Sorry for so many bad/late updates. I got back into school but I will still be writing and posting chapters when I can!
Chapter Sixteen: A Glance of the Long Journey
"Paya! Stop running around!"
Paya's ears wouldn't give any attention to Hiro's and Ren's yelling. They've long left Kakariko Village, and found themselves a few minutes away from Wetland Stable. They decided to take a break to eat, in which Paya has utilized the moment by appreciating the world. Paya has never left Kakariko Village, so her world has always been small. But now that she's out, she can't help but want to look and touch everything.
"I can't help it!" Paya shouts as she runs around a clearing by the path. "This world is so lovely! There's so much… space!" She took off her shoes to run around, feeling the grass underneath her feet. Her kunai clank and jump around with every dash she makes.
"Paya, come and eat," Ren insists. "I don't want Lady Impa to think we're starving you. You need to replenish and conserve your energy, too."
She turns her back to them, looking at the vast world. "It feels neverending…" she breathes out to herself, putting her arms in the air to let the wind go around her body. She closes her eyes and takes everything in. Hiro decides to use this opportunity to train her without her knowing. He picks up a few acorns from the ground, holding a bunch in his hands, with one being played with in his throwing hand. He arms carefully before throwing the acorn towards Paya.
She could hear the velocity of the small object, and quickly dodges it, watching as the small acorn goes past her head. She turns around to scold her masters, but is quickly met with another acorn. She ducks at it, and kicks the next one. A few more are dodged, and she catches what she believes to be the last one with her hand. "Hiro!" She yells angrily.
Hiro grins at the girl, "you're doing well!" He then pulls out another acorn from his pocket and throws it straight at her face. Paya, undecided, butts the acorn with her forehead, only to end up throwing it back to Hiro and knocking him off his feet. "Ow… Paya!" Hiro growls furiously.
Paya giggles, "you started this!"
He decides to leave her alone, joining Ren to finish his meal. "Her reflexes are improving."
"We need to continue training her on our journey to Rito Village," Ren insists as he chews on a piece of durian. "We'll have to stay with her during her own stay at the village, and add to her archery training."
"Isn't that too much on her?" Hiro asks hesitantly, "she's just now become a Warrior- she rushed years worth of training in just a week's time! We'll be pushing her too much."
"We can't afford to waste time," Ren says harshly. "She picks up anything extremely well, and we need her to be at her best. This battle against Ganon will not be at all easy."
"But if we push her too much, she won't last in battle," Hiro insists. "That's Lady Impa's great granddaughter, and she loves her more than anything in this world. I refuse to bring back a cadaver to our clan leader."
Ren sighs, "if she isn't at her strongest, she will die in seconds. I know she's just a young girl, but she's a Sheikah Warrior now. We can't afford for her to be anything less than perfect. For her own life's sake."
The two men glance back, to see Paya now sitting in the grass. Her silhouette hands held a silent princess to her face, her lips forming the biggest smile they've ever seen.
The grains of sand in Purah's hourglass slowly poured, descending from the top bulbous part to the bottom bulbous part.
Joining the sound were snores and heavy breathing. It was well past midnight, and the other researchers have given up working for the night. Only Purah and Robbie are awake, the two in separate areas of the lab. Robbie is alone at a table, pushing a pencil to roll away, eventually to roll back to his hand to resume this repetition. He's been staring blankly at a blueprint of the inner layout of the average Guardian, trying to figure out where Ganon could force a captured soul into it. Although Robbie's eyes keep drooping, his body begging for rest, the researcher couldn't help but keep his stare on the parchment.
On the other hand, Purah is sitting upright, with a small vial in her hand. It was half filled with Malice she collected when Robbie got rid of it around the soul they saved. The bit of Malice remained on the grass, not hissing away into non-existence, nor spreading itself like the infection it is. As she shakes it around, the Malice just sloshes, its usual pink-purple color now somewhat diluted. "What is this exactly…" Purah whispers to herself, her eyes narrowing down as the Malice slightly bubbles from her shaking. "Robbie? Are you alive?"
"I feel dead," Robbie croaks, "however, the heart is still pumping blood. What is it, Purah?"
Purah shrugs, staring at the tube of Malice in disgust, "the power Ganon has… it's a very interesting way to spread his evil."
"He is the purest form of evil," Robbie says nonchalantly, "it is frightening, but it isn't surprising, considering how many times he's reincarnated back into our world."
"But why would Hylia allow such a horrible... thing infect our land and the good people living in it?" Purah asks weakly. "Why must we suffer that?"
"I reckon it's because she has no choice," Robbie croaks, "Ganon was bold enough, and succeeded, in snatching away the Triforce of Power. He isn't immortal, but not easily wiped away from our world."
