Chapter 25: Finding Purpose

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Zelda

They had about half a day left of good traveling light, and Inpa was determined to make the most of it. They traveled steadily northwards and crossed the frozen Tamio River over the Jeddo Bridge, passing through a field of massive boulders scattered on both sides of the road. Zelda felt some amusement thinking about how they could have gotten into such positions. A Goron grudge match, perhaps?

"We'll be staying in a village tonight, directly south of Tabantha City," Inpa said as they rode. "Your close encounter today is… worrying. From the looks of those Sheikah's footprints, they were tracking us all the way from the old barn. Which makes sense – of course it's suspicious to find recent tracks around a building that should have been abandoned. I should have thought of that earlier. But now that we have disguises, we should stay at an inn where possible. The goal is to portray normal travelers as much as we can."

"So what's our story, then?" Link asked, nudging Hofthrean's sides so that he trotted ahead and fell into step with Storm. "How… how d'y'explain me?"

Zelda winced. As soon as he opened his mouth, it would be clear to everyone in earshot that he was foreign. They were far enough north – in Tabantha by now, she thought – that people might not immediately identify his accent as Zonai, but it would certainly draw attention.

"You'll have to pose as a mute," Inpa said reluctantly, evidently thinking through the same problem. "If there's anyone else around…"

"I can't talk," Link finished bitterly, frowning. "I understand."

How much more will we take from him today? Zelda thought, tightening her grip on the saddle horn. His traditional armor, his ceremonial paint, now his very voice…

"Zelda, you and I could pose as sisters," Inpa said. "Pick a disguise and I'll change my appearance to more or less match yours. Maybe… maybe we're traveling to visit family in Hebra, and Link's a family friend."

They arranged their disguises when the first rooftops came just into view on the road as dusk began to settle, far enough that they would not be seen from the village itself. Zelda turned her hair darker and gave her skin a rougher, tan appearance to make her seem as if she spent long hours working outside. She changed her eyes to brown and turned to Link, who was carefully wrapping up his gun in an extra tunic Inpa had gotten him.

"I have trouble with the eyes sometimes; did it work?" Zelda asked.

He was frowning, looking unsettled. "Could y'leave your eyes th'same?" he asked hesitantly. "It'll… help me remember it's you."

"That should be fine," Inpa said, her eyes already a nearly identical shade of pale green to Zelda's own and her hair magically darkened.

"Alright," Zelda nodded, releasing the spell over her eyes. Link offered a small smile, and she felt her heart jump slightly, biting back a smile of her own as they mounted the horses again and continued the last legs of the day's journey.

It was a tiny village, barely more than a dozen buildings – one of which was the inn. Zelda could hear the noise of the crowd inside even from a good distance away. They left the horses in the hands of a stable boy. Inside, the inn was bustling with patrons – not travelers, Zelda was sure, but locals. It seems the inn is just their town center. Everyone seemed to know one another – that, or enough of them were drunk enough not to care that they were strangers. Zelda kept close to Link as they followed Inpa inside, feeling uneasy in the face of so much rowdy laughter and alcohol in rugged Tabantha – not a province known for gentleness.

"A room for the night, please," Inpa was saying to the innkeeper, a cheerful-looking Goron, barely audible over the din.

"…that'll show them!" one of the patrons shouted loudly, clapping a hand down on the table. "Filthy Zonai scavengers, killin' our Princess!"

Oh, no.

Zelda glanced at Link worriedly, realizing at once that he had heard. His posture was tense, his hands clenched into fists. He kept his gaze straight ahead.

"She once downed an elk with Lady Tabanth herself," a man at the same table wept, maudlin as he clutched his drink. "A leader of the people, she was!"

"Any one of them blood drinkers comes here and I'll kill him myself," the first man growled. "Tear 'im limb from limb and feed him to the hounds, just like they did the Princess!"

Zelda pressed her lips firmly together, struggling to shut them out. Evidently the story has evolved in its telling, she thought bitterly. Her cheeks felt warm in a strange mixture of self-consciousness and anger. Link exhaled forcefully, his knuckles white.

