Zelda passed a merchant as her horse strode along, the hood of her cloak up and her head down.
She was glad at the grey, cloudy skies, a rain not coming that would discourage her small trip and a sun not showing that would encourage greeting and conversation.
She wasn't entirely in the mood, after all.
Zelda took a deep breath before she dismounted, petting the nose of her steed gently as she looked to the chasm before her.
It seemed dark and uninviting, the entrance to Kokiri Forest, the large open log showing no light in its' innards.
Her horse whinnied with a shake of his head, Zelda looking to it and taking a second hand to soothe it.
"Not to worry," Zelda whispered with a small smile. "The only danger in being alone is fear."
Zelda looked to the entrance once more, her hand sliding of the horse.
"I fear not what lies before me."
The Princess, hidden by a cloak, pressed on cautiously towards the open trunk. An odd gust of wind became stronger as she got closer, Zelda's hair and dress almost pulling her back to the castle, coaxing her to bend to nature's wishes.
Yet, she refused to comply, ducking her head and placing an arm before her eyes. Every mystery conceals it's secrets, and she tried to meet this one with bravery as she took steps to resist the wind, the darkness that began to enshroud her.
She closed her eyes as she entered the tunnel, stepping forward and forward again, waiting for her closed eyes to tease the warm green light of the forest.
Instead she heard a laugh, high-pitched and childlike, Zelda furrowing her brow at the lack of familiarity before suddenly, light started to filter through her closed eyelids.
The wind and darkness stopped so suddenly that it seemed like some magic, Zelda opening her eyes to find herself on a wooden bridge.
Her head crept up slowly, her arm descending as well as her eyes widened.
The forest had an incredible hue of green, brightened by floating fireflies, their lights bright and beautiful. Distant birds chirped as she advanced along the creaky wooden bridge.
She got to the end before she heard,
"Princess."
Zelda turned around to see the Sage of the Forest, Saria, still with the same green Kokiri clothes and bright blue eyes.
"What brings you here?" Saria asked.
Zelda came closer, looking from her right to left, before kneeling in front of the girl and meeting her gaze.
"I need to ask you something."
"I wager it's important," Saria said. "The Deku Sprout wouldn't have let you through if it wasn't."
Zelda took a shaky deep breath.
"What do you know…of Stalfos?" She asked, a glimmer of fear in her eyes.
There was a twinge in Saria's expression, the question obviously an oddity she didn't expect.
"They're skeleton warriors," she replied with a shrug.
Zelda shook her head with a sigh.
"I know," she said. "That's all I could find. Please, you must know more. Stalfos sightings concentrate around the forest."
"Your Highness, what is this abo—"
"Please," Zelda entreated, prompting Saria to breath an exhale.
"I know…that they are hostile because they have forgotten," Saria started slowly, Zelda intrigued to no end. "Stalfos…are what becomes of people who get lost in the woods, people…"
Zelda sat back on her heels with an exhale, looking off at nothing in particular.
"Without a fairy," Saria finished slowly and sadly.
"You sent him back, didn't you?" Saria asked, a deep pain in her blue eyes.
Zelda looked to Saria sharply at the inquiry, wondering at the child's oddly deductive qualities until she remembered.
The Kokiri don't age, but time still passes and wisdom still accumulates.
Zelda nodded, her eyes drifting downward.
Her shaky hand trembled to her pocket, pulling out a parchment that crumpled in her hand as she fisted it. Tears had dropped on it before, and so they were again.
But Zelda paid no mind as she ran her thumb to and fro, Saria studying the Princess with concern and worry.
With an extension of her hand, she offered the parchment to Saria, it blossoming like a flower as her palm opened up.
Saria took it hesitantly, her eyes widening when she opened it and saw a drawing of a Stalfos.
"Is…?" Saria started breathlessly, her voice breaking. "Is this…?"
The girl brought a hand to her mouth as Zelda nodded, Saria crumbling to her knees.
