The next morning Link woke up feeling refreshed, despite Midna waking him before the sun had risen. Last night's discussion and the feelings that went with it were still fresh in his mind, and he felt lifted up by hope. The things that happened to him would never go away, nor would their scars; yet the people around him saw his true self, the person he had grown into and not the person shaped by his past. He was the person he needed to be now, a young man that had a point and a purpose all for himself, and he had Midna to thank for it. No, not just Midna, he thought. Me. He was the one who accepted it.
Having the epiphany that he could work past all the things that had been holding him back gave him a sense of confidence and purpose that he didn't have before. So far he had only been going where he had been told to go, and doing what he had been asked to do. Now he had a made a choice solely for himself, and that had made all the difference. As he doused the remains of their fire with water from the river, he felt new; like a phoenix rising from the ashes. It wasn't that a burden had been lifted from his shoulders, but rather that he was now strong enough to carry it.
Ashei held the reins of their horses as she stood nearby, an unlikely ally in this battle he had no idea that he had been fighting, and one he helped him achieve victory. "Ready now?"
Link shook the excess water out of his cookpot and gave it a wipe with the edge of his now-worn brown cloak before stowing it back into his satchel. "Ready." He stepped around the damp firepit to take Epona's reins, and led her out of the trees and towards the road. As he walked next to the mare, he hummed her song to her, not doing it for any particular reason other than the pure love he had for his horse.
Once they were at the road, Ashei smiled over at him. "You need to sing that whole song for me. There's more to it, right?"
"Of course there is." he said, mounting up. "But not right now. Right now, we ride." He sent Epona into a walk before she even had a chance to mount up, and grinned at her startled shout as she hurriedly pulled herself up into the saddle. She laughed behind him as Spirit followed in a repeat of yesterday, and the two of them crossed the arching bridge over Zora's River, and into Lanayru.
At first they moved slowly through the rest of the craggy rocks of the old volcanic range, the light of the rising sun yet to reach the road, but eventually things opened up to the rolling, hilly fields of eastern Upper Lanayru. Their horses ran at a canter along the road that wound its way through those green hills, the morning sun warm and pleasant at their backs.
Link had put away his hat and rode with his head bare, the wind ruffling his hair and whistling through his earrings. The feeling of the wind, the movement of Epona beneath him and how his own body moved with her, the fluid way that Spirit ran in front of him with Ashei in the same way, it all suddenly filled him with joy. He found himself laughing, enjoying being a rider on a pleasant summer morning.
"Now this is the guy I befriended." Midna said in his ears, just loud enough to be heard over the sound of the wind. He grinned in response, exhilarated from the ride, from his friends, from his own refreshed view of himself.
They rode past a few Bokoblin camps, the creatures startled by the two riders, but unable to give chase. Not that the monsters didn't steal horses and mules from time to time, but even if they had mounts they wouldn't have been able to keep up with Epona and Spirit. The two horses were swift with large reserves of stamina, the result of fine breeding. The distance to Zora's Domain grew shorter by the minute, and so did their ultimate destination of the Snow Peaks.
They slowed to let their horses rest, although Spirit danced a bit impatiently as if he wanted to still run. Ashei leaned down to pat the stallion's neck and he relaxed, willing to move at a walk. She grinned over at Link, as pleased with the ride as he was. "I haven't enjoyed riding for a while. It seems like every time I've been on a horse in the past few weeks, it was because I had to do something important."
"We're still doing something important." He smirked at her. "We're just having fun while doing it."
"Fun?" she asked. "Knights aren't supposed to have fun."
He somehow doubted that. "You're not exactly a knight you know, even though you've been raised by one."
"You're not exactly a noble knight either, yeah?" She was right. He wasn't, and didn't have the patience, education and everything else a knight was trained for.
"Touche." They rode in silence for a few minutes, and he thought about where they were going. She hadn't told him much of anything about her home, only that it was a town in the mountains. "Ashei," he said after a moment. "tell me about your father. You mentioned he raised you, but you haven't said much else...other than the two of you rolled down a mountain ahead of an avalanche." Which was quite the story, but didn't explain much about Brent as a person.
"You know, I wasn't thinking about it, but you wouldn't know too much about the other knights. I'm so used to my father and the other men telling stories, I figured you'd know the same things I do, being Gwyn's son." She sighed. "That was stupid of me. Let me fix that."
Ashei took a deep breath and began talking. "He was known as Brent of Mabe before he abandoned the king. I don't know if you realize it, but the culling of Kasuto was the domino that made the rest fall, and made the last good men desert King Adelbert. That's not to say that others didn't stay. Sir Alden stayed out of his loyalty to Zelda, and we both know that Petyr is a good man. But still, what started as a trickle of deserters became a flood. Other small towns had been abandoned, people were rounded up to be imprisoned somewhere, but the destruction of an entire town was the final straw.
"My father was stationed with me at one of the army's keeps, and when he decided he wanted nothing to do with a mad king, he and the other few knights and soldiers abandoned the keep all together." Ashei looked over at him. "That keep is where we're headed, by the way."
He had remembered that Ashei had told him she lived in a keep in the mountains when she was younger, but for some reason he hadn't made the connection that it was the one that Rauru had spoke of. Her hesitancy to speak about it the other morning made more sense, if she had grown up there. Perhaps the place did not have good memories.
"They traveled back down into the lower mountains and found a place to start a new home, far away from any retribution from Adelbert and what soldiers he still had." She smiled smugly. "They never found us, either. The Zoras knew that we were there, and Queen Rutela did not approve of how Adelbert was treating his people, so the Zoras kept our town a secret."
"I know that the Zoras don't like to get involved in Hylian politics, so that was probably the most that they could do to help people without seeming like they were actively against the king." Link imagined a war between the Zoras and the Hylians, and was glad it never came to that.
"They protected us, so those of us who were kids were able to grow up in peace. My father began teaching me the blade when I was twelve, right after he abandoned Hyrule. I was still technically a page, but he decided to speed up my training since I was a good study. Father not only taught me how to fight and shoot a bow, but he taught me how to sing, how to play the lyre, how to speak Gerudo, strategy, history, etiquette and other things. A knight's education."
She smirked. "He always thought of me as more of a son than a daughter, although I don't know if it's because he wanted a boy, or because of my personality." The female warrior laughed her breathy laugh. "Maybe both. Growing up without a mother probably shaped who I am too. That's not to say that there aren't women in Mido, but the majority of people there are men."
"If a lot of them were soldiers that were stationed at that keep, that makes sense." Midna said from where she was listening in Link's shadows.
Ashei nodded. "Yeah, that's exactly why. I'm the only female warrior too, being the only young woman to have grown up with that training. I stick out a bit in my father's hall among all of his men."
"Let me ask you something." Something bothered Link about what she had told him. "You're the only woman in the group of warriors serving beneath your father. How can he trust them? I mean, not to think any less of your father's men, but some guys don't respect a lady, if you get my meaning."
She laughed in response to that. "Do you think any of them are stupid enough to try anything under my father's roof? Besides, it's not him they're afraid of. I'm pretty sure that it's me. I can beat them all in a fight easily, even the veterans." Spirit sidled a bit closer to Epona as he walked, bringing the woman closer to Link. "In fact, I'd like to spar with you sometime. Swords, staves, wrestling, I don't care. I want to fight somebody who is a challenge. I'm tired of fighting people I can knock down in thirty seconds."
He had never considered practicing against a woman before, not even when he was among the Gerudo. In fact the only person he had practiced with was Rusl, so the idea of sparring with someone else was intriguing. "You're on."
Ashei smiled at him, and then shook her head. "Link, you're one of the few men I've met like you. There's Shad, and Rusl too, and now Renado...but nearly all the men in Mido are like Commander Petyr. Disciplined, strong, tough, and do their best to control their emotions. That's not to say that they don't laugh or get angry, but you wouldn't catch most of them in a vulnerable moment. Some of them won't even admit when they're frightened, like it's some stupid thing that makes them stronger."
Midna snorted from where she rode on Link's body. "Oh, that kind of man."
"Yeah, I know the type. There were a few of those in Ordon, too. That dumb macho idea of how a man is strong still is the norm there." The more he talked about it, the more he realized how backwards Ordon was. As much as the place was into tradition, he wondered if he could convince it to change. "They weren't the men that influenced me, though. The person who did was Rusl, who didn't try to assign thoughts or feelings to either men or women. He told me this: one of the biggest things about becoming an adult is learning how to manage your emotions. That doesn't mean that you can't feel them, only that you know when it's appropriate to express them. And at the time it really made me think, since I was this young guy having problems with his anger. Rusl would get angry sometimes too, even at me even though he did his best to be patient with me. I even saw him cry once, when he thought I had been killed by Bokoblins. He never let it be the thing that controlled him, but he also never bottled it up." And now, he could be like that too. It would take time, but he would be able to recover and master his emotions.
