The Legend of Link:
The Bastard Prince
15. Sacred Grove
The sun rose sluggishly, allowing time for the group to rise slowly and eat heartily before they needed to set off again.
After the incident in the Spring, Zoelda had desperately tried to go back to sleep, had willed herself to believe it had been a dream the entire time. She willed herself to believe that everything that had happened in Hyrule had been a dream, that she was in some weird post Switch getting nap that her over active imagination was exaggerating beyond belief.
Of course that didn't actually work.
Too much had happened, too much had happened to change her. And the fact that she had evidently changed Alarink and his views continued to bother her as she tried to drift back to sleep.
It didn't help that soon Alarink was scratching on her tent, whispering her name.
"Zelda?" She pulled her blankets up over head in a futile attempt to block him out. "Zelda, I know you're in there. I'm, I'm sorry. I've just screwed it all up. I should have just let it be."
Then leave it be now, Zoelda thought to herself with a roll of her eyes.
There was a slumping sound from outside. She leaned up to have a look and saw the slightly darker silhouette of Alarink leaning against her tent in his robe against an already dark background. It was in that moment that she remembered what Alarink had said a few days earlier when she had jokily asked who the Shadows belonged to if not the Princess. Seeing him as a slightly darker shadow on an already dark one made her remember that he was – at least he had been born - a creature of shadow, a creature born to rule it.
"… But I'm not going to take it back and say I didn't mean it. I've spent the last two days trying to hide from the fact, so I'm not going to hide it any longer. I've fully given into my destiny because of it. And, do you want to know my destiny? The part of the Hero's Spirit in this final confrontation with Ganondorf?
"It's to die, Zelda. Within the next few days, I'll be dead.
"And I'll be damned if I go out without telling you that I love you."
Moments passed as Zoelda wrapped her head around the fact that she had suspected right. Moments more passed as she tried to figure out why his only purpose in all this was to die, there had to be some reason, perhaps even some way out of it.
And finally she settled on the angry thought that Alarink was only telling her this all now to get her to say she loved him back, to get her to admit feelings that she wasn't entirely sure she felt. Sure, there was some chemistry, something between the two of them that just made them work as a pair. But she couldn't be sure it would make them work as something more. And she knew she liked him well enough, perhaps even held him in higher regard than that, but she wasn't going to say anything she wasn't certain on.
So she laid back down, her blankets wrapped tightly around her to keep all sound out as she desperately willed herself to sleep once again.
"Zelda? Zelda, speak to me." Alarink whispered once again, leaning his head back against the tent in exhaustion and exasperation. "Zelda… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Despite her exhaustion and her determined will to go back to sleep, Zoelda didn't manage to drift back off. Instead she laid in pretend sleep for the rest of the night, her mind once again racing as she tried to figure out if she felt the same way for Alarink. As she tried to figure out when on earth she could have possibly made him feel like that for her.
Ultimately, she must have drifted off an hour or so before sunrise as the gradual lightening of her tent forced her eyes open again, feeling somewhat sandy and scratchy after another night of pitiful sleep.
With an annoyed sigh as her hands hit nothing but air as they reached instinctively for her phone, she pushed herself into a sitting position and glanced over to the place that Alarink had lent against her tent the night before. Though hardly surprised to see his sleeping figure still there, she was still annoyed by it.
People were meant to be flattered when someone told them they loved them, that's what Zoelda had always been told. But when it came from someone she hadn't known for a week in a realm that wasn't even her own, with no one else around she could trust or confide in – though she hardly had that at home, to be fair – it was something else entirely.
It wasn't that she didn't care for Alarink, or that she didn't care for his feelings for her; it's just that she didn't know what to say or do when someone confesses their love for you and you're not sure if you feel the same way.
So, she sighed again and began to change into her armour dress and weapons yet again.
At least they'd be done with all this before too much longer. If she could just avoid Alarink in this time she figured it wouldn't be much of a problem.
Of course she was forgetting the fact that they had literally relied on each other since she arrived and that she'd have to wake him up if she wanted to strike the tent since it was unlikely the others would be up yet.
So, stuffing her stuff back away in her bag, she made her way out of her tent into the light of the slowly waking morning. As she emerged, she looked over to where the sun was rising over the Lake, it's rays reflecting over the water and looking for all the world like a lake of spilt blood. In light of Ganondorf's resurrection, Zoelda wasn't entirely sure how long the lake of blood would remain an illusion of the sunrise.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced over to Alarink and where he lay against her tent. He was still clothed in only his robe, tightly pulled about him for warmth with a fist curled up in it likely from where he had pulled it about him during the night. His hood was down, as was his hair, both of which were splayed about his shoulders negligently. And, due to him being cloaked and asleep in his Twili robe, he was in his natural form - contact with that side of him seemed to bring it out in him, Zoelda guessed as she looked down at his pale blue face.
