Impa's POV:
I was sitting on one of the ballista's on the castle ramparts admiring the sunrise I then thought about link and his new servant.
he seemed very angry with the Gerudo princess for enslaving an innocent girl, I was proud of the man he has grown up to be, not only has he excelled at the training I have given him but he has matured exponentially both in strength and confidence, he will be great king some day one which I will gladly serve to the end of my days.
It might just be motherly instinct to protect him but I feel we share a far deeper bond then anyone can possibly realize.
Sitting up and wiping the dust off my armor it was made out of Wolfos leather strong and study but light enough so I do not loose mobility, I leapt on top of the wall and scouted my surrounds, it looked quiet peaceful.
"Let's hope it stays that way for a long time to come" I thought to myself, with that I jumped and gracefully scaled down the wall. When I got to the ground I remember it was Link's birthday today. I had an idea of something special I could do for him, once I arrived at Link's room I lightly knocked on the door...no answer
"I suppose I will have to wake him up"
As I opened the door I saw the prince sleeping soundly, I didn't want to wake him but we had to practice every day to keep him in shape, I walked slowly over to his bed and shook him
"mmphh Impa it's too early" he whined
I gave a soft chuckle
"Come on sleepy head. Time to train, you can sleep later" He gave a low growl before sitting up, his hair all over the place from the way he slept on it
"Get cleaned up and meet me in the courtyard in 10 minutes don't be late or I will make you run laps" his eyes snapped open in horror before replying "B-but I'm the prince you wouldn't"
"Oh no? You won't be getting any special treatment from me Link, so make like a Shiekah warrior and vanish to the bathroom"
He gulped before running as fast as he could to the bathroom
Links pov: Curse that Impa, I was having a nice dream for the first time in a week and she has to go and ruin it. You would think since it was my birthday that I would get some sympathy from her but no chance. I grumbled to myself as I got out of the shower.
As I put my gear on, which consisted of my sword, shield, chain mail greaves, and arm guards, I felt a presence behind me.
By force of habit my hand flew to my sword and I turned around quickly.
"I-I'm sorry, master." The nervous girl said in a rush, taking a few steps back.
I relaxed, my hand leaving the hilt of my sword and moving up to scratch the back of my head. I gave her a smile, hoping to calm her down.
"Sorry about that, Zelda. It's a bit of a habit when someone sneaks up on me." Thanks Impa, nearly scared the girl half to death because of the reflexes you ingrained in me. "How'd you do that by the way? Sneak up on me, I mean."
Her eyes were still wide and she was still stuttering. Man, I really freaked her out. "I-I just walked in, master. I wasn't trying to-"
"Link. Remember? Just call me Link."
I thought I saw the faintest smile on her face, but just for a moment. Maybe I was finally getting somewhere.
"So how was your first night and morning here?"
I could tell that Zelda was visibly less tense, getting slightly more comfortable. She took a moment to think about her response. "It was…nice." There was definitely a small smile there now. "Nora came by early to show me where I could find some things in the castle, she was very helpful."
"I'm glad to hear it. Maybe I can show you the rest of the castle grounds today." She nodded with a happy glint in her eyes. "I don't have anything for you to do at the moment. You could find Nora, and see if she needs help with anything or you could just get more settled in."
"Actually, Impa came by and wanted me to tell you that you were late. She didn't tell me what you'd be late for, but I was hoping you would know what she was talking about."
My heart dropped. Impa. I got sidetracked and Impa is going to kill me. How long have we been talking?
"Link?" Zelda's voice grounded me and I set into motion.
"Let's go, Zelda!" I ran past her and stopped at my door, she still stood where she was before looking very confused.
"Where—"
"Hurry! I'm late, let's go let's go!" With that I turned and started running down the hall. I knew it was rude to just leave her standing there but I would rather apologize to her later than face the wrath of Impa during training. I heard the soft patter of someone running after me. I looked over my shoulder to see Zelda following me. Zelda was a good runner, she was able to keep pace with me as I sped through the halls and out to the training yards. We didn't stop running until I was face to face with Impa, who was leisurely leaning on a fence with effortlessly throwing knives into a target fifteen paces away with deadly aim. With my hands on my knees, my breathing was slightly heavy, I looked over at Zelda. Her cheeks were faintly flushed and she was breathing harder than normal but not as hard as I would have thought after our little run.
Impa pushed off of the fence and threw her last knife. It hit the target dead center with a satisfying thud. "You are late." She said to me.
I stood up straighter and smiled apologetically, "Yeah, I know." I didn't really have anything to say, so I accepted it.
