The search

Link forced me to make several promises to him.

I was supposed to decide what to do with the expedition, but he replied with "yes, it's up to you, but promise." I didn't mind promising. I promised I'd stay in a safe place if he thought the danger was too great. I wanted us both to develop a definition of "too great danger," so that we could agree to decide together and not just on the basis of his thoughtless barbarian judgement, but he seemed nervous and anxious to leave and wouldn't let me discuss that. Well, I'd make a written definition in my travel diary and we'd talk about it later. He also made me promise that never, ever, under any circumstances (he repeated this twice: never, ever, under any circumstances), I would approach the dark fog he saw in the Black Tower. I asked him to describe the fog to me to be sure of what to stick to and he snorted and rolled his eyes. He's so stubborn, I don't understand him, it's not like I'm asking for something out of place. The last promise was… I just hoped I wouldn't have to face the decision to fulfil it. He wanted me to run away and leave him behind if he asked me to. He felt as uncomfortable as I did about the prospect and we didn't mention it anymore.

Otherwise, it makes me happy, happier than ever being able to travel and be a part of something. It's what I've always wanted, so I don't think Link will ever know how much it means to be one more member of the expedition. And he may complain, he may make me promise him things, but I think deep down he's glad I'm traveling with him. A little bit.

He wouldn't tell me how he convinced Father of all this. "I didn't have to convince him of anything," he blurted out, with his barbarian brashness. I thought this would get Link in trouble, or that Father would force me to travel with a sheikah horde around us, but it didn't. Perhaps Father had finally understood. He had finally understood that I'm no longer a child, maybe he finally accepts that I'm married and can travel with my husband in Hyrule. I don't know. I don't know what to believe about my family, if it wasn't for Gae, I think it's like I don't know them at all. First Father marrying me off to the first stranger he saw fit, and then Kahen..

"Stop!" Ardren said. He rode in front of me and repeated the high he received from the soldiers in the lead.

"Is something wrong?"

"Let's fill the canteens, that's all," Ardren smiled.

We were at the foot of the Korog Forest. Once through the forest pass, the only thing left to do was to head north. Link snatched the canteen from me and drank it all before I could protest.

"Don't you have a canteen or what?" I growled.

"I do. But I rather prefer this one," then nodded towards his canteen, filled with fresh water from the stream running alongside us.

I snorted and got up to drink water from his canteen. I discovered him staring with a smile of satisfaction, surely his siblings were more mature than him.

"Princess, we need to check if the north route is practicable for the horses," Dalen, one of the soldiers travelling with us said.

"Are there problems in the roads?"

"No, my lady, but it's rained a lot this winter, it's even snowed a lot. We want to check that the road has not been damaged or that there aren't fallen trees."

"I also go with the goro-brothers," said Tolnobo, the youngest of the two gorons.

"Alright but come back if you need more help."

"Ma'am," Dalen bowed and took Tolnobo and the other three Father's soldiers with him.

Ardren and Fridd got lost in the woods, I figured out why, and I sat by the stream for a while. Link tried to imitate me, but he was uneasy. He would get up and sit down again and then get up again to sniff the entrance to the forest.

"What is that forest?" He asked, sniffing like a fawn.

"It's the Korog Forest. It is the largest forest in all of Hyrule. There are parts of that forest that are still unexplored, isn't it amazing? There is not a single map tracing its interior. My tutors explained to me that it goes all the way north to Eldin's Gorge, but no one has crossed it completely."

He blinked and looked back into the thicket, frowning.

"There's something in there," he said.

"Of course there's something in there. There's a lot of things, it's a huge forest" I chuckled, "there are no forests like that in the West, I assure you."

"It's something else. I don't mean animals or monsters."

I stared at the forest, to see if I could discover anything unusual. It was dark and thick, and even though we were on the verge of spring, the bare branches of the trees were tangled like nests and did not bare the immense canopy that covered everything. When I turned to look at Link I discovered him squatting in front of me, staring at me. He smiled and kissed me on the mouth, softly.

He did that sometimes, kissing me, ever since we left the castle. He would take advantage when no one was looking or nearby to try to kiss me or make some affectionate gesture. He'd never done that since we were married. His caresses managed to shake me as much as the kisses, fleeting and yet perfect, they filled me inside, I couldn't explain it better. I also needed that contact more and more and I reciprocated, I needed to be able to hold his hand sometimes, to caress his lower back and things like that.

He jumped to his feet when he heard Ardren and Fridd's footsteps in the leaf litter on the ground. Shortly afterwards the soldiers returned, saying that the road seemed safe, and we returned to the horses to continue our route.

