Slowly, as Aria woke up, she registered the sound of a crackling fire and a few hushed voices around her. Two of the voices were male. She couldn't quite understand what they were saying, well what one was saying. The other was making soft noises of negative.. or maybe that was affirmation? A third voice, female, sounded rather indignant. Blearily, her eyes blinked open and faces came into her view. Her throat and chest felt like they were on fire, as if someone had strangled her and she'd been struggling for air for years. She wheezed out a soft noise as the faces became less blurry.
There were three people in the room, one a young man with bright, curious blue eyes, another a balding man with a tusk-like mustache, and a young woman with dirty blond hair and green eyes.
"Shhh she's waking."
"Hruh hrum, hello miss. Good to see you awake." The mustached man said, backing up so she had better view of the place. The girl seemed to take over, where her father left off, trying to lift her head up for. She groaned and shifted away from the girl, leaning up on her elbows.
"Titan?" Aria croaked, her throat hurting.
"Titan? You mean your horse?"
Aria nodded, rubbing her throat.
"He's in the pasture with the goats. I'm not sure how either of you survived, but you're a pretty strong-willed pair. How'd you get in the river anyways?"
"Broken bridge between," She swallowed, trying to calm the swelling in her throat." Gerudo and Hryule.."
"Ahh, I've been there before. That's a pretty big jump for a horse so large as yours." The elderly man looked up, as if remembering where she was talking about.
"For the love of Nayru, what made you think your horse could make a jump that large?"
"Did it before."
"Well, you shouldn't do it again."
"Have to get home." Aria whispered, but that hurt even more.
"Home? The Gerudo Desert is your home?"
Aria nodded, swallowing roughly.
"You're not Gerudo, or human. You're hylian."
She shook her head no. She was neither of these things. Not one or the other, just herself.
The boy in the white tunic and green shoulder pad didn't say anything, but this whole time he watched her with an intense curiosity. She glanced his way and he smiled, offering his hand out to her.
"Link! She should be resting! You really should stay in bed for a few days."
Aria frowned. Sure, she hurt, but it wasn't the worst pain she'd ever felt before. She'd trained harder with the gerudos, and Aveil would never let her stay in bed this long. She'd already been away for too long. Aria shook her head, and lifted herself up. Her stomach hurt. She grimaced and waved off the girl with the short blonde hair. Slowly she stood up, only to stagger and end up in the arms of the blue eyed boy. Aria nodded her thanks to him, taking small steps, waiting for her legs to get used to standing once more.
"Titan." She spoke softly. He nodded, grinning at her and helped her walk out the door, ignoring the blonde girl's protests. It was an uphill journey to the goat pasture, Aria stumbling every once in a while, but the boy's hand steadied her. The moment she reached the gate, Titan trotted over, nickering happily. He looked no wear the worse, the bay's coat was shiny and brushed. In fact, he seemed to be filling out a little.
"How long have I been out?" It hurt less the more she talked. The boy look thoughtful for moment.
"We found you two days ago, but it could've taken you longer to get here, since we found you by the river's edge." His voice was soft, and not very deep.
"I have to get home."
"The Gerudo desert? No offense, but you don't look like you can get there on your own from here."
"Where is here?"
"Ordon Village. We're in the middle between Faron Woods and the Lost Woods."
"Lost Woods?"
"Mmm. It's said anyone who travels in the woods either end up a stalfos."
"How far away is the Gerudo Desert from here?"
"I want to say about two weeks ride." He whistled and a silver bay mare came trotting up to him. She nudged Titan, who politely stepped to the side. Aria considered the mare for a moment. She looked to almost be the same breed as Titan, heavier and strong, but still quick.
"This is Epona. Epona… umm?" Link glanced at Aria uncertainly.
"Aria."
"Aria.. cute name. I'm Link."
"Thanks. So what would you recommend?"
"Recommend?"
"On how I get home?"
"Oh. Well, if it's not too much bother, I have to make a trip to Hyrule Castle Town next week, if you can be patient then- I can escort you up north, and then to the gap?"
"I.. would appreciate that, but where will I stay in the meantime? Wouldn't it be a bother to you- to go out of your way for nearly a week or so?"
Link blushed. "No no! It wouldn't be a bother. For umm.. residence, we'll talk to the mayor about it. If he can't find you a place you could always bunk down with me."
"Thank you."
