A violent crackle of thunder shook Link awake and his eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling causing him to jolt upright. Hollow pain filled his head from the sudden movement and his arm still stung, though it was wrapped with bandages and dried Korok leaves slathered with an herbal mixture to help it heal. This was Zelda's handiwork. He'd be fine the move it by morning.
His pack, shield, and the Master Sword stood propped against the wall across from the bed. This particular room was not known to him, but he knew from the look of it that he was in one of the many stables that dotted the landscape of Hyrule. The dark boot-worn floors and simmering stew and ale gave it away.
The haze that blotted out the world around him dissipated slowly. He spied the door shut tight and bolted shut and felt the weight of someone else on bottom corner of the bed. Zelda. She sat on the bed with her back turned toward him. The golden glow of the candlelight gave her a dreamlike appearance, but he knew himself to be awake.
He must have made a sound, because as if she sensed him she spoke. "Your niece is having dinner. Your arm will be fine come morning."
Link watched her eyes for any subtle changes in expression. "Are you okay?"
Zelda turned at the waist with small, jerky motions in an attempt to combat the pain caused by movement. "Really, I am. You got the worst of it."
"How did you escape?" Asked Link.
"Linka finished them off. It is worrisome—more so than I would have imagined—" Zelda's voice got low suddenly. "—how much of an effect Ganon had on this world. People, even honest, good people have hardened their hearts to survive."
As she spoke, Zelda turned sideways more and Link could see her. The side of her face was darkened by a bruise, more than likely sustained from the bandits. Over the past several months he had caught split second sights something new in her. She didn't seem like the princess he had seen in the memories; she definitely wasn't the princess he had first met after the Calamity's end.
"It's made them more capable. Not the worst thing." Link said.
Zelda dragged one knee up onto the bed and bent it under her. "Be that as it may, we cannot enact much change on this world. The lowborn nor Champions and Fabled Princesses of Destiny live forever—our lives can only encompass a finite list of feats." She was facing him with her body now, but her face was staring intently toward the foot of the bed. Her slender finger made slow circles on the bedsheet.
"Is everything…okay, Princess?"
Zelda nodded, though she was holding her mouth shut. She glanced to the side as if not looking Link would protect him from knowing the truth and hearing the sadness in her voice. "This is not the world we expected to get. We are said to have saved Hyrule, but have we really? Calamity Ganon's influence is everywhere. I can taste it in the back of my throat," she said grabbing the bottom of her hair and pulling it to her nose. "I swear I can smell him in my hair; no matter what—it won't scrub clean." Zelda took a deep breath.
Stunned silence crowded out the air in the room. "Listen, you were in that…place with him for one hundred years. That's not easy."
He saw a droplet falling down past the side of her chin though she was facing away from him. Her leg was wet with tears, but she still tried to hide. "Do you know—" she sniffled. "Do you know what he said to me at the end." Link shook his head and she continued. "He knew you were coming. He knew this battle had been fought over and over and over again. He just spoke right inside of me, right in here." Zelda touched her chest, holding her hand flat over her heart. "He said 'when you crumble up a piece of parchment it's never the same again, this time Princess of Wisdom I don't ever think you'll be free of the wrinkles'."
Zelda leaned into him, her body falling against him as he lay in the bed. The sudden jolt sent pain rippling through his arm. He stifled his reaction and wrapped his arms around Zelda. She glanced up at him for a beat and then pressed her lips to his hungrily. Her hands wrapped around his wrists, pinning his arms to the bed. His wound burned, but he didn't push back or fight her off.
Her mouth was pressed to his for a long time and, though he hadn't smelled it, he could taste souring wine on her tongue. She pulled her lips back, but kept her face right above his with her hair hanging down around them like blonde curtains. Zelda's big blue eyes studied him before she set up on the bed. Link couldn't believe there was a time where he had forgotten the woman in front of him. He had forgotten his best friend and everything that she stood for.
He worried it could come again, that by some cruel turn of fate he could look at Zelda and not know who she was. Zelda dried her eyes on her sleeve and darted over to unbolt the door and slip out. She peeked back at him through the crack as the door closed with her cheeks a deep shade of crimson. He scanned her rapidly through that sliver in the door, committing every contour of her face to memory.
When the others made land fall Cynthia and Gerome were waiting at the edge of the surf. They had both dismounted and they helped the others out of the small boat. It had been provided by the captain to complete the seemingly impossible task that Lissa had promised. Find something more valuable than the Fire Emblem and bring it back?
