Link was staring, unable to help himself. The Koroks had told him the Great Deku Tree was big, but the simple statement hadn't been nearly enough to prepare him for the sight of the Guardian of the Forest.
The Great Deku Tree was the largest living thing, by far, that Link had ever seen. Its face alone was enormous, and the fact it had a face at all was going to take some getting used to.
Beside him, the guards and knights, his father included, went down on one knee. The King bowed. Link hurriedly followed the guards' and knights' example.
"Rise, my child. I have no use for such formal manners from anyone, least of all from you."
Link jumped back to his feet and moved towards the King in a defensive position, head whipping around to locate the booming voice. He heard a chuckle, and this time, there was no mistaking the source: the tree itself.
He chastised himself for not figuring it out immediately. The Koroks had straight up told him the Great Deku Tree could talk.
"Great Deku Tree," the King said. "Link says your children invited him to meet you. Were you aware of this?"
The Great Deku Tree rustled. "Yes. Is this why you are ALL here? A mere invitation from my children to this one?"
The King shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Link, please tell the Great Deku Tree what truly drew you to the Lost Woods."
"I hear a feminine voice calling to me," Link said, face turned up to the Tree's own. "I thought it might be a Great Fairy, but..."
Master.
Link nearly jumped out of his skin, that had been louder than ever and very, very near, like someone talking right into his ear. He turned towards the sword. It was behind them, several paces away from the Great Deku Tree, stuck upright in a sort of small platform. A bit of sunlight that was managing to get through the forest's thick foliage was shining on it. It was beautiful.
"That was it," he said. "Just now. Did... did anyone..."
The Great Deku Tree rustled again. The King sighed. From the corner of his eyes, Link saw his father tense.
Master, I sense a great evil. I calculate the odds that it is responsible for my slumber ending at 92.3%. We must reunite. You must allow me to assist you.
Link's eyes widened. The sword glowed faintly at every word. She was right, they should be together. He walked up to her and grabbed her handle with both hands.
Pain shot through him. He grabbed harder and started pulling.
Somewhere, seemingly very far away, voices were saying things about danger and stopping him if it became necessary.
Link was determined not to let that happen. The Master Sword was right, they needed to join forces. The King had said so too. If he failed to do this, the consequences could be disastrous. The thought that he could try again later occurred and was instantly dismissed. He wasn't going to let everyone fret for who knew how long wondering whether he'd ever be worthy of the sword after all.
The pain didn't let up. Neither did he. The Master Sword was slowly coming out and just as Link was starting to wonder whether he really could do this, it came free completely.
Link staggered back a step and then locked his eyes on the blade. She really was beautiful, and she radiated a feeling of rightness, like nothing in the world was more as it should be than this blade being in his hands.
The urge came to rise it to the sky, so he did. The sun caught it again, setting it ablaze in light. Pain forgotten, Link smiled at it.
He felt her smiling back.
They were back in Castle Town a few hours later. The sun was nearing the horizon, bathing the stone of Castle Town's Central Square in gold light. There was a small group there by the fountain, which when they got close enough for Link to see, turned out to be Princess Zelda, accompanied by a few servants and several guards of her own. Protocol for the King's guards was to not so much as bow to anyone else while on duty so as not to distract them from those duties, but Link and Rucas were not on duty and so, immediately dismounted and genuflexed, head bowed.
"Please, rise," the Princess said, nearly too quick for their knees to fully rest on the ground.
Link and his father rose, bowed, and straightened as one.
The King nodded to his crier, who galloped to the raised public platform by the fountain and, dismounting his horse, climbed up using the short ladder that was there for this very purpose. He cupped his hands around his mouth and let his voice ring out.
"HEAR YE! HEAR YE! ALL TO THE CENTRAL SQUARE! THE KING HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT!"
He repeated it three times, a minute apart each, and they all waited.
The King walked to the front of the fountain without climbing to the platform and gestured Link to come at his side. Link obeyed meekly and stood to attention. These details had been discussed on the way back. Once the people had arrived, the King would let them know about the Master Sword.
