Chapter Three – proposal, and revisiting painful memories
After what felt like an eternity of suffering, struggle, and misery, and after the great final battle in which Link and I joined forces to subdue Ganon once again, Link and I stood on the charred plain of Hyrule Field, facing one another in exhaustion and relief. There had been much devastation, most of it from a century ago, some from recent months as Link rampaged his way through monsters and Guardians, even some from this final battle, but I knew from watching Link's journeys through my spiritual eyes that the healing of the land had already begun, and there were signs of hope. However, my heart held one nagging question, even after watching Link's adventures from afar and seeing his steadfast dedication to our cause.
"Do you really remember me?" I asked him.
He stood and looked at me silently for an uncomfortably long time before finally speaking, but I could see in his eyes that he was indeed remembering something, formulating his thoughts.
"Of course, I do." He continued speaking as he walked toward me. "I remember your quick mind, your seriousness, your playfulness, your love for your people… and your loneliness."
He smiled softly then. "I also remember your soft skin, sweet lips, silky hair." As he mentioned these parts of me, he touched them ever so tenderly, and I leaned my head into his touch. "I remember that I loved you – STILL love you – more than life itself. But there is much more I would like to remember, even the things I haven't learned about you yet. I want to make many more memories with you, Princess."
He turned and gestured around us, at all of Hyrule. "Hyrule is a shadow of what it once was, and the castle is essentially destroyed and uninhabitable. There are many fewer people now than there were a hundred years ago. They've been without a ruler all this time. The villages that remain are small and far between. Many people have become nomads and treasure hunters.
"You don't have to rise to be Queen, Zelda. I'm not sure if they would accept you or even believe that you are the Princess Zelda from a hundred years ago. You could live among us as a normal woman. I have a home in Hateno Village. I know someone who could" - he paused nervously and wet his lips - "marry us." His fear of my rejection showed plainly in his eyes, but my heart leaped into my throat at the idea of my sweet Link actually wanting to marry me. He rushed on to cover his insecurity.
"Of course, although you may seem like a normal woman on the outside, you'll always be extraordinary. You'll always be my Queen: queen of my heart, my soul, my life." With these words, he knelt and put his fist to his chest in the old knight's gesture of loyalty and submission, but instead of bowing his head, he looked up at me beseechingly.
"What do you say, my lady? Will you at least consider it?" This was the most talking I had ever heard him do, even on those nights we'd spent at stable cookpots.
I smiled, bent down to him, and took his hands in mine. "I would be quite proud to be your wife, Link. And I would love to see your home. Perhaps we can make it OUR home. But normal woman or not, I would still like to meet with the leaders of our various domains and see about coming together to rebuild Hyrule to some semblance of its former glory. King Dorephan, at least, will remember me. Perhaps he can convince the others that I am who I profess to be. If there are so few of us left, we will need help from our allies."
Link stood, overjoyed, and picked me up off my feet, spinning me in circles, then he favored me with the sweetest kiss I had ever known before taking my hand and leading me back to Epona.
We rode Epona to Riverside Stable, where he surprised me by taking out Cavalier from boarding!
"This IS Cavalier, but not YOUR Cavalier, of course," he explained. "This Cavalier is a descendant of your Cavalier." He told me the story of Toffa, the old man at Outskirt Stable who had tipped Link off about sightings of a pure white horse. This old man's grandfather had once worked in the royal stables and had passed on to his son the royal tack I had used on my own horse a century ago. His son, in turn, then passed it on to Toffa, as a treasured family heirloom. I was deeply touched to know that the commoners still held me, and even my horse, dear in their hearts. Link helped me mount, and I caressed the familiar leather of my very own saddle as I waited for Link to mount Epona once again. I was mildly curious about how Epona still existed a hundred years later, but kept the question to myself. She could have been a descendant of the original Epona, or it could have been some sort of magic - Hylia knew that our kingdom was suffused with plenty of magic. Either way, Link seemed just as close to her as he had seemed to be to the old Epona. It wasn't that important. I turned my attention back to Link's story.
"Toffa said he's always dreamed of riding that white horse with a woman like you," Link said, pressing his heels into Epona's sides.
"We shall have to visit Outskirt Stable very soon, so I can give that dear man a ride and fulfill his wish," I smiled as we set out. It would be fun, yet bittersweet, getting to know the people of my now-decimated kingdom, people who were the grandchildren and even great-grandchildren of the people I had once known. I said a quick prayer to the goddess, to bless them, all of them. They had eked out their existences the best they could in the wake of the Calamity, learning to live in a world filled with monsters and evil lurking around every corner. My heart went out to them and their tenacity.
We passed the hours riding in amicable silence, taking a shortcut south across the field to come out at the west end of the Proxim Bridge. We were taking the southerly route to Kakariko via Dueling Peaks. I wanted to see my dear friend Impa before going on to Link's home in Hateno. I also wanted to see with my own eyes the extent of the destruction. I was deeply saddened to see the state of the east post; Proxim Bridge, too, had certainly seen better days. A couple of times along the way we happened upon monster camps, and Link had to protect us and our horses, but these few monsters were hardly the hordes I last remembered seeing in the time of the Calamity.
After about four hours in the saddle, as the sun was beginning to set, we joined a traveling merchant called Giro at his little campsite in a grove just west of Dueling Peaks. We unburdened the horses and rubbed them down, covering their backs with blankets for the night, then Link started pulling food from his pack and cooking a rejuvenating dinner to share with our host. It was good to just rest and eat and engage in light conversation around the warm campfire. I was weary to my very bones, and sore from riding. After dinner, Link brought out his bedroll from his magical pouch, and he tucked me snugly into it before standing the first watch. The merchant would take the second watch.
