Hi everyone! Just a brief A/N before we get started. First things first, this is my first ever fanfic, so please bear that in mind when you read it! I know it's not brilliant, but comments and reviews are always appreciated, stuff you liked and constructive criticism. But no flames please! Second things second, this story has kind of a weird setting. It takes place in Hyrule many centuries after Skyward Sword, but before the next game in the series. Some things are the same, a lot of things are different, so if that bothers you this fic may not be for you. Also a note on characters: I have a lot of OCs in here. And I mean a lot. The main characters are canon Zelda characters, but basically everyone else is an OC. But my OCs are all based on other Zelda characters, so as you read you can have fun guessing who they're based off. It's not hard to tell. But if loads of OCs aren't your thing, you probably won't like this fic. Right, thank you for reading this far through my random mutterings, and on with the story! Oh wait:
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I don't own the Legend of Zelda, that belongs to Miyamoto and the good folks at Nintendo. The only thing that's mine are my OCs, and arguably not even them. They're probably from somewhere else and I subconsciously stole them. I don't think I did. But you never know. So yeah, to summarise, I don't own this stuff. Read on and enjoy. Bye.
-o-
All Link could see was darkness. Everything around him was deep black, swallowing up light and sound. But suddenly, a flash of gold erupted in front of his eyes, taking on the shape of a beautiful woman with golden hair. Her azure blue eyes widened as they saw Link, then her face softened into a smile.
'There you are, sleepyhead!' she said with a laugh.
Link frowned, confused by this tone of familiarity coming from a girl he had never seen before. But as he took in her blonde hair, pink dress, and the strange cloth round her shoulders, he felt as though there was something familiar about her, he had seen her somewhere… he just couldn't remember where.
'…Link? Link?' the girl was saying, watching him with a smile. How did she know his name?
'Link?' But the voice was different this time, much deeper, and as he frowned, a loud crashing noise ripped through his dark world.
'Link!' Another crash, and suddenly the girl vanished, along with the darkness, and pale light filtered through Link's half-closed eyelids. He opened his eyes fully, and saw no darkness, just the familiar surroundings of his house.
'Link!' The voice was louder this time, and it was a man's voice. Link turned, and a small rock flew through his open window and hit him squarely on the forehead. As he rubbed his sore skull, he saw other stones lying on the floor, no doubt the source of the crashes. He stumbled over to his window and looked out. A tall, heavy-set man of around twenty looked up at him, a smile on his face and a pile of stones in his hand.
'I thought you'd never wake up! But you can't sleep in today, so get dressed and come down here.' Link, still groggy from the combined effects of his rude awakening and his mild concussion from the stone, quickly pulled on some clothes and went out the door, agilely jumping from the tree his house sat in to the ground.
'I really wish you could find a better way of waking me, Faru,' Link grumbled as he walked over to the man. 'I mean I know it's crazy, but you could actually come up and wake me in person, rather than taking pot shots at me through my window.'
'Yeah,' Faru replied, 'but taking pot shots is so much more fun.' Link kept grumbling under his breath as the two of them walked towards the Elder's house, perched in the tallest and oldest tree in the village. Faru was Link's best friend, despite being a few years older. The two had been inseparable for as long as anyone could remember. Link just sometimes wished that Faru wasn't so… direct about things, like waking him. He looked up as Faru suddenly veered off their course towards one of the many tree stumps that littered their home of Fallhollow Village. A long thin object was lying on it, which Faru picked up.
'Do you know what this is?' he asked. Link stared at him.
'Are you seriously asking me if I know what a sword is.'
Faru grinned, then replied, 'I am asking you that because I'm waiting to see how long it's going to take you to remember what day it is today.' Link stared stupidly at him.
'Uh, Wednesday?' Faru sighed.
'No, idiot, it's the day of the Ceremony! You know, the day once a year where a boy who comes of age that year is presented with his own sword and officially becomes a man? Hello? Ringing any bells?' Link continued to stare for a moment while his brain processed this. Of course, he had had his seventeenth birthday several months ago, but birthdays in general were not generally celebrated in Fallhollow. The only one that mattered was seventeen, when a boy became a man.
