The Young Traveler

by Fierysoul135

Young Link (from OOT/MM) finds himself in a new universe. This isn't his first time, though, as his search for his fairy friend has gotten him into all kinds of previous adventures. Equipped with an abundance of knowledge, his sword, the Fierce Deity's Mask, and the Triforce of Courage, how will he fair in the wild lands of Hyrule right as the Age of Calamity is upon it? Art by me!

27. I Accept

Author's Note: for older readers, this is part 1 of "I Accept"

---

I Accept

"Ugh," He sat up, "I should've eaten last night." Hunger clawed at his insides like the wolfos he'd slain outside the Forest Temple. He didn't even feel like getting dressed, but nevertheless, he pulled on his blue tunic. His eyes landed on his boots and equipment, 'Great , dried blood.' For the sake of having shoes to wear, he bothered to wipe away what was on them. During this, he looked at the bathtub and, 'Yeah…I was hoping I wouldn't need to clean this, but I guess I am.' He sighed, 'I'll get started when I get done eating.'

Due to the state of his gear, he only left with his mask. As he strolled to the Dining Hall, he found his hand feeling for the strap that normally went across his chest, 'Is it weird to feel bare without it on? Honestly it's weird to not be wearing a sword in general.' The thought of getting attacked in this condition annoyingly picked at his brain. 'I suppose that would be one hell of a way to suddenly see if any of those spells work.'

Young Link didn't feel like talking to anyone that morning, so he tried to sit as far away from the others as possible without coming off as moody or distant, if that makes sense. 'I could be imagining this, but it seems like I'm getting looks to begin with.' Just as he was getting ready to return his plate and silverware, Kevin took a seat right next to him.

"Good morning!" He smiled.

He blinked a few times, "Why are you nervous?" That much was obvious despite his face hiding it rather well. The way he stiffly sat and gripped his spoon said it all.

The knight slumped in defeat, "Damn, ya got me." He sighed, "Alright well why is there blood on your shoes?"

'Did I actually not get it all off?!' "Wait really?" He swung his legs out from underneath the table and looked for himself, 'ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?' In his sleepy and hungry stupor, he managed to leave just one decently sized splatter at the foot of his right boot. He looked slightly surprised despite mentally kicking himself, "Interesting."

Kevin looked uneasy, "Uh..yeah, about that. Since you and Link were going through Hyrule Field at some point, did you guys happen to pass an area where some massacre took place? Like blood and bodies everywhere? That kind of thing?"

The sounds of a scream and the galloping of horses that followed it rang in the back of his mind, "Mmm, not that I'm aware of," He lied. A bashful smile appeared, "I still don't know the land all that well, sorry. Plus, me and Link went hunting outside his village. That's where the blood is from. Do you know what happened?"

This seemed to make him relax…a little, "Ah okay. Well, I happened to be on guard duty at the town gates when a couple of travelers nearly ran me and the other guy over!" He began to mimic them, "She was all like, 'Ahhh! There's been some kind of massacre in the middle of the field!' And the guy she was with was like, 'We don't know what happened, but there's just a ton of dead Yiga all over the place! They're actually dead too!'" Kevin chuckled at himself for the voices he gave them, "Anyways, I was looking forward to seeing you two when you came back, but then we had to switch out early because I was stuck running off and telling the Head of Command what they were talking about."

"Well it certainly would have been a pleasant surprise to see you after such a long ride," Young Link stretched his arms, "Speaking of which, I know Link had to see the Head of Command when we got back. Do you happen to know why?"

"Honestly, it probably has to do with that. I could see him and the elites going and checking out what happened," He shrugged, "If it's all still there by the time they do that."

"That's fair." The young hero stood from the table with a sigh, "Well, I've got a lot of cleaning to do now that I'm back. As far as whatever that was in Hyrule Field goes, considering it's the Yiga, they probably did something to deserve it." He avoided looking at his expression as he turned and left. Once he was in the hallway, he very briskly walked back to his quarters. His conscience was making him feel guilty for lying to his teammate. He opened the door, "Okay, I get it was a stupid idea to lie to him, but what else am I supposed to do when I don't even know what all has been sa—" His eyes narrowed at seeing Zelda sitting at the foot of his bed. Without faltering, he composed himself and curtsied, "Good morning, Princess. I'm guessing you want to speak to me?"

She was understandably surprised, "I—I did. Is everything alright, young one?"

He sat in the chair that went with the vanity, "I think it's best if I hear what you have to say before I answer that." 'Otherwise, no. The only thing that seems to be going for me is that Kevin didn't mention anything about the dead so-called ranch hand.'

"I see," Her hands folded in her lap, "Starting with the more recent events…"

"Yes?"

"Can you explain to me what happened from your point of view? Link told me in only so many words, but I know it's fair to hear both sides." Zelda's eyes were thoughtful.

Young Link felt relieved that she wasn't angry or disappointed in him. He truthfully explained what had happened, including what they discovered with the ranch hand. He only left out the part where the first Yiga he killed nearly exposed his true identity. She'd threatened them in that case. "All I can say is that they would have killed us or worse. That, and all the blood is on my hands, not Link's. He still followed the King's orders." His eyes looked to his sullied equipment as he said that. Anyone could have compared the two of them and it was clear who did what.

"Killed you or worse?" She seemed a little confused, "That's a first."

"I don't know this for sure, but I'd probably be better off dying than getting captured by them," He thought of one of the nightmares he'd had, "Not to mention I'd probably get tortured until I go insane. Who knows what all they want to do to me." His head shook at the idea of them having the mask. Though, at the same time, that would likely be the one place he could use it without any serious drawbacks. 'If I'm wearing it, at least that means no one else is…'

Zelda slowly nodded, her eyes made it no mystery that the thought of it disturbed her, "Well then, I certainly see what you mean. It's also noble of you to stick up for Link." A smile briefly crossed her face, "He tried to say that he was simply trying to protect you. Though the entire exchange clearly is one of self-defense. This is the first I've heard that they've tried to disguise themselves as a regular Hylian and then surprise attack whoever tries to help them."

"I'd heard that they could disguise themselves, but it was definitely lucky that I realized who she really was."

"What gave it away?"

He looked around, "Wait what?"

The princess nodded, "I'm curious. How could you tell? Link described it in a way that made it sound like it was entirely convincing."

'Easy. No one wants this stupid mask more than them.' He shrugged, "To be fair, it was very convincing. However, when someone wants help, let alone directions, they normally pay attention to the person that's trying to help them." He pointed to himself, "Not the person who's just standing there. It was that, and the fact that I could sense that there was something off about her. I don't know how to explain it past that."

Zelda considered what he'd said before continuing, "Well, I'd like you to know, with the circumstances of the two of you being considered civilians while away from the castle, there luckily is no punishment for what you've done, even at the scale at which it occurred."

It was hard to believe there would have been a punishment for self-defense in the first place, "Wait, so should we just have run away? Did he tell you just how many there were?"

She sighed, "I too wish this wasn't such a complicated matter, and yes, he did. I'm surprised the two of you are alive, much less uninjured. Anyways, as far as the situation with the ranch hand goes, the same thing applies, only in a far more trickier way." Her small smile was weary, "I must say, this has worked out inexplicably well, with the two of you having been gone and that Link wasn't wearing his armor when all of this happened. Though, for your sake, I strongly suggest you stop killing them."

Young Link felt himself slouch in his chair, catching her attention. 'Gods I wish I could just tell you everything and then you'd simply have to understand why I have (kinda) no choice! Geez! I hate how complicated this whole identity crap has become!' He took a deep breath, "I hope this doesn't come off as immature, but I…well I kinda can't do that. When I took down that blademaster, I made an oath. I was mad and frustrated by that point, so it doesn't, y'know, sound very well thought out or anything." 'Dear Goddesses, just saying this out loud…if only I could place her right next me when everything was happening!'

A hand went up to his forehead, "Basically it was 'get lost or die.' Clearly, they haven't held up on their end as much as I've held up on mine, and if I stop now—even if I stopped then—I can only see that being far worse for me the longer I'm alive. If I'm honest, the fact that they had to resort to trying to distract a knight in order to try to kill me, tells me that they're desperate and that they're realizing that they can't use brute force anymore." He could see that he was getting through to her, "To me, if they attack me, and I only run away and etc. I'm a hundred percent certain that the next time I wake up, I'll be in shackles at the bottom of some dark pit with no way to tell you where I am, or what's happened to me."

Zelda could only blink at this. It was hard to tell if she was astonished in some way or possibly worried for him. Maybe both. She exhaled, "That's…very perceptive of you."

"I know looks can be deceiving, but I do think about my actions the majority of the time."

"It seems you're right." The Princess moved onto her next point, "With all that said, I was asked to come back to Rito Village. I don't know how you feel about leaving the castle considering what happened yesterday, but I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

He perked up, "Are you sure? Will it be just us?"

"Oh no, I'll have a couple of guards with me," She explained. Her gaze was unimpressed as it looked elsewhere, "I'd rather it just be you and me, but that's far out of the question for my father."

