Author´s Note:

As I said in the previous chapter, this was originally intended to be a single chapter, but it ended up being too long, and I think this way it´s more easy to read.

It may not look like it, but the plot is thickening.

CHAPTER XIV

A short lived Victory


They arrived at the Zora River Delta close to midnight. He offered to look for food as they led their horses just outside of Tabahl Woods. Link´s mind had only one image to offer. Zelda openly smiling at him, laughing even. It was the first time he had seen her laugh, the first time she had openly looked at him and shared a laugh. Her smile had been like a mighty blow that had broken his armor, and even though he wanted more than anything to kiss her, he felt that would have made the moment more about him, and not about her opening up about her biggest fear. He had known all too well what it was to be under constant scrutiny and the pressure to fill someone else´s expectations. He was grateful that she had heard the voice of the sword in time to save him, though.

A small deer was grazing peacefully some ten meters away from him. Using the gerudo bow that Byrta had given him, he knocked an arrow, took aim and released. The arrow shot straight to the animal´s neck, the tip coming out on the other side. He ran swiftly and taking out a small knife he slit the deer´s throat.

"I´m sorry", he said, caressing the animal´s head as the pupils of the deer dilated. He tied a knot on it´s legs and started to drag the deer out of the forest. His hands were covered in blood, and he could tell he had some over his nose too. A sensation with which he was all too familiar with.

He felt one of his tooth loosen up as he spat the blood on the ground. The Zora in front of him was not the pretty looking princess his father had hoped for his son. This one had a greenish colored skin, that shone brightly against the morning sun. The armor they had lent him was too big for him, so he ended up using the helmet only, which he supposed made him look stupid, like the princess had said, like a bokoblin. It had been three days of battling. His opponents had been fairly easy to defeat, with the exception of one Gerudo warrior, whom Link had almost lost to, were it not for her father´s pointers.

But now, now he was standing opposite a giant fish-man with a spear taller than him. Link thought that, had the zora wanted it, he could have easily chewed his skin of from the very bone, because those teeth looked like a mean weapon. The Zora took his spear and lunged fast at him.

He took the spear by the upper side and pulled it as hard as he could, it wasn´t enough to take it from the zora, but bought him time as the river warrior lost valuable seconds making fun of him.

"Head back to your pond, little shrimp", he said gritting his pointed teeth. Link lost no energy in a reply and quickly ducked under the zora, he stuck out his right leg and sweeped in a circular motion, causing the zora to fall over him.

He could hear the laughter and the tips of his ears burning. The zora got up and snorted.

"It seems I underestimated you", he said. His attacks became more violent, as he aimed his scale spear to his head. Link tried to parry his attacks but the zora was at least five times his size. He fell back to buy some time and air. He looked to the right side of the battle pallet. His father was actually cheering for him.

"Link, remember what I told you! Use your best weapon!", his father shouted. Many laughed at him.

He nodded and waited for the river warrior to attack. This time the zora was careful not to leave his spear lingering more than needed. Link watched out for other weak spots.

The zora didn´t have a nose. They had gills. He thought.

He circled around the green warrior and the moment he lifted his arms to make a move. Link ran for it and slashed as tall as he could at his right side, where the three elongated gaps were. The zora let out a yelp of pain as a streak of blood fell down from his side. The zora roared at him, or rather let out some sort of hissing noise and this time each stab and swipe of his spear could have been fatal to Link. Used to practicing with all sorts of weapons, he knew better than to evade. He put distance between them. With each passing moment, the zora got more and more exasperated. His right side was now all red, as well as his leg and foot. The pallet was full of big red right footprints.

"Fucking kid", he said. Link remained silent. The time was almost right for him to make his final move.

The zora aimed for his head again, the height difference was begining to take it´s toll on him. The moment he raised his arm again, Link ran as fast as he could and in the widest motion he could make, he made a horizontal swipe at the shins of the zora. He felt his blade cut the thick skin and saw as more red blood oozed from the new wounds he had inflicted. The green warrior fell to his knees as Link rolled under and between the zora´s legs to get out of the way. The spear fell beside the zora and Link quickly grabbed it before his opponent could react. As the zora rolled over to his back, Link pointed the spear at his opponent´s throat.