Link hit his forehead with the heel of his hand, cursing his stupidity. Today was the day he had been waiting for as long as he could remember, the day he got a sword! Faru, watching this, was amused.
'Ah, I see that pile of sludge you call a brain has finally kicked into gear. So you get what you have to do, right? I've hidden the sword somewhere in the forest, and all you have to do is find it and bring it back before sundown. Shouldn't be too hard, even for you.' Link scowled at his friend. Faru, being three years older than Link, had gotten his sword three years ago, and apparently had forgotten how long it had taken him to find the sword, only just making it back before sunset.
'So listen,' Faru continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. 'I know technically you're supposed to find the sword yourself, but because I hid it and I happen to be your best friend in the entire world, I might just be able to tell you where I hid it.'
Link was surprised: this was against the rules, but if it got him his sword sooner, he was all ears. 'You know the big tree to the east of here?' Link nodded; the tree in question was big enough to be seen clearly from any part of Faron Woods. 'Well, let's just say if you hunt around there you might be pleasantly surprised.' Link leapt up, eager to go, but his curiosity got the better of him.
'Why did you tell me, Faru? You know you'll be in trouble if anyone finds out.' Faru smiled.
'Anything for my best bud!' he said, slapping Link hard on the back. 'Also Quin…' he mumbled something too quietly for Link to catch, but he did hear a name.
'Quin? What's she got to do with anything?'
'I might have told her where the sword was too,' Faru muttered. Link's heart sank. Quin. She was his eternal rival, always determined to best him at everything. To make matters worse, although she was a few months younger than Link, she came of age the same year as him, so (as tradition stated only one person could claim the sword per year) they would be competing. Not a prospect Link relished. Strictly speaking, Quin was a girl and the traditions stated that only boys could wield a sword, but Quin felt that her gender should not bar her from anything, and she made sure others felt this way too. When the question of a Ceremony for Link had come up a few months before his seventeenth birthday, Quin had dealt with the problem of being excluded the way she dealt with all problems: she pretended it wasn't there and steamrollered right over it. She had assumed she had just as much right to the sword as Link did (which he had to admit, technically she did), so the idea of not competing had never entered her mind. Link sighed.
'So when did you tell her this? How much of a head-start does she have? Anyway, why would you tell her? Never mind, don't answer that last one.' Faru's crush on Quin was plain as day to everyone in the village including Quin herself, and she enjoyed manipulating Faru with it. Both Link and Quin knew perfectly well that Faru would tell her anything if he thought it would make her like him.
'Well, unlike some people, Quin actually got out of bed on time this morning, so she set off about an hour ago,' Faru continued, 'but you know she's got no sense of direction. You know the woods much better than her, so you might still be able to beat her to it. And remember, whatever she thinks, she has a right to compete with you for the sword, but if you get there first, it's yours.' With one final glare back at his unfortunate friend, Link set off into the deep forest surrounding the village.
Faru was right, Link knew the forest better than anyone, which was not surprising given the amount of time he spent exploring it. Yes, the tree where Faru had hidden the sword was clearly visible from the village, but under the thick cover of the dense trees, it was hard to see the sky, never mind landmarks. There was a trail leading from the village past the tree, and Link guessed Quin would follow that, not wanting to get lost. But that path wound and looped through Faron Woods, and it would take her at least twice as long as it would to go straight there, as Link intended to do. He plunged between the trees without fear, knowing exactly where to go.
As he ran through the woods, he suddenly thought he heard someone running behind him, but when he stopped and listened, he heard nothing, only the birds and the wind rustling the leaves. Deciding it was only his imagination, he ran off. From the shadow of a nearby tree two blue eyes watched him go.
-o-
After running for a short time longer, Link burst out into the large clearing which surrounded the Great Tree. He looked around, but could see no-one. Elated at having beaten his rival, Link started towards the tree when a whistle from above caught his attention. There, sitting casually on a branch halfway up the tree, was a girl with tanned skin, fire red hair and bright green eyes. Quin.
'You took your time, lazy! Thought you were never coming! Isn't this supposed to be a competition or something? Although, you against me is hardly what I'd call competition,' the girl said smugly. Link narrowed his eyes at her. Of course, how stupid of him to assume he could have beaten her here.
