River Dove
She was but a humble fisherwoman.
As the founder and owner of the fishing hole rental fishing services and a master fisherwoman as well, she should be deserving of much respect among the community. But she was not.
Her fishing hole was going down the drain. It drew little revenue back when it was first open, let alone now, when all this strange stuff has started to happen…
Not too long ago, the postman delivered a letter from Coro, saying that he had "been infiltrated by a pair of huge physco-bugs." Not only that, but he also said that, after terrorizing his household, these "bugs" vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
Upon reading this initially, she ignored his plead for her safety. Her brother was known to overreact to the trivial. Quite possibly, and perhaps highly likely, Coro had just seen a big cockroach or something.
What really put her on edge was a similar account from Iza, about a week ago. It was all very much the same as Coro's description: strange bug appears, later disappears. And the later rumors about a golden encasement about Hyrule Castle, allowing neither entry nor departure, swirled among the local Zoras.
Strange things were happening all throughout Hyrule. Fear was drawing away from the luxuries, such as fishing, and forcing them to go into hiding with their families. In fact, that thought had, more than once or twice, crossed her mind.
Never, though, did Hena react to these thoughts. This fishing hole was her home. She could never, in good conscience, leave such an important memory of her past behind.
It was on this particular day, amidst all the strange and illusive activities, that her life would change, forever…
It was a beautiful day, simple yet memorably awe-inspiring. And yet, by noon, it seemed to be another day that the fishing hole would fail to bring in any customers. On days like these, Hena would usually fish for her dinner in the pond. Even in this economic downfall, she still had to feed herself, and fish seemed to be the only source of food now, when rupees to buy other foods were scarce.
She had caught plenty of fish yesterday, five Hylian Pikes to be precise, and they were now housed in the big tank in her meager home, just waiting for the day that they would be cleaned and later, eaten.
Instead of relaxing in the outdoor with a fishing pole in hand, she instead chose to stay indoors for the day. There wasn't much to do in the small, one room house, but there was the game she had found in the Hyrule market in castle town.
Very challenging and time-consuming, she often played this little marble game at nights, when it is too dark to fish, or if she just didn't feel like fishing. Thus far, due in part to the complexity of the game as well as her moderate lack of coordination when it came to her hands, she had yet to get past the fifth puzzle, out of sixty-four.
It was, while she was doing this, that he showed up…
At first, she didn't even look up from her game. All of her concentration was fixed on trying to get that godforsaken ball to stay on the thin track…
"Hello?" A young man's voice called out. "Are you still open?"
"Yeah, hold on." Hena replied hastily. Almost there…Almost there… "Damn." She stated when it fell off the track. Finally, she looked up from her game. "How-"
Upon looking into his face, the face of a battle-scarred youth, her breath just stopped. Clad in a green tunic, he had to be the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Not that very many handsome men went to the fishing hole, but all the same, he was salient to say the least.
Hena could feel the blood rushing to the cheeks of her face as she gazed upon his untarnished, natural physique. He had light blonde hair which innocently covered part of his bright and beautiful blue eyes. He held a reassuring smile, directed at her, which caused her heart to do back-flips.
All of a sudden, the scene became very awkward for her. She glanced down at her childish game and quickly set it down before looking back up at his unchanging smile.
Quietly, she mumbled, "How-How can I…help you?"
The man took a few steps forward, and in no time he was at the counter, behind which Hena was sitting. "Can I go fishing?" The man asked. "Are you still open?"
"Yes, of course." She replied quietly.
"Thank you, ma-am." He returned happily.
"You, err…you don't have to call me 'ma-am'; I am no older than you are." She stated.
"Alright, then, miss…" He said, leaving the sentence hanging and expecting an answer.
"Hena." She said, gazing deeply into his eyes.
"Hena…" The man replied. "Wow, what a beautiful name. Nice to meet you, my name is Link."
Link… Though she never said it, she thought that Link was a beautiful name. Instead, her current blush intensified by a degree after his compliment. "So, er, you wanted to go fishing?"
"Oh…" Link said, as if he had forgotten what it was that he went to the fishing hole for. "Yeah! Do you have a rowboat I can use?"
"Yeah, sure, I got a few out front. Here, let me go get it." She said, before walking around the counter and out the front door, Link right behind her. She walked out to the side of the house, where three wooden rowboats were propped up against the wall.
The rowboats, though they were not light by any means, weren't heavy at all. She never had any problems transporting them between the lake and their current spot against the wall. Today, though, for whatever reason, she could not lift it. Try as she did, the darn thing wouldn't budge. That is until, while trying as hard she could to gather all the strength she could muster, her foot caught a root in the ground, sending her to the ground, with the boat toppling after her.