Ashei smiled at him again, and he realized that when she smiled, it completely changed her face, making her appear younger and more innocent...not to mention pretty. "That's Rusl. He's really level-headed. He's one of the people I feel that I can talk more freely with, along with Shad and Telma, even Auru. And now you. You're all different than my father's men, so I can be myself."
"I noticed that." said Link. "It's like there are two different versions of you: the warrior, and then the woman. But Ashei, listen...you can't keep those two separate for long. Controlling your emotions when you fight is a good thing, but the way you close yourself off from everything else at times can influence your decisions in a negative way. You don't want to act like you can't feel much for too long, because eventually you're going to convince yourself that you really are detached from everything." He gave her a wry smile. "I'm a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve though, so you can take that advice as you will."
"It's actually pretty good advice." Midna piped up. "I'm a bit concerned about what he said. You don't want to become an unemotional lump."
"Don't worry about me." the young woman said. "While I maintain discipline in the way my father taught me, I won't be in his hall forever. I have plans to be in Zelda's new Hyrule, and when I am, I'll be the warrior and the woman that I want to be, not playing a character like I've been doing so far." She glanced over at him with a fond smile, and even though they hadn't known each other for long, he could tell that she genuinely liked him. "Thanks for worrying about me, yeah?"
"Hey, I'm the hero. I'm supposed to help others." He leaned forward to pat Epona on the neck, and the horse sighed. "I think they've rested. Let's ride until it's time to eat."
They continued on through the ruins of a far older Hyrule, of statues of large birds and warriors that had been worn by centuries of rain and wind. They stopped for a quick meal at another grassy spot so the horses could graze, the pale stones of another ruin jutting up through the turf. There was so much of Hyrule that has been forgotten, he thought as he looked at the worn stones. Would Hyrule Castle one day stand in ruins, the Hylian people gone? Would he be forgotten too?
You will not be forgotten, Master Link. I will remember.
He pictured the sword how he had found it, in an ancient building that had lay in ruin for over two hundred years. The Master Sword would likely continue to exist hundreds, perhaps thousands of years after he was long gone. It would remember much of the world, and every hero that wielded it.
The rolling hills of Upper Lanayru gave way to higher, rocky formations and valleys of gray stone. Zora's Domain was much higher in elevation than the Hylian lands south of it, and because of that was known for its waterfalls. The path they took didn't go along Zora's River, so unfortunately they didn't see any. The uphill climb meant that they had to rest their horses more, and they let them go at a walk. Their speed earlier was due to this uphill part that would eat up much of their time.
Ashei used this opportunity to badger Link into singing again. He tried to evade the subject, cracked jokes about it, even insisted that he wasn't as good of a singer as she claimed, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Strangely enough, neither would Midna, who insisted that she loved his voice. Eventually he gave in and sang some of the songs that his father had taught him, the songs he usually sang when he was alone. It turned out he knew a few that Ashei didn't, and she knew a few that he didn't. Even though their fathers were both knights, the two houses of Lon and Mabe had passed on different traditions, and different songs.
They passed through the carved archways marking the entrance to Zora's Domain, their voices echoing off the stone as Link repeated back fragments of a song Ashei was teaching him. To his amusement, he heard Midna singing along with him. The Twili was learning it as well, although he wasn't sure if Ashei could hear her or not. They rode over a delicately arched bridge into the Domain, and came to a stop when a group of Zoras greeted them, quite obviously waiting for them. Ralis was among them, the violet-scaled King of the Zoras so much smaller than his entourage.
The young king gave Link a look of surprise. "Link?"
He felt equally surprised to see the Zoras waiting for them. "Ralis? How did you know we were coming?"
"We know Ashei's voice, since she tends to sing when she travels. Voices travel far in the canyons leading up to the Domain, so we can tell when she's coming." Ralis smiled. "What we didn't know was who had been singing along with her. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was you."
Link felt his ears turn hot with embarrassment. He had no idea that he'd have an audience, and assumed it was fine to sing along with Ashei until they entered the Domain. He huffed a frustrated sigh, and saw his breath faintly steam in the air. "Wait...it's not normally this cold here."
"No, it normally is not." The young Zora said. "It is summer, yet it is quite cold. This is how winter feels here in Zora's Domain, down to how there is ice floating in Zora's Fountain. I have sent some scouts west to see what is wrong, but so far we cannot tell why the wind coming down from the mountains is so cold. It started nearly a week ago, and while none of the water here is freezing over, it is still a concern." The young king took a few steps towards Epona to look at the hero. "If something strange is happening, I believe it is the sort of thing the Hero of Hyrule should investigate."
"We have an idea of what it is, but not why it's doing what it is. There's a piece of a magical relic that's been hidden up in the mountains that we need to look for, so when we find it we'll figure out why it's changed the weather in the area." He put a hand to his chest. "Midna?" The imp formed out of his shadows, something that got very little reaction out of Ralis' royal guards. He likely had told them about Link and Midna. "You said that it shouldn't be possible for a piece of the Mirror of Twilight to alter the weather."
"I did say that, and I'm still saying that. The Mirror of Twilight is one of the magic portals that the gods made ages ago. It has an incredible amount of magic in it, but it isn't anything that directly casts spells. If you're going to alter the weather, you need big spells...and you'd also need a focus." The Twili crossed her arms. "I'm going to guess what's happening here is there's another relic in the mountains, and the shard of mirror is magnifying its magical ability and making it freeze things." She shrugged. "We'll see what's going on when we get up there."
Ralis nodded, understanding Midna's explanation due to his people's habit of watching over magical relics, and then he looked back up at Link. "Do you require anything?"
"No, just passage through your Domain so we can go to Ashei's home." Link said. "After that, she's taking me to a keep in the mountains where the mirror shard is supposed to be."
"Ah. Well then, I shall wish you a safe journey. Perhaps we may speak another time, when you are not doing something so important." The Zora inclined his head politely, and then turned to leave with his guards surrounding him.
"Ralis." The serious tone in Link's voice made the young king stop and turn back towards the two riders that were in the entryway to the Domain. "Castle Town has fallen. Almost all of the Hylians have been transformed into Shadow Beasts now."
The purple-scaled Zora took four swift steps back to stand next to Epona again. "No...how can that be? Was that the true reason behind Zant's army?"
"It was, but it's not Zant's army. He made everything ready for his boss, and then ran away through the Mirror of Twilight. That's the thing we're trying to reconstruct so we can chase after him and get Midna's human form back." He stared down at the young Zora, his blue eyes intense. "Zant made everything ready for Ganondorf. Ganondorf wasn't killed, only sealed away, and now he's back." He watched as the Zora's mouth moved as he struggled to formulate a response, and continued. "You know that I have Courage, and Zelda has Wisdom. Ganondorf has Power, which is why he was able to survive for over two hundred years. He's now squatting in Hyrule Castle with a big barrier around it, and Zelda's trapped there with him." He already had told Ralis that Zelda's soul had left her body, so there was no reason to explain in front of the others. "I'm not sure what his plans are at this point, but I'm sure he considers himself the King of Hyrule. He might start conquering elsewhere, since he certainly has the power to do so."
Ralis' green eyes looked down to the ground as he considered everything, and then he raised them back up to Link. "What will you do? You say you will reform the mirror and kill Zant in order to restore Midna?"
"The original plan hasn't changed, only now we need to fix the mirror first. Once Midna's human, she can use her powers and the relic you helped me obtain to destroy that barrier, and help me defeat Ganondorf." He was not about to mention the Fused Shadows by name in front of the other Zoras. Then he frowned, thinking of something. "Ralis, haven't you had any refugees coming here? Or haven't you had word from Lake Hylia? There were many refugees heading that way."
"None have come to our Domain, and none would be refused if they did. As for Lake Hylia...I am not sure why Captain Jorvan has not sent word, but I plan to investigate. Thank you for this information." The king nodded his head. "I shall not keep you. Good luck."
"Thanks." He waited until Ralis and the group of guards surrounding him walked deeper into the Domain and jumped into the water of the main pool. He considered telling Ralis what happened to his half-sister, but wasn't anything he wanted to announce in front of everyone else, since it was personal. He planned to speak with Ralis sometime in the future, although he didn't know when. He nudged Epona into a walk, and led them down the blue-paved road of Zora's Domain.
The Zoras went about their business, some of them politely stepping out of the way for the horses on the road, a few hailing Ashei, others greeting the Hero of Hyrule. There was no more singing, now that the mood had become somber, and the three of them were quiet as they considered the conversation with Ralis. If no word had come from Lake Hylia, and it had been at least three days since the refugees left Castle Town, then what happened? Was there trouble at Lakeside?
