Chapter 3: The Lawman
Link's mind was racing from this horrifying revelation. He stood in front of his house, unable to move forward. So many thoughts and emotions crossed his mind as he stood there.
He suddenly thought of Aryll and didn't know how he would tell her. What would she think of him now? She was his sister but even so, how could she forgive him for what he had done? At last, he could hesitate no longer and decided to just face up to what he had done.
He entered the foyer and looked around, hoping that his sister would be somewhere in the immediate vicinity.
She heard him enter and knew he would be in a foul mood from what he had just come back from. Aryll walked to the foyer to see her brother standing in front of the closed door. She didn't think anything of the look on his face. It was a look she had seen time and time again after one of his gunfights and had grown used to seeing it by now.
"Back already?" she asked after a short silence.
Link hesitated before answering.
"This was the last one" he said quietly.
Aryll had heard this before, too. He had been consistently ranting about how he was going to quit and that he fought his last gunfight. But it would never stick and he would go back to the next one despite his own objections so Aryll brushed this comment off.
"You will forgive me if I don't believe you" she replied. "What exactly makes this one different from all the other ones?"
Link didn't know how to respond. His heart was still heavy with grief and guilt.
"It truly was this time."
Aryll brushed this aside as well.
"You always say that, Link. I don't know why you bother to keep doing this if you hate it so much. You're always miserable for days afterward and, frankly, I'm tired of it. I just want you to be happy but you don't want it that way, apparently."
She paused to let her words sink in. She was about to speak again when Link held up a hand.
"Stop. You've voiced your concerns before and I know you only want what is best. You're right and you've always been right. This time was truly different, I assure you."
Aryll was losing patience.
"Why, Link? Why was it different?" she asked, her voice now slightly raised.
Link paused again, trying to find the words.
"It was different because of the man I killed" Link answered.
"You've said that before too."
"Let me finish, Aryll. There have been times when the man on the other side has affected me in some way but this time it was different. I actually knew him once. I knew him very well."
Aryll was still impatient, wanting Link to just say what he needed to say.
"Come on then. Who was it? Just say it already."
"It was Cal!" Link half-shouted, speaking quickly.
Aryll was taken by surprise by her brother for the first time in a long time. She couldn't believe it at first and simply had to ask for clarification.
"What did you say, Link? Who was the other man?"
Link paused again. He knew that shock of the name caused her to not believe her ears.
"It was Cal, Aryll. I am sure of it. At first, I didn't recognize him. But his face just stuck with me and I tried to think about where I had seen him before. It wasn't until I was just outside of the house that it hit me. I killed him, Aryll. That's what makes this one different."
Aryll couldn't speak. Instead she allowed the silence to continue. Link started speaking again.
"I'll understand if you hate me for this. I don't expect forgiveness for what I've done. I will do my best to atone for it but I know it will never be enough. "
Aryll finally managed to speak.
"Link, I don't hate you. You may have killed our adoptive brother but the way I see it, he was equally as foolish as you were for ever entering into that hideous competition. If you had lost he would have realized he'd killed you and had the same crisis you are having now."
Link was silent as he listened to his sister speak. Aryll continued with a question.
"How did he not recognize you? I mean, you've made a name for yourself and everything and he did grow up with you?"
Link looked his sister in the eye when he replied.
"He must have been gone a long time, Aryll. I imagine that wherever he went, he rarely kept up with what was going on here. He always did go on about the Great Sea and his desire to explore it. Perhaps he did just that and heard nothing."
The two faced each other in silence. The guilt Link bore weighed down on the room like a looming storm cloud. Aryll asked another question.
"What are you going to do now?"
Link paused briefly to think before replying.
"First things first, I need to see the undertaker in town. I want to make sure Cal gets a proper burial. He should be buried right next to Uncle Rusl and Grandma. I want to make sure that happens."
"And the gunfighting?"
Link knew, without question, that those days were behind him now.
"It's done, Aryll. You have to know that I mean it this time, don't you?"
Aryll was hesitant but, given the circumstances, she couldn't help but think that Link did indeed mean it.
"Yes, Link. I know you mean it. I know you meant it every other time too. But for whatever reason you never gave it up. I have to say I am glad that you've made this decision."
Link was about to turn to leave the house again when Aryll spoke once again.
"What will you do afterward? I mean, you're restless. There is no way you'll just sit around at home with me all day."
Link turned around again to face his sister.
"You know the Marshal has tried to deputize me a great many times. He's even said that he'd make me the Sheriff after awhile so that he can return to Castle Town."
"You think he'll still take you?"
