Letters

Author's Note: Below are the letters exchanged between Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, and Sir Link of Hyrule, who defeated Ganon and attained the Triforce of courage, and awakened the Sleeping Princess when she was under the spell of Ganon's minions after Ganon was destroyed. These letters were written when Link was stranded on the island of Koholint, and were exchanged via an enchanted pigeon.

Princess,

I hope this letter finds you well, and Hyrule prospering. I bid you greetings from the fair island of Koholint, about two months northeast of Hyrule by boat. The galleon I boarded to return home to you was caught in a terrible storm and I'm afraid I am shipwrecked on this island. I do not know how soon it will be before I return to you, though my wish is that it would be no more than the two months it would take this letter to arrive there. I wish I could fly with this letter across the seas to meet you, but I am stranded on this island. This pigeon, though, is a rare treasure: Mr. Write, one of the townsfolk, uses her to write letters to his love, who lives far off in a distant city. He consented to let me use her to deliver letters to you, Princess, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Unfortunately, though, there is an enchantment over this island that does not allow anyone to leave, lest he be consumed by the open sea. Therefore I must awaken the legendary Wind Fish that sleeps in an egg on top of the island's volcano, according to the townsfolk, if ever I am to leave.

I must tell you, Princess, about this island. I arrived here a week ago, found on the shores by a maiden named Marin, who lived in the nearby village, Mabe. She took care of me until I was strong enough to explore the island. She and her father, Tarin, were the ones who first told me of the Wind Fish. The village itself is small, and beyond it are the Mysterious Forests. I intend to begin my journey through those woods tomorrow.

Koholint in general, though, is a strange island. It feels as though the enchantment of the Wind Fish isn't the only enchantment on this island. Music is common here, just like in Hyrule; Marin told me before that when her parents first came to the island, when she was an infant, they fit in well because they had that gift, also. Marin reminds me of you, Princess. Her resemblance to you is uncanny. Although, her hair is actually red, goldened only slightly by the sun, and there is no one with red hair in the royal family.

Princess, my hope is for nothing more than to return to Hyrule. Please write back and tell me of the happenings of my homeland. I'll return to Mabe in four months' time expecting your letter.

Love Always,

Link

Link,

I'm so glad to hear of your health and safety. It has been a long time since you left.

So much has been happening… there has been no sign of Ganon, or any other such evil, but there has been much strife between the nations of late. Spirits have been low in Hyrule since you left. Father does not allow me to be ambassador to foreign countries any longer. He says that it's no longer safe, and there is no longer any proper escort, such as yourself.

I'm so happy you're on your way home, and that Koholint is the last obstacle you face before you return to Hyrule, where you belong. It has truly been so lonesome without you. I miss having you as my companion, Link. Please come back quickly.

Yours,

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

It is so good to hear from you, Princess. I feared my letter would not reach you.

I have accomplished much since last having written to you, but I see now how much more I must accomplish. To awaken the Wind Fish, I must collect nine instruments that are scattered about the island. This isn't a very large island, but it's riddled with monsters and puzzles and mysteries that I must get through. It takes days to explore the whole of the forests and plains and swamps then I have to clear the area of monsters and search the place of anything that might be useful. The fact that some of the monsters are friends to Marin slows the process down, as well. I need to be extra careful not to slay any of those monsters.

It's hard to be off on adventure again: a real adventure that has a real purpose and real consequences. Before, in all the other lands that I had traveled, I was simply training, but now there is a risk involved, a risk that, while not so dangerous to the world as some others I've had to face, is still very close to my heart: the risk that I might not return home.

It's strange, though, as I say this… it feels like none of this is real at all… here, my thoughts, though solely preoccupied with the desire to return home, are clouded by the fog that surrounds this island… it feels like nothing else exists outside this island.

The people act this way, as well. They say nothing about my strange clothes, they ask nothing of where I came from. They talk to me as if they've known me forever.

