Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Zelda! Nadda Zero zip!
1. To Underestimate Brawn and Brain
It was one of those days – from the many – when I practiced with Rusl out near the spring in Faron Forest.
I made a slash at Rusl's legs, the adrenaline rushing in my veins. I was so close, I could sense it. He jumped over my sword, but I knew this was going to happen. I readjusted myself to dive around him. He laughed quietly and rolled away from my strike from behind.
"You never give up, do you?" I teased, putting my wooden sword on my shoulder. It was dull, so I wouldn't hurt Rusl – he too had a sword like this. Rusl got to his feet and smirked.
"You have a leaf in your hair," he pointed out. I cocked my head to the side and reached up to my head. Nothing was there.
"What do you mea–" Before I could finish my sentence, I was on the ground with Rusl's wooden sword pointed to my neck. I sighed. "I'm dead." I announced. Rusl always did that, finding a weak spot in my defense and aiming at it. I knew I could do better, but I just had no need to really defend myself against Rusl. I did trust him.
"Link, you have to remember that I am the enemy and if you get killed by the enemy. . .then not much left, is there?"
I nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I know," I answered half-heartedly. I sunk down into a pile of leaves that had fallen from the many trees in the forest. I really am stupid.
"You at least need to try," Rusl said – another warning. I snorted. Did we really have to train this hard? I mean, I could scare away the occasional beast that wonders outside it's hunting range, but. . .this? Rusl was almost training me like it was for war.
I shook my head again in the pile of leaves. "Rusl, I'm not one of your squires, okay? I'm not going out to battle. I won't have any enemies. . .hopefully." I groaned and shifted from the leave pile, a thorn poking me in the back. "It's not like I don't appreciate it. I like to spare with you, I just don't see the need for it."
Rusl sighed and shook his head."I'm not training you for war Link. I just see great potential in you," Rusl said, spinning his sword in the air. I sat up and narrowed my eyes at him.
"Potential?" I asked in disbelief, "A goat herder. . . who is a warrior?"
"You forget I was once a soldier and now I'm a blacksmith, so what is the difference?" he asked. I sighed, and got up from the pile of leaves.
"Just forget it Rusl. I'll work harder, I promise," I said, patting his shoulder. His face darkened as I did so.
"You better Link. It's important that you don't get to full of yourself, I've seen you show off to the kids."
I took a step back and laughed nervously."You know about that? Well it's really their fault, they asked me..."
"All the kids – including Talo – now have sticks and are swinging them around at each other. It's your fault, Link, that you agreed to show them." He paused wearily, "You haven't shown them too much have you?"
"Of course not! It's not like they could do any of this," I said, shrugging.
"Exactly! We don't know how hot-headed they are. They could wind up trying to protect the village from monkeys if we aren't too careful! So please Link, don't show off, for the kids sake." He walked away from me, heading towards the tree he had tied his horse on. My horse, Epona, was grazing close by, though she wasn't tied to anything. Ilia had trained Epona, when she was still a foul, to stay close to the rider. I couldn't see how Ilia did it. . .though Epona seemed to only stay in one place around me. I think Ilia has grown jealous ever since.
"But why are you training me so hard Rusl? Hyrule seems at peace, except for a few bandits, but we're okay. . .right?" He tightened the girth to his horse, remaining silent. "We are okay Rusl – no mad wizards coming to destroy all of Hyrule?" I asked jokingly, heading towards Epona. "I'm serous Rusl, you seem. . .uneasy lately, like you have been on your guard most of the time. I'm worried. . ."
Rusl sighed and shook his head."Nothing you should worry about to much. And I expect you had learned that sword drill for the Harvest. Remember, you promised Bo a fight." Ugh. Did he have to remind me of the bet Rusl promised for me? Because of that tomorrow is haunting my memory. And does it have to be on my birthday as well? Goddesses!
"Yah. . .well about that. . ." I started, bringing myself onto Epona, getting comfortable in the saddle. Rusl glared at me, knowing what I was about to say.
"No, you won't opt out of this. If you are to be mayor one day, you have to first beat him." Double ugh.
"Well, what if I don't want to be mayor. Ever think of that?" I said in a cocky tone. If Rusl's eyes could narrow any farther, he would look like a hawk searching for his pray. That really made me feel uncomfortable.
