A/N: Linktobie. The prompt was Favorite Character'. My favorite character is Telma! I think she's neat- I loved seeing an older lady have such a central part in a video game! She also reminds me a lot of my mother and her demeanor (and my mom loved her as a character too). My mom passed this year, so I'm sad she won't be able to read this, but I'm pleased to finally find a use for this wip that's been chilling in my folder for months.
Telma is supposed to be a barkeep and nothing else.
She didn't mean to become a forthright figure with the Resistance, but they'd unwittingly involved her the moment their cadre of vigilantes started holding their meetings in the corner of her bar.
At first, they seemed like exuberant friends, spending their late nights debating heatedly in the dim lamplight, laughing as they drank and talked over what she assumed to be work.
Until one night she got a little too close while holding a pitcher of ale and heard the doomed words, 'Restore peace to Hyrule'.
She nearly kicked them out.
Nearly.
Telma didn't, far more curious than not. Wanted to see what exactly their plans entailed. Instead, she'd given them a round of ale on the house and settled into a chair next to them, demanding answers. Said that if they persisted in holding their meetings under her roof they might as well clue her in.
So they did. Telma thought they were nuts- still does at times. She isn't like them, a honed soldier with a penchant to protect. Her only talent is in providing a good time and a warm place to imbibe.
Doesn't change the fact that she's stuck her nose where it likely doesn't belong, and now she's settled knee-deep in political intrigue, seen things that she can't unsee. Hylian soldiers are useless, spineless, and pathetic in their lot.
It shouldn't be up to them. Citizens shouldn't have to be the ones to figure everything out. But when the going gets rough, it takes gumption and a will to live, she supposes.
And so, Telma's bar is a place of refuge for those who fight for a better future. Or to get the past back. Depends on who you are, really, but either answer is decent enough. And just like every other night, Telma wipes away at a mug with a dubiously clean cloth, her hawklike eyes watching every single person that comes in through the door.
Sometimes, she thinks she's too old for revolution. Certainly doesn't carry the look of a dissident.
But, someone has to be the one who makes a difference.
Telma's old by now and has nothing left to lose. Might as well make something of what's left of her life.