Author´s note:
This chapter practically wrote itself. I thought it would take me more time. So here it is. It is a bit angsty but I kept that part as short as I could. I know not everyone likes angsty romances. Still fair warning.
Swearing ahead.
The story is a slow burn. but we´re getting there now.
Enjoy!
CHAPTER VI
Stepping Stone
It had been almost two weeks since they had arrived to Kakariko Village, though she could barely believe it. As it turned out, Link had fulfilled his dream of instructing some of the villagers in the ways of the sword.
It all had started on the night they had talked to Impa, with Cottle and Koko nagging Link on when those lessons he had promised would take place. Link of course was weak and had surrendered to their whims. She had watched the whole scene in awe. "You took Ganon head on, and you sucumb to the whims of two little girls?", she had grown fond of teasing him, they were alone in Dorian´s dinning room, the story about Link vanquishing the great evil Ganon, long finished, and the girls were already upstairs, presumably fast asleep. Link´s neck had turned a slight shade of pink.
"You don´t know them like I do", a yawn rolled in the middle of his reply. "I think I´m going to turn in for the night, they always wake up before sunrise and there´s no sleeping when they wake up", he said sleepily smiling.
"Oh, poor you", she teased as she amde her way to the door. He leaned against the doorframe and said, "I´d rather fight the evil Bacon before angering these little devils". The princes chuckled at his remark as she bid him good-night.
The very next day, it was indeed barely sunrise when she heard faint noises outside Paya's window; she stood up, trying not to wake her as she put on the white cape Link had given to her over her nightdress. She silently opened the door and went downstairs. A little orange glow was just begining to paint the morning sky when she saw three silhouetes just by Hylia´s statue. The smallest ones were laughing merrily, she couldn´t tell if the tallest one was making any sounds at all, she could imagine him grunting which made her smile.
The lesson had ended just before Dorian walked up to them to, quite literally, pull them back so they could have breakfast. Link was chatting happily with Koko, she imagined it had been something about stances, because he was lifting his practice wooden stick over his head, and then pretended to fall on his back, much to Koko´s amusement. They never noticed she had been watching them.
By the end of that first week, Dorian an three others had joined Link and his little disciples. Two were women, Zelda noticed. They were about four or five years older than him. Link had been a little intimidated by the sudden increase in atendance, but didn´t notice a single attempt of both women at flirting with him. She had made waking up early a habit, it was beyond her how Link never seemed to notice her.
Link however pursued other interests too, for he had asked Olkin if he could teach him how to grow pumpkins. A task he had at first refused. 'He´ll come around' she had said, trying to cheer him up. He had only half smiled. Somehow she still hoped that he would come with her whenever she decided where she was going to go first. The same thought had nagged her for days now. She noticed her sleeping pattern was erratic and she would regularilly have nightmares where a goron, a zora, a rito and a gerudo yelled 'you have failed us!' over and over again until she woke up gasping for breath. Thankfully no-one had asked yet where she intended to go, or where she wanted to go.
What would you do, Father?, she often half-prayed.
Link´s quorum had tripled by the second week, and the group had to take their lessons just outside the village. The Princess noticed how the little sisters had improved quite a bit, whereas the two women that had hopelessly tried to woe Link into other 'extracurricular' activities, still made no progress, they had left mid-lesson that day. He had looked a bit caught off guard at their sudden change of mind, but quickly resumed the lesson when the whole group had stared at him blankly.
As the group made their return to their daily activities Link caught her eye and walked slowly so they would fall behind the group.
"You´re quite the teacher", he was red in the face and he was panting. "By next week, Cottle and Koko will be able to take an army of Bokoblins if they wished to do so". He laughed heartily and shrugged at her compliment.
"I guess they are learning something," he then whispered, "in all honesty I only kept rolling with this lessons, because they are out like a light long before I´m even sleepy. I´ve slept like a baby for the past two weeks", he finished proudly. She chuckled at his remark. He scratched his head after a particularily long silence, as they neared the entrance, passing Olkin on their way in.
"Hey Link", he called, "I´ve thought about it and, if you still want to learn how to grow some mighty good pumpkins, come see me on Monday after breakfast". He couldn´t help but to reply with a toothy grin:
"It´s a deal!".
