I followed the wolf into the spirit spring opening, quietly keeping hidden behind him. A bright flash of light went through the room and out into the world behind us, and suddenly the wolf was no longer there. In its place stood Link, green tunic and all, who seemed to be having a conversation with the spirit Lanayru. Then the room got dark and something of a show started playing in my mind, narrated by the spirit. It was a story I recognized, but from where I couldn't remember.
"When all was chaos, the goddesses decended and brought order and life into the world. They granted power equally to all who dwelt in the light, and then returned to the heavens. The land where the goddesses landed came to be known as the Sacred Realm." Lanayru says, as a picture of the land was in my mind, molding with the things he said. Lights circled the plot of land until they collided, forming a triforce—something my dad told me about.
"For ages, the people lived at ease, content in mind and body... But soon, word of the Sacred Realms spread through Hyrule, and a great battle ensued." A girl with white eyes held a knife to Link, going on stabbing him, but soon dropped it when he killed her instead with his sword. He had white eyes of his own in place of the once shiny blue ones. Link dropped his sword and ran towards the addicting power of the triforce, only to then be stopped by three darker versions of himself with black tunics, white hair, and glowing red eyes.
"Among those living in the light, interlopers who excelled at magic appeared. Wielding powerful sorcery, they tried to establish dominian over the Sacred Realm." The three Links raised their arms to the light Link and turned him to dust, only to then have him join them in their dark power. Soon their eyes were set on me and a crooked smirk formed on all of their faces. Just when I was sure they would kill me too, Lanayru spoke again.
"It was then that the goddesses ordered us three light spirits to intervene. We sealed away the great magic those individuals had mastered. You know this magic, it is the dark power you seek...the fused shadow. Oh hero chosen by the goddesses, beware. Those who do not know the danger of wielding power will, before long, be ruled by it. Never forget that." Something happened to the white eyed Link and he screamed before the scene changed again to a lighter picture of just the girl from earlier floating around in the dark air before turning into multiple.
The little display finally ended and I could feel the mental drain from it. I had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over only to see Link—the real one this time—fall to his knees in front of the spirit. I couldn't help but feel that part of the story had been left out in the spirit's telling of it, but I shook it off as possibly part of a different story I was thinking of.
Lanayru said something else about going north from here and Link nodded, raising himself to his feet again.
"But first, before you go. Rheikah. You have been standing there long enough. Come out now" the spirit says, and I came out from my hiding spot, amazed he knew I was there. I noticed I was also human once again, but I was wearing a faded red tunic that resembled that of Link's in place of my old clothes along with black pants, black gloves, a red hat like Link's with black around the edges, and dark brown boots.
"You play a bigger role in this than you are given credit for, young one. But only time will tell exactly what that role is. Go now, with Link to save Hyrule and prove the fate of your ancestors inconstant." He says before dissappearing into the spring, once again leaving me alone with Link.
I couldn't look at him. Not yet at least. I completely went against what he said about staying away from the twilight, but in doing so, I found out something amazing. He has no real reason to force me behind him and thanks to Lanayru, it's going to be kind of impossible for him to do that now.
"Rheikah.." Link says, probably still a little unsure of what just happened. He didn't say anything else. No 'How did you get here' no 'I told you to stay' not even a 'Why did you come here?'. Just my name.
I turned away from the spirit spring and looked at the blonde boy clad in green. It was the first time I really took a moment to take in his features. Link had a muscular body that was actually quite rare from what I've seen in Castle Town and the other small villages he's taken me to. His muscles are subtle, yet still amazingly strong unlike the 'strong men of Castle Town' with disgustingly big muscles that still struggle to lift simple things. I could definately see why he could be the savior of Hyrule. Hylia, even his face looked strong. All with those unforgettable bright blue eyes, something else that was rare. I've only ever seen blue eyes in him, Agitha, and supposedly the princess had them too.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of footsteps and Link suddenly being right in front of me. He put his hand on my arm and stared into my eyes as if he was trying to catch a glimpse of my soul.
"Are you okay?" He asks and I nearly flinched at the words, but I nodded anyway.
"Yeah.. just uh.. if you stare at me like that for any longer you'll be able to see into my soul" I say and his gaze falters for a moment and he looks away, chuckling softly. I could have swore I saw a pink tint in his cheeks but I ignored it.
"Come on, lets finally get you back home. I've kind of been looking forward to meeting your family" he says and starts walking away from the spirit spring. I paused. Right. That. I almost forgot that's why we were traveling together. I'd already gotten so used to having Link around, I didn't even think about going home.
"Oh, right. Yeah, lets go." I say. Link and I exit the spirit spring and head back up to the bridge above us. When we got back up to the bridge, just a medium length walk from the castle, Link stopped at a patch of weeds.
He picked one of the horseshoe shaped weeds and blew into it, making a short, high pitched tune. I stared at him in silent wonder as to why he felt the sudden need to get musical. As if to answer my silent concerns, Link smiled and held a finger to the air, telling me to wait for it. For what exactly, I had no idea. Then I heard it — the sound of hooves beating against the ground in the distance and the familiar whinney of a horse. Not just any horse though. This was Epona.
She came barreling across the bridge, stopping beside us and breathing heavily from the run here. Link patted her side, rewarding her with an apple from his bag for her long travel to catch up with us.
"We'll go as far as we can tonight before it gets too dark, then go the rest of the way to Castle Town in the morning." Link says, allowing Epona a few more moments to catch her breath before climbing onto her back then pulling me up to sit behind him. We made our way down the path headed for the castle for a while, me watching the sunset in the distance in the meantime with my head resting against Link's back.