Marin is the only exception to this. She knows that I came from a far off land… I've told her about Hyrule, and all the lands I've traveled. She, though having grown up here, seems strange to this island. She rarely talks of anything other than her dreams of adventuring in far off lands, and leaving this island. She knows that I'm a foreigner, because she was the one who found me on the beach, but… I think there's more to it than that. I feel like she was the one meant to find me. There's something very different about her from the rest of the people on this island. I don't quite understand it… it's almost like she's the only one who is real, and everyone else is just a figment of a perpetual dream.

I must go now. I'll write again.

Love Always,

Link

Dear Link,

Your adventures are so wonderful to hear about! I have always loved hearing your tales of other lands, and I especially love hearing of Koholint… though that might just be because this is your last adventure before returning home.

I wish, though, that I had more to speak of in my letters to you. Father has allowed me to be an ambassador again, since he has aquired a new escort. Prince Darius from Sosaria has come to spend a few months with is as a Royal Aide to my father. The main purpose of this is to patch up relations between Hyrule and Sosaria. But in the process, I get to be an ambassador again, and go on adventures of my own. Darius will be my new escort.

It's not the same as when I was with you, though. And it's terribly boring for me to continue talking of politics when I wish I could be recounting stories of danger and exploration, and adventure.

I will write again. In the meantime, I await your letters.

Love,

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

I'm glad to hear that you can travel now, and that you have proper escort. Nevertheless, it seems as though my place as protector of Hyrule is no longer needed. I have often wonderered in my spare moments about what it will be like when I return home. I feel with each passing day that my presense is no longer necessary, maybe not even wanted. It's like I don't belong. I know this isn't true, but this island seems to deceive easily.

I was walking with Marin on the shore to collect some driftwood the other day, and I looked out to the horizon, but I could not make out the point at which the sky met the sea. There is a fog that surrounds the whole if the island, way off in the distance, telling me that I am not a part of the world that I once knew.

When I sleep, I dream of my adventures that I have had in Hyrule, and when I wake, they feel like dreams, as though I never actually had any of those adventures.

Zelda, I miss you… and I do not want to be deceived into thinking that you, that Hyrule, was all just a dream.

Love always,

Link

Dear Link,

So many things have changed in the last months… or maybe I've only noticed the changes in my life now that your letters remind me of how different my life was before. I remember the times we shared together, exploring Hyrule, battling moblins and whatever threats came at our door… I remember my life before you left, and while I before I could forget about those times, I no longer can because your letters remind me of what I once had. I once had the entire kingdom as mine to explore, and I had you, my friend and guardian, by my side. Now that I am reminded of what we once were, I miss it terribly.

Father has become disheartened of late because of the rise in disputes among Hyrule and other countries. Only Sosaria has remained our ally. Prince Darius has done wonderfully as ambassador here; he has kept relations between our two countries open and trustworthy. Speaking of the prince, though, saddens my heart still: Father will no longer let me be an ambassador, even with Darius as escort.

Times are hard, Link. Father wants me to marry soon because he feels his throne is becoming increasingly threatened by the lust for power that other countries have. I have assured him that I will not marry under these present circumstances, though. He knows my wishes concerning marriage, and respects them, and I am grateful for that.

Link… do not be deceived into thinking that you are not needed here. It is becoming more obvious by the day that the surrounding kingdoms are becoming so threatening because they themselves are no longer threatened by you. You protected the land like no other could. And do not let yourself doubt the realness of our adventures together! Hyrule is no dream, and I am no dream. If anything, you're the dream… you broke the spell that promised for me eternal sleep. There's nothing more real than that. You are a dream come true.

I understand your desire, though. Some nights I just stand out on the balcony of my tower chamber and stare out over the vast expanse of our land, Hyrule… I think about how things have come to be this way, and I wish that things could have remained as they were.

I miss you, Link. Don't ever let pass through your mind the idea that I don't. And do not think that you are not missed by the rest of us. You are the light of the kingdom. I did not realize this until you left, and a relentless darkness took your place. You are needed here. Hyrule will always need a Link.