"Oh. I believe these are yours," He handed her a satchel. It was filled with seeds. Some of them were new- ones she hadn't picked before. She didn't say anything, except a mumbled thanks.
She spent the night in Mayor Bo's house, under the careful watch of the short haired girl, who she found out was named Ilia. She slept in a cot on one side of the house, after having the chance to organize all the things that she'd brought with her. Most of Titan's old, heavy, tack had gotten lost- she assumed in the river. The bands had been weak, so they'd probably snapped under pressure. She was glad her horse had survived. She'd been left with most of her weapons, the daggers Aveil had given her, and a few clothes.
The moment Link found out Aria could fight, he asked her to spar with him. For a young man who hadn't seen a whole lot of the world, he could fight like no other. What she had in swiftness and flexibility, he made up for in skill and accuracy. Where Ganondorf had been powerful and tactful, Link had the energy and an odd sort of grace to him, he was a better swordsman overall.
A routine was quickly set up. They woke up early before dawn, meditated- something she'd brought to the game, trained noon, spent a good portion of the day doing favors, working, fishing, and at the end of the day they worked the horses up at Fado's Ranch. Link showed her, after a particularly bad escape of the goats, how to flip them over without harming them.
Every night was different. The first few days she stayed with the Mayor and his daughter, the middle of the week she sent time mostly with Link, sometimes laying out on the roof of his house, or one of the tall flats where they had been fishing off of, just gazing at the stars.
Some nights he spoke of life in Ordon Village, how the people worked, fondly mentioning their various quirks. She spoke of the gerudo, how they found joy in everyday tasks, how the women worked their hearts out doing anything and everything, and she talked of the terrors at night. She told him how infants could freeze to death, despite being curled up under the covers with their mothers, how the sun stole the water from their very bodies as they trained, how the earth was cracked and life-less.
One night they lay up there, counting the stars, speaking of the gods and goddesses, the history of where they came from.
"What do you think of magic?" Aria asked as they gazed up at the twinkling lights above their heads on a cloudless night.
"Magic? It has it's uses. I know the royal blood has a very strong strain of it, but other than that.. everyone has a bit of it. According to history, our pointed ears give us the ability to hear messages that transcend time and space. "
"What if it's not only royal blood?"
"Then said person would have been blessed by the goddesses." He shrugged,glancing at Aria who was staring up at the sky, not looking at him.
"What if they don't believe in the goddesses, they just have powerful magic, they're not royal or anything."
Link was quiet for a moment, and Aria received the distinct feeling that he'd never really thought about it being anything but.
"Like the you?"
Aria looked at him confused. "How did you?" She hadn't practiced her magic since the day she woke up. It felt strange, but she'd remembered Aveil's words and tried her hardest to hide it.
"I suspected as much. I know you're not gerudo, and you're obviously not hylian. You don't act like how I would imagine someone of knowing royal descent would."
"Oh, like you've met much royalty."
He grinned cheekily at her and she swatted his arm.
"I know somewhere safe that you can practice your magic. The spring between the village and the forest. It's waters are healing, so if you get hurt while practicing…"
"Uh… thanks." She mumbled, before returning to the conversation of magic and hyrule's heros.
The next day Link lead Aria to the Ordon Spring. It was a lovely cove, the sound of the small waterfalls calming. He watched her practice with the water for a while, gazing in wonder to watch water floating around mid-air, being used as possible attacks. He left after an hour or so- saying there were chores he needed to do. After Aria tired herself out, she floated in the water, eyes closed as the sun warmed the waters.
Aria wasn't sure how much time has passed. One moment she was floating in the healing waters of Ordon Spring, the next a large white Ordon Goat was before her, shining brightly. It looked like polished porcelain, or carved tusk almost.
*You come before a war, young one. You don't know what part you may yet play, what things you may prevent or cause.*
"Where am I? Who are you? What are you talking about?"
*You will see in time, Daughter of hope. However, now is not that time.*
"What do you want of me now?"
*I must show you a possible future.*
The world around her went black once more. A field was filled with fire. An army, lead by a large man on a black horse broke through the tree line and scoured across the land, wrecking everything in sight. An army from the north rose and they fought. After what felt like years of fighting, the northern army won, and the man was chained. He sat in a cell for days and night, until finally he was 'executed'. The execution place was in the desert, he was surrounded by old men in white. Chained to a wall, they pierced his chest with a sword and … he didn't die. His hand twitched, and with one hand glowing- broke the chains holding him. He ran forward and killed one of the glowing men. The other five opened a portal somehow, and he flew into it. That was when she got a good look at his face. Her heart plummeted.
