Waking up to find that, sometime during the night, they must have fallen to the side, the result being that, rather than waking up in the same position they had fallen asleep in, the two of them sitting with their backs against the wall, they were lying halfway in Zelda's bed, halfway on the floor, Zelda already knowing that it would take a while to remove the stiffness of having fallen asleep with her legs hanging over the edge of her bed but finding it difficult to focus on the ache rather than the fact that Paya had snuggled her head into her neck, lying on her shoulder more than the pillow, should perhaps have been weirder to them than it was. It should have resulted in stuttering and an attempt at quickly moving away from each other, but for as much as Zelda could not pretend not to notice how Paya's eyes widened for a moment after waking up, quickly looking down at her before moving to sit up, it did not change the fact that Paya did not move away to run down the stairs immediately after waking up the way she had done for the past week. Instead, she paused as she pushed herself off the bed to look back down at her, the smile on her lips far outshining the uncertain look in her eyes.
They did not talk about it though. It was not that they did not have every chance to do so, Paya pulling out a stack of clothes from her wardrobe, leaving half of it next to Zelda's bed, the two of them hurrying to change from their pyjamas without uttering a word to one another, and as Zelda pulled the tunic over her head, she would not have been able to name a specific reason for not turning around to try to talk with Paya about what had happened. They simply did not talk about it.
That reason came to her as they ate breakfast, however, Paya taking her plate to sit down next to her, Zelda pretending that she did not notice the looks Ganondorf and Link sent her, the two of them making it obvious that they noticed how Paya had taken Ganondorf's spot, leaving Ganondorf to sit on the opposite side of Link, the two of them seemingly leading a silent conversation that continued throughout the entirety of the meal, one that consisted entirely of meaningful looks. It was easier that way. Not having to name what had happened between them meant that she could eat her slice of bread in peace, feeling how the proximity to Paya meant that their arms brushed against each other every time Zelda did not outright focus on keeping it from happening, without having to ask herself what she would do if it were to end the same way as everything other thing in her life had done.
So they did not mention it, not to each other and certainly not to Ganondorf, Link, or Impa, Just as they made no attempts at bringing it up, Impa looking from Paya and over at Zelda as she informed them of the fact that Dorian was already waiting for them at the training grounds and that she had thought of a way for Zelda to try to gain a better understanding of the spirit world.
A couple of times as they walked over to the little spot between the hills that Zelda had almost come to regard as being her version of the fenced off training area, it looked like she was about to mention it, Zelda seeing the long looks she sent her. Each time, however, Impa would ultimately look away from her again, but Zelda could still feel how it hung above them as something unsaid as Impa gestured for her to sit down next to her in the spot that allowed them to look out over Hyrule and see both the cliffs that hid the Zora's Domain from view as well as the Gerudo Highlands.
"So," Impa said, breaking the silence. Zelda could feel her gaze on her as she continued to look out over Hyrule, "I take it that you have perhaps found yet another person you want to protect."
"I… I think so." it was not a thought that Zelda had really considered until that very moment, but as the words left her mouth, she knew that it was true, the realisation making her nod, the movement meant more for herself than for Impa. "Yes, I have."
Zelda could see how Impa was smiling at her even as she continued to stare straight ahead, taking in the sight of how the trees were slowly beginning the process of becoming orange. "Good. I am happy to hear that. I—you hardly need to hear this from me as I am sure that she has already made it clear to you, but I can tell you that I know that Paya feels the same way."
It should not have changed anything, and still, Zelda felt a strange sense of warmth bloom in her chest as she looked at the little splotches of orange and yellow among the green colours of the forest that separated them from Hyrule Castle Town. Autumn was approaching, but right then, Zelda could not bring herself to truly begin to worry about what it would mean for them, whether or not it left them with enough time to prepare for winter.
They sat in silence for another couple of minutes before Impa clasped her hands together. The change was barely noticeable, but Zelda still felt how the moment had passed, that now, they had begun her training, as she looked over at Impa.
"Zelda," Impa began, "what I want you to keep in mind as we begin to try these different methods of allowing you to better access your powers, is that they are yours. Your abilities belong to you and any decision you make about what to use them for will be your choice and not the choice of some past goddess or princess. Do you understand?"
Zelda nodded. "Yeah, I have to figure out how to do it on my own without trying to emulate the legends, right?"
Impa sent her a long look before nodding. "Something like that, yes. Are you ready?"
And with that began a day full of hope that would gradually dwindle. It was not that it did not work at all; Zelda did notice that she found it easier to listen to the voices from the spirit realm when she as not pushing herself to try to forget about what her father would have said if he could have witnessed the numerous attempts that all ended in failure, but even with the improvement, the voices were still barely more than a gentle murmur that could easily be drowned out by the sound of the wind around her as Zelda closed her eyes. Somewhere, just outside the realm of her own consciousness, she was sure that she could feel something, a gentle warmth that had to be a sign of her powers waiting for her with the alluring feeling of coming home, as she tried to reach out, only to find that she was not quite able to bridge the gap. Still, Zelda kept her eyes closed, trying to keep herself distracted from the tension that built between her brows as she made another attempt, drowning out the sound of Impa telling her to take her time in the background.