During the night, my sleep was fitful and filled with horrific dreams of Ganon and the further destruction of the kingdom. What was left of my people were dying; their screams filled my ears. I awoke weeping, sitting up and looking around frantically only to find Link already sitting beside me, ready to draw me into his arms.
"Shhh, Princess, you were dreaming. I'm here; everything is fine," he soothed, stroking my hair and holding my head against his warm, solid shoulder. The images faded slowly, and eventually I stopped crying. Link found a handkerchief in his pack and handed it to me. I blew my nose and felt somewhat better. The crackle of the fire and the chirping of the crickets were loud to me, but reassuringly real.
Giro had been awakened by my crying and Link's reassurances. "You go ahead and stay with your lady," he told Link upon assessing the situation. "I'll stand watch the rest of the night." Before stepping away, he added a few more logs to the fire.
We both thanked him sincerely, and Link lay down behind me, covering us up to our necks and using his bottom arm as a pillow. He wrapped his top arm firmly around me and rocked our whole bodies gently as he hummed the lullaby, MY lullaby, that Impa had taught him a century ago. He really did remember… everything. His breath warmed my hair, and my heart felt like it would burst with the strange mixture of emotions the sound of his singing voice evoked in me. The fear and horror had already dissipated, and as the fire warmed the front of me and Link warmed the back of me, I was lulled back to a dreamless sleep by Link's continued humming and rocking.
In the morning we awoke to the appetizing aroma of fish cooking. Giro had spent the early dawn hours fishing, and was now frying his catch over the campfire with some savory herbs and goat butter.
"There's enough for all of us," he smiled kindly but with a touch of concern in his eyes when he looked at me. When I smiled back at him, his own smile deepened and his expression became more relaxed.
"You have been exceedingly kind," I told him. "Thank you for everything, last night and this morning."
"This is Hyrule, ma'am," he demurred. "Hylians help each other."
"They do, indeed," I concurred.
After a leisurely breakfast, we resaddled the horses, bid farewell to Giro, and began riding further eastward. Between the peaks, we passed a couple of lizalfos swimming in the river, and a camp of bokoblins on the north side of the river, but if they saw us, they chose not to disturb us. We met up with Mejer, the meat merchant, on the north end of the Big Twin Bridge, and Link did a bit of trading with him. It had been a pleasant trip so far, other than my bottom half being so sore from the hours of riding. We could see the stable in the distance, and the blue glow of the shrine across the road from it.
But once we reached Dueling Peaks stable, I realized that the huge field just beyond it, between the stable and Fort Hateno, was deeply significant – and unsettling. I reined in Cavalier, my throat suddenly tight, tears forming in my eyes. Dreadful memories filled my vision, and the tears spilled down my cheeks.
Link had continued riding for a few yards, oblivious, but quickly realized that he no longer heard Cavalier's hoofbeats. He turned Epona and rode back toward me, and I could see in his eyes that he knew why I had stopped. He reined in close to me, our horses head to tail. He reached out and tenderly wiped a tear away with his thumb, but said nothing, waiting for me to speak what was on my mind.
"Doesn't it bother you, Link, passing here, with the memories it must surely conjure?"
He thought for several long minutes before replying, looking out toward Ash Swamp and Blatchery Plain. "I've returned here many times," he began, and I gasped a bit in surprise. "Even before I recovered that lost memory, the place filled me with dread, and I didn't know why. I knew it wasn't just the random still-active Guardian, or the monsters who camped there. I'd fought plenty of monsters by then. There was more to it. Once I found the memory, I started having nightmares about it. I forced myself to come back and contemplate it every time I passed this way. It was important to me to face the memory head-on, relive it as often as necessary until my senses finally became dulled to it. I thought about it even when I wasn't right there, thought about how even though I died that night, I had fulfilled my sacred vow and protected your precious life. You had gone on to live and hold Ganon in submission for the sake of your people, and you had saved me, too, by sending me to the Shrine of Resurrection to be healed."
He went quiet again for another moment, lost in a memory. "I saw you that night, Zelda. The world was spinning around me, and I was on the brink of death, but before I fell, I saw you use your power. You were a force of nature. Knowing that you had unlocked your power at last, and that you would be all right, allowed me to rest that night."
Link's eyes met mine and held my gaze. "It was your love for me that unlocked your power. I can't tell you the awe I feel at that. As hard as I worked to be the best at everything I did, especially at protecting your life, I never felt worthy of you. You were so intelligent, so noble, so beautiful..." He trailed off, and I was stunned to see tears standing in his eyes. I had never seen him show weakness like this, even on that night in my room. I reached to touch his face, but he caught my hand in both of his and held it to his chest.
"After all that has happened, I've realized that my worthiness is for you to decide. And when you said you would be proud to be my wife, it meant the very world to me." He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it with great tenderness, and a tear trickled down his cheek.
Seeing that now we both had tear-stained faces, I giggled nervously. "Look at us, a couple of weepy fools," I said, trying to sound upbeat. "The past is the past. We are both alive and well and together, and I, for one, am heartily grateful for that. From now on, I only want to look toward the future with you."
Link smiled and nodded once in agreement. He turned Epona back toward the stable. "It's a four-hour trot to Kakariko Village," he advised me. "We've been in the saddle quite long enough, and neither of us got much sleep last night. How about we stay here for the afternoon, evening, and night, have lunch and dinner and a good night's sleep, and start out again first thing in the morning? We don't have to hurry. It'll be kind of like old times, don't you think? If we leave here right after breakfast tomorrow, we can be at Lady Impa's home by late morning."
I realized that my stomach was growling, and my entire lower body was sore from riding most of our waking hours since the previous afternoon. "That sounds like a capital plan," I agreed, urging Cavalier forward.