As she watched him breathe evenly, his face creased by bad dreams, Zoelda knelt down next to him. She could hardly deny that he was an attractive man, be he in Twili or Hylian form, marred only by that long bisecting scar across his chest that she now couldn't help but suspect was linked to how he would die. And, as she thought on it, she had to admit that he was a very interesting individual, one rather compatible to herself even if they were rather opposite. And yet, despite that…
She didn't love him, not in the way he wanted her to.
So she steeled herself, sighed, and prepared herself to give him the cold shoulder, figuring that was kinder. She knew it wasn't. But they were only a few days away from finishing this and her returning to her world.
And it would be much better for them both to live their separate lives after then.
Zoelda pointedly ignored the fact that Alarink was apparently destined to simply die, there was no way that could be the case.
Gently, she shook him awake, making sure her face was angry as she did – it would hardly be fair to wake him up to false hope, better to crush the dream immediately. It killed her to see his face turn from anger at being awoken, to hope at it being by her, to confusion at the look on her face before setting on ultimate resignation and sorrow, a tiny sad smile on his lips as he looked up at her.
"Morning." He muttered, rubbing his eyes with one hand while keeping his robe closed with the other.
"Morning." Zoelda muttered in response, removing her hand from his shoulder and standing up, planning on going over to the other tents to wake them then start on a breakfast.
"Um, Zo? About last night…" Alarink started, a hand over his eyes as he looked over at her standing before the rising sun.
"Don't take it back." Zoelda said quietly to him over her shoulder, not trusting herself to turn back and look at him properly, knowing she'd break down and tell him not to worry about it. It was illogical to do it this way, she knew, but she needed him to know she was pissed at him enough that she didn't want to talk to him for a while at least.
"What?" Alarink asked, confused and vaguely hopeful.
"Don't take back what you said last night. You clearly meant it and I don't want you to pretend that you don't. It's just that… I don't. I'm sorry, but I don't feel the same way. And I think it's best that we take some time apart for now."
She didn't look back to see him bury his face in his mismatched hands, to see him dig his nails into his scalp, she couldn't bear to see what this was doing to him. So instead, she watched the sunrise over the lake, bathing the world in a red and orange glow, a farmers warning, her father would have said.
"I've screwed this all up, haven't I?" He asked, his voice muffled by his hands. "Good Goddess, I've fucked up."
"No. That's what I'm doing." Muttered Zoelda in reply, willing herself not to whimper at the sound of loss and sorrow in his voice. It killed her to do this, but it was better than false and possibly misplaced hope, at least to her. "Let's finish this, Link. We can worry about this later."
As she began to walk over to the other tents to wake the others up, she vaguely heard Alarink slump back down and mutter, "There won't be later."
It took about half an hour for the others to all get up, dressed and packed away. Alarink had sat in misery for several minutes before sighing, getting up and going over to his tent to change into some appropriate clothing and out of his Twili skin. Zoelda had pointedly ignored him in this time, not wanting to break the illusion that she was unaware of the pain she was causing, that she didn't feel any pain in doing this.
As he disappeared into his tent, she slumped onto her heels next to the fire she was stirring up to cook a breakfast on, burring her face in her hands as she finally allowed the tears to fall.
This was the one thing no one had ever seemed to mention to her, the heartbreak one experiences when breaking someone's heart. People only ever saw someone who had had their heart broken, they were there to console that person and condemn the person who had broken their heart. The heartbreaker was never meant to show sorrow in their choice, they were meant to act as though it hadn't physically destroyed them to hurt someone they had once cared about, or perhaps still cared about.
It was a failing of the modern world for people to be expected to act like this, because the Gods knew that Zoelda was not emotionally equip enough to pretend that it wasn't killing her to break her friend's heart. Because they knew she cared for him, they knew she could one day even love him. But because she couldn't right now, it seemed in her opinion to be fairer to not provide him with false hope and string him along until the fight in a few days. The girl had never even had a relationship and now she was expected to know how to handle breaking up from one.
So, she cried silently into her hands by a fire as the sun rose and the world was silent, willing no one to wake up or come out and see her doing this.
Willing no one to see the heartbreaker heart broken.
It was Shad who came out first and saw her cracking Cucco eggs into a frying pan some minutes later. On a set of plates beside her were already a few slices of not particularly well-cooked toast and a hunk of cheese from the night before. Zoelda never pretended to be a good cook, but at least she knew how to cook eggs so they wouldn't give someone salmonella, which is all she really needed as she willed herself to stop weeping over them.
