Zelda stepped out from Robbie'a workshop in a near daze, her eyes turning to slits as the orange sunlight overtook her sight. She covered her face with her hand, allowing her to peer out toward Link and Daruk, who were just starting off down the trail from the lighthouse, leaving Zelda frightened as she bounded toward them.
"Wait!" she shouted desperately, "Don't leave! We just-!"
The two slowly spun around to watch Zelda kick up clouds of dirt as she sped toward them, still yelling, "We just made some progress! We can't abandon the mission now!"
She reached the two before falling forward, clutching her knees as she panted quietly, "I know it's crazy right now, but- I know Robbie is kind of unique, and I know my ideas are often crazy, but I think- We might have something here, don't you think?"
Link watched her curiously, turning toward Daruk with a wry glance, "I dunno; you think we should stay?"
Panic pelted through Zelda's heart.
Still in his downtrodden mood, Daruk simply shrugged, leaving Link to sigh as he returned to Zelda, "We weren't leaving, dummy."
"Then-! Why'd you let me keep talking!" Zelda asked in frustration, "You made me say my ideas were crazy!"
Link smirked, "I was hoping for more than that, honestly. We're just going down the embankment to Bloodleaf Lake."
"A lake? Why?" Zelda inquired.
"To pay some respect," Link shrugged, "You ought to come, too, now that I think about it."
Zelda watched him curiously, unsure as to his motives. She hadn't known him to have ever been to Akkala besides the previous occasion where she had been with him. Even then, an illness have overtaken her at the time, and she had been passed out for much of their travels. Still, with curiosity abound, Zelda nodded sincerely in reply.
"Alright," she spoke up uncertainly, "Any particular reason? I didn't know you'd been back here since we had both come through here to visit the shrine."
Link didn't reply, simply turning back toward the road and sauntering off with Daruk in tow, leaving Zelda confused as her eyes carried her along the landscape, wondering if she had missed something during her first journey here.
"You know," she muttered, "You never did tell me what happened when I was sick."
Link shrugged, "You didn't particularly like me telling you much of anything back then."
Frowning, Zelda's eyes spun distasteful, "Yeah, yeah, I know I was a pain. I just-"
"A royal pain."
Zelda'a face constricted to show how unamused she had found his clarification, instead speaking up drolly, "or, you know, you could simply answer the question."
Link smirked at her defiant attitude, his voice coming out somber in spite of his expression, "People died."
Even Daruk's brow raised inquisitively at the Hylian's words, though Zelda's jaw fell in shock, "W- What?!"
"You were sick," Link explained, "The closest doctor was Impa, back in Kakariko, so I had to choose whether to stay at your side and let you die, or leave you somewhere while I went back for help, alone, which was quickest. Wasn't much of a decision, so I dragged you to the nearest house and made my way back. The next day, their home was aflame, the target of some Yiga peons, so I dispatched them and got you out to safety."
Zelda had stopped mid-stride, forcing Link and Daruk to follow suit, the Knight's eyes watching Zelda with little more than casual contact. Zelda's eyes scanned the dirt below, brow quivering, as she turned up her sight to Link in anguished confusion.
"Why didn't you tell me..?"
Link shrugged, "It was in the after-action report. Captain Ruzoll figured it was best to keep it from you. No need for you to feel guilty over an incident beyond your control."
Zelda shook gradually as she stood there, leaving Link to turn back toward the embankment, stepping along as he explained, "I supposed it was the least I could do to visit. I don't make it a habit of doing such things, though."
"Plus," he further surmised, throwing a thumb in Daruk's direction, "I figured he could use a bit of a walk."
Daruk grumbled, still not wholly fond of their newest host.
Her eyes low as she began again, Zelda gave a worrisome frown at the thought of being responsible for such a thing as the death of one of her own people, much less a family.
"Their home," Zelda repeated quietly.
Link sighed dismissively, "There were four of them. A mother and father, two sons. Seemed like your normal farmers."
He shrugged, "We spoke little, though. Seemed like decent people. The old man taught me how to comfort wild stallions."
A somber air hovered overtop the trio as they trailed down the last slope, rounded by a number of Robbie's blue lamps that had now been struck into the ground since the last time Link had seen this place. Had a year not passed, the rubble might have remained visible, but now, Link's eyes only traced the rudimentary outline of a burnt-down frame of a home, one he had seen for only a brief moment, yet had etched itself firmly into his memory.
Zelda watched longingly herself, reflecting on her role as princess, yet being party to the deaths of a family. For as long as she had known she was destined to use some esoteric abilities to help bring Hyrule to a knew era of prosperity, and for as long as shed been aware, she understood that she had been a failure. She never had those abilities, and after traveling the world, begging for an answer, and receiving nothing in reply from the Goddesses, she knew she would never attain them.
That fact simply kept her at zero. But now realizing that those powers were meant to help people- without them, she was actively doing harm to the world. It was no different than if she had knowledge of magic and refused to use it for good entirely. Guilt crept up into her gut, a nauseous welling up of acid in her stomach.
