You guys are the best. I have no words for my gratitude. I am so lucky to have you read this. Thank you for feeling with Link and Zelda, thank you for being patient with their incompetence of dealing with their emotions and thank you for being patient with me. Don't be mad with me - this chapter has to be endured, it will get way better after :)
Love you all! 3
Zelda didn't hear the door open or anyone enter the room, Paya's squeak was the only indication that Link must be standing behind them. Immediately, the soon-to-be leader of the Shiekah, who had been worry dignified until just now, turned into a blushing, flustered girl.
Zelda suppressed whatever impatience the sight caused to stir within her. She was aware, that she was merely seeing herself in Paya's reaction.
Especially after that night.
Zelda had already seen Link in the distance, after waking up. Alone, thank the goddess. She probably would have frozen into a pillar of shame and insecurity, when she would have to face Link right away. With sleep still crusting her eyes and morning breath.
However, once again, Link had earned her gratitude. His presence alone had kept the ghosts of Ganon out of her dreams, filling them with sweet images instead.
Even if those had turned to bitterness in the morning.
Zelda had made a decision, when she had asked Link to stay. She had needed him, she could manage to be at least this honest with herself.
And now she would deal with it, with her head held high.
She had waved at Link cautiously as he had followed her path to Impa's house with all-seeing eyes, never interrupting his conversation with Steen, the Shiekah who grew Swift Carrots in the village and ran the small general store with his wife.
"I suppose it's the holy hero who graces us with his presence," Impa nasalized from under the blankets, once again piled on top of her. Zelda had been able to persuade Paya to take down at least some of the quilts again - there had been more when she first came in - but there were enough left, that Impa's form was completely engulfed by them.
Every now and then the mountain of blankets would shake, as it did now, when Impa tried to move.
"That's what this sudden silence tells me."
Smugness did not suit Impa well, and Zelda pressed her lips together with a gloomy expression.
Involuntarily, she looked to Paya, who had abruptly turned white as snow at Impa's words, her shoulders rounded in misery. It was hard to watch. Just a moment ago, she had been loudly urging her grandmother to take this illness seriously. She had seemed so intense then, that Zelda had been a tiny bit afraid of her.
Her eyes, which had been fiery just a minute ago, now looked dispirited and hopeless.
Paya quivered like a small bird, on the verge of fleeing, even if she couldn't fly away. Which, at that moment, she obviously longed to do.
"Oh, good. You're still alive," Link said dryly.
Zelda turned to him in irritation. He had taken a step into the room and seemed completely unaffected by Impa's attempt at manipulation.
Zelda heard Paya gasp. But probably even those heartless words would not change her adoration for Link.
In Paya's eyes, Link was without fault.
Even when he was acting like an insensitive ox.
Zelda regarded him with a silent shake of her head.
Link returned her gaze with complete indifference, only the gleam in his eyes evidence of the fun he had with this.
He wore tight-fitting pants made of green fabric and a tunic that left his upper arms bare. He also wore a pair of leather-trimmed gloves. Nothing particularly flashy, but definitely not his normal riding attire.
"Why are you dressed like that?"
"Why are you dressed like that?" he shot back, looking down at her. In a gesture of incomprehension, Zelda spread her hands. "What do you mean? I look perfectly normal." She was wearing the same clothes she had worn the day before. Her blue tunic and breeches made of soft leather.
At her words, Link tilted his head. "You were supposed to wear what I put out for you."
Zelda met his gaze for a few moments. Then she turned away with an emphasized jerk.
"I'll be happy to leave him here for you, Impa, if you're feeling so honoured by his presence." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "He's starting to tell me what to wear now."
Zelda gave Link a sneering look, which he returned with a slight twitch of the corners of his mouth.
Oh yes, the fun they had.
Mount Quilt shuddered. "He's supposed to keep Paya off my back. Nothing more. If he's here, at least she'll be quiet."
Beside Zelda, Paya emitted a noise that sounded a bit like a frog getting the hiccups.
"Impa!"
The mountain of blankets gave a snort, probably the last drop on the boiling pot of Paya's emotions, about to overflow. She sniffed and struggled to breathe, clearly trying desperately to calm herself. Then she whimpered like a puppy, heartbreaking and incongruously adorable at the same time, and hurried out of the room.
That Impa would step so low...
Accusingly, Zelda stared at her. Much of the drama of the moment was lost, however, since Impa was unable to see anything.
Behind her, she heard Link sigh.
"I'll handle it," he said softly. When Zelda turned around again - she wanted to ask if he really thought this was a good idea - he pointed a finger at her. "And put on what I left out for you. You'll need it." Briefly, a conspiratorial grin stole onto his face. "We're going on a trip into the wild."
