So I realized the last chapter may have been a little misleading as to who Ghirahim is, so:
He is not the warrior.
He's basically one of Ganondorf's bitches lol, but he's not our mystery man, so keep the guesses coming!
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They rode hard for Hateno Village.
Dawn light crept over the horizon, illuminating the dust plumes from their passage, and Zelda wondered if it was the increasing reports driving her, or a need to escape what she'd heard last night.
She wasn't running from it--from him. She would never run from him. But the thought of what had befallen Mabe Village, what those monsters had done . . . it was almost too much. Her own pain paled in comparison to what Link had suffered.
So she pushed her stallion hard, and within hours Hateno was visible.
Built into the hills at the foot of Lanayru Peak, Hateno was a small, bustling village, known particularly for its dye shop--one half of the reason they were stopping there.
As they reached the gates, heralded by small corralls of cattle and Cuccos, Zelda dismounted and wiped the sweat from her brow. The village leader, Reede, was waiting for them. He bowed at the waist, the woman and small child at his side doing the same, as Zelda and her entourage approached. "Welcome to Hateno Village, Your Majesty. It is an honor to have you. If there is anything I can help you with, please do not be afraid to ask."
Zelda bowed her head respectfully. "Thank you, Reede. I will, but for now, just an appointment with the dye shop will be enough."
"Oh, the dye shop doesn't go by appointment," the woman said. She clapped her hands to her mouth. "A-apologies, Empress! I meant no offense--"
Zelda held back a sigh; she strode forward and took the woman, presumably Reede's wife, by the arm. "There's no need for any of that, really. Treat me as you would anyone else."
Reede and the woman were wide-eyed. "Are--are you sure, Your Majesty?" she asked.
Zelda gave the woman her most winning smile. "Trust me. There's enough of that at the palace to last me a lifetime."
It was enough to put everyone at ease, which greatly relieved Zelda. If she had to listen to everyone tripping over themselves trying to "respect" her, she'd go mad.
Reede took the brief lull to lead them into the village, then went ahead to converse with several townspeople. Clavia, Reede's wife, took Zelda and Link to the dye shop. As they walked, quiet and content, Zelda took in the village.
It was quite a sleepy place; the storefronts boasted signs for produce and clothing, children ran in circles around low fences, and a large board along the main path was peppered with news, notices and recipes.
A little ways from the board, Clavia stopped at a long, low building with its front wide open. Zelda raised a brow.
"Welcome to Kochi Dye Shop, where we live to dye!" came an energetic voice. A tall man in minimal clothing appeared in the open doorway. Zelda bit her lip.
His pants were a simple pair of shorts, and he wore no shirt. His chest was covered by a large dark blue apron, containing several vials of dye color in small pockets.
His brows shot up into his receding red hairline when he saw Zelda. "Your Majesty! I--ah, ahem."
Zelda raised a brow and glanced behind her to see Clavia making a cutting motion at her neck, wincing. For a moment Zelda was lost, then she remembered: she'd told them not to call her by titles.
Zelda laughed, clasping Clavia's arm. "It's all right. We'll be fine from here, thank you."
Clavia bowed low, hiding her burning face, and Zelda turned back to the dyer, who had watched, slightly confused. "Sir, if you would--"
His eyes snapped to hers. "Sayge, Madam," he interrupted, bowing. "Hue do you do?"
Zelda blinked, not sure if she'd heard him wrong or if he really had said 'hue'. He didn't give her a chance to answer. "Have you, ah, come to have your clothes dyed?"
I don't know why else I would be here, she thought. "Yes, though I'm not sure how it's done."
Sayge clapped his hands together loudly. "Not to worry! Everything will be prepared for you. I'll just need the clothes you will have dyed, and it will be a short time before they're ready." He accentuated that statement with a cackling laugh.
There was only one problem with that: the clothes she and her company were dying were the ones they were wearing. She glanced at Link, unsure, and he murmured something in Sayge's ear.
"Oh! My apologies, Madam," he said. "Here, step into this room right here. Senna!"
A young woman ducked in. "Yes?"
"Fetch these esteemed guests the changing robes, and then help me get the materials ready, please."
Senna passed between them, smiling warmly at Zelda, and disappeared into a side room. Rustling clothing sounded, and moments later she emerged, several large white robes slung over her arms. She passed them out to Zelda and her group, then directed them to the curtained alcove Sayge had indicated.
As she closed the curtain behind Zelda, she said, "Just leave your clothes on the seat in there, I'll collect them when you've finished."
Then she was gone, presumably to help Sayge with . . . whatever he needed help with. Zelda set about her task, laying her dark blue tunic over her black pants.
