Oh dark sky! Oh strange world! What madness greets me at every turn? I cannot but look at this sad and failing land without recoiling in disgust. Time? I am lost to Time! I do not even have the memories to gently cushion the tearing imagery around me. And this body, this face! I peer into the clear waters and see a stranger, a man wrought of magic I cannot fathom. His eyes are mine and his fingers bring the very same sensation of touch to my cheeks. But there is a gap! Why, oh why don't I know? There, in the stars! When I look up at their twinkling light I can almost feel the shape of some lost memory; a deep peace, so fleeting. But it is gone and there is still the blood of my fresh awakening upon my sword and the beating ache of my heart, the throbbing reminder of that accursed tree's howling gale. And, oh goddess, those three words, "she is gone!" The one single line of hope that carried me through those burning nights-gone. Am I alone then? And if I am, what does it matter what I do? Everything is lost and there seems no good left. Perhaps the world would be better off if I….."
The corner of the parchment burns slowly, eating the hastily scribbled words of Link's. He sits before a small fire looking at his hands and not knowing where those words came from, only that he needed to get them out. Bits of paper, single burnt words, go floating off into the darkness, so that the remains of Link's confused thoughts come to rest on the surrounding grass. The rains will come tomorrow, turn the words into mushy ash and sink them down into the rich earth. That flowers might some day bloom through the confused efforts of this dark and despairing night touch not upon Link at all. In time he stirs the fire apart, shrugs his gear on and sets off towards what he once knew as Hyrule Lake.
….
Eye pressed to eye in the glittering dark, tinged with the fading light of the forgotten sun. The shimmer of autumn fire presses around his face. Hot breath pulses agonizingly over his cheeks and a cold, steel blade trembles against his neck with the gentle caress of a lover's embrace. A feral growl rumbles deep and lips part in an animal's snarl. Against his body every muscle quivers for release and in green eyes once so full of love Link finds only the promise of death.
And upon that brink comes the memory of a young girl in a field of grass.
From his lips comes a tune of frolicking summers and gentle, blowing winds; a tune once heard from a very lovely, young girl. "Malon," comes the barest whisper, Link not trusting the very sharp knife at his neck.
The oh so wild eyes blink, and then slowly leave the edge of madness, focus and touch upon his face. Her features soften for the barest moment and the knife leaves his neck. But the hardness returns to her mouth and there is a sharp blur of her hand and a seeping line of red oozes down his cheek.
"That boy is dead,' says the auburn-haired beauty, getting off the sprawled Link. She slips the dagger into her belt and as the poison sinks Link into a world of darkness he sees her turn and give a high cry. 'Still so beautiful,' he thinks and then all is gone.
….
Link opens his eyes to grotesque shadows dancing upon a brilliantly sparkling cave wall. They are cast by a roaring fire, around which three men lift and handle his sword and shield. In anger he rushes these men. He falls just short of the fire and the men all turn and laugh. "Look before you leap, stranger," says one and strides over to cut his ankle bonds.
"Welcome to our home, if your aims be of friendly nature. If you be one of Fa'el's dogs, a damned spy, then you'll find the welcome of eternity tonight my friend." The man smiles but his eyes betray no friendliness. Link sits up and massages his ankles, looking around. There are several adjoining caves, all sporting camp fires with sooty smoke spiraling up and out of tiny holes far above in the ceiling. The dark shapes of men are joined by the larger ones of Goron and the smaller ones of the Zora, who even in the flickering light shimmer with a faint wetness.
"Well, my friend, you've found the resistance or we've found you it sounds. The red-haired beaut who brought you in is Malon, but don't get any ideas. She'd sooner cut you than smile. But first we must sort out why you carry the sword and shield of the hero who died on the first day of the war. If you've been grave-robbing there'll be no leniency from me. Come! Fess up!"
Link stands, takes in all the men and women gathered around and strides towards the leader. The man's sword comes halfway out but Link's hand is already on his chest and with full force the man hits the wall. Link grabs his sword and sings it out of the scabbard. The fire-light gleams over its blade and he rams it straight down into the rock floor. In the silence comes his voice, "I am Link and this is my sword and this is my shield." All eyes fall upon his exposed sleeve, at the three, golden triangles that glow radiantly against his skin.