"ENOUGH", the King bellowed. Link let go of the spear at once and turned to face him.

"Link wins the fight!", he roared. This was his third win. The crowd was torn between cheering and whispering. Some of the redhaired amazons (as his father used to call them) whistled and howled like a pack of wolves.

"Right on, little Vohi!", one of them shouted. More voices joined in.

"Bokoblink, bokoblink!"; they chanted. But this time they were all smiling and shouting and jumping. They were cheering for him. He removed his helmet.

His father was beaming, clapping and fistbumping to the air. "That´s my son!", he yelled as he looked around and pointed at him. "That´s my boy!". Link smiled at his father.

"The semi-finals are as follows!", a bard announced, in a sing-songy voice.

"Urbosa versus Revali", an explosion of noise, screams and laughter erupted somewhere in the crowd. The gerudo were all yelling and chanting in their language. Urbosa laughed at something they had been singing. Link could only make out Revali´s name.

"And, Link versus Daruk!". The gorons yelled and jumped up and down. Making the whole place shake. Even from this distance, daruk towered above everyone else. He smiled at Link, giving him the thumbs up. Link noticed, out of the four, he was the only one that had been injured.

"The contestants will be given a full day to recover from whatever wounds they sustained", the bard said eyeing Daruk. The goron leader was immaculate. No one had been able to lay one hand on him.

"You can beat him, son. I´m certain!", his father told him as he lifted him up on his shoulders. Link saw that many faces had turned and many hands were pointing at him, but no body was making fun of him. They were clapping, chanting or cheering at him.

The next day Link was so nervous that he had downed one full jar of water before walking to the Castle Grounds. His father took his cup from him.

"You don´t want to piss yourself up there. Believe me". Link nodded again.

Outside the castle walls now hung four banners of different colors, two on each side of the main doors. The two on the left were a yellow one, portraying what he imagined to be Urbosa´s face, along with her name writen in hylian and gerudo. Next to it a pale blue banner with the smug face of Revali looked down at him. On the other side hung a red one, with Daruk´s smiling face on it. He finally saw himself on the last one, a green banner that clashed horribly with his yellowish hair. The artist had even taken the liberty of not depicting his bruised face.

"Father, do you think I look like a Bokiblin too?", he asked. His father started to laugh shaking his head.

"Boy. If only you could´ve looked at you the way I did, you looked more like a fucking Lynel. A short skinny Lynel, but a Lynel nonetheless". Link had only ever heard of those creatures based on one tale his father used to tell him. The tale was about how it had taken more than ten men to defeat a single red one in Mount Thunder, deep inside the Zora´s Domain.

He felt invincible, puffing his chest and roaring at the passersby. His father clapped him on the back, laughing.

"See? A fucking Lynel". He said as they both bared their teeth at two very indifferent Zora that walked past them.

As they crossed the gates to the courtyard, they saw even more people than before, his father had to push through the crowd. Some people realized who he was and shouted to everyone to move over.

"Bokoblink is here, move if you don´t want your arm ripped off", some shouted. Everyone started to laugh and clap.

"Give that Goron bastard a lesson!", another yelled.

"I bet good money on you! You better cut off Daruk´s balls! I´ve heard he only talks about them, balls!", many laughed at this remark. Link barely understood what everyone was saying, as he felt a pounding inside his ears. He was nervous. He stood with his father on one corner of the fighting cuadrangle. He felt his hands clasp his shoulders encouragingly.

"Everyone here underestimated you. Everyone except Daruk. He knows you´re no chu-chu. I saw him fight, he´s one strong motherfucker, but he´s not as fast. Take advantage of that", Link nodded at his father´s advice.

The king said some words that he didn´t hear. He looked across and saw that monstruous looking boulder with hands that was Daruk. He had no idea how he was going to make it out alive from the fight, let alone win. He stepped up and faced the King. He bowed, and King Bosphoramus nodded in response.

The trumpets indicated that Link would face his destiny. The winner of the tournament would get the first chance at taking the sword out of it´s pedestal, inside the Lost Woods. Link had thought of nothing else as far as he could remember. His father had talked so much about the Blade of Evil´s Bane, that he could practically see it inside his mind.

