Link straightened, adjusting the worn, smelly strap of the hauberk that Ashei had issued him. He had more lessons with her in about fifteen minutes, so he had dressed as fast as possible. Belting the practice sword to his back, he shouldered open the plain wooden door.
Link had explained to Saria when his training started that he could not see her as often as they both would like. Link regretted the situation, but Saria seemed to be happy with the hour or so they could steal from a day. When she had recovered fully, she'd approached the Goron Patriarch with a request to earn her stay in the city-mountain- after she had swallowed her marvel at the Gorons, of course. She now worked in the market.
Link's training consisted of sparring, mostly. Ashei didn't believe in structured lessons, so she merely employed a policy of "guess-and-check." She focused all of their time training in the past week into the ways of a sword, which proved to be challenging for Link, but he relished something new and exciting to try.
By the time he had met with her after the Sickroom Incident, Ashei seemed to have recovered her composure. She then explained with all immediacy that they were up against an unseen foe; the Tyrant King.
One week ago
"Flying ships descended from nowhere over Castle Town, the capitol. A voice rang out, heard through all three Provinces."
Link laughed, drawing a twitch of her brow.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"You mean planes? Helicopters? I've seen 'em all the time back at home."
She offered the slightest of frowns. "Link, are you feeling alright? Ships do not normally fly. And… what is a helicopter?"
Link chuckled again. "I forgot, sorry. It's just that… I remember other things. I guess you could say I'm from the future, sort of." Link smiled, sudden memories of Back to The Future rising to the front of his mind.
'Fool!' he snapped to himself. 'Those are false memories.'
Link refocused as Ashei continued her explanation of the creatures called Vin and Sin being loosed throughout Hyrule, murdering and pillaging. She explained that he had been lost three weeks later, during a battle at Death Mountain. He shifted, uncomfortable, while her voice quaked as she recounted his disappearance, the manner in which it had happened, and his apparent lost memory.
"It touched your temples with its two index fingers. You and it were gone after that." She paused, perhaps to steel herself. "By then, we had both seen that happen enough before, except that the men hadn't disappeared. They'd lost their memories by time we recovered them."
"So that's exactly what happened to me, then. They threw me into the future for a bit, replaced my memory, then brought me back… why?"
"None of us know."
Link sighed, getting up. "You said something about training at the Elders' meeting?"
Ashei grunted, handing him a musty leather strap. "When I give you a weapon, you will carry it with this."
Link nodded. "Then let's start."
Link nodded at passing greetings from Gorons he encountered while he rushed through the subterranean levels of Death Mountain, keen on confuting Ashei's dry observation that he was always late.
He stumbled into the room, guessing that he was a couple of minutes early. The room was expansive, and looked akin to a kendo dojo. Ashei was nowhere to be seen, so he assumed she was in the back room, changing for their daily sparring. He sat at a bench, unlimbering his sword for the imminent clash.
"I hope you're ready for today," Came Ashei's rough tones.
"I am."
"You won't need that."
"Why not?" He glanced up to find her weaponless and clothed in her usual garb, albeit unarmored.
"We're meeting with Queen Zelda and the Princess of Twilight today," she answered. "I hope you won't drool over them too much to speak."
Her smirk was lost on him, for Link felt a tug in his mind, and it must have shown on his face. "Do you remember something?" An eyebrow peaked at him.
"… No. Almost." He'd nearly had something, but it had wriggled away before he could identify it. "The name 'Zelda' is familiar is all; I went to school with a girl named Zelda… Well, for just a bit, I suppose, eh?"
"Yeah," She whispered. "Listen, I… we need you to remember your life, Link. It's really important to pretty much the whole fate of the world." She surprised him by putting her hand on his cheek, caressing with her calloused thumb with a smile. "I missed you while you were gone you know." He returned her smile without much reservation.
Link opened his mouth, a croak emerging in place of speech. "You know, Ashei…" he began. Then something seemed to dissolve, and she seized a handful of his brownish-blonde locks, pulling his mouth to hers. Unlike last time, Link could not think well enough to ponder the consequences of his actions.
He became of aware of a tent rising in his slacks, pushing against the restraints with an orgulous air. 'No… I can't… Saria…' A small voice murmured in a recess of his mind.
But the way Ashei felt, the way he felt, and what was happening shouted that miniscule whisper into submission. He gave in, running his hands over Ashei's backside, squeezing harder when she uttered a surprised squeal. He pushed her into a wall, kissing her hard and investigating every contour of her lower body. He ground his hips into hers, every movement eliciting halting moans that only fed his libido.
A knock came at the door, making them both take a breath for the first time in what seemed like minutes.
"What the fuck!" Link growled. Dislodging himself from Ashei reluctantly, he darted over to the door and wrenched it open with an incinerating glower.
A small Goron child stood perched on his toes, holding out a letter with a smile. "Hi Master Link! I got a message for ya." Link took the letter with a less caustic expression and thanked the child, shutting the door. Ashei sat on one of the six benches against the walls, twirling her azure braid, making an attempt at nonchalance.