The horses' hooves were loud in the carved stone passage going through the western side of the Domain, and fewer Zoras were on this side. It felt colder, so it was no wonder that the cold-blooded aquatic race would prefer to stay near the warmer pools at the center of their home. The trail through the edge of the Domain turned left near one of the many waterfalls and through a large cavern lit by the same glowing crystals as the ones found in Lakebed Temple. The road had water rushing past it on either side, going down into the Domain from the direction of the mountains, forming mist in the air.
The temperature continued to drop, and Link pulled up his hood. "I hope this cloak is enough to keep me warm." he said, noting that he could see his breath more clearly here than he could at the entrance to Zora's Domain.
"It won't be." Ashei said. "Not if it's this cold here. We can find you warmer clothes once we get to town."
Midna shivered and rubbed at her arms. "Yes, well...I'm naked and I don't care for the cold in the first place. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to leech some body warmth off of Mr. Hero." She vanished into his body, and he hoped she wasn't in the warm shadows directly next to his skin.
The cavern widened to end in a large carved archway, and beyond was a lake deep blue in color. Chunks of ice floated along the edges of the lake, and the sun shone weakly as it crept west, as if shining through fog. Small flakes of snow drifted down, blowing towards Zora's Domain from the looming peaks in the distance, which had their tops wreathed in low clouds.
"This isn't right." Ashei took in the scenery around them. "This was all green when I passed through here before. Look, see?" She pointed at the trees, which were tall aspens and cottonwoods that crowded the shores of Zora's Fountain, their green leaves weighted down by clinging snow. "If the trees look like that, I can't imagine what our crops look like. I have to worry about some of our sheep, since we got in a late shearing this spring, and it was less than two months ago."
"We'll hurry to get to your town as fast as we can. I'm sure the horses have rested again."
The warrior shook her head, white flakes settling on her dark hair. "We can't hurry. Your Epona isn't used to the snow, yeah?"
"She isn't. We only would get a dusting now and again in Kasuto, and it never snows in Ordon." He patted the mare's neck. "She'll be fine in it, right? It's not slippery?"
"No, the ground here is still too warm and the layer beneath is melting, so the only issue is how tiring it is. Even Spirit doesn't like marching through that wet stuff. We'll keep our current pace. Mido isn't far and we'll make it there long before dark." She brushed at the snow on her hair. "Of course since it's summer I came to Castle Town without my furs or even a cloak. That's my own fault. Let's go."
It wasn't long before Link's pointed ears were red and cold, far more exposed than Ashei's were. He dug out his long green hat, and she watched him as he stuffed both his hair and his long ears up into it, drawing it lower on his head than usual, to just above his eyebrows.
"I was wondering if those Hylian ears of yours were getting cold." Ashei put a gauntlet-clad hand to her ear. "Mine are cold, and they don't stick out as much."
"Do you want my cloak? You can at least put the hood up."
She shook her head. "No, I'm used this cold and you're not. Besides, my linen armor is padded thicker than yours. I'll be fine." She gestured at his head. "You might want to put your hood up too. You're wearing earrings, and I've been told that they're a magnet for the cold."
"I'd take them out if I could, but I don't know how. They don't seem to bend like gold or silver. When the gods decided to pierce my ears, they picked lousy earrings." He pulled his hood up, stuffing the green hat behind his head. "I'm not sure why they pierced my ears. Maybe the gods have a sense of humor."
It grew darker even though the late afternoon sun was still out, and the snow started to fall more thickly as they climbed up the forest road. It appeared as if it had been snowing for days, since the snow was nearly up to their horse's knees in drifts, although it only went up to their fetlocks most of the time. There were tracks in the snow on the road: humans, horses, sheep. They had to be close to Mido, looking at those tracks. He could see lights shining through the trees, and as they came around the bend a small town came into view, a few lamps lit in its windows. The buildings were made of stripped yellow cedar logs, with high-peaked roofs shingled with the same wood and coated in snow. There were farm terraces going up and down the mountainside on either side of the town, but whatever crops were in them were mostly buried in snow. He could see why Ashei was concerned; this snow would kill their crops, and their food supply would run low. Now worried about these people isolated in the mountains, he wondered if there was a way to ship food all the way up here from Ordon.
The town was long and only had one main road, just like Lakeside but much smaller. There were a few lone houses up or down the mountain from that main road, but most of the buildings huddled along its sides. Ashei led them to a stable next to a large building in the center of town and dismounted. Following her cue, he did the same and led Epona along, following behind Spirit as they went in. The inside of the stable was far warmer, heated by the bodies of the horses and mules inside, but it was still colder than what Epona was used to.
He looked over his shoulder at the mare. "Poor girl. I keep taking you places you don't like, don't I?" Epona followed obediently along, not appearing too unhappy about the unfamiliar stable. After all, it was warmer than outside.
As they cared for their horses, Link decided to ask about Brent. "If you don't mind me asking...is your father a formal man?"
"Yeah, he's fairly disciplined...until he gets to know you of course, just like anyone else with manners. Did you assume that because he was a knight?" There was the sound of tack being hung up on the other side of the divider.
He shrugged, and then felt foolish because he realized she couldn't see it. "If he's the leader of a group of warriors, he's probably not informal and open like I am. I wanted to make sure so I knew how I should behave." He believed he knew the man's type, and fully expected Brent to be like Bo, from what Ashei has said so far. Stern, strict, yet not unreasonable.
After the horses were settled, they left the stables and crossed a snow-clogged muddy yard to go through a side entrance of the long wooden building. Ashei sighed in pleasure when they entered the warmth of a kitchen area, and stomped the snow from her boots. Then her face changed to the impassive mask that she wore when he had first met her. While he had expected that, he certainly didn't have to like it. It didn't seem fair that Ashei couldn't be herself around her own father, but Link had no idea what he could do about it.
They passed through the warm kitchen, which had a few men attending fires and food that paid them no mind. He was starting to get some feeling back into his cold fingers when she led him through a hallway and past a series of shut doors. After that was the main hall of the lodge.
Rough cedar tables lined the walls and men sat at them on benches, either eating or lingering over drinks after finishing their evening meal. Most of them were Hylians, but there were a few men with rounded ears. Some of them stopped their conversations to quietly stare at Ashei, and then the brown-cloaked stranger she brought into their midst.
At the center of the room was a large square fire pit bordered by iron grating, with an iron flue above it to catch the smoke and funnel it outside. Next to that fire stood two men: a red-headed young Hylian with shoulder-length hair, and a giant bear of a man with long wavy black hair tied back in a loose tail, and a full beard to match. They both wore swords, the redhead's twin blades belted at either hip, and the tall half-Hylian man had a large two-handed sword on his back that was nearly as long as Link.
The two of them turned as the approached, and the young man smiled in a familiar way. "Ashei! You're here?" The man had a pleasant-sounding baritone voice, and from the tone of it, he was pleased to see her. He extended an arm towards her, which she clasped.
"Max." she said with a faint, controlled smile. "I'm indeed here." She then turned to the large man. "Father, my apologies, but I had to return early."
Of course that was her father. He couldn't be one of the regular men, oh no. The man had to be the only intimidating warrior in the room. As much as he wanted to make a joke based off that thought, he knew that this was not the time nor the place to do it, so he remained silent as he stood a few steps behind Ashei.
Brent looked down at her and frowned, furrowing his brow. "You had to return? Why is that? And who is this stranger you bring to us?" His brown eyes slid over to examine Link for a second.
"You know that Hylian lands were invaded, but it's gotten far worse. Castle Town has fallen to an army of monsters, the people of Hyrule are scattered, and King Adelbert is dead." She stepped back and put a hand on Link's shoulder. "That is why my companion is with me. He is the next Hero of Hyrule, a man named Link. His father was a Royal Hyrulean Knight as well."
The large shaggy man took two steps forward to stand in front of Link, towering over him. Link calmly looked up to meet his gaze, not willing to let this wall of muscle intimidate him, yet taking care to not do anything that would offend him.
"Remove your hood, boy." Boy? Great. When Link complied, Brent grunted sourly. "And that stupid hat too."
He pulled the green hat off his head and ran a hand through his hair, attempting to comb it with his fingers while still looking up at the large man. Now the whole room could see his face, and likely see how young he was. Some of these men undoubtedly thought he was younger than eighteen, just like others had.
"What was your father's name, boy?" Brent asked, his tone neutral. Link did not like how he kept being referred to as "boy", finding the use of the word rude, and unlike what he had pictured Brent to be like.
"Gwyn." he answered. "He was Gwyn of Lon."