"That was before, though," Link shrugged, "I just thought you were a selfish brat trying to seek out your own prosperity within the good graces of the Goddesses. I know, now, you're just doing what you can to help everybody."
He chuckled, "A noble, if not somewhat naïve, goal, I'll admit. But if the rumors are true, and if your heart is in the right place, which I know it is-"
His head turned over his shoulder, "I don't know. Perhaps you truly can help everybody."
Grinning softly, Zelda shook her head, "It hasn't happened yet. Until it does, I've nothing to be proud of but a litany of screw ups, not least of them, I know now, to be the deaths of four Hylians."
"I was literally bred to be a Knight, and I still had to take my licks," Link assured easily, "Nothing is offered to us, not even if destiny wills it. All you can do is get back up on that-"
He frowned as a pack of horses suddenly entered his vision, the wild animals grazing atop the opposing shore, keeping their wary eyes upon the three Champions, especially with Daruk jovially giving a warm wave amidst his still-dour complexion.
"Back on that horse," Link finished.
Zelda grinned, watching the equine company that appeared to be emulating her own, "I couldn't even get back on that horse. Father insisted I only travel atop our most docile and gentle mares."
"Goddess," she sighed in exasperation, "Maybe I am a brat. Come to think of it, I've never even hopped atop one myself; I've always had to be lifted."
The two men gave her a sidelong glance, imagining her young adult body being hoisted atop a steed, a pair of stares that easy caught her attention, allowing her a pithy glare of her own that shot down the other's dubious act.
"I do love horses," Daruk merrily sponge under his breath, "Reminds me of Gorons. Such big bodies on such tiny feet. Hm hmm. Makes me chuckle to see."
Link nodded in appraisal, stopping as Zelda commented, "You said the man here taught you to ride horses?"
"He taught me how to calm them- big difference," Link noted, his brow suddenly curling as he glanced at the plot of land before them, "You know, speaking of destiny-"
Zelda watched him curiously as he turned his attention toward her, "Wanna learn how to ride?"
"W- What?! Right now?!" she cried in disbelief.
Daruk laughed, finally breaking from his dormant attitude, as Link shrugged coolly, "Why not? Not much else to do, is there?"
"I- I mean-" Zelda stammered before Link grasped her shoulder, directing her along gently.
"Come on. Perhaps this was how it was all planned," Link explained reverently, "That old man teaching me, only to, by extension, teach the Princess of Hyrule Kingdom as well."
Zelda quivered, "You- You make it sound so- ornate..?"
"Perhaps it is," Daruk chuckled as the three rounded the edge of the pond, slowing as they began earning the horses' attention.
Crouching low, Link pulled Zelda down to emulate him, speaking softly, "Now, you have to jump atop of one while roaming low like this. Think you can do it?"
Despite her earlier apprehension, Zelda had gradually worked up some courage, hoping to perform well for the man she needed to teach her swordplay, nodding with a slight jitter as she shakily replied, "Y- I think so."
"Horses are- They're not tame, but they're not wholly feral, either," Link explained, "It's not as if they'll turn tail and maul you if you fail."
Zelda's eyes narrowed, "Gee, thanks for the imagery."
A smirk met her as Link went on, "Just sneak up and hop on. It'll more than likely take off, but you've got to hold on. Don't try to dominate it. You aren't taking it as its master. You're simply two souls, coming together in teamwork. Scratch its neck, pat it; you're asking it for aid and it must reciprocate on its own."
His words had caught Zelda much as her favorite books often did when spinning her off into vastly different worlds. Her blank eyes leapt up as she nodded attentively, clearing her throat as she stepped forward from her crouched position.
"A- Alright."
She trailed off along the bank of the lake's waters, her feet scuffing along the unkempt grass as they slid, carefully across the terrain. A cold sweat formed at her neck, nerves begging to undermine her task, yet her face remained ragged, determined, ready to make her mark. Destiny had taken so much promise from her- now was the chance for her to defy that same destiny and make something of her own self.
"Uh," Daruk muttered once she was beyond earshot, "Isn't this a bit too advanced for a first lesson?"
Link rolled his eyes, "Of course. She isn't gonna make it on the horse's back; she'll hop up and hit the ground. Then, hopefully, she'll understand my tutelage is certainly not as easy as Urbosa seems to believe."
"Huh?"
Shrugging, Link relayed, "She wants to learn how to sword fight, and Urbosa won't do so, leaving me as her only match. To teach a Princess combat-"
He shook his head, "It's as if I'm admitting how worthless I am, if she requires her own aid. So, since I cannot refuse an order from her, I'll merely suggest to her subconscious that it's not worth asking me in the first place."
Daruk groaned, covering his face as it shook from side to side, "Brother, you certainly are cunning when you need to be."
"But for all the wrong reasons, huh?" Link offered.
"Indeed," sighed Daruk.
Link shrugged, "We're all better off- She's better off not knowing how to swordfight. The reason we're here with her is to protect her; the last thing we need is for her to get cocky and run into a fight without a moment's thought."
