Woo! Another chapter done! I am EXCITED for this one. You'll see why when you read it. I was so excited, in fact, that I missed a bunch of stuff while writing this that my awesome beta FriedCuccoLady pointed out. So now this chapter is even better! Sorry, internet, it's time for you to be subjected to my story again!

Chapter 4

The Underappreciated Art of Dying Conveniently

When Link woke up the next morning, Beedle was busy setting his massive pack down just outside the stable.

Beedle waved a greeting to Link as he stumbled outdoors. "Oh ho ho! We meet again! I swear, we must have been married in a past life."

Link rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Possibly. Or maybe you're just stalking me."

Beedle snorted. "Nonsense. I have a set schedule I follow in my travels around Hyrule. I think that technically makes you my stalker!"

It was altogether too early in the morning for Beedle's chipper merchant shtick, but Link chuckled anyway. It was always good to see him. Also, he was running low on arrows. "I thought I saw you on the road yesterday," he said.

A flicker of consternation passed through Beedle's eyes, but it was so quick he might have imagined it. "You know me," Beedle said cheerily. "Sixth sense for danger and all that."

Link gave him a suspicious look, but chose not to press the issue. He'd known Beedle to hide in the woods from enemies before. He was shockingly good at it for the size of his pack.

As Beedle began to set up his makeshift storefront, Link cast his gaze around the stable and rolled his shoulders. He hadn't slept well last night, so he was stiff and sore all over. Even worse, it was only around eight in the morning and he could already tell the weather was going to be miserable. It was nice and sunny now, but the warmth and stillness of the morning air portended a stifling and oppressive heat later in the day. He narrowed his eyes in displeasure.

And maybe it was only Link's imagination, but the air still seemed to be tense. Molo and Breen were treating him normally enough, but what if that was a front?

Kish was definitely still angry. When Link had dragged himself out of bed, the stable owner had shot him a glare and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Yiga magnet." Great. This day was getting off to a great start.

Link flopped down onto a seat by the cooking pot and rummaged through his bag of supplies for something to cook. He ended up dicing chunks of meat and Hylian shrooms, cooking them, and stabbing a skewer through them. The skewer was unseasoned, but at least it was hot and fresh from the pot.

Molo was reading a book across the pot from him. Breen was tending to the horses, and Kish was in the middle of some negotiations with Beedle. Link slumped a little when he saw Beedle pass a bundle of arrows to Kish. He knew that the stable dwellers were just going about their daily business, but it was hard not to feel like they were avoiding him.

He was lost in thought when Shamae interrupted him. "Mister Link!" she shouted. "Are you going to fight more guys today?"

Link swallowed, aware of the stable dwellers' eyes on him. "Uh, I hope not."

Shamae frowned. "Aw, man! But yesterday was awesome! You beat them up and Molo punched a guy in the face, then I got one in the head!" She enthusiastically mimed her actions in combat as she said them.

Link glanced at the bandage on Breen's forehead. "It's only awesome if no one gets hurt," he said quietly.

Shamae was clearly disappointed, but she got distracted by a butterfly fluttering past her and wandered off. Link abruptly decided that he wanted to leave.

Link stomped back into the stable to retrieve his gear and then slapped a purple rupee onto the counter. It only covered half of his tab, but he figured he could return and pay the rest after the Calamity was gone. He stomped back out and went to Breen, who was tending to the horses. "Horse, please," he demanded grumpily.

Breen eyed him with a frown. She looked like she was puzzling through several possible responses, which only irritated him more. "You should be nicer to the people taking care of your horse," she said after a moment, trying and failing for some levity.

Link let out a sharp breath through his nose, and Breen relented, leading Princess out of his stall. He gave his horse a cursory pat on the nose and let him snuffle against his hand until Link pulled out an apple to feed him.

It was suffocating, being in a bad mood around people who may or may not be equally as irritated with him.

Link swung himself onto the white stallion and nudged him forward to the dirt road stretching south. Beedle glanced up at him as he passed and scrambled to his feet. "Link, wait!" he called. "I have to get to Wetland Stable by nightfall. I'll go with you."

Link grudgingly halted as Beedle gathered his wares up and slung his pack over his shoulders. The sidelong glances Kish, Ashe, Molo, and Breen were giving him prickled at the back of his neck. He twisted the reins in his fists in impatience.

