Link sat on the hammock that was tied between two trees, his head thrown back, dangling off the ropes of the outdoor net bed so he could feel the breeze of Farore's breath on his sticky skin. He'd been training for hours with the other village warriors, and all he wanted was to take a nap. But the air was starting to turn thick with the promise of rainfall in a few hours, and he wasn't keen on being stuck outside in it.
Some part of him considered going inside the small hut that he lived in with his family to take a nap in there, but at this time of day, he'd never hear the end of it from his parents or his sister.
Begrudgingly, Link sat up and wiped his eyes of sleep and bent forward to pull his boots on.
A whoosh of air passed by his ear, and he stood immediately, hand on the sword that hung loosely at his waist. But he lowered it with a sigh when he saw his several of his friends clumped together.
"I told you he's unkillable! I watched him avoid an arrow aimed right at his face last week!"
Link rolled his eyes and finished putting his boots on, glancing behind him to see a large pebble had fallen where his head had been. He watched his friend lower a slingshot. "Okay, Armez, thanks for the demonstration. Can you not shoot at me next time you want to make a point?"
"I didn't shoot," Armez said, as if that made it any better. His head jerked toward another boy, tall and overtly happy. Squinting for a better look, he could see Armez still had a rock in his hand, and there was another boy with a slingshot.
"Thanks, Numan," Link said dryly.
"Just helping a friend out."
Rolling his eyes, Link made his way into the group. In such a small village, those of similar ages stuck together, so Armez and Numan were his closest friends. Even then, he felt a bit distanced from them, like he couldn't quite connect with them on some level.
There were many others in the group though, ages ranging from his sister's age to some boys who were in their twenties. Some of them were his friends from the village warriors, all training with the experienced men. He'd been training with them for years, and now that he was eighteen and old enough to join the real force of warriors— those who keep the village safe from raiders and outliers—he'd devoted more time to his training. It was what made him almost constantly sore and tired.
They made their way into the heart of the village. A little village that thrived on fishing, Lurelin was a quiet place, humble, and secluded from the rest of Hyrule.
"Link!" a familiar voice rang out. Soon, the padding of bare feet against wooden planks was thudding louder
"Aryll?"
A young girl of ten, everyone in the village said that Aryll looked like Link did at her age. Choppy blonde hair that had to be cut when she'd gotten it stuck in the slit between the planks of wood on the docks; wide, blue, attentive eyes that were constantly alert and always paying attention, and the smile of a charmer. Though now, she couldn't muster a smile, only a look of panic.
"Dad's hurt! A hook in his arm! Come quick!"
"Shit," Link muttered, pushing past Armez and Numan to follow Aryll to the docks. When he got there, his father was grinning, completely unaffected despite the large fishing hook caught in the skin of his arm.
"Hey, Link. Got a knife?"
Link's father wore a round hat at all times, but it didn't cover the brilliant blonde hair he'd passed down to both his children. Despite the hat's sore attempt at shielding him from the sun, his skin had turned to leather from years of constant sun exposure thanks to his profession as a fisherman and lifelong inhabitance of Lurelin Village.
"Again, dad?" Link snorted, glad it wasn't as bad as he'd thought. His father had found hooking himself as opposed to the fish to be an occupational hazard. Link pulled his knife from his belt and rested it over one of the many fires that constantly burned on the beach. "Were you casting?"
"We don't eat if I don't cast."
Link made a noise of vague acknowledgement, but he didn't want to indulge his father's carelessness. He knew his mother would be of little help on that front. She also fished, though she was more proficient with netting fish than using a reel. He could see her sitting in the sand, weaving a basket as she waited, brown hair blowing in the breeze, a breeze that desperately tried to take her book with it.
"Hey, sunshine," Link's father laughed as he snapped a finger in front of Link's face, "Daydreaming now? I'd like this hook out sometime soon."
Aryll clung to Link. She was not one who enjoyed blood in any way, shape, or form. It made her a poor help in the kitchen where gutting a fish has become everyone's job but hers..
