Chapter 21: Back at the Ranch

A/N: I'm having Zelink withdrawals from this slowburn. If you're having them too, enjoy here on out where I am getting close to the end so I'm just going to have my Zelink really get going now because I want to. So if you're team Zelink, enjoy.

Princess Zelda was used to the dizzying sensation. She'd been doing it for most of her life. What she was worried about was Link. Fast-travelling in his condition was risky, but the heat from the temple would have killed him without a doubt.

She didn't even know where they'd end up. Without a destination in mind, she could have landed anywhere. Instead, she landed in the middle of Hyrule Field.

Link was bleeding out in the middle of the field. His breathing was strangled, a gurgling sound with gasps of air and then a mouthful of blood before his back arched straight off the ground. One long gasp, and then his breathing patterns repeated.

Taking one of the knives from her belt, she cut Link's tight shirt and tried to pull him from it. His body writhed, and the fabric stuck to the wounds on his chest.

Zelda could feel his breathing growing weaker by the second. She leaned down to Link's ear and whispered, "Do not die one me. That's a command."

Link's eyes opened just in time to see her run off, but he wasn't strong enough to keep them open. He knew then that the Goddesses had made a mistake. Zelda, or the Goron should have the Triforce, not him. Perhaps one of them had sneezed, and the Triforce fell onto him by mistake.

When Zelda returned, Link's eyes were closed again, and his body was shaking. Several pairs of hands grabbed Link and rushed him inside until he was on a table. Zelda and the others worked to get the shirt free of his wounds, when the door opened.

"What's happening?" asked a woman. She walked up to the table and gasped. "Link? What happened?"

Zelda looked over at the redhead. "You know him?"

"I do," she whispered, watching as his blood dripped onto the floorboards. "What can I do?"

"Get Malon and keep getting' us fresh water. Boil some, and get us buckets. We need everything."

"Right," the girl said before rushing outside, screaming for Malon.

"My daughters," the man said simply. "They'll help."

"Great, we need everyone," Zelda said, lowering the mask that was across her face. She ran a comforting hand through Link's hair while they waited for the water. Link's eyes flickered open and met hers. Zelda leaned closer to him. "There's no fairy fountain this time, Link. You need to fight harder than you've ever fought."

His vaguely bobbed up and down, but his eyes closed again.

Cremia and Malon finally ran inside the house, each carrying buckets of water, one with steam rising.

Zelda took Link's hand and held it down firmly. "Someone take his other hand."

Malon took a place at the other end of the table and mimicked Zelda's gesture. "Go ahead."

The farmer took the hot water and barely pressed against Link's skin. Link shot up, screaming. His hands fought the girls' trying to push away the heat.

Zelda ran her other hand though his hair again as his breathing sped up. She could feel a burning fever. "It's already infected, Link. You have to push through. This killed Darmani. Don't let it take you, too."

The farmer put the cloth down against Link's skin again, and there was no change. Link thrashed, unimaginable pain rearing his whole back off the table.

With one more idea, Zelda looked at the older girl. "Take my place."

Cremia did, and Zelda moved to Link's head. "Goddesses, hear my plea. Your faithful Hero is in need of your aid. Grant me the power to share the burden, to allow him the capability to heal. In the Goddesses names, I pray."

Zelda could feel a new power course through her and she bent her forehead against Link's, her hands resting on either side of his face. "Go ahead," she commanded.

The farmer was hesitant, but placed the rag down again. This time, Zelda and Link let out a shared cry, though his body didn't flail or move.

"Don't stop," she breathed. The farmer moved quickly, able to clean off the wound with the hot water. Zelda could barely stand the pain, and she was only sharing it with Link. His was more intolerable, but the farmer was done soon enough, and replaced the hot water with cold to clean the rest of the blood from his chest and stomach.

"Stitch him up, Malon," the farmer said. Malon raced to a drawer and grabbed a needle and thread.

As she readied it, Link's eyes opened. He was paler than the snows that had once covered Death Mountain, and his eyes couldn't fix on anything.

Zelda's body went limp from calling for the Goddesses' aid. Cremia caught her as she began to sway, and helped her into a chair.

Malon pushed Link's skin together and started to sew. His face pinched together, but he made no noise. Everyone waited until Malon was done, and Link passed out again.

Zelda was tired, but she glanced around the room at the four surrounding strangers. Well, apparently, they weren't strangers to Link. "Thank you."

"Of course," Cremia said, glancing at Link. "I knew Link when he was a boy. He came here recently looking for shelter and clothing. We helped him then as well."

"Clothing?" Zelda repeated.

Malon sat down beside Link. "He was in stolen, ill-fitting clothes. He reeked." Malon shook her head and held out her hand. "I'm Malon, by the way."