'Well I guess I'll have to go easy on you,' Quin said. 'Look up there!' Link did as he was told, and at the tip of the highest branch of the tree he spied a sword, thrust deep into the wood. 'Better get going!' Quin teased, pushing off the branch she was perched on, dislodging a smaller branch which promptly fell and hit Link on the head. With Quin's laughter ringing in his ears, Link grabbed a branch and started to climb. He may have been better at navigating the forest, but Quin was lighter and by far the better climber, and with her head start there was no way he'd beat her to the sword.
He was on the verge of climbing back down and preparing himself for Quin's victory gloat, when a screaming figure dropped past him. Alarmed, he peered down, but was relieved to see that Quin had managed to grab a branch to break her fall. As he watched, she dropped down and landed heavily. Link winced in sympathy, but she was already hobbling around, yelling at him to stop and give her a chance, so it looked like her slip had only given her a twisted ankle. He grinned and resumed his climbing with renewed energy, as Quin was now in no state to climb, never mind beat him.
After a short time, he reached the crown of the tree and was just pulling himself up on the branch with the sword when he stopped dead. At the end of the branch was a woman, her back to Link, left hand resting lightly on the hilt of the sword. She appeared not to notice Link. His first thought was that Quin had used some kind of sorcery to overtake him, but this woman was taller than his friend, with paler skin and golden blonde hair instead of Quin's distinctive red. Also Quin couldn't do magic to save her life.
Link's shocked gaze fell on the woman's left hand. The light glanced off it, making it difficult to see, but Link thought he could make out a strangely-shaped scar. As Link stared, the figure turned her head slightly, seeing him for the first time. The first thing Link noticed was her eyes, which were a startlingly clear blue. The second thing he took in was that she was younger than she appeared from behind, roughly the same age as Link. But he became aware that while he watched her she was watching him, and after regarding him for a few moments more she leapt from the tree. Link, panicked, scrambled up onto the branch and raced to the end, watching for any sign of the mysterious girl. But there was nothing.
-o-
Perplexed, Link turned away only to see the reason he was in the tree: the sword. His sword. He grasped the hilt and pulled it free of the wood, holding it aloft with his left hand. In that instant he felt a strange power coursing down his arm. He turned his hand slightly to regard the mark on the back of it. Link's skin was normally slightly tanned, but there was an irregular patch of darker skin on his hand. When Link was younger the Elder had explained that it was a scar, from before the orphaned Link had been found as a baby. He had always had it, and it had never done anything before today, but gently touching it with his right hand Link felt that it was warm, more so than the rest of his body. He put it down to the sun, but still resolved to ask the Elder about it later.
He lowered his new sword and picked up the sheath that Faru had thoughtfully slung over the end of the branch, strapping the sword to his back. With that, he leapt from the tree much as he imagined the mystery girl must have done, jumping from branch to branch. Fallhollow was a village in the forest, literally, as all the houses were built in the trees. That, and the fact that Link had spent most of his life exploring the woods around the village, meant that he was just at home here in a tree as he was on the ground.
When his feet did eventually hit the ground though, the first thing he saw was Quin, arms crossed and scowling. He smiled, knowing how much this defeat would sting his rival, walked over and placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. He looked at her, condolences in his eyes, then his face broke into a smile as he said,
'You were right. Me and you, that really isn't competition.' Quin's scowl deepened, but Link knew she was already fighting a smile. Rivals they may have been, but they valued each other as friends as well. Link draped his arm across her shoulders, ensuring that her arm touched the hilt of his newly-acquired sword, and together they walked from the clearing. But Link still had something on his mind.
'Did you see where that girl went?' he asked. Quin frowned.
'What girl?' Link rolled his eyes.
'Don't be annoying Quin. The one at the top of the tree, the one with the blonde hair.' But Quin's genuine look of perplexity made Link doubt her. 'You really didn't see her?'
'No…' Quin replied slowly, 'But I'm not surprised you did.' Link turned to her.
'What do you mean?'
'Well,' Quin said with a smirk, 'You're seventeen, you're a guy, and you've never met a girl before. It's only natural you would start seeing beautiful girls everywhere you go.' Link glared at her.