"You have to be mayor, one way or another. After all, you weren't born with the holy birth mark for nothing." I couldn't believe he still believed in that myth. I mean, the mayor thought that this birthmark had to mean something as it was the shape of the sacred triangles. Still, it could have just been my random luck that I have the same shape as it. I mean, just because I have a stupid birthmark, doesn't mean I was destined to be mayor.
"Just. . .forget it," I said, hoping that Rusl didn't press the matter. I didn't feel like arguing with him. I rode ahead to make sure he didn't speak to me.
–& –
That night – the night before the festival – I stared out the window, thinking of my plan. I didn't want to fight the mayor. This whole thing was against my will. I couldn't say no, could I? Especially to the mayor. I just felt like my destiny didn't revolve around pointless leadership. Someone would be much better at being mayor then me. Like Ilia.
As I thought of this, the door to my house – which was perched in a tree – was knocked on. I climbed down the ladder to the top floor, which I nicknamed the spying deck. I could see almost to the canyon splitting Hyrule from Ordon, with the bridge that Rusl always locked, from up there.
I lifted the curtain hanging from the window, and saw Talo – an adventurous youngster – tapping his foot impatiently, fixing his badly groomed hair. What did he want?
"Link! Hurry up! Your so slow!"
I groaned to myself, and opened the door. Talo immediately rushed in, followed by the previously unknown figure that stood beside him, Malo his younger brother. Talo seemed. . . excited.
"Talo, I want to go to bed," I said. Yeah, I have to fight the big ol' mayor tomorrow so I could 'be mayor someday'. Ugh.
"You need to come with me Link!" he insisted, throwing Epona's saddle over from the table in the corner. I jumped for it clumsily, and put it back on the shelf. Kids.
"For what?" I asked, getting pretty annoyed. Talo yelled in victory as he held up my wooden sword. I rushed over to him and grabbed it from his hands. "If you need something – besides my wooden sword – then tell me."
Talo made a face. "I was going to give it to you anyway," Typical. "You need to come with me to Faron Forest. Some monkeys came to dad's windmill today and destroyed all his wood work so. . ."
I put my hand up to stop the boy's fast rambling. "Wait. . .a monkey?"
"Yes! And if we don't hurry, it will escape!"
I let my gaze drift to Malo, who was still near the door. I wondered why Malo was so much more mature then his older sibling.
"Yeah, I know Link. He has bad ideas."
"Malo, I don't care what you say, I want to be a hero!"
Malo snickered to himself. I didn't understand anything that was going on. I knew that Talo wanted to either save or go after, some monkey that was at his father's mill. My life can be so random at times.
"Guys, if you want to go after this 'monkey' can we do it later? I'm pretty tired," I said, managing a fake yawn. To my surprise, it was real. Talo was about to protest – I saw it in his eyes – but his younger – weirdly – more mature brother, stopped him.
"Good idea! Come on Talo, mom's gonna' kill us," he said. Talo looked at me once, then the wooden sword. "Talo. . ."
"Oh fine!" he said, heading towards the open door. "You have to promise though, that you will come with me to find that stupid monkey!"
He stomped forward, and didn't pause for my answer, before he shut the door. I stared at the door for a moment. Maybe I should go to bed. . .
– & –
You could say I was nervous. Frightened? No, I wasn't a coward. I fully knew my limits. How far those limits could go was the problem. I woke up in the morning in a very bad mood. First of all, I didn't get any sleep because of a dream – well it was more of a nightmare. I dreamed that once I had become mayor, I would become king next. It was a. . .frightening dream. Ugh, I just hate this!
The second thing that pissed me off was just this day! Well, I had been pissed off ever since the day Rusl made me sign up to do this! I groaned from my bed and shifted out of it. If only I could sleep. . .
I opened the door, and immediately the autumn air hit me. I wouldn't say it was cold, it never got freezing down in the south. The only snow I have seen, was on top of mountains -- impassable ones too. Not a single soul had ever scaled or climbed the mountains in Ordon, to tell the tale. So, if I was hit with even a single flake of snow, I would freeze over. I was more of a warm person.
