They catch him just outside of Whiterun.
At first glance, he is a Nord. At second glance, the boy is a Hylian, which is enough to raise eyebrows. The kingdom of Hyrule fell far back in First Era 227, with the death of Queen Gelinda at the hands of the first King Ganon. Hylians aren't all gone, of course, but they are rather hard to come across- most ran across the Great Sea, settling in Skyloft. There, they are safe from the descendants of the man who ravaged their culture. But few - the boy, it seems - remained, traveling in caravans and hiding their pointed ears.
He is caught in the midst of a band of thieves. Whether he is truly one of them or not, no one can say, as the boy says nothing in his defense, but gives plenty of panicked looks. Looks are no defense, of course, and he is loaded into the back of a wagon to be executed.
"Don't really seem like much to me," the man sitting across from him says. He is a Rito, feathers dark and expression proud. Even cuffed to the wooden seat, wings held down with weights, he sits with his back straight. "You're not one of us. So why not tell the guards?"
The boy gives him a withering look. I can't, his expression seems to say. I would if I could.
The Rito snorts. Behind him, his braids are coming undone. They were grabbed rather harshly by the guards who had captured them.
"I've never met a Hylian before. I didn't know they were quite so worthless."
After that, he says nothing. The boy was not a good conversation partner, anyway.
It takes them two days to reach Helgen. They are not given any food, nor shelter from the rain that pelts them as they ride into town. It has taken two days, but the boy seems to have accepted his fate. The wagon jolts to a stop, and one of the three Gerudo thieves riding with them begins to silently cry.
"State your name, prisoner!" one of the guards announces as they disembark. The Rito is first- he seems proud about it.
"Revali, best archer in all of Medoh," he states, and the guard sneers. He is wearing the black helmet of Ganon's army, and it makes the malice in his face all the more potent.
"That will hardly matter in the afterlife, Revali, best archer in all of Medoh." he says. Revali's feathers ruffle in response, and he says nothing as he is shoved into line behind a group of other prisoners.
The Gerudo women are next. Benia, Niboo and Vella, they introduce themselves. Vella continues to cry, but stands tall next to her sisters. This is the life she had signed up for, after all. The boy thinks that all four of these people will go proudly to their deaths- prouder than he could ever hope to.
The guards seem to know that he cannot speak. One of the women who captured him hands him a piece of parchment and ink- they have to know his name, after all, for their records. King Ganon is nothing if not cruelly fastidious.
LINK, he writes in trembling letters, and his name is added to those of the dead.
Except that he does not die.
It has been said that the first king of Morthal worshipped Demise, the Dark God. It was this worship that lead to him banishing Hylians. It has also been said that this worship lead to darker things- whispers that he could speak to demons, dragons, ran rampant until he began to cut gossiping tongues out of the mouths of those who dared to speak against him. But as Ganon's rule spread, his name spreading through generations of sons, the truth came out: not only could the royal family speak to demons, they could also summon them.
It was thought that they could control them. This is not always the case.
The ax is brushing against the back of Link's neck when he hears it.
"What in Goddesses name," he hears Benia say, and then the screaming begins.
The dragon is huge- larger than any creature Link has seen, including the mammoths that roam the Sky planes. He can hardly spend any time admiring it (thick black scales, blood red eyes, claws longer than his own torso) when someone grabs his arm.
"Run!" Niboo yells into his ear, and he does.
It seems that she has been to Helgen before. The sisters rush towards one of the barracks, the guards too concerned with shooting arrows at the giant lizard attacking them to pay any mind. Link sees himself having a chance if he follows. After all, they seem to know what they're doing.
"We have to get to the dungeons," Niboo explains as she follows her sisters up a spiral staircase. He rushes to catch up, and the moment they reach the top the dragons tail slams into the bottom of the tower, taking three guards and Niboo with them as the stone stairs crumbles beneath them.
Why are you helping me, he wants to yell. Benia and Vella lead him across the tops of roofs and towards where he supposes the dungeons are. As Vella slams a warhammer into the side of a guard's head, Revali flies in through the open door and slams it behind them.
"I'm not getting paid enough for this!" he yells, and Benia tosses him a bow and a quiver of arrows.
"Your reward lies with the queen," she reminds him, and, scoffing, Revali follows them into the darkness of the dungeon below.
The trip is harrowing. "The caves beneath Helgen connect towards the outer rim of the city," Vella explains after they kill the dungeon master and his apprentice. Link finds gauntlets and a broadsword to arm himself with, vaguely surprised that the weight of it seems to fit. He has practice with swords, it seems. "We push through, and then from there, we go to Naboris. It's a daylong journey, not too far if we catch a ride. There are stables not too far away from city limits."
Why are you helping me? Link wonders again, and Vella seems to catch his look. She gives him a sad smile. "You are not one of us- you are innocent. I could never live knowing that I left you here to die."
Exactly ten minutes after she tells him that, one of the guards catches them by surprise by shooting an arrow through her neck.
By the time they reach the exit, cold wind blowing towards their faces, Benia is the only one left. Link survives by the skin of his teeth, his limbs still rough and cramped from two days of being bound.
"Revali," she says as they catch their breath, steaming in the cold winter air. "Take him back towards Naboris. I'll catch up with you- I need to stay and pay respects towards my sisters."
"What?" Revali scowls. "No, I've done more than enough. The Hylian can do it on his own, he has a sword now, doesn't he? Give me my rupees and I'll be off."
Benia laughs at him.
"Fool," she says, "the guards took everything I own. Do you think that, even if I wanted to, I could pay you?"
Revali glares at her for a long moment before turning to Link.
"Let's go, then," he says, and takes off to the air.
Link watches him drift for several minutes before running after him, just barely chasing his shadow.
