Just a reminder, English is not my first language, so I`m sorry for the eventual spelling, grammar mistakes or the occasional odd sounding phrases.
Thanks again for reading.
I own nothing.
Hope you´re all enjoying this story.
Just a reminder
' ' Thought
" " Speech
The next day Link woke up, he looked at the room window and was surprised to find it must have been at least sometime in the afternoon if the light of the sun was to be believed. As he turned towards the door, he found one annoyingly happy ranger looking at him. Then again, it was too early in the day (for him at least) to be annoyed by anything, so he just gave a smile back. "Is everyone ok?" he asked as he was on the process of sitting up, already knowing the answer if the face of the ranger was to be believed.
"They are all fine, we´ve arrived in the morning, and the hobbits already ate about 5 meals each since then, your horse you will find in the stable with the hobbits ponies." Aragorn commented, as he was serving him some tea that was left on his nightstand and giving it to him. "Don´t worry, this is really just tea, no medicine mixed with it" he said, at the look Link was giving him.
"Thank you, not that I mind the sleeping medicine, it´s just that I intend to spend at least half a day awake for my own sanity's sake." Came the response as he was picking the mug that was given to him. Link took a moment to process all the information that was given until now. ´ Aragorn should know Arwen, she was the only one that knew that I knew the medicine mixed with the tea thing…´. "I really have to thank Elrond, the medicine for my back and shoulder is certainly very effective." Link said, after taking a few sips from the teacup.
Some time later found Link wearing his green tunic, that looked newer than he even though possible, he should really thank Elrond again for fixing it, his Gilded Sword and all the equipment that he still had with him.
There was one thing last to do while he was waiting for Aragorn to fetch the Hobbits. He wanted to see if he could feel something coming from Sauron from the Ring, so he looked around his room, just to make sure he was alone, took the ring that was in a chain over his bed, took the chain of the ring and put it on.
The change was almost instant. He was inside what looked like a mirror version of his room. The colors were off, there was a slight distortion on his peripheral vision. Other than that, for the first minute nothing had changed. Then, the whispers that he began to hear since he woke up became louder, the scenery started to change, and a moment later he was in front of a ghostly figure on top of what appeared to be a huge tower.
"Sauron, I presume?" he said after a moment where both were studying each other.
"Link, the Kokiri that is fooling every elf in Middle Earth" came the rasp response. "I know what you are, I know where you came, I know what you want, and I know what you miss…" "You think you will deal with the problems of Middle Earth like you did in your pathetic little worlds?" "Here there are hundreds of thousands of enemies," the scenery changed to a view of a black land with thousands of little figures that seemed to be Orcs "This is no place for a pathetic little worm to try and change thing" "You cannot stop this, you don´t have the power…" "And if you try, I´ll erase everything in this place and in yours that you hold dear." "Here there is no Zelda for you to rely on, there is no giants to help with your quest…" "Here there is only death."
Link honestly did not expect this kind of mind reading and was taken back by the amount of evil and hate that the entity in front of him was showing. Sauron made Ganondorf look like a kid with a temper tantrum. Barring his teeth, he found his voice, although not much of it, and asked "So what you expect me to do? Do you think I will just cower in a corner and hide?"
"YES" came the response, slowly, like it was being shouted by a thousand people all around him. "Do that, and I might let you leave for your world."
"I will never do that…" "I'll make sure to cast this little trinket of yours in the fires of hell. Let´s see who will be laughing at the end of all this" Link said, with a bravado he certainly was not felling at the moment.
"YES, LET´S SEE" he heard the entity say, before removing the ring.
As soon as he removed the ring, he fell on his knees. 'And I thought Gannon had a strong aura…' He had read in the elven book that Sauron was the lord of the rings, and that it was theorized that it might have a connection to his will… but to be able to speak with the man 'elf, deity, thing', and to be able to feel his malevolence, was another thing entirely. Even on the moon, fighting with Majoras, he hadn't felt like this much oppressive power. Luckily, by the time Aragorn and the Hobbits arrived, he had gathered himself up and was sitting in a chair next to the balcony of his room, trying to think on anything other than his previous encounter.
First thing he did was to thank Frodo for saving his life, and then he gave the ring back to the Hobbit. He could see the surprise face of Aragorn as he so easily gave the One Ring away, but from his point of view the thing was so evil he could not think of a single reason to want to keep it.
The next week he spent healing, coming up with a plan on what to do with the Ring and playing with Epona. At some point he was introduced to an elven smithy and was able to ask for a shield with roughly the same size and weight his old one had. After the week ended, he got his new shield back, which was roughly the same as his hero shield had been, with more golden and elaborate details. Link learned during this week that this kind of design was what the elves were into it seemed.
After he got his shield, he had one more thing to do. He needed to show the population of Rivendell that he was not a completely lost and helpless little boy. There was still the matter of the wound from the Morgul blade on his right shoulder, but since that was his shield arm, he did adapt fast with the small limitation on movement and the little loss of strength. In the end he decided to go to the training grounds to have a match with the instructor there.