'I do know girls! There's Lia, and Voxa. And anyway, I know you!' Quin laughed.
'Okay, Lia and Voxa don't count 'cause they're kids and you said yourself they're like little baby sisters. I'm not talking about girls here Link, I'm talking about girls. You know, the kind you might marry one day.'
'You still haven't addressed the fact that I'm talking to you, an attractive girl of my age,' Link pointed out. There was silence as they both absorbed what he had just said.
'…You think I'm attractive?' Quin asked tentatively.
'Well no, I mean yes, of course you are, but just because you're attractive doesn't mean I want to marry you.' Link garbled. There was silence again before Quin burst out laughing.
'Well good, because I most certainly do not want to marry you! Us, in a relationship? Bleugh!' Quin said, still laughing, not noticing Link's hurt expression. It was true, he really wasn't interested in Quin romantically, but she was still attractive and her utter revulsion at the thought of marrying him did sting a bit. But then his thoughts wandered back to the other girl, the one Quin claimed not to have seen. He hadn't imagined her, he was sure of it. But why would Quin not have seen her? The branch was clearly visible from the ground, so why? He dragged his thoughts back to the present as Quin continued.
'But how did you get Faru to tell you where the sword was? I know you didn't persuade him the same why I did.' Link was about to answer when this registered.
'I- wait, how did you persuade him?'
'I said I'd give him a kiss if he told me,' replied Quin with a laugh.
'And did you?' Link couldn't help but be intrigued by his manipulative rival.
'Of course not silly!' Quin replied. 'I'm saving myself for someone else.' This piqued Link's interest: if not Faru, then who was Quin interested in? Surely no-one else was brave or stupid enough to have feelings for the fiercest girl in Faron Woods? But Quin interrupted his musings again.
'Look Link, the village isn't far from here. You may have beaten me to the sword, but I bet I can beat you back to the village!' Without waiting for his reply she took off, her ankle seemingly forgotten in the adrenalin rush of their rivalry. Link laughed and raced after her.
-o-
Taking a shortcut through the trees, he burst into a clearing and stopped dead. In the middle was a bottle with the stopper in, and inside the bottle was a ball of green light, hitting angrily against the glass. It was making noises that almost sounded like words, but they were muffled inside the thick glass. Link quickly knelt down and pulled the stopper out, and the ball of light flew up around his head, faster than he could follow.
'Ooh, freedom!' she said excitedly, for from her voice she was undoubtedly a she. She settled down, hovering just above a nearby log, and without warning there was a blinding flash of green light. When Link regained his vision, he saw that where the ball had been before, there was a young girl of around seven sitting on the log. Her features looked normal, the only sign that she was in fact the former ball of light was the bright green glow that she gave off.
'Thank you!' she said breathlessly. 'That was horrible!' Link opened his mouth to speak but the girl continued. 'Those nasty kids chased me around for ages and then they put me in that bottle and I thought I'd never get out! I couldn't even transform like this or I would have been crushed! But now you helped me so it's all okay!' Link closed his mouth again, having no words for this strange child. But he had an inkling who the 'nasty kids' were, and resolved to have a word with the village children when he returned. Thinking of the village reminded him of Quin, and he stood to leave.
'Oh please don't go!' the girl begged, reaching for Link's hand. To his surprise, she touched it, and it felt like normal skin. 'I was so lonely, out here all alone.' She looked as though she might cry, so Link knelt back down with her. She brightened at once.
'I'm Tam by the way,' the girl continued as if nothing had happened. 'I'm a forest sprite! They're a special type of fairy that lives out in the furthest parts of the forest! But I think I'm the only one…' She looked despondent again, but then continued: 'And who are you? Link? That's a really strange name. But a good one. You look like a Link.' She paused, and her eyes fixed on a point over Link's left shoulder.
'You know, your friend can come talk to me too if she wants.' Link turned but saw no-one. 'Oh, she left. Maybe she was playing hide and seek? But she wasn't hiding very well, following you round all that time.' Link turned back and stared at Tam, who said, 'I was watching you earlier. There was a girl with red hair who ran past a long time ago, then you went by here, and then your friend with the pretty blonde hair followed you.'