"Maybe I'll sign up to join the army," the man went on. "Kill myself a bunch of them, send home their helmets as trophies."

"Would you really? Heard they wear human skulls into battle…"

"Barely more than bokoblins, the lot of them," another growled, slamming his mug down. "Declaring war on them was the best thing that Pelaris has ever done."

Link went completely still. Zelda's heart pounded faster in despair – they had suspected that it would happen, but – but surely not so soon…

"The King declared war?" she asked before she could stop herself, and at once the men at that table turned to look at her.

"That's right, miss," one of them said, nodding grimly. In front of her, Link's shoulders slumped just a bit, and she heard his breath catch. "Messengers came in today on their way to Tabantha City itself. Hyrule's at war with the Zonai. Expect the King will start conscripting soon, but by Din I'll be glad to sign up. I saw the Princess once when she came through – the Zonai won't get away with taking her from us!"

"Hear, hear!" the men cheered, raising their glasses.

Link turned to face the men; Zelda noticed worriedly that his face was frightfully pale, and he was breathing hard, his clenched fists shaking.

"Link?" she said quietly.

And then the men continued.

"Once the roads clear up and we can get our army down there, I'd bet gold that we'll have them beat within the month!"

"And then we'll kill all their daughters, make them pay for what they did!"

With a furious roar Link lunged at the man that had spoken. "Y'won't lay a hand on my sister, y'lerkin twigarm!" he bellowed, punching him solidly in the eye and knocking him from his chair. Zelda clapped her hands to her mouth in horror, her pulse rocketing sky-high. All at once there was a wall of sound as the other men at the table and others around the room shot to their feet, shaking their fists, cheering on their companion as he scrambled back to his feet.

"Who taught you to speak?" the man taunted, throwing a fist forward. Link dodged easily, his face twisted into a feral snarl that sent cold fear through Zelda's veins even though his rage wasn't directed at her. Heart in her throat she watched breathlessly, struggling to get enough air into her mouth to call for help, as Link threw a punch again – and it would have hit if not for one of his opponents' companions, grabbing Link's arm and twisting it backwards as the first man struck Link unopposed directly in the gut, sending him doubling over with a grunt of pain.

"In – Inpa!" Zelda managed to shout out desperately, her voice frail in the face of the crowd all around her, blocking her line of sight as she backed quickly away while the patrons around her pressed closer to the fight. The sickly stink of sweat and alcohol filled her nose, and despite the roar of the crowd she seemed unable to keep from hearing the sound of flesh striking flesh, not knowing who it was getting hit –

"Break it up!" a deep voice bellowed, and the Goron innkeeper waded through the crowd, steering patrons away from the fight with a massive hand on their heads, clearing a path. Zelda's heart stopped for a moment as she caught sight of Link backed against a wall, blood dripping from his nose and one eye swelling.

The Goron grabbed Link's shoulder in one hand and his opponent's shoulder in the other and pushed them away from each other. All hints of his prior cheerful mood had evaporated, replaced by stern, simmering anger. "You've had too many drinks tonight," he scolded Link's aggressor, steering him back towards his friends. "Go home! You all make sure he gets there!"

He rounded on Link, and for a moment Zelda was terrified that the fight would continue, seeing the raging spark still there in his fiery gaze. "I'm not the sort to turn away two young women in the middle of winter," the Goron snarled. "Your companions may stay here. But you'll spend the night with the pigs or not at all, you hear me? I'll not permit fights on my premises!"

Link nodded glumly, his gaze dropping at last, and stormed out of the inn, whispers and jeers following him all the way. Zelda started forward, only to be stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to find Inpa standing at her side, her eyes grim.

"Leave him for now," the Sheikah muttered bitterly. "Maybe he'll understand what he just did." She turned to the Goron bartender and dipped her head respectfully. "Thank you for letting us stay the night. We deeply apologize for our companion's behavior."