And she took her time. Zelda was not aware of every passing second, a fact she should perhaps have thanked the goddesses for, for she was certain that she would not have been able to continue trying if that had been the case, but she did see how the intensity of what little light she could not block out changed as the sun moved across the sky and feel how Impa moved next to her, rising to her feet a couple of times to move around before coming back to join her once more. And yet, her attempts yielded no results other than letting her know that the powers were indeed there, that it was all a matter of her not being able to fully reach them.
It was with the sensation of having just broken through the surface of the ocean, gasping for breath, that Zelda opened her eyes again to see that the sun had reached its apex, already beginning its descent, sending light down upon them as she shook her head. "I am not giving up, Impa," she said, "but I don't feel anything—or, rather, I can see that it is there, I just can't quite grasp it. I can see the power and how it is just out of reach, but I cannot figure out how to get to it." brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ear, Zelda squared her shoulders. "But don't worry; I am not going to give up, not even if reaching it is going to take me all night."
Zelda had only just closed her eyes when Impa placed a hand on her shoulder, bringing an end to the attempt at reaching out again before it had begun.
Even as Zelda sat there, looking over at Impa as she rose from the ground, she was still almost taller than her. Really, there was no reason—at least not one Zelda would have been able to put into words—that could explain just why Impa appeared taller than before as she looked up at her, the sun haloing her head as she proffered her hand, gesturing for Zelda to follow her.
Zelda did so without thinking, Impa pulling her up from the ground with a surprising amount of strength, considering her age.
"I think," Impa said, already having redirected her attention from Zelda to the landscape in front of them, "that we should try a new tactic—"
"But did we not just agree that I would be able to reach my powers sooner or later if we just continued with this way of training?" the question left Zelda's mouth before she had even realised it. By the time she had said it, it was already far too late for her to stop herself from interrupting Impa, but Zelda still reached up to cover her mouth with her hand.
Thankfully, Impa did not appear to be too annoyed, shaking her head at her with an expression that could hardly have made it clearer that it was not the interruption itself the motion was directed towards. "I did say that it would be a way to, eventually, access your powers. However, I fear that we might not have as much time as I had hoped we would have, so we might have to explore other ways of granting you access to your magic faster." stepping forwards, Impa began to walk back in the direction of the village, moving at a pace that only barely allowed Zelda to run to catch up with her, following along next to her as Impa spoke without leaving a single pause for Zelda to ask what she had meant by that. "Zelda, in the woods just behind this village, there is a—a sacred fountain, if you will, that I think might help you find the path to your abilities faster than you would have on your own."
"So are we going to go there now?" Zelda hurried to interject, only for Impa to brush it aside like it was a question that had not needed to be asked.
"No. It is quite a journey, especially for me." turning around the corner, Impa did not slow down at all, making Zelda doubt that statement but still remain quiet as Impa added. "Especially with how it is already past noon, I doubt that we would be able to make the journey out there and back home in a day. If you go and see how Ganondorf and Link are doing with Dorian, then I will make sure to pack supplies for us to make the journey and then come find you once I am ready. Do you understand the plan?"
It did not seem like it would have mattered if she had said no, for, without giving Zelda more than a second to try to understand what she had just said, Impa ran up the stairs to her house, leaving Zelda behind to look after her, the image of Impa almost appearing to blur along the edges, two alternating figures moving in her place, on that looked a bit like her, small and bowed, and another that was so unlike Impa that, had it not been for the silhouette bleeding into the other, Zelda would not have believed that they had once been the same person at all. But they had to be. She could see no other explanation for what had happened, not as Impa reached the end of the stairs and certainly not as she pulled open the heavy wooden door in one, smooth motion to disappear into the house.
The sound of the door falling shut was what forced Zelda back to reality, making her startle slightly as she pivoted around. There was something about the way Impa had acted, how quickly it had all happened, Zelda sitting next to the gravestones one moment, trying her best to reach out towards the powers she did not quite have the words to describe but knew with a crushing sense of certainty she would need, only for Impa to all but drag her back to the village the next. She had said that they were running out of time, that it looked like they would have to change tactics, and from how quickly it had all happened, Zelda would dare to say that it was not something she had planned from the beginning of the day, but rather a thought that had struck her mere moments before she had ordered Zelda to stop. But still, that left Zelda with the question of why. Why did it happen in that moment, why would she bring an end to Zelda's attempts at reaching her powers when she had only just begun to find hope that she would be able to break through the barrier separating her from the abilities she should have received alongside her destiny and place in the cycle? What had changed in those moments where she had done everything in her power to block out the world around her to instead reach out?
Zelda could not think of any answers to any of her questions, but as the seconds passed and Impa did not return, Zelda found her feet carrying her towards the training grounds almost without her having to think about it.
As the village passed by her, Zelda could not help but take in the way the people around her stopped to look towards her as she walked by, but for the first time, she was able to look at them and hear Paya's voice rather than her father's. Maybe they really did believe in her. It should have been a laughable thought, but, walking past a vegetable patch, wondering to herself who the man sitting on the ground was, only for Steen to look up at her, sending her a short nod before returning to his task of tending to what Zelda decided had to be carrots, it did not feel like a joke the way it had done the first time Paya had tried to convince her of that being the truth, especially as Zelda saw Steen's reaction to her walking him past mirrored by the other people who noticed her.
Despite the worry still clinging to her soul, as Zelda reached the training grounds, she could feel how she walked with a spring in her pace, one that soon changed to match the rhythm of the clatter of swords and yells as she walked over to the training grounds.
