And now, two days later, he was at Hyrule Castle. Not his first time there; but certainly his first time in the inner chambers of the royal family, awaiting an audience with the queen to discuss this turn in developments. As though he had something intelligible to discuss.

The sword sat on his back. If he turned his head over his right shoulder a little, he could see that cobalt blue handle with its oddly flipped crossguard. There was an ongoing churn in the back of his head, but he could ignore it. Mostly. He had to; the flow of it would take him over, and it wasn't just stories. It was memories. A water temple, the moon falling from the sky, an endless ocean, a broken mirror… it was too much. Why were they all so young? It was always young people, why was he so...old?

He tried to refocus on the upcoming audience. He had seen Queen Zelda before, of course; but it had been across a large room. She'd still been a princess back then. Nothing exciting had happened. They'd just been in a room together. Hadn't even met. And yet...if the stories and memories actually were true, then they were parts of the same puzzle. They were meant to work together. Fate and all. There was still no sign of whatever mortal danger was on the rise though.

What was coming that required the sword to call its master?

Link turned to see the hilt, wondering what it knew. "Why not when I was sixteen?" he whispered.

you were not ready yet, and there was no need

The sword didn't speak in words, not exactly. It was like having a thought- but not his thought.

"Why now?"

No answer, but not silence. The churn roiled up. A wolf with a leg iron, a reddish brown horse with feathered legs, a huge crimson bird and the sensation of falling- he tried to focus on something, anything before he lost himself. Why now?

The door swung open. A royal guard captain. Link suspected they had been classmates many years ago; the man was passingly familiar, but Link didn't know his name. He met the guard's eyes and rose, giving his baldric a tug to shift the sword into a more comfortable position on his back.

The guard's eyes flicked to that cobalt blue handle and then back to Link's eyes.

"Come." It was not a request. Link squared his shoulders and followed.

"Your majesty, I present Link, appointed knight of the realm, bearer of the Master Sword."

She wasn't sure what she had expected, but she felt underwhelmed. He looked to be her height with a slim, athletic build. His blonde ponytail had probably been platinum when he was young, but age darkened it. There was even a sprinkle of gray on top of his head. He seemed to limp just a little on the left. The man was out of uniform, too, in khaki pants with tall boots and a green tunic. He had belted the sword across his back, hilt jutting above his right shoulder, end of the blue and gold scabbard by his left hip.

He stood squarely before her, hands at his sides. Their eyes briefly met before he seemed to remember where he was. He dropped to one knee, bowing his head.

"Rise."

Link stood to attention, arms falling back to his side as he met her gaze again.

"Tell me, Link, about that sword on your back. How did you come by it?"

"I pulled it from its pedestal in the Temple of Time."

She stared straight through him. He stared back.

"Your majesty, I have no more to say. I pulled on it. It came free."

They considered each other again. She decided to try a different tact.

"It is said the sword speaks to its bearer. That the chosen hero who pulls the sword from its home remembers all who have held it before him. Is this true?"

He drew a breath. In the back of his head, a dragon with three heads rose with a snarl. It was felled with a single swing of the sword. He struggled to stay in the moment.

"It is best if you are honest. This is an unusual situation. For me, too."

He dropped his eyes for a second and then raised them again. "Yes, it speaks. It is eager to get to work, though it won't tell me what that work is. And yes, my head is full of memories that are not mine. It is better than when I first claimed the sword but it is work to stay on top."

Link had felt his heart flutter on seeing the queen, but he didn't think they were his flutters. Something in him, awakened by the sword, recognized her for who she was. Goddess, but he wondered if things would have been different if he had just married that girl in the fishing village the first time he'd met her.

The queen's gaze softened a little. Maybe. "We have work to do, then."

No one gets to choose their fate. You can make decisions that change the general shape of their path, of course. But there are outside forces, events that you play no role in that set you on that path in the first place. You work in the world you have, thinking you are in charge of your own destiny, but really, you have less control than you believe.