As if the somewhat heavy silence hadn´t been interrupted, he eyed her nervously and had barely opened his mouth. She could feel his intense gaze burning her left cheek.
"I still don´t know what I´m going to do!", she said rather harshly. He raised a brow and nodded.
"Alright, I didn´t mean to bother. I´ve just noticed that you seem a bit off these days. I see the look on your face every morning when you watch my lessons. You do know you needn´t do this alone, do you?", she suddenly felt a foul mood creep it´s way through the pit of her stomach. "But I am alone, Link", she could hear the pitch of her voice going higher with each word, "my Father is dead, Urbosa is gone and you-", she stopped herself before saying what she was thinking.
You would rather learn how to grow some stupid pumpkins and teach some stupid people how to play-fight with sticks, and I´m here waiting to be seen...
"-want to grow pumpkins", he finished, reading her mind. She said nothing, suddenly very ashamed of herself. She couldn´t force him into the life she had and wanted to lead.
"I didn´t mean to-", she began, before sighing heavily. "I think I´ll miss breakfast today. I´ll see you later", she was almost asking him. He smiled at her, this time, the ghost of his earliest smiles passed between them. He was smiling, but the happiness was just a facade.
"The little monsters will miss your stories, but we´ll manage", he said trying to lighten the mood. She nodded curtly, for some reason she wanted to be alone at that precise moment. He seemed to sense he wasn´t needed and his company unwanted. With one last 'see you later', he lifted up the pace and left her near the pumpkin patch. She walked a few paces to the fence and leaning her elbows on it, she felt two watery pearls slide over her face and fall to the ground.
The next couple of days were awkward for them both, but for Link, it was just as if things had gone back to how they were before Calamity Ganon had awakened. Granted, Zelda was not scolding or nagging him, in fact he hadn´t seen her ever since their last 'conversation'. He felt a small tinge of guilt every time he thought about that afternoon, but he couldn´t help but worry that maybe, they should do something. The fact that she had become so upset with the simplest of glances, meant that she must´ve stressed out thinking the same for days. He had thought hard of something that could melt the ice wall that seemed to separate them. But everything he thought of ended up with him thinkig of saying 'I just thought we should talk about it', which, if he was honest with himself, wasn´t the best thing to say.
"Hey you gotta watch out where you put your feet!", shouted Olkin pulling him back to reality. He had been stepping over the grooves he had made a few hours ago. He turned to him and shouted "Sorry!", which earned him a confused look from the Pumpkin farmer. "Don´t apologise and step out of there! You wan´t to learn how to do this or not?!", Olkin, Link found out in the couple of days he had interacted with him up close, took his farming very seriously. Everytime he messed something up he would mutter something along the lines of 'That old frog is going to one up me this year...stupid carrots'
He had wiped the sweat off of his brow so often that it was dirty with mud, he could see black lines form under his nails. He would need a very long bath tonight. He could already feel his face stiffen with the drying dirt over it.
"You should really consider growing bananas instead, I hear there is a niche of really generous and warm folk that would almost steal them away from you." The joke made him snort loudly. He looked up and saw her leaning against the fence, looking at his hunching-on-the-ground self. He laughed more out of relief than nothing. He continued to place the seeds diligently, he could still hear Olkin shouting at him from inside his house.
"I think they would", he said while placing a particularily big seed, "steal them from me, that is".
Another silence stood between them both.
"I´m sorry, Princess. I didn´t-".
"I´m sorry I snapped at-".
They laughed and Link lifted his hand, offering her to speak first.
"I´m the one that should be apologizing. You literally didn´t say anything. I am the one at fault, it´s just that I had been thinking about what should I do next and never told you about it, that when you stared at me like that it put me on edge.", he shook his head and laughed incredulously. She raised a brow. He put up his palms, "why do you think you should do it, whatever that means, alone? Princess, we are a team. It is not Link, Knight of Hyrule and Appointed Knight of Her Royal Majesty, the Princess, who did it. It was Princess-rather-Queen Zelda, who banished the demon from our world. I just kind of poked him in the eye.", she actually laughed at this, but did not look at him, instead focusing on his hands.
