Author's Note: This takes place near the beginning of the game while Link runs after Talo, who's run off after the Monkey.

Just a short drabble, with a touch of irony. Countless thanks to Dephanie for beta-reading this!

XXXXX

Link wiped his sword carefully on the grass, taking care to clean even the less noticeable grooves in the wood. This sword was special to him—Rusl had given it to him on the first day Link had finally managed to drive him back in a sword fight. Since then he had carved designs into the wood under Rusl's tutelage. For a moment Link traced the green squiggles and designs, watching how the craftsmanship grew in quality as they went from a child's chipping away to a more professional level of design. The rough parts of his early attempts were trickier to clean, but he didn't mind. It was his sword and a means of protection against forest creatures, and Link cared meticulously for it.

Speaking of forest creatures, Link looked for a moment at the one he had just felled, before looking away. The remains were gruesome enough to make his stomach turn, now that the fire of battle had faded.

In the moments before it had attacked him, Link had gawked in surprise at it: it was like nothing he'd ever seen before, and he hadn't known what to expect. Its stalk was green and vine-like, growing from a cluster of roots that clung to the ground. Instead of branches or leaves, the plant had what looked to be an oversized walnut at the vine's other end. That is, if walnuts happen to be carnivorous. This plant's 'head' had parted down the middle and, drooling green slobbering drool, had taken a surprisingly fast bite at Link. The sudden movement had galvanized him into action—reflexes he hadn't known he'd had spurred him into reaching for his sword, deflecting the monster's blow with a panicked block.

Link had never killed before. Truth be told, he'd never been in an actual battle where his life had depended on it, before. Rusl's patient instruction was indescribably different from the real thing; even while sparring, Rusl had never tried to hurt him, and Link had never felt himself to be in real danger. Nothing Rusl had said could have braced him for the gore, the rush of fear, the terrible drive to fight back, to destroy whatever it was that threatened him…

The stories of sword fights that Rusl had told him, of damsels in distress, of great wars—they had inspired him at the time. He'd asked Rusl to teach him swordplay. After all, the day might come when he would need to defend himself against these terrible foes that these legends described. Link had never realized how little they had actually prepared him for the real thing.

Rusl had understood, even if Link didn't, yet he'd taught the boy anyway. After all, Rusl also seemed to understand this need Link felt, this desire to protect. Ilia especially hadn't understood when he'd tried to explain. She'd even been angry, when Link started to practice while riding on horseback. Epona had enjoyed the excitement of mock-battling though, and this had forced Ilia to relent and accept.

Link took a deep, shuddering breath, starting to sidle past the monster's remains. He hadn't gotten hurt by it, but it wasn't by any great skill or prowess of his own. It had been luck. When the monster had lunged at him, everything Link had learned and practiced seemed to vanish, and he'd used his sword to block because it had been on hand. He hadn't even known what he'd been doing. Terror had fueled his movements, making the monster look more horrifying then it should have been. Fear was what had made him dodge the next lunge, and slowly appearing beneath that, an animalistic fury. His blood had been singing in his ears, and the edge of his sword had slashed at the plant's stalk with savage eagerness… That blow hadn't killed the monster, instead leaving it crippled, writhing in blind agony on the ground. Link's blade had lashed out again—in mercy, he told himself hollowly. There had been no mercy at the time. The terror that had spurred him into action had still been there, and the horrifying rage of fighting against something that was trying to kill him hadn't vanished. When he'd seen the pussy green blood that filled the plant's stalk oozing out onto the grass, he'd even felt a sort of joy, a bestial triumph at his kill…

Link tried to put the thoughts from his mind, clenching his hand around his sword's hilt. He wasn't a killer—he didn't like hurting anyone, human or animal… If that was true, though, then why had he felt that? How had he ripped away at that monster's life so easily? There hadn't been any hesitation. Terror had seen to that. At the very least, though, there should have been remorse, some sort of guilt. Those feelings hadn't come until after that awful fog had faded, when the fire had drained from him, leaving him nauseous and exhausted.

Back in the village, he was a swordsman. Out here, he was a killer. Link had never thought to consider this distinction. The idea of possible violence and gore had troubled him when he started to learn, but that hadn't deterred him. At the time Rusl had pointed out that it wasn't as though the boy was using his bare teeth to attack. He was using an instrument of war, and if he used it properly, it could be turned to the benefit of good. Link still wasn't sure if he'd be able to succeed in a battle against another human, yet some part of him told him he could. And he'd enjoy it, the voice whispered, because in some way, Link had enjoyed the monster's death. At the very least he was a fighter. He would survive. But at what cost?

Link relaxed his fingers around the sword-hilt, glancing at the blade. There was no point in putting it away, as some gut sense told him that there'd be more ahead. Link shook his head, telling himself that he wasn't enjoying this. The battle was a means to an end: he needed to find Talo.

The sight of his first kill faded behind him as he walked into the tunnel, even if the memory never would. Link needed to find Talo—the boy had chased the monkey further into Faron Forest than Link had expected, and his worry for the kid was intensifying.

Meanwhile, it was like Rusl said. Link wasn't using his bare teeth to fight. For now, this distance from the blood would have to satisfy him, whether he liked it or not.