The moment Zelda walked past the little group of trees obstructing her view of the arena, she could see what had changed since the last time she had visited Ganondorf and Link during their training. Where they had used wooden swords only the day before, the purple bruises Link had showed them assuring Zelda that, for as much as it no doubt hurt to be hit, that was the extent of the damage the weapons could inflict when not used to seriously injure an opponent, now, the collision of weapons was accompanied by a metallic twang, sparks flying as Zelda watched Ganondorf struggle to hold onto his weapon as he narrowly managed to dodge Link's attack by rolling to the side, using his own sword to block before Link would have got the chance to finish the downward motion. Still, even as Zelda knew that she should have looked to Dorian to ask him if it was really safe for them to fight with real weapons, she could only watch as Ganondorf feinted left, Link instantly raising his sword to block an attack in a move that should not have come with the sensation of having seen it before, only for Ganondorf to move right. As Link's movements blurred, the blade becoming a line of grey as he swung it to the side, knocking Ganondorf's sword aside before spinning around, pulling the weapon out of Ganondorf's grasp, Zelda was able to place the reason for why the sword had looked familiar. Gasping for breath, Link finally stood still, a fact that allowed for Zelda to look down and see the purple and blue that twisted around the hilt of the sword. The Master Sword.
She must not have been able to remain as unnoticed as she had hoped to, for the next moment, Zelda saw how Link turned his head, the exhaustion on his face giving way to a smile as he looked back over his shoulder towards where Ganondorf stood with his hands on his knees, the sword already on the ground. "Hey, Gan, Zelda's here!"
"Huh?" Ganondorf looked up, and now, Zelda could recognise the result of a week of near constant training, for even though she had seen both of look like they were moments away from collapsing to the ground a few moments ago, both Ganondorf and Link ran over to her, Link placing a hand on top of one of the posts, swinging his legs over the fence in one, fluid movement, landing on the other side with a light thud.
Zelda heard how it earned him a light-hearted 'show-off' from Ganondorf, Link simply looking back at him for a moment to stick out his tongue before facing her again. "Is everything all right, Zelda? Did—how did it go with you and Impa?"
Zelda could hear how he tried not to ask the question that had no doubt gone through both his and Ganondorf's minds the moment they had spotted her, whether or not she had given up the same way she had done the day before, whether she had been able to do anything with her revelation. He could have done everything in the world to hide it, and it would still have been clear, so even though the fact that Link was not able to hide the concern in his eyes did not exactly help with her worries, Zelda could not blame him for it as she forced a smile onto her face, taking a moment to wave at Dorian as he walked over to join them at the fencepost.
"Yeah, it went—not great, exactly. I still haven't figured out just how to manifest my powers, but it was not a disaster either, so to answer your question, no, I have not run away from her this time, not that I can blame you for considering the possibility of that having happened."
As Link raised his hands, still smiling through the apology, Ganondorf leant in over the fence, frowning slightly. "So are you saying that Impa told you to come over here?"
Casting a glance in Dorian's direction, Zelda nodded. "Yes, she did. Apparently, she thought that we would have to change tactic—she told me something about there being some sort of fountain in the woods around here, but that, since it was not a journey that we could make in time to be back home before it would get dark, she would have to pack supplies, leaving me to go to see how the two of you were doing in the meantime. So," pushing the worry about just what Impa had meant by them running out of time aside, forcing herself not to burden her friends with it if she would not even have been able to explain to them what it meant, Zelda cocked her head, "how are the two of you doing?"
All three of them spoke at once.
"I think I am doing pretty good, though my attacks could be better coordinated—"
"Well, Link is still better at dodging than I am—"
However, it was Dorian who was able to drown out their voices to make himself heard as he answered the question, mirroring her stance, leaning against the fencepost and tilting his head. "Why don't you experience that for yourself?"
Zelda was not tired the way she used to be, but it still took her a couple of seconds after Ganondorf let out a little, surprised squeak to realise what he was asking her. Then, however, Zelda would be the first to admit that her own squeak was far higher in pitch than Ganondorf's. "What, you mean a duel?"
"Well," Dorian smiled at her, "we don't really call them duels anymore—I doubt that anyone has really referred to them like that since the second civil war—but if you meant a little training match between the three of you, then, yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking."
Before Zelda got the chance to inform him about the obvious flaw to his plan, the fact that, where Ganondorf and Link had been training with him for days now, she had spent her days sitting still as she tried her best to reach out for some unknown ability, Ganondorf had already started speaking. Moving closer to the fence, Zelda saw how his grip on the post became tighter, his voice sounding strained as he looked over at Dorian, Zelda noting the way he sent a quick glance towards Link, the two of them seemingly reaching a conclusion to a question she did not know if the tiny nod Link sent his way was any indication, Ganondorf hesitating for another moment before turning towards Dorian once again. "But she does not have any experience with swords! What if she gets hurt, what if—"
Dorian interrupted him just as Zelda reached out to place her hand on top of his only to see that it had the exact opposite effect than what she had intended, Ganondorf looking down at her with something in his eyes that almost resembled fear as Dorian shook his head. "I was not thinking that we would begin her training by giving her or any of you two permission to use actual swords." either missing how Ganondorf did not look convinced at all or simply deciding that he would end up agreeing with him, Dorian turned to face Zelda. "Instead, you would get a wooden sword, as would the two of them. It will hurt if you get hit, sometimes a lot, and it can leave bruises, but it will not kill you as easily as a real weapon can do if your opponent does not see you failing to block a stroke in time. So, what do you say? Do you want to try?"