She hit the ground on her back with a plop, and as soon as she did, she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable impact with the rowboat. The contact never came though, and neither did any auditory evidence at all. After a moment, she opened her eyes a crack to investigate, to see Link pushing the rowboat back to its original position. After doing so, he turned around and offered her a hand up.
She graciously accepted and said meagerly, "Thank you." Once up, she began to brush the dirt off.
"Don't mention it." Link replied. When he saw her walking back to the rowboat, he called out to her once more. "Wait, Hena, why don't you let me get that?"
"Oh, alright." She replied embarrassedly, taking a step away from the boat. He promptly picked up the boat as if it weighed nothing at all, and he walked to the pond holding it over his head. And as he walked by, Hena could not help but notice the size of the muscles on his arms…
When he had put the boat into the water, Hena said, "Alright, do you, um, have a pole?"
"Yes I do." He replied, revealing his pole he had received from Rusl's wife back in Ordon. The craftwork of Rusl and Uli's son, Colin, Link would cherish this pole forever.
"Well, then, just tell me when you are done." She turned to go.
"Hena, wait!"
"What is it?"
"I, er…" He started, looking at the ground below his feet. "I've never really, you know, been fishing before…"
"Oh!" She exclaimed; her blush, which had disappeared not a minute earlier, came rushing back. "Do you…want me to come with you?"
"Yes, I'm sorry." He said, smiling pityingly. "But I really have no idea what I'm doing. I definitely need some guidance."
"Oh no, it is no problem." She replied hastily. "But, it will cost you extra…"
"Don't worry," he said, smiling still. "Money is not an issue."
"Well, um, alright then…Let me just go get my fishing rod…" She walked back to her house, and , once inside, she slammed the door as quickly as she could. Once out of sight, she couldn't help but squeal softly in joy. Silently thanking the goddesses for their good fortune, she grabbed her rod and walked back outside with a huge smile on her face.
If Link noticed her changed look, he did not mention it. Instead he prepared his things on the small boat. After he had done so, he stabilized the boat with both of his hands and said, "After you."
Graciously, she boarded the boat, and Link did, perhaps a bit less gracefully, after her.
"Where to?" Link asked, after the two had found comfortable positions and grabbed hold of their rows.
"Well, that depends." She replied. "Do you need a…thorough teaching of how to fish? Or would you just like to know about the location and types of fish in the pond?"
"Perhaps just the description of fish. I do know how to fish, but I do not claim to be the best in all of Hyrule."
"Well, a-alright. There are five types of fish here. The Greengill, Hylian Bass, Hylian Pike, Ordon Catfish, and the infamous Hylian Loach. The Greengill and the bass can be found almost anywhere, the pike is usually near the waterfalls, the catfish is found near that archway, and the Loach…well, it is eluding…"
"Why? What's so eluding about it?"
"Well," She replied. "It is usually at those lily pads near the waterfall, but you won't find any there now. They only come out during the summer."
Link looked dismally at the nearby trees, all of which were either bare to the trunk or full of dead, brown leaves.
"Well, alright then, mind if we start easy? Perhaps with the bass?"
"Yeah, sure, let's just paddle out a little to deeper water…"
"Hey, don't worry about it, Link." Hena said as the pair set foot on solid ground once more.
"I just wish I had caught one…" Link sighed, looked at the three that Hena had caught and put in a water-filled bucket.
"You said it yourself, Link, you've just started. You'll get the hang of it." Hena started back for her home, Link right behind her. Upon getting inside, she began to put the new catches into the tank. While she was doing so, Link asked, "So, how much is it?"
"The rental costs five rupees, the training an additional twenty." She replied.
She was still attending to her fish while he pulled out a rupee and set it on the counter. "You can keep the change." He said. "Well, maybe I'll see you later." He said, and he was gone.
Hena watched him until the last of his forest green tunic had disappeared behind the shutting door. She had become so intent on staring at him, she had failed to notice the orange rupee he had left for her.
Hena waited desperately the next couple of days for the return of her savior, only to be disappointed. Though she waited anxiously for his return, he did not show up the next day. Nor the next day. Nor the day after that.
She did nothing but stand behind her counter, rooted to the spot, staring at the door where she hoped he would walk through at any minute. She was so entranced by this man's allure that all other necessities took the backseat. She had not been out fishing since that day he came, and her supply of fish to eat was starting to run low.
But she took no notice. All that mattered was that she was here when he came back. If she was caught outside when he returned, that would be something Hena would regret for the rest of her life.
Because this man was no ordinary costumer. No, he was much more than that. This job was normally just something she did to make ends meet, but with him as her customer, the job became much easier. Though fishing was certainly a passion of hers, Hena would be one of the first to admit that it can be quite boring. But with Link the other day, it was very enjoyable. It was, quite possibly, the happiest she had been in months.