No kids greeted me (fortunately), so I saddled Epona and made my way to the small village. I passed many people who were rushing to the festival grounds near Ordon Spring. Many of them were children, and they waved as they passed by, however, being scolded by their parents afterwards. Some of the adults thought I was a bad example, since I filled them all with stories Rusl had told me of knights and dragons – not that dragons were real. And then the one story about a boy and an Ocarina, though that was probably made up too. So, I wondered what was wrong with them?
I spotted Ilia in the crowd of up to thirty farmers and goat handlers. Yep, Ordon village, population: 30. Ilia saw me and waved as she slid past many people.
"Hey Link!" she called, her feet splashing as she took a short cut in the spring. This made her pants wet with the pure water of the spring.
"You could have gone around," I said, laughing at her. I dropped down from Epona and sat down on the sands of the spring. Ilia gave me a mock sadness, then dropped her fingers in the water and drenched me as well. I shivered as the water hit my skin. "We aren't kids anymore," I said, with a bit of frustration from what was going to happen today. Ilia smirked and ran over to Epona. She petted her muzzle gently, then returned to me.
"You didn't hurt her, did you?" she asked me. I sighed. This was – what – the hundredth time she had asked me ever since she was forced to give her favorite horse to help me herd the goats. I knew Ilia didn't trust me.
"Now why would I hurt her?" I asked bitterly. She hid behind Epona's head, to escape my bitter tone. I was still mad about today.
"Why are you all grumpy?" she asked in a playful tone. I sighed and put my sandaled feet in the water, but immediately drew back. Way too cold. Instead, I played with a leaf that was floating on the water, twirling the stem between my fingers.
"If you had to fight someone you didn't want to fight, you'd be this way," I replied, flicking the brown leaf away into the water. It blew across the spring along with the wind.
"Yeah. . .my father did fifty push ups this morning, said he didn't want to 'underestimate' you," she said. I snorted a small laughed and spun around to her.
"Not much to underestimate," I said, pointing to myself. I do have a slight build, but I wasn't muscle man like Ilia's father. I was a stick compared to him. "I mean, I probably will fall after his first stroke."
"Don't sell yourself short Link. I've seen you and the kids, they really like you. Like how I like. . ." she paused to blush, and smiled. "Well. . .anyway." It was very clear on what she was going to say. And no, I do not return the same affection, we were just 'friends'. We remained silent for a while, until Rusl found me.
"Don't want to be late Link, remember your drills?" I nodded, and got up from the ground, leaving Ilia with Epona. This was the part where I was suppose to cucco out. The Mayor – Bo was what he liked to be called – stood on a field near the spring. I took small steps towards him, refusing myself to walk the same pace as Rusl. "Link, what's up?" I felt something cold run down my spine, and it wasn't the wind, though it was in it. Something wasn't right. "Hurry up, the mayor is waiting," Rusl called again. I shrugged the feeling off and headed towards the group. I wondered what that was.
"This must be a great birthday for you Link," Bo called, planting his foot on a stone as I approached, "Happy birthday." I grinned sheepishly at him. Maybe I want to wack him now. I grabbed a wooden sword that was laid across a rock. The mayor smiled at me and shook his head. "I pick my way of fighting – fists," he said. I frowned. This made things a lot more difficult. Bo was known all around Hyrule as "a Goron of a man" beating one of the rock people in a test in strength. I'm no Goron, so I'm certainly doomed.
"To win, the other must call," Rusl said. I nodded along with Bo. Weirdly, I felt like I wanted to fight now. After all that fuss, I had an urge to try and win. I had no idea where this feeling came from. "Ready?" Rusl asked, holding up a flag, reminding me of the races I used to have with Falo I, of course, beat him all the time.
"Yes," I said, the words escaping from my lips before I could think. I wondered what happened to 'I will never be Mayor' and I could tell Rusl wondered the same. His eyes widened in surprise and he smirked.
"You'll have trouble with him, Bo. He's a nightmare when he's serious." Nightmare? I forgot about those. I frowned, letting my guard down slightly. Before I could catch myself, Bo rushed into my line of sight holding his hands out to grab me. I ducked to the side in attempt not to be flattened like a pancake. However, Bo turned easily – to my surprise, I hadn't expected that after running so fast – and hit his elbow into my dull wooden sword. It only made a bruise on his arm, so he slashed again, this time trying to at grab me at the same time.