"Let me help, Sissy." Cynthia grabbed Lucina around the shoulders to help her up and was shoved roughly for her it. Cynthia landed on her butt at the water's edge with a small splash. "What the Hell?"
"Just leave me alone!" Lucina struck out, her boots sloshing through the shallow waters. A half dozen steps from the boat she fell onto her knees, letting the Falchion drop into waves. "How could she know this? How could she…" the tears streamed down her face and she wiped them with her sleeve.
Emily was crying with her face pressed into Owain's chest, he held his sister tight, but the expression on his face made it apparent he had no idea what to do. The others stood at the water's edge with grim expressions.
Finally, Inigo made his way to Lucina's side. "Come, love, we don't need to bring him something valuable—what we need to do is put him to the sword."
"He's right," Cynthia said. "Aunt Lissa is strong. She can last a while—I'll fly out and we'll find something that we can use to surprise them! What those dick-noses need is a little justice with a side portion of ass kicking!"
Owain glared over at her. "Dick…noses?"
Gerome was staring at his boots as if there were some mastery to be solved on their surface. "Cynthia is terrible at cursing, but she's right. We need to plan."
Lucina punched her fist into the water, grabbing up the hilt of her sword. "I have a plan—I'll take everything from them. I'll kill that Captain Bernard with my bare hands, Grima be damned."
Owain shrugged. "Or, you know, we could engage in more of the casual murder we seem to find ourselves resorting to—that does seem to solve most of our problems."
Lucina sighed, trying to hold back more tears as she rose to her feet. Water dripped from her cloak. "I don't mean we just go back there. They expect us to come back with something, so we need to find a stand in. Cynthia, take to the skies and fly West, but stay within sight of us."
"Aye, aye, Sissy."
"Owain and I will follow behind you on the ground—you report back to us every two hours," Lucina said. "The rest of you," she paused to point to a high ridge overlooking the bay where the ship had loosed its anchor. "Discreetly take positions up there and make they don't try to pull anything."
"I'll be sure to console fair Emily," Inigo said.
"Come on now, mate," Owain said.
Lucina stepped past him and got in Inigo's face. "If I come back and find that any part of you touched any part of her, that'll be the part I chop off."
Cynthia laughed nervously. "Oh boy, I've only got two hours before I have to come back. Better get started." She gave a little half hearted salute and charged through the surf headed for Belfire.
Owain took his sister's shoulders in his hands. "Don't worry, Mom will be okay. She's always okay."
"You said the same of father once; where is he now?"
The words seem to bite at Owain, his face tightened. "This is different. We'll save Mom. I promise."
"Mmm," Linka asked slurping broth from her spoon. "You made this?" She asked.
Gaile moved through the room straightening up a few of the trinkets and knickknacks that sat in various areas around the room. "Mmhmm, it's no big secret really. Prime cuts of bear meat, fresh milk, vegetables, goat butter and Tabantha Wheat are the basis of the stew. The trick is in how you cook the bear, you have to treat it like mix between pork and beef—keeps the grease content down."
Linka nodded before bringing the spoon up to her mouth to test another bite to see if it was cool enough to eat. It stung at the tip of her tongue and she dropped the utensil into her bowl. "It's really good, but still a bit too hot."
"Fresh food is generally hot," Gaile said, pushing her hair away from her cheeks. There are splotches of red running through her freckles on her from all of the smiling. She hadn't stopped smiling yet. "Give it a moment to cool."
"I'm super hungry."
"Do you travel with your uncle often?" Asked Gaile.
Linka shrugged, her cloak spreading apart in the center from the shoulder movement. "We only met a while ago. He was asleep for a long time," Linka said.
Gaile leaned forward, smiling. "Everyone knows that story."
"Yeah, my mah used to tell me about how we were part of the same bloodline as the Champion. She told me about how he vanished one day and left our land at the mercy of Ganon—she gave me this name in the hope that I'd be…well, it's kind of obvious."
A trio of men wandered into common area, one with tan skin, except one of his arms that was spotted with lighter patches. His face was shrouded behind a dark cloak. With him were two male companions: a blonde and a red head. They stood to his side talking loudly. "There's a healthy amount of scrap out in the Blatchery Plains, when you're on the way to Hateno Village." The redhead said.
"No one is going near that place. No telling what could wake one of them things up or what happened out there." Said the blonde one.
The clerk behind counter stepped in and accepted the small bag of scrap and the third of the men said. "That's where I'm heading next. Never seen so many of the things in one place like that!"
