"Listen well! A crime has been committed!"
The accused looked up, but didn't say a word. What could he say? Even the most optimistic onlooker could not see a sliver of innocence in the "crimes" he had committed.
His sins.
"From this day forth, you will be known as the wretched Sin of Wrath. May this title follow you to the grave."
...
"Pardon me, sir, but have you seen any peculiar people recently?"
Clunk. A burly looking man set his mug down and leaned in, causing the much smaller girl to back up. "The only peculiar person around here... is you!" He instantly recoiled and chortled while gripping his stomach.
Zelda adjusted her hood and turned away in disgust. Taverns were not always the best place to look for the special. Most of the time, the only thing special about them was just how much alcohol could be consumed in one night.
And she was on the hunt for some sinners.
No one would believe her. Hyrule was in great danger. She had seen the way that man acted and his influence on the royal family. She had heard his men talk about how Hyrule would soon be his. Gravely outnumbered, what Hyrule needed were heroes. And time was of the essence!
Zelda inspected the poster in her hand as she continued down the cobblestone path. Link, the Sin of Wrath. The poster showed him having a green tunic and pink hair. Surely, pink hair is enough to dub a person peculiar. Right? No no. She couldn't judge this leader-like character. With his help, she could locate the rest of the mighty deadly sins. Even if there were just seven of them, there was not a doubt in her mind that their joined effort could stop evil once and for all. She blushed at a rather unroyal sound. Perhaps she could continue her search for the Sin of Wrath after eating.
...
This was certain to be one of the best seasons Raven had ever seen. The apples were more red. The blueberries were more blue. The cows have been making more milk and the hens could feed a village in day with the amount of eggs they produced. Yes, Raven felt quite content to see his effort blossom so wonderfully. The best thing of all was that more customers than ever before had come to buy his products. Overwhelming for sure, but he couldn't spend his money on farm hands when there was someone who needed the money more.
"Hello, Epona."
The Clydesdale perked its head up at the sound of its owner. It whinnied and nuzzled the boy on the forehead, sending his blonde locks everywhere.
Raven couldn't help but laugh and left his hair as is. "You already smelled them, you scoundrel. That ruins the surprise." He extended his fisted hand and unclasped it to reveal three sugar cubes. Epona happily munched them out of his hand. Raven sighed and slunk down against the wall, closing his eyes. "Can you believe it, Epona? If we keep going like this, I'll be able to get you a bigger stable. We'll make you a horse that can even make those knight's horses jealous. Wouldn't you like that?"
Epona neighed in reply and Raven opened his eyes.
"What was that? You want to go riding?" He sprung to his feet and unlocked the pen. Epona walked circles around Raven until he brought her outside and placed a saddle on her back. He then hoisted himself up. "Okay, girl. Let's make a tour of the farm."
It wasn't the biggest farm. It was actually quite small, but everything was so precisely spaced out that it gave the illusion of an expanded grove of apple trees and cow fields. Raven breathed in the air and leaned back on Epona. The blue sky raced above him slower as Epona settled down into a canter. It was just him and his horse. Just the way he wanted it. Nobody could change that.
Or so he thought.
Epona abruptly stopped and Raven, who even claimed that he had excellent control on horses, slipped off her back onto the ground. He rolled out of the way just in time as Epona's massive back hooves rose and fell. Raven heard a shriek... a girl's shriek.
"Oh my Hylia! Please forgive me. I didn't mean to startle your horse. Are you alright?"
Raven rubbed his backside as he sat up and looked at the perpetrator of his fall.
It was a girl of about his age dressed in the most dastardly pink cloak he had ever seen. Her hood obscured her face. If her goal was to go undercover, then she was doing a very bad job at looking inconspicuous. The only defining features he could see were thin strands of honey gold hair creeping out from her hood and a mouth shaped in a concerned 'o'.
"Can you speak? Oh no! Is it a concussion? Is there a doctor around here? Please, we must have this checked right away," the girl said as she reached to grab his wrist.
Raven was brought back to reality and avoided her outstretched hand. Quicker than Epona's trot, he was on his feet, startling the already frightened girl even more. She jumped back, her hood falling back, revealing bright blue eyes. So much for a disguise. "No. Yes. Wait. What was the question again?"
The girl blinked. "Are... are you alright?"
Raven then remembered his horse. "Epona! Are you alright, girl?" She whinnied, which seemed enough of an answer for him. "Yup. I'm alright. If Epona is alright, I'm alright."