It was not proper. Zelda could already see the expression her father would have made if he could have seen her, how he would have berated her for even considering it, finding everything about the offer, from the risk of injuries to the fact that it was hardly behaviour suitable for a politician and not at all for the image she needed to project onto the world, entirely unacceptable. So, of course, she said yes, trying her best to let the apology in her smile to Ganondorf seem real as she accepted the hand Dorian offered her to help her jump over the fence, Link cheering behind her as the sound of a light thud told her that he too had gone back into the arena.
Gesturing for them to split up, Ganondorf and Zelda heading towards one side of the fenced off area and Link walking over to the other, Dorian picked up three wooden swords from the ground, Zelda getting a distinct feeling that Ganondorf and Link would have been able to repeat everything he said in their sleep as Dorian handed out the weapons along with the rules for the duel. "All right, everyone, the rules for this match are as follows: one, if you think that you are about to injure your opponent, do not go through with an attack. I want you to get a sense of what it feels like to be in a battle, not for you to break a bone. Two, if you feel like giving up, do so, but only if you mean it. Three, I will decide when a hit is one that would have ended the battle in real life and, as such, I also determine who the winner is. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Link and Ganondorf chorused, Zelda joining in a moment later.
Dorian moved back to lean against the fence again, Zelda seeing how he failed to fully suppress a smile as he nodded. "Okay then. You may begin."
The change was instantaneous. Before Zelda had got a chance to do more than look down at the sword in her hand and lift it to try to get a sense of its weight, both Ganondorf and Link had already rushed towards each other, their weapons clashing as they met in the centre of the arena. Hearing how Dorian called out her name, no doubt to follow it up with an attempt at encouraging her to move closer to the battle itself, Zelda took a step forwards, trying her best to remember everything she had seen Ganondorf and Link do, lowering her centre of gravity, hoping that it would help her defend herself against a possible attempt at making her lose her balance, as she began to circle around where Ganondorf and Link had begun a series of, to Zelda, impressive strokes and feints. The wooden sword was nothing like the Zora spear, and although Zelda knew that, with how old the spear must have been, she should perhaps have found it harder to fight with than a sword that looked almost like something that could have been meant for children, she struggled to get a proper grasp on the handle, constantly feeling how it was about to slip out of her grasp.
"Ganondorf, Link! Focus on Zelda as well, she is just standing there!"
The order from Dorian was all it took for Zelda to find herself face to face with the fact that, while she had not spent the last week training every day, her friends had.
Really, the battle was over before it had even truly began, Link and Ganondorf each hesitating for little more than a fraction of a second before they began the attack. Once they did, it was over in moments, Zelda soon finding herself struggling to make out just who was attacking her, every little bit of her attention already taken up by the desperate attempts at blocking the attacks. There were no feints, or at least Zelda was not able to notice it if Ganondorf and Link tried to trick her into thinking that they would attack from another side than they really were, nor did Zelda think that there would have been any need for them to utilise any kind of tactic. With how difficult it already was for her to keep track of two opponents when they were doing nothing other than continuing a steady barrage of attacks, Zelda was not able to tell whether or not a feint would have worked at all or if she would have missed it amidst her struggle not to let a stroke hit her. As she was forced to step back, already knowing that she would soon find herself with her back against the fence, Zelda could hear Dorian try to give her advice from his spot outside the arena, but for as much as she knew that she needed any kind of help that she could get, Zelda was not able to make out what he was saying. It could not have been more than a minute since they had started, but it already felt like the fight had lasted for hours, sweat beginning to run down Zelda's forehead as strands of hair moved to hang down in front of her eyes.
That was when it happened, the sweat and hair in her eyes combining with the fact that she had forgot everything she had ever known about the art of fencing the moment Ganondorf and Link remembered her presence. Even as Zelda saw the sword come towards her, saw how Link had spun around, putting further momentum into the swinging gesture, she could only barely manage to bring up her own sword in time, stopping him from hitting her directly, but still finding herself stumbling to the side, the ground flying up to greet her as she lost her balance.
Barely managing to keep herself from hitting her head against the ground, instead softening her fall a little by letting her hands get the worst scrapes, Zelda let sword remain sword, instead hurrying to crawl away from the fight as Ganondorf and Link turned their attention towards one another now that she was no longer there to have Dorian yell at them to remember her.
If Zelda had thought that the fight had been intense before, both when she had watched the two of them spar on their own and when she had joined, the fight became quick as lightning the moment she was no longer part of it.
With movements that only increased in speed and intensity, Ganondorf and Link moved along the edge of the arena, alternating between moving forwards, trying to force the other to surrender or move away, only for the other to respond with another series of attacks, each of them looking like they should have been the winning blow. And still, they kept on fighting, Ganondorf pushing forwards, forcing Link to take a couple of steps back, readjusting his tactic as he feinted left, Ganondorf following along as Link moved away from the fence and the risk of being cornered. From where Zelda was standing, it looked almost as if they were not thinking about their next hit at all, both of them moving on impulse, carried forwards by something outside of their control, only for those slight pauses where she would see Ganondorf look to the side for a fraction of a second before attacking to show her that there was thought put into the attempts at forcing the other to surrender, that it was merely a matter of her not being able to follow along with everything that was happening after having not received training where the two of them had. So she stayed where she was, grateful for the tacit surrender they had interpreted her moving away from the battle as.
