A/N: Welcome back! Thanks for giving me a chance, I've loved hearing from old and new readers alike since starting this project – it's a little hard to believe that some of you have been here almost from the beginning! I'm happy people seem to like my new take on Claire compared to Rose, I wanted to try something new with the character without starting from scratch (not completely, anyways). The big story points are staying largely the same, but I'm planning to individualize Claire a little more since Original Rose was just a few personality traits shy of being a 100% self-insert of my teenage self, so some character development may vary from the original.

Alright, tangent over, let's get to the story! I'm sorry if you're getting tired of the filler stuff, I'm just having a lot of fun with the characters while I have the opportunity to play around in peacetime with them.

Updated as of July 27, 2021

Claire settled into her role in Ordon with ease as the first week slowly passed. Most of her day was spent keeping the children from getting underfoot (or from going off into the woods to look for trouble) while the adults did their work, and pretty much acting as Uli's errand girl whenever she had a free moment. It gave her the opportunity to see what their education looked like, this far out in truly rural Hyrule, and it was honestly impressive. The kids were all in various stages of their own education, but they mostly all knew their letters and generally how to read enough to get by, had a rudimentary grasp of arithmetic, and all sorts of piecemeal knowledge one could accumulate being raised in a village like this. Not that Claire had been expecting the common folk in Hyrule to be poor and illiterate, but she was trying her best to gauge just what kind of fantasy world she'd fallen into. In some of those worlds, that was exactly what she could have expected.

Here, though, they were eager to learn all the same. It helped that Claire still had that veneer of 'new, shiny thing' that drew the kids in to her eagerly. There were hardly any complaints when she did want to try and teach them something new, because she was still a new and interesting presence in the village. Little things like the value of cleaning their hands after playing rough outside, and especially before cooking or eating anything. Or, even on the most basic level, explaining to them why their bedtime was important.

"Sleeping is when your body takes the time to fix itself, after all the little hurts you accumulate in a day. It's also especially important while you're still small, because sleep helps you grow big and strong." Perhaps it wasn't a lingering life lesson, but if nothing else, she hoped for fewer arguments at bedtime. Not from Colin, he would mope around sullenly for a few minutes, but he didn't beg and wheedle for more playtime every night the way she was assured Talo often did.

All the while, the teen watched and learned, taking in all she could of the quaint village life (and she was just as sure that she was being studied in return):

Sera took very well to Claire right from their first introduction, which the teen figured might have been from whatever shining review Beth had given her parents after meeting the new girl in the village. It probably helped that when asked if she'd like to help Sera separate pumpkin seeds from the pulp, Claire rolled up her sleeves and asked where Sera wanted her.

Ten minutes of easy conversation passed, occasionally making Sera laugh at her reactions to the slimy pulp, before Claire's nose piercing finally came up in conversation — it wasn't the jewelry, nor the act itself, but rather an unexpected side-effect of bringing Earth jewelry to rural Hyrule.

"That jewel must've cost a fortune," Sera cooed over the little stud — which Claire was pretty sure she'd found at Spencer's for ten dollars. The pearly blue 'opal' in the setting was pretty, but it was also... pretty much worthless.

"I have no idea," Claire shrugged instead. "It was a birthday gift." Only half a lie, since she'd gotten it with a birthday gift card from her Aunt Jenny.

"I've never been one for flashy jewelry like that, I'll take my rings any day," the shopkeeper confessed with a wave of her fingers toward the veritable mountain of admittedly-plain golden rings across the table from the pumpkin mess. "But yours... it suits your face, m'dear, and matches those lovely eyes of yours."

Claire didn't really expect that, and tried to ignore Sera's gentle chortling at her flustered response.

Sera's husband Hanch, inversely, was much more timid when they were introduced, but he eventually got around to asking Claire if she would show Beth 'some of them fancy fightin' moves' while she was in the village — apparently word had gotten around. That made sense, probably.

"I mean... I won't pretend that's a bad idea, but... why?" She couldn't help but ask. Ordon was (and for all Hanch knew, would continue to be) peaceful, right?