That is where he was now, facing the elf that was easily two times his size. He knew he needed to make an impression, so when he got the signal, he dashed in the direction of the elf, deflected his strike with his shield, and stopped his training sword mere inches of the man chin. As they took about three steps back, the instructor nodded for him once, both thanking him for not finishing the blow and as a warning that it would not be as easily the next time.
The next three hours was one of the best sword lessons Link had ever had. He knew that these people were thousands of years old, but still, to see the amount of variation and improvisation from the instructor was something else. He was more on the defensive after his first move, and stayed that way for almost one hour, it was just after that he began to try and emulate the movements the instructor was showing him. After the third hour, they began to fight in earnest, each trying to have a decisive blow on the other, but neither of them finding the opening. Before the fourth hour, the instructor ended the lesson, introduced himself as Glorfindel, and said he was free to train anytime he wanted. Link took the elf on his word, and ever since then he had trained almost every day.
Living with the elves for the two weeks that he had up until this point had been a new experience altogether. As someone that grew up in a forest full of children, and only children, he had not known the concept of adulthood until he saw the guards at the entrance of the Market in Hyrule Castle. So being treated as a rare and precious thing by every adult he had come in contact in this world was certainly something he was not used to yet. Everyone wanted to know how he was doing, if he was having enough sleep, if he was hungry, how was the food, how was he finding his new room, if his shoulder was better, if Glorfindel was being a good teacher, if he thought it was going to rain. He doubted he ever would be able to get use to all the attention.
As he was lost in thought in the middle of a bench by the river he was approached by a big man with grey robes and a Staff. "Mind if I join you?" said the man, looking exasperated with something that escaped Link. "Not at all" he answered, making way for the man to sit by his side. "I'm Gandalf the Grey" the man said, looking at the river, it took a second, but then Link remembered the name. "So, you were going to meet the Hobbits at the Prancing Pony?" He nodded "I´ve got delayed…" and there was a little pain in his face when he continued "An allied of mine turned over to Sauron side, and I almost didn´t escape him…" He looked at the sky as Link said "I´m happy you escaped then, Frodo and Aragorn spoke very highly of you."
"There was something I was meaning to ask you, but I had no opportunity to do so until now." The wizard said, and Link had a laugh "subtlety concerning kids is not something that is taught in elven culture apparently." At that Gandalf smiled, and said "You have magic ability in you, if what Aragorn is to be believed." At that Link nodded "Yes, I know how to shoot fire, ice and light imbued arrows, and I have a fire spell." "Do you mind if I test you magic skill?" asked the wizard, to witch Link agreed.
Link was then told to hold the wizard staff, and as soon as he did, a light was shown on the tip of it where a gemstone rested. It was not strong, but it was constant. Some time had passed, with the wizard finally saying: "You do have magic, enough to get a reaction from my staff, and to maintain it for a time, have you always had this gift?".
"No, I was not born with it, at least I don´t think so, it was a gift given to me some time ago." It took a while for Gandalf to speak "It was a mighty gift, make no mistake, would you like to learn how to use it more efficiently?" Link, who until now was looking at the staff, looked up at the wizard "will you teach me?" The answer came with a sigh from Gandalf. "I will teach you as much as the elves would let me." "Thanks!" came the enthusiastic response.
It took Elrond about 5 minutes of Link´s pestering to agree with the training of his magic with Gandalf. And so, the routine for Link for the next month was set, he would learn spells with Gandalf, would train his sword and shield with Glorfindel and at night he was supposed to learn elvish, but would always miss it by being exhausted.
It had been a month already, and his magic training was coming along fine, he got himself a wand (not wanting to carry a big staff around) and manage to cast his fire, ice and light spell without an arrow. He was training how to change the proprieties of Din´s Fire to a light spell with very minor success, as well as training to call light at the tip of his wand for as long as he could manage (About one hour a day for now)
Link had been thinking about his training with Gandalf when he heard some different voices in the background. They seemed harsher than he was used to hearing, so he was naturally curious about to whom they might belong. It was just moments later when he found himself gazing at about 6 people, that were a little taller than himself, but more importantly, they had really broad shoulders, and, mainly, they all had awesome beards.
He stood there for minutes, at some point the dwarves notice him as well, and were quite confused with the look of complete wonder that was coming from the elf child. That was the way that Link spend the rest of the day, pestering the dwarves about every single thing he could remember, asking for where they lived, how they lived, how they got there, why were they there, if they could come with him at the training grounds. The last part they agreed gladly, and Link was awarded with a simulated battle between two dwarves. He noted that what they seemed to be a lot less agile, but could take an absurd amount of hits, could hold their ground a lot more, and each strike seemed to have a lot of weight on them.
It was as he was saying goodbye to the dwarves in the training grounds that he noticed Glorfindel coming. "So, you have chosen the company of Dwarves today?" 'Well, lets play a little with him' Link though as he began "Yes! Their way of battle was so great! Have you seen how they change blows without even moving their feet! It was so awesome! Do you think I will be able to grow a beard like that when I grow up?". He said, with the biggest smile he could muster. Just moments later, Links childish smile was gone, and a serious expression was now on his face "So, the Council of Elrond? Do you think anyone would eventually tell me or should I make preparations to overheard most of it anyway?"