Maybe, he thought, it's always young people because they haven't had time to create themselves yet. They are still blank slates. When a role is thrust upon them, they have more room for it because there is little to replace. It was different when you go through thirty years of life thinking you know how things work only to have everything turn on its head when some magic sword decides to drop in and say surprise! This is how things will be now- and you have to accept it.

Link was sitting on his bed, with that sword out of its scabbard and laid across his lap. He hadn't been able to sleep well since the night they camped out by the Temple of Time. Strangely enough though, he didn't feel tired, either.

The triforce was embossed on the blade and he traced it, thinking about what it symbolized. Power. Wisdom. Courage. The hero is supposed to be the incarnation of courage. But he didn't feel very brave. He wasn't sure what he felt.

His meeting with the queen had been a review of his record; respectable enough without being overly remarkable, he felt. The high point had also been a low point.

The day with the moblins.

He'd been riding on patrol in the woods around Hateno and they had stumbled on a group of moblins. He had heard them before seeing them and fast thinking and riding had allowed him to save the life of his commander, who had not realized he was directly in line with one of the beasts. Link managed to get between them and shield his commander. His horse hadn't been so lucky. It took a dragonbone club to the head. The horse dropped immediately, and he'd been thrown, breaking his left leg in the fall. It had hurt like hell, but it could have been worse. He ended up recovering at home, his mother asking pointed questions about when he was going to retire. He'd gotten a commendation for bravery and was ready to get back to work once he'd healed. Eager, even. Hateno had gotten too small for him.

The queen had also known a disturbing amount about his personal life. He had not realized anyone had been paying that much attention. She knew about Celia in the fishing village, and the reference librarian, and a number of names before them. She knew his family and commented on the quality of the horses they bred back in Hateno. She knew his brother, and his sister in law, and his nephew.

His entire family…. Had he seen his family since the day with the moblins? Surely he had. Right? He furrowed his brow, trying to remember.

The triangle representing courage sat on the right of the base of the triforce. He slid his finger to the triangle on its left. That one was wisdom, and he could use some right now.

"How can I help you?" she asked.

They were meeting in her office. It was where she carried out official meetings, after the death of the king. It was formal but private.

"I need guidance. I do not know what to do with this obligation. I do not know if I can do whatever it is that is required of me."

She was silent for a minute. "I do not think you have a choice."

"This has always been a thing for younger people. Much younger. My prime has come and gone."

She folded her hands in front of her and considered him. He was more accomplished than he seemed to think, but she knew she couldn't convince him of that with mere words.

"You do not get to make that choice," she started. "It appears that the hero and the incarnation of the goddess are meant to be contemporaries. You are older because I am older. There is currently no princess Zelda; and the next one will be my granddaughter as I am past more children, even if the king were still with us," She leaned forward a bit and softened her voice. "I know it does not seem fair, to pull you from the place you thought you belonged and force a new world on you. This sort of thing happens all the time, especially as we get older, if you think about it. Loved ones die, for example, even long before you think that might be a possibility. Your world has changed and you can't go back, but it was going to do that eventually anyway.

"I did not expect this call at this time, either; but I have to believe that I am prepared or I would not have been called. This has to be true for you, as well, even if you don't see the potential." She put a hand over his. "This is a thing you may have wanted when you were younger, and it's rare to have that sort of opportunity. Embrace it. It is what it is."

She sat back and considered him. He stared hard but was otherwise unreadable. The silence lingered for a long moment.

"I realize, Your majesty, that you have plans for some sort of training for me since my circumstances have changed," he started. "I would like to ask for some leave. I have not seen my family in some time and I do not think this… obligation will leave me with much leisure time."

"Of course. However… if part of your plan is to try and rekindle some past romance, I'd ask you to reconsider. For now, at least. This is a lot for you. Don't complicate it more."

He took his hand back and said nothing. His stony look did not change. Did she know the reference librarian had somehow heard about the sword? That there had been a letter waiting for him before he'd even gotten back from the plateau asking him to forget her?

"You do understand you have been quite the subject of discussion the past few days? Your commanding officers speak highly of you. We are going to be working closely and neither of us can be distracted."

"I would like to go now."

She sighed. "As you wish."