"Either way, I gladly accept. I just hope you know that we're both prime targets for the Yiga Clan. I won't be holding back if they decide to attack us either." 'I'm realizing that she hasn't seen me kill any of these guys before…I can sense the incoming lecture from here.'

"I'm aware, but I must see if there's been a new development. Besides, I feel that you make the long travel not as dreadful."

He cocked his head, "Well, I don't recall necessarily talking all that much the last time we were out, but whatever you say. I'm happy I'll be able to use that tunic you had made for me again. I would have felt bad if I only wore it once." The young hero stood, starting to take off his boots, "So when do we leave?"

"In a couple of days. I need to do a few things before I go."

"Speaking of which," He pulled the bloodied tunic out, holding it up, "Um, what should I do about this? I'll also need a new shirt and pants." A bead of sweat started to develop as he watched her eyes widen.

"O-Oh," Zelda stood, starting to reach out toward it, "Oh my goodness…" She took it into her hands, her tone was perplexed, "If you'll hand me the rest, I could dispose of these for you."

"Cool, thanks," Young Link obliged, trying his best to ignore the growing disbelief she had that came with the other two stained garments. He nodded a bow as she left his room and then went to immediately cleaning his gear.

After a while, the young hero found himself thinking about what the princess had told him, 'Zelda was right about how situational all this was,' He could foresee the next time resulting in something far more serious. 'Though, maybe if it happens on this trip, it'll be dismissed again since I would have been protecting royalty.' He shrugged as he continued to wash the sides of the tub, 'I wonder if I'll see Impa again…'

It took a few hours, but after brushing his bangs out of his face and breathing out a sigh of relief, it felt good to say he was done. Unfortunately, because the Swallow bow is wooden, there wasn't much he could do. Still, it was better than doing nothing. He sheathed his sword and flopped back on the mattress, "Ahh, finally. Now I just need them to leave me alone, or at least attack in a smaller group." Thinking of groups made him remember how he lied to Kevin that morning. It made his gut queasy again.

'Ah dammit,' He thought, his eyes flicking over to the door, 'Now that I know I'm not in trouble, I should go find him and apologize. He'd probably want to hear how good of a team me and Link made in the first place.' His head sank into his sheets, 'Dammit! Now I'm wondering if Link is—I don't know—I guess annoyed with me too! I mean, he didn't seem that way.'

Young Link sat up, "Oh who am I kidding? Sure, he's himself, but he's pretty damn simple when it comes to that." He facepalmed, 'All these people. All these relationships… Maybe I miss working all by myself. It's so much to juggle and care about.' A grin spread across his face, "If she were here right now, she'd scold me and tell me that this is how people die alone or something."

With that, he got up, donned his now polished equipment, and left. After talking to a guard that was on standby, he learned that Kevin would be at the arena at this time. The weather that day was crisp and cloudy, a little humid too. "This is probably because of the rain from yesterday," he muttered. Soon he found himself stopping in front of the gates. He looked over at one of the guards, "Hey, can I come in for a second? I need to talk to Kevin."

Neither of them looked like they wanted to open the gate, but it wasn't long before the one on the left sighed and let him through. 'Sheesh, rude. It's not my problem th—!' Not five feet past the entrance, his instincts made his hand catch an arrow to prevent it from flying through his shoulder. His adrenaline soared so high, it likely reached the heavens.

The archer who was responsible ran up to him, "Dear Hylia! I—Are you okay!? That didn't—YOU CAUGHT IT!?"

Young Link brought the arrow in front of him and looked at it. Despite his heart trying to push through his chest, simply because that was the last thing he expected upon entering, his voice was calm, "Y-You certainly caught me off guard there."

"THAT'S OFF GUARD FOR YOU!?"

He winced as he raised his hand, "Please don't yell. You're right in front of me." He laughed into a sigh, feeling himself start to calm back down, "Here, you can have it back. I honestly don't think it was either of our faults."

The archer put it back into his quiver, "Sorry about that. Well, sorry about both of those things."

Another had walked up to them, "Dear Hylia, I never thought I'd watch someone, who could just barely apply to the academy, walk in and grab an arrow out of the air like it's nothing!"

The young hero shrugged, "I'll admit, that sort of spooked me."

He laughed, "Well damn, I'd have never been able to tell!"

"So what are you doing here anyways? I don't recall there being any mention of this or anything," The archer asked.

Young Link looked around them, finding Kevin currently sparring with Isaac. He pointed to them, "Oh, I just need to talk to my teammates really quick. I won't be here for long." He started walking in their direction before the other two could further rope him into a conversation.

Isaac had gone in for a jump attack but was a little slow on the execution of the slash. This allowed Kevin to parry it and knock him off balance. He put his shield up, his eyes catching Young Link's. Kevin clearly was facing the other way and was beginning to run at him.

He waved his hands at him, "Hey, hold on a minute! It's the kid!"

From what he could tell, the orange-haired knight didn't appear to have any qualms with him, "Hey guys," He greeted.

"Oh what's up!" Kevin happily asked, "Come to test your skills against your squad?"

"I could, if you don't mind of course, but actually I wanted to talk to you for a second." The young hero motioned for him to follow as he walked toward an area that had a bench.

"Is there something going on?"

He put a hand on his hip, "No, I just wanted to apologize for lying to you earlier."

Kevin crossed his arms, "About what?"

"When you asked if I knew anything about what happened yesterday." His eyes fell to the ground, "Me and Link, well, we're the ones that did all that…mainly me, honestly. I just didn't know if I was about to get twenty lashes as some kind of punishment for killing so many of them and causing such a scene. That blood on my boot was something I missed when I was washing it off this morning." His shoulders slumped as he sighed, "So again, sorry about that. Turns out me and Link were considered civilians, so we aren't in any trouble. We got really lucky."

The knight's eyes were practically bulging out of his head, "Wai-wait, so you and Link were the people that caused that bloodbath?"

"Well Link didn't kill any of them, that was all me. We make a pretty good team, though. He'd push them toward me, and I'd stab right through them." Young Link tried and failed at stifling the smile that came with remembering their teamwork.

"Dude that's AWESOME!" Kevin's eyes glittered. "Also, I understand telling a fib or two when you're not trying to get in trouble. I'm not mad or anything."

"That's good to hear."

"So," Now he smiled, "What say you to a quick match?"

His eyebrow raised, "Are you sure about that?"

Kevin put his hands on his hips, "Well yeah, I get the feeling it'll be an even match." He turned to his partner, "Yo Isaac! You should come ref me and the kid! We're gonna spar real quick!"

As they walked to the small clearing in the arena, Young Link was trying to decide between making this fun or making it fast. 'Well, it's not as if I have anything to do today. I could stand to test him out a little.'

"You ready?" Isaac asked.

"Ready when you are, Kevin!"

Per the rules, they both used wooden swords and shields. The knight had a huge grin on his face and hopped in place as Isaac gave them the signal to start.

'Finally,' Young Link thought after a second passed, 'Someone doesn't come flying towards me.' That was his move! Within moments he was in Kevin's space and aggressively slashing away. He purposefully gave the knight an opening to get a vertical slice in so he could parry his defense wide open and slash upwards at his exposed belly, intentionally missing. "Hey, remember you can always move back," He commented, "You don't need to prove anything." But when he looked up at his face, there was a different look in his eye.

Before he could catch another glimpse, he was letting Kevin wail away at his wooden shield. His wide stance afforded him the opportunity to roll underneath his opponent and jump out of it into an aerial spin attack. He couldn't help the fierce glint that shined in his eyes as he front-flipped into a downward slash that sent the dirt scattering in every direction when he hit the ground.

"Dear Hylia, kid!" Isaac called. He'd taken several steps back to give them more space.

'Keviiin, come on! You've gotta actually come after me!' He thought as he stood with his shield raised.

Surprisingly, the ginger wasn't getting angry or annoyed, more so cautious.

'Normally I'd punish thinking of what to do next like this,' Young Link still waited for him to move, 'Thinking on your feet is a necessary skill in sword combat. It makes it more interesting that he's not doing it considering he's actually fought monsters before.'

Within the next second, his partner was letting him have it. Kevin ran forward and performed a horizontal slash that knocked the young hero's shield away from covering his body. He continued into a slew of diagonal slices that appeared to be aimed at his arms.

'I get it if the idea is to cut your opponent's arms off, but still.' He dodged away from the next hit with an arial. Young Link smiled when Kevin continued to pursue him as he was pushed back toward the wall of the arena. The knight had a new relentless energy about him.

After dodging away from another slash, he could see he was now a few feet away from the bricks. He hid his smirk as he began to retaliate in a combo that was meant to prompt someone into doing a shield bash. 'Yes! Diagonal strikes into a parallel always makes them use their shield!' The young hero watched for the moment Kevin's left arm started to move the slab of wood forward.

The others who were around had noticed how aggressive the knight was getting. "Hey Kevin, lighten up! You've basically got him up against the wall!"

"Yeah man! Back off a little!"