Ever so briefly, there was a hint of emotion behind Brent's brown eyes. They looked pained, and then went back to being neutral. The man combed his long beard with his thick fingers, examining Link's face thoughtfully. "I remember…" He raised his shaggy eyebrows. "I remember that Gwyn had a son. A little boy with the bluest eyes I had ever seen. That had to be, hmm...fourteen years ago?" He nodded. "Yes, when I look at you I can see those same eyes, that same face but older. You've grown up, yeah?" The tall man slowly circled around him, looking him up and down. "But you're not very big, are you?"
Laughter came from the tables around the room. Of course these types would be laughing at a shorter man; their dumb macho brains probably thought that height equaled strength. Link wondered if he could convince them to not be so damned hung up on the old warrior clan mindset. Maybe he ought to beat a few of them up, since that's a language they'd understand. He lingered on that thought, considering that perhaps he would have to fight someone while here, but then Brent stopped behind him.
"That sword." Brent's voice gained just a touch of emotion, and he sounded alarmed. "How did you get that sword?"
He looked over his shoulder at the purple hilt of the Master Sword, and then beyond it at the huge man staring at it. "Ashei told you: I've been chosen as the next Hero of Hyrule, by the gods themselves. Zelda instructed me to go get the sword, and I did."
The ex-knight finished his slow circuit around the young man and crossed his thick arms, setting his jaw while scowling at the young man. "Show us."
He resisted the urge to sigh dramatically about somebody else being interested in ogling the Master Sword and drew it, holding it high so the other men in the room could see it. Murmurs began at the tables as the men gathered there realized that this small blue-eyed "boy" was exactly who he claimed to be. After sweeping his eyes across the room to gauge the men's reactions, Link sheathed the sword again and turned his attention back to Brent.
The tall man nodded in approval. "Yes, you are as you say. I have other questions, but the food is ready and most of us have already eaten. You two should eat. Come sit with me. You too, Max."
It wasn't long before they were seated at the back side of one of the tables, with their quivers, bows and Link's shield leaning against the wall. Brent had raised an eyebrow when he saw the design on the shield, but hadn't commented on it. He and Max sat across from Link and Ashei as the two ate, and many of the other men in the hall clustered around, eager to hear news of Hyrule from a warrior not of their group. While it was strange to have a group of people all stare at him while he was eating, he found he was less uncomfortable with a bunch of eyes on him as he had before. Leading the refugees and having to speak to them all at once had changed that.
There were boiled potatoes and carrots, and slices of venison with gravy. Link piled some on his plate, thinking that other than the Gerudo jerky and little bit of ham he had eaten with Ilia, most of the meat he had been eating since being poisoned by the Lanmola was cucco. Unable to control his chatty mouth, he had to comment. "Oh, red meat. I've missed you."
That made Max chuckle, and Brent cracked a brief smile before going back to his usual scowl, which seemed to be his default facial expression. His eyes were not unkind, though. "Haven't been eating well, yeah?"
"With all I've had to do, I think I'm lucky to have eaten enough at all." Having read the crowd, he continued with a joke. "That's probably why I'm so short." The men responded with a chorus of laughs, and he smiled slightly. He may yet be able to win these men over after all.
"Have a sense of humor, yeah?" Brent's use of "yeah" on the end of certain sentences was much like his daughter, and likely where she had gotten it from.
He paused after chewing to speak. "I think you need to have a sense of humor when the gods drop a sacred quest into your lap without warning. I've been on this mission since I was attacked in Ordon which was…" He counted the days in his head. "Nearly a full month ago."
"Ordon?" Brent stopped with his wine cup halfway to his mouth, and lowered it again to lean forward in surprise. "You wound up in Ordon, of all places?" He ran a hand through his beard when Link nodded while chewing, and his eyes seemed to consider something. "Tell me how you escaped Kasuto, then. Your father didn't."
"I know he didn't." Link said in-between bites. "He remained behind to fight so my mother and I could ride off on our fastest horse. Epona was still young, only two years old, so she was able to run almost the whole way through Eldin and Central Hyrule." He stared at his plate, suppressing memories of that terrifying ride. "It wasn't enough. My mother was shot on the way there. She died in Ordon two days later."
The shaggy man leaned back, his scowl deepening. "They honestly would shoot and kill one of their own Sheikah warriors?"
"And try to do the same to her twelve-year-old son, yes." Link paused to drink some of the wine Brent had poured for him, glad for the distraction so he could keep his composure. It would not do to be emotional in front of all these men. "If they were willing to kill the elderly and small children, do you think they'd have any issues with killing one of the warriors from Hyrule Castle?"
"What foolishness." Brent growled, angry over the death of Link's mother, and over the innocents of Kasuto as well. "They should have recognized her. Sami was in the service of the royal family at one point, and was known for being a fierce warrior. If they had any sense, they would have turned and run the opposite way. Instead they shot her like cowards."
Link chewed in silence for a moment before speaking. "Cowards don't care if the orders of an insane king make no sense. If they can do something to seem strong, they'll jump on the opportunity, even if it means killing old allies and innocents."
Brent nodded at him. "Well spoken. Now, why Ordon? To escape Hyrule entirely?"
"Because Rusl was there, a friend of my mother's who she knew would hide us." Normally he would have been half-done with his food, but all this talking was slowing him down.
"Rusl, the royal blacksmith?" The large man grunted. "So that's where he went." He finished his cup of wine and poured himself another, as well as topped off Max's cup. The two men were drinking far faster than Link and Ashei.
"Link." Brent said, addressing him by his name for the first time. "I want you to know that my men and I went back to Kasuto to recover Gwyn's body to give him a proper burial. He was a good man, and a good friend. We were unable to retrieve his sword, although we searched for it. Most likely the cowardly soldiers that followed those orders stole it." He scowled again, staring out the snow-dusted window at the back wall of the lodge. "We were unable to do much else, since the bodies of the slain rose up to attack us, and our weapons were ineffective. All we could do is take your father's remains and retreat, since that place is crawling with undead."
"It's still crawling with undead. I had the foolish idea of stopping there to visit what was left of my home. I didn't have the Master Sword at the time, and barely got away with my life." He also got away with more emotional baggage, but at least he had begun to sort that issue out. He had a plan for Kasuto, just as he had plans for other things. "Thank you for doing that for my father. I never was quite sure what happened to him, although I assumed the worst. At least he isn't among the undead."
The bearded man nodded. "As his friend, I couldn't leave him there. He deserved far better."
"Where did you bury him?" If there was a chance he could find his father's grave and visit it, he planned to. Link was never one to pray, but seeing a grave and knowing that someone had found peace in the afterlife was comforting to him.
"The cemetery in the west courtyard of Hyrule Castle. That was the last service we did at the castle, burying our brother without telling the king." His brown eyes looked sad, and a touch regretful. "That's what made us leave our positions, which many of us had kept in our families for centuries. One of our own was killed, and the king was no longer in his right mind. The slaughter of an honorable man and the town he lived in did not sit well with many men, not just us knights. Thousands of soldiers abandoned Hyrule and the royal family, moving to the corners of the continent. So did the Sheikah, although I doubt they knew anything of your mother. For the Sheikah to reject the royal family…" he sadly shook his head.
Then Brent smiled at him, the man beginning to relax as he started to genuinely like the son of his friend. "Yet here you are five years later, grown up with the Master Sword on your back. I think it's only fitting that Gwyn's son is here to save Hyrule when the king failed in his duty. Now tell us of this journey you've taken over the past month, and what brings you here."
Link began with the attack at the spring and the stealing away of Ilia and the other Ordonians, which led to his stumbling into the Twilight. While he did mention that a "sacred power" protected him from the dark magic, he didn't go into detail, nor did he mention being a wolf. He recalled his imprisonment and meeting with Midna and later Zelda, the Twilight Invasion and Zant. He covered freeing the light spirits, reforming the Fused Shadows, aiding the Gorons and the Zoras, nearly getting killed and cursed by Zant, and retrieving the Master Sword at Zelda's suggestion. Quite a bit of the story was the desert with the Gerudo and his time spent in the Arbiter's Grounds freeing the undead, and he spoke of the shattered Mirror of Twilight and his near-death due to the Lanmola. Then finally, he told of the fall of Castle Town, the transformation of the Hylians into Shadow Beasts, how Ganondorf was behind it all, and how he and Rusl escorted refugees to Kakariko and Ordon with Ashei and Petyr's help.
The men listened to his story with rapt attention, sometimes laughing as Link recalled some things, sadly nodding their heads as he mentioned others. Some simply drank their wine and listened. Max in particular drank a few cups, the wine Brent brought for Link and Ashei sitting conveniently on the table in front of the redhead. The young man drank in an almost compulsory way, but Link did not comment, only took note. While Max smiled and laughed with the other men, there was something behind his blue eyes that indicated something was off.