Purah could only sink into her seat more, wishing to find a way to help Link and Zelda to defeat Ganon once more. "I was taught never to question our Goddess, to always follow her word but… it makes you wonder why two children must face such a dangerous task?"
"They're the only ones who can, Purah," Robbie hums with a small smile. "Zelda and Link are the very definition of balance in this world. They're both good and evil."
"You shut your mouth!" Purah hisses at Robbie, putting the vial on a stand to cross her arms over her chest. "Those kids don't own an ounce of bad in their body, how could you say that?"
Robbie chuckles, "Purah, selfishness is in the realm of evil, even if the selfishness is for good reason. That young man is selfish over our Queen. He doesn't let her out of her sight most of the time, and if she is, he's quick to come back to her."
"Protecting her was one of the last orders King Rhoam had given Link before his passing," Purah butts in.
Robbie couldn't help but smirk over at Purah. His amusement was all too much for Purah, and she quickly raises her eyebrows in request of an answer. "Have you ever been in love, Purah?"
Her body instantly wakes up as she gives Robbie a look of shock. "I… can't say that I have," Purah admits, shyly and full of exhaustion. "My love resides towards research, however, and learning more about the relics and Sheikah technology," she responds, confident in her answer.
"I mean with a person, Purah," Robbie clarifies. She quickly shakes her head no. Robbie chuckles, playing with a bolt in his hand. "Link took that order way beyond what it was. Haven't you ever noticed the way he looks at the girl?"
"I mean, surely Link has the utmost respect for our Queen-"
Robbie quickly shuts her down by waving, "no, no! He looks at her differently than we do, Purah. Use more of your brain, will you?" Purah looks down at the vial of Malice, pondering about the Hero and his Queen. She had always known about his fondness over her, but she's never quite considered what his true feelings are.
"Nevermind that for now," Purah hums quietly, "we need to figure out a more efficient way to free the Guardians."
Robbie nods, his face looking somewhat doubtful, "it is tedious and time-consuming to free each Guardian one at a time. And there isn't enough of us to really do that all across the land of Hyrule…"
The two of them sigh. "I'm going to have some air," Purah says quietly. She carefully walks around and past all the sleeping researchers, grabbing a blanket towards the front of the door before exiting the lab. She cloaks herself in the blanket, the vial of Malice getting warmer in her hand. Wind hits her immediately, the swaying grass filling up her ears as she's met with the light of the moon. She looks beside her to see the blue flame Link lit up for her, a fire that she hadn't seen since that boy's disappearance. The crackling of the flame becomes quiet as she walks away from the lab.
Purah walks over to the edge of the mountain, looking over at Hyrule. It was a strange sight to see the castle not trapped in Malice, and Ganon's swine form. But she knows Ganon has something else up his sleeve. Rather than appearing suddenly, he's making himself known. She takes out the vial of Malice and holds it up before the moon, studying it curiously. When she does, the Malice becomes transparent, and returns the image of the Blood Moon.
"Ah!" Her fright causes her to drop the Malice. She sucks her teeth, bending down to go pick it up when it suddenly begins to roll. Purah couldn't believe it. Chasing it, she notices that the Malice itself is pushing the glass, helping it travel down the hill. The vial then gets caught under someone's boot, in which Purah halts and looks up. It was one of Hateno's watchmen.
"Medda?" Purah asks curiously. "What are you doing up here?"
"Lady Purah, we have a problem," he begins as he bends down to pick up the vial. He then jumps in shock, "this…"
Purah looks at him quizzically, "what about it?"
"It's the problem," Medda breathes out, "the forest outside of Hateno… it's covered in all of this!"
"Mmm…" Zelda hums in disgust.
Night came, and the gang decided to seek shelter in a small, open area of the woods. They're on their way to see Mija, and perhaps visit Tarrey Town to see if they've seen anything strange. But travelling in the dark isn't safe, and Link wasn't comfortable with impaired sight while with the Queen. So he hastily makes a fire, and manages to kill an aggressive boar. Piccolo finds itself on the branch of a tree, high up and asleep.
The Queen watches through squinted eyes as Link holds the limp creature gently. He takes out a small dagger from his pocket, and slowly brings it towards the boar's head. But he looks up to see Zelda completely face away, her eyes just barely giving her sight of it. "Zelda, you…" Link begins.
"I-I'm fine!" Zelda immediately subdues. She crosses her arms in front of her chest and puckers her lips. "Hylian butchers prepare such meat for our people, so I don't have an issue watching it being done!"
Link smirks a bit, "I wanted to ask if you could gather some herbs for me." The firepit crackles, as Hylian guards look back, concerned about the Queen's sudden silence. She looks at Link, blushing in embarrassment.
