Ugh...Learning

The next day, he changed into his purple tunic, a favorite, and reviewed all that he had studied. He grabbed his ocarina and, with little thought due to his fading grogginess, played the Song of Storms until he was startled by a fearsome lightning strike that was followed by a deep and ominous roll of thunder. 'Ooookay, we're done playing that song. I'm going to hope this was a coincidence.'

When he left his room, his sword and ocarina accompanying him, he ran into the teacher-guy from the day before. "Oh, er, hi." He greeted, albeit a little awkwardly.

"Good morning, Young Link," the teacher greeted back, smiling at the attempt. He kneeled in front of him and showed him a piece of paper. It read: "Before we can get started on learning, you first have an appearance to make in the royal court."

His eyes widened, a bead of sweat forming, "E-excuse me?"

"It's nothing too serious," he wrote, "It's about the incident from yesterday when you were found."

"Umm, that's even worse, teacher. I killed the guy." 'How is that not bad?'

"Ssshhhhh!" He huffed, quickly scribbling, "If you say things like that, it'll turn serious! Anyways, I'm going to be your translator. I advise you to be quiet until you're asked to respond. This is mainly about you posing a threat to the castle, more than it is you killing someone.'

He nodded and followed him down the stairs. Getting to this room was quite the task as well. They had to walk up the entire path that led to the entrance at the top while it was raining. He was personally okay, as he'd been in much more adverse weather than some rain, but the teacher requested a few minutes to himself before they walked in.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

Young Link could do nothing but nod. The instruments sounded their arrival as they walked in. He followed the teacher to the middle of the room looking around for reference as to what he should be doing. For respect's sake, he took his sword off his back and held it in front of him, the tip of the scabbard being pressed into the ground with his hand on the hilt to keep it straight.

There was chatter amongst the room. He noticed in particular that a small group of people with white hair all silently sat together, gazing down upon him. 'Is..is that the Sheikah symbol? Wow it's been a long time since I've seen that! I think it was also on that tablet-thing the princess used when we were in the carriage. Interesting.'

"Ahem!" The attention was brought upward to the top of the room, where the majestic King had given notice that it was time to start.

'Whooaa this Hyrule also has a king? Well he certainly looks the part!' He also spotted Princess Zelda in the gown she was wearing yesterday. She looked nervous but was putting on a strong front.

"Today we shall decide if this child will reside in this castle. He was discovered yesterday by my daughter, Zelda, and was being attacked by a Yiga Clan scytheman, which we all know are one of their most deadly footmen. It was brought to my attention that this child at first tried to kill the Yiga after Link had knocked him out with his sword, but Link, again, prevented this from happening as that is not the way we do things in this kingdom. My daughter then insisted that the knight be careful which elicited the response of the child kicking him away and killing the Yiga scytheman." He sighed before drawing in another breath, "It appears that he was only protecting the others around him, but in doing so also put the kingdom in danger of a possible, lethal attack from the Yiga Clan. So. What is it that we plan to do?"

Young Link looked up at the teacher, his expression freely giving away that he had no idea what the King had been saying the entire time.

"Don't worry," he responded in his language, "He simply recapped what happened yesterday and is asking what we're going to do with you as a result."

He nodded, understanding, but he caught the eye of one of the Sheikah sitting in the stands, it being a young woman with long white hair who wore a blank expression.

Zelda spoke first, "I think, despite the carelessness, that he was showing bravery in making sure that the scytheman didn't pose a threat to us anymore."

The woman that caught his eye spoke, "Why doesn't the boy recount his reasoning for this incident?"

"He would," the teacher explained, "But he speaks a very ancient form of Hylian. In fact, he hasn't understood a word of what I, the King, the Princess, nor you have just said."

"I thought that was obvious, you're his translator, aren't you? Just tell us what he's saying," the Sheikah woman replied, blinking.

"Right," he quietly said, looking down at him, "Okay, you're going to tell them what happened, and I'm going to translate for you. I won't be censoring anything you say, so don't get me in trouble." He whispered.

"Y'know your accent isn't that bad." He gave him a look, "I know I know. Alrighty, I had just woken up in the forest and I had no idea where I was. I needed to find a way out, so I used the best of my intuition for direction. I got tired after a while and decided to play some old songs on my ocarina. I heard Zelda's voice and I thought she was annoyed with my playing. It made sense, I played the same song five times in a row. When her voice was nearer, I panicked, took my stuff, and ran right into the Yiga guy. He started to attack me, so I attacked him back, him evading literally every single one of my sword slashes, a first admittedly. Then Zelda cries out after seeing him make multiple attempts on either my life or my limbs, and Link comes practically flying overhead and rails him with the hilt of his sword. It was awesome! But I didn't trust that the guy wouldn't get back up and attack us when we eventually parted ways, so I tried to end him, but Link tackled me to the ground. Which was lame. I thought the princess had told him to get off of me, so when his grip loosened, I knocked him away and sliced the guy open. Which, to my surprise at the time, nobody liked. I then had my sword taken from me and was physically restrained until I arrived. The entire time I had no idea what anyone was saying, but I'm getting there. That's it."