"But-"
She wanted to say, that he of all people really shouldn't go after Paya, but didn't get the chance. Link was gone and Zelda was alone with Impa.
So she focused all her frustration on the shape under the covers.
"I hope you're satisfied. You wanted to be mean, and you were pretty darn successful."
Impa snorted.
"My granddaughter may be a silly thing when it comes to Link, but she's a Shiekah. She can take a little well-intentioned teasing."
Zelda's eyebrows shot up. Well-intentioned teasing?
"Since you couldn't see her expression under all those blankets, I'll describe it for you. She was truly upset."
Impa snorted again. At the moment, this seemed to be her favourite form of expression Then she sneezed and mumbled something Zelda didn't understand.
"Unhappy," she continued. "Miserable."
Impa sighed, but Zelda kept searching for the right expression. " Frantic."
The Shiekah chief exhaled slowly and suspiciously controlled.
"Distraught. Distressed. Emotionally tormented-"
"Yes-yes. I understand."
Smiling with satisfaction, Zelda fell silent.
"You've seen her, haven't you," Impa said in an irritated-sounding voice. The blankets bulged in a few places, when she shoved at them from the inside.
"The moment I close my eyes, she tries to nurse me to death."
Zelda didn't speak for a while.
"Maybe she's overdoing it a little," she admitted finally.
"A little!" Again Impa snorted. "A little overdoing it would be her blowing my nose. This-" again Impa moved her arms under the quilts, "is torture."
"She's worried about you. Maybe you could try to see how lucky you are. Others dream of being loved like that."
Impa laughed in disbelief. However, the intensity of the sound was slowed down by her stuffy nose and she sounded more like Vah Ruta, when he moved his trunk.
At the thought, Zelda had to suppress a laugh.
"Spare me, Princess. This is beneath you."
Zelda frowned. But before she could respond, Impa continued speaking.
"I know what you are planning. And it won't change anything."
A new morsel for Zelda to mull over.
She tilted her head and forced herself to be patient.
"What exactly won't change anything?"
Mount Quilt wiggled furiously.
"I don't want anything to do with that crazy woman from Hateno Village."
Zelda really wondered what had happened, for Purah to deserve that nickname. Besides, Impa's behaviour confirmed an old hypothesis: no matter how intelligent, they all got weird with advancing age.
But they also deserved gratitude and respect. Impa, in particular, had earned both by the thousands. And more.
Zelda sighed in surrender, finding new peace within herself.
"I'm going to check on things at the Tech Lab. It's been a long time since I've been there. And since no one can force you to do anything, even if they tried, I really don't understand your agitation."
That seemed to calm Impa down, because the next time she spoke, she sounded like her old self, only a little huffier.
"Was Paya really that unhappy?"
Zelda suppressed a smile and tried to keep her voice as neutral as possible.
"Well, humiliated is more like it." Knowing th,at Impa was sorry, Zelda mollified her tone.
"Maybe you shouldn't talk about her and Link when he's present." Zelda thought for a moment, then added, "Or about anything else that concerns him. And her. Not in his presence. Or at all."
Zelda tilted her head, then sighed. "It would be best if you spoke of him as little as possible."
Impa huffed. "She's so sensitive about him. She should be over him by now. Nothing will ever come of it, she knows that."
It had been awkward to talk about Link all along. Especially in the context of Paya's infatuation. But now it became unbearable.
Zelda really didn't want to speculate about whether or not the feelings another woman had for Link might lead to something. She didn't want to think about Link and other women in general.
"Anyway, we're leaving immediately, I only came to tell you that," she said, trying to change the subject.
She released her arms from their entanglement. "Is there anything else you need?"
"Besides freedom and peace? No."
Zelda smiled. "Esla is keeping an eye on you. She'll intervene, if Paya's nursing really becomes a hazard."
"Pff. I really thought you'd be of more help."
"I apologize. But I think deep down, you're enjoying all of this."
"Are you out of your mind?" Impa sounded as if she had been suggested to paint the whole village pink. "You young things all have grass in your heads."
Zelda chortled softly, at which Impa muttered darkly to herself.
"Weren't you leaving?"
"Oh, yeah. Try to get better, all right? And be nice to your granddaughter."
"You better think about, why it bothers you so much, to hear me rub Paya's nose in her crush on Link."
Zelda shook her head in irritation. "I don't need to," she replied slowly.
"You don't? Then why don't you enlighten me?"
"Out of simple human decency."
"Ah." There was an ocean of smugness in that little sound.
"I really don't have time for this," Zelda said impatiently. She turned to go.