Link was stunned. He suspected Tam meant the girl from the tree, but he didn't understand why she would be following him.
'You have lots of friends round here, don't you?' said Tam. Link was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice her wistful tone, but he woke from his reverie when she suddenly changed back into her sprite form and flew up, circling round his head.
'Well, I have to go. Important sprite things to do, you know.' And with that, she shot off between the trees, leaving a thoroughly confused Link gazing after her.
-o-
When Link finally reached the gates of Fallhollow Village (much later than he intended, thanks to Tam), he was greeted by a distinctly annoyed-looking Quin and a distinctly bashful-looking Faru.
'Well someone took their time,' said Quin angrily.
'Oh, Link, er, you, er, you got the sword!' Faru said, unable to show too much pride for his friend in front of the still-angry object of his affections. 'Well I guess we should probably do the Ceremony now.' As Link knew, the Ceremony was nothing spectacular, just the presentation of the sword to the new man by an older man. Faru handed Link the sword, with the impressive words: 'Um, well done, um. You, um, deserve, it… um.' With this feeble attempt at diplomacy, Quin huffed off, freeing Faru from his obligation.
'Well done Link! I'm proud of you bud,' he said along with a jovial slap on the back which nearly caused Link to impale himself on his new sword. But at that moment Quin returned, holding a wooden sword of her own.
'Well come on then, I'm not getting any younger here,' she announced, with her usual assumption that everyone else would understand what she was talking about, which they did not. After a few seconds of blank stares from Link and Faru, Quin sighed deeply, rolled her eyes, and continued in the tone of one talking to a very stupid person: 'Yooouuu neeeed tooooo teeeeeach uuuuus hooooow tooooo uuuuse aaaaa swooooord!'
When this got her nowhere she resorted to banging Faru on the head with her own sword and repeating. 'You need to teach us how to use a sword, dumbass! Tradition says after the new man,' (here her inflection conveyed just what she thought of the idea of Link as a man) 'receives his sword, his mentor must teach him how to use it. So get teaching.'
'But-' Faru faltered. Link knew he wanted to say: but you didn't get the sword, so you have to wait another year to get your own sword before I teach you, but Link knew as well as Faru just how Quin would react to this. In fact, she showed them.
'If you two children think I am going to wait another whole year to get what I should have gotten today if it wasn't for this blasted ankle,' (here she kicked said ankle in the dirt, causing her to stagger and Faru to support her, but she shook him off roughly) 'As I was saying, if you two think I'm going to wait another year to learn this stuff, you've got another thing coming'. Faru looked at Link as if pleading for an easier, less painful alternative, such as being struck by a meteor, but realised that he would lose this battle. He always did, with Quin.
-o-
Two hours later, Link's bruises had bruises. As his sword was made of sharp metal, he didn't dare do more than wave it in Quin's general vicinity, in case he injured her. Quin however had no such reservations, and hit Link every chance she got. Her sword was made of wood, so it didn't actually cut Link, but it still hurt and secretly Link suspected she would have gone just as hard if she did have a sharp metal sword. Clearly she was still annoyed at him for earlier. He wondered vaguely if she would ever forgive him, and had just decided she probably wouldn't when a blow to his ribs cut off his thoughts.
'Make that definitely won't forgive me,' Link muttered as he doubled over, arms over his aching chest.
'What was that?' teased Quin. 'Do you give up yet?'
'Um, if I could, um, remind you, um, Qu-' Faru began but stopped abruptly when a wooden sword was pointed at his chest.
'Faru, if you say 'um' one more time I swear by all the goddesses I will skewer you,' Quin said, narrowing her eyes at him. Faru gulped, then tried again.
'If I could, uh-' (a warning look from Quin) 'If I could remind you that this is supposed to be sword training, not a fight to the death,' Faru managed. 'You're not even supposed to be fighting each other, you're supposed to use dummies.'
'Oh, don't worry about that, I think Link probably counts as a dummy. After all, he fights about as well as one. Actually, he's worse, because dummies don't manage to somehow injure themselves,' Quin sneered.
