Ghosts of the PastZelda sat atop the hill in eastern Ridgelands, looking afar at the construction ongoing at Hyrule castle. She enjoyed quiet afternoons like this; they were few and far between as of late, but at least political errands got her out and about once in a while. To enjoy the soft breeze cascading down from the Hebra mountains, the scent of fresh grass budding in the early summer, and the warmth of a rejuvenated sun lightly bathing her skin; it was almost perfection, almost enough to let her forget exactly what this quiet peace had cost.
Zelda looked downward to the ridge below where her compatriot had set up for lunch. She had been so engrossed in the moment she almost forgot that there was half a mushroom skewer still left for her to eat. As peaceful as these solitary moments were, she was thankful she had someone to share it with. He was currently putting out the flames of the cooking fire, and packing the saddles back up to move onward. It had only been a precious few months since she and her knight had ended the Calamity, but still, life seemed to carry onward so rapidly that at times Zelda felt she was unable to keep up.
The position of Queen had been handed to her, but she had declined, instead pushing for a more unified form of government with all the other tribes that had endured the Calamity. It would be a lot more work, but it felt wrong to lord over the ashes of a kingdom she had failed where so many others had triumphed. In some sense she knew that she carried the burden for failing Hyrule in the first place, and yet failure had taught her a valuable lesson: to trust in those around you to be at your aid. Still, every day she regretted being the one to survive where so many others had paid the price for the weft and weave of the fates: A callous disregard for those around them in order to keep the pieces of a prophecy in line.
Zelda's mind was cast back momentarily to the cosmic battle she held for a century with the Calamity. How in those years she had become intertwined with her divinity, and tapped into Hylia herself. The omnipotence, the omnipresence… sometimes even thinking about it still made her head spin and her stomach turn. The knowledge and power of a goddess had come with its own terrible burden, however. She still remembered the uncomfortable truths that she learned while in that god-like state, though Zelda was sure it was not intended by the divinities for her to remember.
If heknew it would destroy him.
"He's sacrificed so much already… it would serve little to no purpose but heartache for him to know now." Zelda thought to herself.
Almost on cue, she felt a soft tap on her boot. As she was brought out of her trance, Zelda was met with long blond hair and stark blue eyes looking at her quizzically. The man motioned to the horses, ready for travel again, and then slowly back to her and the half-eaten skewer.
Zelda's mind was still half awash with her divine experience, and her swirling thoughts had ruined her appetite.
"It was delicious. Thank you, Link", she stated. "But I have only appetite for this much. Could I interest you in finishing the rest?" Zelda turned up a smile at the latter half of her question. She knew the answer already, he didn't have to speak it.
Link gingerly took the skewer from her hand before tearing what was left off and consuming it in a single bite, which earned a giggle from Zelda. After inhaling the rest of her meal, he offered a hand for her to hold as she jumped down from the ridge. Zelda had gotten quite used to traveling abroad, mostly for political meetings or conferences with villages, but it allowed her to accumulate some much needed strength in her legs. They could have used the Sheikah Slate to make quick work of the travel time, and initially they did, but Zelda felt that old-fashioned travel gave her a better holistic view of the land and it's progress if she actually walked in it. She grabbed Link's hand, hopped down with ease and made her way to her horse. Before she got far, however, her arm was tugged at her wrist as Link held on, not letting her go. Zelda whirled around to search his eyes for an explanation, and she found it. She had seen that look on his face before, especially predating the Calamity, and she knew what it meant.
She sighed in feigned exasperation, and sighed: "No, I will not overexert myself. If I grow peckish or tired later I shall tell you." She made it sound stern, but after their months of traveling together she had come to enjoy him looking after her. Before the Calamity it felt like one more person was overbearing and exercising their will over her, as many had, but now she came to appreciate exactly what it was: a genuine care for her and her wellbeing.
Zelda dropped her facade as Link dropped her wrist in acceptance, and pulled him into a hug. "I don't know what I would do without you."
