"Lin! Navi! And Zelda! They're here!"
Linkali opened her eyes, hardly surprised to see the tiny Sage of Forest racing up to meet them. Saria looked as excited as always to see people she liked. She darted in first to Lin, wrapping her arms tightly around the older girl's legs in a hasty hug; before Lin could bend down and scoop her up, though, the child had already darted over to Zelda. The former princess laughed—actually laughed aloud, which startled Lin—and crouched down lower to the ground. She drew Saria in close, then rose to her feet; the Kokiri child snuggled up against her, her arms wrapped around Zelda's neck. Saria then leaned in closer, whispering something in Zelda's ear. The old woman balked, her eyes growing wide. She gave the girl a curious look, and Saria nodded with a satisfied grin.
"Goddess of the Sand, kiddo!" Lin jumped in surprise, looking over to see Nabooru making her way towards them, her white-painted lips curled up in a broad grin; her catlike, yellow eyes were on Saria. "Who needs a watchdog when we've got you to tell us who's coming and going?" Her golden eyes shifted over to the Hylian youth, and she winked warmly. "You're looking much better, daughter," she added, reaching out to cup Linkali's cheek in one of her tanned hands. Her slender fingers skated up to stroke the girl's honey-brown hair tenderly, then down to clap her shoulder. A gleam of mischief sparked in her yellow gaze, and she flicked her head towards Zelda, who was currently being embraced tightly by Impa. "She give you as much trouble as the rest of us did?"
"So much trouble," Lin joked, rolling her eyes. "Once I managed to find her, she made me sleep,and when I woke up, I had to eat a decent meal for the first time in a few days."
"What a trial," the Gerudo woman murmured, shaking her head sympathetically. "Goddess, how did you manage to escape from that one intact?"
"I'm not sure, but it wasn't easy, I can say that much." Nabooru laughed, clapping down on Linkali's shoulder again. She glanced in Zelda's direction for a moment, then looked back at Lin. She slipped the girl a wink before moving over to speak with the woman herself.
Linkali took a few steps back, allowing the Sages to greet the final member of their number. It wasn't long, though, before she noticed two of them breaking away from the group. Somewhere along the way, it seemed as though Saria had shimmied out of Zelda's arms, for the Forest Sage was now walking across the green grass of the Sacred Realm beside Darunia. Nosily, Lin allowed her attention to fall away from the joyous reunion and onto the two of them.
The massive Goron smiled warmly down at Saria. "You recall where you found it?" he asked in a low murmur. Saria beamed up at him.
"Of course!" she piped back. "Not freshly-fallen, just like you said, and it's a really big one, too." She paused. "But if it's not big enough, I know where to find a few more like it."
"Excellent." Darunia reached down, rumpling the girl's emerald-green hair with a surprising amount of gentleness. Saria giggled, stretching up towards his hand like a happy kitten. "Shall we go now, while the others are still occupied?"
"Sure," Saria returned, ducking out from under his hand. "We can bring everything back and get things set up for them. We should be finished by the time they're ready." She balked, her bright blue eyes flicking back to the group not that far off. "If we really wanted to get things started, we could get Ruto to bring her things as well, but…she looks busy right now." The Sage of Water was currently trying, alongside Nabooru, to find a way to squeeze in between Impa and Zelda so that they could give their own greetings to the former princess.
"All things in due time," Darunia said softly. "It is better this way, really. Ruto will need my strength to break through the ice in Zora's Fountain." Saria nodded. "Come. Let us go."
Before Lin could step forward and ask what they had been talking about, the two Sages disappeared. Well, sort of. As she was preparing to approach, two orbs of light—one a fiery red, the other a deep forest green—took the places of them. She watched, startled and confused, as the two orbs took off through the air, zipping away and vanishing without a trace. She was left staring in confusion, not so much over how they had zipped off like that—she sort of figured that was some Sage power—but where they had gone and what they had been talking about.