"The semi-finals of the Tournament of Courage will now begin!", the bard sang, off-note. Some people laughed. The king shook his head and sighed. "Contestants, take your positions".

He grabbed his sword firmly. His father had snuck in at the last minute and passed him a wooden shield, winking at him. Some people also laughed, but he didn´t understand why. He felt the ground under his feet shake with force. Daruk had stepped inside the pallet too.

"I won´t hold back just because you´re a twig", Daruk said, hoisting his odd-shaped weapon over his shoulder and smiling at him.

Link smiled back at him. He liked Daruk, for some reason.

The king stood up, Link could hear everyone breathing. He could have sworn his heart pounding could be heard across the place.

"Begin".

"Is something wrong, Link?", Zelda asked. Link blinked a couple of times and noticed he was rubbing his chest.

"Never better, Princess", he said with a smile on his face.

"Never better".


The next morning, they led their horses along the river bank, only comming across the ocassional abandoned monster camp, or some lone bokoblins that merely looked ar them and snarled gibberish at them, threw them some rocks (missing pathetically), and then when they were out of reach, returned to whatever it was they were doing before.

Zelda felt as if torn between two lands, on one hand, it had been exciting, and liberating to finally accept that her powers were diminished, if not gone for good. Link´s face of surprise had made it all worth it. The touch of his hand had sent shivers down her spine that she thought were impossible to feel just out of holding someone´s hand.

On the other hand, the memories of that day kept haunting her. They were bittersweet, because now, after a hundred and eighteen years, the memory of her meeting Link for the first time filled her heart with joy, even if it had been a rocky start. But also because it reminded her of her mother and how much she had missed her. She didn´t consider herself a regretful woman, but in regards to her mother, she´d always wished she´d had the opportunity to tell her one last 'I love you'

A knock on the door woke her up. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were al puffy. She had cried herself to sleep for the past four days.

It was her mother.

"Get dressed, your father wants you at the final match", and without another word, her mother closed the door behind her. Seconds later Lyrianne entered her room and without uttering a single word, she helped Zelda get dressed. She noticed her maid threw anxious looks at her, often stopping herself before caressing her face. Zelda fought the urge to cry again and hide her face under Lyrianne´s chest. She merely wiped the tears off and as regally as she could, walked to where the King was expecting her.

She walked out to the Royal balcony unannounced. Her father merely gave her a swift and curt nod. She didn´t even bother in saying anything. Her mother was seating beside him. Beside her mother, a smaller seat had been placed for her.

"We all, are still recovering from the epic matches that took place yesterday!", the king began. "That come back against Daruk will be talked about for generations to come!", he said. Everyone in the cloud cheered. Zelda saw, that Link was looking up at the balcony. His face wasn´t swollen anymore, but the right side of his face had turned to a very weird greenish color. Beside him, Revali was straightening some bent feathers, paying no attention to what his father was saying.

"And how can we forget that incredible hurricane that was Revali, here, against Lady Urbosa´s thunderstorm!", many gerudo booed Revali, the rito bowed in response. "Yes, yes! Revali, it seems, lives up to his reputation". As it had happened the opening day, many girls screamed Revali´s name. Zelda didn´t understand what was there to like about a bird. But she guessed everyone was entitled to their own likes and dislikes.

"This fight has no time limit, as you know!", the king said with a dramatic tone. "The only rule is that you cannot kill one another!", Revali smiled and eyed Link, who returned a steely gaze. Both fighters nodded. Link took a knee and after a few seconds, Revali followed suit.

"May Hylia bring you the courage to come out victorious!", he lifted his palm.

"Begin!"

Link had turned to face Revali, but the rito had already taken off. Link nodded at him.

"You can do this, brother!", Zelda heard someone shout. That someone was no other than the goron Chieftain, Daruk. Link turned and smiled at him. The determination in his eyes told her that he had caused quite an impression on everyone. The chants of 'bokoblink!" were deafening, but they weren´t making fun of him, they were cheering and rooting for the little hylian.

Revali took advantage of Link´s distraction and dived straight to him, landing on his shoulders and sinking his talons on his shoulders, he lifted him up, up, up... He let him go when they were about as high as King Dorephan´s head. Link landed on the hard wood with a loud thud and a crack. He tried to get up, but Zelda and everyone else watched as a white thing protruded from his right forearm. He fell to the ground again, yelling and pounding on the ground with his left fist.