Yours Always,

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

This is the last thing I would have ever wanted to write to you, but my hopes of ever returning to Hyrule are dim. I was injured badly in my battle with the last nightmare I encountered. I still have not been able to defeat him.

I have been in bed for quite a few weeks, and only now am I even able to sit up and write this letter to you. I have been terribly weakened by this injury; there is doubt that I will heal, and fully recover.

Marin has been my only comfort. Even though my journey is delayed, it's still good to be in her presense. She is very real, Zelda, even though her homeland is a dream. Sometimes I look into her eyes, and I am certain I can see Hyrule shining through them.

I don't know if I will ever be able to return to Hyrule. You and Hyrule are all that I think of as I battle each nightmare, as I work so hard to collect those instruments… and yet my heart leans more toward Koholint with each passing day. Your letters seem my only link to the real world, to the land of Hyrule, to my home that I love.

Zelda, I wanted to tell you… I love you. I cannot remember a day that passed without my having been in love with you, and though it seems that I will never be able to return home, I think of you, Princess, and all that awaits in Hyrule… I will return home someday, Zelda, I promise.

Love Always,

Link

Dear Link,

Oh, had I but known! Had I known for certain, and not just in my dreams… if I had been certain that you loved me back…

I love you, Link; I have loved you for so long… only… I have recently become engaged.

As you know, a few weeks ago my birthday came to pass, and I was officially of age to marry. I wanted so much to wait for you to return home, Link, but so many months had passed since your last letter… I fear for your life every day, and while I knew in my heart that you were still alive, I could no longer with justification prevent my father's promise of my hand in marriage to Prince Darius.

And Link… I had almost come to accept it… Prince Darius is a good man, and you weren't here… what could I do? I'm a princess, and I'm a woman… my life is ruled by the dictates of my crown.

What breaks my heart most, though… Link… in the ancestry of the Royal Hyrulean line, there was another Link… a peasant, like you once were, who was chosen by Fate to be the Hero of Time, and saved the Princess of Destiny from Ganondorf. He held the Triforce of Courage. He married Zelda I, and became the next king of Hyrule.

I had always hoped… you share the same name, and the same piece of the Triforce, with this Hero of the past. I always hoped that you would share the same destiny with him as well… the destiny of the Princess' hand in marriage…. but no… it looks now as if it wasn't meant to be. Not even I can break the seal of my father's promise to Prince Darius.

Link, please do not let this detain you, though. As much as it is painful for both of us, Hyrule seems to sink only deeper into despair with each day that passes in your absence. Please come home soon.

Love always,

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

Your words, even now, so long after my having received your letter, send only a flood of defeat through my heart. I could not even pick up the pen until now, for the shock of the news that you broght with your last letter. What a wicked twist of fate! Even now I am numbed by it… why did it have to be this way? I feel torn in so many ways… where is my home, Princess? Is it in Hyrule, or in Koholint? Is it with you, or…

Was it destiny that I was blown ashore here, the only survivor of the shipwreck to wash upon these shores? If only the winds were blowing westward… then maybe I would be home, in Hyrule. Maybe I would have your hand in marriage. This is why I hate Koholint as much as I love it!

Zelda, Koholint has a pull on me… first, there is all this time that I have been spending in Mabe with Marin and Tarin, and then there's news of your engagement… now it doesn't just feel like the island's enchantment: it feels like Fate had meant for me to end up here, that the winds had changed so that I could find this island.

But the consequences of this fate are so costly! No matter what happens, wherever I go, there will always be that other place, that other time, that other world where I might have had you, where I might have been with you and Hyrule forever. No matter what happens, there will always be that moment to look back on, when I could just see Hyrule's shores off in the distance… that one moment before the fog came in and that cursed storm hit, a prelude to the perpetual storm that would forever after dwell in my heart.