The room was silent. The teacher really did translate what he said word for word. He couldn't tell if the room wanted him kicked out or not, but there were some hushed giggles that came from where the guard was standing.

"Hmph," the Sheikah lady broke the silence, "It sounds like he's a keeper to me. He's telling the truth."

Apparently, that's all it took to sway the King, for he announced his decision for him to continue to stay in the castle and that there will simply be more guard rotations throughout Hyrule to compensate for the reaction the Yiga Clan may have.

"That was relatively easy," he commented, the teacher giving him a look.

"Sometimes I'm amazed I still have a job here after the things I get put through. Follow me." He instructed, the last part being in the old language and him doing as he was told.

They ended back in the room he had originally met him in, finding that there were several more books opened than last time. There was also a sandwich and fruit awaiting him as well, "That's nice of you, teacher," He thanked.

"Of course! I can't have my student going hungry now can I?" He sat down in front of him, "Granted I'll have to warn you that Miss Zelda has a lesson with me in a few hours. I don't know how long you want to spend on this, but the longer the better."

"I guess I'll go until I get tired..or bored. Whichever comes first," he took a bite of the sandwich and inspected the fruit.

Young Link's attention span managed to stay intact for about two hours, after that he was either falling asleep or getting distracted.

"How do you feel about Hylian now?" the teacher asked, taking a sip of some tea he had made during the lesson.

He groaned, trying his best to speak, "I can...make..better...um..answers. Right?"

"You sure can kiddo. Your memorization is impeccable. You deserve a break." He gestured for him to go, "Now that you're allowed to be here, I'm sure you'll want to look around. I think the knights are practicing in the training arena today, if you're interested in that."

"Okay, I..am going to..see it?" He fumbled, not impressed with himself.

The teacher warmly smiled, "You might not like it, but I really am proud. Good job!"

He left, his head feeling heavy. Young Link firmly slapped himself more awake, shaking out the drowsiness. "Okay, let's go try to find the arena." He mostly remembered the way there, but he definitely got lost around some of the bends and corners and ended up needing to ask for directions a couple of times. It was nice that it stopped raining, though.

He walked from the maid telling him which way to go, his face burning after the encounter. 'Ugh, every time I speak I feel like an idiot. I know it'll get better over time, but still!' With his luck, he finally found the arena, but even better he found some horses outside of it. There were all sorts of fighting sounds, like swords clanging, arrows piercing, and, of course, men yelling, but the horses were serenely enjoying their patch of grass.

The young hero walked up to a bay-colored horse with a jet black mane and tail. It took notice of his arrival and sniffed in his direction. "Aw hey there big guy," He chuckled, "Haha, well if you can even tell what I'm saying, that is. All of you probably only know this new Hylian I'm in the middle of figuring out."

They all had their attention on him, he was amazed they even seemed to care. He shrugged and pet the muzzle of the bay horse he originally was talking to. 'I wonder if they'd react to Epona's song.' He sat in the grass beside them and played the short tune, the horses only halting their grazing to listen to him play before going back to eating. "Tough crowd, eh? Fair enough." To his surprise, one came trotting around the corner, their ears perked and tail raised as it whinnied upon seeing him.

"Whoa there!" 'I can't believe it worked?' The dark colored horse nuzzled his shoulder, wanting his attention. "So you're the only one who liked my song? Well that's quite nice of you, but you shou—" Before he could finish his sentence the horse extended a leg forward and came down lower, almost like it wanted him to get on. He looked around, 'I guess I'm not hurting anyone..' he stepped up into the stirrups, and just barely could get into the saddle due to how far down they were, meaning his feet hung off the sides once he sat upright in the saddle.

He motioned for the horse to walk toward the side of the arena. As much as he wanted to watch them train, the gate was closed and there was no way they were going to let a kid in. The horse could give him a boost on getting up the wall, though! When they approached it, he stood up on the saddle and hopped up to grab the ledge, the horse circling back around below and nudging him upwards in an attempt to help.

Young Link was thoroughly impressed with this horse, "Okay whoever normally rides you clearly doesn't recognize your potential. I'm gonna try my best to remember you so I can reward your efforts!" He patted its muzzle, the horse whinnying and trotting off afterward. With him now a level below the top of the arena, there had to be another way in. He ran around the bend, finding an unguarded entrance and slipping in, quietly taking a seat near the bottom.

The men at work were sparring with dull, wooden swords in full armor, others were practicing shooting arrows. Young Link searched for the unforgettable blonde hair of Link. He almost came to the conclusion that he wasn't there until he saw him taking off his helmet when he went to break. Strolling over to where he relatively was, he watched him talk with the other knights.

"I'm telling you! I'll eventually be able to shoot five arrows into five targets instantly one day. I mean it! You'll be jealous when I do!"