"O-of course I can," she agrees quietly, rising from the tree log Link broke for her to sit on. She takes a nearby torch and lights it with the bonfire. She slowly distances herself from Link before speeding up when she hears the sound of bones being cut. Quickly, Zelda finds a few herbs, some peppers, and a very big truffle. She pats herself on the shoulder, excited to show Link her forage.
She returns with arms full of dirtied roots and greens. Her emerald eyes widen when she sees a clean cut piece of meat being rotated above the bonfire. "Link, how did you…" He didn't even have a spec of blood on him! The Hero smirks, his ego inflating as he takes all the ingredients from Zelda's arms.
"Thank you very much," he murmurs, giving her a wink before returning to his log. Zelda returns to her seat, watching wistfully as Link cleans up a flat rock, and then proceeds to splash water on the foraged edibles.
As he pours water to clean up his small knife, Zelda couldn't help but ask, "Link, where did you learn how to cook?"
Link picks up a rock and begins to sharpen the blade, "I met a lot of nice people when I woke up. Stables also have very large parchments with the things to make food." Zelda sometimes forgets how attentive Link is. His blue eyes always danced around, looking for something to distract himself with. "I was by myself…" Link says quietly as he lets the rock fall from his hand, "I needed to survive to get back to you."
Zelda smiles warmly. It's always hard listening to Link's struggles and harsh journey to save Hyrule, but he seems to take pride in what he's learned being by himself. "Shouldn't you marinate the meat before allowing it to cook?"
She watches as he bashes rock salt against the flat rock, reducing them to small little bits before tossing it at the meat. He twists the bone and tosses salt on the rest of the unsalted sides. He then grabs a small bundle of herbs and begins to unevenly chop it up into small pieces. "The fire isn't too big, it won't cook very fast," Link hums, "I put it quickly so you can eat sooner."
Zelda blushes, "you don't have to accommodate me so much, Link, it really is no rush or anythi-" The Queen is then interrupted by the rumbles of her stomach. She quickly pats her stomach with her hands, in an attempt to 'shush' it. "T-truly, there is no rush!" She stammers out.
"It's not just you, Zelda," Link assures her. He glances back at all the guards, who have all been stealing glances at their dinner being cooked. "Everyone is tired and hungry."
She looks distantly at the ground, the tips of her shoes just barely touching one another. "Was it like this? After you woke up from the Shrine of Resurrection?" Zelda asks quietly. "Always exhausted from battle, and hungry from travelling…"
Link only shrugs as he tosses the cut up pieces of truffle near the fire to roast slowly. "It was not great, but you needed me. I always got back up, when I really didn't want to at times." Link reveals a bit of Goron spice from his bag, and begins to toss it at the meat as well. Zelda feels a twinge of guilt, but she knows there was nothing else but him. He was the only one who could save Hyrule, and she did all she could to make sure he could live in order to do so.
"Link, what was your mother like?" Zelda asks, switching the topic. "My father was very fond of yours, and we've always respected his service to the Royal family. But I have not a clue about your mother…"
The man smiles warmly, dusting away spice and specs of green from his hands. Placing them on his knees, he meets with Zelda's eyes, "she was the most beautiful woman in the world… my father always asks himself how he was so lucky to have found her."
Zelda feels warm at the sound of Link speaking of his family, "what did she do? As in, what was her work?"
"She was a clothes maker," Link says quietly, "she used to travel to nearby towns to sell them, and would come back with her hands empty, and her pockets full. But she stopped after I was born."
"Your mother… I imagine she was kind," Zelda hums, "considering how you turned out."
Link's smile widens, "father says she was the nicest person in the world. She was always the one to give, without having much herself. It was why he chose her out of all the women." Then Link's smile fades, his eyes dropping down to the fire. "But she was murdered before I turned 5… father says it was from an attack from the Yiga Clan."
Zelda's eyes widen, "the attack in the town of Hyrule, right? Just outside of the castle."
He nods, "he found me in a pot under the cabinet of the sink. She hid me there when the attack started, and told me never to move from there."
It was horrifying to listen to. Many lives have been taken, both by Ganon and mortal evils like the Yiga Clan. Zelda knows why Link is often so quiet, and isn't so chatty. It was relieving that since Ganon's disappearance, Link is more open, and speaks much more. But she often forgets Link, too, has burdens that he buries deep inside him. Zelda weaves her fingers together, letting out a small prayer to Goddess Hylia. "Oh, Link…"
The man can only shrug, "after her death, I only remember working harder to become a knight. I don't ever want to hear someone else die ever again." He squeezes his knees a little tighter. "She was right outside the cabinet door when the Yiga member came in and…" Zelda could hear the sounds of it. The sounds of a mother being taken away from her dear son and husband. Link forces himself not to cry, but Zelda immediately notices.
"Link, you're not forced to hold yourself together all the time," Zelda whispers, "you can let it out."