"He just talked to me yesterday in town. He's said it so many times but he told me that I'm better than the gunfights and that the town needs a Sheriff like me. So, yes I think he will."
"Be sure to talk to him as soon as you're done with the undertaker and making the arrangements for Cal. I feel like this is something you shouldn't wait on."
Link simply nodded as he turned around and walked back out the door, headed back to town.
Aryll watched the door as her brother left and felt a terrible sadness overcome her. But with that sadness, it felt like a great weight had been lifted.
Link would finally be doing something worthwhile that he felt good about. Her sadness at Cal's death was almost overshadowed by that liberating feeling.
She returned to the living room and continued with the book she had been reading. Her thoughts would not turn away from her brother, however, and she greatly awaited his return home.
Link wandered back into Aboda and avoided the stares of the townsfolk who by now would have heard the rumour of his quitting.
As he walked toward the office of the undertaker he suddenly felt a sharp burning on his left hand. He reflexively grabbed it with his right and winced as the pain hit him. When it finally began to subside, he let go of his left hand and inspected it thoroughly. What he saw confused him greatly.
On the back of his left hand was the mark of a triangle, divided into three smaller triangles and an inverted triangular gap in the middle. He was even more confused when the triangle on the bottom right gave off a golden glow.
He stared at the back of his hand for a long while until he remembered why he had come to town in the first place. He'd have to find out what it was later. Right now he had to focus on Cal and getting him a proper burial.
As soon as he opened the door, the undertaker turned around to see who was there. The look on his face told Link that he was shocked to see who had come to see him.
"Mr. Link, sir. People have been talking about you all over town. They say you quit. Is it true?"
Link sighed. He knew he'd have to answer this question eventually, and probably frequently, over the coming days.
"Yes sir, Mr. Dampe. That is the truth. My last gunfight is what I'm here about, actually."
The undertaker seemed satisfied with Link's answer.
"Good. I always thought they should be outlawed anyway. What's this about your last gunfight?"
Link paused as he thought about what to say. He decided to simply tell the truth.
"I want to see the man I shot. I believe I knew him once and I want to give him a proper burial."
"I was just fitting him for his coffin, sir. Come this way." Dampe said, motioning for Link to follow.
Link almost couldn't bear to see his adoptive brother again in this condition, knowing that he had been the one who had killed him. But he followed the undertaker just the same into a dimly lit back room where various unfinished and finished coffins alike were scattered around the room. In the middle of the room was a table with a half-finished coffin on top where a dead man lay.
Link walked over to the table and, sure enough, there was Cal. Link's eyes welled up at the sight of him. He knew he had killed him, but actually seeing him lying there made it all the more real for him. Dampe spoke as Link stared at his dead brother.
"I asked for his name and, apparently, he has no family to speak of. He was an orphan as a child, you see. I hear that he was adopted but I couldn't find out who it was that adopted him."
Link closed his eyes as he replied.
"I know" he said softly.
"Really? That is excellent. Now we can at least have a proper name on his tombstone. Who was it?"
Link paused again. When he tried to speak, he found more tears forming. He finally managed to say what he needed to say.
"It was my uncle. This man and I grew up together. I knew him after my parents were killed. He saved my life. He saved my sister and my grandmother. We may not share blood but we were brothers, he and I. Just look at what I've done to you, Cal. I'm so sorry."
The undertaker was silent as he let the words sink in. He felt terribly sorry for Link at that moment in time.
"I see. I believe I understand why you've quit then."
Link turned to the undertaker. He reached into his pocket and pulled every last rupee he had out of his pocket and handed it to the undertaker. The folded paper bills were quite thick so Dampe knew that this was quite a bit of money Link had just handed to him.
"I want you to build him the finest coffin you've ever built. I want him buried next to my grandmother and my uncle Rusl. I want you to hire one of the priests of the Tower of Spirits to come down here and give him his last rites. It will be a private family funeral but I want his spirit to travel to the Sacred Realm and join the Golden Goddesses with the most honour possible. He was an honourable man and deserved a better fate than he got. I will arrange a date but I want you to do all of this for me. Can you?"
Dampe thumbed through the money Link had given him and found that he had more than enough to do what Link had requested.
"Easily, Mr. Link. I will do everything I can."
"Thank you, Mr. Dampe. I suppose I shall see you later."
Link left the stunned undertaker in the back room of his office and headed off to find the Marshal.
As soon as he entered the Marshal's office, Link watched him look up from his chair behind a desk and then a smile crept slowly across his face.
"Evening, sir" Marshal LaFaron said, clearly happy to see Link. "What brings you to my office?" he asked, slowly standing and then walking over to meet Link eye to eye.