They waited patiently whenever Link paused to wet his throat with wine, and even Brent didn't interrupt to ask any questions. Ashei listened as well, knowing most of the story, but lacking the occasional detail. Eventually he ended his tale, hands folded in front of him, his tone somber.
"I need to get those shards so we can go kill Zant, and my ally can regain her true form." he said. "Then we'll be ready to face Ganondorf." He fell silent, having talked and told his story for about half an hour. Then he raised his eyes to look at Brent.
The large man let out an explosive breath, thinking over all he had been told. "That's quite the tale, and while I would doubt much of it if it was coming from a different man, I believe everything you've told me. If that mirror shard is full of magic, then it explains the odd weather we're having lately." He glanced around at the men surrounding them, all of them looking grim. "Our crops are dying, our herds are freezing, and there's little we can do about it." Brent looked back to Link. "Tell me, this companion that has traveled with you...where is she now?"
He had to smile a bit, being able to introduce Midna to yet more people. "Midna." he said softly. "I think it's fine to come out now."
The Twili appeared above the table, forming out of shadows into an inky shape that quickly transformed into the gray-and-black imp. There were a few mutters among the men, and one of them even exclaimed "Gods!", but nobody seemed afraid of her. It was less of a subdued reaction than the Gerudo had, but still it was clear that she would be welcome here.
"She hides in my shadows most of the time." Link told them once their reactions had stilled. "Most people wouldn't understand who or what she is and would be frightened. The Gerudo and Zoras were more than willing to accept her, so I assume a group of human warriors would do the same."
Midna gave her typical deep bow, fluid and formal. "Greetings. My name is Midna, and I am from the Twilight Realm, what your people refer to as the Shadow Realm." She grinned, showing her fangs. "No, it's not the underworld, and no, I'm not dead. Just putting that out there, since I know some Hyrulean superstitions by now." That comment got a few chuckles.
"Well now, you're even smaller than Link. That's quite the accomplishment." Brent said to her, unruffled by her appearance. That got more laughter out of the group of men surrounding them.
"That wasn't my decision, honest." She gestured with a hand covered in aqua runes at her small body. "My normal form is much taller than this, nearly as tall as you. Twili are a tall people."
"I'll have to take your word at face value, yeah?" Brent grinned, flashing white teeth in the midst of thick black facial hair. The grin faded, and he looked serious. "Do you believe that this storm is caused by the piece of the Mirror of Twilight?"
She shook her head. "Sort of, but not quite. The shard itself can't cast magic like this, but what it can do is magnify the magic of other things nearby. I assume that there is something not too far from here that is able to alter the weather or at least cast ice magic, and the shard's affecting it."
"Then if the shard is taken away, that other thing will stop casting its magic, and the weather will go back to normal?" the huge man asked.
"It should. That's why we're here, after all." The Twili shrugged with her palms up. "Saving your town from being buried in snow wasn't planned, but I'm glad we can stop that from happening now that I know about it."
"Then I'll do anything I can to help you. You'll need to get to the Queen's Keep." Brent told her. "It was a large fortress that was part mansion, there to provide comfort for the queen as well as accommodate her magical experiments." He genuinely scowled, looking fierce like an animal. "There were some...strange monster breeding programs in that place. I doubt there's much left after being abandoned for six years, but if you're to head there, you must be prepared." He waved a hand at the assembled crowd. "You're welcome to take any of my men with you. They all know the way there."
Link glanced over at Ashei, who had been quiet and unemotional through everything. "Actually, I would like to bring Ashei with me." He moved his eyes back to Brent. "She's already quite involved in everything that's been happening, and has witnessed some of the things I told you about first-hand. We've fought together and she's impressive with both a sword and a bow. Besides, we've become friends through everything."
Brent turned to his daughter and presented her with a blunt question. "When you protected the refugees from the Bulbin raiders, how many did Link kill, and how many did you kill?"
"He killed seventeen, father." The men reacted to that and talked among themselves. There was a reason he hadn't told them specific numbers at times. After it grew quiet again, she continued. "I only killed five. Link is far faster than I am in a fight, and killed many before the rest of us had a chance."
Link shrugged. "That's a habit. I'm used to fighting by myself, so I try to take care of things quickly before I get overwhelmed." Not that he had been overwhelmed when fighting Bulbins so far. "I wanted to protect the refugees, so I wasn't thinking about counting kills, to be honest."
Brent raised his bushy eyebrows at that comment, which was in way an admission of defeating that many enemies on his own. Then his eyes grew serious and he locked them with Link's. "If you feel that Ashei is the warrior you wish to take with you, then I'm honored as her father and teacher to have your accompany you." He turned towards his daughter. "I assume that you're fine with bringing him there, yeah?"
Ashei nodded. "Link is a good ally and a good friend. I would have insisted on going with, even if he hadn't asked me."
Grinning, Link nudged her with his elbow. "Hey, I wouldn't go and leave you out of the fun."
She actually laughed at that, still willing to be the woman Ashei near him instead of the warrior Ashei, despite being surrounded by the men that caused her to hide herself away. He realized that it was the men themselves that caused that behavior in her and not Brent, since the man had proved to be warm and friendly despite his appearance. Ashei's father smiled at the two of them from beneath his bushy beard, pleased that his daughter had not only fought alongside the son of his old friend, but had befriended him as well.
Link looked over to Max, and his smile froze on his face. The young man was red around the nose and cheeks from too much wine, and he glared at him with pure naked jealousy. Great. So that familiar smile that Max had given Ashei when she came in wasn't only friendly. It was probably for the best that they leave here as soon as they could tomorrow morning, if just to get away from Max.
Brent stood up and waved his men away. "All right lads, move along! Give this young man room, he's talked until he's blue in the face." The men moved away in groups, talking among themselves about the tale they had just heard, and the hero and sorceress that had joined them in their lodge tonight. The large man put his hands on his hips and watched the group disperse, and then turned to Ashei. "If you have no objections, I would prefer Link sleep in your quarters tonight. I think it would be for the best if his magic sword was well out of the reach of this group. You know some of them think themselves to be heroes and would love to get their paws on it."
"None at all. We've slept near each other while traveling, so it's not a problem." She likely didn't know that the Master Sword could protect itself if needed, but he appreciated that both she and her father were looking out for him.
"Good." Brent said. He pointed a meaty finger at Link. "Since you strike me as a man of honor, I'm going to trust you. No funny business with my daughter. If I catch you doing anything, I don't care if you're a hero or Gwyn's son; I'll beat you black and blue." He then threw his head back and laughed, although Link got the impression that the threat was not entirely a joke.
"My mind is a bit preoccupied with everything I've been doing, and I don't have the time or desire for 'funny business'." At least, not with Ashei. Auren had certainly given him something to consider, and he was back to having degenerate thoughts about Ilia. "I'm a bit on the warm side." It was true; after being crowded by thirty-odd men for a while and drinking wine on top of that made him begin to sweat. "After that long story, I need to get some air."
"Go on ahead, stretch your legs." Midna told him. "I have some questions about the Queen's Keep for Brent."
"Well then, come with me to get more wine, and we'll have a good talk by the fire." offered Brent. He seemed to accept Midna's imp form as only a minor setback, and respected her as a sorceress and fellow warrior. More people were seeing her as a woman and a person, and not just the cursed little creature she had become.
Link turned to the rear door of the hall and stepped out into the snow. He took a deep breath of frigid air and let it out in a cold cloud, gazing up at the gently falling snow. It rarely snowed in Eldin, and he only had vague memories of playing in the stuff at his father's ranch when he was little. It was truly beautiful, and he marveled at how it landed on his eyelashes and sparkled in the early evening light. Even though the area was cloaked in snow it was technically summer, and the daylight hours were still long. It was at least an hour until sunset, although a few of the lanterns that were strung up in the yard had already been lit.
He had thought it would be difficult to convince a group of warriors that he was the hero, and that he also wanted to take Ashei with him, but they all seemed rather impressed with the story and with him. Having the Master Sword strapped to his back as proof probably helped.
Indeed. said the sword. Yet your charisma is what won them over. They laughed at your jokes.
People did seem to laugh at his jokes, although he hadn't been thinking too much of it, other than appreciating the fact that he could make people laugh. Sword, do you think I'm funny?
I do not have emotions, Master. I am not equipped to answer that question, even though I have extensive data on humor and jokes.
The sword had data on jokes, of all things. It knew a lot about many different subjects, so it would only go to reason that it would have records of things people found funny. You have a bunch of jokes?
Yes, Master.
He was curious about what kinds of jokes the sword would have, or what kind of humor people had in the ancient past. Tell me one.
The Master Sword paused and he could sense that it was going through its memories for an appropriate joke to tell him that he would understand. Why was six afraid of seven?