"Are you quite well, Lin?" an unfamiliar voice asked, cutting through her confused thoughts gently. Lin felt a hand settle on her shoulder, and the Triforce of Courage within her began to resonate. "You seem troubled by something—or at least rather confused."
"I'm just wondering where…" the young woman began, only to hesitate. Slowly, she turned her head to the side, looking at Zelda's familiar, lined face. The old woman was wearing the same peaceful, curious smile she always wore when asking questions, but Linkali wasn't so willing to be swept up in that familiarity. She wasn't stupid. The voice she had heard was unfamiliar, and the only person here whose voice was unknown to her was the woman whose voice she had never heard. The woman who had no voice. "Actually, scratch that. Right now, I'm just wondering if that was you I just heard."
"That depends on what you heard," the unfamiliar voice replied, and Zelda's lips moved to match its words perfectly. Lin laughed weakly, her soul-blue eyes filled with nothing but pure amazement.
"Ah…that," she said, one hand rubbing the back of her neck. She balked, frowning slightly as a thought occurred to her. Some of the surprise in her eyes gave way to something that was not quite suspicion. "How, though? When we first started…speaking"—she could say that because technically, though Zelda had never said a word, she had written plenty, and that was a way of speaking in its own right—"you said that you had gone mute. Physically mute."
The elderly Hylian laughed softly, and Linkali felt a small chill race up her spine. Though Zelda's voice had the faint edge of roughness that touched the voices of every other elder, the woman's laugh was one that she expected to hear from a young woman. "The Sacred Realm is a place where things that were once ruined are made whole again," Zelda told her. "Your wounds, my voice…" She paused, grinning brilliantly, and once again, Lin was silently amazed at just how young the old woman always looked when she smiled like that. "Though there is one more thing that must be restored in this place."
Linkali nodded. The Master Sword. She looked up at Impa, standing with one arm around the waist of the woman she had once guarded with her life, then to Ruto who was standing just as close, then to Rauru and Nabooru, standing to the side. It was the Sage of Shadow who spoke, though. "The Master Sword must be reforged before its spirit may be mended," she explained. "Darunia and Saria left to gather the first of the necessary items—wood for the fire."
Lin nodded again. She felt Zelda squeeze her shoulder gently and turned to look at the woman. "While we are waiting for them to return," Zelda said, "would you like to take a walk with me and look around?" There was a glimmer in her eyes that Linkali recognized—the glint that said I know something you don't, and I've every intention of letting you know it…when the time is right.
"Of course," she replied. Zelda smiled again, nodding. She glanced back at Impa, who removed her arm from the Seventh Sage's waist and stepped back. Zelda held out her hand to the young woman whose journey she had followed so loyally from the start. Lin didn't even hesitate. She wrapped her hand around Zelda's, smiling as the two pieces of the Triforce within them began to resonate warmly with each other. Together, the two women moved towards the lake that lay on one end of the landscape.
Linkali looked around as they walked, honestly amazed by what she saw. The grass beneath their boots, once dead and dry and yellowed, was now lush and vibrant green. It bent silently under each step, only to spring back up as the foot pressing it down moved away, neither crackling nor crumbling. The youth was half tempted to crouch down and run her hands through it like she might the fur of a goat ready for sale, checking its thickness and evenness, and feeling how it lay. She restrained the urge, though, and instead fixed her eyes forward.
The lake. Goddess Din, the first time she had come to this place, there had been no lake—only the dead, dried-up bed of one. The dry mud have been riven with deep, square-shaped cracks that flaked around the edges. Looking at it now, Lin could only assume that there had once been mud there, for the only thing before her now was water, deep and pure. As they neared, she could make out small stands of pond-weeds growing in the shallows, and a few brief flicks of silver as minnows darted through the water. Whether they were actual living fish or perhaps some clever image, she didn't know, but she found she hardly cared.
"Thank you."
