After Zelda spent a little time in the market of Gerudo, she spoke with Urbosa for some time and did decide to return to Naboris once more for some finalizing on their ideas.
"Link, do you think you could go and prepare our mounts? I shouldn't be too long," she said after agreeing with Urbosa to go to the Beast.
He felt uneasy about leaving her be.
"I'll be fine," she assured him with a sigh. "I'll be with Urbosa, and the walk to the oasis isn't even that far. I have one more elixir for the heat as well."
He still paused.
"Go on," she urged.
"I've got her back," Urbosa said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
He nodded and turned, hoping this wasn't a mistake. Still in the vai clothing, he rented a sand seal from a vendor and made his way back to the bazaar, and he only fell off the shield once.
After arriving, he checked on the horses, made sure they ate and drank plenty of water, rinsed them off once more, and fully tacked them up.
Figuring Zelda would arrive soon, he also changed back into his usual blue tunic, packing away the vai clothing in his magical bag of holding. He then waited outside near the water under a palm tree. There were a few other people around, some vendors and some travelers.
"Now I swear this person walking past me vanished in a puff of smoke," a young man said as he came into the bazaar and spoke to the guard. "I passed them and thought I heard something. But when I looked they were gone! Just a faint bit of smoke."
"Probably just sand," one of the vendors called out annoyed.
"I dunno, but it was weird."
"The heat's getting to you, I have plenty of potions and elixirs to help with that," another vendor said.
Link immediately jumped to his feet and started for the path. He hurried, doing his best to move quickly through the sand. As he continued to run, ahead to him he could see some figures distorted by the heat. A sharp cry rang out and Link knew it was Zelda. He narrowed his eyes, pushing himself to run faster as his feet pushed into the sand.
Zelda fell to the ground with one masked Yiga behind her and two closing in from the front of her. She breathed heavily and looked around frantically, trying to moved away from them.
One Yiga raised their scythe and struck down just as Link grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword. As he drew the sword with a quick lunge, he slashed up on the chest of Yiga and hooked the scythem throwing it into the air. The Yiga fell to the ground, and the scythe soon after.
He stood defensively in front of Zelda in a wide stance, his sword at the ready. He steadied his breath, preventing hyperventilation. The other two Yiga relax their shoulders and slowly stepped back.
There was a moment of silence, the wind blowing sand around. Link could feel sand sticking to his sweat.
Then one of the Yiga lunged forward at Link, but he stepped to the side and struck him down. Then his left shoulder jolted forward, the Yiga's scythe hooked into him. As they pulled it back and went for another attack, Link turned to them and slashed down with his sword, cutting their hand badly.
They stepped back and put their hands together before vanishing with a puff. Link relaxed slowly, sheathing his sword.
Zelda let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you," she breathed.
He then knelt down and looked her over for wounds.
"I'm uninjured, but you are," she said with a look of worry. She stood and brushed herself off. "Let's fix you up," she said looking at the blood now soaking his tunic.
He looked at it and pressed it with his hand. It was now really starting to sting and throb.
"You should have a healing elixir in your bag." She opened the satchel at Link's hip and pulled out a bottle with a sloshing red liquid in it. "Here, drink up." She held it to him.
He hesitated. The elixirs in his bag were meant for Zelda should she ever be injured.
"Oh come on," she begged. "I'm perfectly fine. And you know…" she said changing her tone with a smile. "If your injured you cannot protect me as well." She held it in front of his face.
He sighed. She had a point. He took the bottle, uncorked it, and downed it. He was unfortunately too familiar with the sharp bitterness.
Slowly the blood stopped flowing and the wound did close up. He let out a deep breath as the pain faded.
"Good." She took his arm and looked his shoulder over, checking to see that it was fully healed. "You look okay," she said in relief. "We should get back to the bazaar."
Link adjusted the blood soaked sleeve on his arm and followed Zelda to the little oasis. There he pulled off his tunic and used an empty bottle to pour water on the sullied fabric. Zelda stood back and watched him rinse out the blood, managing to get just about all of it out. He then rinsed off his shoulder and arm. Zelda went to check on the horses as Link put the tunic back on. It was still wet, but with the desert sun, it didn't feel too bad, and it would be dry soon.
They each mounted their horses and headed off at a quicker pace. Zelda was anxious to get back to the castle, likely from the attack of the Yiga. She didn't speak much on the ride back, didn't even find something to complain about. Link did enjoy the silence. He focused on Epona and how good it felt to ride with her.
Epona always helped him to relax him. With all the changes going on in his life recently, having something constant like the affection of his mount helped him get by. He enjoyed the rush of the saddle again. Zelda, however, was having a difficult time with Malon. He had a temper and would get fussy when Zelda took the reins. Once they were on a steady path, he calmed for a while until he grew tired and simply stopped walking. Zelda seemed used to this behavior and simply sighed before sliding off the saddle and deciding to take a rest.
Even when they returned by dusk, Zelda was still quiet. Link worried that the Yiga scared her, but he couldn't bring himself to ask. It was the first time he found himself really wanting to try and converse her, but as per usual, he couldn't find himself to. With Zelda back in her room, Link took care of the mounts and went about his usual training routines before falling asleep.