He took a few steps into the snowy back yard of the lodge, the snow crunching beneath his boots. I don't know. Why?
As always, the Master Sword's female voice was devoid of emotion. Because seven ate nine.
He wasn't sure if it was because the joke was such a ridiculous pun, or if it was the deadpan delivery, but he actually laughed at that one. Thanks, Sword. That was good.
I am here to serve, Master Link.
The Master Sword had told him a joke at his request. That wasn't what he had expected when he had pulled the blade from the Pedestal of Time, that's for sure. He smiled while thinking about it and crossed the snow-covered yard to enter one of the outhouses near the back. When he came back out a moment later, he found Max waiting for him, snow settling on his shoulders.
"You." said the redhead in an accusatory tone that was a bit on the loud side. He clearly had too much to drink, although he still seemed steady on his feet. "How dare you come here with her."
Link had been hoping to not encounter this particular young warrior while he was drunk, and even then he had hoped to sneak away in the morning without encountering him at all. Sadly, it was unavoidable now. He took a few careful steps closer, but remained quiet and did his best to not appear threatening. Not that Max looked physically threatened by him.
"Don't think I don't know what's going on. You even get to sleep in her quarters!" The young man seemed to miss the detail that it was Brent's idea that he share a room with Ashei for the night.
He raised his hands defensively and took a few more steps towards the lodge, hoping to walk around the drunk and make his way inside without causing any trouble. "Listen, you have the wrong idea. Ashei and I are just friends."
"Bullshit!" snarled Max, and he charged at him with his fist raised. Link easily evaded the attack, and considered his options. The man was already belligerent and had made up his mind, and while dodging the punch had gotten him closer to the lodge, it also had put him closer to Max. He probably could dart inside without getting hit, but that also would look cowardly. Normally he wouldn't care what people thought, but he had a certain image to maintain around Brent's men.
"I saw that little look you gave one another! I saw how she looks at your pretty face!" The redhead's voice became more emotional and unhinged as he shouted, and he threw another clumsy punch at Link, this one a bit faster.
He evaded the second swing that Max took at him, but only just barely. The man was quick on his feet, even while drunk. "Take it easy." He really did not want to fight one of these warriors after Brent had been so welcoming, especially since all of them were armed. The young man that kept bawling angrily at him wore twin blades, which belied his dexterity and skill in combat. If he decided to stop using his fists and draw those weapons, he would put both himself and Link into an unfortunate situation. Or at least one even more unfortunate than the current one. "I don't want to fight you, so please calm down."
"I will not calm down!" Max howled, not deterred by the young hero's attempts to de-esculate the situation. He had assembled his own narrative in his mind, and stubbornly would not listen to reason. "You've been with her, haven't you?! I'll bet you fucked her on the way here!"
That accusation went someplace he hadn't expected it to go and Link stared at him incredulously, both surprised and angry that this man would assume something like that about him. Not only that, it was offensive to assume that Ashei wouldn't have a choice in the matter even if it happened to be true. Did this moron really believe that he would just go and take what he wanted from somebody else like that?
Max used Link's momentary surprise to his advantage and hit him full in the face with a fist, knocking him down into the snow and onto his back. "You bastard!" the warrior screamed angrily, towering over him with his hands balled into fists. "She belongs to me!"
Link raised himself up on an elbow, the taste of blood his mouth. He ran his tongue over his lower lip to find that it had been split from where the other man had hit him. Max's accusations, the punch, and the taste of his own blood ignited a fire in Link's chest, and he glared up at the man as his expression changed from one of surprise to one of anger.
"Fine." he said, his voice furiously quiet, and then he sprung up from the ground at Max, swinging his own fist.
The two of them rolled around in the snow while exchanging blows, Link stronger than the other man, but Max far heavier. The fact that the man was drunk meant that his sense of pain was deadened somewhat, and he didn't respond to Link's punches much. Link heard the doors to the lodge open at one point and the sounds of voices shouting and cheering, but he didn't pay any attention to them. His anger had risen to grip at him, and while it wasn't the beast, it was still a rage fueled by emotion. He was furious at this idiot who believed that he owned Ashei, and not only thought that she was a physical prize, but also assumed that all other men felt the same.
Max snarled obscenities, but Link was silent other than the occasional grunt from being punched, his anger fueling him, his blue eyes blazing. Eventually he found himself on top of Max, slamming his fist into the man's face over and over, and he caught himself with his arm raised. No. This wasn't him. He can be better; Midna told him he could be better.
He heaved a few breaths, fist still raised while blood poured from his nose, and shouted at the man he had pinned down. "Ashei is not a possession, you asshole! She has free will, and can make her own decisions!" He tried to bury his anger but the fact that this not only involved him but one of his friends made it difficult. He was truly, genuinely furious with this drunk man, who had stopped fighting back and stared up at him with one eye beginning to swell shut. Even though Max had stopped fighting, Link's fury did not abate. "Do not treat my friend like she's a prize to be won!"
"All right." growled Brent, who was suddenly there next to the two of them. He hauled Link off of Max by his cloak and pulled him back. He did not resist and as soon as he was on his feet, he began to feel his anger wane now that the fight was over. He was better, he realized. This wasn't unreasonable anger or lashing out, this was a defensive fury that stemmed from the respect he had for his friend. It was different than when he had picked fights in the past, and different than the screaming matches he had with Midna. It felt justified.
Link wiped at his bleeding nose and noted that the snow nearby had dark dots of blood on it, although he couldn't guess which drops came from him and which ones came from Max, who was also bleeding from his upper lip.
Brent pulled Max to his feet, his expression stern as he held onto the collar of the young man's dark brown tunic. "Put snow on your face and walk it off. And don't you dare go to your mother until you're both sober and right in the head. She has it hard enough without you causing trouble like this." He released his grip on the young man's clothing, and gave Link an unreadable look before turning towards the others. Brent waved his large hands at the assembled crowd that had come outside to watch the fight. Almost the entire lodge had run out. "All right lads, in you go. Show's over."
The warriors talked and joked with one another as they went back into the lodge, commenting about how they enjoyed watching the fistfight. Midna and Ashei stayed, the two of them looking surprised at what had happened. Midna was staring at Link and his bloody nose and lip, but Ashei watched Max, who shuffled out of the yard while holding snow to his swollen eye, and the man did not give her a single glance. She then turned her attention to Link, who pinched his nose and tilted his head back, still breathing heavily from both the fight and his anger. He nodded at her, and the female warrior pressed her mouth into a flat line before turning and walking back inside. Midna gave him one last look and then went into the lodge right behind Ashei, leaving Link alone in the yard with Brent.
The large shaggy man turned back to Link and put his hands on his hips, looking him over. Link stood there with his head tipped back and nose pinched, blood running into the back of his throat, and he wondered if he had screwed up his best chance to get to the Queen's Keep. The yard was hushed by the falling snow, deadening the sounds coming from within the lodge, and the sound of Link's heavy breathing through his mouth seemed overly loud in the still air.
His heart still pounding from the adrenaline and exertion, he swallowed. "I apologize." His voice was nasal from holding his nostrils shut in an attempt to stem the bleeding. "If I've offended you, I'll sleep by my horse and be gone in the morning."
"Don't tip your head back like that. The blood will run down your throat." was what the large man said in response, which was neither approving or disapproving in nature. It was a simple neutral suggestion. After Link held his head level again, Brent gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. "No lad, I saw what happened. I heard shouting out here and looked out the back window, and saw you dodge a punch. You were hit by the next one, and only then did you fight back. You weren't wrong, and you're not the only one to have fought in the snow here. Fistfights are part of having a warrior crew, even if they used to be trained soldiers."
Brent bent down and scooped up some snow, and then deposited it into the young man's free hand. "Put this on that lip."
He did as he was told, the cold snow stinging his split lip. So far Brent didn't seem angry with him, only with Max. That was something at least, but Brent had said something about things being hard for Max's mother. It brought questions to mind that he wanted to ask the ex-knight.
"You gave him such a look when he stood over you screaming his fool head off." Brent's expression became distant, and his gruff voice soft. "Your eyes look just like your father's, down to how you express yourself. When I saw you staring up at him in anger, I thought for just a moment that I was looking at Gwyn. The same goes for your voice; when you shouted, it was like I could hear him again." He blinked, brought back to the present from whatever memories he had of his friend. "I'm familiar with the look you gave Max, so I'm not surprised that you fought him."
He stood there quietly, not responding, not sure what was appropriate to say at the moment. The snow was painfully cold on his lip, and his nose and left hand were sore. The fight had also aggravated a few of his bruises, even though the two of them had only been swinging their fists at each other's heads. He tried to will his bleeding nose to stop so he could cease holding it shut like an idiot.