Linkali turned, looking at the one who had spoken. Zelda offered her a warm smile. "Thank you," she repeated, "for everything you've done, Lin." The former monarch's eyes went back to the lake before them, whose water glittered brightly under the warm light above. "I did not see for myself the extent of the damage that was done while the Sacred Realm was opened to the forces of darkness, but I can hardly imagine it was anything like this."
Lin shook her head. "It was…dead," she replied softly. Zelda nodded, her expression turning serious for a few moments. A small silence fell between them, broken only by the quiet murmur of the lake's gentle waves. After a bit, Zelda reached out, setting her hand on the rock formation where a certain Sheikah had at one point brooded over a battle she hated herself for starting. She looked over at the younger Hylian with the same warm grin as always.
"But no longer," she pointed out. "It is thanks to you and your hard work that the Sages were able to return to this realm and restore it to its former glory." She gave the girl a look as if to say, And that isn't the only thing they'll be restoring.
They stayed on the lakeshore for a bit longer before Zelda began to walk again. Linkali followed beside her, turning her eyes towards what seemed to be the next landmark they would visit: the mountain. (Perhaps it was not so much a mountain as an outcropping of stone that stretched high enough towards the sky, but it looked like it could be a mountain from a distance.) The elderly Sage paused at the foot of it, kicking her head back smoothly as if following the stone up with her eyes. Lin did the same, glancing back at Zelda when she spoke up again.
"You always were a joy to watch when you were younger," she murmured. "I can't recall how many times I found myself wishing that I could send my piece of the Triforce away and approach you when you were a child. You were bright, oddly inquisitive for a Hylian, and bolder than every one of the children your age—well, except perhaps Bartal." She laughed quietly, and Lin found herself chuckling as well. The old woman took her eyes away from the stone, which burned a bright and hearty red against the sky, and looked at her companion. "I looked forward to the day when I could finally approach you and begin to speak with you, and when that day finally arrived, I was incredibly glad."
Linkali smiled shyly. "You had grown from an energetic little tomboy into a strong and mature young woman," Zelda continued. "Every time I looked at you, I knew that the Triforce of Courage had finally chosen its true bearer after so many years, and that you would be the one to set Hyrule free. As you set off on your quest and met with success after success, I began to respect you more and more than I thought I could respect anyone else, and I was as fond of you as I would be of my own daughter or granddaughter." She squeezed the youth's hand and began to walk around the side of the red stone, towards the forest that was peeking up around the edge; Linkali followed. "I'm proud of you, Lin. I'm very, very proud."
Lin smiled sheepishly, totally unsure as to how she should act in the face of this immense praise. She knew Zelda meant each and every word that she said. The woman had stopped speaking all those years ago because the man she had loved—the mute man she loved—had died. She had broken that vow in a minor way when she wrote words to her young friend. Now she was actually speaking them with her newly-restored voice. Why would she break her vow over words that she did not mean with her whole heart? She meant everything sincerely, and Linkali knew it.
As they neared the forest, the young woman felt a sense of quiet awe. Of all the changes that had taken place with the Sages' unsealings, this was perhaps the most dramatic of them all. How long had these trees looked like this? When she had first arrived in the Sacred Realm with Saria in tow, they had been dead and bare. Their trunks had been pale and their bark dry, their branches twisted like angry claws and bared at the dull sky. The forest had seemed so hostile then, unwelcoming and suspicious, embittered by its neglect and death.
But now she was walking beneath a sky of brilliant blue, stepping under boughs that were heavy with emerald green leaves. Most of the trees' bark was a rich shade of brown that seemed to glow with health and life, although there were a fair number of glistening silver birches; the black, eye-like spots on their bark seemed to watch the Seventh Sage and the Hero's Incarnation with a pleasant, open interest as the two women passed them. Lin inhaled deeply, breathing in the rich, heavy scents of the loam and moss. There was no forest like this near Kokoria, or anywhere she had traveled before; the young woman got the sense that this was what the Lost Woods, or perhaps even the Kokiri Forest, might have looked like back before the Evil King took hold of Hyrule.
