Chapter 39

Out of Hiding

Link's PoV

Zelda and I walk out the front entrance of town and cross the bridge to the horse stable. We had a late start to our day, both of us sleeping in for once. We enjoy a meal of fried duck legs with rice for lunch before I tend to both of our horses. When I come back outside, Zelda is talking to a Hylian woman who gasps and squeals as soon as she sees me walk up. Getting to her feet, she excitedly jogs over to me.

"Wow! I was not expecting to meet you here as well! What a surprise to first find Sheik here and now you Link, this year's Golden Arrow champ!" She squeaks in excitement before continuing. "My name is Traysi. I'm sure you've heard of me, I write for the biggest newspaper in the country: The Hyrule Ledger." I stare at her blankly and she quickly continues. "Well, even if you don't know me, I'm a traveling reporter looking to write the world's greatest scoops. Link, you wouldn't mind answering a few questions for me, would you?"

I glance over Traysi's shoulder and meet Zelda's eyes. She shrugs her good shoulder and nods as the woman in front of me watches us like a hawk.

"Wait...you two aren't traveling together, are you!?" Traysi exclaims, pointing an index finger back and forth between us.

"We are." Zelda answers.

Traysi grins before pulling a notebook and pen from the satchel on her hip. "Wow, that is so cool. I'll just interview the two of you together then." She says, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to the bench Zelda is sitting on. I take a seat and whisper to Zelda as Traysi sits on the log chair across from us.

"Are you sure you want to share personal information with a reporter?"

"Why not? I can't hide forever." She whispers back.

I can only blink in response. I wasn't expecting her to say anything like that.

Traysi wastes no time getting right to the point with her first question.

"So Sheik, I'll start with the biggest question nearly everyone in the world is asking about you. Nobody expected you to vanish like the mysterious Karane, where have you been the past two years?"

I listen almost as curiously as the reporter for this answer. Zelda simply answers that she wanted to lay low for a while. Traysi laughs and says "A while" with finger air quotations before asking more specifically where she was hiding out as nobody could locate her anywhere in the world.

"Well, a little of everywhere. I guess people just missed me." Zelda says, blatantly lying so flawlessly I almost believe it.

"Is that so? Well, you must have some master skills of evasion. I've been traveling the world myself since your legendary win and not one person I've asked has ever seen you." Traysi says skeptically.

"I know how to keep a low profile." Zelda responds with a sweet smile, playing innocent. Traysi glances at me with the same look and I shrug. I think she knows that Zelda's keeping back the truth, but she seems to let it go with a sigh.

"Where and how did the two of you meet?"

"We met at a random little archery competition a while back. We've been traveling together ever since."

"How cute. So you really were there at the Festival of Warriors after all. We all wanted to see you again, but Revali seemed to really want you to participate in the Golden Arrow Competition. Why didn't you?"

"I don't need any more fame. I'm not looking to be anything other than just a regular person. I just wanted the world to remember my name someday."

Traysi laughs. "Nobody will ever forget your name, girl. I take it you were wearing a disguise while watching in the crowd. Am I right?"

When Zelda just nods our reporter asks why.

"So nobody'd know I was really there, of course."

Traysi asks for more details regarding her reasons for not wanting to be in the spotlight, and Zelda refuses to say much more than "I didn't want the world in my business." She won't answer any personal questions such as where she grew up either, which clearly irks Traysi even if she attempts to act nonchalant but she keeps pushing Zelda for information. Traysi apologizes for over prying into Zelda's life when she takes my hand and I can both see and hear her start to stress out. Traysi changes the subject then, asking how Zelda got injured and I take over answering the questions for a while. Our reporter is shocked to hear that the mountainside above Zora's Domain collapsed and even more so to learn that I saved her life.

"Wow! That must have been so terrifying for the both of you! I'm so glad you're okay!" Traysi says with her hand on her chest. "This is certainly some scoop that everyone in Hyrule will eat up."

We entertain the reporter with answers for a while longer before I tell her we need to be on our way. It's clear that Traysi is disappointed but she nods and smiles.

"Of course. Thank you so very much for letting me interview you two. Everyone will just love reading my next article. I hope I meet you both again soon." Traysi says, shaking our hands enthusiastically with a huge grin. She slides her notebook, which she wrote furiously in while talking to us, into her satchel before thanking us once more and walking away from the stable.