Link stared at the Marshal and thought about what he was about to do. Was he truly worthy of being a lawman? After everything he had done, did he deserve to be one? These thoughts crossed his mind as he stood there but he pushed them aside.
"I am here to inquire about the job offer you gave me the other day."
The Marshal laughed when Link spoke.
"Which day? I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific than that. How many times have I offered this to you?"
Link did not say anything in response.
"I only have one question for you, my friend" the Marshal continued.
"What is that?" Link asked in reply.
"Why this sudden change of heart? I mean, you killed plenty of men before today, what was so special this time?"
Link felt another pang of guilt as soon as the Marshal asked. His entire body seemed to deflate as he sighed in response to the Marshal's question.
"Perhaps it's best not to ask right now" he said, clearly seeing Link's despair.
"Anyway, I'll get you your badge. Within no time we'll make a Sheriff out of you yet."
The Marshal walked back to his desk and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out a golden badge shaped like a bird with a triangle above its head, in between its outstretched wings. He tossed it to Link, who caught it and looked it over in his hands. He noticed the word "Deputy" written in Hylian across the triangle. He decided to pin it to his shirt then and there.
"Thank you for this opportunity Marshal" he said.
"Thank you for taking the job, Link, and welcome to the side of the law" the Marshal replied.
He crossed the room again and extended a hand to Link. Link shook the Marshal's hand and thanked him once again. With that deed done, Link turned back around and headed home.
Within weeks, Link learned a great deal from Marshal LaFaron. In one day, Link hunted a group of four thieves who had robbed the local bank by himself. He managed to bring three of them in alive but the fourth had actually gone so far as to kidnap a local boy and held him hostage. Link was forced to put him down and he saved the boy's life.
It was on this day that the Marshal made Link the Sheriff of Aboda. As soon as the sun had set and the lawmen were turning in for the night, the Marshal handed Link another badge before they all left. This one was nearly identical to Link's current badge except the word "Sheriff" was written in Hylian where the word "Deputy" was. The only other difference was that this badge was larger and the triangle between the bird's wings was a brilliant green.
"You've more than earned this today, my friend. This town doesn't need me anymore with you here. Take care of the other deputies for me."
"You're leaving now?" Link asked.
"Well, not right now, but I will be returning to Castle Town within the week. I will leave this town in good hands."
Link looked over the badge the Marshal had just handed him. He removed his Deputy badge and replaced it with his new Sheriff badge. He thanked the Marshal and left for home.
Link arrived at home and stopped on the porch once again, lost in thought. He thought about Cal again and sighed as he remembered the ill fate he had brought upon him. He couldn't fathom how a man like himself should deserve to become the Sheriff of any town.
He had to shake off those thoughts, however. Any lawman with doubts would be a hesitant lawman. Link knew that a hesitant lawman was as good as dead. He would be of no use to this town if some moral quandary about his past caused his untimely demise. Within moments he had shaken the feeling off and headed inside.
Link told his sister everything about the day's events and his becoming Sheriff before the pair of them finally went to sleep.
It was only a few days later when Link and Aryll held Cal's funeral. They were the only people to show up while the priest of the Tower of Spirits spoke, commending Cal's soul to the Sacred Realm. Just as it was ending, Marshal LaFaron stepped up next to Link and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Link had yet to tell him what it was about his final gunfight that had made him quit and now the Marshal knew why.
"Link, I'm so sorry, my friend."
Bitter guilt sank its claws into Link's heart as the Marshal spoke.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I do not deserve your pity. This man was my brother once and I shot him dead. And for what? Pride? Obligations? Honour?" Link said, ending his question with loud disgust and rage.
"There was no honour in what we did. No pride to be won. I still don't know why I kept on going but now it has cost me dearly."
The Marshal removed his hat and offered a silent prayer to Cal as they stood over the coffin. It was slowly lowered into the ground.
Just two days after Cal's funeral, the Marshal was leaving town. He said his goodbyes to the deputies before finding Link.
"Sheriff" he said as he approached.
"Marshal" Link replied.
"It's time I get moving on. The Marshals have got a lot of work to do. Those damn Bulblins are still everywhere."
"Yes, I know. They are far more than a mere menace. They're like a plague."
"It'll take time, Sheriff, but we will take them all down, all the way up to Ganon himself. Take care of yourself, friend" the Marshal finished, extending his hand to Link.
"You as well, Marshal. Be careful out there" Link answered, shaking the Marshal's hand.
Link watched as the Marshal rode for Castle Town leaving Aboda under his guidance and care. Now that Link was in charge he decided that it was time for a few changes. The first thing on his list: outlaw competitive gunfighting.