It happened in a matter of seconds. Taking a step forwards, shifting his weight to put as much power into his stroke as possible, Ganondorf opened up his left side for an attack as he raised his sword, Link spotting it within moments and following through with a quick swipe of his sword, the attack aimed towards the spot just halfway between the hip and the knee.
Ganondorf stumbled, taking a series of small steps forwards, but he had already lost his balance, and although he fell with considerably more grace than Zelda had done as Link finished off the fight with a leap to put momentum behind the blow aimed at Ganondorf's right arm, fact was that he still fell, barely managing to look up before Link had tapped the tip of his blade against his chest, a wide smile already forming on his face as Dorian stepped away from the fence, waving at them to stop.
"I think we have a winner here! Good job, Link—that was a good way of making him believe that you would attack from the right."
"Well, I think that he saw it coming," Link replied, already letting his sword fall to the ground to help Ganondorf up from the ground again, "so it was probably just a matter of me being quicker than him at following through on it."
Readjusting his tunic a little, Ganondorf pushed his hair out of his face to shake his head at Link. "No, I really had not seen it coming. I was so sure that you would try to go for a spin attack rather than the leap, which, by the way, was really impressive from such a short guy." elbowing Link in the side, Ganondorf was repaid with a chuckle as he continued. "Who would have thought that someone as small as you would be able to jump that high up from the ground without any kind of preparation? I know for a fact that I had not expected for that to happen."
Pushing his arm aside, still grinning up at him, Link retorted. "Yeah, well, if I can't beat you at your own game, I will just have to be stronger than you to put me on your level. But what about you, Zelda?" at the mention of her name and the subsequent reaction of all three of them to look over at where she was still leaning against the fence, Zelda stood up straighter as Link gestured for her to come over to join them. "What did you think about it? Thinking about taking lessons from the best of the best as well?"
They were trying to include her in the conversation. That much, Zelda could still see. However, even as she could see how Dorian let out a sigh, not quite able to hide a smile as Link spoke, she could not hear what Link was saying, every last bit of her attention being stolen away be the figure that was just a few metres away from her, standing in the little patch of grass that separated the arena from the winding path that ran past it.
He was not there, could not have been there, and Zelda did not believe in the idea of spirits coming back to haunt her, a fact that left only the possibility of it being a product of her imagination behind to explain what she was seeing, but even then, she could not ignore the instinctive reaction of a little gasp and the desperate attempt at smoothing out the wrinkles in her clothing, knowing that she would not be able to brush off the dirt as easily, as she looked over to see her father look at her, the disapproval clear in his eyes as he cast a glance at her before looking towards Ganondorf and Link.
"Zelda? Are you all right?"
Startling at the sensation of someone placing a hand on her shoulder, Zelda looked to the side to see Dorian looking down at her. Trying her best to find the words for what she had just seen, Zelda found that it was impossible to describe the sight that had just met her, how she had seen her father for the first time in months, instead gesturing towards the little patch of grass.
Dorian followed the line she drew, and even though the image had already disappeared, leaving the grass as just that, Zelda saw how Dorian's expression mirrored hers as his hand fell from her shoulder, Dorian taking a step away from her, shaking his head wildly before looking back over at her, every last line on his face telling her that he had seen something as well, although the combination of fear, regret, and grief on his face indicated that he had not seen the father of someone he had known for only a few weeks.
"I—I have to go," Dorian mumbled, barely raising his voice as he turned to look over at where Ganondorf and Link appeared to finally have noticed the change in the atmosphere surrounding them, "you have all done well, so we can stop a bit earlier today." with that, Dorian walked over to the fence, not even bothering to reach the gate, instead jumping over the fencepost, breaking into a run the moment he landed on the other side. It did not take long before he had rounded the corner, moving out of their sight.
"What was that about?" moving over to stand next to Zelda, Ganondorf looked from her towards the direction in which Dorian had taken off. "Did he say something to you about what he was going to do?"
He had not, but before Zelda would have been able to tell Ganondorf that, before she would have had to figure out whether or not to tell him about how, for a moment, she had been certain that she had seen her father, a brief flash of light caught her attention. It lasted for a heartbeat, and yet, as Zelda saw it for what it was, there was no doubt in her mind about what she would have to do.
"Look out!" moving forwards, Zelda already had grabbed onto the sleeve of Ganondorf's tunic before she was able to produce any sound, pulling him along with her as she threw herself down onto the ground. She could hear how Ganondorf gasped, no doubt about to ask her what she was doing, as the feeling of something cutting through the air rushed past them, a whistling noise being all they got as a warning before the arrowhead cut into the wooden planks directly next to where they had just been standing, the arrow left to quiver with the force it had been sent through the air with.