Their comments went straight over the fighters' heads. Just as one last slash made Kevin push his shield forward, Young Link did a back handspring and landed midway on the back wall. Pushing off with all his might, he sent his teammate sprawling onto his back into a slide when he collided with his shield and clung to it.

'This was always a fun one,' He contently thought as the slide came to a halt, 'It kinda feels like a ride! Hehe!' To finish this, he rolled off and threw himself into the air, missing Kevin's cold-sweat face when he plunged the wooden sword deep into the soft dirt. There was pep in his movement as he smiled and stood up, leaving the sword where it was. He offered his partner a hand, "Not bad! Especially right at the end!"

His teammate could only blink back at him as he shakily accepted the aid and got back on his feet, "Y-Yeah."

"You're not upset that you lost, right?" 'Now that I can see him properly, he actually looks a little scared…oops!' The fact that his cold sweat increased confirmed his thinking.

"Not at all, actually," He ran his hand through his hair, "It's just dawning on me how easily you could have beat me if you wanted to! It felt like I only did what you wanted the entire time too! How did you do that?"

Young Link put a hand on his hip, "It's just a bit of strategy and thinking. Sometimes, it's not about what's currently happening to you and how to react to it. More like, how can I fight back and change the tides in my favor? I got you to push me toward the wall on purpose. Just like how I made you use your shield so I could knock you back."

"Yeah, but how did you know that I'd follow along?" There was almost a sense of helplessness that edged his tone.

He started to open his mouth to respond before closing it again. 'Hm, honestly I don't know how to answer this question without seeming like I know too much.' "Just experience, I guess. I've been at this for longer than you might think," He subtly winked at Isaac.

While Kevin buried his face into his hands, Isaac addressed him, "I mean, what was that just now? I know you pretty much baited him into that, but I've never seen people bounce off walls and ride their shields like it's nothing."

"Not to mention slamming your sword so far into the ground! I'd probably break my wrist trying to do that!" Another chimed in.

"Honestly, I don't know. I just thought of it and went for it," Young Link giggled as he easily pulled the sword from the ground, "Though, I'll admit that maybe I went a little too hard with the ending blow there. That's my bad."

"The what?"

"Ending blow?" He paused, "Oh right, I don't know how to say it in your language. It's the part where I jumped and stabbed my sword into the ground. I'm probably showing off a little, but I'm sure that's something you all know how to do." 'Right? That's a basic move, right?'

They shook their heads.

The young hero could feel an aura coming off them that said "Teeaacchh uussss, teeaaacch uusss!" He wearily smiled as he strapped his own sword back on, "Well uh, I should really, er, go. Do you guys know where Link is?"

The aura only grew stronger as they all shrugged.

"Okaaaayy, I'll see you guys later then." He ran to the entrance, "Bye!"

Part of him hoped that he would run into his descendant as he made his way back inside. Another part of him felt slightly relieved that he didn't. With nothing else to do, he decided to roam around, finding that his legs led him to the docks at the back of the castle.

Despite the sounds of men toiling, wood creaking, and ropes snapping, there was a sort of peace that hung in the air. 'Or it's the mist,' Young Link thought. He decided that watching from afar would only get him yelled at if he was caught, which was a much better option when compared to being personally removed from the area. 'I would have never suspected that this operated in an actual cave. Much less, it's not as if the castle receives shipments in large boats to require a docking station.' This was true. In fact the area only became more cultivated as you came further into docks. The ceiling dripped occasionally from the buildup of moisture that rose into the air. Toward the opening that led to the castle moat, large, pointed rocks jut out from the water.

As he sat on the edge of a half-wall, he eyed the pool. The streams that flowed from the castle were decently clear. You could drink from it if you pleased. However, the moat that surrounded the castle was murky to say the least. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd bet there's some sort of monster in there. Makes me wonder how deep it is.' Before he could think any more on it, he spied several zoras swimming in with cargo packed on fishing boats. The crew gave them room to fly out of the water.

"Here are those supplies!" A purple one said with a toothy smile, "Let's see, that one there is wood, the other is fish…oh, and those two are the gunpowder and iron for the cannonball shells. Straight from Death Mountain!"

The one who oversaw the area shook hands with them, "I've probably said this hundreds of times by now, but the castle truly appreciates the work you all do with bringing this in."

"It's certainly no problem for us! We'll help get it onto the docks."

He nodded, "Let me get your payment."

The young hero hopped off the wall and crouched into the corner as the overseer came up the stairs. He smirked when he remained undetected, 'Gosh, this reminds me of all the other times I've ever hid from something, especially people. I've still never managed to feel all that sneaky. Though, I'll have to watch for when he comes back.' He turned back to the working crew once he was out of sight.

A stronger looking zora heaved a barrel of gunpowder onto the dark planks, "Phew! You guys are really trying to prepare for this Calamity, huh?"

"Yeah, King's orders and everything," a worker with a green bandana responded. He had his arms out for the next barrel, "Personally, I wonder if it's even true. The prophecy, I mean." A few heads nodded.

"Interesting," the purple one from before had a hand up to his chin, "What makes you think that?"

He shrugged, "Meh, I dunno. I guess it's mainly because the princess has been praying for that power since she was little. As far as I know, it still hasn't done anything for her."

Young Link could feel his eye start to twitch even if this is the most respectful he'd heard anyone be in terms of the princess's unawaken power. Still, 'If only they understood that it's completely out of her control! Honestly, you'd think they'd have some sympathy for how she feels about trying for so long!'

"Who knows, if it's been this long and nothing is working, maybe there's no Calamity." The worker chuckled, "That doesn't mean I don't have any faith in Her Highness, though. Only that maybe that so-called fortune teller conned the King."

A short bout of laughter followed.

"I wonder if it would help if she talked to Princess Mipha," another zora commented. "I'm sure that healing magic and prophesized goddess magic are pretty different, but it's still magic. I bet she could give her a few tips."

'Hm, that's actually not a bad idea. Maybe I coul—'

"What are you doing here?" Came the overseer's voice. He didn't seem particularly happy to see him.

'Dammit! How did I miss hearing him come back in?!' "Oh, just watching. I didn't know the zora helped bring in shipments. That's kinda coo—" Without thinking, his body acted on its own as he dodged away from getting his shoulder grabbed.

"What the!? Get back here this instant!" The bag of rupees jingled as he ran after him.

He could see the crew down below starting to smile. "What's the point in chasing me?" Young Link called as he ran around the giant torch. His ears picked up the sound of him switching directions, causing him to jump up onto the lip of the torch that came before the metal bars. The heat from the fire behind him was apparent as it warmed his back, "You don't have to escort me, I can leave on my own!" he laughed as he put a hand on his hip.

"Get down from there! This isn't some kind of playground! Only official personnel are permitted at the docks!" He huffed. Their heads turned to the chattering that came from zoras and workers.

"Haha, look. His face is all pink now!" The strong zora chuckled.

"He didn't lose one the rupees he owes you from all that running, right?" Came a worker who nudged another one.

The one with the bandana waved, "Hey boss, just let the kid go! Ha! He's not causing any more trouble than you are!"

The overseer's cheeks burned as his gaze fiercely reconnected with the young hero's. He scoffed, " Leave this instant! Don't let me catch you down here again!"

A stupid grin spread across his face as he hopped down, "Yes, sir." He continued back the way he came, deciding that whatever the punishment was likely wasn't worth going down there again.

Over the couple of days that came before he and Zelda departed for the Tabantha region, Young Link started to wonder what the Head of Command put Link up to. He wasn't worried, it just felt…strange. However, it was a curious unfamiliarity, not an unwelcome one.

Equipped with all his usual gear, the feeling came over him again as he looked to the sky from on top of Grace. He soothed his mount once he realized that she was looking back at him, "Shh, it's okay. I'm just thinking." As he finished his sentence, the two other guards they'd been waiting on came trotting into view.

"Sorry about that, Your Highness!" A tanned one with black hair called.

"They were briefing those of us that were around about a new policy!" The other had slightly fairer skin with green eyes.

He looked back at Zelda with a raised eyebrow, "New policy?"

"Regarding what?" She asked as they slowed to a halt. Her expression was serious, though her eyes conveyed how it annoyed her that she didn't already know.

"It's about the Yiga, Your Highness. It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction," The tan knight continued, "We were told that 'within the presence of royalty or whilst protecting civilians alike, it's lawful and within our duty to do what we must to drive the Yiga Clan members away without disfiguring them.'"

Young Link made a face, 'That's the same damn thing as before but said with a bunch of fancy words!'

The blonde held up his hand at seeing him, "But wait, there's more."

The other nodded, "Yeah, the commander went on to explain that the whole 'disfiguring' thing means that we just can't outright kill them or do stuff like chop their limbs off, but we can mortally wound them."

"Isn't that great news, Princess?"

She and Young Link looked between each other, though perhaps for different reasons. From what he could gather, Zelda looked worried at what this may hold for them in the future. Whereas, for him, 'That's still like the same thing as before. I get the difference, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be more effective!' He rolled his eyes and turned toward the gates, "It's a start, I suppose, but we should get going."

