A/N: Hi y'all! It's been a while but I'm back with a new story! It's about half written right now, and is going to be 10+ chapters. It's decidedly ZeLink, and the world it is set in is mostly similar to Ocarina of Time. Don't expect updates continuously, but I do promise to finish this.

It began as a one-shot and unraveled out of my control. Sigh. So goes the writing process, no?

It's similar in style to my biggest story to date, which is Ten Times Shikamaru Thought about Kissing Ino, the prompt being the same. But this time, I thought I'd do stories. I was fascinated with the idea of Link being a story teller, since he's such a quiet character. I plan to play with that a bit more. As for the legends themselves, I also found myself fascinated with the way stories change over time - the nature of oral storytelling itself - so the myths Link shares will sometimes be similar to things we know to be true of the Zeldaverse, but with a bit of wear and tear.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy!

Ten Legends Link Told Zelda

Prologue

Bond

. . . . .

I flew into the great hall in a panic, voice pitched, crying out to none in particular and all at once. "They arrested the Chosen Hero?! How could they! Don't they know who he is?!"

Calm your farcicalities, Zelda. He vanished after Ganondorf's defeat. No one knows him but you.

Suddenly my guardian, Sheik, grabbed my arm. "Don't go running in and releasing him right away. Don't say anything. I will speak for you. He wants to tell you something. Let him."

I looked at him for a long moment. Sheik had been with me always – in the shadows, there for my protection. A member of the ancient and long-lived Sheikah tribe who were agents of the goddesses, Sheik had been my guide and protector since birth. Through our connection he had seen our journey, despite his imprisonment by Ganondorf. He knew our story like none but we ourselves knew it. I trusted him innately. And if Sheik was telling me to listen, I would do just that. I nodded once, and together we turned as the great door opened.

My hands shook from too many thoughts.

Link knelt on the stone floor, blindfolded, hands tied behind his back, with the spears of the guards at his throat. I knew he could escape if he so desired, but it incensed me to see him bound just the same. I willed myself calmer. My hands clammy and still shaking, I balled them into fists full of silk at my sides. Not very regal behavior, using an expensive dress in such a way, but I was used to the woods and the earth now, and the nuances required for customs of decorum would take a while to come back to me, I knew.

Sheik led the conversation and I swallowed thickly, trying not to make a sound. Seeing him as he knelt there, the flood of sensation filled me to the brim.

"The guards say you walked up to the gates, stranger. What sort of man eludes security until the last minute and then allows himself to be captured?"

Link's reply rang low and clear throughout the massive, marble throne room. "I came to talk to S…. Princess Zelda."

My heart flitted about my chest like a caged bird. Sorcha. He was going to call me Sorcha. Oh, to hear the sound of his deep voice once more, calling out the name he'd given me, the mute girl at his side… My blood sang now, as it did when he would call it out before – full of worry, surprise, mirth – in those rich tones that heralded him from the Forest.

"What business could you possibly have with the princess, stranger?" Sheik's voice was authoritative and cold but I knew he trusted the hero – with my own life, even. Sheik felt certain there was need of such charades and so I believed. I kept my agreement and remained silent.

"I want to tell her a story. If she will listen."

I nodded fervently; a gesture that merely spoke of my eagerness, but the motion was reflex and propriety secondary. A story… Link was always telling me stories. Sheik ignored my embarrassing unspoken admissions and informed Link; "She will hear it. Go on."

"She is…" He stiffened. I knew what he must be thinking. Did such a statement imply I was here? I must not let him know for certain yet. After a silent moment he swallowed and continued.

"There once was a peasant from the Kokiri, who was tasked with traversing the land of Hyrule to save it from a great evil. On his journey, he came across many wondrous and strange things, but none so peculiar as the beautiful, starved girl drowning in a river."

I felt myself sinking into the story. His voice had that enchanting and faraway tone he used when he would spin tales. Stories never written down. Stories none of the historians in the castle could ever have dreamt of knowing. Sorcerers, faerie queens, spirits that lived in the bark of trees. And the people who stumbled upon them.

Link had always been a storyteller. It was about himself and his own thoughts that he spoke little. I was nearly dizzy at the thought that he was finally telling ours…

He began to speak and I remembered my own cold beginning: a tower, a prison, and a goddess.