Linkali turned her eyes and attention back to Zelda as the old woman spoke up again. "I think I can safely speak for all the Sages when I say that their feelings are the same. I could hear it in the way Saria cried your name when we arrived, the way Nabooru touched your cheek; I could see it in their eyes just as plainly as I might see in your own just how much they care about you. How much they respect you. How proud they are that you, a young woman raised to cower in the shadows and ignore the pressing evil, is now rising up and taking a stand against the darkness." She paused, and when she spoke up again, her voice was somewhat shaky. "And I'm sure that, wherever he is, Link is also very proud of your accomplishments and how much you have grown."
Linkali was glad that Zelda wasn't looking at her now; otherwise, the elder would have seen the spark of unease that brightened the younger's eyes briefly. Lin knew now—had known for a while—that the Hero of Time had been a brave young man who had set out to do a very good thing…but she knew he was also a fool. Done in by his stubborn stupidity. She set that thought aside quickly, and was glad she did so, because Zelda turned back to look at her with a soft smile. The former monarch's eyes were a bit brighter than usual, and the hand Lin held was trembling. "This is what I wanted to show you," she said softly, nodding further down the path.
The young woman looked ahead, noting that the trees were starting to thin out up ahead. Together, the two Hylians stepped out through the forest, and out into a large clearing. There, in the midst of it all, stood a massive stone building. Had Linkali lived in a different day and age, she might have remarked that it looked similar to the Temple of Time, though it was wider and somewhat shorter; however, she had never seen the structure, and could not make that comparison. All she knew about the building was that it was larger and far more ornate than anything she had ever seen in Kokoria, and that gave off an energy similar to a few buildings she had crawled through along her quest—and because of that, she knew it was another Temple. A Temple inside the Sacred Realm, she mused. That means this would be…
"This is the Temple of Light," Zelda murmured, almost as if she had heard Lin's thoughts. She still looked like she might begin to cry sometime soon, with her eyes so bright and her smile so shaky. "Come."
The former monarch led the way up the smooth stairs before the Temple entrance. The doors to the Temple of Light were made of stout, dark wood, bound with iron that was carved with ornate and intricate designs. Zelda reached out and laid a hand on the door; she pushed, and it swung open smoothly with a deep, satisfying sound. She continued to walk, with Lin tagging at her side like a faithful puppy. The young woman looked around in awe.
The interior of the Temple of Light was cool and gently lit. Plate-glass windows stretched up high on the sides, and some of the sunlight from the outside filtered in, pooling on the marble floors in shadow-crossed puddles of warmth. In the center of the floor was a mosaic made of colored marble: a large circle with a design in the center of three round-bottomed triangles, pointed inwards and alternating with three circles. The same design on the Light Medallion, Linkali realized, smiling slightly at the thought. Well, all of the other Temples she had seen had their respective Sage's insignia somewhere in the vicinity—although the others had always been on raised stone platforms; this was the first time she had seen one laid in the floor of the Temple. She turned her attention up from the floor as she walked beside Zelda, their footsteps echoing back hollowly as they crossed the polished floors. The walls themselves seemed to ring with hummed refrains of ancient prayer.
Darkened passages led off the sides of that main chamber, running back to Nayru only knew where. Lin wondered briefly if one of those side paths led to the Chamber of Sages she had read about, where each of the Sages had, upon awakening, greeted the Hero of Time. Up ahead, beyond an altar and a flight of small stairs, there was a double door, with the mark of the Triforce carved deep into the stone above it. Zelda approached it, laying her hand against the wooden doors. At her touch, the graven mark of the Goddesses' power began to glow with a pure and gentle golden light, and the doors swung open smoothly and without a single sound. Lin raised her foot to continue walking, only to lower it when she saw that the woman holding her hand had no intention of walking just yet.
"If you recall in the story I gave you to read, this is where Link rested for seven years." Linkali nodded; she remembered. Zelda nodded, drew in a shaky breath. "It is also," she continued softly, her voice trembling, "where he has rested for the past one hundred and fifty years."