"Yes. You just run away from the truth."
Zelda paused. On the verge of taking the bait and asking what Impa thought the truth was. But she decided against it.
Instead, she strained for a pitying voice.
"You're getting crankier the older you get."
Impa's raspy laughter accompanied Zelda all the way down the Great Hall.
Sometimes she might lack wisdom, but Zelda was not stupid.
Frowning, she looked at the clothes spread out on the bed.
At Link's plea - a brazen demand, really, but she had chosen to ignore it - Zelda had gone back to the house to look for the clothes he had spoken of.
It was obvious what was lying in front of her.
Durable, sturdy clothing, reinforced by thick layers of leather. A Hylian Tunic and climbing gloves.
And a cloth tied into a bundle, had revealed power foods. Nuts and dried fruits.
Their breakfast probably, efficient energy from foods that didn't weigh one down.
Why did he insist on different clothes than the ones she had worn on the way to Kakariko?
Her tunic, pants, and boots had sufficed then, too.
Because he wasn't planning on riding to Hateno Village, that's why.
Climbing gloves. What the heck was Link up to?
There was a knock at the door, and Zelda startled.
"How much longer do you need in there?" Link. Of course.
"Just in case you didn't realize, we have to leave at some point to actually get somewhere else."
Zelda rolled her eyes.
"Why the climbing gloves, Link?"
A brief silence answered her. Then he said, "Just put on the Hylian Tunic."
"Why do I need a Hylian Tunic, Link? And besides, where did you get it?"
Why hadn't she thought about that before?
"I told you, we're going into the wild."
He ignored her second question. Interesting.
"Link," she said, rubbing her forehead. "That's just going to make the journey needlessly longer. And it's unnecessary. I'm-", Zelda broke off in mid-sentence. Couldn't voice what she had originally planned to say. I'm over it. Walking by Fort Hateno is not a problem. I'm not a weakling.
Because all of that would have been a lie.
She really had to get a handle on this.
She couldn't let her fears control her any more.
"I thought you'd like to see where I finished my first Hinox," said Link through the door.
"The place is very nice. And the hike up there isn't that difficult to walk. The view is great. You'll like it."
"I'm not stupid, Link." Even though there was still some resistance in her voice, Zelda began to loosen one of her boots with the toe of the other foot.
"I know what you're trying to do." She pulled her tunic over her head. The fabric temporarily muffled her voice as she continued to speak. "I'm perfectly capable-" she disentangled herself from the garment and crumpled it into a careless ball, which she stuffed into her bag, "-of using the regular routes." She bent, to slip the other boot off her foot. "Even if somewhere, sometime in the past, certain incidents have taken place."
She reached for the Hylian Tunic and shimmied into it. Fortunately, she was wearing a comfortable undershirt made of fine fabric, otherwise the coarser garment would have been uncomfortable against her skin.
The Hylian Tunic smelled faintly of Link.
Zelda pressed her lips together. Great. She' d have to suppress the urge to sniff herself all the time.
"Are you getting changed?", Link's impassive voice echoed through the door while Zelda pulled indignantly at the robe's closures.
"Yes!" she hissed and adjusted the garment, then set about re-braiding her hair. She grimaced as she accidentally pulled at her hair. Stupid hair. Stupid Hylian Tunic. Stupid scent.
"Fine. Hurry up!"
She guessed more than she heard him walking down the wooden steps leading up to the door.
Full of righteous indignation, fed mostly by a large portion of self-frustration, Zelda finally left the house. Clothes changed and with her belongings packed, which she wordlessly handed to Link.
She would comply. But she could be angry about it.
It was easier to focus on that, than to rack her foggy mind for the right words for a proper conversation. After last night, she had much more trouble with that than usual.
Whenever she thought about it, the words bounced around her head with dizzying speed, and with every sentence she tried to form, she felt more ridiculous.
Not entirely seriously meant exasperation was safe territory.
"Satisfied?" Zelda spread her arms. "Can we please leave now?"
Link's gaze briefly slid down her figure, then he nodded abruptly and turned.
He had already stowed her bags in the depths of his magical pockets.
On the way up to the Ta'loh Naeg Shrine, Zelda was starting to wheeze.
When she asked for the first break, just above Kakariko, Link only gave her a pitying look. If you could call his briefly raised eyebrow and muttered "keep dreaming" pitying.
Zelda gained strength from the mental image of pulling an iron across his skull. Not that she had ever held one in her hand. But the idea was pristine and sweet.
She smiled as she trailed behind him.
As they climbed up behind the Lakna Rokee Shrine to Pierre Plateau, her skin was so heated from the unaccustomed physical exertion, that the scent rising from the robe had tripled. That's what Link had smelled like, the night before.
