well at least we got that trick down," he said patting his partner's flanks, "let's not have any more repeats of last time." he shuddered at the painful memory, and Epona snorted her agreement. "Alright, let's go." he spurred her on swinging by the back of his cottage, leaning over to snatch his sword up from beside the stack of wood. Just over the rise there was a grove of trees to which he had tied shields and old armor and anything else he could swing his sword at for practice.

When he was done he turned back towards his cottage only to see pennants marching over the hill soon followed by two men in gambesons and a woman and three children. He recognized them before he even saw them, the windmill on the pennant was a dead giveaway. It was Sir Grey of Kakariko, a prestigious knight of the realm and a longtime friend.

Gannondorf's imprisonment was supposed to prevent the Imprisoning War but it had happened anyway, Link had joined the fighting at thirteen, the youngest soldier in the war but not by much, not by nearly enough. The result though, was that Link became the youngest knight in the Kingdom's history and made many friends through the other knights and soldiers. The other man was his young son Dael, just a few years younger than Link and halfway on the way to becoming a knight himself.

"A knight's work is never done, eh, Link?" Sir Grey gripped his forearm from atop his grey gelding Rueben.

"Sir Grey, to what do I owe the pleasure." Link returned the greeting heartily, he didn't get many visitors this near the forest save for the occasional wayward pilgrim in spring. "Did Rena not accompany you?" Link asked looking past him for his shrewish daughter.

"Back at your cottage, improving your coney stew...are you inquiring after her?" he asked slyly. Rena was hopelessly in love with the young knight, a situation which was not helped by the fact that Sir Grey kept trying to pair them together.

"I only ask so that I'm not caught unawares by a stray nagging." laughing the men entered the humble cottage concealed just inside the sylvan shade of the forest.

As they entered the cottage they were greeted with a pleasant aroma accompanied by the less welcome sound of Rena, "Link, you call that breakfast? It's a wonder you haven't collapsed of starvation by now."

"Well, a woman's touch was doubtless needed and certainly it's appreciated." he returned politely. She only snorted in response and returned to stirring the pot to hide the blood rushing to her cheeks. They exited the one room abode through the back where he had carved some sturdy, if not particularly decorative chairs. "So, you've yet to tell me what brings you all out here."

"Well, in truth we should have headed straight to the palace but I knew we could reach you faster than the messenger. The princess has summoned the Knights of the Realm, the King's illness has taken a turn for the worse I'm afraid and prince Lucas has still not returned from his campaign in the west."

Link stood, "I'm afraid you'll have to forgive me Sir Grey, I should leave immediately."

Sir Grey inclined his head, as if he expected this, "I thought as much, I will tell Rena she will have to cook for you some other time."

"Give her my apologies, will you?" Link mounted Epona and strapped on his sword and thundered off up the hill grabbing his own roughly fashioned pennant leaned against his chimney as he went.

It was storming and the drawbridge to castle town was already up when he arrived that night but it didn't stay that way for long, "A knight!" came the cry from the guard tower.

"I am Sir Link of the Wood, Knight Protector of her Highness the Princess of Hyrule." He cried waving his pennant urgently.

"Ho! Stand clear!" the guards shouted as the gate began to descend, dropping across the swollen moat.

Epona pranced sensing her master's urgency as the drawbridge slowly lowered, the ancient and well oiled gears dropping it softly across the deep moat. As soon as it thudded down Epona charged across and up the streets of Castle Town her hooves striking sparks on the wide flagstones.

The bridge to the palace seemed longer than usual, the great columns flashing past as Epona's haunches heaved and spouted gouts of mist into the night with each fleeting hoofbeat. The two remaining gates to the palace opened as soon as they saw his pennant flashing in the rain, they knew the banners had been called and it was not their business to delay them. The hall was warmly lit, guards were lining the walls and Zelda waited on the far side of the hall to receive him. He reflexively dropped to one knee, he knew what was expected of him.

"Rise, sir Knight." Her tone was gentle and authoritative. He rose but kept his hand over his chest as a gesture of fealty and kept his gaze down, though not so much that he couldn't see her out of his peripheral eye, "I knew you would arrive tonight." He didn't question her prescience, he had learned to accept it over the years. "Your attention to your duty does you honor, sir. You may take a meal with the other knights in the grand hall or retire to your chambers, I shall speak to you when all the knights have arrived."

He lifted his gaze, he could see the stress in her face; he wanted to run to her, to embrace her, to... but his feet stayed firmly in place in the puddle of water he had created, "Your Highness, as my lady's protector I believe it is my duty to..."

She cut across him with a raised hand, Her shoulders sagged briefly and her lip trembled ever so slightly but she regained her composure, "That will be all, Sir." she said and turned briskly, whisking away through the far door which closed behind her with a final thud that echoed in the vaulted hall. Link shivered in the entrance, the hall did not seem quite so warm as it had when he'd first entered.

Link went first to his chambers to change, he had just stripped down to his small clothes when he felt a presence behind him. "It was not so long ago that I would have rounded on you without a second thought."

"It was not so long ago that you would have failed to sense my presence at all..."

He chuckled lightly reminding himself it was not the Sheikah he was angry with, "It is good to see a friendly face, Impa." He turned and smiled. The woman sat in his chair legs crossed, at ease though he knew she could have a dagger at his throat in the twinkling of an eye, "I had thought to go without it for the time being."