Lin's eyes widened. Zelda continued to speak, her eyes fixed firmly on the darkness of the chamber ahead of them. "After I fled the scene of the final battle, with the Master Sword in my possession, th—…the rest of the Sages raced to the battlefield," she said, somewhat haltingly. "They re—…recovered Link's body…and brought it here." She sighed. "There was talk of…trying to restore him to life, but he…They had waited too long." She shook her head, and Linkali was reminded of what the former monarch had told her: that on that stormy night, she had had to choose between the blade that could save Hyrule and the man who could wield it—the man she loved. To know that her choice had well and truly been one or the other, with no chance of having both, must have devastated her. A century and a half after the fact, sorrow still weighed heavily on her words. "So he was laid to rest here instead, protected by the power of Light."
Zelda looked back at Lin briefly, then forward again, and started walking. Linkali followed, noting with surprise that as they walked, torches flickered into life ahead of them, lighting their path. The passageway was short, and at the end of it was a moderately-sized, round room. Lin stepped in beside Zelda, looking in silent awe at what lay before them.
Resting in the center of the chamber was a large sarcophagus carved from white marble. The sides of it were plain and undecorated, probably to avoid detracting from the top of it. The top… Linkali felt her breath catch in her throat. The top slab of the sarcophagus was carved with the raised image of a Hylian man—a young man. Looking at him, Lin was fairly sure he couldn't have been made to look much older than she herself was. The stone-carved youth lay on his back, shoulders relaxed; his face was finely sculpted, with just enough hardness to the features to be masculine, but with enough softness to give him a rather boyish look. His bangs fell away from his closed eyes, carved precisely enough that it truly looked like actual hair. His mouth was set in a calm line, not quite serious, but not a smile, either. He almost appeared to be sleeping.
Zelda released her hand, and Linkali approached the sarcophagus with reverent slowness. The young man carved on the top slab was dressed in simple clothing, a tunic, leggings, and a long-sleeved undershirt, with a long cap on his head. Every fold and crease carved into the marble was just as it would have been formed if the garments were made of cloth; there were even visible spots of wear on the clothing, and places where the seams looked like they had been clumsily mended by hands unused to sewing. His hands, large and sure with long fingers, were covered in heavy-looking gauntlets, and were wrapped around the grip of a sword.
Linkali balked, her eyes growing wider as she recognized the design of the hilt: smooth and flowing, spread wide like the wings of a bird in flight. The Master Sword.
"Rauru was the last to seal himself away," Zelda whispered, startling the girl. Lin turned over her shoulder to look at her older friend. "He did this." She nodded in a general way to the chamber and the sarcophagus. "When we arrived here today, Saria…told me that once you had left the Sacred Realm after bringing her here, this was the first place she checked." A weak smile crossed the former princess' lips. "Miraculously, it was untouched. His tomb was not desecrated."
Linkali looked back at the sarcophagus resting before her, at the unmarred face of the sleeping Hero of Time. The rest of the Sacred Realm had been ruined, but the young man had gone undisturbed. She smiled slightly, honestly glad for that. After all he had done for Hyrule, the brave young fool deserved to rest in peace—and so he had. You once slept here for seven years, she thought. May you sleep for many more.
With that, she stepped back away from the carved warrior, treading lightly as if she feared her footfalls might waken him from his stony sleep. She returned to Zelda's side and took the old woman's hand in her own. Zelda looked down at their hands silently, then up at the young woman. Without a word, she released that gentle grasp and wrapped her arms tightly around Linkali. Lin held her friend close. She was sure it was only her imagination, but for a few moments, while the Seventh Sage sobbed quietly, she swore she felt a hand resting on her own shoulder, warm and sure.
"Linkali of Kokoria Village," Zelda pronounced firmly, her voice ringing out steady and sure. "Breaker of the seals of the Six Sages and Bearer of the Triforce of Courage—the time has come."