This year's graduates from the castle guard training regimen had chosen blue as their uniform color, and Zelda had requested one for herself. If the last few months had proved anything, it was that parading around in fancy dresses wasn't exactly conducive to surviving life-threatening situations. She was lucky she hadn't drowned in Waker, with that overcoat. So she'd opted for something far more practical.
The uniform was made up of a soft cotton, dyed a deep blue with gold buttons, trimming, and pins on the lapels. Gold epaulettes had been added to Zelda's, marking her as an officer. She'd thought it absurd at the time, but after talking with Link, she'd finally relented.
I mean, technically I am, she thought. I am their ultimate commander, after Impa.
The pants were the same but black, gold double-lines down the sides, and shining black boots with silver buckles had been provided. Zelda hated to dye it; it was a gorgeous set, but she needed the soldiers stationed at Snowpeak to recognize her as someone who would stand beside them, as she'd pledged all those weeks ago, and not some princess in a fancy dress.
She emerged from the room, tying the robe closed with the soft fleece belt, and found her guard and Link already there. As Senna slipped past her to collect her clothes, she stepped up to Link, who was watching Sayge putter around the large counter by the doors.
"You look unhappy," Link commented.
"I am unhappy."
"Is it the uniform?"
Zelda scowled. Link laughed. "I knew it. Don't worry," he assured.
"How can I not worry?" Zelda exploded quietly. "Won't I have to get a brand new one when we get back?"
Link gave her a funny look. "No. Sayge can return clothes to their original color as easily as he can dye them."
Zelda crooked a brow at him. "Is it safe?"
Link rolled his eyes. "Yes, Zelda, it's perfectly safe. Trust me--I know him."
That was news. "You've been here?"
He grinned, returning his gaze to Sayge. "I thought you knew."
Zelda stuck her tongue in her cheek. "Of course. I forgot--you've been everywhere."
Link snickered, and for probably the first time in months, Zelda was at ease. She hadn't been able to converse with him like this in so long, she was nearly tripping over every word, afraid she might slip up and they'd be back to where they were before. She'd honestly rather face the squid again than have that happen.
It wasn't hard to guess what had brought the change on, either. Just as it had made them awkward and uncomfortable, their scars, their stories, had set everything right.
Well. Perhaps not everything.
Zelda wandered to the few windows, overlooking the back of the shop. She didn't want Link to catch on to where her thoughts had gone. Above the hills, she could see the tops of Lanayru Peak, and beyond that, Snowpeak, shrouded in clouds.
His brother would never see those clouds. Eight years old . . . such a waste. A tiny, bright light in the world--snuffed out for no reason.
Ever since she'd heard it, she'd wondered if Ganondorf had ordered those monsters to attack, or if they had simply been a rampant group like those in the Samasa Desert. If he had, then he had been in this dark business for far longer than any of them had thought.
And giving that sort of order in the beginning . . . Zelda closed her eyes. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and she didn't need to open her eyes to know it was Link.
She didn't want to think about this anymore. Not now, when it was finally so normal between them. She opened her eyes and squinted out the window at Snowpeak. "Have you ever been up there?" she wondered.
"Snowpeak? Don't think so. I went to Lanayru Peak once, nearly froze my arse off."
Zelda snorted with laughter, heart light. His presence banished the shadows her thoughts had brought. Link went to stand in front of her, staring out the window as she did. "It was that cold, but I hear it's nothing to Snowpeak. The soldiers used to talk about how sometimes they'd send out patrols, and not everyone would come back."
Zelda glanced sharply at him. He rolled his eyes. "It's not as if that'll happen to us. Do you really think they made you just any officer uniform?"
She knew they hadn't. Along with the uniform jacket, a heavier winter jacket had been included. It was lined with the softest hare fur at their disposal, and gloves of the same kind sat in the jacket's pockets. The hood bore a thick crown of fleece.
Zelda had begun sweating just looking at it, but from Link's testimony, she knew it would save her life up on that mountain--especially if they got stranded. She shivered. Goddesses, no. Just once I'd like to leave the castle and not almost die.
Link seemed to share her train of thought. "Yeah . . . it's rough out here. Though once," he perked up, for the mood had turned a bit somber for their liking, "I was sent on an expedition to the swamps--way out in Deku territory. Their princess went missing or some such, the Deku King wanted an official royal escort to find her. I was only a page at the time, but they let me tag along."
Link leaned back against the window. "I think it was the most fun I'd ever had on a mission. Being a page, you have responsibilities, but you also have a lot more free time. Even though I was included as part of the escort, they didn't want a page in the middle of danger, so they usually kept me back. 'Watch and learn,' they said. So I did."