The best night of her life, whispered a shameless voice inside her.
Zelda mentally slapped the little hussy.
The first section of the trail through Bonooru's Stand was steep and gruelling, albeit beautiful in its barrenness. But once they had gained altitude, the path remained straight and Zelda quickly took a liking to her surroundings.
The sun stood in the sky like a round loaf of cheese, and butterflies swarmed around everywhere.
A meadowland in bloom, full of chirping Restless Crickets and other insects.
They startled a fox, and Zelda watched it run off through the ankle-high grass. It had been a long time since she had experienced the pristine beauty of Hyrule like this. In the middle of the wilderness, off the roads. The way it used to be.
Smiling, she followed Link, who had waited for a short while, as Zelda bent down to look at a particularly beautiful specimen of a daisy.
Now he was walking again, a few steps ahead.
Without his eyes on her back, Zelda felt more comfortable than with him walking behind her, as he had done in the past. Not for a moment did she doubt, that Link was acutely aware of this and was giving her the space she needed.
How well he understood her, filled her with equal parts happiness and fear.
And a bit of shame, since she couldn't assess him even half as well.
Link was right. The view was great. And they were gaining ground fast.
In between, Link would point out where the road to Hateno Village lay, in relation to their position.
That way Zelda always had a rough idea of how they were progressing and where they were located exactly.
In the midst of the Phalian Highlands, inside a small dip in the terrain, Link truly showed her the spot where a Hinox had lived, plaguing the surroundings. The first Hinox that Link had encountered after his awakening. Some of the trees the monster had demolished, as weapons or for the sheer joy of destruction, still testified to the violence. Bare, dead stumps in the otherwise peaceful, vibrant landscape. But some of the trees had sprouted anew. New life formed upon the old scars of the land.
For a while, Zelda stared at this evidence of regeneration.
At the sight, hope and joy warred within her against the everlasting sadness over what had been lost.
Link tactfully gave her a few moments.
They did not speak very much, both lost in their own thoughts.
Link seemed content. Here, in the wilderness, off the beaten path.
He seemed no less alert, but more laid back, his gait relaxed. Even his face seemed less stony.
Usually, Zelda had to look for the subtle changes in his facial expression, trying to make sense of tiny nuances. Now she could clearly see his soft smile, that never really vanished.
Zelda felt herself relax.
By the time the sun had passed its zenith and they were resting by the spring-fed pond that supplied the waters down on Lanayru Road, Zelda concluded that she was enjoying this detour.
Not that she would tell Link.
He probably knew anyway.
They had made more than halfway of their journey, and Zelda was enjoying the break. Even if she couldn't cool her feet in the water - the banks were too steep and the current much too fast, not to mention that barely a few steps further, the water plunged more than a hundred feet into the deep - the wonderful little breeze, that wound it's ways through the hills, was refreshing enough for her.
They ate Nutcake and apples, and Zelda gave Link her last piece so that the scales would at least move a little toward balance.
Even though she still owed him so much, she would probably have to go without cake for the rest of her life to even remotely have a chance of balancing it like that.
Link accepted the precious gift with a grateful sound and devoured the cake with breathtaking speed, not producing a single crumb in the process.
She, on the other hand, was full of crumbs.
Sighing, she set about patting the borrowed Hylian Tunic clean.
By now Zelda was sure it belonged to Link, even though she had never seen it on him. He wore one in other colours, when he wasn't dressed in his old Champion's Tunic or other of his special armor.
Maybe this was his replacement tunic?
Zelda tried to push the thoughts away. Wearing Link's clothes felt strangely intimate to her. Her cheeks began to glow.
"Put on the climbing gloves;" Link said all at once, stopping short so he could look at her. "Please."
Zelda frowned and stopped as well.
They had crossed Robred Dropoff, already needing to do a little climbing. Only downward, though. In the distance, they could already see Hateno. According to the sun, it was early afternoon. Beside them, the Peak of Awakening stretched up from its rocky foundation.
She craned her neck. For a brief moment she was speechless.
"I'm not climbing that." Actually, she should have said, I'll never get up there in my life.
But really it didn't matter, the result remained the same.
"Good," Link said, chuckling briefly. "Then I won't have to die a thousand deaths." His smile turned into a grin, but it disappeared as quickly as usual. He pointed toward the foot of the mountain with his right hand. To where the cliff dropped more or less steeply to Ovli Plain.
"We'll go around on the right. It's fairly walkable, but we'll have to do a bit of climbing."
Zelda' s gaze followed the direction pointed by his hand.