Linkali swallowed her pounding heart, her dark blue eyes sparking with excitement. She was standing in the Temple of Light, standing at the bottom of the inlaid mosaic of the Light Medallion. The Sages stood at the top of it, arranged in an arc. Saria and Nabooru stood at the ends, with Darunia and Ruto beside them, also across from each other. Zelda stood in the center of the arc, flanked by Impa on her right and Rauru on her left. The Seventh Sage held a long, cloth-wrapped object in her arms; from the way her lean muscles had tensed, it was heavy, but clearly not so heavy that she could not hold it without assistance.
"Step forward," Zelda ordered calmly. Lin obeyed, walking calmly and purposefully towards the elderly woman.
How long had she and Zelda stood in front of Link's tomb? It wasn't clear, really. At some point, though, Rauru had come shuffling down the passage and spoken to them, telling them that they could remain here, but that Darunia had asked to borrow the Megaton Hammer and Linkali's own blade. The young woman had pulled away just enough to unclip her sword, pass it off to the Sage of Light, and summon the mighty hammer of the Goron hero. Rauru had departed with the two weapons, and it was some time later that Zelda admitted that they should probably go. They had left the Temple of Light together, heading back out into the forest.
The two women had wandered together, listening to the steady clanging of the Megaton Hammer from a nook high in the red rocks. Shortly after it fell silent, Zelda had been called away to help with something. Lin had been left alone with Navi after that, and she had roved and rambled somewhat aimlessly, admiring the vibrant colors of the now-living Sacred Realm. The sun in the sky had, remarkably, moved to set, dipping below the horizon and soaking the land in a comfortable darkness; a full, silver moon had risen to take its place. Not long after moonrise, Saria had found her and told her that the Sages had gathered in the Temple of Light, and Linkali should join them. She had followed the tiny Forest Sage through the trees and into the silver-lit clearing, and it was there that she had found herself faced with the array of people who stood before her now.
"Incarnation of the Hero of Time," the former monarch said, "the time has come to strike against the Evil King and free Hyrule from his grasp."
Lin would later learn that each of the Sages had contributed towards repairing the Master Sword. Saria had sought out fallen trees from her Forest home, which were used to fuel the fires of an impromptu forge. Darunia had heated the steel and hammered out the blade himself, cooling it with sacred, pure water that had been gathered from Zora's Fountain—as chips of ice—by Ruto. Nabooru had brought sand, both coarse and fine, from her Desert home, and Impa had carefully used that grit to smooth and polish the newly-forged blade. Rauru had helped to organize the others, letting them know when each of their contributions was needed; he had also been the one to fetch the hammer with which the Sage of Fire had pounded out the metal, as well as the sword he had used to help design the finished weapon.
Each of the Six Sages had made a physical contribution to make this reborn blade a possibility, but all of them—the Seventh included—also made a spiritual contribution. Gathered together, their power and prayer had restored the broken spirit of the Blade of Evil's Bane. Once more, the sword had the power to repel evil. The legendary, sacred weapon was primed for the defining battle against Hyrule's dark tyrant. All it needed was a champion, pure of heart and intention, to wield it against him.
"The time has come," Zelda repeated, her voice firm and her words spoken clearly. Her eyes were fixed firmly on the young woman who stood before her. Lin stood tall and confident, shoulders back, chin level, eyes forward. The leader of the Sages smiled, almost a little grimly, and turned her eyes to the bundle in her arms. Slowly, as carefully as if she were unwrapping the blankets from a newborn baby, she stripped away the cloth that covered the Master sword, and, taking the sheathed blade into both hands, offered it out. "Champion of Hyrule, claim your blade."
The Temple of Light fell almost eerily silent, with even the echoes of ancient prayer fading out, and Linkali felt the eyes of each Sage focus on her and her alone. This was it. This was the moment. With this, the first and longest part of her quest would be complete at last. The Hylian youth took a single step closer, her eyes locked on Zelda's; then, very calmly, she lowered her gaze to the sword in the old woman's hands. Her hands reached out calmly and wrapped around the blue and gold sheath. Once she had it in her grasp, Zelda let go, and the young woman was left holding the legendary blade for herself.