"What—"
Zelda heard the question as Ganondorf followed her line of sight, but she had already moved on, hurrying forwards. There was no time to stop and try to explain the dread that filled her as she saw another flash of light, this time coming from the hills that surrounded the village. It happened in a matter of seconds, but it felt like years as Zelda looked up from the ground to see that Link was still standing there, looking down at where she and Ganondorf were still lying on the ground, the puzzled expression already beginning to give way to realisation that would come far too late for him to avoid the arrow Zelda could hear being released in the distance, flying through the air to hit its mark. There was nothing for her to do, not as she tried her best to push herself up from the ground, knowing all too well that even if she was, by some miracle, able to stand up in time, it would not be enough for her to reach Link and pull him down along with her, and certainly not as she lay there, but Zelda could still not force herself to look away from Link as the arrow cut through the air.
For a fraction of a second, Zelda was sure that it had hit its mark, that the soft thud was the sound of Link's gasp, but the next thing she knew, the arrow had followed the fate of the first, left in the planks of improvised flooring below them, and, finally, Zelda realised the full extent of what had happened.
"An attack!" she screamed the word, and, at last, she succeeded in making Ganondorf and Link move, Ganondorf jumping to his feet to sprint over to her to help her up from the ground before grabbing onto Link's arm, all three of them bolting towards the gate.
Zelda heard the wood break as Ganondorf kicked open the gate, but there was no time to feel sorry for having ruined Dorian's training area, not as Zelda saw Ganondorf stop, yelling Link's name just as Zelda realised that Link had torn his arm out of Ganondorf's grasp, running back towards the arena. Already, Zelda knew what had caused him to step out into one of the most exposed areas of the village, the blue and purple hilt of the Master Sword looking almost like a way of marking a target as Link picked it up, narrowly managing to step out of the way of an arrow that pierced through the air to hit the spot where he had been just a quarter of a second earlier to instead sprint back towards them.
All around them, Zelda could hear the sounds of the beginning of the end, screams soon rising up from the paths around her as people began to search for cover, Zelda spotting people ducking in under trees, standing as close to the tree trunk as they could. It was what the initial end of the world had not been, messy, noisy, and with more than enough time for Zelda to take in the fact that, despite Impa telling her that they were safe, clearly, someone had been able to find them. Seeing how people continued to run around, several children simply beginning to cry out in the open, Zelda wished that she was able to yell at them to head inside the nearest house, but with how the roofs all looked like they consisted of materials that were left behind from the past, she doubted that it would be able to change much, to do more than merely delaying the inevitable.
"What are we going to do?" Ganondorf yelled the question, but it still sounded like he was several kilometres away from her as Zelda forced herself to focus on nothing but the fact that they had to get away from Kakariko Village immediately.
"Impa!" she gasped, already trying to steer them in the direction of the stairs leading up to her house. "We have to go find Impa!"
As arrows flew through the air around them, Zelda feeling the wind that followed a few of them brush against her neck, she would not have expected for Ganondorf to try to argue with the only idea they had that had even the faintest resemblance to a plan, but it still took her by surprise how he immediately nodded at her, a grim expression blocking out everything else as he held onto her and Link, the two of them struggling to follow along as Ganondorf used his height to his advantage, moving faster and faster, the sound of their uneven breathing and footfalls soon blurring into the background along with the panicked yells of everyone around them. It should have felt as if it was all a bad dream, one she would soon wake up from, but as they turned around the corner to find that Impa had left the house, carrying a rucksack in her hand as she moved down the stairs, Zelda knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was not something that could be fixed by her pinching herself or reminding herself that even though it might feel like she could not breathe, like she was going to die there, she could still run.
Holding up the rucksack above her head, Impa reached the foot of the stairs, already trusting it into Ganondorf's arms as she turned towards Zelda, grabbing onto her hands as she leant in towards her. "I am so sorry, my dear, but we have run out of time." she spoke quickly, every word threatening to disappear into the next to form an incomprehensible noise that left Zelda unable to decide whether it was due to the sound of her blood rushing through her veins in an attempt at supplying every muscle with oxygen at the rate she burnt through it or if it was simply due to what the world had become, everything descending into chaos in a matter of seconds, that she could not make sense of what was happening. "I truly did believe that we would have more, but now, you have to leave this place while you still can—"
"But my powers!" it should have been unimportant, the last thing to go through Zelda's mind as Ganondorf gripped onto the rucksack, slinging it onto his shoulders to once again reach out and try to hold onto her arm, forcing her to come along with him and Link, but Zelda still found herself holding onto Impa's hands like her life depended on it. "I still don't understand anything! What about my abilities—what will I do without them? What is going on—Impa, you have to explain this, I—"
"There is no time, Zelda, not if the three of you are to get out of here alive." Zelda saw the moment Impa gave up on getting through to her, how she instead looked over her shoulder, gesturing towards Link and Ganondorf as she continued. "Go to the Temple of Time! There, you might just be able to find the answers that you need!"
"But—"
"Zelda!" the voice cut through the panic for a second, Zelda looking away from Impa, up towards the house.
Then, the panic returned.
Up there, standing just a few metres away from the door, but still so far out in the open that Zelda knew that neither of them would be able to do anything, should one of the attackers notice that fact, was Paya. Either not recognising or perhaps ignoring the danger she was in, Zelda saw how she followed her grandmother in rushing down the stairs, Zelda only given the time to open her mouth to try to find the words to tell her to get back inside immediately before Paya had leapt off the last step, throwing her arms around her with so much momentum behind her that Zelda found herself instinctively taking a step backwards to maintain her balance, Ganondorf steadying both of them as she backed into him.