"Well, that wasn't as bad as I expected." Zelda says as soon our bubbly reporter is out of earshot.

x.x.x

Zelda's PoV

When Traysi first walked up and introduced herself, I freaked. But then a small voice in my mind told me that it was fine. I suddenly felt ready to take the first step into the spotlight, to open up a little as Sheik. Besides, even if I hadn't wanted to talk to her, what else could I have done? There was no way that she was going to just walk away from me. Anyway, it was so nerve wracking to talk to a reporter, even if Traysi was kind and polite. The whole interview I had to be really careful not to say too much. I still want to live as normal of a life as possible. I was also so nervous as I answered Traysi's questions carefully, but I hid it as well as I could.

I will probably be outed eventually anyway, many people have seen me since I initially left home. I wouldn't be surprised if some random traveler did find out I'm from Lurelin and told some lucky reporter for the information to end up in the newspaper. Thinking about it now, I'm quite surprised that hasn't happened already. It's not like I've tried to avoid people lately. I especially haven't been careful since meeting Link.

Immediately after I had just returned home from initially winning the Golden Arrow, my dad luckily got everyone in Lurelin to swear to secrecy before the reporters arrived in the village searching for me like ravenous vultures. I still can't believe everyone kept their mouths shut and successfully played off obliviousness back then. Tetra, dad and I had fled the village, as nobody could recognize them either, with hardly any time to spare when someone reported the press was on their way.

Link and I walk downhill following a small trail downhill that leads to the river below Zora's Domain. At the bottom there is a Zora man sitting on the shore. He greets us cheerfully and stands up before asking if we would like to rent a boat for twenty rupees. I tell him we certainly would like to, right now I can't think of a more relaxing and fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

After handing the man a red rupee, Link helps me into the boat first, picking me up by my waist since I can't use my arm and setting me down inside. I hate that I'm an invalid and I can't get in the boat safely by myself but I can't help but be impressed by how Link can pick me up so easily. But then again, with a body like his, I guess I'm not surprised.

I smile at him as he gets in the boat, admiring my handsome man. I'm so lucky to have someone who is the whole package. The Zora man running the boat rentals hands him two oars before giving the boat a push and we're off floating away. I sit down and slowly lean back against the back of the boat, careful of putting too much weight on my right shoulder. It severely sucks that I can hardly move my arm without pain. I also have numbness and tingling down my right arm and through my fingers off and on from not moving it enough, which is incredibly annoying.

I feel so useless already. I'm unable to do much of anything on my own. I need help doing several things, small everyday things that I never thought about having the slightest trouble doing. For example, few of the issues I had this morning were sitting up in bed, brushing my hair and putting it in a ponytail, and even changing my own shirt. Luckily, Link has been more than helpful helping me do all of these things and more. He braided my hair after putting it in a ponytail this morning, telling me he used to do so for Aryll all the time. I teased him saying it's cute he did his sister's hair for her before thanking him and tugging him down to me by his shirt and kissing him.

It's so annoying not being able to do such simple things by myself, but I am grateful that this is the only injury I have and that I, of course, still have my life. I'm also thankful that I have Link to help me, I don't know what I'd do alone. I bite my lip as my next thought comes; I wouldn't be injured if I had been alone on the mountain.

I likely wouldn't even be alive.

I sigh softly and look down the river and focus on the present, enjoying how the water ripples and sparkles with the current. We drift between towering mountains and far below the few bridges we crossed on our journey to Zora's Domain. I look at Link as he sits at the front of the boat, leaning back with his eyes closed. I'm jealous of how his suntanned skin looks in the sun compared to my own pale, freckled skin. I hold up my right hand and squint at it in the sun as it reflects the light like a piece of white paper would. It's just not fair.

I sit back and relax with my eyes closed, pushing the dumb jealous thoughts from my mind. I listen to the river and hear a bird whistling somewhere as a cool breeze wafts through the air. A couple of minutes later the sounds are accompanied by a familiar snorting noise that I know all too well. I open my eyes and confirm that Link is certainly fast asleep. I wonder if he slept okay last night since he doesn't usually fall asleep like this. I carefully get up and stand on the single wooden board bench in the middle of the boat as we drift between two mountains. I enjoy the shade as I look upwards smiling for quite a while. When we pass underneath a low bridge I have to get down and sit so I won't hit my head. Link stirs in front of me, rubbing his eyes before opening them.

"Hey there, sleepyhead." I say with a chuckle.

"Hey. When did I pass out?"

"Not long ago. Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Mostly, yeah." Link responds after a slight hesitation. I can tell that's not true by the look on his face, but I pretend not to notice.