"You did", she paused letting a sigh in between words, "poke him, I mean". He chuckled and nodded. She took a deep breath and said, "I truly am sorry, Link". He felt his heart lighter, feeling the ice finally melting.
"I´m sorry if you felt I was pressuring you, I sometimes forget what it is to comunicate," he pointed a finger to his temple, "I lived too much time inside my head". He did tend to think more than he would talk.
Her face held a mysterious expression for the shortest moment, before replying, "It´s only natural, you´re used to be on your own", she looked at him for a long time, as if trying to read his mind, or so he thought. "Would you like to go to that clearing with me again after dinner? I´ve finally made up my mind."
"Hey, I´ll bring some pumpkins", he said. Zelda chuckled.
"Good thing you´re good with the sword", she said.
"I don´t know I think maybe telling jokes is my true calling". Zelda scofed loudly and waved her hand at him while walking away. "Meet you at the entrance?", she nodded earnestly.
"If that will stop the jokes, I´ll even saddle the horses". She almost shouted, for she was already walking back to wherever she had come from.
"I´ll take you up on that, Princess!", he shouted, smiling widely.
"Are you planning on finishing planting the seeds this year, or...?", said Olkin behing his back.
"Yeah, about that...", he started.
He really is terrible with jokes, shoe thought smiling to herself on her way back to... well nowhere. It took her two days to work up the courage to talk to him, not because she was still upset, or mad at him, but because she had felt so stupid, and childish. She missed talking to and with him so much it had become unbearable. She had tried talking with Paya, but all she did was bring Link up, which made her think of her stweing guilt. Impa was out of the question, for she was sure the sheikah would start asking questions of whether she knew or not what she was going to do. She also hadn´t been able to sleep well and ended up walking through the empty streets of the village by herself. The two nights she had done that she saw Dorian mounting guard at the base of the stairs. He merely nodded at her, for which she was grateful. She didn´t want to have to explain what she was doing up at three in the morning.
On her second night, though, as she made her way back to Impa´s house, two hours later. Dorian cleared his throat as she was about to go up.
"I know what troubles you, My Lady", she almost screamed, she´d almost forgotten he was even there. "My apologies, I didn´t mean to startle you", he said bowing his head.
"It´s fine, Dorian. I was just to caught up in my thoughts that I didn´t see you", she confessed. "What do you mean you know what troubles me?", she said, he tone had come across more demanding than she intended. He bowed again. She really didn´t know how else to tell him not to bow anymore.
"You are burdened with the weight of a decision, are you not?", he looked at her square in the eye. She could see a little orange light reflecting on his eyes. "If I may speak freely, Your Highness," he said, almost waiting for her response. She nodded amicably. "I don´t pressume to know the full extent of your burdens. But I´ve come to the conclusion that it is always best if one shares their thoughts and pains. I...", he sighed heavily. "Link is a very unique young man, he went out of his way countless times to help us...to help me.", she opened her mouth to speak, but he continued on, as if she were not there. "I also know I owe you much, Princess. Impa never exiled me or my daughters when word got out of my past... life". She noticed his eyes were a bit misty now. "I am forever in your debt with you and him.
"And so I know, how carrying with our thoughts alone can be a jarring and painful experience. When one finds a person with whom they can share their feelings wholeheartedly, a partner; it would be best to keep them close, always, for Life is a fickle Goddess, Princess. There is only so much time in our hands".
She was at a loss for words. Her heart ached, for she knew that he had been a Yiga Clansman, but ordered Impa never to tell him, while also pardoning him. So much could be avoided if people only talked to each other. She put her hand over his shoulder, he bowed again. She lifted his face with the tip of her fingers, his beard tickling her hand. He had the saddest expression she had ever seen on anyone. For the longest time they just looked at each other. Without saying a word she hugged him as hard as she could. This caught him off guard, of course, but after a few seconds he patted her once on the back. When she broke the embrace she could only muster two words:
"Thank you".
She had ended up walking to the graveyard. It was a small one at that, flanked on each side by tall cliffs, the view was a sight to behold, though.
She could hear the wind moving some small rocks just beneath the cliff where the graveyard was built. The breeze was a welcome visitor.