Link carefully pried the barb of the hook away from his father's skin, pushing it out the long way. His father bit down on a pained scream, and it came out as little more than a breath of air and a groan. Years of practice had helped him perfect the technique of remaining mostly silent after doing something careless.
"Link," Aryll whispered, pulling at his loose shirt, shaking some sand loose in the process.
"Yeah?"
She didn't respond, but she pointed at the gate leading out of Lurelin.
"What is it?" their father asked, craning his neck to see.
But Link was already pushing Aryll away. "Go to mom. Go. Tell her to take care of dads arm for me, okay?"
"Link?" his father asked once Aryll had scampered away down the beach toward their mother..
"I see horses. That's all. They're not getting closer either. I don't see riders."
"Go call the other warriors. I've got the family."
Link nodded, grateful that his father did in fact know what he was doing enough for his statement to genuinely calm Link. Their family was well-protected.
Link took off, glancing back at his family one more time before grabbing Numan's arm as he headed towards the gate to town. "Know what's going on?" he asked, pointing at the riderless horses down the path.
Numan squinted and shook his head. "No. What are they doing? I can't see anyone."
Link grabbed his sword and looked at Numan's belt. Nothing. He couldn't have him as backup without a weapon.
"Numan, go get everyone. I'm going to go see if the riders are just off the side of the road."
"Okay," he breathed, running back into the village, his arms waving as he tried to catch someone's attention.
Link carefully headed onto the path, peeking through the bushes off to the side of the agitated horses. There was nothing there, so he went to the other side, shushing the animals as if they'd listen. The other side, closer to the ocean, he could see movement just in the distance.
He wondered what anyonewould be doing this close to the village, especially if they were doing something unlawful. Surely, they'd know that they'd be spotted, and suspicion would arise with them keeping a distance.
Following the movement, Link realized he was tailing someone who appeared to be a bandit, or at least, he was certainly dressed like one. His horse hadn't shown any sign of stolen trinkets or overflowing bags, but bandits leaving their horse in the middle of the road just outside a village in order to wander the coastline? Something was odd.
It didn't take long to figure out what that was.
There was a blonde girl on the ground, face first into the sand, flailing around and trying to scream through a hand that was muffling her mouth. She was trying to push the hand off of her, but the girl couldn't match the strength of the bandits she was trying to fight off.
She was about his age; lithe, tall, a noble—if her lack of muscles said anything about her lifestyle, that is. Even Aryll had to be stronger and more physically fit than this girl, and Aryll was eight years younger.
There was no way she could fight off the tall, gritty female bandit whose hand was tight around the girl's throat, and the strong, muscular man who helped hold her down into the painfully grainy ground. And Link was just watching as she was pushed deeper into the sand and rise of the tide, her fight against them slowing with every second. The sea cascaded over her as it came inland, soaking her hair and face, and leaving her fighting a cough on top of everything, breath sputtering as she tried to spit out water and breathe through the hand that muffled her mouth.
Something stupid drove Link forward to the girl.
His instincts said wait. His training said to wait for backup. The odds were overwhelming, especially for a new warrior, but his body reacted before he could stop it, and he sprung out from his hiding place, sword in hand, and eyes taking in the truly irresponsible position he'd put himself in. Four bandits. All stronger than him. All with weapons.
And a girl who's wide, frightened eyes were screaming for his help, even when her voice couldn't.
Link watched her for a moment longer, just the length of a breath. He'd never seen her a day in his life—he knew he'd remember someone who looked like that—but she was so familiar, like an old friend he hadn't seen in years. Her eyes called to him, looking at him with the same recognition he'd felt. And something in him knew that he had to save her. It was why he'd done the stupidest thing a warrior could do and expose himself to the very real threat of death. He could practically see Din standing in the sand beside them, waiting to pull him towards her and carry him off to the Sacred Realm for his foolishness.
The girl flinched as another wave washed over her. This time, the woman lowered her hand from the girl's mouth to reach for a knife at her belt. The other man kept the girl down so she couldn't run.