"O-oh?"
"So, what brings you here to Raven's Rowdy Ranch?" When he first bought the farmland, the sellers said it was mandatory for him to name it. In his defense, his customers thought the alliteration was a great selling point.
She pointed to the stand on her right. "It says there that you are selling apples for ten rupees a pound."
"That would be correct."
"Yes, well, I am an earnest consumer and I believe that the price you have presented is preposterous and thieving."
It was now Raven's turn to look confused. "What?"
"Make it five rupees. That is a much more fair of a price for the goods you have presented."
A haggler. They were scarce, but not such a rare occurrence. "Supply and demand," he said. That was his reply for such situations.
"Fine! Fifteen rupees!"
What?! Raven raised his eyebrows at this new type of haggling method. Was it really a method though? Since when does haggling go in the seller's favor? "Uh, no?"
The girl smiled. "I see how it is. Twenty rupees!"
Raven closed his eyes and nodded. He was right. This girl was mad. "Tell you what. Just for you, I'll lower the price to ten rupees. How about that?"
The girl thought for a minute. "Still a bit too high... but I'll take it!"
The two of them walked together to the stand with Epona following suite. The girl glanced at Raven and then looked away. Then, she did it again. She's feeling awkward, Raven concluded. "Where are you from?"
The girl whipped her head at his attempt of light conversation. "Not here! Pardon. I mean, uh, Castle Town."
"Castle Town? That's a distance to travel. What brings you to Holodrum, Miss... what's your name?"
The girl looked frantically around for an answer and then found it. "I am looking for a peculiar person. My name is Zelda."
"Like the princess?"
"My parents thought it would grant me good fortune if I were named after the princess. And do I assume correctly if I say your name is Raven?"
Raven nodded. "The one and only. Just Raven. Now, about this 'peculiar person'?"
Zelda dug into a messenger bag. "It is imperative that I find this man, Raven. He could mean the life or death of all of Hyrule." She showed him the wanted poster.
Raven tapped his chin. "Link, the Sin of Wrath? Why would you want that schmuck? The award money is not worth the effort."
The girl frowned. "I have no need for the award money. And he is not a 'schmuck'." The word seemed foreign to her. "He may be able to prevent another War of Malice."
Ah, he remembered the stories about the previous war. It effects could be felt even now. It was only through the redeemed Sins did the side of good make a dent into the side of evil. But when the kingdom needed them most, they vanished. Now, they were back to being called what they always were: criminals.
"Take a good, long look, mister."
Raven peered closer at the poster. "Never seen a guy with pink hair. Can't help you." Zelda opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. "One pound of apples, coming up." Just as he handed her the bag, a clap of thunder was heard and the first drops of a summer rain splashed on their heads. The temperature was already decreasing fast. Zelda sneezed. "We better get inside."
"We? Do you mean you and your horse?"
Raven grabbed the bag of apples too. "The nearest hotel is a thirty minute walk from here. You'll freeze by then. Come on."
The cow's barn was absolutely not on par for any hotel. It had a musty smell that could only be achieved by a combination of hay, manure, and a molding door. Epona shook water droplets out of her mane for good measure. Raven dropped the bags by a pile of hay and flopped himself down. Meanwhile, Zelda cautiously sat down on a stray brick like it would grow legs at any second. "Well, this is an inconvenience."
Raven just nodded and tossed her an apple. She grabbed for it, but it dropped on her lap. "And Epona really wanted to go outside." The horse whinnied.
They sat in uncomfortable silence. Zelda rolled the apple between her hands. Somehow, the hunger she had before had been replaced with just emptiness. The rain continued to hit the roof in rhythm. Raven coughed. A cow- her name tag said Farore's Friend, mooed solemnly. Can cows moo solemnly? Zelda didn't know. What she did know was that Raven was staring at her a bit too much for her comfort.
"Is it just you living here?"
Raven shook his head. "There is also Epona."
"I mean, are there any other Hylians, Gorons, things that can speak Hyrulian?"
"No. I sometimes feel like Epona can speak to me, and I understand her."
"Where is your family?" She quickly added. "The non-animal kind."
"Dead."
The emptiness inside her now had a stone rolling around. "I'm so sorry."
"I don't remember them." Return of the awkward silence. "What about you?"
"Me?" Zelda asked. "I have a father. Some cousins here and there, but my close family is small."