Was she sure of her feelings for Link? The mere question made her laugh, for it was the answer in itself. One thing she knew for sure, she felt stronger when he was around. She had fought harder still against Ganon the moment he had awakened. Yet, she feared that he would not put up with all that came with being around her, even being her friend would take it´s toll on him. They would hardly ever have time to talk like they did these past weeks. She wouldn´t be able to talk the way she did now, nor she would be allowed to laugh at his dumb jokes. He would have to give up all of that, and she wasn´t sure he would. She wasn´t even sure she wanted him to. He wanted to see her smile again, she remembered. He had mumbled that on one ocasion, and by grace of...whoever; she had heard him, for her connection to his mind had been very powerful at the time. She would never tell him that, because she supposed it was one of his best kept secrets. That was why she never looked at him whenever she laughed or smiled at something he had said or done, because she didn´t want to hope for something more than mere companionship, friendship even.
She could still hear little rocks falling down the cliff, but the breeze wasn´t there this time.
Out of nowhere a shadow leapt from down the edge and she felt her head hit the grass. She could feel the pain as her lungs were suddenly deprived of air. Her left arm was pinned to the ground by a forceful grip. She could hear the rasped breathing of her attacker. She couldn´t make out their face.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him (was it even a man?), take out a curved dagger, the hilt reflecting what little moonlight there was. She wanted to scream but she could barely breathe, her lungs protesting violently and only inaudible and short groans escaped her throat.
"You have not won, you are deluded if you think this", a deep voice whispered to her right. She felt the warm breath reach her ear. It sounded like a woman, but she wasn´t sure. Her heart was fighting to get out of her ribcage and her chest hurt more than before, now that the cool air was flowing inside her lungs, every breath was like a stab of that dagger. Tears of fear began to swell over her eyes, making it very difficult to make out the face of this person. Was it a Gerudo? The accent was a heavy one, and the physicallity of her all pointed towards that.
"We will all bathe on your blood, and rebuild our kingdom upon your rotting corpses", the voice said with a calm fury.
"Please", she faintly whispered, as tears were now flowing freely down her temples. The voice laughed coolly. She felt the tip of the dagger against her stomach, the attacker had inadvertently slid it under her shirt. She could feel a warm drop of blood sliding sidweays over her stomach and on to her back. It tickled, and she shivered. I´m going to die, was all she could think off, I´m going to die on a bloody graveyard.
"You are afraid? No, no, no. This is only the begining. Your death will be nothing more than the stepping stone upon which, he will rule all". She could feel the steel of the dagger cutting deeper now. The mysterious woman cackled at her whimpers. A cloud finally flew away from the moon and she could make out who she was pleading for her life to.
It was a white haired woman. About twice the size of her, her nose was aquiline and big, but her face wasn´t ugly, by any standard. Her big eyes were looking intently at her. She was smiling madly, her lips curving in a twisted grin. Her body was covered with a metallic and leather armor, a pronounced cleavege covered her breasts, which were quite big. Her breathing was erratic, she was ecstatic. The only other thing she could make out before another cloud drifted in front of the moon was the symbol on her belt.
It definetelly was a Gerudo.
This new information made her insides boil with anger. Urbosa would be furious if she knew her kin were attempting to murder her.
"Who sent you?", she defiantly asked the Gerudo.
"You already know that", she stated grinning wider. Her teeth, and her eyes shining oddly against the dim night light.
Her tears were beginning to dry now, her heart pumping blood faster than before. She could feel the adrenaline kicking in, and she attempted to grab her weapon arm. The Gerudo assassin clicked her tongue in dissaproval. The blade was starting to slide slowly inside of her. The woman searched for her eyes and cackled madly. Zelda let out a scream of pain that shook her very soul, her vocal cords were strained as she writhed and screamed again, but hard as she tried she could not free herself from the grip. She even tried gouging her eye out with her free hand, but it only made the woman laugh louder.
"It is exciting to watch you squirm and fight like a rat.", she leant in closed to her face, her nose almost touching hers, "and we are the cats". She licked her left cheek up to her eyebrow. Zelda started gaggin, which made the assassin laugh louder. "I do not care if you scream, I do not care if he comes. For I welcome death, princess. For death, is my master.", her voice sounded aroused.
