SUMMER

~Link~

Father laid the scabbard upon the glass desk in front of me. "It's yours to keep."

The windows were open and radiance poured into our home. I picked up the sheathe, and held it against the sunlight. Carved into the metal sheathe were intricate designs of wolves that stretched across the length. Whoever forged the sheathe was clearly one of the best blacksmiths in Hyrule City, I realized. As an apprentice blacksmith, I often watched my master, Renais, create designs similar to this, but not quite as skillfully...

Why am I, of all people, holding this? I make swords, not wield them. How did Father obtain this sword?

"It's beautiful," I observed. From the corner of my eye, I could see Father's chest huff, and his eyes were gleaming with pride. An otherwise exhausted man seemed to have brightened from sight of his son holding the sword and sheathe. "Where did you get it from?"

We were never a particularly rich family. Father worked as a guard for Chancellor Zeal, one of the King's most trusted advisors. The hours were long, and the pay was certainly not fair for how loyal and diligent Father has been to the Crown. The people of Hyrule City were never welcome to the idea of women earning a wage, and Mother still finds it difficult to obtain work as a tailor for clothing. By the age of fourteen, I sought a job as an apprentice to a fairly upscale blacksmith in the newer part of Hyrule City. All three of us work as much as we can, but even then, we often cannot afford more then the clothes on our back and bread for dinner. Colin is thirteen... but I don't want him to work and leave schooling.

But Father ignored my question. "The sheathe pales in sight of the sword. Go ahead, pull on it," he said, smiling. Is the sword so breathtakingly defining that it makes even Father smile? I wasted no time laying the sheathe upon the table, one hand keeping the sheathe there, and the other pulling backward.

The sword glided out flawlessly. It was a deep, bright silver colour, long yet light in my hands. When I stretched it out, the sword felt completely natural, as though I have held it before.

"It's been freshly forged," I observed, and Father nodded. "We can't afford anything like this, so how did you obtain it?"

Father did not seem to want to give an answer. "One of Prince Landon's own swords was melted down and reforged by the King's blacksmith himself. This sword was specifically tailored for your body strength. I want you to keep it."

"But-" I gulped, and stopped before I could continue. This steel was once used by the Prince? What did I do to earn it?

Father continued before I could ask him any more questions. "It was a reward by the Chancellor. He gives it to you as a reward for my continued loyalty in the weeks ahead."

"Thank you Father, but I mustn't accept it."

"But Link, it is already yours, my son!" he smiled proudly. "It was made for you, and only you. The moment the sword was reforged, even before the blacksmith finished cleaning it, was when you claimed the sword. Take it. Whether you want it is not my concern, I only want you to understand that the sword is yours."

I slowly nodded, feeling the sword's dull edge once more. The hilt was embedded with dyes of yellow and silver - the colours of Hyrule - and, like the rest of the sword, was recently created.

Hyrule's colours were built out of piety toward the Goddesses. Their colours were red, green, and blue, but it was somewhat of a rule for kingdoms to use only two colours for their flag. Why not use red and green, and exclude blue? Why not use green and blue, and exclude red? Hylians believe that all three of the Golden Goddesses were equally important - Din created the Earth, Farore created all life, and Nayru created the order of the universe - and therefore, choosing two would be a grave insult to the Goddesses. Therefore, my people chose not to include any of them, and opt for yellow (they are called the Golden Goddesses, after all) and silver, to represent the steel needed to unify our lands.

The sword I am holding is one that exemplifies everything Hyrule stands for. It is then that I realized that I must keep the sword in excellent condition. I have only loved two things throughout the course of my life: my family, before anything else, and my home. Hyrule is an unforgiving, cruel place, and deathly cold in the winters, but the lands have been good to me.

"I'll keep it, Father. Thank you for it." My father flashed a toothy grin. But then, realization dawned upon me. "Wait, what about Colin?"

"What about him?"