Beedle caught up to him, and together they set out along the road. Part of Link wanted to be irritated at how slow he had to go for Beedle to keep up, but he had to admit that this was a nice change of pace. He had spent far too long alone in the wild, usually at a hard gallop or climbing all of the hills, trees, and mountains he possibly could. This slow, relaxed pace with a friend for company was welcome. He felt himself relax more and more as they got farther and farther away from the stable.

They reached the Thims Bridge, a simple wooden structure that spanned the Hylia River. Link had only crossed this bridge once before, when he had wanted to scout the Crenel Hills for shrines. It had also been a good vantage point to observe Hyrule Castle from afar.

Link sighed at unwelcome thoughts of the castle, and turned to Beedle instead. Whatever he had been about to say left his mind as he saw the vaguely ill look on Beedle's face. "Uh, you all right there?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

"I looked over the edge," he muttered.

Link snorted and glanced over the side of the bridge. "At least it's a river and not a canyon. Hurts less if you fall."

"Please do not mention canyons to me," came Beedle's groan from behind him. "I had a very bad experience at Tanagar Canyon with a dragon."

Me too, Link was about to say, remembering his very poorly thought out attempts to shoot Dinraal's horn. True to form, Revali had mocked him when he had finally resorted to calling up a gale. "Did one of your failed cooking experiments spit a fireball at you?" the Rito had asked snidely.

But Link's lingering bad mood moved the conversation in another direction. "Seriously, I can't believe you manage to be a traveling salesman with your fear of heights and monsters."

"It's why I'm not dead yet, obviously," Beedle replied with good humor. "Not everyone can be as good at fighting as you. Especially not half-naked and armed with only a boko bow."

Link cringed. Right. The first time he met Beedle, he had gone swimming in a river, only to find that bokoblins had stolen his clothes and gear. His plan to throw explosive barrels around their camp as revenge had gone very badly, and he accidentally lured monsters to a stable when he tried to buy arrows from Beedle. Also, Beedle had managed to cheat him out of a lot of rupees.

That was definitely not Link's finest moment.

"Whatever," he said rudely. Beedle only hooted with laughter.

By now, they had crested the rocky hill on the other side of the bridge. The rolling hills and plains of Hyrule Field stretched out before them, endlessly green, and the sky was a cloudless blue over their heads. If Link angled himself the right way, he could block out the Malice-infested castle and pretend that all was right in the world. Just him and his salesman buddy, palling around Hyrule.

While Link had been zoned out, Beedle had already started down the other side of the hill, looking a little wobbly under the weight of his pack. "My bugs aren't going to deliver themselves to the stable, you know," he called back.

Link nudged Princess into a trot to catch up. "What are you now, a bug delivery man?"

Beedle shook his head. "Lawdon wants to visit Gerudo Town, so he needs to brew some elixirs. I already tried explaining to him that he won't be able to get in, but I don't think he believes me…"

Link snickered. Maybe Lawdon knew the same trick he did. Then that absurd thought was replaced by a more serious question. "Do you do these sorts of special orders a lot?" Ashe's lecture the night before had made him realize just how little he knew about how the way Hyrule's economy currently functioned. He hadn't really spent much time in towns or stables after he had woken up, and certainly hadn't given much thought to how they managed to obtain all of their stuff.

"Only if it doesn't conflict with my path around Hyrule," said Beedle. "Most people who want special orders want them regularly delivered every few months or so, when I drop by their place again. I've got it worked out to where I pick up stuff from my suppliers in towns and unload it all at the next few stables before I hit the next town…"

Link had started to tune out, but not because he wasn't interested. An uncomfortable feeling was settling in his gut. It felt sort of like indigestion, but more ominous. The feeling had been his constant companion for long enough that he knew there was an enemy around.

He nudged Princess to a halt, frowning uneasily. Some small noise to his left caught his attention. A pebble clattering against a larger stone, maybe.

Beedle glanced back at him with a question in his eyes. Link held a hand out to indicate he should stop, then got off the horse. There was a cluster of boulders to his left, just a little bit up the hill. Was there a Yiga spy hiding behind them? Link wouldn't have been surprised.

He carefully picked his way up the hill, trying not to dislodge any dirt from the rocky hill. When he got to the cluster of boulders, he frowned. There was no one there. No sign that anything had been there recently. There was only the sound of the wind and Beedle fidgeting with his pack.