"What did he say do you?" Brent asked, not out of curiosity but out of the need to know what had happened.
Link shut his eyes, having no desire to talk about the subject, and sighed. "He accused me of f- ...uh." Luckily, he stopped himself before letting the foul word slip in front of the man he was trying to keep the respect of. He opened his eyes, although he didn't look at the large man standing next to him. "He accused me of having a physical relationship with Ashei, which I most certainly have not done. I tried to explain to him that she's a friend of mine, but he was drunk, stupid and jealous. And when he said 'she belongs to me', that really pissed me off. He doesn't own her. Nobody does."
He felt a momentary flicker of anger at a man's possessiveness over his friend, but ignored it. "I admit that I lost myself a bit, and probably hit him harder than I needed to. Sometimes that happens when I fight, especially when something personal is involved. I'm getting better about it, but it can still be a problem."
Brent threw his head back and laughed at him. The man laughed at him, of all things.
"I don't see how that's funny…" he said, a little hurt that this man would laugh at his anger problem.
The bearded man stopped laughing and smiled a bit sadly. "Lad, that's exactly how Gwyn was. He also used to get a warrior's rage when fighting. It took years of training and a knight's discipline to control it."
Link let go of his nose and rubbed at his nostrils experimentally. It wasn't bleeding anymore. "I wasn't in a real rage, which has happened-"
"Of course it has, and this was minor, but I certainly could recognize that look on your face. "
He gave a short huff at being interrupted, but didn't say anything about it. Brent was probably used to talking over others and being listened to. "-but it was still the same anger, only milder. If anger can be mild." He touched at his nose again to double-check and see that it had indeed stopped bleeding. "So what, does that mean I inherited that from my father?" He gave a humorless chuckle. "That's a better theory than what I came up with. I always figured I have anger problems because I'm messed up in the head after what happened in Kasuto."
Brent put a large hand on Link's shoulder. "Lad, even I was messed up in the head after Kasuto, and I didn't have to live through it."
He really didn't want to talk about the fall of Kasuto anymore, not having discussed it so much earlier. "Change of subject. If you don't mind me asking, what is Max's mother going through? It's why he was drinking like that, isn't it?"
The big man raised a shaggy brow, not expecting that. "You're certainly observant. Even though you were angry, you were still paying attention...and you were paying attention when you were busy telling your story." He patted Link on the shoulder. "I'm not going to tell you this to be a gossip, I'm telling you because it's related to you and I. When the invasion of Hyrule began, the first place that they went for was the castle itself. I knew that the king was dead before Ashei told me, having received messages by bird from Shad for months. I wasn't about to correct her in front of my men, so I let her give her report."
Link was confused by this story so far. "Okay, so you knew that the invasion happened. What does that have to do with Max?"
"Because Max is Alden of Bannen's son, and Sir Alden died protecting Princess Zelda from the invaders." Brent said.
It clicked then, not only the reason for Max's moody behavior, but also how the story was related to Link himself. "Ashei said that you and my father were in a group of four friends: you, him, Alden and Rolf." He looked up at Brent sadly. "You lost another friend."
"I did, but don't worry about me. Alden died doing what he had sworn to do, which was protect Zelda as her knight protector." The black-bearded man crossed his arms and somberly stared down at the snow and the few drops of blood in it. "I didn't tell Max what had happened right away, figuring he wasn't mature enough to handle it. And when I decided that maybe he was...he proved me wrong. It could have been since the news devastated his mother, but he was changed by it. Grief can come in many ways, Link. For Max, it came in the form of anger."
"That sounds a little familiar to me." He gave a small smile. "He'll be all right when he's sober, right?"
"Oh, no doubt. But he'll still have to deal with Ashei. She'll give him quite the lecture, I'm sure. And her words will carry weight because of how he feels about her." Brent grinned. "Don't worry about Max. He's not the first man to have his eye on Ashei, and he's likely not the last. Now that she's a woman, she's gained a lot more notice." His grin faded. "Max is her childhood friend, only two years older than Ashei. Over the past year, he started behaving around her a bit differently, and he isn't exactly subtle. If he doesn't cut it out, their friendship may not be salvageable." The shaggy man shrugged his large shoulders. "Well, it is what it is. I think it's admirable that you would defend your friend that way, but Ashei doesn't need any help. She's beaten a few heads into the snow herself."
He dropped the snow, figuring that his numb fingers were a sign that he should stop holding it to his injured lip. "She told me that nobody would dare try anything under your roof. I thought that meant you'd be an overprotective father."
Brent broke into another grin, his white teeth standing out in the middle of his black beard. "It isn't exactly a lie, but it isn't me they have to worry about. I think it's why she started the no-emotion act. If she doesn't respond to their attentions at all and acts like a stoic warrior, most of them go away and she won't have to fight them."
Link frowned hearing that, realizing that Ashei had lied to him.
"Come on, Link." Brent said, looking up at the sky, which had grown darker as the sun sunk behind the mountains. "We've stood around in the snow long enough."
The two of them went back into the lodge, and he considered why Ashei had told him that her emotionless facade was due to her father's discipline. Brent had turned out to not be as formal and unemotional as she had led him to believe, and seemed to be a warm, reasonable man. Then why lie about it? Was it because she had treated him that way when she first met him at Telma's bar? While she did start out as blunt and impassive, she gradually became more open with him once she got to know him.
He could feel all the eyes of the warriors in the lodge on him, and he felt uncomfortable. It wasn't that he hated people watching him fight, but there was something uncouth about shouting and fighting with fists, and he felt ashamed to have been seen that way. He scanned the room for Ashei, hoping for an escape, and saw her seated not too far from the door near Midna.
He stepped up to her and spoke in a whisper, hissing under his breath. "Please hide me away for the night before I start punching something else."
He sat on Ashei's bed with his cloak and gloves removed, while she sat on the chair she had taken from her desk and carefully dabbed at his cut lip with a wet cloth, after dipping it in a basin set on her bedside table. She had said little to him as she cleaned him up, and Midna had said nothing at all. A small wood stove sat in the corner of the room by the window, slowly warming the place now that it was lit. He kept looking over at it to avoid looking into Ashei's critical brown eyes. He felt as if she was judging him.
"You won't need stitches. Your lip might be split, but you're not too bad off." she said finally. "From what I saw, Max is going to be black and blue tomorrow." Ashei breathed a small sigh. "Link, what did he say to you that made you so angry?"
He looked down at his left hand and the split skin on his bruised knuckles, and ran his finger over them. He always used to break the skin when he got in fistfights when he was younger, and it seemed like that was still the case. "A few things." He was hesitant to tell her after finding out about Max's father, understanding how the man must feel. "The thing that did it for me was either 'she belongs to me' or 'you fucked her'. Take your pick."
Midna clicked her tongue in disappointment and put her hands on her hips. "Ugh, Link. Language?"
He turned his head to look at the Twili, who was floating near the wood stove for warmth. "His words, not mine. It didn't help that he hit me, either."
She waved one of her small hands in circular motion while rolling her eyes in typical Midna fashion. "Yes, we saw. We saw most of what happened and only went outside when the two of you started flailing around in the snow. Up until then, I had assumed you had things handled. Then he had to hit you."
"It wasn't just because he hit me. It was because he was being insulting towards one of my friends. The jerk said things in such a way that implied that Ashei wouldn't have any choice in what she did with her personal life, and anything that he implied would have been my fault." The idea that one person could be possessive and controlling of another never sat right with him.
The Twili gave him a flat expression, still not sounding pleased. "I agree it's disgusting, but you're the Hero of Hyrule, not some drunk in a pub. I'm not saying that it wasn't justified for you to fight back, but that still wasn't the best thing for you to do within your first few hours of being in Mido."
Midna disapproved of what he had done, which made him feel even more shameful about it. He looked away from her, hoping she wouldn't be able to read how he was feeling, and turned his attention back to Ashei. The young woman's face was pink in the pale light coming from the window. The implication that the two of them had sex had made her uncomfortable, and he could relate; not just right now, but also having felt that way when some of the Gerudo made passes at him. He decided to look down at his hands again, figuring eye contact would make her even more uncomfortable.
She took his left hand in hers and began to wipe at his bloodied knuckles with the wet cloth. It stung and didn't seem necessary, but he endured it. "I can handle myself, but thank you. I heard what you said at the end of it and...it was nice of somebody to respect me that way, especially a man."
He raised his eyes back up to look at her, but she continued to focus on what she was doing. "That's why you started revealing the real you to me, because I respected you." he said. She nodded in response to that. "But when you first met me, you were on guard, like you are with these men." She nodded again. "Yet you told me the reason you put on the stoic warrior act was because of your father's discipline, and your father is nothing like that, now that I've met him."