I sheathed the sword and sighed. "How could I accept such a nice gift when my younger brother gets nothing?"

"They only offered to forge one sword," Father excused himself, and cleared his throat. "I suppose I can find Colin something nice. Perhaps a fishing rod," he said.

"Perhaps he can keep this sword instead," I said. I change my mind. Hyrule is important, but my family comes looked up from the table, and was surprised when I put it down next to him. "I've never done anything to earn this. And I'm nearly a grown man, too old to practice my skills with a sword. Colin is still young. He has the potential. Perhaps you can gift me a fishing rod instead."

Father said, "Then you may give it to him. But until you do, the sword will remain yours." He sighed, rubbing his forehead, gripping his own sword, and tightening the leather vest he wore. "I must be off now. When Colin comes home, remember to tell him."

The sun would soon vanish over the horizon; in perhaps an hour, the bells would signal that midnight has passed. And as soon as Colin walked through the door, with eyes that remained transfixed to the floor, I knew that there was a problem.

To my surprise, Colin did not proceed straight to his room, or leave the house again, but instead, he sat on a stool and placed an untouched loaf of bread on the table. Odd. He gave the sword, now sheathed, a quick glance, but paid no further attention to it.

"Where did you get the loaf of bread?" I asked.

"I would prefer not to talk about it," he said, mumbling the words, and his voice was scarcely audible.

I prefer for you to be honest. Are we not kin? I wanted to remind him of that, but he already knew... "Where did you get it?"

"I don't want to-"

"What you want and don't want is not my concern. Your safety and wellbeing are my two concerns... How did you, a boy with no coin, come home with bread?Where were you? Who did you meet? How did you get the bread. These kinds of questions worry me." I sat upright. "You know the rules."

He could repeat them as though they were holy passages in the Hylian Gates, memorized completely. "Hyrule City is dangerous. Only trust your family. Don't talk to strangers. Mind your manners."

"And above all else?"

"Only take what is yours," he finished.

"Did you steal the bread?" Silence. Colin remained stationary, never looking up at me. Ah, so this is what made Colin upset. "I don't care what you did, and whatever you did will not make me think any less of you. Tell me what you did; I swear I will not so much as raise my voice."

Colin still trembled, and anxiously tapped his fingers against the wooden table. He sighed. "There are two boys who live near us, by the freemarket, that I met today. Talo's twelve and Malo's eight, and they... they..."

He's about to cry, I realized. Colin was never strong emotionally, and often broke into tears over rather trivial matters. But this was something more than that. Colin was acting strangely, and as much as it hurt me to press my sobbing brother to recall a story that made him uncomfortable, I pressed on. "What did they do?"

"They went to the nearby bakery and stole six loafs. I told them not to do it. They would not listen. I told them I would have no part in it. Talo told me - he told me to be a man." I hunched forward. "They stole two for each of us. I did not want them, and I told them as much. But they insisted on me having one loaf, at the very least," Colin said. "I swear, I never would have eaten them!"

"I believe you. And I thank you for the truth."

Colin was beginning to calm down. His narrow shoulders lowered and his face turned a shade lighter, from the pink-red it became. I sat up, and turned. I should purchase fruits and vegetables from the freemarket, and perhaps I may come across these two thieves...

I placed my right hand on the doorknob when Colin spoke up. "What does it mean to be a man?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly. "There are good men and there are bad men. There are men with honour and morals and those without. To simply be a man is pointless, surely, but to be a virtuous man is what we should all aspire toward."

"Then... what does it mean to be virtuous?"

Hmm. I paused for a moment, until I finally said, "We all do our duty when there are no costs, no sacrifices. We all do what is right by virtue when we have nothing to lose. Yet there comes a point when one has to sacrifice something in order to do their duty."

"How important must the sacrifice be?"

"It must be substantial. Sacrifice is never easy, or else it is never truly sacrifice. Only when you have made the right choice can you be virtuous," I finished. Colin nodded, and he appeared to understand. "I'm proud of you. What you did today was the right thing."