"Fifty push-ups." She said.
I dropped to the floor, not wasting any time and maybe having her change her mind to running laps.
Fifty? That wasn't that bad.
At number eight, something heavy landed on my upper back. My arms buckled and I was lying on the dirt. I heard a muffled giggle from somewhere behind me. I pushed off the ground and started where I left off. When I hit thirty, Impa dropped another sandbag on me.
"Best. Birthday. Ever." I said between push-ups. Luckily Impa didn't hear me or she may have added another bag.
Fifty pushups later...
As I finished my pushups I looked to Impa she nodded "Have a nice warm up?" fearing of the consequence of doing more I decided to refrain from any snide remarks and nodded
"Now it's time for your lesson today we will be focusing on making you more agile if you are too slow it could mean death in a fight do you understand?"
"Yes Impa!"
"Good now to start I will be using wooden dowels as projectiles think of it as me using my Shiekah star's on you, one hit will mean death. If you can avoid at least fifteen out of the thirty dowels we will move on to sword play"
I nodded happily I am far better with a sword but I agree that speed is vital to being a deadly warrior
"now link prepare yourself"
the first one hit me right in the leg i grunted painfully even though they are blunt they still sting because of Impa's skill
"Remember Link, you must clear your mind in order to anticipate where the projectile will hit then act accordingly.
I nodded and prepared myself for the next wave I closed my eyes to feel the energy of the projectile. Back flip, duck, jump, roll, block, and front flip. Out of thirty projectiles that were thrown only ten of them hit their mark, they may sting but at least I am making progress a few bruises is the price to pay to become a better warrior.
My breathing was shallow my muscles ached but I am still ready for more training and I know Impa would not let me off that easily not even for my birthday.
Impa smiled before allowing me to get a drink from the fountain before continuing "Good job link you certainly are becoming more attuned to the ways of the shiekah"
I smiled before replying "Well I do have a strong teacher"
Impa nodded before tossing a smoke bomb on the ground.
Zelda POV: As the smoke cleared Impa has lounging on top of the castle wall as I looked around the courtyard I noticed carved wooden soldiers all around link.
His face expressed slight shook before pulling out his sword getting ready for sword practice he then looked to Impa
"Now Link, let's see how rusty your sword arm has become since yesterday hmm? First let's start off with the standard horizontal slice"
Link nodded before charging with great speed before giving a mighty slice severing the wooden soldiers head from its shoulders.
"Well looks like you may have remembered a bit from yesterday" Impa joked
I giggled causing Link to turn to me with a face of mock shock before replying "it seems I have. Impa, what would you have me do next since you seem keen on embarrassing me so?"
Impa chuckled "Very well Link, show me how you would handle these soldiers?"
Link smirked "gladly" all I saw was a blur of green and white speed past me before Link appeared behind me twirling his sword and sheathing it in a confident manner.
I then turned back to see every wooden soldier sliced into multiple pieces
I gasped before turning to Link before exclaiming "REMIND ME NOT TO GET ON YOUR BAD SIDE!"
Link gave a chuckle before scratching his head shyly "I might've over done it a little today"
Impa then leapt from her perched and patted Link on the shoulder "maybe just a little bit, are you ready for our last part of the training?"
Link paled a bit before replying " UH-OH!"
Links POV:
We usually finished training off with a bit of sparring this was my least favorite part of training because I would usually get quite a few cuts and bruises from it. Today Impa had a little extra something for this spar. She called out and four soldiers came up. Impa laid out the rules for the spar. I would be fighting the four of them at the same time, no weapons, attempt to avoid the face, try to hold back anything excessive, and no cheap-shots. No weapons, so I started to take off my gear. The chainmail is last to come off, I realize my shirt is thoroughly drenched and decide not to put it back on.
"Happy birthday, Link." Impa called out to me and I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Thank you Impa, I can see you are going easy on me today."
"Well I wouldn't want you to be too tired for the rest of your day today."
Impatient. Soldier number one came at me, not waiting for anyone. I was able to easily fend off his blows. A second soldier stepped in while I was still dealing with the first. The first threw a punch; I stepped to my left and pushed his punch away while the second guard tried to get me with a kick. I grabbed his leg, spun enough to throw him off balance and pushed him into the first soldier, sending them both to the ground. When the two were stumbling to get up I rushed the third guard. We exchanged hits, landing a few on each other. While I was busy with him the fourth guard came at me. I was able to send him to the ground but soldier three took that small opening and gave a solid kick to my side that sent me to my knees. The third attacker was the most formidable of the four, but still nothing I couldn't handle. While I was low to the ground I spun and swiped the third and fourth guard's legs sending the both to the ground.
