Hyrule Field. It was quite a sight. Especially on a night like this where the moon is full, and the grass of the sweeping plain seems as if it is being, by the gentle wind, into a dance under the moonlight by. Not unlike the festivals of Hateno and Kakariko, except instead of people dressed in masks and festive garb in bright colours going between houses and stands there were sunset flies floating to and from the wild flowers and mushrooms. So many mushrooms, Link thought. They were a staple of the Hylian diet – he'd loved almost entirely off them for weeks at a time – and they looked like pox marks on the field.
The night was clear, save for a mist that hung, ghost like, around the various bodies of water that littered the field. And in the distance, clinging to the trees of the Lost Wood. It was an eerie sight, one that still sent chills down his back even still. The grotesquely tree limbs seemed to contort as they faded into the veil of mist that guarded the innards of the forest from prying eyes. At least, that was, eyes that tried to look at it from the outside.
Slow breathing and the occasional light snoring told him that the Princess was asleep. He envied her ability to fall asleep. It was something he had lost some time ago and never found again. He spent his nights waiting for sunrise or the insidious tide of sleep to swallow him in his fatigue. Whichever came first. It made no difference to him.
Zelda was stirring. He slipped from the room, with the silence of a ghost passing by on a breath of the air.
Link made his way through the castle. He knew where his feet were taking him and he made no effort to stop them. The only light was the soft hue of the torch scones and the stone steps underneath had turned cold in the night. The only sound was the soft sound of his feet on the steps as he made his way up the top of the tower.
The tower didn't have a name, none he knew of anyway, yet he found himself here often. The view wasn't the best in the castle, that honour belonged to one of the higher up towers. Nor was it the nicest room to be in – the only furniture was a dusty old mirror and a desk. A candle sat, unused for some forgotten amount of time. The only other people that came here were maids and serving staff during the day. No one at night, not ever. It conjured a feeling like that he had during his travels. The feeling that no one is around for miles. The only thing around him vast empty space. It was a unique type of forlorn. Like embers of a great fire, this forgotten tower seemed to capture a little of it.
He missed that feeling. He had a purpose then. Now all was some fresh scars and memories.
He reached top and looked out the window. Although it lay beyond the hills and the great field, he knew it was in that direction. Zora's Domain. Where he felt like he had grown up. It was one of the few places where he felt that he belonged and was welcomed – and unusual situation for a Hylian. He had heard that in ancient times, the only people who would be given an audience with the Zora were the Hylian Royal Family and the Hero himself. But times change. The Zora was just as much a part of this land as anyone else.
Times change. It was something of a recurring thought to him now. He had once heard Zelda read from some dusty book of songs that 'time moves ever onward, and we are all but driftwood caught in its great ebb and flow.' A cheery thought, and he had remarked as much, earning him a snigger from the princess.
But there were patterns. Waves that seemed to reform themselves again and again. There was always a Princess. And there was always a Hero.
Link was that Hero. Chosen by the Goddess herself to defend the Kingdom and banish Ganon. Since he was a child, he was marked for that destiny. And he had went along with it. Why exactly, he couldn't say. A sense of justice? Love of his Kingdom and his Princess? He had never taken any pleasure in being hailed as the Hero. Everything had been decided for him. He couldn't think of once when someone asked him – really asked him – if this is what he wanted. If he was happy with his Destiny.
In that sense, time felt like a prison. Link had been swept along in a violent current that had directed the course of his life since. It wasn't a bad thing. He didn't regret. During his travels, he had helped a lot of people, changed (and saved) a lot of people. There were worse fates and roles to be given than the chosen one. But sometimes he wondered what he would have chosen for himself, and that is why he found his mind carrying him back to Zora's domain.
His last day there, before returning to his duties at the Castle, had been like any of the previous ones. He rose while the morning sun was still low in the sky and the mist that came from the waterfalls and lakes had already fallen away. He made his way to his usual morning spot – overlooking the river. It was just out of earshot of the waterfall, letting the sound of the river current be heard, rather than the powerful plumes that usually drowned out the softer sounds of the valley. It went uninterrupted for some time, and he could've sat there all day watching the river go into the distance. Imagining it running all the way to Hebra, the Great Plateau and onto the very slopes of Death Mountain itself.
'I thought I'd find you here,' the voice had said, with a quality all in its own. The voice of a Zora had a different cadence to that of a Hylain. Mipha's was soft, like a still pond. One so quiet that you could hear a pebble hit the water. He could hear it perfectly clear over all the years. He could feel its ring in his ears. It made his lips trace out the beginnings of a smile. 'I never did understand why you like it here. It's so out the way.' The pair sat and talked until the sun rose higher in the sky.
They made their way back to the Domain.
The years and his amnesia had sapped at the rest of the day. He had recovered the memory of the morning on one of his previous nights in the tower. That, and part of a conversation he had with Mipha later in the day.
They had been avoiding the topic of his departure all day. Nevertheless, it had hung over the day like a raincloud.
'Are you ready to leave?' she had asked softly. Link had nodded. 'Everything packed?'
'Yes, I'm all set.'
A silence lingered. One so powerful, so loud, that it had drowned out the waterfalls and the voices of the other Zora.
'It'll all be okay,' She knew this wasn't easy for him, 'You'll be back before you know it!'
Link smiled. 'I hope so.' God, he really had hoped so.
His memory faded after that. He had left her and went to fulfil his duty to the Princess Zelda. A great honour. The Princess of Hyrule's chosen protector. 'The fate of the realm rests in your hands' he had been told, 'We're all counting on you, little guy.' Glory and respect was his seemingly overnight. A most important job. Safeguarding their future.
Someone had to do it.
But why couldn't the Kingdom look after itself? Why couldn't the Princess keep herself safe, just once?
Link had never been good with words. Part of the effect of having your whole life laid out before you is that you lose the ability to think for yourself. The ability to speak for yourself follows not long after.
What would he say to Mipha now? If he could've found the words. He didn't know if he had shared her feelings before his memory wipe. He couldn't remember. And that haunted him like a mad poltergeist – the kind that bangs pots in the kitchen at midnight, and just won't let you sleep no matter how nicely you ask it. But when he had donned the armour she had made, it was like rediscovering a part of himself. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since.
'I don't want to go,' he wanted to urge his past self to say, 'I already have a Princess to protect.'
But time doesn't flow that way.
Link, his head heavy with the burden of fatigue, turned away from the night time landscape and padded back down the stairs to his bedchamber.