Revali has no patience for horses, nor does Link have the money to purchase one (he is uncomfortable with stealing, which Revali sarcastically suggests), and so they continue on without. They are both tired, though the Rito seems loathe to admit it- and as such, it takes them three days to reach the city of Naboris.
Naboris sits on the boarders of the Ger Desert, which spreads for miles, nearly impassible by all save for the shopping caravans that made their way across it to spread their wares from city to city. The four Vah clans, founded by the four champions of the War of the Isle in 3rd Era 110, still held each other in close regard. Naboris is the closest to the main kingdom, and keeps the three other cities in close contact regarding the affairs of King Ganon. King Ganon will never harm Naboris, they say. After all, the mothers of the royal family are all Gerudo.
"I'm only dropping you off, and then I'm gone." Revali informs Link as they walk through the crowded stone streets. Vendors lined up with carts and stalls, yelling out the names of their wares. The smells of the food, hot and sweet, almost knocked Link off his feet.
"Care to try?" one woman aks him, and Link nods. He has almost taken the stick of roasted meet from her hands before Revali grabs his hand, ripping him away.
"Do you have anything between your pointed ears?" hisses hissed. "Neither of us have money. She isn't giving you that for free."
Link frowns and twists his wrist out of Revali's feathery grip. He knew that - sort of.
Sorry, he mouths, but Revali had already turned away.
"Hurry up. I hate crowds."
The last part is mumbled, and Link barely catches it, but he understands the sentiment. The noises and smells, though originally welcoming, are becoming too claustrophobic.
Naboris is large, larger than Helgen, though not large enough for it to take too long to reach the castle. It is build out of sandstone, tall and glorious, though Link hardly has time to admire it before Revali is leading him inside.
"It took you a long time," Benia greets them, a smirk on her face. She is out of her prisoner's rags, now, decked out in the cloth bejeweled armor of a Naboris Royal Guard. "Come- the queen is anxious to meet our Hylian friend."
Revali looks like he wants to protest to that - friend? what friend? - but follows Benia close behind as she leads him and Link back towards the throne room.
"Her Royal Highness, Queen Urbosa!" Benia announces, and Link automatically bends to one knee. Revali, standing behind him, scoffs and follows suit.
"So," a voice says, "You're the little Hylian, are you?"
Link looks up- and up, and up, and up. Queen Urbosa is gorgeous, her looks even more than the average Gerudo, but there is no weakness in her beauty. Her shoulders are broad, her arms toned, and though she is smiling Link knows she could easily break him over a knee.
"You can stand," she says, and Link does. He barely reaches her chest, even when his back is straight. "Benia says you don't speak. Is this true?"
Link thinks for a moment. It's less that he doesn't speak, and more that he can't speak. He's tried to form sentences, even simple words, but nothing more than a rasp emerges.
In answer, he simply shrugs, and nods.
Urbosa laughs at this. "You're an interesting one, Hylian. Riju, will you come here, please?"
Riju, a young girl not much taller than Link, steps forward from her place besides the throne. She raises her hands and begins to move them and Link stares, confused.
Until he realizes he can understand.
Can you read me? she is saying. Link pauses, stares at his hands, and raises them in response.
I think so. Yes.
Riju beams and turns to Urbosa, "He can speak sign language!" she says, and before Urbosa can respond, Revali clears his through behind her.
"As touching as this is, didn't you promise me something?" he says, wings crossed over his chest. Urbosa sighs.
"As impatient as every, I see. Yes." She nods at Benia. "Take him to the guardhouse, his reward waits there. Give him a small bonus for escorting our friend here."
Benia bows deeply at the waist, then turns and starts off down the hall. Revali gives Link a final onceover, snorts, then turns to follow.
"Oh, ignore him." Urbosa tells Link as he follows the Rito out the door with his eyes. "I've known Revali since he was a fledgling. He's always been like that."
He sits with the Queen in her private quarters for dinner, accompanied by Riju for translation. She demands to know his entire story, and it takes him exactly two minutes to tell it.
Not far from where he was found, Link woke up. He found a dagger to protect himself, and loose clothing off the body of a bandit, slumped in front of the cave he found himself in. He left. He was captured.
Before that? Nothing. His name was Link, he was Hylian, and that was all there was to it.
"Curious," Urbosa says, a small smile on her painted lips. "Absolutely nothing, you say? It's good luck that you were caught up with Benia and her sisters, Goddess rest their souls."
What were they doing? Link asks.
"Someone stole something of mine," Urbosa tells him. "and I want it back. As much as a feathered pain in the ass Revali is, he has connections, and he's good at fighting. Not good enough to keep from capture, it seems."
Riju laughs at that, and Link grins.
"…Benia tells me you could hold your own, out there." Urbosa pushes her plate away and crosses her legs. "You say you can't remember anything. Perhaps you were a warrior in your past life?"
Link shrugs. Perhaps. He'd rather be a warrior than many other things.
"Well, it's settled, then." She snaps her fingers. "You'll stay with us until you gain your strength back. It won't take long, you already seem in good health. Benia will help you train, make sure you're fit, and then you'll be off."
At Link's confused look, she throws her head back and laughs.
"Oh, my dear Link, as kind as I am I'm not one to let you stay for free. You seem like a capable man. Perhaps you can help me find what I am looking for. I feel as though you'll unlock yourself along the way."
Link pauses and thinks about this. There really is nothing to lose, is there?
He nods and holds out a hand to shake. Urbosa takes it, squeezes once, and lets go.
"Well, then." Her grin reaches her eyes, which hold more secrets than Link could ever hope to uncover. "It seems as though we have a deal."
And Link, smiling and nodding, cannot help but feel the chains of fate constrict around his chest.
He wonders if, whoever he was before, would think this was truly a good idea.