Was that the last time I was meant to see Hyrule, Princess? Tell me, were you waiting there for me, on those shores? I almost wish now that that could have been the last time I saw Hyrule… but no, I have promised to you that I would return, and I will not let go of that promise. Besides… I need to come back, even if it's just to make sure that this hasn't all been a dream. Anyway, wasn't it you, my dear princess, who assured me that I would always be needed in Hyrule?

I don't know if I can come back, knowing what could have been. I don't know if I have that strength. I will return, but I will return because I promised I would. I do not wish any longer to face the world that I have lost. It's ironic- here I am, the Hero of Hyrule, speaking of not having enough strength! I suppose no one realizes how weak they are until they lose everything.

There is something else though, Princess. There had been an owl guiding me on my journey, and it says some very strange things about this island… from its inferences, I can only conclude that Koholint is a bridge between this world and the dream world. As long as the Wind Fish remains asleep, this island stays in the real world. When the Wind Fish awakens, this island returns to the world of dreams. From what I gather, the Wind Fish hasn't been awakened in ages… I am afraid of what will happen to the island if I awaken the Wind Fish, though… and I fear for Marin. She was not born here on this island, nor was her father. In fact, I'm beginning to believe that they originally came from Hyrule… though Tarin's memory has long been clouded by the fog of this island, and sould not say. I am afraid for both of them… what will happen to them if I awaken the Wind Fish?

Ther is so much risk involved, all of a sudden; not risk on my part, but risk on the part of those who have become most dear to me. My heart is so divided!

Somehow, though, I don't feel that Fate would bring me here so far only to kill those closest to me here to keep a promise.

I must go. I leave for my last dungeon in the morning.

Love Always,

Link

Dear Link,

My heart is pained by the bitterness of these happenings. Link, I would release you from your promise, but I know you would not listen, that you would return home anyway. And this might still be the best course of action, for Hyrule seems buried deep in darkness, and no one will be able to pull her out of this impending shadow that spreads across the land except you. You have the Triforce, you have the bravery to defend this land unconditionally. If there is anything you love, I know it is Hyrule- moreso than you love even me, perhaps. Prince Darius would also go himself to the very front of the battle lines, but he will be heir to the throne, and his life cannot be risked.

We will be married on High Summer's Eve, and the sun will set behind the Westering Mountains, casting a shadow over the shores that were supposed to bear you home so long ago.

The days when we could have hoped for our love are gone, Link. Strangely, though, I do not fear for my happiness, or yours, though my heart still aches from the blow that Fate has dealt both of us. Darius knows and understands, and has respected the distance I have needed while I have lamented these circumstances. And I am forever grateful for that. Even with Hyrule in its current state, and even though I cannot say that I yet love him, some fire deep inside of me sparks with hope for the future that Darius and I will share.

Still, we find Hyrule in great disrepair, and in great need of its Hero. We fear that Ganon's minions might be behind this. Only the Triforce would be powerful enough to combat the likes of him. You are the only one who can save this land, as you and those who have born you name before always have, and will forevermore. You are the Hope of the Ages, the Destiny that always must return to Hyrule to save it from the peril that eternally haunts it.

Come home quickly. Hyrule awaits you with each passing day, and I await you with each breath.

Love Always,

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

You are right in saying that I love Hyrule and will defend it unconditionally. This is why, even in the face of such bitter news you bring me, I write now to tell you that I am returning home. I have collected the last instrument and defeated the last nightmare on this island. My heart is light at the thought of returning to Hyrule even with news of your engagement, and the thought of leaving Koholint. It has been over two years since last I saw Hyrule's shores, three since last setting foot on them. Finally I get to prove that this hasn't all been a dream. Finally I will be freed from the spell that Koholint has put on me.

Expect me within a week of receiving this letter.

Love,

Link

Dear Zelda,

By the time you find this letter, I will already be gone. I am returning to Koholint. I cannot stay any longer. I have defended my homeland once again, and have seen it grow back into prosperity, and now it is my time to leave.

