Bruises
He had a dreamless, deep sleep, but he woke up with a start the next morning when his mind flashed the image of the Yiga member leering above him with his hands around his throat. He slowly took a breath, "I've had this happen to me before, I'll be fine." He changed into his blue tunic since the green and red one needed to be washed. He'd have to do that later in the day. When he passed by the mirror on the vanity, he did a double take at his neck. There were bruises on either side from last night.
"Huh...I guess there'll be no question about what happened to me. I wonder how long it'll take for these to go away, I don't want people feeling sorry for me." He shrugged, grabbed his sword, shield, ocarina, and mask, and left for the dining hall. He tried to ignore most of the looks he got as he walked there. When he sat at the table he noticed there were more knights than usual, and, even better, a pot of oatmeal. He watched it just to make sure it was okay to take from, finally getting some for himself after another knight did.
He didn't realize it, but they were all watching as he ate a spoonful and immediately had trouble swallowing it. With some work it squeezed down, but as much as he didn't want to bring attention to it, he couldn't help but lightly touch it just in case the clan member did more damage than he remembered. 'I think getting oatmeal was just a bad idea. I mean, at least I'll have to make myself get used to swallowing.' Young Link spied a pitcher of milk and added a small bit to his oatmeal to thin it out. It made things at most fifteen percent easier, but he still had to work to swallow his food.
After the oatmeal was gone, he drank a glass of milk and left. He wanted to go someplace where not a lot of people would see him, but the training arena was likely busy as always, and he also had to pass by the knight's chambers in order to get there and he didn't want Link giving him puppy eyes at the sight of his neck. He also still wasn't allowed to go down into the dungeons and he didn't feel like going into town either. 'I guess I'll go find a big tree and practice my swings in the shade.'
Taking cover under a large tree, he pulled out his ocarina and played a few songs. It was mainly the Song of Healing simply because he felt like it. Zelda's Lullaby brought back fond memories too, as did Saria's Song. He watched some of the knights in the distance leave the castle, it reminding him of his purpose. Young Link practiced his moves, trying to leak in some of the newer ones he got from the previous universe. There was one where he was able to basically run and draw the triforce and use its light to obliviate the enemies caught within it. It was good for crowd control but the monsters here don't come in massive groups like they did in that realm..at least from what he could tell. He tried to recreate it, but it was to no avail. No triforce appeared and no light shined and cut the grass or something.
Link smiled, talking to himself, "Well, I mean, I'm not surprised. I found myself doing a lot of kicking in that smash tournament and now it's a bit of a rarity since my opponents don't often come running at me and get right in my face." He decided to practice his aerials and flips with the shield equipped so that he didn't mess up a dodge or parry in the future. All the work made him forget about his bruises and made him want to watch Link in practice. He ran to the arena and saw that he was just in time to watch Link dual against an older teammate.
"You want me to take it easy on ya?" He halfly taunted, getting into position.
His opponent gave a hearty laugh, "Haha! Let's just say it takes a lot to put me out of commission." His response led to a bout of laughter from the other older members that were watching.
Young Link was sitting in the stands, curiosity bringing him to the edge of his seat when the captain blew the whistle to start the match.
Link let his teammate come to him, perfectly deflecting his first slash with a shield bash and rolling to the side. His smile beamed when the opponent actually dodged away from his next attack. His eyes shined at the challenge.
"Thought you could get me that easy, ay?"
"No, but it weeds out whether this is going to be a good duel or not." He came forward with a flurry of slashes, meaning to push the older knight back.
He didn't fall for it though. Instead, he did a short spin attack and jabbed back at Link, who blocked the first attack and backflipped away from the second. The descendant followed up with a couple of jabs, his opponent jumping back.
"C'mon Link, you're not gonna show off?" He did a jump slash, which Link rolled under and put his sword to his back.
"You mean like that?" The crowd of knights 'oohed' and 'ahed' at the clever yet tricky move. Young Link was hooked too, he definitely could learn this for other one on one combat. When the older knight went to slash at him again, he did another backflip, but there was something different about it this time. Link, faster than light, sped forward and did a flurry rush of light hits against the knight. Based on the reaction from the crowd, Young Link could tell he was the only one that saw everything slow down when it happened.