As we moved on, an icy wind began to blow down the mountain, blowing small snowflakes with it. I started to feel tired, I was really too used to the comfort of riding in the honeymoon wagon and being able to lie back and rest whenever I needed to. Riding all day was tiring enough, and even more so if the weather wasn't good. It was getting dark, but we saw the lights of a small fort and outpost. It was just a wooden palisade around some huts smoking from chimneys.

"Your Highness, it's better to stay here for the night," Dalen suggested, "it's an army outing, we'll be safe and there'll be hot food for everyone."

I looked at Link and he nodded, I could also read the tiredness in his eyes.

Dalen greeted the soldiers who held the post, all of them greeted us politely, even to Link and his friends, the barbarians were sometimes seen with suspicion, but it was not so in this case. Link insisted on setting up our tents, the soldiers offered us their own beds, and even more so to me, "the princess of Hyrule", but somehow we managed to reject them in a rather diplomatic way. I'd feel bad if those poor boys left their bed to give it to me, it wouldn't be the first time, and when it happened I couldn't sleep a wink all night.

We ate the food they had prepared inside the fort, and finished setting up camp. I actually liked being able to sleep in such a sheltered place, not for me, but for Link and the boys, they took turns to keep watch and didn't sleep all night in a row, it would do them good to get a full night's rest, without interruptions.

During dinner we were joined by the soldiers from the post. We were asking them all sorts of questions to see if they had seen anything unusual, if they could recognise a wraith.

"They're hard to see," Ardren explained, "they crawl along the ground, mistaken for shadows."

"By day they travel through the woods," Fridd added, "that's how they go unnoticed, they don't go out in the open. At night they take advantage of the darkness. And they also dig tunnels, they do it whenever they can to go from one point to another without being noticed."

"I haven't seen anything you say," said the captain of the fort, a veteran soldier, with a beard and a moustache, "or anything that looks like those creatures. There are more monsters boring into the roads, so we have had to redouble our patrols. They scare travellers, sometimes even attack them. They take the contents of wagons and then hoard their loot in caves and small shelters they build in inaccessible places."

"Does my father know that?" I intervened.

"Yes, my lady. It was he who asked us to lift palisades halfway up from the castles and fortresses, so our surveillance patrols can move faster."

"The wraiths may not have yet reached as far north," Link reasoned.

"Rhoam's kandar has lasted for days... I'm sure they'd have gotten this far," said Ardren, who received a warning kick from Link, for his carefree way of talking about Father.

"Thank you for your help," Link told the soldiers, "if you saw anything like what we said, you must send a message to the castle immediately."

"You're welcome, thank you for warning us," the soldiers stood up, to retreat "my lady, if you need anything, just let us know."

"Thank you so much," I smiled, and they bowed awkwardly and unpracticed, it was clear they were not castle guards. Still, I was always honoured by any attempt at protocol, no matter how small.

"Captain and lady of the Nest," Ardren also stood up, "this humble okenin is going to sleep, you should do the same now that we are safe and we can sleep the whole night."

"Okenin?" I asked, I didn't know if it was another one of Ardren's inventions.

"This is the name given to the inhabitants of Nightfall," Link clarified.

I took out my notebook and wrote it down. I had no idea of any of the Western Gentiles, nor had I read anything about it in the books in the Nest library. Once I took out the notebook I started to review some of my notes and added information about the trip. Perhaps it would be useful to us in the future, I preferred to record the most relevant facts. When I looked up from my notes I realised that the fire was nothing more than a mountain of warm embers, and that only Link and I were left out. The others had gone to sleep in their tents or huts.

"It's about time you quit working," he teased me with a half-smile, "do you want to go to sleep now?"

"Is it that late?" Right. The moon had changed position substantially, "I'm not sleepy yet."

"Neither am I."

"I'm sorry, I've been going through the notes and I've lost track of time," I grinned, shrugging. I was a time management mess, it's always happened to me.

He got up to sit behind me, his legs wrapped around me on either side. He made a small mountain of blankets and travel backpacks to rest his back on, then pulled me up to rest mine on him.

"What have you written down there that was so important?" He whispered on my hair.

"It wasn't that important, just travel information," I spoke quietly, I didn't want to disturb the rest of the camp.

He caught my hand between his and then stretched it out, my palm against his, watching as my shorter fingers did not reach the length or size of his.

"Your hands are so rough..."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not a criticism," I extended my hand over his again, stroking his calluses with my fingertips, "it's just an observation."

"I don't remember ever having soft ones," he leaned over and kissed my cheek and then my shoulder.

"Not even as a baby?"

"Barbarian babies are born with hard hands like stones," he said, making me laugh.