"Good morning, Zelda." Said Shad as he came over to the plates beside her, helping himself to some toast. "Sleep well, old girl?"
"Oh, um. Morning, Shad," she mumbled into the pan as she wiped her face of tears and pushed the eggs with a spatula. "Um, yeah, I did. How did you sleep?"
"Not too bad considering the lingering presence of evil." He joked, getting a forced little laugh out of Zoelda as she came over and put the eggs onto a plate for people to help themselves from. As she walked past Shad, he stopped her and looked up into her face, noting her red eyes and nose. "My girl, what's wrong?"
Zoelda half chuckled at herself, waving the frying pan in one hand as she wiped her eyes with the other again. It was everything she could do not to break down before him there and then, tell him exactly what he'd done. Instead she continued to laugh/cry as he looked up at her, worried behind his glasses. Then, remembering their conversation from yesterday, she smiled and said: "I want to go home."
And then she broke down again, dropping the frying pan onto the floor so she wouldn't accidentally press it's burning base against her forehead as she began to cry again. Sure, that wasn't really why she was so upset, but she wished she could've been with her father then, have him hug her and tell her it would all be okay. Instead she got the man who had sort of been a father to the man she was crying about hugging her instead, smoothing her hair down and telling her it would be all over soon, she'd be back before she knew it.
Unfortunately, she was still crying when Link and the Princess emerged happily from their shared tent, all packed and ready to go. Gods how she hated seeing them like that! They stopped smiling pretty sharpish when they saw Zoelda pulling away from Shad and wiping her eyes.
"Zoelda? Whatever's the matter?" The Princess asked, coming over to her, her face a mask of concern.
"Oh," she muttered, picking up the frying pan and throwing it into a bucket of water and making it sizzle. "I'm just feeling a little homesick, nothing to worry about."
"I'm sorry." The Princess hugged her quickly. "It'll be over soon and you'll be back before you know it. But right now, let's just sit and eat, we've still got a bit left before we can call it over after all."
The Princess forced Zoelda down to eat with them, despite her wavering protests of not really being all that hungry that morning. So she sat uncomfortably eating the food she made for a few moments as she listened to the Princess whisper to her knight and watched Shad read his books. She might not have been genuinely homesick before, but she certainly was as she watched the others ignore her.
Just as she finished her last bite and stood up to start taking down the Princess' and Link's tent, Alarink emerged from his with a phoney smile on his lips, looking for all the world like nothing had changed in the last few days apart from his dye mysteriously disappearing from his ginger hair.
Their eyes met before they could look elsewhere.
They both flinched and looked down. They nodded politely to one another. They carried on in other directions.
They both hid the tears in their eyes and put on fake smiles. His was more practiced than hers, though neither were particularly believable.
They both realised they had a long few days ahead of them.
So they pretended nothing was wrong as Alarink went over to where the others were sat with the food, helping himself and flopping down to take the piss out of the Princess and Link while Zoelda rolled her eyes and started taking down the other tents. They might have ruined it all and made everything about twenty times more uncomfortable between them, but at least they could keep up the appearance that nothing had changed over breakfast by simply having Alarink act like his usual dickish self.
About a quarter of an hour later, while Zoelda was checking the horses over and attaching the remaining packs and bags to them, the other started moving and planning what to do from here. Zoelda couldn't say she was particularly paying attention to Alarink, Shad and the Princess planning the quickest route to the Sacred Grove, but every time she heard Alarink's voice she started and forced herself to stop listening again. It was a horrible way to pass the time, with only her thoughts to distract her as she desperately tried not to listen.
Instead of listening, she passed the time checking the horses over for cuts, scrapes or signs of exhaustion. She found none after the first few minutes of inspection, but still hung around with Rogue, making a show of checking his leg over instead of going back to join the others. Clearly the horse found this confusing, snorting often and looking down at his rider with a depth of confusion behind his dark eyes.
"It's a horse, Zo," Alarink shouted at her after a few minutes, causing her to start and blush as she looked over at where he was stood next to the dying fire, a phoney grin on his lips that tried to hide the tears standing plainly in his eyes, desperately trying to act normal despite the pain.
"I, I know that, Alarink," she replied, trying to sound normal as the others came over to her and the horses. "I was just checking them over for any signs that they might be getting tired."
"Find any?"
"No, I don't think so…" She turned her gaze downwards to avoid his eyes as he led Malanya out. He might have had an entire lifetime of practice deceiving people and hiding his pain, but Zoelda hadn't had to hide any serious pain since her mother died. Pretending nothing was wrong or had changed wasn't easy and she dearly wished Alarink wasn't so good at it.