She could see how an eagle had caught a heron midflight. They were both plumeting to the ground, the sharp talons of the eagle were somewhere along the heron´s neck, it flailed helplessly. Both prey and predator spiraling downwards until everything was blackness.
He was carrying a particularily heavy pumpkin inside Olkin´s house, on request of his wife. She had insisted on cooking her speacialty for Link, when he heard a bone-chilling scream. He dropped the pumpkin at Olkin´s door, leaving husband and wife perplexed and scared. He ran as fast as he could, feeling the cool evening air against his dry skin.
He rushed inside Dorian´s house, not even trying to answer to the calls of Koko and Cottle. He grabbed his sword and hoped against all hope. He saw Dorian out of the corner of his eye picking up his own sword.
By the time he got to the Goddess statue, some curious villagers had already stepped out of their houses. Paya was just dashing downstairs, looking knowingly at him.
"Where is Zelda?", he asked urgently. She shook her head almost crying. He could feel his stomach dropping all the way to his feet, when a second scream seemed to pull him back to reallity. He ran past the houses and stores towards the small passageway that led to the graveyard. The scene that greeted him made his blood boil and his heart broke.
Zelda lay on the ground, almost eagle-sprawled, over a small puddle of blood. A dark and big silhouete covered in a dark cape towered above her. Without even thinking he took out his sword, throwing the scabbard sideways. He could not see or hear anything else but his own heartbeat and the wicked laughter of the towering attacker.
"Come then, hero", spat the phantom with a female deep voice, removing a blade from Zelda´s stomach. He could see how the blade was darker up to the point it had been inside her. Droplets of blood oozing from it and falling over her.
Motherfucker, he whispered. The phantom assassin seemed to have heard him, because it started to laugh. He launched himself towards it, barely missing with every swipe of his blade. The phantom merely sneered and laughed with every miss, which made his insides burn with fury. The assassin kept dodging his attacks, she was toying with him. He changed his strategy and lowered his blade, evening his breath and trying to focus. He could see Zelda slightly moving somewhere behind the dark assassin.
"Help", was all he could make out her mouth was saying, as she looked to where the commotion was taking place.
"You are afraid that she dies, yes?", he could hear the voice better. "Good, that she will.", and without another word she launched a flurry of attacks at him, stabbing and slashing the air, or colliding with his sword. She slashed across, but this time he parried the attack, which cut her dagger at the crossguard and left her open for an attack. Link wasted no time and in one swift move, stabbed the woman in the stomach, she grabbed the blade with both of her hands, cutting her palms with it and pulled him closer, sliding the blade further inside.
"You are as predictable as he said you´d be", and with one last laugh, the woman fell to the ground.
Link ran to his Princess, pressing the wound where the dagged had been. He could feel the warmth of her blood seeping through his own fingers. He felt someone kneel beside him, pushing his hands away and putting a gauze over the wound. It was red within seconds.
"We must take her to Impa, now!", exclaimed Paya.
He didn´t need to be told twice. He lifted the now limp Princess and ran as fast as he could manage, admittedly losing his breath after going up the stairs. Impa was already waiting for them.
"Quick, over here. Take her to my room", she said. All the frailty of her voice was gone. "There, on my bed!", she said urgently. Link did as he was told.
"Paya, I need you here. Link, out. NOW". The once sweet sheikah bellowed at him, pulling him out of the shock. He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut across him. "You´re of no help to us here, I will try and save her. NOW GET OUT!". He crossed a glance with Paya, saying more than he had ever said to her with one single glance. Paya nodded and he left Impa´s room. Leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him.
He walked out of the house, and sit on the first step of the stairs. Dorian, Olkin, Steen, Koko, Cottle and Pikango were all staring up at him. Koko was holding Dorian´s hand. He was carrying his youngest with his free arm, Cottle nuzzled against his father´s neck. He could see her sobbing. Koko let go of Dorian´s hand and ran upstairs. She merely sat beside him and locked her arm with his´.
"She´ll be alright", she kept whispering to the wind.