Zelda agreed, "Yes, I think it will be most efficient if we get there before dark. Hopefully we shouldn't have to stop more than once."

With that, they set off into town and then toward the Breach of Demise. Young Link rode next to the princess while one knight stayed behind and the other was slightly ahead. When they approached the scablands, they galloped right into a violent thunderstorm with high winds that seemed to change directions with each passing second.

"Dear Hylia!" The blonde exclaimed as lightning struck several hundred feet away from them, "Our armor is metal! We need to get under something quick!"

"The stable is just ahead!" the Princess yelled over the wind, "We can stop there!"

The young hero had been in plenty of thunderstorms before, mainly because he was the one who caused them with his ocarina. 'I can understand the worry considering they are covered head to toe in metal, but the chances of getting struck with all those tall mushroom-things around is pretty low.' As another bolt of lightning hit the ground, a nostalgic smile appeared. He turned to her, "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

Zelda was bewildered as she took in his expression.

Without waiting for an answer, he quickly sat backwards in the saddle, pulled out his bow, and fired an arrow high into the sky. Holding his hand up to keep the flickering dark clouds out of view, he watched with giddy joy as the arrow was struck with a powerful bolt of lightning. "Ooooh, twelve sparks flew off it this time. These arrows must be tipped a bit differently." He'd never seen it reach past eight or nine sparks in his world.

The dark-haired knight's eyes were wide, "What the hell, kid!?"

"You think that's cool!?" The other said in disbelief.

Before he could answer, they'd reached the stables and ran inside. Young Link, of course, calmly walked in. He had a hard time trying not to smirk after watching them scramble off their horses. Sure, he was just as soaking wet as the rest of them, but he wasn't nearly as bothered by it. He wrung out his skirt before joining the princess at a small round table.

She was a little breathless from the brief jog, "So why did you do that with the arrow?"

His cheeks felt rosy as he began to explain because he did have a real reason for doing that. "Aha, well, I realized as we were riding that the lightning would come every three minutes. Back when I was on my own, I used to shoot arrows into storms when I was bored. I'm wasting arrows, yeah, but it was interesting to see how many sparks it would explode into. Anyways, I was keeping the time, and right as I could tell another was going to strike, I figured that I'd at least make sure it wasn't going to be one of us that got hit." His smile grew bigger, "Besides, that was a big one too! It probably would have kicked up the earth if it hit the ground!"

Needless to say, they were all stunned.

"H-how could you keep track of the time?" The blonde one asked, "Especially with all the craziness of the wind and everything!"

"I get being able to tell by the hour, but minutes?"

Young Link took off his cap and wrung it out as well, "You don't feel the seconds tick by?" He held up a finger, 'Wait hold on, rephrase that.' "Sorry, I mean to say that it's just a feeling, basically."

"Geez kid. Well, that's really impressive." The guards then went and sat elsewhere.

He was surprised to see that Zelda was looking into his eyes when he faced her. It made his hand tingle, "Is something wrong?"

She seemed to come to her senses, her head lifting immediately, "No, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment. While you did waste an arrow, that was a pretty clever move," she complimented.

"Thanks." He took more of her figure in, namely her hair, which unfortunately had become a bit of a mess from all the wind. "Um, would you like me to get your brush from your saddle bag? I don't mind getting wet again."

"M-my brush? What are you—what do you mean?" She pulled her hair in front of her shoulder, sighing as she then peeled off a lock that had stuck to her cheek, "…Yes, thank you."

"Don't worry, I figured I'd save you the trouble for later, and the surprise." Her expression was wearily grateful as he stepped back into the pouring rain. He pat her white stallion's shoulder before jumping to get his foot into the stirrups and sitting up into the saddle. 'This is a bit of an awkward angle to be going through saddle bags, but it beats dragging over one of those stools.' Soon enough he found her ornate brush and brought it back inside. "It's quite pretty despite what it's used for," he said as he sat it on the table next to her.

She smiled, "Yes, it was my mother's. See this here?" Zelda turned it over and pointed to a carving of the triforce on the back. It was surrounded by tiny swirls that were etched in as well. "She was the one who did that."

"I like that the Triforce of Wisdom was colored in gold," He ran his finger over it, "I can appreciate details like that."

"That's interesting," the princess started to brush the first section she'd separated, "I wouldn't have expected you to know which was which."

"To me, I suppose it was hard to forget since it seems like they're placed a certain way on purpose. The Triforce of Wisdom sits next to Courage since they usually work together in some way to take out Power."

"You have a point, though I don't recall the fortune teller mentioning anything about the Triforce of Power."

His brow lifted, "Really? Well, based off that book of legends, the Ganon of those worlds always had the Triforce of Power. If anything, I feel like it wouldn't kill the Gods to just give the triforce pieces to regular, good people for once. Y'know, have just one time where no one has to seal anyone away or fight to the death and whatever."

Zelda slowly nodded, "I agree. My life would be far less stressful if I didn't have this power to worry about unlocking."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. Mipha can do healing magic, right?"

Her eyes curiously looked to his, "Yes?"

"Maybe you could ask her how she does it! Well, I mean, not so you can do healing magic yourself, but maybe to help you figure out how to call it or unlock it. It just crossed my mind the other day."

The princess considered what he'd said, "If I ever go back to Zora's Domain. I'll definitely be sure to ask her. Thank you for the suggestion, young one."

Bringing up magic made Young Link remember that he wanted to see if he could still do any of his spells. 'Since we're going to a snowy place, it should be really easy to see if Din's Fire works.' He paused, 'Though, I'll have to find a way to get by myself. Hm…'

The group waited out the rest of the storm before continuing across the bridge and maneuvering through the two large rock pillars that came shortly after it. The young hero spied another 'shrine' on top of a nearby cliff, "Hey Princess, what are those buildings? I keep seeing them from time to time. Do they do anything?"

"Those are shrines, young one," A small smile rested on her face, "Also, I'm not sure yet, though I plan to see if I can get the Sheikah Slate to do anything soon."

"Interesting." 'So they definitely have something to do with her or Link. But at the same time…' He noticed that the tablet at the princess's waist always faintly glowed orange, the eye in center glowing blue. After glancing back at the shrine, he cocked his head, 'I'm probably wrong, but if the tablet looking like that means that it's on, then wouldn't some of the stuff on the shrines look the same way? I guess they look like they're "turned off" to me.' His puzzle-solving brain imagined a large switch somewhere that needed a specific item in order to activate it.

Bringing the travel time to nearly eight and a half hours of riding, Young Link found it hard to focus on anything but his surroundings. He was aware that he looked weary, but really that came from depending on his ears the entire time. That, and his stomach growled at him to eat. He didn't even shiver as he changed into his snow tunic at the stables before entering the town.

"Are you alright kid?" The dark-haired knight asked as they crossed to another island.

"Hm? Yeah, just a little tired and hungry," He replied.

Zelda nodded with a small yawn, "I can second that." She started up the stairs, "I'm sure there'll be something prepared soon. For now, we'll get our things situated, eat, and then see if Revali has changed his mind." Her green eyes looked troubled as she finished her sentence.

The thought of the blue warrior calling them here only to reject his position again irritated Young Link. 'Seeing Zelda cry like that…' he sighed, 'It makes me think of my Zelda, and whoever made her cry would know no mercy until the end of time…probably. I wonder how she's doing.'

A few of the Rito women made a plethora of baked birds for the village to share. When it was presented to them, the princess and the guards stared at the cooked fowl and poultry. The young hero didn't care for the ethical concerns that raised and chose to dig in rather than think about it. 'Even then,' he reasoned, thinking of owls and hawks, 'birds eat other birds all the time.' His stomach was just happy to be decently full.

Not long after that, the four of them trekked through the snow to where the soon-to-be Rito champion trained. It was a small, open hut that had a wooden platform that extended out over a huge wind tunnel that spewed constant, strong gusts of wind toward the sky. It looked like he'd just finished a practice of some sort when they arrived.

"Revali," Zelda addressed him, "You asked to see—"

"One second," he interrupted, his tone was brisk. The Rito warrior took a breath. Suddenly, a strong updraft of wind swirled beneath him, allowing him to instantly take flight and soar into the air. It was clear that he was proud himself as he began shooting bomb arrows at all the targets that made up his course.

'That's very impressive, even with him being a show-off and everything.' While Young Link still wasn't a fan of Revali's personality, he'll always recognize hard work where it's been put in. 'Besides, I can't lie, he has some remarkable skills if he can do all those crazy moves and still hit his targets.'

The Rito appeared to float as he descended back to the platform of his training course, "Princess Zelda." He looked her in the eye.

"Yes?" Her face was hopeful.

"I accept your proposal to be the champion of the Rito!" His voice was full of vigor and gusto. He hopped down and strolled over to them, referencing the divine beast, Vah Medoh, that now perched on the ledge that sat above the town, "As you can see, I bothered to park the Sheikah's little toy up there for you. So I think I'm fine as far as piloting it goes. I think it goes without saying that I look forward to putting this Calamity Ganon in his place," he chuckled.