"Alright then, shall we be off? It's a long journey back to Faron!" With that, Alarink tugged Malanya's reins and started the leading walk back up to the Great Bridge of Hylia's level.
It was a quiet walk, both because of the uncomfortable situation between Alarink and Zoelda and because of the lingering unease that they were now heading towards the final confrontation, the battle that would remove Demise from a physical human form forever. Regardless, it was simply a long and uncomfortable walk back up to the Bridge from the lake side and Zoelda tried desperately not to think too much as they climbed, keeping her eyes firmly focused on the scenery instead of listening to the quiet conversation of the Princess and Link or of Alarink to Shad.
When they finally reached the Bridge, it was about the middle of the morning and the signs that Ganon was once again taking a hold of Hyrule were obvious in the sheer number of monsters roaming the fields. The group looked out at the monster swarming trail to Southern Hyrule field apprehensively before Alarink turned to Shad with a sad smile.
"I believe this is where we part ways, old friend." Said he, his eyes flecked with tears, both those to do with Zoelda's rejection and those to do with saying goodbye to his oldest friend. "May your days be fortuitous."
"Don't make me say goodbye, my boy," Shad said, his eyes tearing behind his glasses. "I'm not any good at them and I don't like what you're about to do."
"It unfortunately can't be changed, Shad. Trust me, I've been looking for a way for years now. Best just get on with it, I think."
"Well then, old boy," Shad brought the taller ginger in for a tight hug. "Good luck, don't let us down."
"I'll do my best not to." Alarink said into his shoulder as he hugged him back. "I'll make a special point not to for you, if you'd like."
"Never change, my boy." Said he, pulling away and wiping his glasses as he began to turn to face Zoelda. "Never change."
Looking at a man who had, however briefly, known her mother brought a lump to Zoelda's throat as she leant down and embraced him. Goodbyes had never been a strong suit of hers and she wasn't particularly enthused about having to say goodbye to someone she knew she'd never see again. So she just hugged him, willing herself not to cry again as she did.
"Good luck, my girl." Shad whispered in her ear as he pulled back. "And try to work through whatever caused this rift between you and Link, it's killing him."
"I'll see what I can do, Shad." Zoelda replied, halfway earnestly as she looked over to where Alarink was mounting Malanya, seeing him wiping his face of tears as inconspicuously as possible. "Stay safe."
Shad nodded and started over to where his horse stood, ready and waiting at the edge of the Bridge while Zoelda settled herself into Rogue's saddle.
"Good luck, safe travels!" Shad shouted to them as he turned to the north and ultimately back to help get those in Hyrule Castle Town to safety, the group starting at a slow walk to the south.
"Goodbye, Shad." Alarink said quietly, half to himself it seemed as he heard the steady beat of horse hooves over the cobbled stone of the Bridge. After a few moments, he shook his head and spurred Malanya into a run, leaving the others to look in his wake for a moment before spurring their own mounts on in the general direction of Faron and the Sacred Grove.
There were many more monsters in their path than there had been previously, so they didn't make particularly good time on their way south. Even without stopping to eat lunch – and without stopping at the death of every monster for Alarink to shout profanities at it, his heart just didn't seem to be in it as he rode them down with a single "fuck you" each time – it still took them until the middle of the afternoon to arrive at the path leading to the Sacred Grove.
Zoelda only remembered it being a broken off path that lead to the misty Lost Woods of the Skull Kid before reaching the Temple and Grove itself in the Twilight Era, and it certainly didn't look like a particularly easy path as they reined their horses in just before the bridge leading up to the old Forest temple.
"How do we get to the Grove?" Zoelda asked as she swung down from Rogue, landing on her bad leg with only a dull thudding pain. Whatever ointment Shad had administered to it yesterday had clearly helped to ease the pain if nothing else, and Zoelda had been careful not to get hit or put herself in any danger on the ride down. Quite contrastingly, as she looked over at him for an answer, Alarink had gone out of his way to put himself in harm's way on the ride, deliberately running into clusters of Bulbins and Bokoblins with the Master Sword raised to strike.
It was some small miracle that he didn't actually get injured in his rampage, though the look on his face as he checked his arms over for injuries seemed to suggest he wasn't particularly satisfied with that.
"I haven't the faintest idea," he replied as he looked over his left arm for any cuts. Though they weren't on the best of terms or anything now, it still upset Zoelda to see Alarink so willing to get injured, to throw his life away before the final battle… where it would be necessary for him to throw his life away, apparently. "Damn, not a single cut… Princess?"
"I can open a way, but I suggest we take some time to eat first." Zelda answered, pulling what was left of a loaf of bread out for them to eat alongside a round of cheese.
