Chapter 3: The Introduction
The young man dismounted his horse when he entered the kokiri forest, home to the villagers all dressed in green. He walked up to the first cabin and entered the home.
"Saria! I'm back!" he said looking around.
A door opened and the little girl came into the main room where the young man was.
"Welcome back!" Saria said as the young man blushed.
As Saria closed the door behind her, and the young man catches a glimpse of the girl's long black hair.
"Did I come at the wrong time…?" the man asked as he tried to catch a better glimpse of the closing room's contents.
"No, it's okay, she's just fallen asleep. Impa's taking care of her now. We were just restraining her in order for her to heal from her injuries," Saria said.
She offered the young man a seat at the table and a drink.
"She?"
"Oh right, I forgot that you were out of the village these past few days."
She sat down in the chair across from him.
"You missed the big meteor that came in."
The young man choked upon his drink.
"METEOR?!" he said gasping for air.
"Yes, a vortex opened up right in front of Lost woods, and that girl that you saw came out of it. She was beaten and battered pretty hard from where she came from."
"…Has she said anything yet…?"
Saria shook her head sadly.
"It seems that she doesn't speak Hylian like we do. Poor thing, when she came out of that vortex, she was bleeding like mad and her clothing was burned and ripped so much, I don't even know how it stayed upon her.."
Saria looked at her reflection in her drink, concerned for the unknown girl's well being. His heart thumping, the young man took the opportunity to turn the manner toward his favor.
"Uhmmm…Saria, if you ever need any help or anything, please just…tell me, and…and I'll be happy to help you…to-to give you a helping hand."
Saria smiled and put a hand on one of his. He blushed as his heart raced even further.
"Thank you, you've always been so kind to me…"
"Saria, I-" he said before the same door opened again and out came the tall woman dressed in purple.
"Impa, how is she?" Saria asked.
"I just changed all her bandages," Impa showed the bloody bandages, "and she's better…but not enough to leave. Oh, welcome back."
The young man nodded slightly as he turned his eyes away as he turned even redder.
"The village elders told me that they want you to stay in the village for a while," Impa said.
Leaving his heart throbbing thoughts aside, the young man asked why.
"Don't you remember? Every ten years, all of Hyrule would gather together for the Introduction ceremony, for all the races of Hyrule to share each other's cultures amongst one another," Saria said.
"You must have been on a journey or whatnot and wasn't here to witness the other one ten years ago," Impa said.
Saria smiled and took hold of the young man's arm saying:
"That means that you'll have to try out for the part this year right?"
Saria winks at the young man, who is quick to blush, follows Saria out of the door to another cabin as he was dragged by her. After a while, when the two of them came out of the cabin, the young man was embarrassed and depressed as Saria patted him on the back.
"Congrats! You're going to be great!!" Saria said.
The young man sighed and went home to mope upon his new dread.
A few days later, the girl found herself capable of waking up, without having to put up with all the pain from her injuries. Looking around, she didn't see Saria or Impa. Looking at her arms, she saw that they were still bandaged, despite the fact that the wounds have all healed. Quietly, she got up and went to the only door that was on the other side of the room, attempting to escape, wanting answers from sorrows within her heart.
As she walked around, she heard from a distance, music and people dancing to the beat. Curious, the girl went to look at what the commotion was all about and saw that there were people, of many different shapes, sizes, and color. As the music continued, her mind wandered as she started to forget her attempt to escape; instead, she attempted to try and remember why the song that they were playing so familiar.
"Where have I heard of this before…?" she thought.
As she tried to remember, she saw one of the girls with pointy ears, swirl in place as the tempo of the song started to speed up. The girl's spin triggered a lost memory to come back into the princess' mind. The princess dropped to the floor with a thud as the memories overpowered her consciousness. As she fell, she felt the door open due to her force from falling. The girls that were dancing screamed as they saw her body fall thinking that there was a dead person at the door.
"I know…this dance…" the princess thought as she started falling back into the dark depths of her mind.
As she fell into the darkness, the black world turned into scenery of a cabin, the same cabin as the dancing girls, with the princess among their ranks, dancing along with them as well. As the tempo of the song increased like before, the princess spun perfectly around and around, glowing with pride and happiness.
"Well done everyone! That's all for today then, go home, prepare for tomorrow and make Hyrule proud of you," the teacher said.
The class excused themselves in unison and started to leave. The teacher walked up to the princess and said:
"Princess, no I mean Triforce guardian, I hope that this Introduction isn't going to be too much for you, since you have just been accepted as the guardian and the chosen dancer. "
"Oh, no don't worry about that, I love the dance, and I'm honored to have been chosen as one of the few for this dance ceremony."
