"So Link, tell me again, who was the lady who helped you up?"
I groaned. It was a beautiful summer day in castle town. All I wanted to do was get out, explore the market, maybe ride Epona out to Lon Lon Ranch. Instead, I was stuck inside some castle study room, while Zelda interrogated me, for the sixteenth time, about what happened in Termina. It's been a year, and she still probed me for every detail.
"Anju. She looks exactly like that cucco lady at the market," I gestured out the window, "Please, it's a beautiful day... can't we do something else?"
Zelda gave me an annoyed look, "Link, this is important. I want to figure out what exactly that place is... a whole other country, that no one in Hyrule has ever heard of? I want to get to the bottom of this, so I need you to tell me everything!"
"And you used to be fun!" I crossed my arms and put my feet up on the table, right on top of some of the notes she had been taking.
She did used to be fun. Zelda still was, sometimes, but, after I returned from Termina, she just... wasn't the same. Then again, neither was I. I'm the one who actually went there, after all. And while Zelda still had Impa to look after her, dozens of sly aristocrats were clamouring to whisper their ideas into the young princesses ear. No wonder she was so tense.
Zelda look up from her notes, "I'm sorry Link, I just... so much is going on, and... well, I'm sorry. We 're done for the day, so... how would you feel about taking our horses for a ride? It's a beautiful day, after all,"
I grinned. Now this was the Zelda I liked!
"Just let me get my stuff," I told her, "I'll meet you at the stables," I ran of, as quick as possible, to my room (Yes, I have a room at the castle. Zelda insisted).
Once I was inside, I rushed around, quickly as possible, gathering my things. Saddle, sword (I may not have the master sword anymore, but I've got a pretty awesome collection. I decided to take the new and improved Kokiri Sword, that I had gotten fixed up while I was in Termina), Hero's Shield, masks... I bit my lip, hesitating. Then I took them all. Better safe than sorry.
Zelda had beaten me to the stable. Of course. She had changed, ditching the princess outfit for a rider's clothes. Strapped to her belt were a few knifes that Impa had taught her to use. Expertly, I might add.
She smiled when she saw me, and gestured to the stable, "Look who's waiting,"
Epona was. That beautiful horse. I mounted her, and Zelda mounted a young white horse (The very same horse that she had rode on to escape Ganondorf, in an alternate reality, at least). As we rode through the streets of Castle Town, we were mostly still and silent, trying to tune out people's whispers about the princesses strange friendship with the mysterious green clad boy (Nobody in Hyrule knows about my identity as the Hero of Time, except Zelda and the Sages. It's too complicated to explain).
Once Castle Town was behind us, though, we were free. We raced around Hyrule Field, bought some food in Kakariko Village, had a picnic in Zora's Domain (With Ruto), and we talked, oh, we talked. I told Zelda about the the alternate future, where she sent me back in time, she told me about some of her projects, she was actually working on a new written language, with an alphabet... whatever that was.
After a while, the day was about half over, and the sun was beating down on our faces. It didn't seem like Zelda was tired yet though, and neither was I.
"How about... we go to the Kokiri Forest?" Zelda asked, as we were nearing the border to those woods, "Maybe Saria could show us around,"
I nodded, and into the woods we went. We talked a little more, Zelda told me about this ridiculous governor who tried to convince her to get rid of taxes for the wealthy.
"His moustache was like... this long!" She held out both of her hands horizontally, as far as they could go. She almost fell off her horse!
We were really tired, though, so we weren't really paying attention to where we were headed. Big mistake. The next time I really looked around, we were in the Lost Woods.
Zelda was mad. Really mad, "Really Link? Really?" She shouted at me, "Honestly, I thought you knew your way around here!"
I bit my lip feeling guilty. This was going to be a pain to explain to Saria. Sighing, I slid off my horse, grabbed my pack, and was about to pull out my ocarina, but... I stepped back. Before I knew it... I was falling, for what seemed like forever. I know I should have been thinking about life... or death... but instead, only one thing was on my mind...
"Why are there so many huge holes in this forest?"