She could feel the sunlight greeting her face through her closed eyes. As she slowly opened them she felt the crust fall off of her eyes. Her throat was as dry as Gerudo desert, which made her heart sink. With a blurry sight she could barely make out the sillhouete beside her, almost certainly asleep.
"Link?", she croaked.
The mysterious person jerked up and an unfamiliar voice started to talk.
"Princess?!", exclaimed the voice in a broken but happy tone. "Grandmother! She is awake!". The voice, now she knew, was Paya. She tilted her head to the right and saw Impa walking inside the room. Paya waited expectantly on the thereshold.
"Impa?" she croaked again.
"My sweet child, you scared us to death". Zelda could see her eyes were fighting back tears of relief. "How do you feel?", she asked placing her bony hand over her forehead.
"Thirsty", she replied. Impa smiled at her. "I would imagine", she began as she took a glass from a nightstand she couldn´t see, and poured water in it. "You have been sleeping for three days". The Princess looked at her former caretaker, surprised.
"The woman", she asked with urgency, motioning to get up. A sharp pain ran through her whole body. Impa took her by the shoulders and carefuly placed them back on the bed.
"Is dead", she answered pointedly. "Link..." she replied to her silent question, smiling.
"Where is he?", she asked, suddenly wondering why he was not there.
"He´s upstairs, he hasn´t slept since the attack", she turned to where Paya was standing, "but I guess we should wake him up and tell him the good news". Paya smiled at her grandmother and excused herself out of the room. After a few seconds she could hear a pair footsteps on the ceiling. A few seconds more and another pair joined the first. Both were now walking out of the room.
Impa was checking on her wound, as Link knocked on the door. "Come in, dear", replied the Sheikah, not stopping what she was doing. The door opened and his eyes inmediately found hers. She could feel the tears forming on her eyes, and Link was suddenly a gold and blue stain. She let the tears run down her cheeks freely as he closed the distance between them and knelt beside her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it firmly. Zelda noticed how Impa wasn´t even there anymore by the time he did that.
"My Princess," he said, not daring to look at her. She squeezed her hand as well, trying to lock her fingers with his´, a task she found difficult given her position. He lay his other hand over hers and did just that. "I´m sorry I couldn´t be there faster", she saw a tear fall to the ground, leaving a small darker circle where it had dropped. He was still hiding his face from her eyes.
"Link, look at me", she said softly. He did as she said almost instantly. "You are not the Godesses, you couldn´t possibly know this would happen, nor did I", she broke her grip on his hands and caressed his cheek with the back of her hand, feeling her arm tremble. She was weakened, she could barely move. Still she repeated the motion, as she saw him look at her in a way he had never done before. "I guess I should have taken your lessons", she said almost whispering. He smiled at the remark, but he did not open his eyes.
"How do you feel?", he asked as if his voice would harm her. She looked up to the roof and sighed.
"Determined", she answered truthfuly. "But also, still thirsty", she said looking at him again. He stood up and poured water on the glass Impa had left beside her. Link lifted her back very carefuly so she could drink without spilling water. She felt his breathing against her forehead. It did smell like he had been asleep, but she also welcomed the closeness.
"I´ll come back later, Zelda". His eyes conveying what he couldn´t or wouldn´t dare say. The sound of her name on his lips made her stomach do a somersault that also made her grimace with pain.
"I´m okay," she began when he almost knelt to her side again, "it just stings whenever I breathe, or laugh, or...", she didn´t feel she needed to finish her sentence.
If she hadn´t been paying any attention, she wouldn´t have noticed how he almost leaned in. He seemed to have thought it better and simply said. "You need your rest, Princess. No need to rush".
"Link?", she called, he was almost outside the room.
"Yes, Princess?", he said looking concerned.
"It was a Gerudo", she stated gravely, placing her hands over where the dagger had found her flesh.
"I know", he replied knowingly.
It seemed that their path was clear now.
Author's note 2:
I feel like swear words add a lot to a scene, but only on small quantities. So you won´t see a lot of those flying around to the slightest mishap. I was very tempted to make Zelda swear too on the graveyard, but I just couldn´t picture her dropping the f-bomb, even if it was inside her mind.
I will practice more the battle scenes, but hopefully it´s clear what happens.
Can you guess who the assassin was?