"Paya?" she was wasting time, Zelda already feeling how the precious seconds they could not afford to waste slipped away between her hands, and still, she found herself reaching out, holding on to Paya like she would have disappeared into thin air if she loosened her grip around her waist just the tiniest bit.
"Come on, Zelda, we have to go!"
Link's yell along with Ganondorf 's attempt at pulling her along with them brought her back to reality, Zelda looking over at Paya and realising exactly what was going to happen, that the moment she would let go of her, they would be separated again.
"No." Zelda shook her head, leaning in closer towards Paya, the result being that both of them had to take a step backwards as Ganondorf continued to try to bring all of them towards where the mountain pass led away from the village. "Paya, please, come with us, we—I need you, please!"
Already, Zelda knew what the answer would be, but it did nothing to lessen the pain as Paya shook her head, looking almost like she was about to apologise for it before changing course to instead let her hands brush against Zelda's arms as she brought an end to the hug. Immediately, Zelda found herself forced to take another step away from her, losing her hold on her.
"I am going to be fine, Zelda. As long as you can promise me the same thing, nothing really bad is going to happen." Paya said the words as every last thing about her facial expression and body language said the exact opposite, Zelda not missing how her shoulders had risen up towards her ears, Paya's gaze flickering away from hers as another arrow flew through the air, missing both of them by centimetres to instead hit the wooden stairs.
"But—" Zelda began, only for the sound of what she could almost believe was thunder to tear her away from Paya.
She was pulled backwards, Zelda no longer able to determine whether it was Ganondorf or Link who had reached out to grab her just in time to pull her back and away from Paya and Impa seconds before the tree next to the road began to fall to the side, the sound of wood creaking and roots being torn out of the ground soon filling the air around them as Zelda saw the disaster unfold in front of her, the tree soon collapsing under its own weight to land where she and Paya had been mere seconds before.
She could have died. Rationally, Zelda knew that she should have stopped to take in what had just happened, to try to make sense of the way Paya looked over at her, the mask of calmness having fully given way to panic as her grandmother all but dragged her back up the stairs, but it was almost as if she was not quite present anymore, like it was someone else who forced her to move, to tear her gaze away from how the door fell shut behind them just in time to stop an arrow from following them into the house, to run alongside Ganondorf and Link as they all began to sprint through the defile. Around her, Zelda could hear how the sounds of fighting in the village grew distant, dimmed by their attempt at sprinting away from it all.
They should turn around. It would have been the right thing to do, to go back and help everyone, but as Zelda tried to slow down, Ganondorf was at her side in moments, grabbing onto her hand and continuing to run along the mountain pass. At least that was what Zelda wanted to believe was the reason that she did not try harder to make them turn around and help, that she physically could not do it. It was a far more pleasant thought than the idea that it might be a matter or her lacking the courage to move directly back towards the most dangerous place in the area was. Compared to that, the fact that she could still see how Paya's eyes had widened as she had avoided the tree by centimetres, it was easier to let Ganondorf pull her along, unable to focus on what he and Link were yelling at each other with how the sound of her own heartbeat echoed in her ears.
The attack happened instantly, the only warning they got being an intense feeling of dread that made Zelda move ahead, barely pausing to note how Ganondorf and Link fell silent as she stopped in front of them, hand outstretched as an orange plume of smoke appeared from out of thin air, a gust of wind blowing it away to reveal how a member of the Yiga Clan was standing right in front of them.
With the oranges and greys of their clothes seeming almost like a reflection of how the orange smoke twisted around the curved blade in their hand, it was beyond Zelda how they had ever been able to fool themselves into believing for even a second that the Yiga Clan could be anything other than a threat to them. The mask did not allow them to make out any expression, but Zelda could still imagine the satisfied smirk that must have passed over the soldier's face as they raised their weapon. Victory was almost guaranteed, Zelda left there, trying her best to force her magic to manifest as the sun was reflected by the metal, the Yiga member effectively cutting off their only escape route.
Closing her eyes, Zelda tried not to imagine how it would happen, not to wait for the imminent attack. It was better that way.
Above her, she felt the air brushing against her face as the blade was brought down, but rather than a sharp sense of pain, what followed was the feeling of someone grabbing onto her arm so tightly that it felt like they were going to dislocate it as they yanked her backwards, away from the weapon.
Metal struck metal, Zelda opening her eyes again to see that Link had parried the attack, shoving the Yiga soldier off balance with a twist of the sword, making them lose their grip on their own blade. It hit the ground just as Link finished the attack with a quick kick to their stomach, the Yiga member recoiling, one hand raised to cover their stomach as Ganondorf rushed past them, Zelda following alongside him.
"Go, go, go, go!" Link screamed the words, pivoting around to put his momentum into catching up with them.
However, the Yiga soldier did the same, Zelda hearing how the sound of footfalls behind them slowly began to move closer to them, and the next thing she knew, pain shot through her scalp as someone grabbed onto a fistful of her hair. The world should have slowed down around her as Zelda realised that she could feel the warmth of the Yiga soldier as they held onto her hair, that they were not going to let go again, but rather than slowing down, it appeared that the world began to spin even faster, threatening to leave them behind as Zelda tried to tear her hair out of their grip, gritting her teeth as her efforts proved to be in vain.