Link shakes his head. "I can't even remember my mothers name… it feels wrong to cry over my mother, whose name I can't even tell you. I don't know it myself."
The Shrine of Resurrection is a gift, and a curse. Although a life is saved and preserved, the brain can't handle all that time tucked away in slumber. Link can recall some memories, but others become obsolete due to the deep slumber, and oftentimes, repression. Zelda knew all this when she decided for Link to be sent there, but the consequences have never come to light like this before. As she opens her mouth to sympathize, Link's ears quickly twitch.
He snaps his neck towards the direction they're supposed to continue towards when day comes. The Hylian guards also heard the sound, and begin to draw their swords. Link quickly jumps on his feet, and swipes Zelda from the log.
"L-Link!" Zelda gasps, but Link quickly shushes her as he carries her towards the tree where Piccolo slept. A now awake Piccolo watches as Link instructs Zelda to get up on the tree. She looks at him hesitantly, but obliges upon seeing the intense concern in his eyes. He helps her climb the tree, insisting she get as high as she could where she could be hidden in the leaves.
Now able to climb on her own, Link rushes back to the campsite, sitting calmly on the log with his sword leaning against it beside him. The wind begins to pick up, his dirty blonde hair dancing the direction they came from. He looks curiously into the pitch darkness, seeing a body begin to form as it walks towards the light. And, to Link's dismay, it wasn't just a traveler. It was his very enemy.
Ganon appears from the darkness, still in his transparent, phantom-like form. But Link notices something peculiar about Ganon. His ghost form looks slightly more real, as if he was loading into flesh. "Good evening, Hero of Hyrule," Ganon announces with a grim smile, "I see you have company this time!"
The Hylian guards bring their swords up to attack, but Link quickly waves at them. He looks back at the meat he was cooking, which was just now becoming a more brown color. "What did you do to Mija?"
"You really are rude, aren't you?" Ganon hums. "No hello, or asking how I've been? We haven't seen each other since the fountain."
"I don't like our encounters," Link croaks, glaring at the evil individual before him.
"I can tell," Ganon hums. He smirks, looking back at the path he's just come from. "Mija… she's a lovely fairy, isn't she? Very beautiful, very headstrong… very selfless. Unfortunately, she lacks intelligence like the rest of you Hyruleans."
Link felt his blood boil, "what did you do to Mija?"
Ganon shrugs, "we simply made a deal. Can't people make deals with one another these days?"
"What kind of deal?"
"You saw that light over there, didn't you?" Ganon says with a smile. "That's why you're on this path- to go see what's happened to her. I'll let you go ask her yourself, since that is your plan, no?"
Link looks away and studies the bonfire, listening to the crackles of the burning wood. "Why are you going after the Great Fairies? I'm right here, why don't you try and attack me?"
Ganon's smile widens, "I would love to rid you from this world right now, but you're not my priority right now. I have other things to do before I decide your destiny." Ganon chuckles at the Hylian guards before returning his attention to Link. "Might I ask a question now?" He's met with silence. "Why are you so willing to protect others? Besides the fact that you are a slave."
"Life must be protected," Link replies in a hum.
"Oh? So you're willing to protect everyone without anything in return?" Link nods. "Isn't it infuriating to protect others' loved ones, but never being able to bring back your own?" Link's blue eyes widen. "All those champions who, I'm sure, you've come to care for greatly. No amount of selflessness can ever bring back what you've lost."
Link retaliates, "it's not about me!"
"Is it not?" Ganon teases. "Because the only thing you have left is that little Princess." Ganon walks closer to Link, the Hero still as stone. He bends down and gets near his ear. "I'll be sure to kill her before I kill you, so you can die knowing you couldn't protect the most important person to you."
Fired up, Link grabs the handle of his sword and slashes Ganon's ghost form. "I'm going to make sure you're gone from this world," Link growls, "so this world will someday forget the evil that was you."
Ganon twists his fingers. "I'll wait for the day," Ganon says eagerly. He follows with a menacing chuckle. "Anyhow, I must get going. It was nice to see you again, Hero of Hyrule."
Link's wielding arm is shaky as he watches Ganon disappear before him. The strong grip on his sword quickly loosens, and he drops it on the ground. He rushes to the tree where he hid Zelda, catching her from the lowest branch to return her feet to the ground. Zelda looks at him woefully, her hands grabbing his. "I couldn't see him, but I heard everything… are you okay?"
"I feel like crying," Link admits, squeezing her hands anxiously. "But it's still not enough…" He lets go of her hands before returning to the bonfire. Piccolo hops off the tree and goes over to Link, forcing its way onto his lap. Link offers him a small piece of cooked meat, to which Piccolo happily accepts. "Come, you must be hungry," Link gestures. Zelda sadly looks at him as he slowly grabs his knife and begins to slice her a piece of dinner.