"Link, I found out where the sword is. With all the mess in the castle, we haven't talked about it again."

"Damn it, it's true. I'd completely forgotten."

"The map details a path to Mount Lanayru, remember? I told you about that place a long time ago. The Spring of Wisdom is there."

"Mount Lanayru... is that huge volcano we've surrounded? It imposes a lot of respect..."

"No, that's Death Mountain. It's the place where the goron live, it's in the Eldin region."

"Do the goron live on a volcano?"

"There are nice views from there."

He kept squeezing at me, sinking into my neck to breathe me, so it was impossible for me to think or say anything coherent. I wanted to turn around to sit on his lap and feel him underneath. It was completely improper. I knew that, but I knew too that having me on his lap would make him breathe hard, make him feel frustrated because as much as I pulled my hips towards him would never be enough, and I would still try to feel him close, and he would still try to feel close to me.

I stood with my heart beating at full speed.

"Are you okay?" He looked at me with surprise, perhaps worryingly.

"Yes, it's okay, we should take a rest too."

He looked at the floor, frowning.

"I'm sorry, I just need to... when I'm with you...," he tried to name it, but he just clenched his fists, "I don't think anyone's ever seen us or heard us."

"Hey," I stroked his cheek, "everything's fine. You didn't do anything to hide at all."

He turned his face to reach the palm of my hand with a kiss, even such a silly thing made me shiver again. Then we heard a stirring of blankets in Fridd and Ardren's tent, next to ours.

"...what the fuck is this, a claw?"

"No, you piece of cork oak, it's my feet."

"By Or, you could cut trees with those nails."

"Go to hell, Ardren..."

"Do you think the captain will have fallen asleep or will he continue to count stars with his lady?"

"I don't know, but-

"Go to sleep, you idiots!" Link said, sticking his head in the boys' tent.

They pulled Link in and were frolicking and struggling, that's what I imagined the tent was reeling about.

"You bit me! traitor!" Ardren shouted.

"I'm going to sleep now, boys" I announced, as I could hear them growl and break into laughter.

The next morning, we awoke early to ascend to the Akalla stronghold, east of the trail. I know that Father had established an important army training and guard post there, but there wasn't much else. I didn't think our enemies would decide to go to such a visible, strategic and, above all, guarded place. Still, Link told me that Father had asked him to visit that point and a few others throughout the region, places he had marked with an "X" on a map.

Link and the team spent the morning talking to the troops, checking how they were organised and passing on instructions and advice on how to locate the enemy. I received the first message from Impa. It was difficult to receive messages while I was travelling, so she and I agreed that she would try to communicate with me by sending information to the points where we would make a mandatory stop.

Her letter included much more information than expected, but we both decided to employ a new method to protect the content of the messages: we would use the ancestral language. There were only a handful of people in all of Hyrule who could read it, and they were all trustworthy people.

The prince has set up a camp in the heart of the Faron Woods, near the Spring of Courage. I've watched him closely, just me, as we agreed. You were right, there's something unusual about his behaviour. He looks anxious and restless. He tends to disappear every night, not for too long. I have to follow him to find out what he intends to do in these little escapades, maybe it's just to rest or clear his head, but it's better to clear up any doubts. We cannot yet accuse him or think anything bad of him. He has a lot of relationships with his trusted men and we must keep all options open.

On the other hand, I sent a sample of what you got in his quarters to my sister Purah. She has a small lab in Kakariko, she's trying to gather means to move to a more suitable place for her experiments. She doesn't want to make use of the facilities of the Royal Laboratory, don't ask me why, she's always been undisciplined in that regard. I'm waiting for her to confirm that the poison is the same that poisoned you. Communications are complex, and the King asked us to limit them as much as possible. I know the Necluda region is too far south, but I'd like to suggest you visit the sheikah village as soon as possible. We could meet there in a week and share inquiries.

I'm asking you this because I don't get any good news from that region, the sheikah village is in turmoil. The villagers of Hateno have stopped making the pilgrimage to Mount Lanayru. Will it be a possible hiding place for the enemy? Something's not right there. I don't know if our Patriarch will send a group to the mountain yet, but I do know that they have sent help to Hateno.

There is no news of the expedition group that was sent to the Necluda region, but neither were they instructed to visit the mountains, they have mostly gone into the Lanayru Citadel and the Zora Domain, and it is a vast region. I didn't want to agitate you with this, it's wise not to give details to Captain Link, as he has relatives there and we don't want to make noise that will alert the enemy. Simply suggest a change of strategy once you have visited the planned points in Akalla. And stay close to Captain Link as much as you can, I know he contributes positively to curbing your innate obliviousness.