They were the furthest away from Link, but they also seemed to be the most immediate threat to the girl.
Dropping low into the stance he'd practice all his life, he realized he'd never fought in real combat before. The skirmishes they had during training weren't enough to prepare him for the fear that threatened to overtake him, that froze him in place as he looked at the very real, very dangerous weapons that were ready and trained on him. But he kept his mind on the girl, on his sister just inside the gates, of his father and his prone-ness to injury and his age, his mother. It gave him the courage he needed to hold his ground, stepping backwards to avoid being flanked. Backup wouldn't be long if Numan had been quick to alert the others.
Thankfully, Numan usually wasted very little time doing anything, and Link could feel the vibrations of several village warriors making their way towards him before he could even hear their shouts, calling out and demanding to know who the bandits were.
The second Link felt the ground shake with their approach, he'd started to move, ducking in between the two men who stood in his way to get to the girl.
The female bandit ran forward to meet Link, but he felt Nayru's divine eye had to be watching him as he narrowly missed the slice of her knife. But by the time Link had passed her, the woman's focus was on the new set of approaching warriors, leaving Link for the man beside the young girl on the ground.
The bandit near the girl had drawn a sword in one hand, and a knife in another, turning to her and rearing back, his arm ready to strike down and end her quickly, clearly sold on the idea that they'd lost, and she was worth more dead than alive.
In hindsight, Link knew that he wasn't thinking with his brain. No person in their right mind would have made so many poor choices for a stranger. Later on, Numan would blame it on Link thinking with the wrong head, but the more superstitious of the villagers said that it was Nayru's hand holding Link back from harm.
But in that moment, Link pushed off the ground and dove into the girl, pulling her into him as they crashed back to the ground she'd never really gotten up from. They rolled out of the way of the sword just in time as it crashed down into the ground, sending up a geyser of sand and seawater rather than her blood.
"Stay down," Link hissed into her ear, crawling over her to get back to his feet, raising his sword just in time to feel the blow of an enraged swing that was running off momentum. It knocked Link straight back down.
Link fell beside her, pushed by the force of it, and tried to scramble back to his feet, but he felt something grip his shirt and pull him backwards. There was a sharp sting across his neck, and he saw steel flash before his eyes. Glancing behind him, he saw the girl holding his shirt. She'd pulled him away from a deadly blow, moving him far enough away that the man's knife had only grazed his neck rather than severed it. For that alone, Link was indebted to her.
He didn't bother trying to get up again this time. Instead, he just scampered back towards the girl, holding his sword out, ready to block the next strike. He could feel her tight hold on him as she helped pull him backwards.
One of the village warriors finally made it through, bursting in front of Link and the girl to take on the bandit. Link let out a relieved breath and pulled the girl to her feet, not wasting the moment where there were no swords trained on them.
Almost as soon as they were up, the bandit made a break for them again, and Link dragged the girl with him towards the water where their backs were protected, and they were closer to the other village warriors.
It seemed that bandit realized the odds and took off, away from the horses and into the trees just outside the village, disappearing into the distance.
Link didn't get the chance to see which direction he'd gone. There was a tug on his sleeve, and he quickly looked at the girl. She wasn't seeking his attention but was struggling to keep her balance, swaying like the fronds on the trees in the wind. Link's arm shot behind her, keeping a hold on her waist as he held her upright. And from how heavily she leaned into him, he wondered if he was the only thing keeping her on her feet now that her adrenaline had started to return to normal.
"Th—" she tried, but she cringed, squeezing her eyes tightly together. Her hand flew up to her throat, tenderly pressing her fingers down and wincing when she did. Her eyes met Link's, a silent question as she moved her fingers out of the way.