Now it sounded like papers were fluttering in the wind, Link realized absently half a moment before he heard a shout from behind him.

"For the bana – I mean, for the boss!"

Link spun around with a panicked shout and pulled out his demon carver, flailing his arm. The pommel of his demon carver smacked against a Yiga footsoldier's mask.

The footsoldier flew sideways, skidding and rolling down the hill. Link jumped off the cluster of boulders before hitting the ground and rolling. He came up into a crouch and angled his demon carver at his attacker's throat before he could teleport away.

"Agh, how dare you – " the footsoldier spluttered. Link only frowned. His voice, while still masculine, was switching between very deep and nasally high-pitched at random intervals. He tried to wriggle away, but Link pinned his arm down with his free hand. If he looked closer, he could see a fine crack spreading across the Yiga mask. Was the mask…how they disguised themselves as average travelers? Or how they teleported?

Beedle appeared next to them without his pack. "I know your voice," he said in disbelief, pointing an accusing finger at the Yiga. "I've been selling you arrows!"

Link felt the footsoldier's arm tense under his hand, and snarled, "Don't."

The footsoldier's gaze whipped from Link to Beedle and back again. "Woodland Stable was a trial run," he hissed. "Watch your back, Champion."

Anger boiled in his blood. He leaned in close. "If you so much as touch anyone at that stable," he threatened, "I will gladly go to your hideout and destroy your new leader all over again."

The footsoldier was quiet at that.

"Go tell your friends that I'm not at the stable anymore," Link said. He stood up, and the footsoldier scrambled to his feet and ran up the road in the direction Link and Beedle had come from, disappearing from view.

He glanced back at Beedle. The traveling salesman was pale and stared at the spot where the Yiga had disappeared. "I can't believe he tried to kill you – "

"Did you know he was Yiga?" Link demanded.

Beedle flinched. "No. And I don't want to sell to them," he added, a bit defensive. "I think a regular customer of mine at Kara Kara might be one of them. He buys way more arrows than any one guy needs. Just like you, huh?" he finished in an attempt at humor.

Link shook his head, disbelieving. "They're killers."

Beedle shrugged. "Well, everyone only thinks they're crazy. Running around, telling people they want to kill the Hylian Champion, like he hasn't been dead for a hundred years…"

Link clamped his mouth shut, miserable. He didn't like being lumped in with the people trying to kill him. Come to think of it, he didn't like being little more than a legend to the people of Hyrule. His life would be so much easier if everyone just knew he was supposed to destroy the Calamity. Doing it all himself was overwhelming.

Beedle could not force another word out of him for the rest of the journey to the stable. If your words show weakness, perhaps it's wisest not to speak at all. Who had said that to him? The phrase had the feel of a memory, the voice that spoke it faded and indistinct like a century-old painting. Link shook his head. Whoever had said it, the phrase had clearly done its job.

He didn't realize they had reached the stable until a cold shadow fell over him. He glanced up, startled, only to see the building's massive horse head looming above him. He hopped off the horse, dragging his hands over his face. He had to get it together. Poor Beedle probably had no idea what he'd done to make him so upset.

Better outlook, Link. This stable probably hadn't been attacked by Yiga yet. It was surrounded by trees, so there was plentiful shade to beat the heat. No one here would be mad at him, except maybe Beedle.

Feeling a little bit better, he led Princess to a water trough and pulled out his own waterskin from a saddlebag. There was a man wearing a typical stable hat whacking away at a practice dummy only a few feet away from him. With a torch, no less.

"You mind?" Link muttered when the torch got dangerously close to Princess' flank.

"I am Yolero, wielder of the legendary Master Torch," the man said haughtily. "I do mind."

"I think it's a sword," said Link with a heavy dose of irony.

Yolero stopped hitting the dummy and turned to Link with a frown. "What is?"

"You know. The Master Sword. The sword that seals the darkness. Blade of evil's bane." Link waved his hand vaguely. The sword I'm supposed to have. Damn the Koroks.

Yolero scoffed. "My grandmother always told me it was a torch."

It's only been a hundred years, Link thought with a strange mix of annoyance and sadness. Surely his grandmother would have remembered stories about the Hylian Champion more accurately…

Or maybe she had sanitized the stories for a young grandchild. Dinraal's fire, was he just a children's story now?