"Might sound awful silly, Miss Claire, but I can't shake this feeling that I gotta protect my little girl. Ain't exactly fighters, us Ordon folk, but even a little somethin' to help my Beth when she needs it would mean the world."

He wanted his daughter to be safe, which Claire could admire: that was (mostly) why her parents had put her into kickboxing – and then jiu-jitsu a little over a year ago, too. She couldn't in good conscience tell Hanch no, especially not when she knew what was coming.

If a few easy tricks made Beth –and Talo, once he insisted on being included– feel safer, Claire was all for it.

There was one stipulation Claire insisted on for both of them as soon as they started, however:

"Okay, before we do anything else," Claire turned to face her small students, bending down to eye level with the two Ordonian children. "I'm going to tell both of you what my teacher told me when we first started, alright? This is about self-defense, and only for self-defense. You don't learn it to show off, or to start fights, or to pick on people smaller than you. It's to protect yourself, and only to protect yourself. Can you promise that?"

Beth did in a heartbeat, bouncing on the spot and waiting for Talo. Claire held up a finger to stop him before he could say it.

"That includes using any of this to mess with Colin," she added sternly. Talo briefly slumped, but he did as well.

"I promise I won't bully Colin or anyone else with what you teach us," he mumbled, but it was good enough for Claire.

"Awesome, let's get started," she smiled, and self-defense lessons began.

When she was invited for dinner with Talo and Malo's family a day later, Claire learned Jaggle and Pergie were toying with the idea of having a third child. It turned out Pergie desperately wanted to have a daughter, but the poor woman was already going grey from managing two boys while Jaggle lazed about like an aloof cat.

"It might not be a problem for you, mindin' those boys all day, but I couldn't have gotten all this cleaning done with them causin' mayhem," Pergie admitted with a weary-but-satisfied sigh. Claire figured it was worth it to horse around with the kids when they were finished their chores if it gave their parents some down-time — these folks already worked hard enough without the constant child-wrangling. Well, most of them did, anyways.

"It's nothing I'm not used to, really," Claire shrugged. "I lived in a few places with a lot of younger kids, it was kind of expected that the older ones looked out for the younger ones. I'm a little out of practice, sure, but I remember what to do."

Pergie looked curious, but elected not to ask — Claire was glad for it. Gods only knew if knowledge of her 'orphan' status had spread amongst the village parents. Was that why they warmed to her initially?

Or maybe they're just nice people, Claire. Jesus...

The only two Claire had yet to really talk to as the first week passed were Fado and Link, since the boys spent most of their days at Ordon Ranch. Claire knew that Fado tended to wake Link with the sun– she'd usually hear him hollering for Link in the early hours of the morning, followed by two sets of footfalls passing by as they went to the ranch.

Claire learned a few more things when Ilia agreed to walk with her up to the ranch, to finish introductions.

"I'm surprised you hadn't gone up on your own already. You have all but free rein through the village, as our guest," Ilia pointed out, something almost like reproach hiding in her tone. Like she'd expected Claire to be some sort of nosy little upstart, getting into everyone's business.

"Whether or not I have permission, I just don't feel super great about just inviting myself up there to interrupt their work," Claire finally admitted. She felt the mayor's daughter studying her from the corner of her eye, but in the end Ilia just shrugged.

"I suppose that makes sense," she agreed. "Well, whatever else you are, you're still one of the more polite visitors Ordon's gotten..." What was that supposed to mean? Claire wasn't sure if she wanted to ask, but they'd gotten to the ranch now- it didn't really matter.

"Well, hey there, Miss Ilia!" Fado brightened up immediately when he caught sight of the mayor's daughter. "How you doin' today, little lady?"

Claire looked at him, looking at Ilia, and she knew immediately that he was head over heels in love. It was actually pretty subtle, but Fado had that look– he was absolutely gone for her. Maybe Claire just knew what to look for because her parents were still ridiculously in love with each other after almost ten years together. She wondered if anything would come of that look from Fado, after... well, after.