Her eyes narrowed, then she looked at him doubtfully.
It didn't seem like there was a way to get around the mountain. At least not for her, climbing gloves or not.
But before she could voice her doubts, she made an effort to compose herself.
Hadn't she resolved to trust Link? How many times had her own fears turned out to be not only wrong but hazardous?
Zelda chewed on her upper lip. All right. She would go along with it.
He had never put her in danger before.
She trusted him.
It was the epitome of fate's irony. The most horrible cliché of all time.
Actually, it couldn't be true.
But true it was.
"Fuck!"
Link's hissed curse was the only warning Zelda got.
Then the world exploded.
It roared. Like a distant thunder, except it sounded closer. A thunderstorm without the palpable charge of the air. The ground shook. A hundred sounds mixed into a swamp of unbearably loud chaos. Zelda's bones were shaken, her arms flailing, helplessly seeking balance.
She did not understand what was happening.
The world shook. She thought she heard herself scream. She heard Link moan.
Link.
What was happening?
Everything was happening so fast, his name the only anchor in the midst of chaos. Something was pounding on her. A thunderous crashing.
Something slammed against her and knocked her off her feet. The world spun and she fell. She saw swirling grays and browns and greens. A groan, steel and ... what was that?
At that moment, Zelda hit the ground. Instinctively, she had spun around and pulled her legs up. Her hands were able to absorb some of the impact.
She groaned as a bolt of pain went through her arms, up her shoulders, to the base of her scull.
Ducked, too shocked to comprehend or to really feel fear or pain, she remained frozen, not moving at all.
It was happening so fast. Too much sensory input, too many old memories. She was back in the burning castle. Saw melting stone, glaring flashes from red, swirling eyes of corrupted machines. Sax buildings explode. Heard screams and wails. Despair and catastrophe.
No. Please. Not again.
"Zelda!"
Zelda whimpered.
"Zelda!" Link's voice found a way through her rising panic. She heard her own heartbeat in her ears, drowned out only by her laboured breathing. Dust prickled in her throat and her body felt like it was bruised all over.
"Link," Zelda croaked, disoriented and in shock. Instinctively, her hands searched for him, but found only stone and rubble.
Zelda opened her eyes.
Link. Her body was functioning without her conscious will. She twisted and tried to pull herself up, wincing as she felt the pain.
She groaned. Again Link called her name and she turned in that direction.
At first she could make out nothing but stone. Huge angular chunks piled on top of each other.
Zelda straightened slowly, a nasty pain in her neck making her wince again. Her face, her hands were on fire.
The world was still shaking.
No. No, that was herself.
"Link," she choked out through her tight throat, still too shocked to understand.
She rose to her knees. Slowly. Turned her head. Distorted her face again as the pain shot up her neck.
"Link! Where are you! What happened? What happened! What-""
"Zelda!" His voice came from somewhere beyond the stones. "Are you hurt?!"
The question acted like a douse of ice-cold water on her sluggish mind.
She blinked. Shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of the lethargy. Had she hit her head? No. She couldn't remember.
What had happened?
All at once, memory and understanding flooded her simultaneously, gathering into a vortex and hitting her with the force of a spear thrust.
A rockslide!
Zelda gasped.
A field of rubble lay before her. A scene of horror. It looked as if half the mountain had broken off and slid down into the valley.
And she... she was outside that area.
The impact. Link had...he had saved her. He had pushed her. Out of danger. Link… how…
"LINK!" The scream that tore from her throat didn't seem to be her own.
She dashed forward as fast as she could, toward the fallen stones, making her way through the maze of rocks.
"Link!"
Frightened out of her wits, her eyes searched the ground.
She had heard his voice. He was alive. He was alive. He had to be-
"I'm here."
She found him a short time later.
She sobbed as she dropped to the ground beside him, gritting her teeth against the pain in her neck.
"Link!"
He lay trapped under several pieces of rock that were wedged into each other. At first, it didn't seem possible. How could he not be crushed by the weight?
In her panic, she didn't immediately realize that the rocks were holding each other, so Link was wedged in but not crushed by them.
Sobbing more, Zelda raised her hands to her mouth, not caring about the sharp sting her tears left, when they met the open cuts and abrasions.
He looked like he had then.
Back then, a hundred years ago. Bruised and exhausted and worried, his gaze harsh and bright, in that glazed, feverish way. And just like he did then, he saw everything. His eyes darted over her body, first frantically and fast, then more calmly.
When he saw that she was standing, somewhat unharmed, his tension eased noticeably. His eyelids fluttered and his shoulders slumped to the ground.
There was nothing about the sight of him, that gave Zelda cause to be calm.