"Zelda, move away from them now!"
She did not have time to try to figure out what was going to happen, and so, without thinking, she followed the order, pulling her head to the side as she felt the strain in her hair as it was stretched out to its full length.
The sound of metal cutting through air preceded a hiss of pain as the tension disappeared to allow her to be dragged forwards by Ganondorf, the two of them only pausing for a moment to look back at where Link had finally caught up with them, a few drops of blood having stained the tip of the Master Sword red.
Gesturing towards where the defile opened up to the familiar sight of the lake she and Paya had dipped their feet in only a day ago, Link did not show any signs of exhaustion as he yelled at them. "Continue that way! If we are surrounded in here, we won't stand a chance; I need to get out in the open to have a chance when faced with the Yiga Clan!"
His words were followed by a loud rumble, Zelda instinctively looking, halfway expecting to see dark clouds and the beginning of a storm, only to see a cloudless sky. The sight seemed almost misplaced among the adrenaline and the fear as they broke into one last sprint towards the end of the defile, that the sky would look more like it had been meant for a picnic as they ran for their lives, and still, the rumble continued, growing in intensity, until it was a matter of the entire world shaking around them. Through the fog of the adrenaline in her mind, it took Zelda a moment too long to realise that she had been right about that, that it was indeed a matter of the entire world shaking around her, and, in the end, it was nothing but pure, dumb luck that saved them, Zelda hearing how something was moving above their heads, the boulder almost blocking out the sun as it rolled towards the edge of the cliff above them, casting a long shadow down over them as it balanced there for another moment before gravity took hold of it, pulling it down towards the ground..
It hit the ground with a kind of loud, thunderous crash that Zelda had only ever heard when watching bad action films, the gust of wind that followed pushing all three of them forwards., Zelda barely managing to remain upright as they all stopped to look back at what could have been their deaths.
The boulder was enormous, its width nearly equal to that of the mountain pass, and with a height that reached up far above the point where they might still have been able to climb over it, making her have to crane her neck to look up towards the top of it. Glancing towards where Ganondorf and Link had stopped next to her as well, Link still clutching the Master Sword, looking like it was the only thing that kept him standing, and Ganondorf looking at the boulder, forming silent words, Zelda knew that they were all taking in the size of the boulder and reaching the same conclusion: no one would be able to use that road to enter or leave Kakariko Village anymore.
Zelda was certain that they could have stayed there until the end of times or until another member of the Yiga Clan would have found them, but in the end, Ganondorf shook his head, looking almost like he was shaking off a spell as he took another step backwards, away from the boulder. "We—we have to get going. We have no idea about how much time that will buy us, if it will even change anything."
Logically, Zelda knew that he was right. The boulder might have fallen to cut off the path into Kakariko Village, but with how the first arrows had come from the hills surrounding the village, it would be dangerous to assume that it ruled out the possibility of the Yiga still following them, using the elevation of their surroundings to their advantage. And yet, for as much as Zelda could recognise the fact that they had to continue, had to move further away from Kakariko Village before they would be able to breathe for a moment, she could not ignore the feeling of the danger having passed.
"Please," Ganondorf repeated, reaching out to tug at her hand, "Zelda, you know that I am right. We have to leave now!"
She was about to tell him that she was not so sure of that but a single glimpse of the look in his eyes was enough to silence her. Ganondorf was not looking at her. Despite talking to her and still trying to get her to move further away from the boulder, he was looking directly past her, and as Zelda turned to follow his line of sight, she saw what had caused the fearful look in his eyes.
Link was staring at the boulder. That, in itself, would perhaps not have been enough for Zelda to note how her heart skipped a beat, fear once again clouding her thoughts, but there was something about the way he looked as he stood there, having tightened his grip on the hilt of the Master Sword to a point where it looked like he could not have let go of it if he had wanted to, that made her veins feel like they contained nothing but ice as a drop of blood fell from the tip of the blade, hitting the grass below.
That was what made the decision for her, Zelda reaching out to grab onto his arm. Trying her best to ignore the way Link looked at her like he could not recognise her, Zelda tried to pull him along with her as she nodded towards Ganondorf. "He is right, Link. We have to get going."
Link blinked, the distant gleam in his eyes disappearing as he blinked once and then twice, nodding his head for a moment, everything about him, from the way he his glance shifted from her and over to Ganondorf to the crease that appeared between his brows, sending chills down Zelda's spine as he finally moved, all three of them running towards the bridge that would hopefully lead them further away from both Kakariko Village and the Yiga Clan. They crossed it without hesitating, Zelda barely having time to ponder the question of what would happen to them if it really did give way below them before they were on the other side.
There was no plan, no moment where any of them stopped to try to think of an idea about what they would do, try to get a sense of what options they had left, what the best tactic would be. The only thing they had to hold onto as they continued to run was panic and adrenaline. That was all the years of receiving top marks in almost every subject had left Zelda with, blind panic, the echo of Impa telling them that they would have to head to the Temple of Time if they wanted to find the answers they had hoped to find in the village they had just abandoned to its fate, and the inability to do anything other than forcing herself to push through the pain as she struggled to keep up with Ganondorf and Link as they all sprinted towards the forest the rose up on the other side of the field, united in their shared assessment of it being their only chance of escaping both the arrows and the Yiga Clan in the event that they would try to track them down.