"I'm so sorry," Zelda said, it almost coming out as a whisper.
Saria shook her head, placing the parchment back in Zelda's hands and closing her fingers around it.
"We have lost much in losing him," Saria said, closing her eyes and bowing her head. "But he has lost more in losing himself…hope…love…I believe there is a deep loss beyond what you've done to him that was inevitable, Your Highness. He was a broken man before you think you broke him."
"Saria, what I've done…"
"Didn't help," Saria replied frankly. Zelda looked up in surprise. "But you must not blame yourself for things that were bound to happen, nor things you cannot change. In the end, I bet more than anything his downfall was his trauma."
Saria lightly pushed Zelda's hands, as a coax to return the parchment before Saria let go completely. She placed her empty hands on her legs, as if bracing herself against them.
"The past is the only thing in this world that is certain not to change," Saria continued. "In that way, there is a true danger in it. There is looking to the past and then there's living in it. Lose yourself in your regrets of the past and you become no different from Link. As it is his destiny to be courageous, it is equally his destiny to pay for that courage. I as well as you wish the price wasn't so steep."
"Close your eyes," Saria said, Zelda doing as she was told. "Can you see him? His eyes? The way he stood? His smile? So genuine you'd think he was the embodiment of the very emotion of happiness?"
Zelda nodded, keeping her eyes closed as she smiled as well.
Saria wagered it had been a long time since she had.
"That's how I choose to remember him," the girl said, opening her eyes.
"Because that's what he fought for," Zelda added, her eyes still closed. "The happiness he once knew, for others to know it too. To learn, to grow, to fall, but to get back up and do it all again…that was his courage. But to see the best in people, what they could do for others, the things they didn't know they were capable of, the true joy found in unity…that was his compassion…"
"And it was the greatest of them all," Zelda said as she opened her own blue eyes, Saria smiling right back at her.
"The flow of time is always cruel…its' speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it…a thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days."
Zelda's voice echoed along the great hall as she finished reading the plaque before her, soon looking up and smiling.
"That's why I've chosen to remember you, to celebrate what we had instead of mourning what we didn't."
"You will always be the Hero of Time to me, you will always be the Link I knew, once, in a younger time than this. I couldn't let you become a forgotten hero to the kingdom you saved and I hope very much that you didn't forget either."
"And perhaps this way, in this timeline at least, you will be remembered for your heroism in generations to come."
"Thank you, Link, for saving Hyrule, but for so much more. You are more than just a soldier, a master of an inanimate object. You listened to my childish ramblings with patience, you bravely fought to save Hyrule, and you cared about my kingdom a great deal. You cared about me a great deal…"
"Even when I didn't care about myself…"
"For that I must thank you as well. You taught me so much about forgiveness through your past actions of courage that I've learned to forgive myself, that I deserve to forgive myself. Forgetting myself, and you as well, was a foolish decision. Even though I wronged you greatly, I've accepted that my actions are in the past. I'm sorry that it is the truth, but there was a logic to it that I'm sure you know well by now."
Zelda stepped forward, placing her hand on the top of the stone pedestal and hanging her head in respect.
She knew he couldn't hear her, that he likely never would. But, the likeness of the statue standing atop the pedestal was so much like him that she couldn't resist.
It was much like mourning her father, where words needed to be said no matter whose ears they reached. There was a warm feeling in her heart as well, as if he really were standing before her.
"It is my hope, that in some way, you found peace. I hope it with all my heart, Link. You deserve better than what you got…we both do…"
The End.
Author's Note: Don't have much to say about ending this one. Feels kind of strange. Lots of emotions I didn't expect drudged up from the depths of my own heart and somehow working themselves into words people like.
So that's nice.
I do want to give a big thank you to Oracle of Hylia for leaving a review on basically every new chapter. I really appreciated it!
As far as my next project goes, I'm kind of stuck between writer's block and an "am I even a good writer" crisis so we'll see where that takes me.
Until the next,
-fatefulfaerie