Linka knew the spot they were talking about. Outside of Fort Hateno there were dozens of defunct Guardians rusted from their exposure to the elements over the past century. It was the place where her uncle almost lost his life one hundred years ago. She had heard that much, though there were never any details given to her about exactly what happened.
Gaile's speaking drew her attention back. "Judging by the fact that you're the only one of your group who isn't injured, I'd venture to say you know your way around a fight."
"I'm just lucky. I've always been lucky." Linka said taking a bite of a piece of bread.
A smile spread over Gaile's face. "I'll tell you who I think is lucky: me. I've got not one, but two Champions right now. Any trouble that wants a piece of me had better look out."
Linka is shoveling food into her mouth, letting the peppery broth flow down the back of her throat. "I wish."
"What do you mean 'this is all their worth'?" The man who had brought the bag of scrap pounded a fist into the counter, leaning in close as he spoke.
The clerk shrugged. "Everyone fancies themselves a treasure hunter now. You lot buy some fancy armor and come in here to rent horses expecting to be the one to make that big find."
"The going rate is twenty rupees. I'm not just some pompous gelding who thinks this is easy money," said the cloaked man.
"Rate's going down due to the influx of junk like this." The clerk ran his fingers through the bits and bobbles they'd brought. Clearly this was a conversation he knew too well. There was only so much junk that they could take in to a small place like this and only so much of it would be worth their while to attempt to sell. Ganon's forces had been pushed to the fringes of the wilderness and it was much easier to travel between two places, which meant that there were more people finding scrap.
Linka eyed the three men over her shoulder and then stared at Gaile.
"Give us our due, take the shit, and we'll be on our way," the red haired man said grabbing the clerk through the small window that separated the two sides of the counter.
Gaile stomped up from her chair and made for the three men. Her hands went to her hips and she paused right behind them. "You blokes don't realize this is a business—if we gave every piece of bokoblin cud that waltzed through the door any old amount of jewel for bringing in rubbish, well, I don't know where we'd be."
From the corner of her eye Linka could see the door to Link's room crack open. She turned to look, expecting to see her uncle, but Zelda poked her head out and looked to either side before meeting her gaze. For a moment the Princess froze in place, but she stepped out heading into the common area.
"You'll wish you have saved up this rubbish soon enough. Dark days are coming," said the man with cloak.
"Dark days are behind us," Gaile said. "The Calamity is banished from the castle."
"You got folk out there that won't give nothing of a care about that. Cults rising up. Bandits. A Princess isn't a proper ruler. We need a King or at least a Queen."
Linka watched as Zelda paused near the doorway, the Princess had one hand tucked behind her back and the other held to her mouth.
"Sooner or later Princess has to decide if she wants to actually rule and when that time comes she's going to need a real army. Royal family abandoned us for decades. They say they was fighting for us, but really it seems like they were hiding. She's all that survived." The red haired man took a swig from his flask.
Zelda's head sinks and she turns to go for her room.
"Where were you?" Linka asked. "Did you serve your town in the guard? Did you try to help find some way to bring an end to the Calamity? Or did you scrounge for scrap and hope that a better man would step to handle things for you?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" The redhead stepped toward her.
Linka whistled and pointed down. "I'd urge you to check out my legs—some would say they're my best feature." Under the table she held her crossbow aimed right at the man's chest. He paused, staring intently at her. "You want to look at taking those rupees, leaving the scrap, and hitting the road."
The three men stared her down, but Linka didn't move. On her worst day she could shoot the three of them before they made it to her or drew weapons against her. They decided to exercise what little freedom of choice they had left and leave with their scrap.
Zelda stood in the shadows, her back pressed against the wall inside the doorway. She stared at Linka, smiled, and gave a little nod.
"Zora's Domain at dawn—how about it?" Zelda asked.
Linka's hands fumbled together. "You think Link'll be ready by then."
"I'm sure of it," Zelda said. "Miss Gaile, if you could spare a pair of horses for the morning—I think time may be of the essence."
"Link can't ride with that arm. You should at least wait till morning."
"We will be."
Gaile nodded and stared over at Linka. "I'll get on it," she said absently. "I was hopping to get to know you better," she touched Linka's check with her palm. "Promise me you won't be a stranger."
"Aw, Lady Gaile, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. I'll drop through, promise!" Linka said.
As Gaile left to prepare the horses Zelda looked out the window toward Zora's Domain. Something about this made her uneasy—she had the same feeling one hundred years ago before Ganon arrived. She knew it couldn't be him, but something was coming.