Impa was going easy on me. These men didn't know how to work together, and had they known how then I would have had a much more difficult time fighting them. They came at me spontaneously, which certainly kept me on my toes but was not something that was very difficult to dodge or counter.
The fight continued on, each guard successfully landing a few hits on me. Luckily I was faster than all of them, and better trained, and managed to slowly take out each guard.
When I had knocked down the last man, Impa jumped in, surprising me. She gave a hard shove to my chest, sending me to the floor. I rolled and was on my feet in a fluid motion. My back burned from the scratches earned from the ground and I wished I had my shirt on.
"Not. Fair." I said between breathes.
"An enemy pays no mind to fairness." My movements were becoming sluggish and I was barely holding her off. "Your fatigue is a weakness that they can and will exploit." To slow, she got a partial kick to my side. I grit my teeth and pressed forward. Enough defense. I could see a small smile playing at her lips as I began to make the shift to offense. "There!" she exclaimed with pride in her voice. "Resilience." I was still too slow, she was doing well to block my advances and I had only landed one punch. "Fight with everything you have." And I certainly did. "Never give up." I didn't. I managed to land six more blows on Impa before she had me pinned to the ground.
"You worked very hard today, Link. It is paying off well, and I am both pleased and impressed by your skill." I grunted in response. Impa's weight was off of me but I stayed on the ground, eyes closed and breathing heavily. She really worked me hard today.
Impa offered me a hand which I gladly took seeing as how is was still in quite a bit of pain from today's session which I am sure I would be feeling in the morning. Impa may not be very heavy but she puts so much force behind her attacks that you wouldn't want to get up after going a round or two with her, must be a shiekah thing I thought to myself.
"That was a great training session Impa, I learned quite bit today both about myself and about teamwork"
Impa smiled proudly at me
As I was about to turn to go meet Zelda, Impa stopped me I gave her a confused look
"Hold on, you didn't think I wouldn't have a gift for you did you?"
She reached into her pocket before producing a pair of earrings. The earring had a symbol in the shape of an eye was crimson with a single tear streaming down the middle lining the symbol was pure gold which sparkled in the sunlight.
I gasped "Impa I-I I can't thank you enough these are magnificent"
Impa smiled before pulling me into her arms in a firm but loving embrace
"You have made me so proud Link, you are the son I never had, in my tribe these earring signify manhood, you have become a true Shiekah apprentice."
I was at a loss for words but settled for "Thank you Impa...for everything"
Impa smiled before letting me go "Link, enjoy your birthday, you deserve it" then motioning to Zelda.
My joy gave me a second wind of energy and I was ready for the rest of the day. Well, almost. I was in desperate need of another shower. I walked over to Zelda with a happy grin still plastered on my face. I showed her my new earrings and she commented that they were very nice and a fitting gift from Impa.
"Hey Zelda, before I show you around, I really need to get cleaned up." She gave a soft laugh and agreed. We began the walk back to my room and kept light conversation while there were some moments of silence, it was comfortable. We were almost to my room and I was fumbling trying to put the earrings in.
"Where is that stupid hole?" I mumbled under my breath while trying to put an earring in my right ear.
"Do you need some help?" I turned to see Zelda who was trying to hide a small smile.
I sighed, the earrings defeated me. "Yes actually." I stopped walking and opened my hand, holding the earrings out to her. I leaned forward just a little so that she didn't have to reach up so far to get to my ears. Very easily she found the small hole and fastened the earring, moving on to my other ear.
"There." She said. I thanked her. "You're welcome, ma—" I gave her a half-glare, "Link."
We continued on to my room. I grabbed a set of new clothes, something nice for today, and Zelda went to find me a towel.
"Here you go, master." She said as she handed me to towel.
"Zelda." I groaned, "Really, just call me Link. It just seems...wrong when you call me master."
"I-I'm sorry…Link." She looked away from me, before quietly adding, "You have your habits, and I have mine."
Impa worked hard to ingrain many things into me, while my parents also drilled me on proper etiquette and refinements of being a prince. I was curious what those people had done to her, but I couldn't ask her that, at least not yet. I said nothing and she quietly left my room. I turned and went to wash up, still thinking about her past. Both our moods had dropped, but hopefully I would make it up when I showed her the other parts of the castle.
Whew another chapter finished I hope you liked it tell me what you think in the review as i enjoy read them (A.N A very special thanks to my new partner/co writer Hoozemy this chapter turned out great and I look forward to creating more with you) the more review we get the better our chapters will become thanks all -Swordvsshield