'It was one time…' Link muttered, but not too loudly in case Quin heard him. In any case, he couldn't exactly deny it; his bleeding palm ensured that. 'Faru, if it's okay, I think I'll leave you two to it. I had quite a rude awakening this morning, and I'm getting tired,' Link informed him. Although he would rather die than let Quin see it, Link was exhausted from the bruises, cuts, and lack of sleep. All he wanted to do now was bathe and rest, but he knew his over-active mind would never allow that.
He was still turning over the appearance of the mysterious girl in his mind, and meeting Tam had only made it worse. He knew he should forget it; after all, the girl was probably just some traveller in the forest who wondered what a sword was doing in a tree. But somehow he couldn't get her out of his mind. He kept thinking about her face, which seemed somehow so familiar, and the scar on her hand. He hadn't seen it properly, but he felt it was important. For some reason he kept looking down at the mark on his own hand, even though it looked nothing like the girl's scar. But he would deal with that in the morning.
As he sheathed his sword and headed for his house, a movement caught his eye. Up in the house in the tallest tree, he could just make out someone quickly moving away from the window. Link wondered what the Elder was doing, for who else could it be in the old man's house? Although it was never spoken about, everyone knew that the Elder was very old, and sick. Soon they would need a successor, but the thought of the Elder not being around was too unfamiliar for anyone to stomach. He was alive before everyone else in the village, he was already a fully grown man when they were children, and in their hearts everyone wanted to believe he would still be going strong when they died. Never mind the fact that no-one had seen him properly for years, as he spent his days lying in bed, too weak to move. Still, maybe he wasn't quite that ill, if he was well enough to spy on Link. The thought made him smile, and he was still grinning when his head touched his pillow and he fell fast asleep.
-o-
When Link woke up he felt as if he had been asleep for only a few minutes, but the warm light shining through his eyelids told him it was morning. However, when he opened his eyes he found that the light was coming not from the rising sun, but from a glowing orb hovering a few feet off the floor of Link's treehouse. At first he thought it was the sprite, Tam, come back to play, but he realised that while she had given off green light, this orb gave off yellow.
Rubbing his head wearily (for it was still night outside, so he knew he really hadn't gotten much sleep), Link got up to investigate the orb. But as he did so, it came alive and floated towards the door of his house. He immediately chased after it, causing it to move straight through the closed door as if it wasn't there. Link flung open the door and raced out onto one of the many wooden bridges that connected the treetop houses of the village.
As he did so, he caught sight of the sky, which was beginning to lighten; it must be close to dawn. Still, this was a good half a day earlier than Link usually got up, so he was stifling a yawn when he caught sight of the orb of light moving serenely off along the bridge, still floating in mid-air. Link chased it, causing it to move faster, until it went straight through the door of a house Link had never been in before: the Elder's house. Swallowing his nerves, and telling himself that if this was all a trick he could be out the door before the old man noticed him, Link slowly creaked open the door.
Inside the room was filled with the same golden light, and Link stared at the figure sitting in an old wooden chair, facing the door and watching Link with an amused expression on his ancient face.
'Shut the door child, you're letting a draught in!' the Elder said sternly, the golden orb hovering just above his palm. Link, too bemused to question, obeyed immediately, causing the Elder to chuckle. 'Good. Now come here. And for Farore's sake stop looking so scared. I won't bite; even if I wanted to, I lost my last tooth years ago.'
Link sat obediently in the chair opposite the Elder, and scrutinised the old man carefully. Close to Link could see how old he really was, his face a mass of wrinkles which rearranged themselves into a smile under Link's inspection.
'Now child, don't stare. Seeing as this is the middle of the night and I would like to get my beauty sleep, shall we get on with it?' Link nodded, eager to learn what 'it' was. But first he had a question of his own.
'That light… what is that?' The Elder turned to the ball of light in his hand as if he had forgotten all about it.
'Ah,' he said, 'this, my boy, is a little something called magic.' Link frowned; for someone supposedly so sick the Elder could be very annoying. But he was still intrigued, and it must have shown on his face as the Elder said, 'Surely you were aware that the Elder of this village can do magic? Ah, I see you were not. Yes, this magic is an ancient gift from the goddess Hylia herself. It has been passed down from Elder to Elder since the time of the great Link, Hero of the Skies and our first Elder, to whom Hylia originally gave the gift.' Link started at the mention of his namesake, but the Elder ignored him.