"Thank you," he said. I reached for the doorknob once again, and Colin stood up. "I'll go with you."

Let the night embrace us, I thought, and all of its horrors. Fear is the mind's true opponent. It disguises itself as doubt, creeping into your body and making itself known. The doubt turns to fear over a few seconds. Your breathing no longer paces itself, you can hear the constant thump your heart makes, and the collar around your neck suddenly becomes unbearably tight. The night gathers, but I will not let fear in. I gripped the hilt of the sword Father gave me. So long as I have it, I am safe.

Colin and I left for the freemarket, despite dusk quickly arriving. We believed we had time; the bells had not rung, after all. But then the once busy Hylian streets became hollow in both spirit and presence, and I realized that the bells did not happen to ring today. We were almost at the freemarket. But we turned back instantly, going home. The fruits I hoped to buy suddenly became trivial, and when I turned back toward home, my only hope was that the streets were truly empty.

I told Colin to keep quiet. Aside from our own footsteps and the occasional wolf or owl, we seldom heard anything. And that was my hope. The streets we crossed were narrow and surrounded by buildings on either side. Between every other building was a small alleyway. These alleyways were largely intentional when Hyrule City was being built, or so I've heard. But it amused me how these alleyways, which were supposed to give functionality to what is otherwise a maze of homes and shops, turned into my nightmare.

Then it happened.

It was nothing but a blur from an alleyway, and I heard a pair of footsteps running toward us. I brought out my sword, and swung it down to meet his own. Colin shrieked, and I would have screamed for help, but the words became caught in my throat. The need for anything else in the world vanished, and I only saw my own survival hanging delicately.

I took a few steps back, and he simply looked at me. While he was wearing a cloak, his grey beard indicated that he was fairly old, and his eyes seemed to plead for rest. He wants my sword, I realized. It's the only item I have that is worth anything. But if I give up the sword, Colin and I are defenseless, and he is free to kill us...

Colin...

He stood by the side, petrified, and no longer screaming. I gathered what little courage I had and charged at the man. For Colin. While I never fought with a sword myself, I always assumed that it was a simple task: he swings left, you swing right. He thrusts, you back away. Once you're able to lift your sword faster, you can attack for yourself, and succeed should you be quicker.

It was nothing like that. My own movements with the sword were awkward. He brought his sword down on me. If I responded a moment later, I would be short of a head. He thrust his own blade. I was nearly stabbed, but the sword still made a rip in my fabric. And after every strike, he would follow up with another one. My arms started to lose their strength. I could feel the will to live exiting my veins. If I were to die, so be it.

"Colin, leave!" I shouted, keeping my eyes on my opponent. I realized that I could not win, but perhaps Colin could escape.

Thrust after thrust forced me against the wall. When I expected another thrust, and braced for it, he swung his sword to the right. I could feel the sword slicing through the outer layer of my chest. I screamed and fell to the ground.

"No!" I could hear Colin yell, but I dare not look at him. I kept my eyes on my opponent, who had his sword on top of me, preparing to strike. Then a blinding flash of white illuminated the world around me, if only for a minute, and my would-be killer was not in sight. And the white light was replaced with red, which beat on the ground. I could feel the life escaping me. I looked at Colin one last time before everything around me would inevitably turn black. Another cloaked figure approached Colin, this time, I saw an old lady. She cupped his cheek, and I could not make out her words.

Then the world turned black.

~END CHAPTER~

Author's Notes

Hope you enjoyed this incredibly short chapter. While I felt that the pacing was awkward, and that the chapter was divided into three scenes, Link's introduction serves a pivotal point in this story, and Link being assaulted is what really drives his own character from here. A few other characters are also shown, and I think it'll be interesting to see how Colin views Link, compared to how Link views himself.

Remember, if you have any comments, concerns, or criticisms regarding this story, feel free to private message me or leave a review. Thanks for reading, and have a good day!