As she stood there, holding the polished sheath, Lin became aware of something building steadily in the back of her mind. A steady rumble, a gentle vibration. If she had to describe it, she would say it was almost like the sleepy purring of a cat as it curled against its trusted owner. The timeless, ancient hum hovered in her ears, and Linkali realized she wanted more. Her left hand uncurled itself from around the sheath and started to wrap around the gleaming, indigo hilt. Started, because once the first finger brushed the steel beneath the leather binding of the grip, the young woman froze.
She wasn't sure what she'd felt, but she had liked it. It was a kind of electric buzz along her finger, a shimmer in the back of her mind, a burst of stardust in her heart. For the brief instant she had touched the Master Sword, there had been a thrill in her veins of something never before experienced. The Hylian youth blinked silently at the blade, unsure of what she'd just felt. Again, she felt its call, singing quietly at the edges of her mind, whispering in her pointed ears. Her blue eyes reflected the rich purple-blue of the sword's sleek hilt. Like a child that couldn't contain herself, Linkali reached out and rested a few fingers on the crossguard. The mystic purr returned, filling her arm up to the shoulder. Her heart raced in her chest, its beats rapid with excitement, curiosity, and so many other things—among which was a steady certainty. She knew what she needed to do.
Firmly, she wrapped her hand around the leather grip, reveling in the incredible, indescribable feelings that coursed through her arm. She inhaled deeply; her blue eyes closed, and with a swift, decisive motion, she pulled her left arm upwards. There was the delicate sing of metal as the Blade of Evil's Bane slid free from its sheath. Lin's eyes opened and fixed on the silver sword in her grasp.
The mystic thrum that had coursed along the length of her arm before now sang through her whole body, filling her veins with its ancient refrain. Linkali felt her heart pulse harder to match the rhythm; a wild grin erupted on her face, but she was too breathless with wonder to laugh. Triumph surged through her body. Her eyes were blazing with happiness and excitement. Suddenly, the world didn't matter to her. She knew, somehow, instinctively, that everything about this moment was right. The blade in her hand was right. The song in her blood was right. Her presence in the sacred space, surrounded by those she had fought, coaxed, and bargained with to return to their positions, was right. Lin thrust her sword arm up, holding the Master Sword aloft so that its bright, keen point caught a shard of the moonlight that was streaming in through the windows of the Temple of Light and glinted coldly like a star.
But she couldn't hold it up for long. Mere moments after drawing the blade and raising it high, Linkali felt her arm begin to tremble. Unease began to take the place of the excitement and wonder in her blue soul-eyes, and somewhat sheepishly, she lowered the blade from its dramatic height. Holding it at waist level didn't cut it; the young woman's arm only stopped shaking when she lowered the Master Sword to the point that its sharp tip was resting on the marble floor, and even then, she wasn't completely comfortable until she dropped the gold-embellished sheath on the ground and gripped the hilt with two hands.
Darunia sighed softly, folding his burly arms over his chest and lowering his head. "I feared this," he said in a low rumble. His head lifted just slightly to look at the young woman. "It is too heavy for you to wield."
"Single-handed, at any rate," Linkali replied sheepishly. She looked down at the blade, and after a moment, wrapped her right hand a little more tightly around the grip. With that, she moved to raise the sword, and found that holding it was much easier. Turning to the side, she gave an experimental swipe, nodding. "I can wield it—it just takes me two hands to do so."
The Sage of Fire shook his head. "I thought that by using the blade you were familiar with wielding, I could make it easier for you to handle," he told her, sounding highly disappointed in himself. "The Master Sword was, technically, made to be held and used by a grown Hylian man. You are a grown Hylian woman. I thought that if I reduced the size of the blade, I could remove some of the excess weight and allow you to wield it more effectively." He frowned, lowering his head in disappointment and shame. "It seems I was wrong. The steel may be more dense than that of your own sword."