"I learned a lot," he said, lost in the telling. Zelda herself was fascinated. "I learned what to eat, what not to eat, where to sleep, where definitely not to sleep. One of the guys, he wanted to be close to the fire so he'd be warm, but he didn't know that at night, bugs are attracted to flame like you wouldn't believe. He woke the whole escort with his screeching. It looked like he was covered in a cloud--he leaped up and tried to get them off, waving his arms and hopping around . . . In the firelight, it looked like a macabre dance. I don't think I've ever seen our commander laugh so hard," he chuckled, one cheek dimpling.
"Was--was the soldier okay?" Zelda inquired, biting her lip to keep her own laughter down.
"Oh, yeah," Link assured her. "He was covered in bites, and downright miserable for the rest of the escort, but he got over it. Though," he leaned close, casting a glance at one of the men in her own escort. "I wouldn't bring it up in polite conversation. That there's his brother. He's very sensitive."
Zelda couldn't keep her laugh down this time, covering her hand and looking out the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the soldier send a dark look their way.
She quickly changed the subject. "What about . . ." She tapped her fingers against her chin. "Waker. Aside from the most recent time, of course."
Her voice trailed off a bit, but Link paid it no mind. "Well, there was the time I went on a training excursion--I think it was to the Tower of the Gods."
The mention of the Tower brought to Zelda's mind the storms that had raged around it, but she dismissed it as Link went on. "I don't think we were very welcome there," he mused. "The Waker Army has a constant base camp there, and they send their recruits there for training regularly. It's not as strong as their Navy, obviously, but it's still impressive. The Waker Army is known for their aerial skills--you know, with paragliders? And the Hyrulean army trains for land maneuvers in particular--we're the best at it. When we showed up, it was instant rivalry."
"Did you know it used to be a temple?" he asked randomly, catching Zelda off guard. She'd been staring into his blue eyes, but now she blinked. "What, like the Temple of Time?"
Link shook his head. "No, I mean like temples the old Heroes used to have to complete in their quests. In the Era of Wind, the Tower was the third one. It has ancient enemies no one has even heard of, beyond what we've seen. Statues that shoot lasers, called Beamos, and statues with spikes, called Armos, and so many others. At the end was a boss--a huge head and hands, lit by some power source. We had to run the whole thing, fight the statues, figure out the puzzles. And listen to this--the Hero of Winds did it when he was only twelve!"
Zelda could tell this fascinated him. "Imagine that," he continued, some inner fire lighting his eyes with excitement. "Some of the recruits are grown men, and they can't even figure out the first room. Grown men, bested by a kid. The embarrassment must be something awful."
He chuckled again, and Zelda raised a brow. "Sometimes the hardest challenges require the wisdom of a child. And you say that like you beat it on your first try."
Link only raised a brow in response. Zelda had to keep her jaw from dropping. "You did not."
"I did," he laughed, poking her arm. "I was pretty young when I went there. Around . . . thirteen? It was before the escort in Deku Kingdom, I know that. They all laughed me off when I stepped up. But when I came back down that elevator from the boss, bruised and bloody . . . they didn't laugh anymore."
His voice changed at that last part, and Zelda could almost see that light fade from his eyes. They way he spoke about some of these training expeditions . . . he made it sound so lonely. Didn't he have any friends?
She asked him, and he got a faraway look. "There were a few . . . my commander, Groose, he was a good man. But he died in a border skirmish with Twilight, sometime after the Riots. There were my friends in Mabe . . ."
He trailed off sadly. Once again the mood fell, and Zelda floundered for something to lift it. But then Link spoke again, gaze faraway, picking at his fingernails.
"There was one boy . . . A Rito, from his village way out in the canyon. Just north of Death Mountain. Training at the Tower, just like me. Revali," he murmured.
Zelda could tell immediately this boy Revali was a dear friend of Link's. So why did he speak of him so sadly?
She thought of his family and Groose and her heart lurched. "He was one of the best archers I've ever seen," Link continued, staring off into space. "He could shoot twenty arrows midflight on his paraglider--the finest ever made. And when he saw me come down the elevator in the Tower, he began his run of the temple. He was one second faster than me."
"We raced every day. It was back and forth, endlessly. We did everything together at camp--ate together, practiced swords together, paraglided and sailed together. We even ran laps around the base camp to see who could go the fastest. We were rivals, but it was more than that. Had been ever since we looked at each other that first day. We were best friends."
"What happened?" Zelda asked, almost afraid of the answer. Link sighed.
"We went home. He was meant to be the next chief of the Rito, and I was training for the Royal Guard. He left the day before I did, and I never saw him again."