Her hands came together in joy at hearing this, "We'll be glad to have you Revali!" Zelda's eyes looked to the young hero's, "Now we just need the one who'll wield the Master Sword and I'll have no doubt that we can defeat this Calamity!"

Young Link bobbed his head up and down, his heart rate increasing at the thought of seeing his old sword again, "That's right! With the help of the champions, the divine beasts, the sword, and your powers, Hyrule should be safe for hundreds of years to come!" 'Ahh,' his heart was happy to see the princess smile, 'I wish things went this smooth…or well, it could have been smoother on Revali's part, but still! I wish things went this smooth all the time!'

"Ah, so you brought the toddler along too."

'Oh right. I hate him. Nearly forgot.'

"Did you like what you saw?"

His mouth opened to answer, but the snooty bird continued to talk.

"Ah, I doubt I even need to ask. Of course , it's impressive. Thank you."

The young hero's hand twitched, "N-no problem…" He took a breath to calm himself, "Could I maybe try out the course? Though it's probably not made for Hylians." He was definitely trying his luck, as it was obvious that he didn't have some sort of device that'd help him fly or catch wind.

Revali cocked his head, "Hmm, I don't think I've ever thought of that before." He laughed, "Well, I suppose we can see if this baby bird has any courage in him. Grab on."

Before being told to, he ran and grabbed onto the Rito's feet as he started to fly up. This was second nature to him given that he used to get rides from the owl of his world in order to get to other areas faster. Young Link could tell he surprised him by the way his talons tensed, 'Expecting some apprehensiveness? You practically dared me by even mentioning the word "courage" in the same sentence as "baby."'

The champion flew him over to the platform, ignoring the looks the others gave him. "Alright," he said as he came down. He nodded toward the course, "Think you've still got the guts to jump off?"

Young Link walked right up to the edge, enough to where the toe of his boots nearly hung off. Getting a better look, there was a single pillar that stood in the middle that was covered in targets. At the bottom was a pool of water, but it couldn't be deep enough to save a fall from that height. The outer walls were covered in targets as well.

He looked him in the eye, "I think I could get most of the targets, but not all of them." The young hero felt the familiar sensation of the thrill he got from a challenge, especially if it was something he'd never done before.

"Ha ha ha! Well then!" Revali cackled, "If you manage to break more than seven, I'll—"

The Hero of Time had already slipped off his sword and shield and had taken his position at the entrance to the hut as the Rito spouted off. With his bow in hand and quiver securely strapped on, he sprinted with a courageous glint in his eye and leaped off the edge.

"I'll give you b—wait WHAT!?"

The wind clogged his ears as he aimed his bow and immediately took out three targets. He even laughed as he flipped upside down and broke through four more. 'This is fun!' Young Link found that there was one more target within his range before he needed to come back up. After some fine maneuvering, he took that one out and assumed an X-position with his body. 'Great! I was guessing my theory was correct!'

He was reminded of when he was making a free fall toward the lake around the city the last time he was there. He'd already known that making an X would slow his descent, but now that the air actually blew upwards, it would allow for the most coverage to help make him rise. It was hard to keep steady since some of the wind was slightly inconsistent, but within a few moments he'd risen nearly to that of the platform! Young Link wanted to cheekily grin at the shock on Revali's face, but he knew that opening his mouth to any degree would fill his cheeks full of air and ruin the cool flair he had going for him at the moment.

The young hero held up two fingers with his left hand before diving back down, hoping that it would come across that he was going to break two more targets before needing assistance to get out. As he took his aim, he felt the air around him slow down alongside time itself. It was as though he shot both arrows instantaneously. Just to be sure he was getting it across, he released one last arrow straight into the sky. In no time at all, he felt his boot get grabbed before he was slung upward. 'Wow, who knew I'd think of Morpha at a time such as this? Then again, I was no stranger to getting flung around by it.'

Still, his grin beamed as Revali then grabbed his left hand and dropped him back onto the platform. "I'm pretty sure I counted ten. How was that for a first timer?" He asked, strapping on his sword and shield. Young Link was both surprised yet unsurprised to see that the snooty bird was irritated to some degree. "Also, what were you saying before I jumped off?"

He scoffed, "I suppose you don't get to know then, huh. That was some nerve you had to jump off like that. I could have been saying something important!" The champion tapped his foot as an eye roll made itself known, "Otherwise, I guess , that was impressive. Especially considering you've never done this before, or so it would seem." The sigh that followed was exasperated, "Playtime's over. Let's go."

Zelda seemed to instinctively hold him close when he joined back with them. She didn't say anything, but it was obvious she was checking for some sort of injury. Her worried looks disappeared when they were close to the village entrance.

'Ha. She reminds me of Link when it comes to that, only she's less in my face about it!' They mainly stayed together as a group until the evening started to set in. He'd been watching the sun go down when the princess came up behind him, "What's up?" He asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm just going to attempt to recall this power at the goddess statue. It's certainly not what I'm used to doing, and I'm not wearing the proper garb, but if today was the day it decided to pop out and I did nothing to help it…" She sighed, "Well, I don't know what I'd do with myself."

"Can I join you? It's okay if I can't, I understand." 'It is pretty personal after all.' His inquiry was met with a small smile.

"Sure, I think the company will be nice." Zelda led him down the stairs to where the statue resided. She sat with her hands folded in her lap and closed her eyes.

Young Link very quickly decided to simply sit behind her in the grass. Ever since he encountered that demon in Hateno Village, he could admit that the statues made him a little wary. 'If you think about it, if that statue has something with a consciousness in it, but looks like a regular statue to other people, what's to say that these goddess statues aren't the same way?" He shrugged, 'Well, at least it wouldn't be bad."

Half an hour later, he felt a little bad for her as he listened to her quiet yet earnest prayer. When her muttering died down, he shifted around to look back at her to see if she was okay. 'Hm, she's probably just taking a breather. I know I'd need one after talking for so long,' He thought, mid-turn.

His gaze landed on the back of her head, 'Yeah, I figured I was—wait huh?'. Young Link realized he was looking at the goddess statue. Blinking, he averted back to the princess. The peach fuzz on his arms stood as the cool air grew oddly stagnant. Then, as if against his will, he found his eyes rising and meeting the statue's again. 'The hell?!' He tried to look away, but his vision kept focusing in on the statue no matter where he attempted to flit his gaze to.

Young Link tried to think of why this was happening, but it was cut short as a quiet groan slipped past his lips. His head felt like it was put between an anvil and a hammer. Through the haze that appeared to take over his body and the pounding of his skull, he could faintly tell that there was a voice. Even then, it was louder than he could withstand and caused the mark on the back of his hand to sear as much as it did when he interacted with the horned statue. There was no doubt that the triforce was glowing bright enough for it to be noticeable through his thick gloves.

Paralysis was technically not a new feeling. However, he was lucky that his left hand had remained behind him as he froze with only his shoulders facing the princess. It was impossible to tell if Zelda had moved or was looking at him due to his intense fixation on the goddess statue's dull, stone eyes. His overloaded senses sent his adrenaline through the roof. Through his quick panting he managed to utter out one word: "E…E-Evil?"

The world slowed to a halt at his question. The wind that softly rustled the grass disappeared along with the chill in the air. The cool darners that hovered in groups remained mid-flap. The birds did too. Everything had become just as immobilized as him.

…

No.

With that, everything resumed as before. Young Link suddenly felt released from whatever trance that held him, using his arms to keep him upright as his head fell to face the ground. The response he received made him nauseous. It echoed and bounced off the walls of his skull like a bell. 'What…what the hell was that?' It annoyed him that it felt oddly familiar, 'In whatever messed up way that's possible…' Once the ringing in his ears began to fade, he could start to make out Zelda's frantic voice more clearly.

"Link! Link, can you hear me!?" She was on her hands and knees in front of him with tears beginning to gather in her eyes.

His head felt numb, but luckily the burning sensation in his hand was already ebbing away. "Y-Yes…" The young hero looked up at her, finding it hard to hide that he was confused that it was hard to form words for some reason, "Sorry about interrupting —interrupting your prayer Hyl —ugh! No." He facepalmed, "Zelda. Sorry for interrupting your prayer."

Now he puffed a hefty sigh. He was annoyed with himself, "I have no idea what just happened, but I'm clearly keeping you from your training." Young Link tried to stand, but the princess's hands on his shoulders held him there. Before he could speak, he was pulled into a hug.

Zelda softly sobbed, her cheek pressed against his forehead, "I'm s-sorry. It's just—that really scared me." She sniffed, starting to stammer, "I-I thought…I thought...Oh, I don't know what I thought!" The princess cried more as he squeezed him tighter.