Link shook it off with an irritated huff. This was getting ridiculous. "You're fast, but try to control your swings better," he advised Yolero. "You're leaving yourself wide open."

Yolero blinked at the unsolicited advice, then thanked him hesitantly. Link only nodded, then went to go find Beedle.

He found himself standing before Beedle's pack, scrambling around in his mind for the proper words to say. "I'm sorry," he blurted out after an uncomfortable few seconds. Beedle shot him a quizzical glance.

"I'm sorry I just stopped talking to you earlier," Link clarified, bringing a hand to the back of his head in embarrassment. "I…I'm not good at talking to people. And I don't like the Yiga Clan."

"I can tell," Beedle said dryly. Link panicked for a moment at the stillness of his expression. Goddess, had he actually really hurt Beedle's feelings?

Then Beedle's face split into a smile. "Gotcha!" he hooted. "I know you're bad at talking to people. Your strengths lay outside the realm of social interaction. That's what I'm here for!" He winked.

Link breathed a sigh of relief and grinned. "In that case, can I buy some arrows? I have some more monster parts for you."

Hylia bless Beedle. He was the one who deserved to be a legend.

And it wasn't the end of the world that Beedle sold arrows to a guy who may or may not have been Yiga. Right? He had to remember the root problem. The Calamity.

This new pensive mood was how Link found himself seated on a crate at sunset, studying Hyrule Castle for the first time in a month. He did not shy away from taking in the crumbling spires and the magenta swirls of malice that choked the castle grounds, just as visible in the encroaching dusk as in broad daylight. This felt like progress, he thought, self-satisfied. Maybe next time he could forget about his disastrous last visit to the castle long enough to defeat the Calamity. He would have to.

Okay, Link. What's step one?

Step one was to visit Gerudo Town. Riju would know more about what was happening with the Yiga.

Step two: infiltrate the Yiga Clan's hideout. And maybe, if he was lucky, he could somehow… Well, he wasn't sure exactly how he could stop them, at least temporarily, but he could figure it out.

Step three: protect the towns and stables. That… Link didn't really have any idea how to do that.

Step four: Defeat the Calamity. That was the most daunting step of all.

Well. Step one was good enough for now.

Without sparing another look back at the stable, he got on Princess and galloped down the road.

It had been nice taking it easy earlier in the day, but he couldn't deny that he loved the wind tearing through his hair and Princess's mane, the steady rolling gait of his horse, and how the wilds scrolled by under the last traces of orange, pink and lavender in the evening sky.

The Lanayru Wetlands and their ruins passed by on his left, then soon enough he reached Eagus Bridge. He grinned, exulting in the thrill of riding fast. He almost felt like he and his horse were soaring across Hyrule Field. He would have to give extra apples to Princess when they stopped.

They skirted the Great Plateau, faint moonlight illuminating the sheer cliff face. Before long, Link was facing the Gerudo Highlands and their orange steppes turned silver by the nighttime. He was almost at the Digdogg Suspension Bridge.

As he came to the top of the gentle hill before the bridge, he slowed Princess to a halt and cursed. Some moblins had set up camp right next to the bridge, and although they were sleeping now, they would be woken up by a horse passing by. What was more, a red wizzrobe was prancing around above the burnt husk of a house nearby.

"Ugh," Link muttered. He was not in the mood for fighting, but that wizzrobe would definitely wake the moblins if he tried to pass by. Maybe with a well-placed ice arrow and a bit of luck he could sneak past the moblins…

He swung himself off the stallion and took out his duplex bow. He pulled an ice arrow out of his quiver and kneeled in the grass. The wizzrobe was still busy looking like an idiot as Link inched his way closer. Finally, he had a semi-clear shot.

This first shot has to work. "No pressure," he muttered to himself.

He pulled the string back and let his hand come to its comfortable anchor point against his jaw. Wizzrobes were stupid. Stupid, and annoying. If it would just stop moving for one Goddess-cursed second…

There. He aimed carefully and released. The wizzrobe shrieked and dissolved in a cloud of icy mist. Link ran back down the slope to Princess and vaulted on, hissing, "Let's go."

They galloped up the road. Moblins in the camp startled awake and went for their clubs, but they were too slow to catch him, even as they gave chase. "Ha, suckers!" Link shouted after them.

Then the moblins stopped. Link frowned at the sudden halt, then shrugged. He turned back around in the saddle.

He found himself about to collide with a recently awakened hinox.