Goddesses. Everyone he knew, taken from him again and again. Even his best friend. No wonder he was so quiet most of the time. Even in all her meetings, he hardly ever said a word. He only really talked with her, Impa, Ilayen and Tetra, and his men, of course. But even then it wasn't many of them.
She opened her mouth--to say what, she didn't know, but then Sayge approached. "Madam, sirs, your clothes are ready."
The mood gone, the group went to collect their clothes and get changed again. When she was finished, Zelda turned this way and that in the long mirror and couldn't help but whistle.
If they were beautiful before, they were indescribable now. The uniform had been dyed mostly a solid white, but subtle, nearly invisible swaths were light gray and cream, even a gold so pale she could hardly see the difference. The lines down the sides of her pants were black now instead of gold, and her fur-lined jacket completed the set.
As much as she adored the original, she couldn't decide which one she loved better. Almost giddily she pulled them on, but left the jacket. She wouldn't need it quite yet.
They set off quickly, giving their thanks to the people of Hateno, and set off for the Lanayru Promenade.
During the Era of the Wild, the most recent time of the Hero, the Promenade had fallen into disrepair, the road crumbling in the best places and missing whole chunks in the worst places. But in the time since then, it had been restored.
Now, it was crawling with people, mostly travelers and merchants. The crowded roadway parted for Zelda's horse-bound party, but thankfully they weren't stopped. Zelda didn't want any more detours. She looked up at the sky; the sun was already high, obscured by thin clouds.
They made it to the foot of the mountain without worry, where they tied their horses to posts by East Gate. One soldier and a page were left to guard them. Zelda was dubious about the lax security, especially given their proclivity for near-death situations, but Link assured her it was fine. "We're the only ones crazy enough to be climbing Snowpeak." As they started to climb the not-so-well-worn path past Lanayru Peak and on to its meaner sister-peak, Zelda could feel the temperature drop. Soon the green fields and flowers faded to thick blankets of snow and leaf-bare trees. Ahead it was white, gray and more white.
Zelda had tugged her jacket on before they'd started, but now she pulled the fur-lined mask over her mouth and nose. She knew her ears were already red at the tips because Link's were, peeking out from behind his uniform cap.
The climb got steeper and steeper, but after two hours, the path disappeared completely. They were a good way up the mountain, making better time than Zelda had anticipated, but without a path they'd have to make their own. The soldiers went ahead and cleared most of the snow with their swords, those with halberds using them to sweep aside large swaths of the stuff. Link helped Zelda stumble over the uneven ground.
Their progress was severely hindered, and before they'd made it a mile more Zelda had begun shivering. Her teeth chattered with every gust of freezing wind, sounding eerily like a wolf's howl.
Twilight's mountains have nothing on Snowpeak, she thought, remembering sitting on that outcropping, looking out over the Palace and Duskwatch, hearing that lonely wolf's song.
Deliriously she wondered if she'd hear that song on this mountain too.
But before she could think any more about it, the ground underfoot went flat, even under all the snow. The small shelf they were on curved around the side of the mountain, and as Zelda peered over the edge, she saw the southern end of the plain below--very far below. She inched slowly away.
As they threw down the bags of food and other gear, Zelda wanted nothing more than to sit down too, but she knew that she probably wouldn't get back up if she did. Though whether it was because of tiredness or hypothermia, she couldn't quite tell.
It didn't matter; Link had been looking over the map with his men while Zelda lamented, and now he seemed to decide on something. "This is the ridge they indicated," he said, squinting up above them. The peak was invisible behind a thick sheet of snow, the same that swirled around them now. "If we go along it for about twenty feet, we should come around a turn. The Taluses will be right below us at that point. Let's go."
With that, Zelda contemplated throwing him off the side, but she forced her freezing legs to take a step, then another. If I keep going, then I won't freeze all the way. She took the arm Link offered her and returned his smile with a scowl. He laughed, bright and clear.
Fighting back a shivering grin, she nearly bumped into her escorts' backs; they'd stopped. They hunkered down close to the edge, Link crawling forward on his belly to peer over the side of the ridge.
"There," he murmured. "Halston, your telescope."
A bronze-skinned, lean man handed Link the item. Link extended it and peered down into the valley below, reporting his findings in a low voice.
"Four Taluses, spread out. Looks like they're covered in frost. About three dozen soldiers, basic uniform. Five are officers." He squinted. "They seem to be taking notes."
"What is this, a library?" a soldier muttered as his comrade scribbled in a notepad, earning himself a wry smile from his captain. Zelda joined them on the ridge, squirming froward through the thick snow until she could see down below.
Naydra Snowfield.