"That's amazing!" He couldn't contain his wonder, and neither could the other knights. The arena was filled with hoots and hollers. Link soundly won.
"No hard feelings, right?" He held out his fist.
The older knight bumped it, "Hell no! That was a good fight!"
"I'm telling you Link! You're definitely going to be Hyrule's champion!" One of his teammates cheered as he walked back over to get a drink of water.
"Well, it's up to the King and Zelda, so we'll see."
An older knight came up from behind them, "It's actually up to the Master Sword. Only it chooses it's worthy wielder, and whoever can do that will certainly be the champion."
The young hero's eyes shimmered at the thought of seeing the magnificent sword he wielded long ago. He wondered if anything changed about it or if it would accept him or not. If that makes sense. It likely wouldn't since Link is hands down going to be the one to defeat this Calamity Ganon. His cheering managed to attract Link's attention.
"Oh hey!" He walked over, looking up at him as he spoke.
"Duuuuuuude! That flurry rush was awesome! It's always fun to watch you fight. I usually learn something new every time, haha!"
"Well I'm glad! How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Oh I'm better," he instinctively felt his neck, taking his hand off after it grazed one of the bruises, "I just hope these bruises don't stay for long. They kinda suck." He watched as Link's expression turned from lighthearted to serious upon noticing the purple splotches that dappled his neck.
The majority of the rest of the knights noticed this as well. Their faces ranged from concerned to disgusted to sorrowful. "Dear Hylia!" Link climbed up into the stands from where he stood in the arena, personally tilting his head up to see for himself, "I've never seen them this bad before.."
Young Link took his hand away before they accidentally touched one, "Really?"
He looked astonished, "Yes! How long was it before you were able to subdue him?"
"Pfft I don't know. Long enough for him to say 'why is this taking so long?' and proceed to shake me." The memory flashed in his mind again, his eyes diverting for a moment, "I don't really want to keep thinking about it."
His face was empathetic, "I'm sorry, I'll stop talking about it."
"It's not that I don't like talking about it, it's the part where talking about it makes me remember that awful symbol on his mask and how he was obviously acting all by himself and clearly being nervous."
The knights were horrified, "If that doesn't warrant killing those clan members I don't know what does!"
"Trying to choke a kid to death!? That's a new low!"
"He was acting alone too! What a coward knowing he was stepping out of line!"
Hearing their anger toward what happened to him made him feel a little better, but he knew, for Hyrule's sake, that it wasn't a good viewpoint. "I hate to preach something I have a hard time following, but probably don't go around killing them until we're actually at war."
Link nodded, grimacing as he spoke, "Yes, that unfortunately would be best at the moment. Don't want the King on us, right? He'll give the word one day."
"Well it better be soon, scum like them shouldn't be able to do whatever the hell they want!" A brawny knight yelled.
"Yeah!" The rest hollered.
His descendant turned to him, "Do you wanna practice with us? You could have a go at one of the dummies over there."
He saw some of the younger knights wearily eyeing his throat, it made him a little self conscious, "Naah, I've already done my share of practicing. Could you tell me where the stables are? I should check on my horse."
Link glanced in the direction of the knights, "Yeah sure, I could give you a ride if you want."
Young Link smirked, "That takes the fun out of exploring though! Really I'm surprised I haven't found it myself."
"Haha, whatever you say," He gave him directions and walked him to the gate.
The young hero was grateful that Link wanted to be there for him but some of the bruises and cuts he survived from his past adventures would make any of those knights question the morality of his past assailants. What happened was terrible, but he couldn't help but feel that it was inflated since he looked like a kid. He avoided making eye contact as he walked to the stables, mainly looking at the ground.
The royal stables were behind the castle since there was lots of flat land. He spied a large white horse and their rider passing by as he went through the gate.
"Young one? Is that you?"
He looked up at hearing the voice. Zelda was the one who was riding the large stallion, "Oh hello! I'm not surprised to see that your horse is big and white." He pet its shoulder.