'And speaking of Link, I must ask you, do you know why I named you after him?' Link the younger just stared. He hadn't known that the Elder had named him; true, someone must have given him his name, but he hadn't known who. And why was the Elder bringing this up? But the old man continued to stare at him, expecting some kind of response, so Link guessed.
'Because being named after the legendary Hero brings luck?' he tried, as this was what the adults of the village had told him: as an orphan, alone in the world without anyone to take care of him, it was felt that baby Link had needed all the help he could get.
'Yes, it was partly that,' answered the Elder. 'That is what I told everyone. But there was also another reason. Link, give me your hand.' Link, unquestioning, placed his left hand in the Elder's. 'You know that you have had this mark on your hand since you were born, correct?' Link nodded, staring at the darker patch of skin. 'Well, that is not quite true. This mark is a result of the magic I cast on you when I found you alone in the forest. From that moment, I knew you were special. Not just because you seemed perfectly happy, all by yourself in a dangerous forest with no-one to protect you, but because of your mark. No, not this one. The one underneath, the one I cast the spell to cover.'
With that, the Elder began to mutter under his breath, passing his hands over Link's. He tried to pull away, wary of the magic, but the Elder had a surprisingly strong grip on him. Suddenly the mark on Link's hand pulsed with golden light, blinding Link who turned away. When it died down, he saw another mark on his hand, one which had been obscured for the last seventeen years. And, staring down at it, he knew exactly why the Elder had hidden it. On his hand was a circle with two crescent moon shapes encircling it. The whole mark glowed slightly green. Link was so absorbed in the symbol that he barely registered the Elder speaking.
'I see you understand why I hid this from all, even from you. If they had known that you bore the mark of Farore, Goddess of Courage, they would never have treated you as their equal, they would never have accepted you. And you Link. I wondered, many times, if I should reveal the mark, just to you. But always I decided against it. I do not know how you came by this symbol, or if it means that you are truly fated to be the bearer of the Triforce of Courage, but I do know this. You are a child chosen by destiny for some great deed. Perhaps I should have told you this before, but we have all heard the tales of the great Hero. And though he defeated a great evil and allowed this world to prosper as never before, he also suffered greatly on his journey. I cannot fight fate, and perhaps you will suffer as he did. But you are strong, Link, stronger than you know. You could not have borne the burden life has placed upon you as a young child. But now… yes, now I think you are ready. And that, my child, is why I named you after him. For you bear this great destiny as he did before you, and I hoped that by acknowledging the bond between you I could give you some of his strength. Some of his Courage. Because, my child, I have a feeling you are going to need it.' This change of tense caused Link to look up, a new steel behind his light blue eyes. The Elder, seeing this, felt proud of this child, this man, who bore the mark of the legendary Hero.
'Link, listen to me now. The reason I called you here at this hour is because I feel a great evil stirring. I have left this as long as I could, to allow you your childhood, but as of yesterday you are a man. Now you must prove it. Go, Link and find the others with these symbols. There are two, one with the mark of Nayru and one with the mark of Din, as the legends foretold. Together, you must fight this great evil, before it once again threatens the world as evil did before. For that is the curse laid upon the Hero by the great evil of his time. Whenever one bearing the likeness of the Hero appears, he shall be plagued by one bearing the likeness of evil. Go, my child. Leave now, tonight. Find the other Chosen Ones. And stop this evil while it still can be stopped.' Link nodded, his head spinning with the enormity of what he had just heard. He stood up and started to leave, when the Elder spoke behind him, so quietly he almost didn't hear him.
'Link. I may not live long enough to see you victorious, but I have done my part. I have informed you of your destiny, and I know you will fulfil it. May the Goddesses themselves walk with you and guide you on your quest.' Link nodded, acknowledging the prayer, and left. 'I wish you all the luck in the world, my boy,' the Elder whispered. 'I fear you will need it.' He lay back in his chair, the light in his hand slowly dying. The old man sighed, and his eyes drifted shut.