"You´re a Lynel, a fucking Lynel!", someone shouted near Link´s corner. It was Lord Nioisal. Zelda found the comparisson to be far fetched, but having learned her lesson, she kept her mouth shut. Revali was openly riling Link on, making fun of his broken arm and other foul things about his father He soared past him a couple of times, cutting his skin with his dagger, or pecking him on the head, Zelda often saw that Revali pulled out little bits of Link´s scalp. Streaks of blood poured down his face. He was at the rito´s mercy.

The boy got up slowly, his right arm looked bent in the weirdest position, and big red dropplets adorned the pace where he stood.

"I´m sorry, I thought the rest of your body was as thick as that huge head of yours!",Revali shouted. Some people laughed, many more booed him.

"Oh fuck you!", Revali shouted at the crowd.

Link responded with what she thought was a very funny scream. But was probably meant as a roar, she had to place her hand over her mouth. Her mother merely looked at her.

The rito boy swooped down again, prepared to run his light blade across Link´s chest. The boy readied himself and just as Revali was at his reach, Link jumped and held on to Revali, crying and yelling, probably out of pain. Link´s blood was running down fom Revali´s neck. The crowd let out a loud 'ohhh', even Zelda was a little surprised. Revali was flying erraticaly, as he tried to concentrate on where he was going, as much as getting rid of Link, who was plucking feathers from wherever he could. Revali tried to peck him in the face, but Link pressed his face close to Revali´s chest.

Both of them began descending to the ground, as Link had plucked out some of the feathers off of his arms. Rendering his wings, useless.

"I told you! This kid doesn´t need an armor when he has balls that big!", Daruk said to his fellow gorons.

As they landed, Link ran for it, lunging to get his shield and sword. He tried to lift his blade again, but it fell off from his hand. Link was now left with only his wooden shield as a means of defense. Revali might not have been able to fly anymore, but was otherwise uninjured.

Revali´s grandfather threw him a bow as big as him. Revali caught it mid air and knocking two arrows at once, he fired at Link, who knelt and covered himself from the projectiles with his shield. Taking a peek from behind his wooden protection, Link ran a few steps until Revali knocked another arrow and shot at him.

As the arrow flew by past him (landing on one of the wooden posts that separated them from the crowd), Link ran for it and just as Revali was running away, trying to get an arrow out of his quiver, and dropping them all in the process, he hit Revali across the face with his shield, sending the rito to the ground. Revali cursed again, loudly, as Link prepared to hit him again with the edge of his shield. Revali rolled over as many times as Link pounded on the ground with his shield, a trail of blood behind both fighters.

Revali reached the edge of the cuadrangle, he swooped Links leg and brought him to the ground. Revali advanced towards him, as Link searched for his shield.

Taking out a concealed knife, Revali lifted his featherless arm and lunged downwards with force towards Link´s chest. Everyone gasped, even her father, who clutched the armrests of his chair.

Link grabbed his shield just in time and hitting the rito square in the face with the edge of the shield, Revali was knocked out, instantly.

The crowd erupted in an unanimous set of cheers and yells and screams. The King and Queen were clapping and smiling at Link, who was grabbing his injured arm.

"I give you the winner! Link!", the King boomed.

Link looked around himself, everyone was chanting either his name or his new nickname. His face was as red as the creature after he took the nickname, he was smiling broadly.

"Your father and I agreed that you would give the winner their prize, do not disappoint us". Her mother suddenly whispered. Zelda merely nodded, as she clapped, too impressed to feel bad for Revali.

"Not far now, Princess. Two hours at most until we´re there", Link suddenly said, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Yeah, not long", she said absently.

All three of them waited for the champion to arrive. Since Link´s injuries needed to be tended to immediately, the ceremony had been postponed for a few hours. Not a soul had left the castle, everyone was expecting their new local hero to come back any moment now. Zelda was dreading it, Link must´ve hated her.

The trumpets announced that Link and his father were now entering the courtyard again. He was met with applause and cheers. Some girls (she suspected the same that had cheered for Revali) were yelling his name. Zelda felt like throwing up, since they had to be at least five or six years older than him.