The Goron waved a hand dismissively. "Ditch that kid as soon as you can," he grumbled. "With rage like that all he's bound to attract is trouble."

"Damn right," Inpa muttered under her breath, and Zelda winced, realizing the depth of her anger. "Come on."

She followed Inpa across the tavern to one of the doors along one wall, into a modest little room with two beds. Inpa closed the door behind them and sat down heavily on one of the beds, massaging her temples in frustration.

Zelda sat tentatively on the other side of the room, watching her bodyguard anxiously. She could barely understand what had happened – it had started and then finished so quickly, and then Link was rushing out of the tavern just as fast as he could without actually running… A terrible thought struck her, and her stomach clenched.

"Do you… do you think he'll leave?" she asked quietly.

Inpa snorted. "Not if he knows what's good for him," she growled. "He's got the Triforce of Courage. He needs the Master Sword; he needs to work with you – if he can just get over the fact that…" Her voice trailed off, and she smacked the bedcovers in irritation, frowning heavily.

"That… what?" Zelda asked quietly.

"That he's a Zonai," Inpa huffed. "It's more than just himself and his people out there! We all figured that your father would declare war on the Zonai; he had no right to – to react like that! He spoke, and anyone sober – the bartender, at the very least – would've noticed that he doesn't sound local at all, and put that together with the fact that he's traveling with two women, and it wouldn't take much at all for our pursuers to put that together with us!" She shook her head violently, fuming. "And we know the people here will talk about it – a traveler attacks one of the locals for apparently no reason at all? And lost? The guy he fought will be bragging about this for at least the next week, I'm sure!"

Zelda nodded quietly along, although personally she felt that Inpa was perhaps being a bit… paranoid. But… but that's her job, she reflected, her stomach feeling tight. She's supposed to be paranoid. It's her job to keep me – to keep us – safe. She wondered what it meant about herself, that for every point Inpa made against Link, Zelda could think of one in his defense. He didn't say much. And the Sheikah chasing us will be looking for a Zonai, a Sheikah, and Zelda. I don't even look like myself right now, and neither does Inpa. We just look like three Hylians.

"And if he's going to fly off the handle like that for a comment from a drunk, how is he going to react to the Order of the Sword?" Inpa demanded. "You know that's where we're going! What will we do when he attacks the monks – and goes for the kill this time? Either we side with him against the Order, against some of the few people that can give us answers about the Calamity and the only people that can get us through the Lost Woods! Or we just let the fight happen, and sure he'll get some of them, but they'll kill him, and then we've just lost the bearer of the Triforce of Courage! What are we going to do?"

She fell silent at last, pacing furiously across the room. Zelda watched anxiously, her lips pressed firmly together. "We… we could tell him," she offered hesitantly, although her insides squeezed painfully with dread at the idea of starting up such a conversation. "Perhaps… give him time to come to terms with the idea…"

Inpa snorted. "Or to run back to his homeland," she growled. "If he hasn't already."

Zelda's heart lurched in a panic. Goddesses above…

She remembered how still he had gotten when the men confirmed that her father had declared war against his people. The barely-discernible slump in his shoulders. The raw fury and despair in his voice when he attacked.

He's just gotten devastating news. No, he shouldn't have started a fight, but… it's no wonder that he reacted so strongly.

I… I need to talk to him. Before Inpa's comment becomes the reality.

She got to her feet, walking towards the door. Inpa's weary, longsuffering sigh stopped her as she reached for the handle.

"Where are you going?" the Sheikah asked bitterly.

Zelda turned to face her, meeting her gaze. How odd it was to see green staring back at her, instead of the familiar crimson. "I have to talk with him about what happened," she answered worriedly. "I… I don't think it's right for him to be left out there alone right now."

Inpa rolled her eyes and beckoned to the window. "Go out this way, then," she grumbled. "We don't want the innkeeper to think we're being ungrateful. We're lucky he didn't throw us out like he did Link. Make sure you tell him that when you see him."

