Chapter 2 - Friendship

Impa covered for Zelda whenever she left the castle to instruct Link in the Hylian language. Impa had managed to find a place Link could stay within Castle Town where he could lay low—a vacant living quarter in such a state of disrepair that it almost needed to be condemned, what with it's leaky roof, unpleasant odor, and lack of any furnishings save an uncomfortable-looking bed.

She hated lodging the Hero of Time in such a dilapidated place but she had to be sure that he would not be detected nor raise suspicion. It was the only place Impa could find which was available on such short notice. If Ganondorf or his henchmen found out about Link's true identity as the Hero of Time, it could spell the end of Hyrule as a free nation once and for all, legends be damned. Zelda knew that her father had worked tirelessly to make it the glorious and peaceful land that it presently was and that all his efforts would be in vain if Ganondorf were to come to power.

Impa took care of providing food for Link but Zelda still brought some morsels she saved from her meals or pilfered from the castle's kitchen as an offering of friendship. Zelda was quite grateful to Impa for giving Link lessons in speaking Hylian when Zelda wasn't able to.

The princess often borrowed books from the castle's library and used the pictures in them to help teach Link. However, she had little experience in teaching others and consequently was not very good at it. At times she succeeded in confusing Link more often than she actually taught him anything. Despite this, Link eventually made enough progress that he could express himself fairly well, albeit with numerous pauses while he recalled the correct words and (more or less) the correct grammar.

Zelda knocked on the door of his living quarters at the agreed-upon time for his daily lessons. It took him a while to answer the door and he was evidently still quite tired judging from the look of his droopy eyelids. The nightmares he had been having recently were intensifying every night, making it harder and harder for him to get a good night's sleep.

Zelda offered Link several pastries that she had saved from her breakfast that morning. "Hi, Link," she greeted. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

He simply rubbed his eyes in response.

"How about we do something fun today?" she suggested. "Want to go for a walk to the castle grounds?"

Link showed through his expression that he was surprised. Zelda normally taught him to speak Hylian in his quarters but she couldn't bear spending another day in a dump like that. Even though she knew of some places she would like to visit that were outside of Castle Town, there were monsters roaming the land and she was strictly prohibited from leaving without an adult for her own safety. Although Zelda's upbringing would certainly be described as sheltered and spoiled, she still had an adventurous, risk-taking side to her and was not against breaking the rules from time to time, especially the ones she found particularly unfair. However, she had enough wisdom to realize that leaving the safety of Castle Town without a good reason was not worth it, so the green hills of the castle grounds were a good enough compromise.

"It'll be fun! Who wants to be cooped up in this cramped little place when we could be outside on such a nice day instead?" Indeed, the weather was especially ideal, with a warm breeze blowing and white clouds dotting the sky.

"If they see us...what they will do?" Link asked gingerly, referring to the castle's numerous guards. Zelda was still working on his grammar with him.

"Relax! They won't see us! I know my way around this town and the castle area," she assured him. She led him by the hand and they walked as inconspicuously as possible to the castle grounds. She wore a long robe with a hood over her dress whenever she went to see Link because it would raise suspicions if anyone noticed the princess of Hyrule making a pilgrimage to the same place day after day.

Zelda brought him to a spot near a patch of flowers where she daintily sat down and invited him to sit next to her by patting the ground at her side. Zelda pulled her legs up close to her face and wrapped her arms around them. Link, on the other hand, splayed his legs out in front of him and leaned back with his hands on the ground behind him to support him. Zelda looked at him and started giggling, holding her hand up to her mouth out of modesty.

"...What is funny?" Link asked, puzzled.

"The way you're sitting...it's just...I've never seen anyone sit like that before! Everyone always acts so formal around me—I almost never get a chance to see how regular people do regular things."

Suddenly, Link began feeling self-conscious and sat up completely straight.

"No, no, it's OK," Zelda assured him. "I like spending time around ordinary, everyday people. I like it a lot, actually. It helps me feel more normal too. I can tell people are always watching what they say and do around me. I bet they rarely tell me what they're really thinking. In fact, I feel like a lot of my so-called 'friends' are the type that would have nothing to do with me the minute I stopped being royalty." She sighed heavily. "Impa's one of the few I know I can trust."

Looking over at her friend, she says, "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you this, Link...where do you come from exactly?"

He seemed surprised to be asked a personal question but responded nevertheless. "Kokiri Forest."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that place! Isn't everyone there supposed to be a child forever?"

"Yes."

"Hmm...I thought I head somewhere that Kokiri will die if they ever leave that forest. That's why I'm fairly sure no one around here knows the Kokiri's language. You guys don't exactly get out much," she laughed.

"Yes, but I am not a Kokiri really. I only grow up there." Although Link's speech was still rough, Zelda found his accent charming and couldn't help but smile when she heard him talk.

"Tell me about the Kokiri. Are they nice people?"

"Most of them...no," he replied sheepishly, shaking his head. "Only one Kokiri is nice to me."

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that. I guess that's why you decided to leave?"

"The Great Deku Tree tell me to come here. He is like a father to all Kokiri and very smart."

"I wonder how he knew to tell you that?" Zelda wondered aloud. "Maybe he's like me..."

Link decided to venture a question this time. "How you know I would come? The first day I see you, I mean to say."

She supposed now was the time to try telling him again. She doubted he would understand all of it, but she did her best to explain everything in the simplest terms she could. Link asked questions throughout to try to comprehend better.

"You say you have...um...what you call them? Premo-ni-shuns? And they tell you I come here? It is strange...I have bad dreams also. They tell me that they will come—bad things."

Hearing this piqued Zelda's interest. "You have premonitions, too? I'm not the only one who can see them?"

