Epilogue: Once Again to Zelda
I want to love first, and live incidentally.
Don't ever think of the things you can't give me.
You've trusted me with the dearest heart of all.
~Zelda Fitzgerald in a letter to her husband F. Scott, 1919
The Queen of Hyrule stood by the window of her bedchamber, looking out of that great tower towards Hyrule Field. Political missives—letters from King Darunia, Queen Ruto, Saria, and Queen Nabooru, among others—had been arranged on the desk by her bed, but tonight of all nights, on the anniversary of their first meeting in the courtyard, she had dispensed with all other matters of business.
"Do you think he'll come?" The stone on the fourth finger of her left hand, a smaller facsimile of the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, glimmered in the light of the sunset.
"Your concern is the same every year," the voice spoke from the shadows, "and every year, the result is the same. He will come."
"I know." She lowered her head, a sad smile playing across her face. "But there is some comfort in asking the question."
"What is it that troubles you?"
"Am I that obvious?"
"To your subjects, no. To the one who has been your nurse from the womb, yes."
The Queen sighed. "I fear things will not always be as they are now. They condone our union because he is the Hero of Time and a Knight of Hyrule. But what if they begin to forget what we did to save them?"
"The law of the realm is not always the law of Din. If the people begin to frown on your union, you may maintain the vows of your heart in secret without fearing the wrath of the gods."
"I pray it never comes to that."
The shadow nodded towards the window. "You see? He comes."
The Queen's eyes traced the path of his horse as it galloped west from Kokiri Forest. "He has done so much for Hyrule."
"And for you?"
The sly tone of these words painted a blush on the Queen's cheeks. "That is none of your business, Impa, nurse or no."
"My apologies, Queen."
"Don't call me that."
"Very well…Zelda."
They remained in silence for a quarter of an hour, long after his horse had disappeared into the city below. He would arrive soon.
"I will depart," said Impa.
"Not yet." Zelda the Queen held up her hand the way she had since girlhood. "Do you remember the dream I had when he came back?"
"Of course."
"Do you think any of those things will come true?"
"You said he was there, in all of the stories."
"Yes."
"You know your dreams have proved to be true in the past."
"Yes?"
"Then I suspect," Impa said, her voice low but firm, "that as long as there is a Hyrule or any land under Din and her sisters, there will always be a Link to defeat the Darkness."
Zelda didn't answer at first, but it was clear she had heard Impa's words. For a moment, the Sage of Shadow wondered if her Queen would reply at all.
"Impa," she said at last, "I do think you're right."
This is it, folks: the end of the journey. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this far, especially those of you who have stuck with me since I posted the first chapters. Thank you for taking this journey with me, and I hope you're still glad you came along now that you've reached the end. When Randall Wallace wrote the tie-in novel for Braveheart, he said something in his introduction that has stuck with me for years. He said he didn't know how the story of William Wallace really happened, but in his heart, this (referring to the story from the film and the novel) was exactly how it happened. That's the way I feel about my Ocarina of Time novel. Whether it's canon or not, for me this is exactly how it happened.
I can't honestly say where I'll go from here as far as my writing career. After a long delay, the Kindle version of my first published book came out this morning (12/1/12). Feel free to check it out if you liked my writing well enough to read more of it ;-). I can't promise I'll write any more fanfic; if I do, it will probably come in short bursts. I'm not planning any more projects as epic as this one anytime soon. I had always intended for this to be published, and frankly I'm still holding out hope in the back of my heart that a miracle will occur and I'll have the opportunity to see this in print. But that's neither here nor there. I'm still happy to have had the opportunity to share this with you here, regardless of whether it's ever printed and bound.
Once again, my sincere thanks if you've made it this far. Keep playing, keep living, and above all-May the way of the Hero lead to the Triforce!