A Link to Heart Chapter 29

Link sat on a rock, staring at a rushing stream as he pondered his future. Over his head the grey sky squatted, gloomy and oppressive while the wind was cold and laced with the first hints of rain, promising a downpour before the day was out. It was a dank and miserable day, which suited Link's mood perfectly. The Hero of Time was alone, having told his companions he needed the latrine. It was a lie but he was in no mood for their comradery. The trio had ridden slowly away from the Lost Woods, not pushing their steeds as they wandered idly back to the war. After a couple of hours Link had grown sick of their attempts to cheer him up and called a halt, wandering out of sight so he could sit and brood.

Link rested his chin on his fists and stared into the rushing waters as he felt a surge of self-pity gnawing at him. He knew he had no reason to be dour but he did anyway. He was heading back to war, a journey that would make anyone fret, but it was what came after that weighed upon him. He would marry a Princess and stand vigil over Hyrule in her name. It should make him happy, it would make any man happy, yet Link was anything but. His life had been laid out for him, a journey he could not turn from and his footsteps were marked out before he had taken them. The thought gnawed at him, so he sat by the stream and sulked.

Suddenly there was an immense fluttering behind him, like great wings being ruffled and Link sighed as he knew he had company. Sure enough a figure in orange stepped into the corner of his vision. It was Rauru and the Sage of Light gathered his robes about him as he sat on the rock next to Link and took in the sights.

Link refused to be the first to talk so Rauru was left to remark, "What a nice view."

"It's not," Link muttered, "What are you doing here?"

Rauru looked at him and replied, "You looked like you could use a friendly ear."

Link grumbled, "I was thinking."

"Brooding more like," Rauru commented, "What ails you?"

Link finally lifted his head and looked at the ancient Sage as he said, "I ride to war, is that not enough?"

Rauru sniffed, "It's never bothered you before."

Link snorted, "I ride to victory, I shall defeat Twinrova and marry Princess Zelda."

Rauru frowned as he mused, "Strange, your words are joyous, but your tone is that of a man walking to the gallows."

Link blew out a breath, "The world doesn't care what tone I use, so long as I play the part written for me."

"You are in a dour mood," Rauru observed, "What about this situation troubles you?"

Link knew there was no point lying so confessed, "All my years of wandering I dreamt of being the hero and marrying the Princess. Yet I have discovered, she is not the Zelda I remember."

"I did warn you," Rauru sighed, "The Zelda you met in your adventure through time lived a very different life. She saw her gift of prophecy turn against her and unleash terrible suffering. Spending years on the run and hiding her identity taught her humility. This Zelda has lived a very different life. Her every prophecy has come true, her every prognostication made real. Can you imagine the effect that has on a little girl, on anyone? Of course she grew into a different person."

"She is cold and cruel," Link lamented.

"She's disassociated," Rauru corrected, "She spends her days staring into the future and so loses sight of the present. Detachment breeds indifference and arrogance."

"And yet I must marry her," Link bemoaned.

Rauru pursed his lips thoughtful, "Do you want to?"

Link blinked in confusion, "Do I want to… what?"

"Become a famous hero," Rauru elaborated, "Live in a castle and marry Princess Zelda."

Link was befuddled, "Do my desires matter?"

"Seeing as you're the one planning on marrying her, I'd say it matters a lot," Rauru asserted.

Link shook his head forlornly as he lamented, "I've seen the future, I've seen all the other Chosen Heroes. They all married their Zeldas. It's destined, you can't fight fate."

"Ha," Rauru scoffed, "Who told you that?!"

Link glared in frustration as he snapped, "Don't mock me, it's prophesied!"

Rauru sighed loudly as he replied, "I don't mean to mock, far from it. But consider what is prophecy save a dream that comes true? And if it doesn't, then it was nothing but a dream and is swiftly forgotten."

Link protested, "But it was prophesied that I would beat Ganondorf and save Hyrule."