/
The whole valley spread out to either side of them. It was a blanket of pure white, dotted with smatterings of gray trees the ends of it just barely visible. Link had kept her away from the edge on the climb up; she guessed they'd been traveling around the side of it to find their targets--and there they were, smack in the middle of the field.
It was as Link said, though Zelda could hardly see clearly without the telescope, and with the snow falling. Plus, through the clouds, the sun was descending. She squinted, trying to get a better picture.
"Here," Halston said, handing her his telescope. It was long and blue, with gold swirls like wind adorning it. "He's from Waker," Link murmured in her ear. Zelda put the telescope to her eye and peered down at the field. With the magnified vision, she could see there were several large stone structures, moving slowly, lumbering in circles. Glittering with frost, like Link had said. Around them were dotted dozens of smaller figures. Zelda magnified the telescope to find that the shapes were soldiers, many of whom held notepads and made notations here and there. The others ran around the Taluses, giving each a wide berth. Or trying to.
One of the Taluses lifted its arms--a small boulder connected to an enormous one--and just sat on the soldiers dancing around it, some close enough to touch it. As the Talus fell, a scream sounded, swiftly cut short, and red splattered out from under it. Zelda gasped. The soldiers around her swore.
"What should we do, sir?" a young man asked Link.
"Get away from the edge, for starters." Link dragged back a young cadet who'd slid a bit too far over the ridge. Snow trickled down from his passage. "Let's make sure we don't alert them. From what we all saw just now, those Taluses are unpredictable."
He glanced at Zelda and she caught the unspoken message in his eyes. I'm suspicious of those soldiers.
"I don't recognize them," he murmured, just loud enough for her, and she turned as quickly as she could without falling off and refocused the telescope on the scene below, this time trained on the soldiers. Link and the escort began surreptitiously moving off down the ridge a ways, where they would be more out of sight.
The officers Link had mentioned seemed to be off toward the edge, away from any carnage. And now that she looked, she could see a dark pile of what looked like bodies, piled up some ways beyond the officers. Her stomach twisted.
Zelda swept the scope back to the soldiers and squinted, trying to find identifiable details, but one spot of stillness caught her eye instead. At the back of the group, standing so still she would have overlooked him, was a man, mousy brown hair crowning his head and sallow skin.
Even for the north, that's pretty pale, Zelda thought. He took slow, measured steps to the front, his mouth forming words she couldn't possibly hear. Then the officers started shouting.
Zelda swiveled the scope back to the field and saw the Taluses had grown agitated. They seemed fixated on the pale man, who even now drifted in and out of focus. All four of them advanced on the group.
"What's happening?" Link hissed, and then Zelda was squeezed in on either side by the escort.
"Are they attacking?" the youngster from before asked, excitement in his voice. "What's going on--"
Zelda hushed him, heart pounding, pressing the scope to her eye.
Down in the field, the officers fell back, scrambling in the snow, but the pale man was completely unmoved, still speaking. One of the Taluses slammed its hands down, creating great mushroom clouds of powder. The pale man only smiled, and Zelda had to repress a shiver. He never took his eyes from the stone beings.
As she watched, one of the Taluses looked up and saw them, fixing its eyeless gaze right on her. The pale man whipped his head towards her as well, his speech abruptly interrupted. Some innate part of Zelda told her to run, but fear--and a little fascination--rooted her to the spot. The Talus raised its arm. Zelda's hand began to itch.
"What is it doing?" a soldier asked.
"It's attacking," Zelda murmured, though her voice didn't sound like her own.
The Talus threw its arm.
Three seconds. That's all the time they had to process before the boulder, glittering in the sun like a star, smashed into the ridge above them. Zelda saw only Link's body lunging before her world dissolved into cold, screams, and darkness.
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Easter egg: Easter egg: a hint or reference to something, hidden in writing or art
Easter eggs in this chapter: a whole SHIT LOAD
Can you find them all??
Have I ever told you guys how much I love Easter eggs? God, I love them. Clearly.
REVIEW REPLIES.
To Oracle of Hylia: glad you enjoyed it :) these three get lucky a whole lot haha.
To Ultimate blazer: I couldn't resist. What's a better character to flesh out than one with a tragic backstory? And Ghirahim is exiting with style too! Lmaooo.
To Generala: if you did review, I didn't receive it / sorry about that. But actually, her love for Link is even more real than before. That's why it hurts her so much to not have him. The tension is certainly ramping up in multiple ways haha, with more and more at stake. And that attraction? Dude, for real lmao.
Hope you enjoy this one, I'm stupidly excited for the reviews and theories and all that good stuff. See you Monday!