Said sword of Evil's Bane was in a sheath that had literally appeared on Link's back out of nowhere when he'd pulled the sword out. He occupied himself while they waited for the crowd by looking around. The closer to the time where his status of Chosen by the Blade would be officially announced, the more dazed he felt. Everything increasingly felt dream-like, distant. This was not at all how he'd pictured the end of the day when he'd gotten up this morning. And he thought the rest of his life would not be at all how he had ever pictured it, either. He was having trouble focusing on the present – the future occupied all his thoughts, all trials and combats and impossibly high stakes.
After a few minutes, a sufficient crowd had assembled to assume everyone who could come to the summons, had. Link spotted his Cook Dad a few rows in, peeking through as well as he could and attempting to squeeze his way forward.
The crier yelled for silence. The crowd quieted until barely a murmur could be heard.
Link stood still, focusing on his breathing and trying to control his wandering thoughts.
The King spoke. It was relatively brief: he gave a short history of the Sword that Seals the Darkness, and revealed it had chosen its new holder. He then ordered Link to step forward. The crowd was murmuring more and more. Legends of a Holy Sword were common, even Link had heard some without ever taking them seriously at all, but the confirmation that such a sword really did exist was a shock to most.
Link stepped forward, and as previously instructed, unsheathed and presented the sword to the crowd by holding it vertically in front of himself, point up. It was much longer than the more appropriately sized for him blades he had been provided with and used so far. He hadn't noticed that before. The din from the crowd intensified. Link thought he heard a few people say his name or his Mighty Minish nickname.
The crier demanded quiet again.
Link expected to be told to step back again, but the King ordered him to face him instead.
Link sheathed the sword again and, well trained not to question orders, faced the King and as per default protocol, genuflexed with his head bowed.
"Kneel," the King ordered.
Link's heart skipped a beat. Full kneels, with both knees on the ground, were almost never required, and the most common exception was for being knighted.
He rearranged himself into a kneel, right hand on his heart and head bowed. It seemed almost unfair: he'd dreamed of this moment ever since he'd started training, but now it felt as if it was just an add-on to having the Sword that Seals the Darkness on his back.
"Link," the King said. "Based on skills and prowess alone, you have earned the title of Knight many times over already, and only your young age delayed my recognizing this obvious fact. Few can rival your skills, but more importantly, you have been credited with many courageous deeds already and have consistently demonstrated a remarkable character. You have proven yourself loyal, brave, and as strong in body as you are in spirit."
Link was, as per protocol, looking down, but he heard the King unsheathe his ceremonial sword and a moment later, felt the blade rest on his left shoulder.
"Link, son of Rucas and Theden, hero chosen by the Blade that Seals the Darkness." The blade rose and landed to a rest on his right shoulder. "I hereby grant to you the title of Knight of Hyrule." The sword left his shoulder and Link heard it being put back in its sheath. "Rise, Sir Link!"
Link rose, and, having seen the ceremony at least a dozen times and practiced the motions himself for fun, bowed, unsheathed his own sword with the customary flourish and came to rest with it held upright in front of his face, much like he had a few minutes earlier to show it off to the crowd.
He held the pose for a count of three, sheathed the sword back, bowed again and joined the other knights present, a few steps behind the King. He stood next to his father, who bumped him with his elbow and smiled at him sideways for lack of being able to do more without breaking protocol.
Link only noticed then that the crowd was cheering. He saw Theden, who had managed to force his way to the front of the crowd. His Cook Dad was clapping along and doing his best to smile, but he looked more worried than happy.
Link straightened a bit more.
The King had ordered Link and both his fathers to come along with him back to the castle, for no other purposes, it turned out, than to get them out of the crowd and let them have a quiet meal before going home.
All three were grateful. Link thoroughly enjoyed the meal, a particularly tasty stew that his Cook Dad revealed was made from leftovers from the previous day. It was still delicious.
And it was entirely forgotten when Princess Zelda walked into the room, loudly announced by the King's crier.
Link was up and on one knee in a flash, along with both his fathers.
"No! No, please rise!" the Princess exclaimed. "I don't mean to interrupt. I... wanted to make sure I could talk to you before you left, Sir Link."