His words mulled around in Daruk's head before the Goron concluded with a defeated sigh, "I suppose you've got a point. I just wish-"
Daruk paused as his eyes focused upon Zelda, her frame rising barely from the tall grass as she arose beside one of the steeds, her body coiling up to pounce. Link sighed expectantly, knowing what he was doing was underhanded, yet he couldn't shake away his duty, try as he might.
This was for the best, he told hims-
Zelda pounced like a ravenous fledgling, coursing from its nest on initial flight, arms flailing wildly as she flew upward, the horse's head whipping around in ecstatic surprise as the Hylian landed atop its back, sending the stallion into a panic.
Link's eyes widened, jaw dropped, all while Daruk leapt up to his feet, throwing his fists into the air in triumph, obliterating the air around him with a massively boisterous, "YES!"
Without a moment's breath, Link lunged forward, sprinting with a blistering speed around the lake bed as the vigorous stallion whooped and hollered, throwing its back into the air as Zelda clung on for dear life. As her body flew up, the horse's body had already contracted, bucking straight up as her torso fell, slamming hundreds of pounds of muscle straight into her core.
Daruk immediately paused in a fright as Zelda released her hold on the beast, sending the horse dashing off into the distance to find its companions that had already taken off as Zelda fell into the tall grass, Link awaiting a thud that never came, disguised as it was amidst the foliage. With the zeal of a knight, he tore through the air, finally approaching where Zelda lay, immediately falling to his knees to examine her.
"P- Princess!" he shouted, his royal instruction breaking through as he grabbed her shoulder, pulling her to her back with a horrified expression.
Her face came into view, a slight tinge of blood at her forehead that was utterly dismissed by the beaming look on her face as she laughed as jovially as Daruk might have.
"BWAH HA HA!" she burst out, shaking within the bed of grass beneath her, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Link took a massive breath, dropping his head defeatedly as he attempted to wrangle his now-rampaging heart. He shook his head in disbelief while Zelda threw her hands up in pantomime.
"Did'ya see?! Did'ya see?! It was like BOOM! and then WHOOSH! and-!"
As she continued between bouts of intense laughter that showed her infinite happiness at that moment, Link slowly rose to his feet, covering his face with his fist, turning away from the abstract scene just as Daruk arrive.
"Is she okay?!" the Goron asked in a panic.
Link's eyes peered overtop his fist in sarcastic disdain, "I think life flashed before my eyes…"
Daruk's brow contorted before turning toward Zelda, the giggling mass still content with lying in the grass becoming contagious as Daruk began to chuckle himself, even despite a wary look on his face, "W- What's so funny..?"
Wiping the tears from her face, Zelda shook her head, "Wow! That was a blast! Did you see?!"
"I did!" Daruk praised before bending down to help her up, "You were like WHOOSH! and-!"
"Oh, goddess," Link grumbled to himself, thinking how close he had come to receiving only the most exquisite tortures meant for those who harm the King's daughter, "There's two of them…"
"Link!" Zelda declared as she brushed herself off, now on her feet, "I officially demand you offer me opportunities for other activities that I've been deprived of. It's clear that I've missed all of the fun in my father's pursuit of my impeccable upbringing, even if he meant to suffocate me from such joys as this."
She raised her head to bring in as big of a breath as she possibly ever had, exhaling energetically as she returned her attention to Link, who watched her in appraisal, causing her to glance at him uncertainly.
"What..?"
He crossed his arms, a heavy sigh flowing through him as he continued his staring. Daruk's lips curled from one end to the other, uncertain, himself, of what was soon to happen between these two.
"Fine," Link finally spoke up, dropping his arms as he turned to leave, "I'll teach you to use a sword."
Zelda's eyes went fiercely narrow in her skepticism, as she hadn't asked him for such a thing, yet they immediately went wide upon understanding what he'd said. She covered the shock on her mouth with the palm of her hand, breaking it free from its perch only to ask with shock.
"R- Really?!"
Link shrugged once more, repeating, "Not much else to do, is there?"
In her exaltation, Zelda spun toward Daruk, who once again fed off her energy, taking the Hylian into his arms as her elation forced her into a hug, leaving the two abnormal bodies hopping up and down in awkward tandem.
"Did he say what I think he said?!" Zelda asked in sincere uncertainty.
Daruk grinned, "I believe he did!"
The two bounded around merrily as Link sauntered along the edge of the lake to return to Robbie's peering once more toward the plot of land that had once housed the Princess. Back then, she had seemed so distasteful of a person to him, and yet, regardless of how much he came to know her, Zelda had consistently proven to be full of an ever-deepening series of surprises.
Perhaps there was even more to come. This journey hadn't exactly turned out to be an excursion of the mundane, Link considered.
"Come on!" Link shouted over his shoulder, not wishing to lose the two in the distance.
Just maybe, where Link had found his fate in the most unlikely of places, Zelda would find the same. Even if it had once been within the crawlspace of an Akkalan home.
Nothing much could surprise him, now.