As she pulled away, Zelda observed the soft smile on his face, much to her delight. "Now come! We have a long way to go before we reach the Gerudo pass, and we need to be there in two days time. Now with the route I planned for us..."
Link kept her monologue in the back of his periphery as they mounted their horses and he took in his surroundings. It had been only a short time since these hills were crawling with minions of Calamity Ganon, and he had to be on guard in the hills. Now that the blood moon would not rise again, remnants of the monsters that had plagued the land were scarcely found. The occasional Bokoblin troop would wander inland, but reports of them came fast, and justice faster. Fewer and fewer incidents had occurred over the past months, and for the first time Link felt like he could actually appreciate the scenery for what it was, and not as a means of tactical advantage. It was...nice.
But as always, when he scanned the terrain as they rode, his eyes were drawn to the west. Link looked out to the Lanayru province to the mountain that housed Vah Ruta. The Divine Beasts had laid dormant since the defeat of the Calamity, but every time that Link looked over to that mountain he felt the same thing: a rush in his heart and a pit in his stomach.
Link reflected on the time he had spent there before stopping the Calamity. Hearing the stories of his past exploits and his relation to Mipha, the Zora Princess and Champion. Her brother Sidon, made everything sound so concreteand real.But he didn't remember any of it, just choice scenes from a larger picture. He did not know the extent of their relations, but he knew it called within him… something. All he knew is that it was a different experience freeing Mipha from the Calamity's Blight than the other champions. A sort of melancholy hung in the air when Link spoke with Mipha's spirit, whereas with the other Champions, it was all duty and destiny.
Link subconsciously reached toward his pack as he turned his head back to the road, almost having to pry it away from the mountain across the fields. He felt the smooth scale armor, and traced his hand along the ornate silver within the satchel. It was the one extra thing that he took with him everywhere, though he didn't know why. Maybe it was a sense of responsibility to honor the Zora Princess' final wishes, but that didn't feel entirely correct. In any case, he knew that the armor Mipha had made to him was precious, for one reason or another, and he treated it as such.
"Maybe… we can spend some time together."
"Are you even listening to me?"
And just like that Linked was snapped back into reality.
"South road. West past the plateau. Stop at Jee Noh until sundown for research. Ride through the pass, stay at the oasis overnight, arrive early in the morning, visit Vah Nabooris later in the day." Link retorted.
All Zelda could muster is a small huff of indignation before continuing onward, discussing what she hoped to find and extract from Jee Noh Shrine.
As distracted with the past as he was, Link also came to appreciate Zelda much more since the end of the Calamity. She was no longer caught up in a role of unending failure, which lifted a lot of the pressure off of their relationship and took great strides to make up for her mistakes in the past. She had been treating him much more fairly than before, and a great deal more than that, as their relationship had gotten more intimate as of late. It was a nice gesture to be sure, but sometimes Link wasn't sure if their close encounters were just another part of his duty as a chosen knight, or if it was supposed to be more. Not that it made it less enjoyable, but those carnal moments just felt like they were missing something. "Perhaps" he thought as he looked over at Zelda, "that gap will be bridged in time."
Arriving at Jee Noh Shrine, the pair dismounted their steeds. Zelda produced the Sheikah Slate, and handed it off to Link as he led her inside. The lifts that descended downward into the shrines were always just too small for two people, so Zelda had made a habit of tucking herself under Link's arm and holding him as they descended. At first it came purely out of necessity, but now it was a much more comfortable gesture. She enjoyed being this close to him, feeling the warmth of his skin on hers. As they were lowered, memories of a few nights ago flashed into Zelda's mind. Grasping at bundled sheets, heavy breathing, soft moans escaping their lips... Zelda began to feel warmth erupting from her core, and then the heat crept into her cheeks as she blushed, trying to push the memory from her mind. They had work to do after all, she couldn't be distracted by such things.