The Hero of Time didn't know what to do besides hug her back, though, not to the same degree he was receiving it. His bangs managed to catch most of her hot tears, but a few made their way down to his nose and even his cheek. The first idea that came to mind was humming her lullaby, but he could see her crying more at that, and hell maybe even he would start to cry if that happened. 'Ah geez, I wish I was a bit better at being able to deal with things like this. I'm terrible when it comes to tears…'

A few minutes passed before he gently pulled away from her. He wiped the tears that streamed down her cheeks, and very gingerly kissed the top of her gloved hand. His eyes sincerely met hers, "I'm sorry for whatever that was and…I'm feeling a bit better now." Young Link was bashful as he explained, "This happened in Link's village too. I don't understand why these statues make me feel and do weird things!" He took both of her hands and helped her to her feet, "Maybe this is just my body's ridiculously strange way of telling me it's time to go to bed."

Zelda's smile was meek, but a smile nevertheless. She dabbed away another tear, "Yes, I suppose I can say the same for myself. I'm just glad you seem to be alright. You practically looked possessed."

"When you put it like that, I'd probably be kinda scared too if that came out of nowhere." Internally he nodded, 'Yep, that seems like a fitting description to me! Geez!' He turned his head to the stairs, "I suppose we should let the other two know that we're hitting the hay." As they climbed up the steps, he saw how dark it had gotten. The lamps on the railings had grown dim, but they could still see where they're going.

Young Link was getting ready to mention how interesting he thought the Rito looked when he bumped into a feathery body and was met with a loud, frightened squawk. He uncovered his ears and looked up at who it was.

It was one of the Rito women from earlier. Her voice conveyed how frazzled she felt, "My! I'm so sorry about that!"

He shook his head, "No that's my bad, I should have seen you coming."

She chuckled, "Ah well, I suppose a point to remember is that us Rito actually can't see very well at night. That's why all of our baby chicks come flocking home at sundown. Hardly twenty minutes after, you're more likely to run into a tree in the air than walking blindfolded on the ground!"

"I'll definitely make a note of that."

They found the two knights hanging together at a platform. Young Link's eyes widened when he realized where they were, 'Is…is that?' He didn't want to believe it, 'Please don't tell me that ledge gave them the perfect view of everything that just happened down there…' He internally groaned, 'Gods, now I wish I didn't kiss her hand. I was trying to be courteous, dammit!'

"Good evening," Zelda greeted.

They bowed their heads.

"I just wanted to let the two of you know that I'm retiring for the night. The young one will be staying with me, so you don't have to worry about him."

Young Link's jaw fell off the railing and was nearly snatched away by a falcon, "HUH!?" He could feel the knights' eyes glaring holes through his back as his cheeks turned bright red, "P-Princess! That's not—you don't need to—you see, I'm—"

She took his hand, "Come. It's okay, we'll see them in the morning."

It would be inaccurate to say that she dragged him up the stairs, for his legs worked better than perfectly fine. He tried to coax his fluttering heart back to a stable rhythm, 'You know what? This is fine , because there will be two beds , and before I know it, the sun will rise, and I'll hope those knights never speak of this to anyone. Simple, but completely probable an—'

He cocked his head with a finger lamely pointed ahead, "Th-there's one bed?" How his voice managed to only sound confused with zero panic was a mystery not even he could solve.

Zelda drew the curtain and covered the doorway, turning with an accomplished smile and a hand on her hip, "The elder was kind enough to offer us the softest bed they have!"

He didn't know how to feel about the mischievous look in her eye.

She faked an evil laugh, "Mua ha ha! And it's ours !" She took off her gloves and pressed down on the mattress, squealing with joy, "Come feel how soft it is! Isn't it amazing?"

"Whoaa!" Young Link's eyes sparkled in the dim lighting after momentarily sitting on it. He gasped, "You're right!" However, this only briefly distracted him, because after hearing an article of clothing hit the floor, what it was didn't matter, he promptly faced the other direction and turned redder than a tomato.

'For this night, and any other times like this, I am eleven! Not eighteen! I mean,' He internally shrugged, 'Eleven-year-olds honestly probably notice girls at this point BUT NOT ME.' He slid off his gear and stripped down to just his undershirt and pants. Hearing Zelda giggle behind him almost made him jump.

"And here I thought you'd be tucked in already," she jokingly teased.

He agreed as he sat down on his side of the bed, "Me too, but it turns out those

arm bracers take forever to untie!" The young hero refused to look at her, no matter what she was wearing.

"I know what you mean. See this piece here?"

'Dammit!' He craned his head in her direction, fixating his eyes on the garment she was holding.

It was the shirt that matched her coat. She pointed to the mid-section, "These buttons? They're beautiful, don't get me wrong, but they're an absolute pain to take on and take off."

"Gee, I bet," he slumped at the thought of having more trouble trying to get dressed than anything else. "Makes me glad I told the seamstress to make this tunic simple." Meanwhile he mentally sighed in relief that she essentially did the same as he did as far as undressing goes.

Zelda wore the pants to her outfit and an undershirt that had short sleeves. She yawned as she laid the shirt she'd shown him with the rest of her clothes, "I sometimes wish I had that choice." The princess waved the comment away, "Anyways, goodnight, young one. I'll see you in the morning."

He faced away from her, "Goodnight, princess." The young hero welcomed the exhaustion from the long ride and using the flight range like an old friend. Perhaps it was easier due to such a soft mattress and a warm blanket.

'…what?'

It took far more effort than he cared to admit to get his eyes to crack open, 'What's messing with my head?' He came to realize that something light rested on top of it, and something sturdier, or at least heavier, was pressed up behind it. Young Link was getting ready to sit up when the lighter weight brushed backward, creating an all too familiar feeling. His eyes fluttered open, 'N-no way!'

That's when he also felt that his right hand gently held a forearm that fell across his side. 'She's a cuddler too!? What are the chances!? AAAHHHH!' He got ahold of himself, ' It's fine. This is fine. Just do the whole cutesy wake-up thing, and politely get the hell away from her. I can't believe she's like Link dammit!'

Acting like he was starting to come to his senses, he turned over. His eyes sleepily met with the Princess's, 'She's been awake this whole time!?'

"Aw, you're so cute when you first wake up!" She cooed, ruffling his hair with a gleeful smile.

"Hm?" He couldn't stop the light flush that spread from cheek to cheek.

The petting that woke him continued, "Did you know that you have this little cowlick, young one?" Zelda pulled him close, giggling, "It just refuses to stay down! I think I heard somewhere that they're lucky."

The Hero of Time's soul left his body, 'W-why is my life like this..?' Still, he played along. The corners of his mouth raised as he briefly yawned, "Funny, Link said the same thing about it sticking up."

That caught her attention, "He did?" Her expression was curious as she looked off in another direction, "I suppose it's hard to imagine him noticing such a thing."

Each time the incarnate knight pet or messed with his hair flashed in his mind. 'Aaand this is the part where suddenly I should eat something or whatever.' He scooted out of her grasp, shivering from losing the shared body heat, "Man, it's cold! I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get dressed and eat."

She nodded, "You're right, I bet they'll have something prepared soon."

He already slipped his tunic on and was pulling the end of his belt strap through the metal buckle. A finger came up to his chin, "Hm, do you think they eat eggs too?"

Zelda wore a contempt smile that was followed by a slightly uncomfortable laugh, "I…I guess we shall see."

Young Link left the princess to get dressed. It wasn't long until he ran into the two guards that came, "Mornin'," he greeted.

They looked between each other. The blonde smirked, " So . I assume you slept pretty well last night, eh?"

He nodded, beaming with blissful content, "Absolutely! That was the softest bed I think I've ever slept on!" His hands rose to his cheeks, "Ahh, and the pillows too!"

The knights viscerally flinched, their eyes narrowing at his response. The tan one started to blush, though he still managed to look concerned, "Eh!? R-really?"

"Well yeah, I figured you guys would know that already."

"Hey shut it!" The other's green eyes nervously shifted away as he crossed his arms, "You can't blame our curiosity!"

Young Link had already caught onto their…well interesting use of metaphors. 'Dear Goddesses, you guys are lonely. Gross. Besides, this is Her Highness you're talking about! Have some damn respect!' He put a hand on his hip, 'However, it is a little fun to watch them squirm. Heh, feigning innocence is a wonderful tool…' "I suppose. What's there to be curious about?" He started to count off on his fingers, "The covers were nice, it was super warm…oh and I didn't expect there to be a curtain either. Very interesting!"

Their eyes widened as their faces turned bright red. They were flustered beyond what was possible to describe in words, only ushering themselves down the steps and nearly jumping out of their armor when Zelda emerged from her room.

"GOOD MORNING, YOUR HIGHNESS," the tan one quickly bent over in half to bow.

The other did the same, "I'M HAPPY TO SEE YOU SLEPT WELL."

She blinked at them in confusion, "Y-yes, good morning to you as well."

They stiffly rose and continued past her.

A pale-colored Rito warrior had overheard their conversation. He strolled up with a smile, "I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the bed! It's certainly a piece of art in terms of craftsmanship, no?"

"For sure! I bet it costs way more than sleeping in the regular beds!" The young hero was happy that those guards left. Even his own words were starting to make his skin crawl, 'Gods, that was gross…I'm almost disappointed in myself.'

"You betcha! Not sure what was up with those other two, though."