"So what's this way of yours?" Alarink asked as he cut himself some food with his dagger. Though, as per usual, he was sat next to Zoelda, the two didn't make any kind of contact as they ate, and Zoelda could tell his questioning the Princess had nothing to do with curiosity, it was simply a way to fill the silence that would befall them if they left the Princess to whisper with Link. And it was easier to make conversation with the Princess look natural than it would be with each other.
"It's a Royal Family secret cut-through," said the Princess between bites. "I don't expect you to know about it."
"Try me." Alarink responded with a flash of a grin, a sight only marred by his saddened eyes.
Princess Zelda gave him a look before sighing and looking off to the west in the general direction of the Grove that they couldn't see. "Normally, the Hero needs to overcome much difficulty – specifically the Lost Woods – to access the Temple of Time. However, due to the Royal family's connection to the Temple, we are able to call on the Goddess to provide us a more convenient route."
"Because the Princesses are rarely physically able enough to traverse the Hero's path?" He asked, clearly pushing for a fight. As much as Zoelda somewhat doubted the Princess' explanation as it posed the question of why would the Royal family ever put the Hero through all those trials if they could access it easier – though she supposed the explanation for why not revolved around needing to test the Hero's worthiness – she was willing to accept it for the sake of moving on and actually going to the Temple.
"I know you're trying to be funny, Alarink," the Princess half glared at him as she finished her food. "But, yes, as the Vessels of the Goddess Hylia, we Princesses aren't built for physical prowess, only mental."
"Wow, actually giving in to me, Princess?" Alarink seemed genuinely surprised as he rose to his feel and brushed himself off. "You feeling well?"
"Just a little on edge about the physical embodiment of evil taking over my Castle and impatient to stop him."
"You worry about that too much," he joked as he put his leftovers into Malanya's saddlebags.
"And you too little," the Princess replied with a slight scowl as she walked over to a west wall of solid earth. "Try to take this seriously, Alarink. If only for our sakes."
"I won't make promises." He whispered as he brushed past Zoelda to stand behind the Princess. At the light brush of him against her as she stood up, Zoelda flinched and forced herself not to openly blush or react. Of course, she did blush and her hands were tightly balled into fists as she rose to her feet and wondered over to the two of them, but only Link could see her then, and if he noticed, he didn't react.
"Be silent." The Princess snapped then, not really in anger or annoyance, just in concentration as she approached the wall with her hands in the prayer pose at her chest. The blonde girl was muttering some incantation under her breath in what must have been Hylian and as Zoelda moved to stand next to Link - who was in the middle of her and Alarink a few feet behind the Princess - she noticed that it was the lyrics to the Ballad of the Goddess, bastardised over centuries of repetition, but vaguely recognisable nonetheless.
Unfortunately, while it generated a small golden glow around the Princess and a disturbance in the wall, it didn't seem to do much else, much to her anger.
"Wow, this method of yours is great, Princess," Alarink sneered, deliberately trying to work her up. Clearly, he was on the war path today.
"Why isn't it working?" Princess Zelda muttered to herself as she looked up from her prayers, confusion, worry and annoyance all chasing each other on her features.
"Mind if I help?" Zoelda asked, pulling the small harp out of her dress and looking at it closely.
"I don't think you'd be any help, Zoelda." The Princess snapped, straightening herself and moving back into the prayer pose.
"I'm of Goddess blood too, Princess," Zoelda pointed out with a small smile as she plucked the strings with her fingernails, making sure they were in tune. "And I know the true melody you're trying to sing."
With that, Zoelda started up the simple Ballad on the harp that had once belonged to Hylia herself, if she believed the legends. After a few seconds of the group staring at her in surprise – not the least Alarink who looked at her as though she was both something terrifying and beautiful – Zoelda raised an eyebrow at them and moved to stand next to the Princess, plucking the strings from the beginning again before she began singing the Ballad in English.
The disturbance in the wall grew with this, almost giving a distorted view of the Temple Grounds. It also caused a slight golden glow to Zoelda herself, nothing that the others really saw, but one she definitely noticed originating from her Triforced hand. She turned to the Princess and gave her a look to say "join in" as she struck up the Ballad again.
Together, in an odd but strangely perfect harmony, the two sung the Ballad of the Goddess, one in Hylian, one in English, both mesmerising and mellifluous. They started to glow together as the disturbance in the wall grew even more defined and gave a sight to the Temple Grounds not unlike one you might have seen through water.
Behind them, the two Links watched in shock and awe, amazed by the serenity and sincerity of the song to the Goddess. Entranced by the beauty of the Goddess' blood performing before them.