"Shit!" Link yelped, yanking the reins to the side to get Princess out of the way. He scrambled off the horse while he tried to unsheathe his demon carver. The hinox just blinked at him. Then tried to sit on him.

Link barely threw himself out of the way. Gasping, he hacked at the monster's leg a few times. He whirled out of the way as the hinox tried to swat at him, but now he was facing away from the hinox and he could see the water far below him. Some strange feeling was taking over, somehow familiar yet disorienting. There was something at the edge of his memory, with the hinox and the water, at the tip of his tongue –

It suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. The moonlight gleaming off the Regencia River –

The moonlight gleaming off of Ralis Pond –

"There's a hinox at Ralis Pond!" Bazz shouted.

Link squinted at the little Zora. "So?"

"So we should fight it!" Bazz pumped his fist in the air, and Rivan and Gaddison bounced around in excitement.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Link said, with all of the dignity and conviction he could muster from his young age.

Rivan shoved his way in front of Bazz with a pout. "Aw, why not, Link? You taught us how to fight!"

"I'm nine," Link pointed out sagely.

"You beat that soldier in a fight yesterday," Gaddison replied in a quiet voice.

"Only cause he didn't try," Link blustered, secretly pleased at the mention of his victory. "No one wants to beat up a kid."

"Right, so that hinox won't want to hit us!" Bazz shouted.

Link frowned. "Don't think that's how that works."

"And how would you know, Mr. I've-never-seen-a-monster-in-real-life?" Rivan retorted, poking him in the back.

"Hey, ow," Link muttered. "My dad is a knight and he fights monsters. Of course I would know."

"Would not," Bazz scoffed. "When do you even talk to him? You spend too much time with Kodah."

"Do not," Link snapped, just as Gaddison rolled her eyes.

"Link doesn't even spend that much time with her," she said. She was much less riled up than the other two Zoras. "You guys aren't making sense. Boys are dumb."

"Fight me, Gaddison!" Rivan was yelling, but Link was no longer invested in that conflict. He had just remembered that his father had told him to corral all the Zora kids back to their pools if it got late. And, judging by the fact that he could see the moon over the cliffs of Zora's Domain, it was very late indeed.

"Aw, man," Link groaned, head in his hands. "My dad's going to kill me."

When he looked up, the Zoras were gone. Link whirled around, heart pounding, scanning the waterways of the Domain. There, at the very end, he saw the three kids running off. "The Big Bad Bazz Brigade rides again!" Bazz yelled.

"No, you don't, not without me!" Link shouted back, but it was too late. By the time he made it to the upper level of the Domain, he had lost them.

He cast his gaze around wildly. What would he do if they actually tried to fight the hinox? He didn't have weapons! The Big Bad Bazz Brigade didn't have weapons! His dad would kill him! He would never get to be a knight of Hyrule!

Completely at a loss, he brightened when he saw Kodah over by the inn. "Kodah, Kodah, Kodah!" he shouted, using up all of his breath.

The red-finned Zora turned to him, startled. "What's wrong, Linny?"

Link couldn't even spare the effort to be annoyed by the nickname. "Big Bad – Bazz Brigade? There's a hinox – Ralis Pond – no swords – " He bent over, hands on his knees, out of breath and a little bit panicky.

Kodah frowned. "I did see them run past, yelling like a lizalfos was chasing them. I hope they're not trying to get into trouble."

That was Kodah for you. Always the practical and mature one. Link was always privately worried that she would look down on him for hanging out with the little hooligans of the Big Bad Bazz Brigade, but she never did.

But now was not the time for thinking! "I'm more worried about myself!" Link called over his shoulder as he dashed for the bridge connecting the Domain with the cliffs surrounding it.

The gentle glow of the Domain's luminous stones under moonlight usually mesmerized Link, but he was on a mission. The Brigade had a head start and an advantage, what with the water everywhere. He had gotten pretty good at splashing around in the almost two years his father had been stationed here, but he was no Zora.

Wait – there! Leaning up against the side of the bridge, in a little alcove next to a crate, was an abandoned silver sword. Link snatched it up, almost tripping over himself, and kept running. He ducked and weaved around the strange, luminescent plants growing on the cliff. His footsteps squelched in the grass, the morning's rain doing its part to slow him down.