We only need the oars a few times as we drift along, the current stays pretty true to the middle of the slow moving river. Link and I laugh and reminisce all the memories we've made so far and discuss everything we both want to do in the Northern hemisphere of the world. I'm excited to do all the things Link says we can do in Akkala and meet the people he knows up there.

At the end of the river we float around laying on our backs in the small boat. I gaze at the cloudy blue sky shielding my eyes from the bright sun. Link lays with his eyes closed, one hand behind his head and his right arm underneath mine. I'm glad that laying like this doesn't hurt my shoulder, yet that's probably due to the dose of super pain pills Link gave me a short while ago. I'd love to know just what makes them work so well and so quickly. I've never had medicine quite like it.

I wonder how we will get back to Zora's Domain. Surely Link doesn't intend on rowing the boat all the way back up there, right? How do other people return the boats anyway? My thoughts are suddenly interrupted as a Zora makes a jumping spinning-dolphin flip over our boat, just a foot or two over our heads. I shriek in surprise throwing my arm over my head as a laugh fills the air followed by a splash that hits both of us. I sit up, gasping and about to give said person a piece of my mind.

"Hey man, perfect timing." Link says glancing at his watch as Sidon emerges from the water to the right of our boat. I give him a confused look.

"I'm here to return you to Zora's Domain, my lady." Sidon explains.

"Oh, why thank you, kind sir." I say, laughing afterwards.

A few moments later as we float close to shore, Link attaches a rope I didn't even notice in our boat to the metal loop on the bow. Tying it to a harness like belt around his waist, Sidon says he frequently does this for visitors and tourists. I ask him if it is exhausting and he laughs and tells me it's practically nothing in the way of a workout. A minute later we're off on our way back up the river at a rapid pace. Being pulled up river like this in a boat is just as much fun as it was up in the reservoir the other day. I'm grinning the whole time even with the sudden jerks the boat makes that jolt my sensitive shoulder every once in a while.

x.x.x

Once we get back to Zora's Domain, I ask Link for a favor of my own. I ask him if he'll help me write my family a letter, which I can't do myself since I'm right handed and it's my right shoulder that's messed up. Just another annoying thing that I can't do myself. Ugh. Anyway...I have him write everything about the mountainside accident from my perspective, hoping that the newspaper doesn't reach them first. I don't know what Traysi will write, for all I know it will or may be inaccurate so I just want my family to have the true version from me in case.

I talk as he writes exactly what I want to say, making it clear that I'm just fine and I'm just recovering from a sprained shoulder. I explain that I did talk to a reporter but nobody will be coming to Lurelin to bother them, as I never did tell Traysi where I was from. At the end of the letter, I tell Link to write "I love and miss you guys so much already. Please don't worry about me. Link is taking great care of me and treating me like a princess."

Link looks at me as I say that out loud.

""Why wouldn't I? You are my princess." He says quietly, before looking back down at the paper and writing my sentences word for word.

I lean over and kiss him on the cheek as I internally squeak at his sweetness and gaze at him. I smile at his smile as his eyes flit back and forth across the paper.

I tell Link that he should write his own family one. Not only for the same reasons we're writing mine, but also because I know he's failed to keep up on the promise he made to Aryll before we left Kakariko: One letter a week. He groans and by the look in his face I can tell he forgot all about that.

"Right. She's probably mad at me by now."

"Tell her that we'll be in Zora's Domain for a few days so she can send you back a letter."

"Will do." Link says before getting to work writing on a fresh sheet of my fancy blue stationary paper. When he's done with that one, I mention he should also write a short one to Purah as well, so she's not left out of the news over in Hateno.

"On it." He mutters before doing so.

When he's finished and our letters are folded, slid into my matching, pale blue envelopes and filled out to their destinations, I take the pen and paper from Link and scoot closer to him.

"I love you so much. Thank you."

"Anytime. I love you too." He says, picking me up carefully and setting me down in his lap. I hug him with my good arm and he squeezes me before giving me a kiss that makes my insides go fluttery. I tangle my fingers in his hair as we forget everything else for a few minutes. I rest my head on his shoulder afterward, feeling dreamily content.

"We should mail those letters." I say when I see a Rito postman land at the stable twenty feet away.

We stand up and then end up having to run and flag the postman down as he takes off flying as we make our over there. Fortunately he hears us and lands once again, apologizes, and accepts our three letters with a yellow rupee for postage. I tell him it's no problem.

"I'll get these to their destinations by the day's evening, Miss Zelda." He says, and I freak out a little before I remember Link wrote my real name on the envelope. I say thank you and he takes off into the air once again.