Rauru cocked his head and remarked, "And do you think you had no agency in that conflict, that you did not have to struggle and fight and seek on your own? No, you chose to pursue the quest, but you could have turned aside at any point, had you wanted to."

Link couldn't follow this and said, "You're making no sense."

Rauru spread his arms and said, "You're the bravest man I've ever met, but you can be wilfully blind. It all comes down to the fundamental principles, to the elements of the Triforce. You bear a piece but you do not understand what it is."

"Oh great," Link muttered, "Another lecture on philosophy."

Rauru's eyes rolled, "Yes another and another, until it penetrates that thick skull that I've been trying to tell you something important, ever since you came back."

"Fine," Link spat as he rubbed his ear, "Tell me then."

Rauru leaned in and said, "You know already that there is not one Sage but many, each with a unique element. Light, Time…"

Link continued, "Fire, Water, Forest, Shadow, Spirit."

"You can list the names but you never grasped the full implications," Rauru snapped, "Sages do not just utilize an element, we embody it. Yet the Triforce is more important than any of them. Everybody gets this part wrong: it's not what the Triforce can do that matters, it is what it represents that's important, what it embodies. The Triforce is the physical manifestation of primordial forces and the fundamental principles of reality."

"Good and evil?" Link ventured.

But Rauru corrected, "Good and evil are subjective points of view. Nowhere in the lore does it say one must be good to use the Triforce. No, it is more primal than that. Consider each piece. The Triforce of Wisdom is the manifestation of law, knowledge, permanence and predestination: it embodies Order. Whereas the Triforce of Power represents energy, imagination, change and potential: it embodies Chaos. That is what the Goddesses used to build Hyrule: Order and Chaos."

Link was amazed by this and uttered, "Zelda never said any of this."

Rauru explained, "Because she looks only to Wisdom, forsaking Power. She looks at the future but fails to understand the more she sees the less agency she has in her own actions. Were she to see Hyrule's downfall it is doubtful that she would lift a finger to prevent it. To follow Wisdom alone is to become a puppet of fate, a mere actor on a stage parroting the lines placed in our mouths."

Link was dumbfounded by this revelation, "But what of Power?"

Rauru explained, "To cleave to power alone is to embrace anarchy and discord, becoming no better than animals driven by our feral natures. So here we mortals reside, trapped between Order and Chaos, but from their essence the Golden Goddesses added a third fundamental principle to Hyrule."

"Courage?" Link guessed.

"Yes, courage!" Rauru exclaimed, "The greatest of them all, for it is the balance between order and chaos. Courage is decisiveness, action, determination and self-agency. The Triforce of Courage embodies Free Will!"

Link's jaw dropped as he grasped Rauru's meaning and he spluttered, "You're… you're saying I have a choice?!"

"Finally, he sees!" Rauru cried in delight, "Zelda looks into a single future and thinks it must be inevitable, but she has forgotten the importance of Free Will. She fails to account for the significance of choice. We are not actors on a stage or unthinking animals; we are free beings, able to make our own decisions."

"But what of the river of time?" Link questioned.

Rauru shrugged, "Rivers are not fixed and unchanging things. A big storm can cause one to break the banks and carve out a new path, or drought can wither a raging torrent to nothing. Rivers break into tributaries, dividing many times over or joining with a mightier current to be lost in the swirling possibilities. You, who have travelled through time, should know better than any that a new future is always possible."

Link paused as a thought occurred, "Wait, what of the other Links? The other heroes all stood with their Zeldas."

"It is true," Rauru mused, "The Chosen Heroes have always aligned with wisdom over power. That does not mean they had to. The First Hero was the lowest in regard of his age, held a prisoner for years, yet unto him was given a choice: to take revenge on those that held him in contempt or wield the Master Sword to save the people from their doom. The Goddesses bestowed the sword, but the choice was his to make."

"But how can I turn against fate?" Link breathed.

Rauru shrugged, "You bear the Triforce of Courage. You determine the balance of Order and Chaos. Wisdom and Power hold no bonds upon you; it is you who holds dominion over them."