"Whoa," Link muttered, seeing for the first time that she was more than a little banged up. There were lines on her throat in the shape of fingers, and they were turning dark blue and purple. It looked like there might have been a cut, but he couldn't tell. "Yeah, that's a deep bruise. I don't know enough to say if anything's crushed. There's a cut though, I think…"
He raised his hand to feel it, but the girl flinched away from him, eyes wide again, like a deer who needed help but couldn't bring itself to trust the humans around it. She stumbled, her legs starting to go, but Link caught her shirt, pulling her back up before she could hit the ground.
"I'm sorry!" he said quickly, pulling his free hand away. "I just wanted to check that you weren't bleeding. It's dark red here."
The girl took several deep breaths, all of which seemed to hurt her, and finally raised her chin, exposing her neck. She nodded briefly, and Link moved slowly, but with as much haste as he could to get it over with for her.
His fingers lightly brushed her soft skin, and they both reacted. The girl shuddered, her hand immediately reaching for his, and Link felt a pulse of energy rush through his hand and up his arm, drawing him towards her again, rather than pulling away. His eyes flickered up to hers. She made no move to push him away, despite her hand on his. So, he let his finger brush over the marks, keeping his touch featherlight, feeling for any breaks in the skin.
"No, that wasn't a cut. Just a deep bruise. You're… well… you're more or less okay. Maybe you need water, or something like broth. I'm not a healer, I don't know."
"You—" she tried again but cut herself off with a shake of her head, her eyes slamming shut in pain. She opted to stay quiet for now. Her hand went to the very real cut on Link's throat. The one she'd kept from being much, much worse.
"Right," he said, trying to keep his breathing steady as he felt her hand on him. If he closed his eyes, it almost felt like she'd done it a thousand times before. Warm, familiar hands. But his eyes were open, and this girl was a stranger who'd saved his life, as he'd saved hers. Her fingers were soft and tender, the hands of a noble. There was no way she'd worked with ropes, or knots, or stood out in the burning sun each day. There was just no way. "Thank you for pulling me out of the way back there. I'd probably be dead if not for you.
The girl gave him a look as she lowered her hand, one that said, 'You wouldn't have been in this mess if not for me.'
"Well, yeah," he admitted, and it got a small smile from her, a chuckle even. It was so soft and airy that he wondered if he'd actually heard it. But he found himself grinning at the noise anyway. Her eyes crinkled and her nose pinched. Freckles appeared in the daylight, rather than the shade that they'd been in on the ground. Green eyes stared at him, sparkling with joy.
From the looks of her, he wasn't sure she'd laughed in some time, and it seemed to lift a weight off her.
"Link!" one of the warriors, Link's master, Sebasto, called. Link looked over, seeing the other three bandits' limp bodies being taken care of. "Grab the girl! She's going to fall!"
"Huh?"
He turned to the girl again, and he felt her grab his arm just before her eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped over.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he muttered, more to himself than anything as he grabbed her, holding her up awkwardly, her head dangling back as his hands were tight around her waist. He would drag her if he tried to carry her this way.
Instead, he finagled his hold on her until he had his arms under her back and legs. Her head was slumped onto his chest.
"Go ahead, Link. Get her some help," Sebasto said. "We'll take care of all this, and we'll talk later. Get her to Maiamai."
Link nodded and hurried inside the village, quick to spot his family hovering in the doorway of their house, safe and relieved when Link appeared. But they could see that he wasn't alone. Aryll went to run to him, but their mother grabbed her, stopping Aryll when they saw Link carrying an unfamiliar, limp girl.
Link nodded, his way of letting them know he was okay before heading into the small hut that belonged to the village healer, a woman affectionately known as Mama Maiamai.
She was old, bony and yet still plump all at once. Her fingers were sticks that could have poked into him. "What's this?" she asked, her creaky voice alight with interest.
"A girl."
Maiamai shot Link the most disgusted look. She was known for that look. "Is it now? I hadn't noticed. Thank you for your insight, Link."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize. Just set her down on the bed and don't give me stupid answers anymore."