He was bleeding profusely. His forehead, his cheek, everything was covered in it, dyeing his hair a horrible pink on one side and dripping into a frighteningly large, sticky puddle beside him.
His clothes were ripped in several places and his breathing was shallow and fast. Deep lines had formed beside his mouth, and beneath the dirt and blood, Zelda could see the fine muscles of his jaw shifting. He gritted his teeth. He was in pain.
It was horrible to see him like this. So soul-crushingly awful that it made Zelda nauseous.
"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Link's voice sounded rough and dry.
At first, Zelda didn't understand the question. How could he ask that, when he was lying here, while she was able to sit. Her skin felt sore and she was shaking with fear and shock, but she could move all her limbs and was not covered in blood, trapped under boulders the size of a horse.
When he repeated the question, Zelda brushed it aside with a shake of her head.
"You're hurt," she stammered. "You-, I-, what happened? What can I do? Oh, Link."
They had hiked past the Peak of Awakening, over rock formations that hadn't been very steep, until they had to continue very close to the mountain.
They had almost been past it, had been able to see the fields in front of Hateno.
One of her hands detached itself from her face and moved in his direction, trembling. Halfway there, she faltered.
She didn't want to hurt him more or cause him pain.
Oh, she was completely useless.
"Rockfall," Link replied tonelessly.
"Oh goddess. But how?!"
Link shook his head, unleashing a whole new wave of panic inside her.
"Don't move," she panted, reaching out to him, again without touching him at the end. "Please. You... you're bleeding. Oh, Link. You-"
He managed to smile. A brief strained smile that was so out of place that Zelda stared at him, stunned.
"It's not as bad as it looks. Don't worry." The pain was evident in his voice. Not worry? His words had the opposite effect on her. He must have hit his head.
"If it is half as bad as it looks, I'm still scared out of my mind."
Link shook his head again, pursing his lips.
"Lie still!" This time she had shrieked, and Link regarded her sternly.
"You-your head...that, there's blood everywhere."
Something in his eyes softened as he heard her stammer.
"Shh," he made as though he wasn't buried under solid stone, more dead than alive. "Shh, it's all right." He tried to move his left arm in her direction, but stopped, holding his breath, his face full of pain, his eyes becoming even more glassy.
"Stop," she whispered, "Don't move. Please."
He returned her pleading gaze with a frustrated one, then looked away. Zelda heard him curse softly.
She shook her head, feeling the moisture on her face as she moved. Her face contorted once again, when her neck protested the quick movement.
Link's gaze flew back and his eyes flashing, sharp like those of an eagle.
A jolt went through his body that caused Zelda a new episode of concern and dread.
What could she do to make him finally lie still?!
"What is it? Is something hurting you? You're injured?" A shrill, panicked note had dispelled the raw exhaustion from his voice.
In light of his serious wounds, her stiff neck was ridiculous, and she almost got angry because he was making an issue of it, instead of paying attention to himself.
"Just a little shaken up," Zelda forced herself to reply. She knew him well enough to realize that he had to be certain that she was all right. Otherwise, he was going to make it worse.
"I'm fine. Just-" she moved her head briefly to show him where she was hurting, "the neck. If I move too fast." That was all she could bring herself to say about her mundane muscle strain. "What about you?!" she asked breathlessly.
"What are we going to do? What happened?" Then something occurred to her and she straightened abruptly, managing not to wince as pain shot up her neck. "Do you have a fairy?"
His gaze rested on her for another moment. Intently, hard, until he exhaled audibly. "No, I ... no," he answered. "And even if I did." He nodded down at himself. "I wouldn't get to it."
The quickly formed bubble of hope collapsed.
"Oh, Goddess." Zelda sank back to her knees.
Link cleared his throat weakly.
"Do you see the Shiekah Slate, Zelda?" he asked, his voice sounding rough and painfully dry again. She didn't even have any water with her to give him a drink. He carried all of their gear.
Stupid. So stupid!
"I had it before the rocks got me. It must be here somewhere."
Zelda raised her head. The Shiekah Slate. Yes! Yes! That was the solution.
Frantically, she turned on her own axis. She didn't even have time to panic about the fact, that she might not find it, because it was right there.
Not a step away, it was lying on the ground. Unharmed. A relieved sob escaped her.
On all fours, she scrambled toward the Shiekah Slate.
Relief liquefied her bones when her hands closed around the familiar structure of the ancient relic.
She would get Link out of here. She would teleport him to a place where he would be helped.
Hateno. Symin, Purah's assistant was an expert of the healing arts and they wanted to go there anyway.