Hena was stirred from her thoughts by a knock at the door, and her heart began to race. Could it possibly be? With a light gasp, she waited as the door crept open and…
"Good morning, miss Hena." The postman said anxiously. "I have a letter for you. Good day." The postman put the letter on her counter and was out the door as quick as he arrived.
Hena sighed deeply and her shoulders dropped noticeably. Though she didn't want to, she could not help but feel a little irritated at the postman, even though it was not his fault he was not Link.
With another sigh of resignation, Hena picked up the letter she had been given. The sloppy, erratic handwriting on the envelope she instantly recognized as Coro's. She quickly scanned through the letter, but most of it was just fluff. 'I'm fine, don't worry about me, getting kinda lonely though…'
Hena frowned. Perhaps it was time to close up shop and wait out this storm with the family. Things weren't showing signs of getting any better for a long time to come, and in terms of profit, she had yet to attract a single customer since Link left. To be perfectly honest, she probably would have left immediately once she got that letter, but just the thought of Link enticed her to stay rooted to the spot.
But her hope in his return was dwindling with every passing second. Perhaps it was too much to hope for that he return soon. Perhaps she was just a foolish schoolgirl for letting her crush stand in the way of a greater danger.
Perhaps it was time to move on.
Three months it had been. Three months since Hena had left her humble fishing hole and took refuge with Coro in his house near Ordon. Little by little, the strangeness that had once enveloped Hyrule was fading away, becoming little more than a bad nightmare. Visitors to Ordon told tales of a battle which occurred not long ago, the battle between a large, dark-skinned man from the desert and a Hero clad in a green tunic. Of course, these were just tales and there was no proof that any of it ever did occur, but the mention of the man in the green tunic made Hena think back to her own green tunic hero all those days ago back at the fishing hole.
Coro had become overjoyed when Hera arrived at his doorstep, overjoyed to the point of ecstasy. He was growing frantic, he had claimed, with all that had been going on. Living with her brother had become a nuisance from day one for Hena, but at least she felt more protected and not out in the open.
As daily life continued and things began to return to normal, Hena finally made the decision to return to her fishing hole, much to Coro's displeasure.
"But dearest sister," Coro had exclaimed when Hena had given him the news. "You would really risk traveling now? Perhaps this is not the end, you can't go out yet!"
Hena sighed. "I got here just fine Coro, and I came while all the weird stuff was happening. I think I'll be fine now that it's gone."
"Yeah, but-"
"I need to get back, Coro." Hena replied. "I need to go back to trying to make some money; I don't want to cut into your savings anymore."
"Please Hena, I don't mind, I got enough to last us a while longer."
Hena smiled lightly. "So it'll last you twice as long then."
And so Hena spent the rest of that day gathering her belongings and departed the next day. It was hard to do, but it had to be done. With life back to normal again, it wouldn't make any sense to act as if it weren't.
The travel back was very uneventful for Hena. Mindless walking for a few days was all it took for Hena to find her way to back to the place that she called home.
As the entrance to her home came into view, Hena heaved a deep sigh. She had been gone for much too long; surely her Hero Link would have come during that time, if he had come at all. And when he noticed that she was not there, he would assume she left and would not come back again.
It was nearly spring now; the snow from winter was now gone and beautiful new leaves were growing on every tree in sight. The cool, spring air felt good on her exposed skin and the breeze caused her hair to flutter slightly. There was only one way that this scene could be any more perfect, and he was probably halfway across Hyrule.
When Hena opened the door to her home, she found it to be in the same condition that she had left in, as to be expected. The lake was calm and the sounds of the waterfall were all that could be heard save for some early morning birds.
Her house was also in pristine condition even after this long wait. It stood there, untarnished, with two wooden rowboats leaning against one of the walls. Wait, two?
Hena immediately directed her attention to the pond. It didn't seem likely that someone would just come and steal her third rowboat. Perhaps it was just in use or something? Not that that really made her feel any better.
She could feel the anger swelling up inside her as she desperately searched for a rowboat in use in the pond. Hena had looked for a few minutes and had resigned herself to the fact that someone must have stolen it until she finally found it.
There it was, out near the waterfall, with a young man in a green tunic riding in it. He was looking at her and when he noticed that she was looking back, he gave a small, suggestive smile and then turned his head away.
Any anger that Hena had been harboring a few minutes ago had long since vanished. She felt like leaping for joy, he had come back! With a huge smile plastered to her lips, she ran and grabbed one of the remaining rowboats, with the intention of joining the man that she had always dreamed of.
Twilight was gone and spring had come.