He learned very quickly, Sheik had said. Any other child wouldn't even be able to lift a bow, let alone wield it with the skill Link has shown.
The praise had filled him until he thought he would burst, and he had set to training even more focused than before, with Sheik's watchful eye scanning the surrounding woods for any threat.
Sheik had promised, in that wordless way of his, to always be there. When the Great Deku Tree and Saria and Ruto and Malon and Skull Kid and Darunia and all of the Gorons and Zelda went away, Sheik had been.
And when he had to smile for the Kokiri and promise to be strong for the Gorons and swear to bring fire to the Zora, when he had to be the Hero Zelda thought he was and when he wasn't supposed to cry because he missed home and Navi didn't understand, Sheik made sure he didn't pretend that all the time.
So it wasn't hard to learn to pretend. To be a Deku, to be Darmani, to be Mikau. To tell Tatl that her brother would be fine and help Romani fight off the monsters and not weep when he found Anju's lover with those red, red eyes, and stop Majora from crushing Termina.
He just put on another mask.
Because, really, Termina wasn't any different from Hyrule.
X-x-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-x-X
This may be a prelude to something. Not sure yet. But this piece just feels so complete, I don't want to break that by prodding at it more.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it :D
This was 100 Theme Challenge, No. 14~