Lord Nioisal was wearing his usual Royal Guard uniform, Zelda noticed, his chest was puffed out, it made him look like a mixture of a Zora and a Rito, Zelda thought. Why was she always comparing people to... other people. She felt guilty for thinking what she was about to think.

Link was wearing plain white shirt and trousers, with leather brown boots. His long blonde hair hidden in some parts by white bandages and his broken arm was now neatly tucked inside a white cloth. Zelda thought he looked quite normal, now that she was seeing him up close. Handsome even.

A servant carrying a small parcel walked and stood beside Zelda. The king beckoned Link and his father to come closer. There was a round of applause, her father held his hand up and the crowd slowly fell silent. Link stood in front of Zelda´s father. He looked even skinnier in front of her very round-shaped father.

"Link", he began, looking at him. Link blinked once, apparently starstruck, "You have demonstrated what true courage and determination is. You have showed us that raw power and strength alone cannot win you a fight". Link was getting red in the face, Lord Nioisal, on the other hand looked like he would rip his uniform if he puffed up his chest more.

"You´ll get your chance at an audience with the Guardian of the Forest and Keeper of the Blade, the Great Deku Tree, but for now...", his father paused, nodding to the servant who took the bundle and gave it to Zelda. She looked down on what it contained. It was a white shirt with some red and green patterns on the neck and arms. Under the clothes, she could tell something leathery was waiting to be uncovered.

"Recieve this, as a memento of your victory. May it be a reminder of the trials and tribulations you endured to get here and, if the Goddess wills it, the ones you are to face". Her father looked at Zelda. Link slowly walked up to where Zelda was. His blue eyes pierced her, his expression was unreadable. She noticed he was a bit shorter than her.

"I´m sorry", she whispered. She extended her arms so he could take his prize. Link looked at her, puzzled, looking at his broken arm and then at her. After a few seconds he opened his eyes a bit wider and without saying anything, he pointed towards his nose and lifted it´s tip up a bit, snorting not unlike a bokoblin. Zelda snorted too. Link beamed at her. The King and Queen merely watched, confused as the scene unfolded in front of them.

"Bokoblink", he said, taking his prize. He winked at her. Link was a weird boy.

Many things happened at once. Lord Nioisal had lifted Link up over his shoulders so everyone could see him. Her mother clutched Zelda´s shoulder hard, to the point where her nails dug deep into the cloth and skin. Zelda looked up. Her mother was grabbing her chest, and her face was contorted in a grimmace. It had taken a few moments for the King to look to his side.

The Queen fell to the ground, dragging Zelda with her, still grabbing her by the shoulder.

A shrill scream broke all applause and celebration.

Lord Nioisal and Link turned around, their smiles fading away as quickly as they had come.

"THE QUEEN!", someone shouted.

Her father practically jumped to where she and her mother were. He held his wife´s hand. "My love!", he said. "MY LOVE", yelled, his voice breaking. Someone had tried to pull her out from her mother´s grasp, but she refused, holding on to her as hard as she could. She felt the hand of his father over her back as the grasp on her shoulder weakened.

"Mother...", she wimpered. Her father´s hand slowly graced her hair, trying to comfort her.

"Mom", she cried, burrying her face on her mother´s still chest one last time.

Zelda braced herself for another royal funeral, as they arrived to the Great Zora Bridge. Link looked at her, without saying a word, he grabbed her hand. This time he didn´t let go.


Author´s note II:

Okay...I´M SORRY. But it had to happen that way. The death of a parent is already traumatizing enough, but her mother´s death was a defining moment in her life. It made Zelda be... Zelda. You know? It defined her personality even, her whole life was about what her mother had told her, what her father thought she was supposed to do because the queen was not there anymore.

I tried my best to keep the queen´s name out of it, since it is never mentioned in game!

I did the opposite with Link´s father to show how much he looked up to him. Even though the relationship may seem like a healthy one, it isn´t. What kind of a father would smack his son across the face with a wooden lid?

Link´s dad would be that kind of father.

I think I enjoyed a bit too much plucking Revali´s feathers off, apologies for that. Revali is my favorite champion, but the animosity between them was not very believable to me. Hope you don´t mind it.