"Does your father know that you are gone?"
"By now, yes."
"Will he be looking for you?"
Zelda hesitated. "If he knew and understood the purpose of my mission, he would leave me alone." She brought the apple to her mouth. "However, I fear he may have sent someone."
Just as the apple touched her lips, an arrow whizzed by, impaling the apple and striking a wooden post. Zelda followed back the direction of the arrow to its origin. The barn door had fallen off its rotting hinges. Lightning struck and the silhouette of two men appeared. Two very large men in full armor. "Raven?" When she looked back at the hay pile; however, he was gone. She turned back to the storm outside, but it was too dark. The lightning struck again. Zelda screamed. They were right outside the doorway. Epona tapped her hooves against the floor and the cows mooed so loudly that the sound of the rain outside was blocked.
"You caused your father a great deal of pain," the knight with the bow said. His voice was muffled and echoed within his giant helmet.
"And you caused us a great deal of trouble, you nuisance." His companion had two large swords on both sides of his waist. In one swift movement, he had successfully gripped onto Zelda's wrist and lifted her into the air.
She swung her feet wildly and beat her hand against the knight's arm. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"Let you go? Why would I do that?"
"Because she is the princess." A great boom of thunder clapped and the knight recoiled, dropping Zelda in the process. She landed ungraciously on the dusty floor and hugged her reddened wrist. The knight was clutching the bicep of the arm he had used to pick up the girl. "And she is a lady." A blade wet with rain flashed under the knight as he sheathed his own swords. The mud squished under his feet as a boy wielding a rusting sword slid from under the knight's arm and blocked the contact of his two swords. His green hat and tunic blew with the storm wind outside. Zelda gasped at the sight of the green-cladded stranger.
The knight clenched his teeth. "Who are you? This doesn't concern you."
The boy spoke. "My name is Raven and you are on my farm. Thus, this definitely concerns me." He heaved his sword backward, forcing the knight to step back into the rain. Raven turned his head. "Run, Zelda. Take Epona." Zelda didn't move. She was frozen in place.
"Do you take me so foolishly as to turn your attention elsewhere?" Raven gaped for air as the knight's foot made contact with his stomach and sent him flying until he hit the door of a cow's pen. The knight scoffed. "Peasants. They all think they are special."
The knight with the bow spoke with a faint quiver in his voice. "Uh... Xaviero... he is standing up."
"Wha-" The knight, Xaviero, could not even finish his question. With great force and speed, Raven hit him in the chest with the back of his blade and kneed him in the stomach. Xaviero hit the ground and rain splattered all over his face. The lightning flashed. Along with the rain, Raven's forehead was red with blood and it streamed down his face. He stood over the knight and rose his sword over his head. "What are you? Monster!" the knight spat.
Raven whirled around and swung his sword. The arrow dropped to the ground, chopped neatly so that both side were symmetrical to each other. The knight who released the arrow dropped his quiver and bow. He slunk to the ground and pulled off his helmet. Her helmet. Her green hair may have been short, but her facial features were that of a woman. "I'm sorry, Xaviero. I can't do this."
Xaviero shook, but not of fear. "You were always a coward, Saria! They should've given me a more competent partner! Not a child!" He winced in pain. Raven's boot sunk into his chest.
"Go back to the castle and never come back," Raven said.
A trickle of blood escaped Xaviero's mouth. "You can't win this battle, farm boy." With that, he was knocked unconscious as Raven hit the top of his head with the hilt of his sword. The green-clad Raven stepped off the knight and ran back into the barn. The bow knight made no effort to retrieve her bow and followed Raven with her eyes.
Zelda's bottom lip trembled. "You-you-you..."
"We don't have much time. Stay here." Zelda looked outside the barn and into the rain as this so-called "Raven" walked past her. A burst of light from behind her came and vanished. "I need to get the chickens now." He ran past her and out into the rain. When Zelda looked back, the cows were gone.
Three minutes later, he returned with a backpack. His sword was in its sheath on his back too. "Raven" looped his hand around Epona's rain. "Let's go, your highness." He helped her onto her feet.
Why were her hands shaking so much? "Why do you wear that green tunic?"
It seemed so out of place to see a smile after all that happened and yet that is what "Raven" did. "It's only right when I use this sword. It's been so long."
"I see... But... It couldn't be..."
"Raven" kneeled down and faced the floor. "Link, the Sin of Wrath.
At your service."