Ashei froze, caught in her lie. He didn't want to make things any more awkward than they already were, but he needed to speak to her about it, and so he continued on. "I understand now that you do it to avoid all these men bothering you. That if you give them any kind of positive attention, they'll take it the wrong way. But you're not that way with me, at least not anymore. You're open and yourself." He could tell that he was making her even more uncomfortable, so he spoke more gently. "Did you think I would get the wrong idea, like all those other warriors?"
She looked up at him and parted her lips to speak, but he spoke first. "Ashei...I love Ilia. You know that. There is nothing between you and I that would harm our friendship."
He understood her now, and the thing at the core of her deception, and why she did it. Max had been close and started to treat her the same way the other men had, potentially ruining a good friendship. After having that happen, she was on guard with every other young man she met. He reached down to unbuckle his vambrace, deciding that he should take the rest of his things off and get ready to sleep soon.
"You're not angry?" she asked, her discomfort dissipating.
Link slipped the leather vambrace off his left arm and looked back up at her. "Why would I be angry? I understand." He flexed the sore fingers of his left hand and massaged at it. He really hit Max hard, and probably would have to add his left hand to the list of places where he had bruises.
Ashei reached out and touched the crest of three triangles on the back of his hand, having seen it before, but actively interested in it now. "This is it, yeah?"
"That's it." he said. "It appeared there when I turned ten. I mean literally on my birthday. I was nine, no mark. I turned ten the next day and woke up with it on my hand."
"I saw it glow when you were angry at General Scot and drew your sword. Does that mean it's actually inside your hand?" She prodded at the back of his hand a bit, to see if she could feel anything beneath the marks.
Now she was touching him in a personal manner, just like Ilia, Midna, Sumati and Auren. Was there some strange thing about him that made women want to do that? He didn't voice his thoughts, and instead talked about Courage. "No, it's not really in my hand. The Master Sword told me that it's bonded with my soul, so I channel its power through my hand, I think. It's the same for Zelda and Ganondorf." He stood up and picked up his vambrace and the gloves he had set aside. "I think I should go to sleep soon. I'm not used to walking around in the snow, so I'm sure I'll need my energy."
Ashei stood and picked up the chair, and deposited it back by her writing desk. "Yes, me too. We should leave early so we have more daylight."
She began to remove her armor while he removed his gear. Midna watched them for a few minutes, formed a book in her hands, and sat near the wood stove. Meanwhile he spread out his cloak on the floor, but found it was wet from rolling around in the snow. In fact his leggings, the front of his green tunic, and around the elbows of his gambeson were all wet. "Don't get too comfortable over there, Midna. I think I'll have to put some clothes over there to dry after playing in the snow earlier."
"I had considered sitting out in the central room, so I won't be in your way. There are still plenty of men to chat with, and some of them are attractive, even if they're a bit older than I am." She opened the book and flipped to a marked page. "I also thought I'd talk to Brent a bit more. I like him."
"Don't sleep on that wet cloak or in wet clothes. We'll put your things on that chair near the stove and they'll be nice and dry by morning. There's a few pegs on the wall there for hanging things there too." Ashei set aside the shin plate of one of her greaves, able to remove partial plate far easier than full plate. "I have plenty of quilts and blankets you can use. You should be comfortable so you can sleep well."
He patted at his wet leggings and decided they were indeed too wet to comfortably sleep in. "Yeah but...it doesn't seem right to be here in your room in my underwear."
"It doesn't matter to me. You could be naked for all I care." She turned her head towards him to say something else, but laughed instead, most likely at his expression. "Are you uncomfortable?"
"Look, I'm going to be honest with you. The last time a woman saw me naked, it was a group and not a single woman. I felt like dying of embarrassment, even though they were also my friends." This made Midna giggle, and he turned to growl at her. "Shut up."
"Did I tell you that he's a good boy? Because he's a good boy. Very sweet, and very much a prude." She put a hand over her mouth to suppress another little laugh. "And Ordon is so backwards and dumb that they don't have bathhouses or public displays of romantic affection."
"I didn't say anything about that last one." He put a hand to his face and sighed. "We're a little farming community, okay? We're not going to have public baths."
"We're a little farming community here, and we have a public bath." Ashei said, stacking her pieces of armor in a pile. "The Snow Peaks used to be a volcanic range, and even now you can find hot springs here and there. Father chose this spot for that reason. Besides, there's not much else to do in the middle of winter but sit in a hot bath or steam room. It's either that or get drunk. Anyway my point is you would not have been the first guy I've seen with very few clothes on, if any at all. It's just a body, yeah? You don't need to get weird about it."
"Does that co-ed public bath of yours have anything to do with how men started treating you differently a few years ago?" He removed his green tunic, deciding that as weird as it was to be in a woman's room with not much on, all he was doing was sleeping.
"I'm pretty sure it does. It's really easy to tell when a man is thinking about things like that, yeah?" She knelt down next to the chest at the foot of her bed and opened it up. "I'm going to get you an extra blanket, since you're down on the floor and it's colder there."
"It sounds like I'm going to have the opposite problem here than I did in Gerudo city." He removed his chain shirt, and found that it felt like it hadn't gotten wet. Not that it mattered, the thing didn't rust anyway. "Auren's house was like an oven." He pulled his gambeson up over his head and clutched it in his hand. "Right, you want me to put this over the chair?"
Ashei stood up with a bundle of folded quilts in her arms. "Yeah. Cloak on the peg, leggings and shirt on the chair, boots wherever if they're wet." She looked him up and down, taking in the bruises on his chest before walking around to look at his back. "I think I understand why Ilia was angry with you for trying to hide this."
"They look better now, too." Midna said, coming over to look at his back as well. "He really looked bad when he woke up two days after he got hurt."
"You're not going to be mad at me too, are you?" He looked down to touch some of the purple and green marks on the chest where the Lanmola had bit him. "It's not like this was planned."
"No. I understand why you wanted to hide it. You don't want people to worry, because you know you're going to get hurt no matter what." She kicked aside his wet cloak and started to spread out one of the heavy quilts. "People who don't fight don't understand that we're used to injuries. It's all well and good to have somebody fuss over you when there aren't battles, but we're in a war now." She set down the other blankets on the quilt and took his gambeson from his hand, since he hadn't moved to hang it up yet. "I'll fight at your side and do my best to watch your back, but I'm not going to lecture you over some bruises, or stitches. Speaking of which, let me see that bite mark?"
"When a lady tells me to take off my pants, I'm not going to tell her no." he said dryly. That got a laugh out of the two of them, but he did remove his boots and leggings, and patted just above the stitched wound to show her. "It's healing well, according to Renado."
"Oh wow, when you said a big bug, you meant a big bug. That had to be a huge tooth." Just like she had taken the padded shirt, Ashei took the other wet article of clothing. Then she went to drape them over the chair near the stove.
"It really was a situation where I thought I might die." he picked up his cloak and hung it one of the pegs she had pointed out. "There were other times where I was fighting and thought 'oh no, this might not go well', but this was one of those rare ones I thought I wouldn't make it. I intentionally got eaten by a big frog so I could save Midna, and even then I wasn't as worried."
"The men certainly liked that part of your story." She began to undo her hair, removing her barrettes and untying her twin tails.
"So did Sumati." He felt around his boots and found that they were still dry, so he put them to the side and focused on fixing his spot, deciding to use the spare blanket as a pillow. "I don't know what was going through my head at the time. Maybe nothing at all. Sometimes I react before I think." He turned back towards Ashei. "Do you ever- woah." He quickly turned around again and put his back to her. She had removed her gambeson and was stepping out of her red leggings, and he caught a glimpse of her in a bra and drawers. "A little warning would have been nice."
"Why? I don't care, and I know you're not going to stare." She laughed her breathy laugh and moved over to her bed, and he was prepared to turn away again but she had put on a chemise. That wasn't much, but it was certainly more than she had on a few seconds ago. While she had the toned body of a warrior like him, Ashei also had the same curves of any other young woman, and he quite honestly did not want to dwell on that thought. "Midna's right; you are a prude. You can defeat dozens of Shadow Beasts, but you can't look at a woman in her underwear. That's kind of adorable."
He grumbled and lay down on the quilt, covering himself with the other, including his head. "It's only cute when it's not you."
She laughed again, and it sounded like she climbed into bed. "Exactly."
Link uncovered his face, knowing he couldn't sleep that way, and also knowing he really needed to learn to be less of a prude around his friends. He decided to change the subject. "We're getting up early again, right? If we have to hike through the snow, what are your plans?"
"Snowshoes." she said, rolling on her side to put her back to him.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"Go to sleep." Ashei told him. "You'll find out tomorrow."