And, as Zoelda plucked the final note and the girls hit the final harmony, the way opened clearly, their glow shimmering before fading out. Before them, on the west wall, was an instant portal to the Temple of Time.
Sure, there was a part of Zoelda that saw just how illogical this was, but it was pretty much silenced by her amazement at the view before her and the fact that she and the Princess had opened it together. Turning to look to her right, she saw Princess Zelda just as amazed, an open grin on her face as she turned to look at her long lost distant cousin.
"Thank you." Said the Princess simply to her, too surprised to do anything else, it seemed.
"Don't mention it." Zoelda replied as she hid the harp back away in her dress.
"Well," Alarink said from behind them, "as amazing as this is, I think we should head forwards and get this Sword blessed rather than wasting anymore time."
"I thought you weren't worried about the lingering threat of evil," said the Princess as the group walked up to the portal. As Zoelda got a closer look at it, she realised it looked rather two dimensional in a way the portals to the Twilight Realm hadn't – this was clearly just a means of travelling from one place to the next in a single realm as opposed to interealm travel.
"I'm not," Alarink said as he stepped through the portal first, the Princess close behind followed then by Link and finally Zoelda. "But I am worried about the lingering threat of night when we still have much to do."
The sight of the Temple of Time, taken over by ivy and falling down due to negligence in some places, brought a great sense of calm and tranquillity to Zoelda, the kind of calm that she hadn't felt in years and that made her stop worrying about everything going on in the worlds and between her and Alarink. It made her realise that, despite endless wars for the Triforce, despite everything that had ever and could ever come to pass, the Temple and time itself was as unchangeable as anything in any worlds – standing tall as the Sealed Temple in the Era of the Sky and crumbling in the wilderness that was Breath of the Wild's Hyrule.
It was humbling and awe-inspiring as she stared up at something every Link, every Zelda, since the Era of the Sky had looked at. The place Zelda had cocooned herself in orange glass, the place where Fi said goodbye, the place where Link had slept for seven years, the place where the Triforce had lived; it stood before her in marble and ivy, sending shivers up her spine as she saw a sight that made her feel like she belonged, like this world was a part of her.
"What else could you possibly have to do today, Alarink?" The Princess asked in a respectfully quiet voice despite her waspish exasperation.
"Like I said yesterday," Alarink replied in a calm and respectful voice, also humbled by the sacred site before them. "I need to get one more blessing and pick up my armour from the treehouse before we can fight evil."
"Oh, so you got the blessing of Lanayru last night, I take it?" Princess Zelda asked innocently enough as the group made their way over to the Grove where the pedestal of the Master Sword stood. It was her innocence to it all that made Zoelda flinch the most, as she remembered the blessing getting last night and the subsequent rift that had grown between her and Alarink. Clearly, the mention of the night before made Alarink flinch as well, a glance at Zoelda and shiver he hid by making it look like he was just reaching to get the Master Sword out of its sheath confirmed as much.
"Yes, I did." Alarink said shortly as he stepped up to the pedestal, trampling a small path of waving, long grass down as he did. "Now, we need to bless this."
For a moment, he got himself into a steady stance, holding the Sword in both hands above his head and preparing to plunge it down. Zoelda was only half watching this, instead focusing most of her attention on the three small flowers growing around the Sword. Evidently, the Silent Princess had been growing for many centuries, even if it was only these three plants for eons.
Then he turned abruptly, tossing the Sword the other way around in his hand and presenting it hilt first to Link. Obviously, the Princess and Link were shocked by this, though Zoelda could only roll her eyes as she braced herself for Alarink to say something dickish to the knight.
"Here, 'Link', you best do this. I don't think I'm worthy."
Link glared as Alarink chuckled and turned back, flipping the Sword back over and thrusting it in casually with one hand.
Then something happened that no one was expecting, something that hadn't happened in the history of the Legends: The Sword's Spirit popped out with a graceful backflip.
Staring at all their shocked faces with featureless eyes, Fi turned all of her attention to Alarink and bowed. Startled, Alarink could only stare in shock, his left hand still tightly coiled around the hilt.
"Vessel of the Hero's Spirit," Fi said to him with her almost metallic voice. "I bless you on this quest to remove Demise's Hylian form."
"Oh, um, thank you, Spirit of the Sword," Alarink actually stuttered for what must have been one of the first times in existence. "I graciously accept your blessing."
Then Fi turned to Zoelda and somehow managed to bow even more gracefully to her. "Mistress. Steel your broken heart and move wisely against the Evil, for this is all part of Hylia's plan. You, too, have my blessing."