"Darunia, I'll be fine," Lin assured him. "I can wield it." Her eyes flicked over to the Sheikah woman standing beside Zelda. "Impa?"
The Shadow Sage caught the look in the young woman's eyes and nodded. She stepped away from the group, and Linkali followed her. Once they were a safe distance apart, Impa drew the short blade sheathed behind her and darted in. She leapt into the air and swung downwards. Grasping the Master Sword in both hands, Linkali swiped upwards to counter her. The two blades met with a resounding clang, and Lin felt the sword in her hands begin to growl excitedly in the face of the impromptu sparring match. Impa fell back with the force of the counterstrike, landing neatly in a crouch on the floor, then darted back in. She swiped again, this time at the girl's side. Linkali pivoted her body around, holding the sacred sword out in front of her body, with the flat of the sword facing Impa. The Sheikah's blow rebounded with another beautiful ringing sound, and she stepped back and sheathed her short sword, nodding. Her entire bearing was remarkably calm and composed, as if she had spent the past few minutes writing a cordial letter rather than swapping a few blows with a young warrior.
"She can wield it," the red-eyed Sage confirmed, looking back at Darunia.
The massive Goron nodded slowly, watching Linkali slide the Master Sword back into its sheath. "Very well," he said. He smiled slightly, letting his arms fall back to his sides again.
Linkali reached for the discarded sheath, and slipped the blade back inside. The instant it was tucked away, the mystic thrumming that had pulsed through her blood and bones died down to a gentle, quiet purr, as if the Master Sword were sleeping. Smiling softly, she clipped the weapon to her hip in the same place the sword her father had given her had rested. Her left hand strayed towards the hilt, resting against the sleek steel; the purr strengthened and coursed up her arm, a steady vibration that just felt right.
So this is what the books meant, she thought wonderingly. The thrill of ancient power. The perfect balance. This really is the kind of sword they would write legends about.
"Lin!" The young Hylian woman looked up from the sword at her hip, her blue eyes falling to Saria. The Sage of Forest had something in her arms, something soft and green. She beamed up at the young woman. "This is for you," she said. "If you wanted it, anyway." She held them out, and Linkali accepted the bundle, unfolding it and holding it up to get a better look. Her eyes widened, and the sense of familiarity that crept over her was so strong that she wasn't surprised in the slightest when Saria added, "It was his."
Linkali had the reborn sword of a dead Hero, and now she had the tunic he had worn.
"You don't have to wear it," Saria assured her. "I mean, it just…If you wanted to be traditional. Or just wanted to wear something other than your pretty mantle when you go to take on Ganon." She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck. "Or you could just toss it under your bed and forget about it."
Lin lowered the tunic slowly, folding it up again. "Thank you, Saria," she said. Her eyes showed none of the unease or uncertainty they had moments earlier. Some part of her wondered if this was the tunic Link had worn when he'd died, or if it was just a spare one he had been carrying with him on his adventure. The former option wasn't exactly impossible—the Sages of Water and Forest had shown themselves capable of 'healing' clothing as well as flesh—though it did carry a full set of implications that Linkali wasn't sure she was comfortable with.
Whether spare or not, there was one particular set of insecurities that the young woman was stubbornly burying while she was in the presence of those who had loved Link. She had the clothes of a dead fool, and was being told that she could, if she wanted, wear them into battle. I…I can't do it. She drew the line between herself and Link somewhere along the way. She admired his courage and respected his devotion to his destiny…but the man had been a fool. He had died by his own stubbornness. She might be following in his footsteps with this quest, but the last thing Linkali wanted was for people to draw too many parallels between herself and the late Hero of Time.
After all, she highly doubted HyReCo would want to follow a leader who reminded them of the one whose failure years ago had thrown Hyrule into the darkened, oppressed state it was in now.