More carefully and slowly, Zelda moved back to Link. His eyes rested on her the whole time. His lips where dry and white in his dirt encrusted face. He had to be in tremendous pain.
He nodded as she knelt in front of him again.
His shallow breathing was very obvious now. He didn't seem to be bleeding so profusely any more, at least none was dripping onto the ground beside him, but time had darkened the red, mixing it with dirt and sweat, caking it into a ghastly brown. It was horrible to look at him. An image straight out of her nightmares. Zelda pushed the irony aside.
"Alright," he said urgently, his gaze fixed on the Shiekah Slate. "Listen to me. Pin the boulder with the stasis module. And then throw yourself against the big rock above me. I'll help out as best I can. If you push against it a couple of times with your full weight-"
"No!" Wide-eyed, Zelda stared up at him. Full of horror at this terrible suggestion.
Link's gaze snapped back to her, just as confused as she was shocked.
"I've lost my sword. Maybe you can find the shield, but trust me, your body weight-"
"I won't use stasis!"
Link looked at her as if she had grown a second head.
"Not with my hands, and not with a weapon. Not at all! I won't do it!"
Had he lost his mind? Did he really think she would try to roll a thousand-pound boulder away from him? It didn't matter if ancient technology helped her or not.
Link opened his mouth, probably to say something, but closed it again. He seemed to be thinking hard.
"Zelda-"
"No!" Instinctively, she gripped the Shiekah Slate tighter. As if Link could take it away from her at any moment. This reaction bordered on idiocy. He could barely move, lying crammed under masses of rock. It was a miracle that he was alive at all.
Zelda held her breath as a new sob welled up in her chest.
He had barely escaped death. Probably by Hylia's divine blessing. But Zelda could feel no gratitude right now. Fear and barely contained hysteria raged inside her, screaming loudly Why?! Why?! Hasn't he been hurt enough in this lifetime?!
"No!" repeated Zelda determinedly. "This is far too dangerous. What if you get hurt even more? What if the power of impact isn't enough and I'll only disturb the balance that's holding the boulders in place?" Zelda gestured at the stones balancing each other.
"They could roll back and bury you fully and-" she didn't finish the sentence.
Her lower lip trembled. Her whole body trembled.
"Zelda-," Link began again, in that voice he always used when he wanted to calm her down. The voice he had used the night before.
A horrible thought crossed her mind. Was this her punishment for not having better control of herself?
Hylia, I'll do anything, just let him live.
"No!" she cut him off as he tried to speak again. That excruciatingly soft, understanding look with which he regarded her, made her feel sick. "You're completely deranged," she snapped at him. "That you would even suggest that." She took a wheezing breath. "Would you do it? Huh? Would you do it if I was lying there?" Again she pointed at Link.
That he didn't answer immediately, only returning her gaze with slightly flared nostrils, filled her with bitter triumph. She nodded darkly.
"I thought so."
"That's different," Link stated bitingly, averting his eyes. He must have understood that she was serious.
"No, it's not!" Her voice got so high that Link quickly looked at her worriedly.
"I'm fine," she said impatiently. "You're not!" She clenched her hands into fists. "The fact that I have to say this, simply can't be true." She took a deep breath. Forced herself to be calm. She had a plan.
"Symin is in Hateno," she finally said, raising the Shiekah Slate. Bringing up the map on the slate, she selected the teleportation point.
"You will teleport to where you can be taken care of. "
Zelda spoke the same moment as Link, who said something similar, except that it included the words "you get help here."
They both broke off to look at each other.
"Wait, what?!" "What?! NO!" Again, they spoke at the same moment.
His eyes focused on the Shiekah Slate in her hand. He recognized her plan immediately.
Their eyes met. For a brief moment, time seemed to stand still. Whatever he saw in her eyes, made him realize that she was serious.
Zelda had never seen Link fall apart. In situations of the worst danger, he was sometimes brash, perhaps even hasty - by his standards.
But never had he looked shocked and panicked like this. He shook his head violently and made completely pointless attempts to free himself - it was so unexpected that Zelda couldn't even react.
He groaned in pain and frustration, pausing only to stare at her with wide eyes.
"Zelda!" his voice sounded pleading. She had somehow lost her ability to breath, when that stupid, stupid man had started bucking like a young horse. Injured. Lying under boulders that could lose their delicate balance and roll on top of him at any moment.
"Are you insane!" hissed Zelda. This time she didn't stop herself.
Her hands flew to his arm, his leg. Trying to hold him down, as useless as her meagre physical strength was, compared to a knight of Hyrule, let alone the chosen hero.
Lithe muscles twitched under her grip. Heat and hardness.