"Yes, I overheard your conversation with Zelda. It was very...appropriate." She said delicately, a smile playing the corners of her lips. "Try not to be too angry with her, it doesn't become you."

"All I ask..." he fumed pulling his shirt over his head, "Is for a bit of equity. It's bad enough I get the lowborn treatment from most of the knights and castle guard. Do have to get it from her of all people..." He checked himself, realizing he was raising his voice. "My lady is the kindest, sweetest person I know...to everyone but me." Impa laughed at this, "I'm glad someone finds it amusing." He sighed.

"Oh, but you are such a sweet young boy," she laughed, Link frowned, "She treats the other knights so favorably because the other knights don't make her feel the way you do. Has it ever occurred to you that if she said more than two words to you then her feelings would come tumbling out like the Zoras Falls? Such is the curse of young love."

"That doesn't help me. I know it's difficult, the situation isn't ideal. It's hard for me to bend the knee whenever she's around, and it's improper for my gaze to rise above the hem of her dress, everything I say must be tempered beforehand, I cannot ever speak my mind..." he stopped again and took a deep breath, Impa was no longer laughing, she looked on him pityingly which made him uncomfortable.

"Love is the cruelest of the curses the gods can visit upon us."

Link snorted, "I could not agree more at the moment." He knew she would be gone if he turned around so he just fastened his belt and left the room.

The knights that had gathered were seated at long oak tables groaning with enough food to feed an army. He scanned the crowd trying to put names to their sigils, Sir Vargas, blue ship on black sat at the table with Sir Jesten, grey eagle on blue and Sir Keron, black ox head on red. At the far end of the hall sat Sir Holder, Sir Marke and Sir Rurik, White ram on green, black hound on grey and red flame on white. In a corner dined Sir Ravd, Gold eye on violet, seated with his men around him, it was said that his family had Sheikah blood from some marriage in the ancient past and thus the sigil of the eye. He took a table some distance from the others virtually uninhabited save for some guardsmen on leave before their next watch. They looked at him askance and one snickered lightly but no one said anything for which he was grateful.

After eating his fill he returned to his chambers intending to sleep and forget the disappointing day altogether, but he was intercepted by a thin lithe man about the same height and age as himself. The man bowed, he was doubtlessly a sheikah, his thin ornate leather armor bore the weeping eye and his face was marked in their style.

"Her Highness requests your presence at his majesty's chambers, I have been sent to escort you."

"Lead the way." He sighed. He didn't really feel like speaking with anyone at the moment let alone the princess but it was not his place to refuse the summons of royalty, and he doubted whether or not he could refuse any request she made of him, royal or common. There were many flights of stairs to the king's chambers but finally they arrived at a heavy carven door. The guards outside the door were resplendent in gilt armor their crimson cloaks draped about them and their high crested helms made them look like a bonfire frozen in place. They stepped aside at their approach, "Long live the King." they chorused, their greeting sounding more like a prayer in the current state of affairs. The Sheikah opened the door for him but did not enter.

The King's chambers were as large as the grand hall, his bed sat at the far end of it separated from the rest of the room by an ornate golden fence. Zelda was standing by the window and turned as the doors shut. "My lady, you summoned me?" He asked taking a knee.

"Your Lady...would like to apologize..." she said haltingly, trying to find the right words, "to her most loyal and trusted friend." She came to him lifting his chin with her small delicate hands. "Please stand."

He did, "There is... nothing for my lady to apologize for." She wrapped her arms around him and he held her tight, he forgot everything, his anger, his disappointment, his lowborn station, he let it melt away in their embrace. When they parted she kept her hands on his shoulders.

"I was going to go for a late night ride, as my knight protector it would only be proper that you accompany me." She said her eyes shining.

"Your father..." Link began looking towards the King's bedchamber.

"My father is sleeping, he won't wake till morning." she went to the door, the sheikah still stood outside of it and Link realized he must be the King's attendant. "Raiko, if my father wakes, send for the doctor, I am taking a ride to calm my thoughts."

"Of course, your highness." Came the man's reply.

The night air was crisp and clear, Link felt it clear his head as though he were coming out of a deep fog. The rain had left droplets on the grass that sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight. As soon as they'd cleared the first rise Link brought Epona neck and neck with Zelda's white mare Eilonwey.

The Princess looked up and smiled at him spurring her mare even faster. Link grinned, "Does she think that up-jumped palace pony can outrun us?" He asked leaning down near Epona's ear. She tossed her head as if in scorn and effortlessly eased up alongside her again.

"It's not very knightly to talk to your horse when a lady is present." She laughed.

"It's not very ladylike to take moonlight rides with your sworn protector." He teased she just laughed and flicked the reigns pushing Eilonwey past him again.

They came to an overhang, a ridge that arched over the Zoras River. The ground was still wet on the ridge but below them the mist was rising, with the moon still high it seemed as though a luminous sea had arisen between them and the castle. The peaceful gurgling of the Zoras babbled on beneath them.

"Something terrible is coming, Link."

Link didn't answer and he didn't doubt her. But right now on the moonlit field with the sea of mist below him, things were far from terrible. Right now was where he wanted to be, right here in the moonlight with Zelda.