Ahead of him, next to a small pond, he could see a hinox getting to its feet and blinking blearily. Three small Zoras ran around it, dodging its line of sight.

Link's heart jumped in his throat. Had he been that stupid when he was younger?

He was around twenty feet away from the hinox now. Before he knew what he was doing, he yelled, "Hey! Over here!"

The hinox's gaze inched its way over to him. The hinox was very blue. And very, very big. Link swallowed.

The hinox took a great, lumbering step toward him. The earth shook when its foot hit the ground. Link held the silver sword before him, doing his best to ignore how the point of the sword wobbled.

The hinox raised an arm, and Link's muscles tensed, ready to jump out of the way –

"Ya dumb monster! You're as fat as King Dorephan!"

Link could only blink for a second. The hinox was just as confused, turning back around to face the source of the shout. Gaddison was smacking Rivan's shoulder, exclaiming, "You can't say that about the king! That's mean!"

Then the hinox's shadow fell over them, and their eyes widened. Bazz tried to pull them out of the way, but they were nearly trapped against a rock face.

Link let loose his best imitation of a battle cry and charged at the hinox. He slashed at the back of its legs, but now the hinox was turning and he was losing that good angle. He ducked under a swipe of its hand and stabbed right under its knee. The hinox howled in pain, a loud, monstrous sound that jarred Link right out of his focus. He didn't realize the hinox was about to sit on him until a small Zora hand grabbed his and yanked him out of the way.

He stared in disbelief at the spot he had just been, now flattened by the hinox. "You're welcome," Gaddison squeaked, before beating a hasty retreat back to the bush the Big Bad Bazz Brigade was hiding behind.

Link ran forward again, able to slash at the monster while it was attempting to get back up. He noted with a fierce pride that he had done some serious damage to one of its legs.

He was interrupted again by a cry of, "Link!" coming from behind him.

Link whirled around on reflex to see a red-finned Zora with a gleaming trident sprinting right for the hinox. He watched in awe as Princess Mipha of the Zora gracefully launched herself into the air and drove the Lightscale Trident right into the hinox's eye.

The hinox staggered back, clutching at its eye, but Mipha was too fast. She had wrenched the trident out of its eye and vaulted away before it could even come close to touching her. Thinking fast, Link hollered at the hinox, drawing its attention to him.

As it was distracted, Mipha sprinted around to the back of the hinox and, in a quick series of blows, brought it to its knees. With a final, decisive blow to the back of the neck, the hinox slumped forward, now motionless. Link watched thick, black blood ooze out of the hinox's eye and legs, horrified and fascinated despite himself.

Mipha emerged from behind the monster's corpse, somehow unscathed. She smiled. "Thank you for your help, Link."

Link could not think of what to say for a second. Then he blurted, "Thank Gaddison! Gaddison saved me!"

"That's right!" Rivan added from behind the bush. "She's a real heroine!"

Mipha turned to where the members of the Big Bad Bazz Brigade were creeping out from behind the bush, matching sheepish and scared expressions on their faces. "Then I thank you for your help as well, Gaddison," she said, that gentle smile still in her voice. How did Mipha manage to be so nice all the time? It was a complete mystery to Link, who was tired, sore, and cranky now that the adrenaline was leaving his system.

Then another set of running footsteps sounded behind him, heavier than Mipha's. Link froze, pulse pounding. He recognized those footsteps.

He slowly turned around and came face to face with his father.

He was still wearing his knight's armor, although his helmet was tucked under his arm. The expression on his face scared Link. It was a cross between anger, impatience, and fear that he had never seen before. "Link," he began gravely.

Link bowed his head, terrified of the inevitable lecture he was going to get. "I'm sorry, dad, I – "

"You know that all of you need to stay together in the Domain when I'm in meetings with the Zora guard. I was specific about what time I expected you and your friends to be in bed by, wasn't I?" His father sounded more tired than anything else.

"Sunset," Link managed, willing the shameful tears away from his eyes. It was all his fault…

Bazz crept forward into Link's peripheral vision, startling him. "I'm sorry, sir, it's all my fault! I wanted to fight the hinox, and I'm the leader of the Brigade, so they all listened to me…"

Link's head jerked up in surprise at Bazz's defense. For some reason, faint amusement flickered in his father's eyes for a moment, then it was eclipsed by the old, tired anger. "Just be grateful that Princess Mipha was here to save your sorry behinds." He turned to her and bowed. "I can't thank you enough, Highness."