"Oh them? Me neither," He shrugged. Soon, Zelda joined him, and they ate together upstairs. His eyes flicked over to her after watching the fire that danced in front of them, "Say, would you mind if I left the village for a second? I promise I won't go far, I just wanted to have a look around before we go. Y'know, for memory's sake since I likely won't come back here."

She took in his suggestion, "I suppose it's not often that you get to go off by yourself, is it?"

Young Link sighed, "No, I don't. It can feel annoying considering I used to be alone all the time back when I was in the woods."

"Hmm," the princess looked his way, "I can't see the harm in it. Besides, it's easy to see what's going on from the village, so if you run into any trouble, it wouldn't be long before help arrives." She smiled, "You're free to go, but just for a little while. We'll leave a few hours from now."

"Yes! Thank you, princess!" He gave her a brief hug before running down the spiral staircase. The young hero nearly ran past the goddess statue before skidding to a halt in the grass. Frowning, he turned back and stood in front of it, "Good morning."

Nothing.

He sighed, 'At least it's not making me act weird.' "Why did you make me do all that last night?"

Nothing. Though, it seemed to listen…kind of.

Growing annoyed, he reached out and placed his left hand on top of its head, "Please, I doubt an explanation is too much to ask for. At least make it clear that I was hallucinating or something." He felt a gentle weight inhabit his shoulder as a ray of light shined on the statue. The hushed voice that followed was kind and calm, but at the same time it's pitched intermittently warped.

Shhh…Hero.

Lower your voice…

'This is awfully vague. At least I'm not crazy.' "Might I ask why, Dearest Hylia? I presume."

Shhhh…

It's sleeping.

He nodded and stepped back without another word, the weight disappearing along with the light. 'That's concerning…what could she be talking about? Certainly not herself, right?' He shook his head as other far worse ideas came to mind. 'You know what? I should be spending this time trying to find a place where I can see if I can still cast spells, not worrying about a cryptic message from the Goddess.' He continued out of the village to the land that surrounded it.

It began to lightly snow as the young hero found a patch of vegetation that was covered in frost. He crouched down to inspect it, poking the blue grains that stuck off the plant. "I think this is called safflina? I'm probably wrong," he muttered, taking his hand away and removing his gloves. "This should work fine. It's not as if anyone pays attention to plants anyways." After shoving the pair of mitts between his belt and tunic, he held his index finger beneath one of the leaves.

'Now what did it feel like again to do this?'

Unlike Nayru's Love and Farore's Wind, Din's Fire could be cast at varying levels of intensity. It could be a small flame that harnessed the tip of his finger, a magnificent blast of raging fire, and about everything else that fell in between. In his own world, when it came to using the spell at a practical, low-energy level, he could simply think it and, in an instant, the desired flame would appear. However, that was when he used it nearly all the time . Even then, to use it at its fullest potential required a significant amount of focus and energy.

'I hope no one flies over and asks if I'm braindead for staring at a plant this long.' Young Link was well aware of what he looked like, 'But maybe that's for the best. If they think I'm doing something boring, they'll probably leave me alone.' He set his sights back on his hand and closed his eyes. 'Fire…not more than enough to fill my hand.'

Deep within himself, it felt as though he was trying to recall an old memory. A tinge of something that sat at the edge of his mind. He could imagine himself drifting toward it, 'A-almost…there…' His fingers could hardly touch it, 'C'mooon! It's right there!' In the next moment, a feeling of clarity ran over him. The young hero tried to command the fire to appear, but to his disappointment, it didn't come.

He rubbed his chin, "I know this is possible, it must be. Maybe there's some kind of trick or action I need to do t—" His eyes brightened as an idea came to him. He snapped his fingers.

Nope.

Waved his hand toward it.

Yeah no.

Tried to will the essence from the plant to shift into flammab—

"Oh what the hell am I doing?"

Young Link slumped, his knees were starting to ache from the cold and continuous use. " Ugh , it seemed so simple back in my world! All I had to do was just feel it!" His eyes settled back on the plant, the steam—'Wait steam!? THERE'S STEAM!?' Immediately, he saw his hand was softly aflame.

A grin slowly spread across his face. He felt giddy with joy to see the accomplishment. Now his eyes sparkled as he slowly brought it toward the plant. Much to his surprise, once the flame licked it, it quickly shriveled and disintegrated into flaky crisps that littered the snow. He shook his hand to put out the flame as he stood, "W-well then, poor plant. My bad."

Drip. Drip.

His ears picked up a strange dripping sound. It reminded him of what it sounds like when a water droplet falls from a faucet into a pool of water. He scanned the area, "Weird…what the hell was that?" The snow-covered plains made it hard to differentiate any changes to the environment; it all looked the same. "There it is again!"

Drip. Drip. Drip.

This time he noticed a pattern that sparkled in the air. 'Huh, again, this is very water-like. It's the rings of circles that come from said droplet hitting the water, only it's in thin air? Interesting.'

Suddenly a tall, slender enemy appeared out of nowhere. It was very slightly reminiscent of a poe, mainly because of the black face and soulless beady eyes. Otherwise, it wore a robe that rose into a high point above its head and had sleeves that draped off its thin arms. Not to mention gloved, long, skinny fingers, a set of which were enclosed around a rod that looked like ice.

"Hee hehehehee!"

Before he knew it, a gust of freezing air blew through him. He felt his entire body stiffen up and become unbearably cold. 'Shit! At least it's not getting frozen into an entire ice block!' He learned a long time ago that the quickest way to get out of being frozen was to push outward where his elbows were and try to bend his knees as much as possible. More often than not, the points that the bent joints created were very weak and susceptible to even light pressure. Within a few seconds he shook his head as the ice pieces fell off around him.

'Man, I can only imagine how different this would have been had I noticed it earlier and had my mirror shield! Maybe I could have frozen it with its own magic!' To his great disdain, he picked up on the sound of beating wings getting closer and closer, even as his ears stung from the ice. His eyebrows fiercely furrowed, 'Ugh, I'm perfectly fine!' He side-rolled away from the next ice attack and yanked out his bow. 'Now that I know I've still got a couple of my spells, this should be a pretty easy fight. Fire beats ice, after all. Thanks, Twinrova.'

The magic used to create elemental arrows was slightly different than being able to call forth a flame. This was the ability to imbue an arrow with the element of his choosing, whether that be fire or ice. Light arrows are probably a different story.

Young Link watched his fingertips begin to fiercely glow as if a flame brightly burned between his fingers. The feathers had begun to turn black as the red magic trickled up the arrow shaft. In the next moment, the tip sent a few sparks out as it burst into a steady flame. He sent it flying into the monster, and much to his amazement, it completely dissolved into a flurry of frozen mist and droplets as soon as the ignited tip lodged deep into its skin.

"Whaaat?" Came the sound of Revali's shocked voice from in the air. He landed next to him, "The wizzrobe just disappeared!"

Young Link walked forward and took hold of the ice rod it left behind. In the process of this, he realized he left snowless footprints where he had cast the fire-related spells. "No, it died alright. Not too bad of a shot, huh?" He noticed the warrior had hopped back.

"Hey! Watch where you point that thing!"

'What the? I have it at my side!' He gestured toward him, "Calm down, I don't even know how this thing works."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about!"

He ignored the champion's protests, a brief realization coming to mind, 'Hm, I could probably destroy it if I wanted to.' Upon further inspection, he came to understand that all but the metal handle was made entirely out of ice. Before he picked it up, it seemed to go dormant, but now the tip brightly shined and emanated nothing less than freezing magic. He hovered his hand over it out of curiosity. The moisture from his body heat immediately turned into mini snowflakes and caused frost to form on his hand. "Interesting." This was the first time in a while that his mind felt eager to figure out something new.

"Kid! Seriously! Put the rod down!" Revali yelled, now hovering in the air above him.

His adventurous heart began to ache as used his peripherals to watch the warrior inch closer and closer. The best option would be destroying the rod. Even he realized that this is an incredibly powerful weapon to simply have control over. 'You could freeze someone with it and hack their limbs off before they could cry mommy..' Young Link mentally shivered at the thought. He was literally in that same position a few minutes prior. He sighed, 'But still! I would have loved to at least take a swing with it to see what would happen!' His spirits sank further. He wouldn't put it past the Rito champion to sink an arrow into his shoulder at disobeying him.

"Just give me a second!" The young hero lifted his hand up to the tip of the rod once more, a solemn glaze falling over his eyes. The refined ice diminished into thin air once the flaming heat that sweltered in his palm touched it.

This time Revali nearly landed on him as he yanked the metal handle that was left from the ice rod out of his hands, "What did you do!?"

His tone was annoyed, "I was getting ready to do as you said before it vanished! What else did it look like!?" He turned a cold shoulder to the warrior as he started to walk away, "My guess is that it ran out of energy, or maybe it could only last so long away from the wizzrobe." The young hero didn't see it, but the Rito rolled his eyes before ascending back into the air toward the village.