Link's shown riding away from Ordon at the end of the game, so who knows?

"Sorry to interrupt your work again," Claire smiled sheepishly when Link approached.

"No need, it's been slow. I can't say I mind the interruption," he shrugged. "Finishing introductions?" Link indicated to Fado, and Claire nodded.

"Yeah, I felt weird to just invite myself up, so I asked Ilia to introduce me." Link gave her that contemplative look she was slowly growing used to from the villagers, like she'd said something strange and unexpected.

"You're welcome to come up and say hello. I can't promise I'll always be free to chat, but by all means— stop by," he said, and Claire's stomach did something funny when he gave her a little half-smile.

"I'll remember that," Claire answered, almost wincing at the telling crack in her voice. She beat a hasty retreat after that, not looking back to see if Link noticed her burning red face (right to the tips of her ears, ugh!)

...Likewise, Claire's hosts learned much about their strange charge over their two weeks of peace: they learned that Claire had a slew of unfamiliar slang that she loved using to catch people off guard, and that she knew of music that sounded like nothing made in Hyrule.

"I see a bad moon rising, I see trouble on the way... I see earthquakes and lightning, I see bad times today..." Claire was singing quietly to herself as she tended to Rusl's family pumpkin patch, not noticing the glances she was drawing from Colin and Uli as they worked on the washing. "Don't go 'round tonight, well it's bound to take your life... There's a bad moon on the rise..."

She ended up making it to the end of the song before either Ordonian could voice their curiosity.

"Did you write that, Miss Claire?" Colin finally piped up as the song trailed into silence, startling Claire out of her trance.

"Huh? Oh! Um, no. No, I'm... not much of a writer," the teen shook her head. "It's a song by an old, old music group, far before my time. I kind of got teased for liking older music so much, even if I listened to newer musician's renditions," she confessed sheepishly.

"Does all music sound like that where you're from?" Colin asked, awed.

"That's... one genre of music," Claire settled on her answer with a little shrug. "There's thousands of musicians in the world, and most of them have their own style, and they get sorted into genres based on the style and the sound. That group that wrote that song was also from maybe... forty-to-fifty years ago, so you'd have to think about how current events of the times influence the artists who lived through those times, right?"

"Whoa..." Colin gasped, enamoured, and Uli couldn't help a smile at her son's interest — her own wonderings were cast aside in favour of appreciating her son really expressing his interests. The fact that he felt comfortable enough to do so... Uli appreciated Claire a little more for it. She wasn't blind, she knew Colin tended to get pushed around and picked on by the other children. Of course he couldn't talk to any of them about music, not without risking further teasing.

Claire was patient with Colin, even as the number of questions reached double digits. The only times she wouldn't answer were things she genuinely didn't know about, and she told him so.

"My home is... Probably bigger than you can imagine, kiddo. Heck, I'm still a kid too. I was still learning about the world," she admitted wryly, getting a little laugh from the boy.

…Just another peculiarity on the list, really.

They quickly learned she got up with the sun, and every few days she went to the spirit spring to train as best she could without any real equipment (or even a sparring partner).

They learned Claire couldn't help but investigate when something caught her attention, and more than once she'd been cautioned to at least stay in Ordon if she went out exploring – which she did, she really did! ...Okay, so she usually did. But there was only so much to see in Ordon. If she didn't go that far into Faron, it'd be completely fine, right?

"And where do you think you're headed by yourself?" Rusl's voice had Claire stalling in her tracks, halfway across the swinging rope bridge (which was terrifying, thanks very much!)

"Aw, Rusl! I'm new to Hyrule! I just want to-to go see it," Claire barely kept from whining when Rusl caught up to her – she hadn't managed to convince her feet to move again on the wobbly bridge once she stopped – and steered her back in the direction of the village. She tromped across the heavy planks, cooperating but very willing to let Rusl know she wasn't happy about it.