Mipha smiled, bringing the tip of her trident down to the ground in a relaxed stance. "If you would like, Sir Rossin, you may return to your meeting. I can bring the children back."

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded, sending Link one last reproachful glance. Then he turned and jogged back to the Domain.

Link watched his shiny armor dwindle into the distance, miserable. To his surprise, Mipha laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "Kodah came to find me as soon as you left. I explained to your father that you were only trying to save them. He won't be angry for long."

"Thank you, Princess," he said glumly, unable to feel very optimistic about that.

"It's all our fault, Princess!" Rivan yelled, Bazz and Gaddison looking suitably regretful behind him. "We thought we could fight it, but then Link did all the work!"

"Link did all the work?" Mipha echoed with a surprising amount of indignation. "But I killed the beast!"

"It was mostly Princess Mipha," Link admitted, not even ashamed to say it in the face of her extraordinary prowess with the Lightscale Trident.

As the laughter of the Zora princess and children rose into the night, Link made a private resolution.

If his dad ever let him become a knight, he would train with both the sword and the spear.

He blinked, and he was facing the Regencia River again. The world was covered in a haze of red, and Link was briefly terrified – had he somehow miscounted the days? Was it already the blood moon again? – but then he realized what was happening.

Daruk was back! Link turned around to see the Goron's ethereal, red form holding up the barrier. "Welcome back, little guy!" Daruk exclaimed, but Link didn't miss the trace of worry in his voice.

"Sorry, I don't know what got into me – " Link babbled. He must have instinctively summoned the barrier while he was zoned out.

"It's alright, I just took a few hits – " Daruk pushed his arms out with a grunt, countering the hinox's strike and leaving the monster off-balance and reeling. Daruk and his barrier fizzled out as he expended the last of the energy keeping him with Link.

Link did not waste the opportunity to dart around the hinox. But he was still reeling from the memory – Bazz, Mipha, his father – and he somehow found himself trapped between the edge of the natural platform and the hinox.

Then something hit his side with the force of a flying, massive boulder, and the world spun around him. He landed with a bone-jarring thud that forced the breath out of his lungs.

Everything went black.

Then he opened his eyes, crying out in pain, and saw Mipha. Everything came back to him in a rush. The hinox, the memory –

He ignored the pain seizing his chest and propped himself up on one arm. Mipha frowned, but he blurted, "I remember!"

Mipha's hand hovered above his chest, confusion warring with faint hope in her eyes. "What do you remember?"

"I remember, Mipha!" He felt his face break into a broad grin. "That time Bazz, Rivan, and Gaddison wanted to fight a hinox and I chased them and you saved our lives – " A sharp twinge in his side cut him off, but it couldn't put a damper on his excitement or the joy that was slowly spreading across Mipha's face.

"Then why are you having a harder time beating a hinox now than when you were nine years old?" she teased. "Come on. I believe in you."

Link laughed, half in disbelief and half in delight. "I'm so happy, Mipha – "

Her form had faded and vanished, but Link's joy did not go away. He jumped to his feet and charged at the hinox, roaring a battle cry. He remembered! He remembered something about his father, about his childhood friends, about his dear friend and fellow Champion Mipha.

Link hardly noticed when the steel of the demon carver fractured and splintered against the tough hide of the hinox, or when his arrow pierced the monster's eye, or when it finally died and dissipated in a swirl of magenta smoke. The hinox had been carrying a royal broadsword around its neck, and Link picked it up to replace the demon carver he had lost. Not even the remarkably foul-smelling blood and guts of the hinox could bring him down.

He had been so convinced for so long that all he would ever have of his past life were scattered fragments, diaries, and hearsay. An uncomfortable proportion of his memories involved Princess Zelda being rude to him. He had given up on anything more, much less anything more revealing.

And now his father had a face and a name. Sir Rossin. A tall, broad, dark-haired man with intense blue eyes and a nose slightly crooked from where it had been broken before. Link could only assume he took more after his mother.

And maybe he would remember his mother soon! He had no idea why he had begun to remember now, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Poor Princess was still huddled by the edge of the bridge, tossing his head nervously. "It's okay, horse," Link laughed as he patted his nose and pulled an apple out of a saddlebag.

Soon enough, they were back on the road, flying through Gerudo Canyon. Link hadn't felt this optimistic in ages.