She pushed the window open, letting in a gust of winter air. Zelda shivered, pulling her cloak close around her, and with Inpa's help climbed over the windowsill and slid to the ground on the other side, her feet landing softly in a couple inches of snow.

"I'll follow you until I'm sure you're safe," Inpa said, climbing out the window herself and wedging a stone between the shutters to keep them open. "I won't let him see me. When you're done, knock twice on the window and I'll let you in."

Zelda nodded and set off for the animal pen off to the side of the tavern, where the stable boy had taken their horses earlier. Storm and Hofthrean were there, eating from a freshly-filled trough of hay and oats. There were a couple of pigs and chickens in the middle of the pen, scrounging for the corn and kitchen scraps that had been dumped there recently, judging by the color on the vegetables, barely discernible in the graying twilight.

There was only one real shelter in the paddock – a little shack, barely a lean-to, in one corner next to a large watering trough for the horses. Zelda could see the huddled figure inside, the familiar silhouette of his musket on his shoulder just barely discernible.

Zelda awkwardly clambered up one side of the fence and hopped down the other, landing with a soft grunt and stumbling half a step forward on the other side. Cheeks burning self-consciously, she started towards the lean-to, feeling much less confident about her plan. Maybe he doesn't want company, she thought, hesitating. She held her cloak closed around her, absently rubbing a thumb along the fur lining.

"Did y'get kicked out too?" Link's voice came from the shelter. He sounded as if he hadn't slept or spoken in weeks, his tone rough and hoarse. Zelda took that as an invitation to come closer; she crossed the rest of the distance to the lean-to and sat down next to him, drawing her knees close to her chest and peering at him anxiously. He'd gathered up a handful of snow and was pressing it against one side of his face; Beira sat next to him, and his other hand rested limply on her back.

"No, Inpa and I are fine," she answered quietly. "We… we weren't kicked out."

"Good," he muttered, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. He sighed deeply, his breath catching a little. "I… I'm sorry for… what happened."

Zelda let her chin drop to her knees and gazed out at the paddock. "I understand why you did it," she murmured. "That doesn't make it right, of course… but I understand that you're… that you're hurting. People don't think as well when they're in pain."

Link snorted, and then clutched at his chest, grimacing. "D'y'think they'd actually do it?" he asked, his voice strained. "When… when they march t'war. Would they actually round up all th'daughters f'th'Zonai and… and kill them, in revenge?"

Zeda winced, remembering what the men in the tavern had said, remembering that Link had shouted something about his sister when he attacked. "I don't know," she admitted softly. "I'd like to hope not, but… hate can… it can do a lot of bad. Drive the best of men to work acts of pure evil against others." The men of Tabantha weren't evil, she thought sadly. They were angry, and they had been fed lies and hatred by the corrupt in power – her father and Yagamura especially. Even Link himself… he certainly wasn't evil, and yet his own hatred and anger had led him – a seasoned warrior – to attack a defenseless man. "It's on every side of the war these days," she went on. "It's… it's only the best among us that can rise above that."

"Like you," Link said, his voice barely audible. "Y'look at everyone's perspective – y'don't hate anyone."

Zelda chuckled bitterly. "I hate my father," she admitted. "Of all the foolish things he's done, blindly following the Sheikah – Yagamura particularly – into dead ends and doing nothing but causing more problems for everyone…" She felt tears sting her eyes, the weight of her failure at the Temple of Time crashing down around her shoulders. "I… I thought I could stop him. Outmaneuver him, somehow. Put an end to all of this violence. And… now the war is poised to get even worse, and it might not if I had just… done nothing. But I – I didn't want to just stand by and let people die those terrible deaths, I – I didn't want to be helpless. Powerless."

She slumped lower, her chin sliding into her arms around her knees. She blinked away the tears; in this cold air, they burned like drops of fire. Her insides felt hollow and empty, a deep void of despair threatening to swallow her up from the inside.