Link's head was swirling as vistas of possibility opened up before him. For so long had he been locked into a single path that he had forgotten others could exist. It was a stunning feeling, the sheer enormity of choice rushing over him. He felt like he was standing among the mountains again, looking over Hyrule and seeing the vast ranges of the world laid at his feet. He breathed in wondrous revelation, "I don't have to go back to the war. I don't have to fight the Gerudo and marry Zelda. I can go anywhere… be with anyone I want to."

Rauru smiled like a teacher whose student had grasped a difficult lesson and said, "Yes, you can."

But then Link frowned, "But if I turn from the war the Gerudo will win."

"Maybe," Rauru shrugged, "But I find it unlikely. King Delphna knows war; he understands battle far better than a couple of witches."

"But many more will die if I'm not there," Link protested.

Rauru's face fell as he whispered," I'm sorry Link, I truly am, but there is no future where you can save everybody. If you ride to war some will live who otherwise would have died, but some will die who may have lived, had you chosen another path."

A thread of alarm crept into Link's heart and he snarled, "What do you mean?! Speak plainly damn it!"

Rauru sighed, "A Gerudo warband has been tracking you. They move to attack the refugees you left behind as we speak."

"Malon's in danger!" Link yelled as he surged to his feet and began to run.

Link left the Sage of Light in his wake as he ran, boots pounding the hard earth as he dashed to his horse. His heart thundered in his chest and legs pumped like a jack rabbit's, driven by a surge of fear and denial. Thoughts of destiny and fate fell away, dumped in his wake as he struggled for every last morsel of speed. All he could think was that Malon was in danger, nothing else mattered and nothing would turn him from his course. His heart lay in the Lost Woods and there was no force in Hyrule or the heavens that could make him turn away. Screw destiny and damn fate, Link spat upon them both as he pushed himself to the limit, running like the wind itself in his desperate attempt to reach his horse.

Link bounded over a small hillock and scrambled down the other side, finding Tarren and Jortan sitting on the ground. They looked on amazed as Link grabbed a bridle and ran up to Epona, hurriedly trying to fit it onto his horse's nose. Tarren looked up in shock and called, "What's happening?"

Link was fumbling with the bridle as he yelled, "Gerudo have found the refugees, we have to get back there!"

Jortan leapt to his feet and cried, "What?! How do you know?"

"Doesn't matter," Link spat, "We have to move."

Tarren came up to him and said, "But Link, what of the war? What of the King?"

"Forget the war and the blasted King," Link snarled, "I'm not going back to them."

Jortan sounded concerned, "But you're talking about forsaking your vows. Your name will be reviled as a coward and deserter. What about all that talk of you being destined to win the war?"

"I don't care," Link snapped, "I can't abandon Malon, I won't leave her. I love her!"

The admission hit Link like a ton of bricks. He'd never said it, he'd never even thought it, but the truth rocked him to the core, right down to his bones. He had fallen in love with Malon, he didn't know when it had happened but it had and the thought of leaving her seemed the action of an accursed fool. The certainly washed over him and left him with an unshakable resolve: he was going to ride back to Malon and save her. She was the only thing in the world that held any import.

Tarren and Jortan looked at each other then dashed to their horses, hurriedly fitting their bridles. Link finally got his straight as he barked, "Don't think to stop me!"

"Stop you?!" Tarren scoffed as he pulled his horse's nose about, "We're coming with you."

"Too right," Jortan added, "We've been waiting weeks for you to realise that you love her too."

Link paid them no more mind as he tightened the straps, then jumped into the saddle. He pulled Epona's nose about and spurred her into a gallop as he cried, "Ride Epona, ride!" The horse leapt into motion with a whiney, racing back to the Lost Woods. Link held on tight as he rode for the horizon, hoping against hope that he would arrive in time. All his eyes could see was the peril bearing down on the Lost Woods and his soul screamed for more speed as he raced to save the woman he loved.