"Thank you, Fi." Zoelda curtsied in response, confused by Fi calling her Mistress and her calling this all part of Hylia's plan and more than a little surprised by how well she was able to hold herself together as she replied. "I, too, accept your blessing."
With that, Fi gave curious look to the Princess and Link before giving a small smile and flipping back into the Sword and opening out the wing like portions of the pommel. After a few moments of staring at the Sword in its pedestal, Alarink finally withdrew it, looked it over for a few seconds, then sheathed it.
"I had no idea there was a spirit living in the Sword." Princess Zelda said as Alarink sheathed it.
"In all honesty, Zeldy, I didn't either," Responded Alarink, looking over at Zoelda in interest and a tinge of sorrow as he let his curiosity get the better of his unrequited feelings. "But you did, Zo. You even called her by her name, Fi was it?"
"Yes. Her name is Fi and she is the spirit Hylia entrusted with protecting the Master Sword after the first Sword Spirit went rogue and fused with Demise's blade." Zoelda told them in a quiet and respectful voice as they made their way back to the portal. Sure, there were parts of her explanation there that were not exactly accepted canon, but she doubted that they were going to know that. "I've had some more visual and I suppose accurate interaction with the old legends than you, it seems."
"No need to brag." Alarink said as they crossed back through to the horses. As Zoelda crossed the threshold last, it closed up behind her and returned to being just a simple wall once again as early evening began to settle on them, bringing with it the sound of crickets and owls.
"Just stating facts, A-Alarink." Zoelda stuttered on his name a little as she realised they were having a normal conversation. It shouldn't have made her stutter, it should have made her happy to have that kind of normalcy, but she was all too scared that this normalcy would disappear again without a trace when the morning came.
"This other Sword Spirit you spoke of, Demise's Sword, what's that called?" The Princess asked as they made their way over to the horses. Apparently they were going to pitch their tents closer to path leading out of Faron, in the little enclave that had housed Coco's lantern shop before the Pestilence, so that they could have a quick start when they awoke in the morning and be at the Castle before the afternoon wore on. Zoelda didn't really remember the discussion about it that morning, but she guessed that must have been the case as they mounted their horses again.
"I don't know what the Sword was called, or even if it and the Spirit exist anymore, but the Spirit was called Ghirahim."
"Interesting," Princess Zelda said as they rode beside each other back to the enclave. "You know a lot about our legends considering you didn't believe them to be real."
"I'm just a big fan of videogames, your Highness." Zoelda said modestly.
"Pardon me, but what are they?"
It didn't take them all that long to reach the enclave, set up camp and have dinner - they were finished before it even got properly dark – but Zoelda spent that time explaining what videogames were to the Princess of Hyrule, so it felt like an eternity.
By the time she had finished explaining, they had finished their meal and were preparing themselves for their last sleep before confronting Ganon. Understandably, they were all a little jittery that night, feeling the need to chat to cover their nerves – apart from Alarink who, despite having the most to lose, was as unfazed as ever. Eventually, as the last rays of a particularly red sun began to set, Alarink rose to go back to Ordon over night to grab his armour and get the last blessing from what had to be Ordona.
He made some joke about going and seeing if Ursila was about to have one last bang before he went out, but his heart wasn't really in it and the Princess was more interested in the concept of videogames than in providing him with a proper retort. So he just left and the rest of them began to file to their tents, worried and not particularly excited about what the next day would bring.
It was a little after midnight when Zoelda emerged, wrapped up in her blanket and barefoot, from her tent.
After having a rather troubled night of sleep, she had finally come to terms with the fact that there was one more thing she had to do before tomorrow if it was to go their way. So, grabbing a lantern from Rogue's saddlebag, she quietly lit the wick and started off on bare feet down the path to Faron Spring, her blanket wrapped around her like some kind of cloak and a sword swinging a dangerous low arch in front of her to deter monsters.
It took her perhaps an hour to arrive at the Spring, but she had been travelling slow and careful on bare feet, taking in the silent splendour that was the world at night. It was a universal truth that every realm was more beautiful when the world was asleep, only the dim light of the moon to play off of the leaves and grass while small nocturnal animals like rabbits and owls foraged for their breakfast. Of course, in any world there were predators around at night – Hyrule had the occasional baying of wolves in the woods to prove that, while England had their gangs, rapists and thieves.
Even still, there was something to be said about seeing an open body of water illuminated only by the dim light of a moon and the beauty that displayed.
That said, there was very little natural about the light that illuminated Faron Spring that night. Like Lanayru's, the light was mostly just that of fairies, though there was also an unearthly glow of a Spirit in its centre that Zoelda noticed immediately upon arriving. She also noticed the trail of Malanya's hoofprints that she had been following carried on past the Spring, indicating that Alarink did only have Ordona left to pray to.
