"Illia," Link said.
"What?" Illia asked, looking away from the setting sun to her friend. The two were twelve at the time.
"Have you ever thought of leaving Ordon?"
"Why?" Illia asked. "I like Ordon."
"I'm just wondering," he said. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life herding goats. What's the point in that? They're just goats, useless, boring goats."
"Hey, goats make milk, which makes cheese! And goat milk is delicious. Besides goat herding, what else would you do anyway?"
Link shrugged. "There's a world of opportunities."
"And what if you don't like that as much as herding goats?"
Link rolled his eyes. "Yep, herding goats is such an exciting thing. I see your point now, Illia. Besides, do you really want to run for mayor?" It was expected that Illia would try to go after her father and convince the people to allow her to be mayor. She wouldn't mind the job, but it wasn't what she dreamed of being. It'd likely be a boring job, and a position she'd have to figh desperatelyt to keep.
"There are worse jobs," Illia said. "And if they find someone else to be mayor then I can always care for the horses."
"What if the horses get tired of you?" Link laughed. "They might find someone they like more, like me."
Illia scowled. "I still can't believe Epona actually likes you considering how fast you ride her. You completely disregard how she feels!"
"She's just a horse. You don't have to get so worked up about her."
"Uh," Illia asked. "What exactly is that?" She pointed at the round, light yellow thing, with dark spots covering most of it.
"It's a cake," Telma said. "I haven't tried making one before, but you know what they say, there's a first time for everything."
Illia cut a slice for herself, then quickly frosted it. She took a bite, then had to force herself to not spit it out. "Don't try selling it at the bar."
"Is it really that bad?" Telma asked, then took a bite. "Oh."
Illia took the cake from her, a few crumbs falling to the floor. "Would you like me to get rid of it for you?"
"Where would you put it?"
"There are some cats in Hyrule Castle Town that would absolutely love this. Believe me, they would."
Telma laughed. "Feel free to take it. I've got to get rid of it somehow, anyway. You're right, Illia, it is terrible!"
Illia laughed. "I'm headed to work."
"Have a good day," Telma said. "If you see Zelda, tell her that I said hi."
Illia nodded, then left. Outside, the air was cool, but she knew that soon it would warm. Around her, children were running, holding toys of various sizes. A few older people walked around at a casual pace, a few of them whistling. The tune carried around the small neighborhood, and Illia joined along.
Once she found the band of hungry cats, which she had given spare food to before, she placed the cake in front of them. The group of cats happily dug in, and once they finished, which was in seconds, they all rubbed against Illia's legs. She scratched the back of their ears and petted the fur on their backs.
"I'm glad at least you liked it," Illia said. "If I can, I'll bring you more food after work today."
The cats all looked up at her happily, then meowed. She knew they'd be expecting her to keep up her end of the bargain.
Once she got to Hyrule Castle, she smiled at the guards, who let her in. She said hi to them, but none responded.
The horse stable smelled terrible, and Illia immediately got to work. Despite her weak appearance, she had actually spent years shoveling animal poop. After years of work, it only took her a short time to finish up her work. Once she had, she wiped the sweat off her forehead, then let the horses out.
"Did you miss me?" she asked the whinnying horses. She stroked a few of the horses muzzles. "I really hope you all did."
Princess Zelda sat reading in the Hyrule Castle library, her nose buried in a red leather-bound book. She didn't notice Illia standing over her.
"Zelda?" Illia asked weakly.
"Oh!" the princess said, then looked up. She put the book down, her face covered in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry, Illia! That was so rude of me!"
Illia laughed. "If you'd come to see me with the horses then you'd probably have to say my name for me to notice you, too."
"So, what are you doing here?" Zelda smiled, patting a spot for Illia to sit down at.
"I just dropped by to send you a message," Illia said, sitting down on the comfortable seat.
"Who is the message from?"
"Telma."
"And what is the message?"
"She told me to say that she says hello."
Zelda laughed. "That's definitely something Telma would do."
Illia breathed in the smell of old books, and closed her eyes. She sat close next to the princess, and she could feel her warm body, hear steady her breathing. For a moment Illia was all alone, in a place where she didn't have to worry about her father, her new job, Epona, Telma, Zelda, or even Link. In this place none of them existed, and it was a peaceful place. The Twilight War had never happened, Illia had never been taken by the king of the boblokins, and she'd never lost her memory. She was just Illia, and it felt like she was the only person who knew this.
"Would you like any suggested reading material?" the princess asked, breaking the spell around Illia. She wasn't just Illia anymore, but instead one of the many people in the royal library.
Illia nodded. "I'm sure you've got good taste in reading materials."
Zelda laughed, then got up and walked to a nearby bookshelf of hardcover books, then grabbed one with a somewhat cracked spine, its outside yellow in color. She handed it to Illia. "I'm sure you'll love it."
"What's it about?" Illia asked, taking the book from Zelda. The cover was worn away, so she knew Zelda must recognize it quite well if she'd known the exact book from tons of others.
"Let's just say you'll like it," Zelda said. "I think it's good to just blindly go into some books and see where they take you. You should try it with this."
Illia opened it.