As he continued to walk toward the entrance, he found himself internally complaining, 'I finally find something interesting and of course that annoying sack of feathers has to appear right when I do! Gods, sometimes it feels like I really can't have anything, anything! ' He sighed in slight disappointment at himself, 'I'm overreacting…but y'know at the same time, I can have some sympathy for myself that, in a huge world full of weapons and monsters I've never seen before, it seems like I'm hardly allowed to experience any of it. Especially weapons. I've got my magic now, but man!'

He shook his head as he crossed a bridge, 'A magic rod! A. Magic . Rod. Dear Goddesses have mercy on my soul for wanting to see it for myself! Link said it himself: wizzrobes are rare! When will I run into another one and use the spoils for good?' He leaned on a pine tree, 'And now it looks like I'm throwing a pity party for myself.' A sigh left him as he massaged his temples, "Get over yourself, Link. There are bigger things to care about," He murmured.

Putting a stoic face on, he continued into the village. Not too long after, it was time to leave, and they were back on the trail again. He was happier riding by the Princess's side, though it was hard to pinpoint why. The young hero glanced at her green eyes, 'Perhaps she's in a good mood, so therefore I am.' He briefly smirked, 'Or I'm glad we're leaving Revali back there.'

Instead of going back the way they came, the knights insisted on taking the path to the left. This led them northeast through the snowing tundra. It also led them to a stable to potentially rest at, however they were all cold and preferred to keep going. As they turned and began heading toward Rowan Plain, Young Link noticed the curious structure in the chasm they neared.

He blinked, 'This just screams "Hey there! I'm obviously a really old temple! Please explore me and take whatever cool treasures and equipment you may find in here!"' He had to ask about it, "Princess, what is that down there?"

She looked as well, "Ahh, I believe that's the 'Ancient Temple.'" She chuckled, "Not a very creative name, isn't it?" Zelda peered a bit longer, "Actually while I think about it, I bet there must be some form of ancient tech in there. I should talk to Impa about this and see if an excavation is in order."

He kept his shoulders from slumping, 'Well if that doesn't entirely take the fun out of exploring it yourself, I don't know what does.' "Oh for sure! I wouldn't be allowed anywhere near that, but you'd have to tell me what they find!" He was getting ready to ask about what sort of ancient tech she could be implying, but his ears perked up, and he brought Grace to a halt. 'Glad to know I've developed a sixth sense for these ninjas…'

Before he could speak, he blocked arrow fire that was aimed at the Princess and jumped off Grace, shooting the responsible bowman in midair, puncturing straight through his mask. Only then did they have the courtesy of appearing all at once. A blademaster, a couple of scythemen and another bowman, "Look sharp!" He called to the knights.

They hopped off their mounts as well, though they were admittedly frazzled by the first kill, "You've got it!"

"That's right!"

Young Link had his eyes focused on the bowman, one of the two that could attack Her Highness from afar. He ran toward him, intentionally making him teleport and then pelting him with a lethal shot to the heart and neck once he reappeared in the air behind him. 'The more I fight you guys, the more predictable you're becoming. I like it. Maybe.' The body fell to the ground with a thud, catching the others' attention.

The knights went bug-eyed as they caught a glimpse of the enemy bleeding out and twitching. "Oh my—Dear Hylia!" The blonde reacted, dodging a swing from the scytheman in the nick of time.

Young Link was busy facing off with the one that was after the tanner knight, "Don't get distracted!" His eyes narrowed, "Watch ou—!"

Glch!

The knight's green eyes rolled back into his head as it left his body and hit the grass.

"NOOOOO!" They collectively yelled. Zelda and the knight reacted in horror at the resounding laugh of his killer cackling across the clearing.

Meanwhile, the young hero quickly killed the other scytheman before zipping behind the one that was drunk off his own spill of Hylian blood. "Aw, proud are we?" He taunted with a fierce look of disgust in his eyes.

"You're one to talk!" The footmen yelled, "I've heard of how you murdered my brothers and sisters!"

Surprisingly, he could definitely hear the grief in her voice. For a while he thought all they felt was bloodthirst and pain.

"You'll pay for your actions, Hero of Ti—"

Time began to slow down as his face scrunched in anger at even the notion of mentioning his real name. For others, their vision becomes a blur in a fit of rage. For him, better than crystal clear. With his focus intact, he ripped off the Yiga's mask and watched as his sword plunged through her chin and broke through the top of her skull, slinging her limp corpse to the side.

"Link!"

Zelda's distressed voice forced his gaze in her direction. The blademaster had taken his position to dash toward her while she remained on Storm. They both knew that running away wasn't exactly an option. It wasn't worth prompting a warp that would either get her or her stallion killed.

He ran in her direction, sliding to a stop and yanking out his shield just in time to block the deadly swing. In the next second, he felt a pained yell leaving his lips. The blademaster had swung so hard that his metal zora shield shattered into pieces that cut through his arm and penetrated it along with his side.

The pain racked his insides, especially the pieces that were stuck in him. However, the deep laugh that followed brought his attention back to what mattered: protecting the princess. His cry was cut short as he still raced up to the blademaster.

He'd just finished punching the other knight to the ground, leaving his back completely open.

Young Link leaped into an ending blow that stabbed right next to the beefy ninja's lower spinal cord. With a leading step forward, he used all his strength to slice the blade forward, filleting right up to the enemy's neck before slamming his sword through his heart. He stayed on as the blademaster fell onto his face, only then removing his blade.

Before long, he realized his heart was racing just as fast as he was panting. His priority wanted to be the fallen knight, but it instead fell to the metal pieces that stuck out of him. Most of them were like small glass shards, only a couple were decently sized. Knowing that his arms healed faster than his torso, he began picking them out and tossing them to the ground, hissing at the larger ones. They gripped the skin more.

Zelda had dismounted and ran toward the youngest, "Y-Young one!" She stopped herself a few steps in front of him, gasping and simultaneously looking away with a hand over her mouth as if getting ready to hurl at the sight of him removing the pieces from himself. She quickly got ahold of her senses, soon getting on her knees, and grabbing his hands, "S-Stop. Stop it, please."

He was matter of fact, "Princess these aren't going to heal with the metal still in me. It's only going to get in the way when we get back to riding as well. That, and I promise I know the whole principle of getting stabbed, none of these are in deep enough for bleeding out to be a concern." He shuffled out of her light grasp, cringing at the thought of getting blood on her white clothes. It was bad enough that there was blood on her gloves. "I'll be done in a second."

'Trust me, I know where you're coming from.' He hissed at another getting pulled from his side, watching the blood brim at the edge before spilling onto his tunic, 'This is far from pretty. Hopefully I can get back in time to have this washed out. I'd hate to stain this tunic.' He rolled his eyes, 'To hell with it, I'll change right now!'

Zelda blinked at him.

"Wait wait, sorry I was just thinking about the tunic, Your Highness." His eyes widened as he caught the dark-haired knight stroking his lost friend's face, "I-I think you should probably go…" He gestured toward him, "I don't think he's okay."

"You're right." She said, adopting the same expression.

As he reached Grace, the entire situation just hit him. 'Oh my Gods what are we doing!?' He balanced against his mount, 'I'm over here picking metal out of my skin and now changing , and Zelda is just now going to the other knight cradling his dead maybe-best friend. I might be overthinking things, but I'm pretty sure he should have been the priority in the first place!' He facepalmed after hurriedly pulling the undershirt off of him, 'I don't blame anyone, but this is all incredibly brash. It's like no one's head is screwed on, including mine.'

He took a deep breath after slipping on his tunic, the only metal shard he left in was the one that was lodged in his wrist. Young Link watched the other cuts start to close on his arms, 'Hands come first, so maybe if I…' He quickly pulled it out and applied pressure to the vein to keep it from spurting. Within mere moments, he felt the cut close beneath his thumb. Sighing, he walked over to the Princess and the knight, a frown donning his face.

Zelda sat frozen with a hand on the other's shoulder as he sobbed and held his friend's head. Her eyes flit around before landing on his. For the first time, she looked lost at what to do, not to mention as pale as a ghost.

'This isn't good for either of them…' He solemnly thought.

He changed from his bloodied snow gloves back to his fingerless ones, so he had a clean hand to place on the Princess's shoulder as he leaned down and whispered to her, "Have an idea for what we should do?"

She glumly shook her head, not breaking her gaze with him.

Young Link caught a tear that started to roll down her cheek, letting out a soft sigh as he looked to their grieving companion, "Hey…"

His pained eyes rose to meet his.

"Would you rather take him back to the castle or bury him in the flower field over there? You can do whichever, but the longer we stay out here, the more likely it is that we'll get attacked." 'Actually, I prefer you say that we bury the body because there's no way we'll get let in through the front gates with you holding your friend and his headless corpse riding behind us. We would stir up a massive panic through town considering everyone would want to see the Princess return.' It was barbaric to put it like that, but he mainly thought of the kids, especially ones that were about as old as Piper. Save the possible doomsday with Calamity Ganon to cause tons of trauma, not now!

It seemed he gave it some thought as well. He wiped his eyes, "W-…we—" He broke into a sob, "We'll b-bury him."