We fell into a comfortable silence with the only sound between us being the steady trot of Epona over the rocky ground.
"You know, my father used to tell me stories about the horses of Hyrule. He said that there used to be hundreds of them, running wild in all of Hyrule." I say, breaking the silence. Link hummed in response, his back vibrating against my head.
"What happened to them?" He asks. I shifted my position, resting my chin on his shoulder and keeping my arms wrapped tightly around his torso.
"Well, when all the people first moved into Hyrule, they pushed the horses away from where they lived and into the fields to make room for villages. Eventually, all the people coming onto the land made the horses leave to the surrounding areas. Only a few stayed behind." I say. I smiled at the memory of my father telling me the story, chuckling at the way he'd say it.
"He used to say that one day, when these times are over and the next era begins, and the people of Hyrule are no longer as plentiful, the horses would come back to this place they once called home. Of course that was a long time ago, and he used to say a lot of things that made much more sense than that." I sigh at the thought. Now he says nothing, and all I have are the memories. With or without him, his stories will always something I cherish.
"Used to?" Link asks, confused. Crap...
I repositioned myself again so that my head was once again resting against him, my ear pressed between his shoulder blades. I could hear his heartbeat surprisingly well through his thick green tunic, but maybe that was normal.
"My father died a long time ago. I don't want to talk about it." Link nodded respectfully and I settled with watching the last bit of the sun disappear behind the mountains. I sighed, deciding to just enjoy the rest of the short ride.
"We'll stop and camp here for tonight." Link says, stopping Epona and getting off, helping me off after. We built a small fire just as it got too dark to see and sat by it together. The sounds of the night filled the silence between us, until those sounds included the rustle of a bokoblin.
Both of us stood quickly to investigate the noise, Link grabbing the hilt of his sword and I grabbing my bow and notching an arrow. The noise carried on, getting louder as it got nearer, revealing the source to definately be a stray bokoblin. Link pulled his sword completely out of its sheath and took a few steps towards the sound. I followed behind him with an arrow ready to fly at any moment.
"Stay here, it's too dangerous in the dark. I'll be right back" Link says, holding a hand out and pushing my bow down. I loosened up the string and held the bow and arrow in one hand.
"Excuse me? If anything, I'm better off than you are! What are you planning to do? Blindly swing in the dark and hope you hit something?" I ask, placing my free hand on my hip. I've let him push me aside the whole way from Ordon to Castle Town, I think it's more than fair to be a little mad at him.
"No, I was planning to kill it so you wouldn't have to put yourself in danger." He says. I almost laughed.
"Yeah, because how could a privileged girl from Castle Town that's never had to deal with a monster before know anything about how to defend herself, right?" I ask, rolling my eyes. Link puts his sword back in his sheath and holds up his hands in surrender.
"That's not what I meant. I just don't want to risk you getting hurt. It has nothing to do with you being from Castle Town or being a girl or anything like that. I just—"
"Just what? You just care that much? No one has ever cared about what happens to me, so I know that's not true. You just don't think I can do it, do you? I've been through things you could never imagine, so never try to tell me what I can and can't do!"
"Rheikah, I'm not, I promise. I just don't want to take the risk of something going wrong and you getting hurt!"
"Why?!" It didn't make any sense to me. Link was a complete stranger to me and supposedly the savior of Hyrule. Why would he care if I got hurt?
Link sighed, dropping his hands back to his sides and taking a step back towards me.
"Because from the second Uli and Rusl found you unconscious, washed up beside the river with blood everywhere, you became their primary concern. For all they knew, you could have been dying if not already dead. You didn't wake up for two whole days, Rheikah. They were starting to believe you weren't going to wake up, but then by some miracle from Hylia herself, you did." He says, stepping closer. I got quiet.
"I didn't get a chance to see you before Uli started helping you, but when I did I could still see what was left of the scratches from whatever happened to you. You still looked so fragile, so I swore that I would do what I could to make sure you weren't hurt again for as long as I could help it" Link took another step forward.
"Well I don't need you to do that anymore" I say, renotching my arrow and aiming it, then letting it fly towards the blonde boy in front of me. It just narrowly missed his face and I grabbed my arrows from the ground where I was sitting previously. Link blinked, looking himself over before looking back up at me.
"You missed" He says. I smirk, pulling my bow over my head and securing it around my torso.
"I wasn't aiming for you." I say, pointing behind him. Link turns, watching the bokoblin with his club still raised fall backwards with my arrow lodged in its eye, before disappearing in a black puff of smoke. By the time he turned back around, I was already walking.
"Wait! Where are you going?" He asks, jogging after me. Link grabbed my shoulder and stopped me, then stood in front of me to block my path.
"Castle Town." I say, removing his hand from my shoulder and walking around him.
"But it's still dark out, you should at least wait until morning" Link tried to stop me again, but I grabbed his wrist before he could.
"It's not your job to worry about my safety anymore. You've done your job. I'm going the rest of the way myself and, if you survive the night, I might see you in town tomorrow. But for now, goodbye Link." I say and begin the short remainder of the walk to Castle Town.
The guards were definately not going to enjoy me being back in town, so it's probably best if I sneak in tonight while they're all tired, before the new shift comes in the morning. I guess I can go to Telma's bar from there. Who knows? She might have actually noticed I was gone.
Maybe.
A/N: I'm not dead! I just got a bit busy handling some Writer's block, but I'm good now. Love ya! See ya next update!