"Save it for the Oasis…" Zelda thought. She pondered if Link ever recalled such memories to himself, and stole a quick glance at his face, not that she thought it would do a lot of good. Link was as stoic as ever as they finished their descent into the shrine, giving nothing to hint at an answer to her inquiry. Zelda stepped away from Link and pulled out a notepad and charcoal, doing what she always did when they delved into one of the many shrines scattered throughout Hyrule: She asked questions. Zelda would ask and Link would answer as best he could. Sometimes she thought, it was like pulling teeth to get any details out of him.
As they walked along the dormant shrine, Link explained to her how he used the slate to manipulate the orbs and the moving platforms to move further into the shrine. Zelda would often ask extraneous information, or at least that's how it seemed to him, like:
"What does the pattern on this wall mean?"
or:
"Oh, what was in this chest when he came here?"
Link almost never recalled the latter question. He flew through these shrines in such a hurry to save the realm from the Calamity they all blended together sometimes.
The duo arrived at the seat of the Shrine monk, now dusted and gone. Zelda hopped up onto the pedestal, looking at the ancient lettering that surrounded the area.
"You know, I think we're really close to being able to create a cypher for this ancient text…" Zelda posited as she tapped the charcoal on her chin. "What do you think? A few more shrines and we may be able to piece it toge- why are you looking at me like that?" She inquired, utterly confused. Link, stifling a laugh, stepped up onto the pedestal with Zelda while shaking his head, and reached with his left hand to hold her chin in place. He then licked his right thumb and wiped away the residue that Zelda had left on herself from tapping the charcoal. Still confused, she looked at him incredulously until he flipped his thumb around, and let go of her chin.
"Charcoal." Link said simply, giving Zelda a smile. This caused Zelda to outburst in laughter at the prospect of running around with a large black mark in the center of her chin.
"Thank you, Link." Zelda laughed. "Come. I believe we have all we can gain from this shrine. I believe the sun should be setting now, perfect for our ride through the canyon."
Link nodded and ushered her out of the shrine, again tucking her into himself as they rode the lift upward.
Zelda smiled as she pulled into him, laughing at the moment they had just shared, until she caught a glimpse of a discarded weapon as they rose. It must have been tossed in utility to help Link complete the shrine months ago, but it's presence here only served to remind her of the dark truth she held close. The silver gleam of the Zora spear faded from view as the blue lights surrounded them on their ascent, but the pangs of guilt did not. They drummed at the inside of her skull, pushing to escape one way or another. Suddenly his arm around her didn't feel like a warm security, but a cold reminder of their intertwined destiny, and the cruelty of fate. She consciously stood straighter, trying to ever so slightly pry herself out of his embrace. The guilt grew and grew, pounding in her chest now, and the dark tunnel they were rising through was not helping. The closer she was to him, the worse she felt. The musty air in the lift was starting to become too hard to breathe. Zelda's chest rose and fell quicker and quicker, on the verge of hyperventilation. She was going to lose it for sure. The guilt and grief were becoming overbearing now, like a Goron resting themselves on her shoulders. She had to say something. It wasn't fair, it wasn't-
Daylight.
Zelda breathed a sigh of relief as she separated herself from Link, practically falling out of the lift towards their horses.
Link followed her, a confused look on his face, bracing to be ready to catch her if she fell.
"You alright?" he called, trying to see if she needed any assistance.
"Yeah!" She said in between deep gasps of breath, almost a little overenthusiastically. "Sorry, you were definitely right. I should've eaten that second half of that skewer!" Zelda stammered out, waving off his concerns with what she perceived to be an innocent lie.
"Mmm." Link said simply, accepting her alibi, and helped her onto her horse. Zelda recoiled slightly at his touch initially, being taken by surprise, but relented, at the very least to keep up appearances.
"We should get going," Zelda mused. "The ride through the desert is going to get colder the longer we take."
Zelda paused for a second before instructing him: "Lead on, if you please."
Link nodded in affirmation, and led his horse into the canyon. Before Zelda moved on behind him, she cast one last glance at Jee Noh Shrine, and then backwards towards Zora's domain.
Zelda closed her eyes and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Mipha."