"Very well then, please come tomorrow early like we scheduled so that you can practice the second part of the dance, guardian."
"You know, you could call me by my name teacher," the princess smiled as she left the cabin.
When the princess left the cabin, there were some men in silver armor, also with pointy ears that seems to be waiting for her.
"Linus, you didn't have to wait. I thought I asked to you guys to please get some rest," the princess said with a frown.
"We were ordered to protect you from the King of Hyrule. We must fulfill our duties princess," Linus, the Captain of the group said.
The princess sighed and walked along with the soldiers back to her room across the village. When they entered the inn that the princess was staying at, she sat down at a table and asked the waiter to bring some food. The soldiers stood around her table like statues.
"Please you guys, rest, we're not in the cabin anymore. Can't we act more like friends instead of girl under heavy protection?"
Hesitating, but tired, the soldiers slowly were persuaded to have a seat with her. After a few moments when the food came, the atmosphere at the table finally became friendly and everyone started to enjoy the company. As Captain Linus was taking a drink, the princess said in a low voice:
"You know, you don't have to be so…soldier towards me. We are friends aren't we Linus?" nearly causing him to choke.
The princess laughed at the shock upon his face.
"Princess, you know we shouldn't be doing this, talking to you and becoming friendly, we are lowering our defenses after all, then something can happen to you. Not only are you the guardian, and the princess from a foreign country- "
"I am also a friend, aren't I Linus? This crescent doesn't make me special," she pointed to the moon crescent on her forehead, "If we didn't have that connection, we wouldn't be able to sit together for a simple lunch could we?"
Linus blushed as he couldn't make a response and she laughed. Linus sighed and smiled.
"You know, I haven't had any guarding missions that have been this fun before," one of the guards said.
"That's what friends are for Arthur, we watch each other's backs, no matter what we each are," the princess said.
Then the images got all swirly and mixed together as the world within her mind turned black once more. Slowly she woke up and found herself once more in the cabin on the bed. The little girl, was there once more, by her side. She said something and for once it made sense to the princess.
"Are you okay?" Saria said.
Slowly she nodded. Saria looked surprised and said something else, but the princess couldn't understand it. Saria gave her a confused face. As Saria mused over the confused thought, the princess's forehead glowed brightly, and they both had to shield their eyes from the light. When the light faded, a moon crescent was embedded upon the princess's forehead. Saria was utterly surprised when she saw the image upon the forehead. Scared, the princess crawled away from Saria to the corner of the bed.
"No, no %&# okay, I %$& #% hurt you," Saria said, "I # Saria. You ^#5 %$##& me."
Still shaking, the princess didn't move. Saria put a hand out slowly, to try and comfort her.
"%$# okay. %$# okay…" Saria said.
As the princess shook from fear, a small image of a girl saying the same thing came to her memory, a girl that looked almost exactly like the girl in from of her now. Because of that image, the princess felt that it was possible for her to trust this girl. Slowly, Saria hugged the princess for comfort and the princess's fear ebbed away.
After a few days, the princess was eager to see Saria every time she came into the room to see her as she recuperated and from Impa as well, after the princess got used to her. Slowly in those days, since Impa and Saria didn't want her to rest up, they brought the princess some simple books so that she can learn the language. After the fifth day, edgy to get out of the room, Saria gave the princess some clothing that made her blend in with the rest of the girls that were attending, and assuming that it was because of the moon crescent, Saria had told the princess to tie up her hair and hide her face with a cloth.
As they walked out of the room, music was heard once more from the ones that were learning how to dance the Introduction.
"I must have been here before…that would explain the flashback, and understanding some of their language…but what was I doing here? Wasn't I at home? And what is this….triforce guardian…?"
Saria turned and headed towards the room and we entered. The princess was astonished at the fact that the people that she saw last time were also covering their faces just like her. Saria told the princess to stay as she walked up to Impa and said something that the princess couldn't translate. Impa nodded and gestured the princess to join the dancers. As the music started, the princess along with everyone else started to dance to the beat.
When the dance ended, everyone started to sit down on the sides of the cabin walls and the princess followed their lead. However, before she could sit down, Impa said something to the class and clapped her hands as she stood in the center of the room while the music started. Impa took three steps and bowed towards the princess. She turned to look at Saria, unsure of what to do, but Saria just pointed at Impa. Slowly, the princess followed the beat and took three steps and a curtsy like how she had remembered. Taking Impa's hand as the music tempo increased, the princess danced with Impa so quickly and gracefully. Their bodies required contact with each other at all times, as the song quickened its pace even more.
By the end of the song, the princess was breathing hard, from the lack of stamina, as the audience around them stared in awe.
"%^& $%, you're the chosen dancer for the Introduction," Impa said.