Link in the Valley
Or: Legend of Zelda meets Harvest Moon

Prologue: Arrival

As the train chugged into the station, Link looked at his wife and frowned. Not at her, oh no! But at the memory of what had forced them to take this drastic step. The step of wishing themselves away to a more peaceful place. A place that was intact, preferably, and free of monsters and power-hungry warlords. "Well, I suppose this is it," Link said. Zelda just nodded. The past few days, filled with traveling and adapting to the strange technology this new world possessed, had taken their toll on her. Lines of worry and fear marked her otherwise perfect brow, and Link longed to reach over and smooth them away.

'Damn him!' Link thought. 'Why did he have to unleash that magic? Why did I have to fail? I could have stopped it...' His thoughts were interrupted by the high whistle of the engine as it slowed and stopped. "Link, lets go. This is Flower Bud Village." 'This looks as likely a place as any,' Zelda thought. 'But what's with all the noise? Horses would do just as well, I'll have to do some- No. You aren't a princess any more. You're Link's wife, and we've come here to make a new life for ourselves.'

As they got off, wincing at the noise, an over-dressed, middle- aged man was standing there, nervously eyeing the train. 'Drat these new-fangled gadgets they've invented these days! All the noise and smoke. They should keep stuff like that in the big cities. Oh, I'm forgetting myself!' "Ahem!" The whistle of the train drowned him out, and he and the two young people jumped at the noise. The train started going backward, towards a spur track where it could turn around for its return journey, and as the locomotive went by, the driver waved cheerfully. The three on the platform timidly waved back.

When the train was gone, presumably till next year, the older man tried again. "Ahem! I am the mayor of Flower Bud Village, and you are welcome here. Who might you be?" He looked at them with what he hoped was a welcoming expression on his face, but inside he was wondering. 'Those clothes are funny. I hope these two don't bring trouble.'

Link nervously stepped forward, noticing how the mayor eyed his tunic and Zelda's dress. "Um... hi. I'm, uh, Link. And this is... my wife, Zelda." 'Come on, you can do better than that! This is some dinky little farming village, not Hyrule Castle Town! And what's with him? Hasn't he ever seen royalty before?' The mayor was looking, rather pointedly, at Zelda and her perfect features, her natural grace. Which, however, were currently marred by fear and an anxious stance as she took in the unfamiliar town. 'The Triforce never goes wrong. We wished for a world where peace prevailed, and Ganondorf could never find us. But... this? This is a bit... too peaceful.'

The mayor, seeing how they were acting, naturally thought they were just two young city people with grand illusions come out to take a vacation. He was dreading their reaction to what he was about to tell them. "I'm sorry, but you must be from one of the big cities out east. Well, your vacation will be longer then you thought, because the train doesn't come but once a year." 'Here it comes...'

"Vacation?!?" Link yelled, suddenly angry for no readily obvious reason. "Our home was destroyed, our land was obliterated, we've come more distance then you could ever comprehend, and you think we're on VACATION?!?!" He was about to draw his sword when Zelda stopped him. "Link! Don't! it's just a misunderstanding. He doesn't know about Hyrule, or Ganondorf, or any of that! He's just a simple ruler of this simple farming village!" The mayor was outraged at that. "Simple? My good lady, we are not simple!"

Link and the mayor were about to go to blows(and you know how that would have turned out!), when a sharp voice broke through. "Hector! That's enough! You know better then to act like that." With that, the mayor's wife walked up and inserted herself between the two pugilists. Link was taken aback, and the mayor, predictably, was cowed. "I'm sorry. My husband is very protective of our humble little village. Forgive him." 'Oh, Hector, someday that attitude will get you into trouble, and I won't be there to save you!'

Zelda, sensing an opportune time to step in, did so. "We're sorry as well. Link and I have come a very long way, and we are tired. So if you could direct us to a place to sleep for tonight?" 'Link, I wish that you would remember this isn't Hyrule. You don't have to draw your sword at every little scuffle!' That made her grin resignedly. Link had been fighting since the day the Great Deku Tree had called to him. He'd had almost no rest since then, except when they had gotten married on their fifteenth birthdays. They were only eighteen now, and so much had happened. She felt like she was thirty, she was so drained. 'Ugh, I hope I never get all wrinkled and ugly by then!'

The mayor, recovering his poise, heard this last comment and was able to step in before his wife could say a word. "Certainly! The Budding Rose Inn has a room available. I'm sure Dennis would be happy to clean it up for you. We'll take you there." (Author's Note: in my story, the train station is to the north and west of the town square; the tracks circle around the far side of Moon Mountain from the east.)

As it turned out, Dennis was more then happy to clean up a room for them; business was rather slow now, what with the summer crops in, the merchants passed on to warmer climes, and the vineyard not yet producing. There were four rooms, and only one other was taken. "You'll get room no. 1. Breakfast is down in the common area at 7:30. If you want, I can come and knock on the door at seven; I'm usually up before the sun." 'But I probably shouldn't. They look so tired and drained!' Link accepted, however, and he and Zelda went in and proceeded to sleep through the rest of the day and that night.

End of Prologue