Her eyes met his, hers angry and frightened, his... Never before had he looked at her like that. Horror, abysmal horror filled his eyes
"You can't stay out here, Zelda," he murmured urgently. "You go to Hateno and leave me here. Please. Go get help. I'll be all right."
Beseechingly, he looked at her. Absolutely powerless.
It broke her heart.
But there was no other way. He was wounded. Severely.
"Link," she whispered, "you're hurt. I-"
"No. Please. This-" He licked his lips, such a human gesture, one Zelda had seen so often. On others. Never on him. He was really, really shaken. The thought of leaving her in the wild to save himself didn't seem to exist in his mind.
Zelda could understand what he was feeling.
But that didn't change anything.
Without looking at him, she lifted the Shiekah Slate. Tapped the selected destination. And dropped the tablet.
Her gaze wandered upward. Met Links, who stared at her in shock. His lips moved, but Zelda could hear nothing.
The Shiekah Slate rested on his stomach. Touching only him.
Link's lips opened to a scream, but no sound came out. He began to dematerialize.
Their eyes bored into each other. Worry and anger. A blue flash so searing that Zelda recoiled.
Then he was gone, and Zelda was alone.
She slumped forward. Caught herself on the hard stone with aching palms.
But it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
The pain or that she was kneeling alone in the middle of a pile of debris. Link was where he could be helped.
It was the first time she had been able to safe him. The feeling was overwhelming. Liberating and intoxicating. It gave her the strength to pick herself up.
Gave her the strength to smile despite the pain in her shoulder, her neck, her whole body.
Slowly, with stiff limbs and carefully leaning forward, Zelda found her way out of the rubble.
When she stood in open space, she looked around. She could barely tilt her head back, but she saw enough.
The idea of what could have happened, lay droning over the boulder field.
So much worse.
It could have been so much worse.
Zelda bit her lower lip to endure the wave of images flooding in.
She pushed them aside, each one of them. She tried not to think about the fact that they wouldn't have been here, not even near the mountain, if Link hadn't chosen this path because of her.
Zelda sighed and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she pushed that thought aside, too.
Maybe she really should stop losing herself in what-if scenarios.
Link was safe now.
And Zelda had to try to get to him as soon as possible. Besides, she really didn't want to be out here alone, when night fell.
Slowly, Zelda turned around.
She could manage to walk to Hateno. She knew the way. Just straight ahead and she would practically stumble across the first fields.
She started walking.
The first section was fine to walk. Gentle, sloping ground, overgrown with grass. Then she spent more time sliding than walking, when she had to descend to the spring of Nirvata Lake, only to have to climb back up to Nirvata Plateau again.
The outskirts of the Peak of Awakening were not steep, but because of her neck, Zelda found it difficult to perform a lot of the movements, that normally were natural to her. Every bump, every quick motion caused her so much pain that her body forced her into protective rigidity.
She quickly figured out how to move, even though her progress was slow and she felt lopsided, her body weight shifted to her left side.
With each step, the horror of what she had experienced faded, and not just because Zelda was leaving the site behind.
With each passing minute, walking became more difficult.
Without fear induced power cursing her veins, Zelda felt like a piece of meat that had been beaten with meat tenderiser.
She had often visited the kitchen of Hyrule Castle, since the under cook was well versed in elixirs, which was why the image was so familiar to her and the comparison so apt.
Meat tenderizer, yes.
Her whole body was bruised. She would probably be green and blue tomorrow. Everywhere.
But Zelda didn't waste a negative thought on it. She was alive. Link had somehow managed to push her out of the path of falling rocks, and if she had fallen and bumped herself a little in the process, that was so much better than all the other possibilities.
He had saved her.
Again.
And she had done what she could to help him.
She was still feeding off this new experience. It gave her the strength to go on, even though everything hurt and she struggled along.
She could see the snow-covered peaks of Lanayru Range ahead of her, where the white turned into green abruptly. It couldn't be far now.
She just had to keep to the right.
But not so far that she fell down the cliff.
Again, Zelda slid down a rocky slope. She hissed and held her neck, groaning as she straightened up.
In front of her were three apple trees. Lined up side by side like soldiers, they looked across the plain, and in the distance to their left, Zelda saw Hateno.
She paused.
Maybe she had time for a little break, if she was this close. Only half an hour, she estimated, and she would reach the golden fields at the southern edge of the village.
She hadn't finished the thought, when she found herself already sitting on the ground.
She was dizzy and her throat was burning. Perhaps she was more exhausted than she had realized.
Just a little rest. It wasn't far now. And the sun wouldn't set anytime soon.
Just a minute.
Just…
~ mit Feuer gemalt