"I think him and I pair quite nicely. He's a bit stubborn though. His name is Storm." The horse glanced up in her direction at the call of his name.
Young Link chuckled, "So you'll be riding on horseback to Death Mountain?"
"Most definitely, a carriage couldn't survive the trip there." She held up a finger, "Hold on, it's rude of me to sit up here and try to talk to you. Let me come down.."
He realized, 'She couldn't see my neck from up there!' "Oh no, it's fine! You don't have t—"
She shrieked.
"—come down.." He sighed. It seemed like she was purposefully ignoring the horrid marks from before, really he's just short. "Can they not be the topic of conversation or reaction? I know they look really bad, I know they'll be gone in a few days, I'm fine, and I'm trying to get past all of it but it's hard to do when everyone keeps reminding me."
Zelda appeared to wipe away a tear, she nodded, "I'm sorry, you're right. I couldn't help it." She took a deep breath, "Okay, well, I'm sure you know that Death Mountain is...well a mountain."
"Yeah, Link told me about how you guys need to drink a fire-proof potion since it's so hot up there."
"Precisely! That and the trail is very rocky. I was going to let you sit this one out since there's not much to see besides a lot of lava and rocks and more rocks."
He nodded, "Am I going to get to see any other champions?"
"Of course! I was going to take you to Gerudo Desert and to the Rito Village where we'll find the last two before figuring out who can wield the Master Sword."
"Oh so they'll let me in even though I'm a guy?"
"Well I know they're less strict about children. I think they'll know you're special when they see you riding with me," She explained, "Oh and we'll need to find you something warm to wear when we go find the Rito champion, it's very cold in the Tabantha region."
"Alright great," He gestured to the stables, "Well I was going to check up on my horse. I'll let you be off to wherever you need to be."
Zelda hopped back up on Storm, "Have fun!"
"Bye!" He watched as she cantered away, soon continuing into the stables to look for Grace. He whistled, hearing her whinny toward the middle of the long hallway of stables. Young Link jogged to her stall, his horse snorting when she came into view. "Grace! How have you been?"
The first thing she did was sniff at his right forearm, he guessed that she remembered that he was injured there from before. "I'm fine now girl, no need to worry." Besides checking on her, he wanted to practice some of his equestrian skills, if not develop some. He found her equipment and saddled her up before bringing her out to a large arena.
He was impressed to see that there were jumps already set up and a couple of dummies as well. Grace and him practiced going over the jumps as well as her getting used to him swinging his sword while on her back. Jumping off was important as well. When noon broke, he rode her back to the dining hall to grab a sandwich before heading right back to the arena. 'I really like the way she rides!' He happily thought, 'She's like Epona without her spicy flair.'
At one point, he would have her canter around the arena while he stood on the saddle and tried to keep his balance. To be realistic, he had no idea if there was a use for it, but doing an aerial off it and landing with his sword drawn was a showy plus. He was back to aching for new sights and wind blowing past his face by nightfall. "Ah, Grace," He said as he led her back to her stall, "If only I could take you and race out of Castle Town and out into the field. I'd go wherever I wanted to and I'd find lots of tasty apples for the both of us."
The talk of horse treats sparked a memory in him, "Oh yeah! I need to find the horse that helped me the other day." He pulled out his ocarina and played Epona's Song, a loud whinny coming from toward the end of the stables. He pet Grace before sticking his hand in some horse feed and walking down where the sound came from. Luckily it was still the same horse from before, "Hey buddy! Sorry it took so long for me to reward you." Young Link stuck his hand through the bars, the horse swiftly licking the feed from his hand and leaving it all sticky and wet.
He wiped it on the skirt of his tunic, making a face, "Ew. Kinda slobbery aren't ya? I guess you can't help it." Petting the horse's nose as a goodbye, he exited the stable and went back to his room in the castle. He took a bath and realized he needed to wash his tunics tomorrow morning, 'Dang...well at least they'll be clean.' After he flipped into his bed, he was quick to fall asleep.