Zelda grasped it and smiled. "Sheik. Pleasure."

Pointing to each character in the room, Malon named them. "That's my sister, Cremia. Her husband and baby are out in the ranch. This is our father, Talon, and our uncle, Ingo."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Zelda said, resting her head against the wall.

Talon cracked his knuckles. "Let's move him off this bloody table and into the bed. Ingo? Girls? Can you start getting the blood out?"

Ingo and Talon each took an end of Link, careful not to bust a stitch in the process. They slowly carried him up the stairs and into the bedroom before returning to help clean the blood out of the floor.

"How'd this happen?"

"Would you believe me if I said he was fighting a dragon?"

"You haven't given me any reason not to, so I suppose I'll take your word on that," Talon said.


Link's eyes were heavy as he struggled to open them. He felt like he'd been ripped open and put back together. His muscles wouldn't move, and what did was worse than he'd imagined. He breathed out, the pain bad, but not worse than it was last time he remembered.

"Hey," said a soothing voice.

Link managed to open his eyes just long enough to see red hair hanging down in his face. "Fairy Boy," she said, "You look terrible. Again. Are you ever going to come here under normal circumstances?"

With great effort, Link managed to speak. "I'm planning a trip."

She smiled. "Good, you have your sense of humor still."

"Is Zelda alright?" Link whispered.

Cremia's voice was the one who responded to him this time, her hand on his forehead. "Last I heard, she was fine. You made it to see her, I assume?"

Remembering that the Princess was here as Sheik, he just nodded. "I did, but it's been awhile."

Malon tucked her hair behind her ears and kissed Link on the forehead. "You should sleep."

And he did.

The next time he opened his eyes, Cremia was sitting in a chair in his room. His eyes opened easier this time, and Cremia looked up from a book before rushing to sit beside him. "How do you feel?"

Link tried to force himself to sit up. "Better." Cremia's hands kept him down. He obeyed and closed his eyes. "Is Sheik still here?"

Cremia shook her head. "She left here yesterday, but said she'd be back. She came back before."

"How long have I been like this?"

Counting backwards, Cremia ticked off days on her fingers. "About a week."

"A week? I have to get up!" Link said, pushing himself off the bed only to fall right back down.

"Rest some more, Link. We're all taking care of you."


"How are you feeling?" asked a familiar voice.

Link spun around to see Rauru in his dream. "I've been better. I have to get moving."

"There is time. We have heard from the Sage of Shadow, though she has not yet rejoined her temple, and we still have not heard from Nabooru. However, Saria, Ruto and Darunia are doing very well here. Darunia wanted me to say that Darmani moved on peacefully, and he was able to get a message to his son, informing him that you succeeded. There is a rush, Link, I won't deny it. But you must be at your best to defeat Ganondorf. Do not rush healing."

"The Goddess chose wrong, Rauru. I wasn't meant to be the Hero. I haven't come off a fight yet that I've been unscathed."

Rauru put his hand on Link's shoulder, and Link was surprised that he could feel it. "You will be knocked down and injured a thousand times. The true courage lies in getting back up again."

"I'll try to remember that."

"Link?"

He shot up, the days blurring together. Malon was in front of him with a bowl of soup. "Sorry, you just looked like you were in pain."

He shook his head. "It's okay. It's much better now."

She slid the soup off to the side and sat on the bed. "You'll be leaving soon?"

"Yeah. I have to."

Malon wrapped her hands together. "Well, there's something I have to do first or I'll regret it forever."

Malon leaned close to Link and pressed her lips against his. It was light, easy, a feeling Link could get used to every day, but it wasn't the right feeling.

He pulled away from her. To him, Malon was like Saria: a friend.

Malon slipped and her arm landed up against Link's wound, and she jumped back, apologizing as he winced in pain. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Link held up his hand and coughed a few times. "It's okay, Malon. It's fine."

"I didn't mean to fall on you, but I did mean to kiss you. I just had to know. And you don't, do you?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Link looked down and shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's not you. I'm probably going to be killed by the end of this all. Something will happen, anyway, I can feel it, and I can't do that. Not to you… not to anyone."


It was only a few more days until Link was finally able to leave the top floor without any help. Zelda had returned that morning, only this time, she returned as herself, and with Impa as her guard. Link had heard her un-hidden voice through the floorboards.

He stood up slowly and made his way to the desk where clean clothes had been laid out for days, waiting for him to be ready to leave. Gingerly, he pulled them on, along with his boots before he headed to the stairs.

Talon's head peaked up and he held up a hand. "Need some help, boy?"

"I've got it, thank you, Talon."

"You picked a fine day to come out, my boy. The Princess herself is here visiting the ranch. She said she'd been meaning to for some time. You should get some fresh air and see if you can talk to her. She's a sweet heart."