The knight next to him had a wily smile, "Pfft of course we will be, as if we're not already jealous of your crazy natural abilities. Your dad would be super proud if he wasn't doing guard duty in Hateno right now."

"I dunno...you think?"

All of the knights wholeheartedly agreed, "Of course!"

"Yeah!"

"Duh!"

"There'd be no reason for him not to be!"

'That's nice.' Young Link thought, 'He's lucky to have teammates that aren't incredibly jealous. Unless..' He saw a single knight across the arena looking pretty scary, 'I think I just found the jealous one.'

He had brown, short hair, a button nose and was reasonably tanned. To Young Link, he looked to be asking for trouble as he coolly strolled up to the hero and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What's up?" Link greeted.

"Nothing, you interested in sparring?"

"Ethan, we sparred yesterday. I'm not really interested in doing it again."

The Hero of Time still didn't exactly know nor yet have an idea of what was being said, but he could tell a fight was going to come out of it.

"C'mooon, just one more time. I think I've improved since yesterday, y'know?"

"Fine, but you can't get mad like you did last time, promise?"

"Promise."

They both donned their wooden swords, the two of them assuming their starting positions. The captain who was supervising signaled for them to start, Ethan lunging forward and trying to swipe at Link's feet. He easily backflipped away from it of course, landing and rolling away. Link came forward next, swinging from the left only to switch directions at the last second and swing from the right, colliding with his opponent.

Ethan looked to be trying to control his anger as he stabbed forward and then did a jump attack, it completely missing Link who quickly parried to the back of him and lightly grazed his back.

"You realize you'd be dead by now, right?" Link said, still keeping his guard up.

"Argh! I'm not done yet!" He kicked Link back a couple of feet, following up with a few slashes that would've knocked him out had he not dodged them, "How do you keep dodging everything?!"

"Not sure, I think you're just predictable," Link did a front flip into the air and came down on Ethan's shoulder, "I think that's a win guys." He looked in his direction, "Don't get mad about it okay? These aren't supposed to be personal."

Young Link couldn't help but clap for him, "Bravo bravo! You're doing your ancestors proud! Haha!" He knew it wasn't a good trait, but there was nothing like a good fight that could pump him up and make him feel ready for anything. Link had walked back over to his friends, and right as the younger one finished his applauding, he saw the guy coming in for a stab from behind.

Not wasting any time, Young Link jumped from the seat and knocked the guy's wooden sword sky high out of his hands, it startling him, "Hey! The least you could do is play fair!" He scolded, briefly forgetting that they don't know the old Hylian.

Link immediately turned around, upon hearing his voice. Ethan was pissed and looked like he was getting ready to punch the kid, "You better n—!"

Ethan did attempt to punch Young Link, even as the captain blew his whistle for foul play, but years of swordsmanship taught the hero to be resourceful with more than just his blade. He roundhouse kicked him in the face with little remorse and punched him in the gut, triforce on his left hand shining just momentarily. The child puncher cartoonishly flew backward and hit the wall just in time for Young Link to turn back around and wink at Link and his fellow knights.

"I can't believe you did that!" Link was actually amazed more than he appeared to care about the guy he just punched.

His soul went soft for his descendant, 'Aww we share the same feelings about a good fight. I'm so proud.' "You..fight...really, er, great! I am really..prideful! I think!"

"Wow your Hylian has gotten a lot better! I'm impressed. Thank you for the compliment, though, but I'm not sure we're on the same level as much as I thought." He saw the young one just smiling back, "Ah right, you still don't know all that much."

"Enjoy..train?" He just shrugged, he could feel his cheeks getting red, "Bye!" As much as he would've liked to stay, he felt that what he did to that other guy warranted him leaving. 'I definitely don't want any questions, especially since I still can't guess half of what anyone is saying.

As the day continued on, Young Link found himself thinking about when he'll be able to leave. 'Well actually, I guess I could ask for a horse. This is a huge world that I've yet to explore…' he snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head, 'I've got it! I'll learn this language a bit more, get my ears pierced, and then I'll request a horse and have a look around this place.' The hero cheekily smiled to himself, 'Heh, not a bad plan if I say so myself!'

From that night on, he made sure to do some extra studying to try and get ahead. However, he also figured out after awhile that it really wasn't all that hard. It was more or less the letters that got weird more than it was the speaking, and he was perfectly fine with not being able to write all that well. Young Link was pretty impressed with himself, though at the same time he kept in mind that he was a hero and better yet had the triforce of courage. He was certainly under the impression that it had to have helped in some way or another.

He also picked up a couple of the mannerisms in the castle, like always bowing to the royals, being very courteous, and refraining from "indecent language" as the teacher had put it. Lastly, he was happy to report that he had definitely sharpened up on his skills and felt ready to take on almost anything. When the sun shined through the curtains in his room, he popped right out of bed and practically flew into his green tunic.

"Today's the day! I'm going to get these damn ears pierced and leave this castle!"