I do not regret that I returned home… I'm grateful that I got to see Hyrule's shores once more, that I got to walk on them, that I got to see you again. Now I know for certain that you, Hyrule, and our love, were not all from a dream.

But while my love for you and Hyrule hasn't faded, my desire to remain here has. When I left Koholint, I wanted to stay forever on that island. I was afraid, though, that its enchantment was deceiving me; I needed to break free of it. But now I have returned home, only to find that Koholint is my home. I am far from the island's spell, and yet I still long for it, and now that I am in Hyrule, I can see clearly that this desire is truth. I have fallen in love with Koholint, with its forests, its mountains, its beautiful and serene shores, its foggy horizon… I have become a part of that island, and as surely as I made residence on that island the day I washed upon its shores, so has it made residence in my heart.

It was hard to see you engaged to Darius. I suppose that I had been secretly hoping that I could somehow break up the engagement, or that there never was one in the first place: that all those letters were really a dream, and that you would be waiting on the shores for me once I returned, still in love with me. But none of that could have happened. You see, I was not expecting you to fall in love with him. You look at him exactly the same way you look… or looked… at me. And his heart is full of virtue, this much is true… he has a true desire to protect you and Hyrule. And in my heart I cannot find fault in him.

You see, I too have fallen in love with a kingdom that was not originally my own… and I have fallen in love with its princess. I didn't realize it for a long time, but when I said goodbye to Marin on the beach before I left to awaken the Wind Fish, I realized it was her I wanted to be with.

Zelda, I will always love you, and when I sleep at night I will still dream oft of our adventures and our homeland… but I believe I have come to accept what Fate has given me.

At the same time, though, I still feel that we were destined to be together… but not in this time. Maybe one day our children will meet to fulfill that destiny. I know that my children will never be satisfied with Koholint the way I am. Hyrule will be in their blood, and they will have to return. Maybe one day they will rise up to serve the Royal family once again.

I am going to take a boat of my own and follow the pigeon to where the island used to dwell. Then I will play the song that Marin always sang- the Ballad of the Wind Fish- on the ocarina she gave me- to lull the Wind Fish to sleep again. Then I will find Marin and propose to her.

Goodbye, Zelda. Know that I will always remember you, and that I'll never stop loving you.

Love Always,

Link

Dear Link,

I hope that this letter finds you. I'm sending it to you in this bottle with the prayer that you will receive it, that Fate will let us have this one last encounter. You're right that I have fallen in love with Darius. I had held on, for a very long time, to the silly romantic idea that Destiny would still allow us to be together- that I would not lose my first love. But soon I found that that hope was no longer my desire.

And I've known of your love for Marin, for a while. I could see you two falling in love in your letters. I am glad that you love her, grateful even. My only wish was that I could have met her. Maybe we could have been friends.

It is strange that for all our love, we will have never shared a kiss, we will have never said "I love you" to each other's faces. All that we have shared in our romance was the knowledge that there was more than Destiny pulling our paths together. And though Destiny has now pulled us apart, that something more still remains, and will remain forever shared between us. Destiny cannot touch it.

And so I leave you with this promise: in another time, another place, this story will be played out again, as it has in Ages past; and this time, the Hero will have his Princess.

I love you.

Princess Zelda

Author's Revisit, December 2010

It's been almost eight years since I wrote this story, and as much as the writing makes me cringe in some places, it makes me sentimental, too! A little over a year ago I decided to rewrite this story- write out the story behind the letters, what happened during all that time Link and Zelda were separated. What came out was That Which We Have Loved, which was expected to be about forty pages and ended up being closer to four hundred. I didn't realize there was that much I wanted to say! Anyway, the rewrite bears very little resemblance to this story, and the ending is very different- go check it out!

Thanks as always to those who have read, reviewed and enjoyed!

Love to all,

Laurie aka ForeverWanderer