Gripping his wound, Link made it down the last step. "I think I'll do that."

Talon held the door open and watched Link head down the grassy entryway and into the corral. Link slowly headed to the center where he could already see Zelda.

She was wearing a blue dress with puffy white sleeves that blew around in the wind with a woven circlet through her hair that kept it away from her eyes, despite the thick braid she kept it in. As the wind blew, he could see that she was appropriately outfitted with ranchers' boots.

Zelda was playing with one of the horses, the orange one that Link himself could remember from his last trip. When Impa saw him, she raced forward to offer her help. Link held up his hand and thanked her, but continued toward Zelda on his own.

She turned to him and sighed. "I wasn't sure you'd ever walk again."

"I wasn't sure I'd ever stand up again."

With a small step towards Link, she held up her hands and Link stepped into her embrace, holding his side with one hand, and wrapping the other around her waist.

"I haven't been awake enough to ask you. How are you? I've never seen anyone ride a dragon before."

"You should try it sometime. It was actually thrilling."

Link ran his hand along the horse's mane. Epona, he remembered. "How many times have you left? I figured you'd have to, but I don't remember seeing you a lot."

"I think I left… maybe four times? Four or five? This is my only time here not as Sheik. I couldn't get away, so I had to come as myself."

"Thank you."

"Of course. I had the luck of only sitting with you while you slept. Did you know you talk in your sleep sometimes?"

"Do I?" Link said, shocked. Not that he'd ever know.

"You do. Mostly you just repeat names. Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto… Rauru some more. Sound familiar?"

Link rubbed his neck. "He's like a father to me. I spoke with him a few times while I was out."

"In the Sacred Realm?"

"No, Just outside it, though."

Zelda sighed. "I wish I could see it. Is it beautiful? Or are the songs wrong?"

Link stared at Zelda, almost forgetting that Impa was there. He finally turned back to the horse. "It's beautiful. The walls shimmer with droplets of light. The ground is illuminated by pedestals for the Sages, each colored differently. The outside area is pure white all around. It feels like you're floating because there's no ground. When you do feel your feet on something, it's like a cloud."

She closed her eyes as he spoke, imagining the scene. When he was done, she opened her sad eyes. "Link, I need to ask you something. You don't have to tell me, but I have to ask. What happened to you when you were held prisoner? What exactly did they do to you?"

Link looked around the ranch and saw Cremia coming towards them. "Are you coming with me to the desert?"

"Do you want me to?"

Link hesitated for a moment. Of course he did, but he was about to head into another temple, one where he didn't know the fate of the Sage, his closest friend. The Gerudo and the desert were notoriously rough places, especially for a man in Gerudo Fortress. He wasn't sure he wanted to put her through that, especially with her being the princess. Then again, he was almost positive she'd show up anyway.

"Yes."

"Then I'll come."

Link nodded and turned back to the horse. "I'll tell you anything you want to know then."

As Cremia reached them, she waved. "Hi you two. Glad you're back, Sheik."

Zelda spun toward Cremia, as did Link and Impa. "Who?" Zelda asked.

Cremia's eyes widened. "Oh, am I the only one who figured it out? It's a secret then, right?"

"What are you talking about?" Zelda asked, but her defenses were up.

Cremia took a step away. "I'm sorry. It's just… I put a few things together. You called to the Goddesses for help and they came, Link kept talking about 'Zelda' and how was 'Zelda' even though he was here with 'Sheik.' Then when I heard that you were here today, I figured it was because you'd revealed it to everyone else."

Zelda turned to Link and crossed her arms. He stayed facing the horse, his eyes closed tightly. "I didn't even know I talked in my sleep until a few minutes ago."

"Cremia," Zelda said, turning to her new friend, ignoring Link. "This is my closest secret. The only people who know that I am Sheik are standing right here right now. You cannot say a word, not to Malon, not to your husband, not to Romani. Please."

"Of course, Princess."

"Would you give me a moment with Link? Both of you?"

"Don't go!" Link called out, but Cremia and Impa just laughed and kept walking.

Zelda stood, staring at Link until he finally turned around. "I would smack you if you weren't still injured! You asked about me by name?"

Link started to stutter. "I was delirious. I didn't know what I was asking. And I can't control what I say when I sleep, apparently."

Zelda's eyes softened, knowing it wasn't done on purpose. She felt she could trust Cremia, and she was sure Impa was giving her a whole speech now anyway. "So," she said, moving beside Link. He swallowed, unsure what to expect. "You don't call me Princess in your sleep either?"

Link snorted. "You keep missing out, Princess. Someday, maybe I'll call you your name to your face."

She chuckled. "Well, Link, get better. I'm ready to go when you are."