She looked up as he sat down, and said, "You know, you owe me one," her tone and downward glance indicated exactly what she meant. "And after I collect, I'm going to repay you. In full." He felt himself become temporarily incapable of speech.
"Well," she said, clearing her throat to break the abrupt silence. "I've gotta go get ready for the meeting with the royals. You should too."
"We could get ready together," Link suggested.
She turned and grinned at him. "Don't get overconfident."
Link watched her leave feeling a bit bemused. He soon left to head to his room, still unsure of what had just happened. In the future, he and Saria had all but started dating officially, but if Ashei was being truthful, the connection he had had with her was much deeper.
He ran his fingers through his hair. 'That sure happened quickly.'
Ashei POV
She shut the door behind her, sinking down to the floor. She very well would have to change, as Link had made her wetter than Lake Hylia. She still ached. She wanted him so badly, for it had been a long time even before he had been taken. Her nipples were still sensitive, though he had not touched her chest. Perhaps it was because of that.
She pulled her new shirt over her head and new breeches up her legs. Fastening her sword to her belt, she set back out, this time to the Meeting Hall, an adjunct of the Elders' Hall. The more lavish of the two rooms, it was strictly a place for meeting important outsiders. While Zelda and Midna were friends of the Gorons, they were still outsiders, and not privy to certain race secrets.
She had certainly never expected Link to act the way he did, groping her and the like, judging from his newly passive countenance, but… she was very aroused by his wolfish behavior. Cackling at the irony, she flung open the southern door to the Meeting Hall. Zelda, in a blue gown sewn with golden scrollwork sat with Midna, whose dress seemed one with her bluish-black skin. She ran over to them, pulling them into one rough embrace. "How's the rule been, Zel?" Ashei asked.
She gave a grim smile, the normal regal, impassive Zelda gone for the moment. "Absolutely fucking terrible, pardon me. It hasn't stopped snowing anywhere since that bastardarrived. It's been case after case of beggars and lepers freezing to death in all that thrice-damned snow. I swear, if this winter ever passes, I want an everlasting summer… or spring, perhaps."
"You're tellin' me. My piss is freezing up on Death Mountain, where fuckin' hot springs come from."
Midna's smile had already melted. "So is it true?" She looked at Zelda and Ashei in turn. "Does he really remember nothing?"
Ashei sighed, looking at her feet. "Yeah… but it's more complicated than that. He's got fakes."
They both frowned. "Fakes?" said Zelda and Midna in unison.
"Yeah. Fake memories. I guess it's sort of like when a bartender throws out a stale beer and fills it up with a new drought."
"Uh… huh." Zelda said, looking even more puzzled.
"Look, Zel, the point is that our Link is mostly gone right now. He remembers some things, judging from some actions-"
"What actions do you mean?" Zelda asked.
Ashei felt her cheeks heat. "Ah- nothing in particular. Just some things he does- like the way he holds a sword."
"Well, I hope that there's still some of him there," Zelda said with a downturned lip. Like the rest of them, she had missed Link just as much as Ashei did, as well as Midna. Their friendships had been forged in the dim haze of war, and Link was the tie that had first bound them. "Because he's going to need every scrap of it for this assignment."
"Zelda! He just got back! You should see him without a shirt on; he's lost so much definition."
Zelda shot her a look. Perhaps she should have phrased that a bit differently.
"The point is that he needs some more time. Send someone else, for Nayru's sake."
"It has to be him, Ashei. I'm sorry, but he needs the Master Sword again."
At Ashei's exasperated sigh, Zelda glared at her. "You should have looked after him a bit better."
"Wha…" Ashei blinked several times. "What did you just say?"
"You were there. You could have stopped the Vin that stole him!" She said, haughty chin high in the air.
"Hey, queen or not, I'll still kick your ass, Zel. Don't fuck with me on this." Ashei said, dull anger perforating her temper.
"Is that a challenge?" Said Zelda darkly. Ashei's hair stood on end, and the air smelled of ozone.
Midna stepped between them, and Ashei felt more than saw an orange hand strike her face. Zelda's cheek was red as well, and she looked as taken aback as Ashei felt.
"ENOUGH, children! This is especially when we've gotta hold it together! Link is clueless as to who he is, a symbol of oppression looms over us- he even calls himself the Tyrant bloody King! -and my people are involved as well! This is my fight too, and I will not allow two of my closest friends to be drawn into a petty argument about the past. It isn't even relevant anymore, since he has returned and seems to be re-acclimating without much trouble. It also helps that bastard to know we fight.
"Just stop behaving like children. And I will not apologize for that, either." She sat down with an exasperated sigh and mumbled under her breath something scathing about some humans.
Ashei and Zelda gradually recanted their momentary animosity and took seats away from each other. Midna sighed again. "Elders, just get here already," Midna said to herself. "You too, Link."
Personally, I think this a poor reward for all the patience I forced from all of you. But I hope it's at least okay.
Special thanks to FallenAngel2298, for making me get my ass off League of Legends and finish this.