I rolled away again, towards the spectators, who stepped back as soon as I completed my roll. Bo came out of the blue and knocked the wooden sword from my hand before I could grip it. I cursed silently as I saw it splash into the spring. This really was not my lucky day. Bo made a punch at me, but this time it landed solid in my stomach. Out of breath, I fell to the ground.
"You done yet?" he asked, frowning. I knew Bo didn't want to punch me to death. I then saw a weakness in his defense, remembering Rusl's small tricks to make me concentrate on something else. I coughed louder, to attempt Bo to fall for my trick. "You okay?" he said getting to his knees and placing his hand on my shoulder. I smirked in my hand and grabbed his hand, putting it behind his back in the same motion. I smiled in triumph. Though, my stomach really did hurt as I stood up.
Bo wrestled with me in his grip and I tried to hold as well as I could. I argued with myself on how to throw a two hundred pound man. And then, my trick failed and he escaped my grasp, by pushing forcefully behind. I staggered backwards into the spring, retrieving my wooden sword. You win some, you lose some.
"That was a well placed trick Link. I was right not to underestimate you." Again with the underestimating. It is very plain to see that he would win. I thought quickly on what to do next.
"I could have done better," I said, pointing my wooden sword towards him. He smiled.
"I wonder if Rusl has this much fun with you?" he said, preparing to attack again. I smiled.
"Well he isn't fighting with fists," I said. He then dove after me again, spraying water as he went. I got ready to execute my plan, grabbing a leaf in the spring. I was going to need that soon. I dodged fast and, as I did, stuck the leaf on Bo's eyes. It gave me enough time to position myself as he had to stop to take the wet leaf from his face. At least it gave me enough time, but I couldn't dodge forever. I still felt sore from where he hit my stomach.
"Yes. . .he fought with wit," Bo said, grinning. "I can see that brawn and brain will be fighting forever, so lets call this a draw." The spectators were looking on at us from the shore. I smiled.
"Let's," I said. I couldn't believe I was feeling ill towards this day, it was more then fun! Well, except for the sore part.
"Good job, Link!" Rusl said, ignoring the cold spring. I thought of cold and I immediately ran to shore, leaving Bo and Rusl. "Was it something I said?" Rusl asked himself.
"The spring is freezing," I said, pointing a shaken finger toward the spring. Rusl laughed softly to himself.
"I guess you forgot to get boots then. Ha! I can't believe you fought the Mayor in sandals!" Rusl continued to laugh. I narrowed my eyes at him. It wasn't only my feet. Talo and Malo, along with some other kids, ran towards me in high whoops.
"So. . .who won?" Talo asked.
"Draw," Bo said.
"What?" a girl, who I knew as Beth, said in surprise. "Link didn't win?"
"No one won," I responded. Talo frowned.
"Well. . .someone has to win. Fights are suppose to have winners and losers," Talo protested. Malo walked over with the same glum expression he had yesterday.
"Dummy, they have a draw until they can fight again," Malo said. Sometimes I have to thank Malo for the nice and short explanations.
"Anyway, dad wants to see you after the festival with Rusl. It has to do with his wood stock. The stupid monkeys wrecked his work and he doesn't have anymore wood to work with. So, he wants you guys to get some from that forest we aren't suppose to go in. Also, you need to get enough wood for winter and blah, blah, blah," Talo said, slumping to the ground. "Dad can explain it better." I nodded as I was swarmed by another group of kids, but they were immediately taken away. I also had to notice that not a singe person (below adult) has said Happy Birthday. Well, can't ask for much, can we?
Thanks for reading and please review! I want to know what you think on this and your opinon is important (well as well as mine). I wanted to try and write a story that had Link being a sort of stubborn then in the game, because, in the game he just goes along for what people say and it's like they control him, so I wanted to see him in this personality. He still cares for his village and all, but he thinks that he would always be able to protect it. . .this let's him rethink things when the real action starts. I hope you will like this version of Twilight Princess, I wanted to try and write my own, and that you the reader will stick with me!
-Lostwonder15