"I'm sure all of Ordon is well aware of your curious streak," Rusl couldn't hide his amusement at Claire's pout, though he sobered before continuing. "...I've been seeing more monsters venturing through Faron, closer and closer to our little province's border. Whatever skills you may have, the woods aren't to be trifled with – especially not with monsters becoming more active. They're not clever, but if you encounter a group of them alone..."

"I understand," Claire huffed, a now-familiar prickle of anxiety churning in her gut at the reminder that this peace was going to end sooner rather than later. "I thought I'd grown up in a small enough town that I would do alright somewhere like this, somewhere... Rural. Now I'm realizing just how much of a city kid I actually am. I feel like a tourist, going 'ooh, what's that?' at everything she sees," she griped, flushing with embarrassment.

"For someone whose home is surely very different from ours, I think you're doing quite well," Rusl reassured her with a chuckle. "You've been a great help to my wife and Pergie and Sera, you're a quick study despite clearly doing much of this for the first time, and you make our children happy. But you just aren't equipped to go exploring the woods as they are right now – not by yourself."

Well, it was nice to know the villagers also seemed to know how hopelessly out of her depth Claire was in Hyrule – not. Do you need someone to hold your hand, too? She mocked herself derisively as she was herded back into Ordon. Claire wanted to say she'd be just fine on her own, thank you very much, but it wasn't true here the way it might have been on Earth. She couldn't disrespect her hosts like that, not for trying to keep her safe: despite the suspicion and aloofness she'd been met with originally, Claire could tell that these people sincerely gave a damn.

"...Thanks for keeping an eye on me. As much as I might gripe and complain, I appreciate it. I-I know I wouldn't stand a chance out there on my own, and I'd really like–" Claire bit the inside of her lip. Don't think about it, don't say it, you're just gonna get that pitying look again. Of course Rusl noticed her reticence immediately, and Claire felt his pondering gaze on the side of her head. "...I want to make it back to my family in one piece," she finished, barely more than a mumble.

Claire stubbornly refused to let herself think of her family more than a few times a day, had barely even mentioned them after her first few days in Ordon; otherwise she'd just drown herself in what-ifs and hypotheses that she'd probably never get the answers to.

If I am supposed to help Link save Hyrule, it's going to be a hell of a long time before I go home; the more I think that that's why I'm here, the more it makes sense.

Rusl clasped one hand over Claire's shoulder and squeezed gently. She hadn't noticed him turn to face her, hadn't realized she stopped moving. She couldn't meet his eyes, afraid that if she saw compassion she'd end up crying despite her best efforts. After taking a steadying breath, Claire forced her feet to move.

They walked down the hill between Link's house and the rest of Ordon in silence, but Rusl stopped just as the village came into view.

"I thought you'd like to know who is going with you to Castle Town," he offered after a curious moment where Claire had no idea what was about to happen. "I was originally planning to, but with Uli so far along..." Ah, so that's what it was. When would he approach Link with that? It would have to be soon, if the timeline as she knew it held up...

"You want to be here for her," Claire finished, getting a nod in return. "So... who's it going to be, then?"

"I don't know if you've seen him much in the last week, but I'm hoping to send Link in my stead. It'll do him some good to see the world beyond our little valley," Rusl said, indicating toward the ranch. Oh, if only it turned out to be that simple. Claire knew better than that, but a girl could hope, right?

"Yeah, we met the other day. Colin talks a lot about Link— he clearly looks up to him. He's very excited to give him that fishing rod."

"Oh, he certainly is," Rusl laughed affectionately. "Link lived with us the first few years of Colin's childhood, it's not farfetched to say they're like brothers."

"Well, if he says yes... let him know I'm looking forward to traveling with him." It's just the 'everything else' about traveling with him that I'm worried about... Claire felt like she might burst at the seams with all this gods-forsaken knowledge! What she wouldn't give for a journal, or someone else in the know.

"You won't be joining me when I approach Link?" Rusl wondered, raising his eyebrow at the teen. Claire's gait faltered as she came out of her thoughts.

