Through the still air that hung sleepily over Faron Spring cut a sharp yell, followed immediately by someone's quiet grunt. Expertly honed wood clashed violently against its equal, but the owners of the practice swords couldn't be more different.
One was a man, thirty years old and sharp in mind and body. His face was broad, and his hands had the callouses of a blacksmith. The dirt of one too, which his wife often tiredly teased him about. He was well learned in the ways of combat through experience, but his soul was weary because of it. Rusl was his name, and he was the sole protector of his village. The Ordonian carefully watched the moves of his pupil, who was seventeen years old and startlingly strong. Link had the unmistakable slender features and pointed ears of a Hyrulian, and was the only one living in the village now. Rusl was glad that the boy had never been ostracized for his unique looks, but he also felt constant concern for his tendency to distance himself from the rest of the village.
When vibrantly blue eyes flashed with confidence, Rusl knew to prepare for a vertical swing from Link.
Sure enough, the teenager shouted as he swiftly rose his wooden sword and brought it down only for it to cut about an inch into the earth. The man had dodged that blow. Rusl aimed a jab at the young blond, but Link rose his sword in just time to push his weapon away and counterattack with a horizontal swipe, and the blacksmith barely dodged it.
A hearty laugh left Rusl, and he sheathed the sword that he had crafted himself out of Faron Oakwood.
"That's enough for today my boy", he announced, and laughed again when Link shoved out a hard breath of air and sent a look of almost fiery disappointment his way.
"Already? It's still light out", Link objected, and Rusl made use of his fatherly sternness then.
"Oh, come now. It's the twilight hour", he scolded, though there was hardly even a flicker of irritation in his voice. "Take a drink from the spring and cool off."
Rusl caught the challenging huff from the young Hyrulian but said nothing about it since he saw him sheathe the wooden sword and crouch down at the edge of the crystal-clear spring. He himself washed his hands in the spring before lifting a small amount of the water. He murmured a quiet prayer of thanks to the lake spirit Faron, unlike Link who eagerly splashed his face and sighed in relief without a single word spoken.
"You're too expressive you know", the blacksmith decided to share after a moment. Link slid his half damp locks back and blinked quizzically, his demeanor a touch tamer now that he had been given time to relax from their sparring.
"When you fight", Rusl explained, "You're far too expressive. And beyond that, you're giving your enemy cues by shouting so much."
He noticed a flash of irritation in Link's eyes before his expression turned to one of embarrassment. This was a topic that had been broached before.
"I can't help it", the blue-eyed boy muttered, and he sounded unhappy with himself. "I'm focusing so much on the battle, I forget."
Rusl clapped Link on the back and offered one of his warm smiles to ease the boy's mind. He knew that the Hyrulian was trying very hard to become a passable swordsman, unaware that he was already quite good for his age.
"You will learn, Link. Don't think too harshly on that."
Link turned his head to the wide but gentle waterfall some feet away from them and gave a noncommittal noise in response, one that Rusl read as perhaps discontent. He could never be sure with those quiet sounds, and when worry began to build up in his heart he had to remind himself that Link was not his son, no matter the amount of care he and his wife, Uli, had provided for him after the death of Link's father. The memory of his deceased friend lengthened the silence between the two villagers until the teenager finally broke it.
"Hey Rusl", Link spoke up, voice quiet and eyes fixed on the waterfall. The swordsman turned his gaze away from the sky and settled on the boy.
"Yes?"
There was another silence among them, and he knew that Link was gathering the courage to speak whatever it was that was on his mind. The golden-haired child never had liked to leave his sentences unfinished.
"Do you think my dad would be happy with where I'm at right now?"
Rusl was startled by that sentence and at a loss at first on how to respond, but he saw Link's shoulders tense a little before he moved to slide some healthy blades of grass through his long fingers and quickly add, "With the sword fighting."
The older blond moved to smooth out the hairs on one side of his wide mustache as he thought carefully on how to answer Link's question. It had been five years since the bulblins attacked Ordon Village, since the man had died defending it at the age Rusl was now. Link and the other children had been spared the true horrors of that night because they had been hidden safely away in the mayor's home, but there had been no stopping the poor boy from seeing his father being sent off in the funeral vessel down the river that cut through the village.
"Leven was…"
Rusl saw Link straighten his posture and lock his fiercely attentive, sky blue eyes with him.
"Link, you are in many ways very much like your father. He was brave, and kind… About as stubborn as an Ordonian goat."
That got a small smile out of the teenager, who was more than familiar with the temperament of those goats.
"And he was an outstanding swordsman. Your father would be very proud to see the young man you've become."
Rusl's eyes stayed matched with Link's for a minute, the young blond visibly processing those words until he came to some sort of conclusion that must have satisfied him, because Link lifted his head to the dusk lit sky and eased the tension between his eyebrows.
"Thanks, Rusl", the Hyrulian muttered quietly, a slighter wider smile forming.
The two of them enjoyed a pause between them while a breeze passed through the air like the day's long, drawn out yawn. Then, clearing his throat and accidentally startling the boy that had fallen into a moment of deep thought, the blacksmith spoke again.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Link."
Link gave another of his questioning blinks, and Rusl continued.
"I was supposed to deliver something to the royal family the day after tomorrow. It was a task set to me by the mayor, but…"
Rusl waited on his words, at first uncertain if it was right for him to ask Link to take on the dangers that came with traveling the still halfway wild fields of Hyrule. But he had seen for himself how skilled Link was now, and with the boy approaching adulthood it was time Link began thinking of the idea of seeing what lay beyond their humble village.
"…Will you go in my stead?"
The Hyrulian's bright eyes widened in surprise.
"Sure", Link answered, "But why?"
Rusl struggled again to find a proper explanation but gave a friendly smile when he had.
"You have never been to Hyrule, right? You should look upon that land and the great Castle Town with your own eyes. Aside from that, Uli is due soon…"
Link gave Rusl a sharp nod.
"I understand. You want to be there", the teenager said knowingly, and the man dipped his head in agreement.
"Thank you, Link."
"It's no problem," the young blond smiled more openly before he stretched out his legs, and Rusl heard the vaguely cringeworthy cracking noise of knee caps settling into a new position after being the same way for a little long. Upon checking the dimmer lighting around them, the Ordonian determined it was time to go.
"It is getting late. We should head back to the village", Rusl said as he stood, and he experienced many more of those creaks and pops than Link had. "I will talk to the mayor about this matter."
From there, the swordsman and his pupil walked the way across the long bridge and to the edge of Ordon village, where Uli and Rusl's son both waited patiently for them. The blacksmith family said their goodnights to Link, and while Rusl walked his way to a small, comfortable home, Link went back to an empty house.
Author's Note: This fanfic is an attempt to take what's good from the Legend of Zelda and make it better by making it realistic. No pairing, will be delving into war issues, and some creative liberties are going to be taken with things (as you can see with Leven). A big goal in this is to give the LoZ cultures more… culture. I hope you enjoy the read! Also, I had to give Link's dad a name, and since the name Link is an English name meaning "from the bank", I decided on Leven because it is a Gaelic name meaning "elm river".