At that point in time though, the last thoughts in her mind were on Alarink. Instead they focused on the Spring and the Spirit in it as she removed her blanket, revealing the clothes she had worn on the day she arrived – a Triforce printed tank top and a pair of leggings. In these clothes, Zoelda waded out into the lake water, her hands clasped together at her chest, begging herself not to start singing about being the ocean's grey waves.
Instead, she reached the centre of the lake, only ankle deep in water, and raised her head to look up at the Spirit light hovering over the waterfall. Gently, not really knowing why, she nodded to it. A second later, that light was four incandescently burning balls of Spirit light that eventually manifested themselves as the Light Spirits, a chorus of hums coming from them in one great harmony.
"Vessel of Hylia's Spirit," the monkey spirit who Zoelda remembered to be Faron said in a voice as masculine as Lanayru's had been. "I welcome you to My Spring and bless you in the name of my Goddess, Farore."
Then, much like there had been the night before, there was a presence in Zoelda's mind, seeming to expand it and give her access to more wisdom than before. And, after a brief touch by the other Spirit's minds to hers all at once, they were gone, leaving her mind feeling strangely empty as she looked up at the Spirits floating ethereally above her.
"Thank you all for your blessings," Zoelda said respectfully, still not entirely sure what these blessings were meant to achieve. "I will endeavour not to let you or your Goddess' down."
"Having unlocked the powers of the Goddess within you, we sincerely doubt you could let us down, Zelda." Faron said sweetly, watching her carefully.
"What are these powers you've unlocked within me?" She asked, knowing now would be the only time she could be so bold.
"They are the powers the Goddess gave you: light to banish evil and minor powers of sorcery that you will have to study yourself to make the most use of." Faron said.
"These powers are extraordinary." Zoelda said, not really sure when she'd use any of them, but thankful all the same. "Thank you for unlocking them for me."
"Not at all, Zelda. Thank you for gracing us with your presence and accepting our blessings. Now, please bathe briefly under my waterfall then head back, you will need all the energy you can get for tomorrow." With that, Faron and the other Light Spirits disappeared, leaving her in a surprisingly dark, though beautiful, Spring to go and bathe under the waterfall after a brief encounter with the Spirits.
On her way to the waterfall, she bumped into a fairy with her shin, causing it to spin around her and heal her wounds – that bite on her leg and the arrow scratch on her arm from a few days ago. Though initially upset to have bumped into a fairy, the benefits of having her wounds healed made her feel a lot better as she went to meditate under a cold waterfall - fully dressed - for a few moments.
Emerging from the cold waterfall, her body feeling purified and her thoughts quiet and tranquil for once, Zoelda picked up her blanket, wrapped herself up and headed back to her tent, listening to the sounds of the night as she did.
Despite being alert and listening, she still failed to notice the lone rider dressed all in black armour behind her as he walked his horse back to camp too. Alarink didn't mind the lack of attention as he watched her wonder her way back, the girl he loved but couldn't be with. The first girl who had turned him down.
The girl the Sword had called Mistress instead of calling him Master…
AN:
So, I covered a lot of ground in this chapter because I wanted to spend as much time in the confrontation with Ganondorf as possible. As such, this is the longest of the last five chapters. The rest of them are all between 3000 and 6000 words, a more manageable length really.
The focus of this chapter was to establish Zoelda's more emotional side and to show how she deals with this world now that she knows what's going to happen and now that she doesn't have anyone else to lean on. She's in this hardest and last part alone and it's the only way to bring out her confidence as the heroine of this story.
So, while Alarink has known what's going to happen to him for years and has only just given in to it; Zoelda has just found out all of this in the past week and now has to handle it all on her own, her chin raised high to try and hide her vulnerability.
The one thing I wanted to mention here is the little description of the Temple of Time. Descriptions have never been what I'm best at, so I really liked how that particular description turned out in terms of the emotions it achieves rather than the picture it paints.
Anyway, the rest of these chapters are on the more violent side (the next one is the last one before the battle starts) and I've never had much experience writing violence before, so I don't know if they're technically good, but I sure as hell enjoyed writing them.
Also, thanks for the two reviews last week, I'm happy that people like seeing a more emotional Alarink, because (let me tell you) the emotional Alarink is here to stay. As is the more emotional writing style since, in my opinion, it's emotions that decide the fate of a battle - you can't be emotionally detached in that kind of situation, no matter what people say. And, as for a more vulnerable Zoelda, that's coming - she's practically cracking at the seams - keep an eye open for chapter 19, that's where she truly shines though you get glimpses of her coming into herself from next week.
So, have a nice week and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
~WWQ