The Words of a Hero
Written by Anonymous
"Zelda," Illia said. "Why did you recommend this to me? It seems like something more for. . ." Illia paused, her throat seemingly unable to get the word out. "Well, for Link."
"You haven't even read anything but the title yet." Zelda crossed her arms. "Believe me, this explains a lot about being a hero."
"I will read it then, princess." Illia still didn't know why the princess had given it to her, but she decided she might as well read it.
When she got home, after stopping for a short time to give small amounts of meat she'd gotten from the castle cooks to the stray cats, she walked to her room and sat in bed. She covered herself with her blanket, then began reading.
I will not reveal who I am, but I will reveal one thing: I am not the hero of time. He is widely seen as a hero, which is good, because he is one, but he is not the very definition of a hero. We all have faults, and to say that he didn't have faults would've been a pure lie.
Heroes are ordinary people, and what they do may not even seem heroic to them at the time; perhaps they never even realize what they did was heroic and live their lives wondering if they can ever do something that they think will improve their lives, make them worth remembering. Is that worse than being prideful about their hero status? If only there was a way to tell them that they are a hero, but it is impossible.
Illia closed the book and sighed. She'd heard Zelda was interested in many forms of knowledge: mathematics, studying the Golden Goddesses, history, the geography of Hyrule and other lands, medicine, and economics. This was by far one of her strangest interests. Illia knew quite well that she wasn't a hero, she was just the forgotten friend of one.
She put the book away, then went downstairs and began to prepare Telma dinner, which would be a happy surprise for her. Telma would hug her, thank her for helping her when she was already so busy, and take a happy taste-test, maybe a few other bites.
Illia began to prepare soup, mixing in vegetables and meat. She began to whistle, then opened a window to let in some cool air. She stirred the soup around, then took a taste test, which caused her to decide it needed some spices to add extra flavor.
Telma opened the door. "Sorry I'm late, I really didn't mean for this to happen, but I got busy." Telma was shocked. "You made me dinner? Oh thank you, Illia! You're such a darling." She hugged the small girl, filling Illia's nose with her flowery perfume.
"It was nothing," Illia said. "I just figured you'd be tired after working all day."
"Well you must be tired too."
Illia continued to stir the soup. "I don't mind, Telma. You deserve it for keeping me around."
"That's right," Telma said. "You are quite a bit of trouble." Telma winked. "So, how long until the soup's ready?"
"It shouldn't be long," Illia said. She hadn't realized how long she'd been working on it. "I know it's hot outside and my soup isn't much cooler, but it was all I could think of making."
"I don't mind a bit. I'm sure you've got a secret ingredient, something that'll make it a hundred percent delicious."
Illia laughed, then took another taste test. "Get a bowl," she said to Telma. "I think it's warm enough now." Zelda was pleasantly surprised that Telma hadn't had a taste-test, which was quite out of character.
The two ate, each talking about their day.
"Zelda recommended you a book?" Telma took another spoonful of soup. "She's recommended me some strange things."
Illia laughed. "I guess you had about as good of a recommendation as I did, huh?"
"You wouldn't believe it! She thinks she knows so much about people, but then she gets us the strangest books. The only person she seems to get things right for is Shad, but I think he might just be pretending she gets him the right book."
"Why would you think that?" Illia thought back to the man with glases at the dining room of Hyrule Castle, the one who had made bets against Princess Zelda and lost.
"He thinks he's right for her." Telma laughed. "He thinks because they have similar tastes that they'll somehow get together. For someone who had studied so much, he sure is an idiot. Zelda is far from interested."
"Who is she interested in?" The face of the princess appeared in her mind, a face she couldn't say was anything other than beautiful. Most likely everyone went after, both for her looks and to also get a position of power.
"I honestly don't know." Telma finished her soup. "She's quite secretive about that type of thing."
"Oh," Illia said.
"Why are you interested?" Telma raised her left eyebrow.
"I was just curious, that's all."
"She isn't interested in marrying, and I can't blame her. Ugh, half of the men in this town are chauvinist pigs. She hasn't shown interest in men, or anyone, and it doesn't matter; Zelda can easily rule by herself. It's almost funny how many men go after her to be king, and she rejects them within seconds. They'd be more likely to make Princess Agitha their king then Princess Zelda."
"Princess Agitha?" Illia couldn't remember seeing any other princesses in the castle, and she'd heard Zelda was the only surviving member of the royal family.
"That's just someone in Hyrule Castle Town," Telma said. "Agitha is actually a sweet, albeit odd, girl. Maybe you should meet her sometime."
"I will," Illia said.
"So you like it here?" Telma asked.
Illia thought back to her life in Ordon. "I can't say I know what I was going to expect, but yes, I like it."
Author's Note: Okay, I tried making this a longer chapter. I kind of want to point out something: Hyrule is commonly portrayed as a transphobic, homophobic, and misogynistic place. There is no canonical proof that it is any of these things. There's about as much proof that Hyrule is patriarchal as there is proof that Hyrule takes place on Mars. In this fanfiction, Hyrule is a society that realizes the value of equality. It actually doesn't change the story that much, I was just pointing that fact out.