"I didn't, um... want to just invite myself along," she winced at the admission, not quite looking at Rusl.

"Well, you may consider this your invitation if you'd like," he said, amusement in his face. Claire knew her ideas of what was and wasn't polite weren't quite aligned with what the people of Ordon were used to.

"Okay, sure. Just let me know when you want to talk to him, and... I'll go with you."

Claire McKinley was an enigma, walking incongruity taking up residence in Ordon village. She was remarkably polite, despite her occasionally sharp tongue — but whatever standards she had set for manners, Claire only held herself to them. She had a second name as most nobility did, the almost flawless teeth she claimed were 'par for the course' where she came from, but the muscle and determination of a common working girl.

She certainly approached the unknown with the naïve gusto of a runaway noble who'd bucked authority to experience the world for herself, yet she worked without protest when she was given daily chores just like everyone else. She seemed to revel in it, in fact. It wasn't the disposition of a young noble who'd grown up with servants.

But she was also tormented by nightmares the way Rusl remembered his grandfather had been, the kind of nightmares that no parent could wish on a child. She wouldn't accept comfort, shying away from her hosts with no recognition in her eyes for several long seconds. When Claire remembered where she was, she'd tense up and mutter something about getting fresh air. She tended to disappear for the better part of an hour, and she would return without as much of a haunted look in her eyes (despite the darkening circles beneath them).

Claire McKinley was a puzzle.

But for whatever shadows clung to her soul, Rusl didn't think Claire herself posed a threat; the village had largely discarded their suspicions in the first days after the girl's appearance. She'd proven herself to be helpful and kind, almost exactly what the village may have wanted from a visitor.

Yes, Rusl no longer suspected she meant them ill, but... he couldn't shake the feeling that Claire's arrival meant something was coming.

Rusl trained harder with Link after that first week, but strained their training swords too far only three and a half days in: Link's wooden sword snapped when they locked blades too forcefully, putting a halt on training until Rusl could fix it.

"Sorry, son," the man winced when he pulled Link back to his feet. "Are you hurt?"

Link shook his head, signing 'only surprised' as he examined the remaining half of his training sword. 'You OK?' he asked, looking back up at his mentor.

"I'm alright. These woods have merely had me... On edge, lately," Rusl confessed quietly. Faron's spring was ever peaceful, but he was grateful they never ventured further to train.

'What should we do for training next time?'

"Well, now that I think of it... Uli told me within a few days of Claire's arrival that our visitor admitted to having some years of martial arts training under her belt. How would you feel about including her in our next training session?"

Not only would it make up for the missed sword training, but it would also help disperse some of the frenetic energy building up within Claire (cabin fever, she called it) as well.

Link looked surprised, but not for the reason Rusl expected. 'Would she say yes? She doesn't like me much.'

Rusl had to fight not to laugh out loud— what could've given the boy that idea? "Are you sure of that, son?" he asked.

'Well, she was kind of...' Link paused, searching for the word. "...Standoffish," 'when we met. It didn't look like she wanted to talk to me,' he shrugged. It didn't bother him, but he hadn't missed it either.

Now Rusl did allow himself to chuckle just a bit, remembering Claire fretting to Uli about what sort of impression she'd left on the boy with her 'abysmal' (her word choice) conversational skills.

"You might be surprised," he finally said when Link gave him a curious look. It wasn't his place to divulge the goings-on of Claire's mind, so he stopped before saying anything more. It was enough to interest Link, in any case.

'...Okay,' he signed after another considering moment. 'If you think she'll agree.'

"I'll ask her tomorrow morning, then," and Rusl was quite sure she would agree (even without the invitation to be there when Rusl asked Link to go to Castle Town) if she was as taken with Link as he suspected she was.

A/N: This chapter was a little long-winded, sorry about that! Like I said, I've mostly been playing around in peacetime to set up characters and whatnot. If the title didn't tip you off, however, next chapter we're really getting into the action! I promise this time!

Either way I hope you liked the read, and happy 2020! (edit: lmaooooo)