"Yes, but these...um...premo-nitions, they are only happening for some weeks now. No for much time."

"Hmm...that's strange. I've been having premonitions for as long as I can remember. I wonder why yours only started recently?"

"The Deku Tree tell me that the bad things are very close and for that, I start to have bad dreams."

"That makes sense," she noted. "And what we're gonna do to fight back is open up access to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is. To do that, we need all three of the spiritual stones. I know one of them is with the Goron tribe near Death Mountain. You can get there by going through Kakariko Village. I wrote a letter for you that will allow you to go there. Normally, only the Goron can go there because of the danger." She handed him a letter that she pulled out of her cloak. "I noticed you already have one of the stones. I'm not sure where the last one is, but I'm sure you can find it. Link, we absolutely cannot let the Triforce fall into Ganondorf's hands. The fate of Hyrule depends on it!"

After contemplating for several silent moments, he declared confidently, "I understand what I must do."

"And will you do it?" asked Zelda hopefully, hands clasped together as if in prayer.

"Yes, of course! I live for the adventure. To stay here is...um...what is the word?"

"Boring? Terrible? Worse than being swallowed by a Like-Like?"

"Yes, yes, exactly!" he laughed.

"Oh, Link, that is soooo cool of you! You truly are the Hero of Time to be willing to put yourself in harm's way for a kingdom that you hardly even know!" Zelda threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. Link was caught off guard by this. He had never been hugged by anyone before, not even his good friend Saria.

"When will you leave to start your quest?" she asked.

"When is time I should go?" he questioned, erring with his grammar again.

Zelda hesitated as she thought it over. She knew that the sooner Link left, the better, but she (somewhat selfishly) wanted to spend at least a little more time with her new friend since she knew that, once he left, he would not return for many suns and moons.

"How about a few hours from now? I want to play a few games first! You want to?"

Link's face lit up. Even though he was the brave and battle-ready Hero of Time, he was also a fun-loving boy. And right now, he could really go for a game of tag with another kid his age.

So they ran around the castle grounds, careful not to get too close to any of the guards, all the while laughing and taunting each other.

As Zelda was looking over her shoulder, trying to avoid being tagged, she tripped on a rock hidden in some tall grass and fell to the ground. She got grass stains on her dress from the fall and knew she would hear groans later from Impa who would be the one to have to clean it. At the same time, Zelda also heard laughter coming from behind her.

"Who are you laughing at?" she yelled over her shoulder. "Oh, you wanna laugh, huh? I'll make you laugh!" With a quick rise to her feet, she ran directly toward Link, tackling him to the ground where she started tickling him relentlessly. She was grinning from ear to ear from how funny it was to see the diminutive hero rolling on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.

"Hahaha! Stop!...Stop!" he yelled between fits of laughter.

Although Zelda was immensely enjoying the spectacle, she grudgingly complied. "All right. But you deserved it for laughing at me!" she shouted defiantly.

They continued playing tag until they tired of it, which is when they decided to play tug-of-war with a stick Zelda found. "Here, you grab this end and pull as hard as you can. Try to yank it from me," she explained.

"You are ready to lose?" Link taunted.

"That's what you think!" Zelda retorted. She yanked the stick hard right from the start before Link was prepared, knocking him off-balance and tearing it from his hands.

"Ow!" he cried.

"What's the matter?" She walked over to him and noticed that he was cradling his left hand with the other hand. She knelt down and looked at it. "Oh, don't be a baby! You've just got a splinter there. Here, let me help you pull it out." Zelda took his hand and gently extracted the splinter. Link winced for a moment as it happened. She then placed two fingers over the spot where the splinter was, closed her eyes for a moment, then said, "There. It's healed."

Link looked at his hand and was amazed to see that his skin was no longer broken where the splinter had been. "How you do that?!" he asked incredulously.

"A girl's gotta have some secrets, right?" she giggled. "It's a talent I have. I'm sure it would be a cinch for me to get a job as a medic, huh?"

Zelda showed Link another magic trick—she produced a small fireball from her outstretched hands which traveled forward and eventually dissipated in the distance. "That's as big as I can make it right now. Maybe one day I'll be able to do better," she said wistfully. Although this sorcery impressed him immensely, Link secretly wondered how she managed not to burn the castle down with an ability like that at her age.

In turn, Link showed her how to use his slingshot, a tool she had never seen before which intrigued her with its ingenuity. She noticed Link also had a plain-looking ocarina with him. "Hey, where'd you get that?" she asked curiously.

"My friend give to me before I leave from the forest," he replied.

"Oh, how nice that you have one, too! You know, I have a feeling I should teach you this song before you leave. It's the Song of Time that's used to open access to the Sacred Realm in the Temple of Time, but that can only be done with my Ocarina of Time." She played the song for him and watched him try to repeat it on his ocarina. She had to correct him a few times before he was able to play the piece successfully.

Next, Link came up with the idea of racing to see who could climb to the top of a nearby tree first. By the time he had reached the top, Zelda was still struggling just to climb the branches at the base of the tree. Not only did he beat her easily, he then performed all sorts of acrobatic maneuvers before dismounting gracefully just to show off further.

"Well...you had the obvious advantage here, being from a forest and all," Zelda muttered.

They continued playing various games like catch and hide and seek for the next few hours until Zelda could sense strongly that the commencement of Link's quest couldn't be delayed any longer. "Link...it's time for you to go! Please come back as soon as you've found all the spiritual stones!"

Link nodded in acceptance of his mission.

As he turned to leave, Zelda added, "Oh, one more thing, Link." She threw her arms around him in another friendly hug. "Please come back safe."