"At… at th'battle for Uhlenom," Link said quietly, his voice low and uncertain. He sighed deeply. "They decided t'put me in charge f'a platoon f'forty wolves. I'd never… commanded before. I made… mistakes. A lot f'them. I hesitated when I shouldn't've. And so many died because f'it. Men that I knew – that I'd fought with since th'beginning f'th'war, nearly. And it was… it was all for nothing, in th'end. We didn't take back Uhlenom. I couldn't even get my platoon into position. I certainly couldn't stop those men from getting killed." He shivered, his gaze dark and distant. "And now I'm an entire kingdom away from home, and even further from th'front lines." He shook his head slowly, and his voice broke with his next words. "I wouldn't be able t'save my sister f'something happened t'her." He exhaled shakily and tossed the chunk of snow – now more ice than snow – away, and wiped his face dry on his sleeve. Zelda couldn't tell if it was all from melted snow, or if there were tears there, too.

"I know what it's like t'be helpless, Zelda," he continued, meeting her gaze, his expression raw with grief and despair. "My people, my family, my way f'life – they will all be destroyed, and I can do nothing about it. Even f'I left now, returned t'th'front lines… I'm just one soldier."

Zelda nodded glumly, closing her eyes and nestling her head into her arms. "What can we do, then?" she murmured. Father has no other heirs. The throne is fragile, and there are many that could make a bid for power and try to overthrow the Royal Family. Hyrule would be thrust into blood and chaos, engulfed entirely by war… we're hanging by a mere thread.

"I was… I was just thinking about what an old wolf would say," Link said, a hint of loneliness in his voice. "He had… good advice. He said that… that continuing t'try, despite failure, shows grit." He glanced at her, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. "And… that's what we're doing, right? Going t'th'Lost Woods, me trying t'get th'Master Sword… it's all part f'trying t'make a difference, take a stand against everything that's working against us…"

"And having hope that this time, we won't fail," Zelda nodded slowly, feeling as though a little spark had flared within her. Sitting up straighter, she managed a small smile – it was tiny, and fragile, but undeniably there. "We have to try. There's always the chance that the next moment will change everything."

Link returned her smile, some of the life reigniting in his eyes. "I'll keep fighting f'you will," he promised, reaching out to take her hand.

"Of course," Zelda murmured, uncurling from her hunched-over position. Her heart fluttered lightly. "I'll need you by my side, Link. We stand the best chance when we're together."

Link's smile brightened, and then for some reason he looked almost nervous –

He pressed his lips to the back of her hand in a gentle kiss, the scruff of several days on his chin brushing across her fingers. Zelda's stomach lurched, and her cheeks felt at once aflame as her eyes widened.

Link quickly looked away, letting go of her hand. "I… well, you're… probably getting cold," he stammered. "Y'probably shouldn't stay out here too long."

I'm not cold. "Of course," she said, hoping she didn't sound quite as breathless as she felt. He… he kissed my hand…! "Will you be alright?"

He nodded quickly, keeping his eyes trained on the animals in the pen. "I've spent nights in worse conditions. There's a roof over my head and that's more than good enough."

Zelda nodded, getting to her feet and brushing off the straw stuck to her dress and cloak. "I'll… head back to Inpa, then," she said. "I… hope you rest well, Link." At once she cringed inwardly – he was sleeping in an open shack while she would be in a comfortable bed; of course he wouldn't rest well, and now she'd just gone and rubbed it in –

"Y'too," Link said, cutting off her line of thought. His voice sounded soft – not as much in terms of volume, but more in terms of… gentleness. Zelda felt horribly aware of how warm her face felt; thank goodness it was dark…

He… he didn't seem offended, though…

She couldn't keep the smile from her face as she climbed back through the window into the inn. Inpa, still in a bad mood, merely rolled her eyes.

"We still need to make a decision about what to tell him about the Order of the Sword," the Sheikah reminded her. "Otherwise it'll be too late, he'll have no warning at all, and we'll just have to hope that's enough to keep him with us long enough to get the Master Sword without starting another war."

"It can wait," Zelda insisted, her insides wriggling with unease clashing unpleasantly with the warmth from her conversation with Link.

I hope.