It is long before the questions cease and Link spends many hours around the fire talking to the people gathered and learning what has happened in his absence. Occasionally one or two approach and touch the Triforce, as if some great myth had come true before their eyes. Finally they appear satisfied with his answers and he has in turn gained some knowledge of the previous years. He rises and walks towards the entrance to these caves, feeling with a certainty that he has one more person to talk to even if that person is no longer the same.
….
He steps from the caves into a glowing night. Fire-flies buzz about in blinking green lights. Before and around stretch lightly wooded lands and off through thinly-spaced trees he can make out the shimmer of Hyrule Lake. Except for the distant drone of hushed conversation coming from the caves all is silent. Link walks off towards the lake, threading his way through trees. He finds the edge of that great lake, the moon above shimmering in the waters below and all dotted by flying green embers.
Long he stands and thinks; when of a sudden he makes out a distant horse running far up the edge of the lake. It wears the white emblem of some distant memory and it brings the summer tune to Link's lips. The horse shifts tracks and make directly for Link. It breaks mere feet from a surprised Link who holds out a hesitant hand. The horse approaches slowly and whuffs his hand, then with a tenderness so out of place stretches out a nose to scratch Link's cheek. He strokes the soft fur of the horse's flank and gives it a few strokes along its broad forehead. "Epona?" he wonders.
"Only one other knew that song and he's been gone for seven years." They are hard words coming from a woman appearing out of the dark forest. "Where did you hear that, stranger?" The knife in her hand gives the question seriousness hard to mistaken.
With a hand on Epona's mane he turns and answers, "Once, long ago, a young girl, sitting beside a young boy, alone at night in the fields of her father, whispered it thinking the boy at her side paid no attention. But that boy could not help but follow her every move, so lovely was she even then. That boy kept that whistled tune, in memory and song, a reminder of that long ago girl."
The horse jolts, Link looks up to see the woman charging him with dagger held high, screaming, 'Liar! Link's dead." Link jumps back, catching her hand and falling together upon the sandy shore. The dagger comes closer and closer to Link's throat and as his hand lies on hers, holding the dagger from plunging in, his wrist brace slides down, exposing his tattoo. Her eyes go wide and suddenly the dagger lies in the dirt and she runs away into the dark.
Link chases her up a rocky hill over the lake. At the top she stands on the very edge, both hands clenched at her sides, facing away into the shimmering waters. "Malon, I am that boy. Malon, it's me, Link." He steps closer and lays a light hand upon her shoulder. She turns and in the starlight her tears glisten. "You were dead." And she jerks her shoulder free from his hand.
This time she whirls to face him. "You were supposed to save us! You were supposed to save me! You were the hero! And I loved you. Do you know how long I waited, how often I went to that destroyed city and sat in the windows of ruined houses watching and waiting for you to emerge from that damn temple? Oh! You were our hope and you were our dreams and when you didn't appear we lost it all. Sure we struggle here in the darkness, in the caves and hidden places of once proud Hyrule but it is only a prolonged death! Link, where were you when we needed you? We needed you so much, I needed you. And then we lost the princess and there has been no light at all for us. You don't know how bad it's been, how the despair lingers in everything we do, how children born have no hope for the future. I have nothing of that young girl left in me, she is gone Link. She died the day you disappeared!"
The words stung him deep, every pain a year he would never recover. But he was here now, and if he ever felt a beginning was needed it was right here, right now. So he sprang to Malon and captured her arms tightly. "Look at me, Malon! It's me Link! I am here. I am sorry for those lost years and wish I could make it up to you. But its me here, breathing and holding you. You are still that child that was so full of life and hope. It is only that Gannon has fooled you so much that you think there is no chance of goodness. There is and we need only try!"
Malon slips slowly to the rocky ledge, sitting against Link as he holds her tightly. She reaches up and cups his face gently. "Oh, Link you were gone so long." Her voice is so tinged with joy and sadness that Link must look into her eyes. There, in those deep and bright green eyes is a glimmer of that young girl who once told Link what love was. "It's okay," Link says, "I'm back for good."
Epona stands in the back, her mane softly blowing in the wind. The fireflies still blink greenly in the night and the waters of the lake reflect the soft moon above. The two sit together silently, Link stroking Malon's red hair and feeling a sudden fierce determination to protect this woman who came so close to losing her self. And if Link were to put words again to paper it might end something like "There is still good left in the night and perhaps the world would be better off if it had people to fight for it"