Rucas and Theden retreated back to their seats. Link, after a deep bow, stood facing the Princess of Hyrule.
"I wanted to congratulate you on your knighthood," she said with a smile, "and to thank you."
Link bowed his head. "Thank you, your Highness."
She continued. "I suppose I should thank you for your dedication as well, but my gratitude is more personal. You are both an inspiration and a light of hope." The Princess had her hands joined in front of her chest and was looking straight into his eyes with a soft smile. "I believe you are proof that the Goddess' blessings are indeed upon Hyrule, and I am sure those same blessings will help me also achieve my destiny, like you. It is a great comfort. Thank you, Hero Chosen by the Blade."
Link felt his cheeks flare. An inspiration and a light of hope...
Link nodded, struggling to find a response and eventually settling for awkwardly thanking her again.
Theden looked out the window and sighed heavily. It was already late by the time they'd made it back home, but Link was still outside, under the light of the moon and the stars rather than by the fire with them.
"He's talking to that dog," he said. "Barely said a word to us all evening, but he's chatting it up with the random stray he picked up on the way home."
"That's not a random stray," Rucas corrected, "it's Rupee. He's one of the guards' dogs, Link is always carrying on with him."
Theden turned away from the window to roll his eyes at his husband. "One, what kind of name is Rupee for a dog? And two, the point is that Link has barely said ten words to US since the ceremony. Did you know ahead about the knighting, by the way?"
Rucas shook his head. "We didn't, no. I figure the King thought it'd be silly to keep acting like Link is too young to be a knight when he's not too young to have the Sword that Seals the Darkness. And Rupee's got a white patch on his chest that looks a bit like a rupee. Thus the name. I think the guards just keep him because he's cute, he's useless otherwise, too small for anything."
"Link's small," Theden said.
"Yeah."
Neither of them spoke for a moment. Theden was leaning by the window but not looking out anymore, his eyes staring instead at nothing. Link's voice was drifting in, but too quietly to make out any words. Every now and then, Rupee answered with a soft yip.
"Dog aside," Theden said, finally abandoning the window and sitting down at the table with Rucas, "He HAS been really quiet, don't you think?"
Rucas sighed. "Yeah," he agreed. "Monosyllables and manners is all we've been getting out of him. He's probably just processing, love. Link will take on anything anytime, but this is probably a bit much even for his normal level of gleeful recklessness."
Theden smiled briefly at the phrase – it was familiar by now, the two of them had been using it to describe Link's general behaviour for a while. "I guess it's not a bad thing if he knows this is a big deal," he said.
"He'll come around," Rucas said. "Give it a week, tops. How are YOU holding up?"
Theden seemed to have been only waiting for the question. He groaned and flopped his head down on the table. "Is running away with him an option?" he asked. "A few years, the King said. A few years and Link, OUR Link, is going to be fighting GANON! When I woke up this morning, that was still a dirty word people didn't just go around SAYING. And now it's Link's future!"
Rucas ignored the rhetorical question: they both knew Link would never run away from his responsibilities. "He's going to be ready by then," he said. "Honestly, some would say he's ready now. You do remember the Lynel incident, don't you?"
Theden tutted. "Pretty sure Ganon is going to be tougher than a Lynel, dear," he said.
"Well, yeah, but Link had the thing handled using nothing but a frying pan before the guards even got there. We all thought he was going to get knighted there and then, even though he was just 11 at that point."
"I remember the frying pan. It was a GOOD frying pan," Theden said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "WAS," he added for emphasis. The frying pan had not survived being used to repeatedly bludgeon a Lynel's face.
"The point is," Rucas said, "When you think about it, Link is a pretty obvious choice for the Sword. He's already incredible, he's going to be without equal in a few years. As his father, I hate that he's going to be the one fighting Ganon. I'm scared to death. But as a person who hopes Hyrule is going to survive the calamity, I'm delighted he's the one we're going to rely on."
Theden sighed heavily. "It's not like we have a choice, is it?" he said. "I just hope he'll remember he can talk to US too."