As soon as his arms were away from the girl, she sat up, gasping for air, tears springing to her eyes as she clutched her throat. Her eyes were unseeing, and all she saw of Link was a shape. Sounds of desperate terror escaped from her, and she backed herself into the corner on the bed, breathlessly trying to take in air and clear her vision.
Link held up his hands. "Hey, hey, it's just me. It's me from before. My name is Link. You're still stuck with me, but you're safe. They're all gone, whoever they were."
She grabbed his arm in relief, letting out the breath she'd just taken, and she pressed her hand over her heart, as if that alone could slow her deadly pulse.
Which only spiked again when she realized there was someone else in the room.
The girl started to cough.
"Poor child," Maiamai said, taking a seat on the end of the bed. "Who were those men?" She inspected one of the girl's arms from a distance. Dirty, damaged, as her throat and face were. Evidence of attempted care. But her arms and neck had bruises, likely from when she'd been grabbed and restrained. Maiamai shook her head in disgust over their treatment of the girl. "Have you been on the run from them, my child? And they just caught up with you today? Is that what happened?"
The girl hesitated, looking from Link to Maiamai several times before tentatively nodding. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Instead, her lips formed silent words. "Took from home." Then she rubbed her fingers together. Rupees. "I ran."
Maiamai nodded, understanding: The girl had been taken with the intention of ransoming her for rupees, but she'd escaped before they could do anything. And Link had interrupted their recapture.
"Well," Maiamai said, "we'll fix you up here and escort you back home. We don't send anyone back home any less than healed. We're certainly not handing you over to ruffians, and rupees are of little interest to all of us in Lurelin, so take a breath, child. We'll keep you safe."
And the girl did take a breath, reluctantly letting go of Link as she did.
If Maiamai was anything, she was blunt. "When was the last time you had a drink, poor thing? Goddess, it's like Din is sucking the life right out of you. We need to get you some food and water before the hand of Din takes you from this world. Link, go."
Link grabbed some of the water from the well outside, and brought it back, helping the girl take small sips. Her hands shook too much on their own. "You can't drink too much at once."
"I know," she mouthed, though she didn't let go of the water until Link moved it out of reach.
Instead, her eyes wandered the unfamiliar hut. But Link could hear her breathing speed up, and she grew paler.
"Hey, you should lie down."
The girl opened her mouth and made a few shapes that he couldn't follow.
"Do that again," he said, not understanding. And she did, more slowly this time. "Cel-da?"
She shook her head, managing a buzzing sound, though her hand was quick to find her throat, pained by the noise she'd made. She lipped the word again.
"Zelda?" Link tried.
She nodded, a smile on her face. That same, irresistible smile from earlier that had him returning it eagerly.
"Zelda. I'm Link." He held out his hand, which Zelda took, shaking it once and weakly before her hand fell to her side.
She gestured to the bed, and Link nodded. "Yeah, I've got you." He helped her down so she didn't crash. But even then, when she was down against the hard mattress, Link didn't let go of her hand.
"You're alright here. We've all got you. Don't worry."
She gave his hand a squeeze before loosening her grip and closing her eyes, a look of peaceful serenity overtaking her.
And even though he knew he could leave, his hand never let go of hers.
Maybe he was crazy. Maybe he was high on adrenaline from the fight. But this girl had already taken a small piece of him.
And he was quickly realizing that he didn't want to take it back.
A/N: Yesterday, this chapter was 2000 words, but somehow while editing it... I doubled the word count? I think that means that I'm going to have inconsistent chapter lengths for this fic! So you'll probably seen them somewhere in the 2000-5000 word range, it seems!
Responses to Reviews from last chapter: Guest: Thanks! I like the idea of them being so bored with all eternity and the monotony of human life, and just needing to do something so they mess with their own creations for their own amusement. AND YASSSS I accept any and all Star Wars references. Queen Emily the Diligent: HELLO AGAIN! Yeah, Din is the worst lol! ElenaGilbert24: Good to see you! Thanks! I'm glad you liked the beginning! This fic is very much focused on life and death (especially because they're the goddesses of life and death)!