"There has to be a way I can stop this." She gasped, turning to see the Ordon Spirit watching her.
*One possible future among many. Be wary the path you take to prevent something, may end up being the path that ensures it*
Aria awoke lying on the shores of the spring, the sky having already turned gold as the sun set. Link and Ilia were walking up with Epona in hand.
"Aria?!" Ilia rushed over. "Are you okay, have you been here the whole time? Did you faint?"
No.. I-I'm fine." She said wobbly standing to her feet.
"Maybe you should leave the goat herding to Link today."
"It's fine. I can ride. I think I just passed out from expending too much energy. That's all. I'm rested now." It wasn't entirely a lie, but Aria needed to think on all she'd learned, and maybe talk to Link about it.
A few hours later, while Link and Aria worked to herd the goats, they talked of the magic she'd shown him. Link had been ecstatic to see the 'extent' of her powers. She didn't want to tell him that what he'd seen had only been a bit of what she could do with water, but she also didn't want to go into a long explanation of what she could do so far. He'd asked about other elements, and reluctantly Aria had mentioned that she was still learning to work with plants. Immediately he jumped on the idea of them visiting the forest temple, that maybe her being at the forest temple for a few hours would help her better understand plants, would encourage the growth of her magic. He swore he'd take her there tomorrow morning- their official first day on their way to Hyrule Castle Town.
He was wrong about the forest temple, which turned out to be a large hollowed out tree, turned temple. It hadn't helped her, in fact it had only caused a delay in their plans. Bokoblin, large serpentine plants, and dangerous spiders filled their pathway. It wasn't that they weren't easy to kill or knock out, it was that she and Link weren't attuned to each other. Despite all the practicing they'd done that week, they seemed to do nothing but butt heads, skid past each other, and almost knock the sword or staff right out of each other's hands. Being the smaller of the two, Aria seemed to take the brunt of it, receiving multiple bruises and one cut on her arm that she'd had to wrap up. They reached the center of the forest temple, Link with a slight limp and Aria's arms aching as if she'd done a week's worth of training in less than a day.
The center was contaminated by a large spider. It was larger than the normal spiders, but it wasn't as large as Aria suspected it could grow to be. There weren't many eggs laying around, but once the spider was killed they made sure to burn up the egg sacs. They were too tired for words, Link offering her a thumbs up at she destroyed the last egg sac with a bit of magic. His smile was rather grim, but it was still a smile. Exhausted when they returned to their horses outside the forest temple, they slumped in the saddle for a few hours, slowly reaching the edge of the forest where they made camp.
That night Aria woke up constantly, dreams flashing before her eyes- the vision of Ganondorf's possible execution. Sometimes the glowing mark on his hand didn't appear, and she'd spend the entire time watching as his eyes slowly went blank, blood dripping from between his cracked lips. Other times, he'd killed more than just one sage, grabbing onto the wall before the portal sucked him in. It was his golden eyes that haunted her the most, always half-crazed, always looking like he'd already lost the world and this was just another expected tiresome bump in the road of life. Someone too stubborn to give up, but too tired to care anymore.
Aria was already wide awake before morning came, rubbing her tired eyes as she finished cooking breakfast and packing up most of the camp. They hardly talked that day, and she ignored Link's worried glances at her. Another night of nightmares, this time one's so horrible she crawled into the same sleeping bag as Link. He was rather shocked, wide blue eyes staring down at her shuddering form. His arms wrapped around her didn't stop the nightmares, but it lessened the intensity of them. She didn't tell him of the nightmares that night either. The next morning, it felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She longed to get back to the Gerudo Fortress as quickly as possible, but they could only tax the horses and themselves so much. On their way towards Hyrule Castle Town they came upon a small caravan going in almost the same direction, under attack by bokoblins and bulblins riding large hogs. Link took the lead, rushing straight for the riders, while Aria took an alternate route, focusing on the caravan instead. She doused her hand in water and began pulling out the flaming arrows that were within reach. A bulbin came charging at her, and Titan galloped ahead and around the other side of the bulbin. Aria thrust her staff into the side of the bulbin riding on the back, forcing the archer off the saddle. The bulbin in front hissed at her and grabbed the end of her staff. Wrong move.
She pushed with the staff, wrestling the bulbin for the end of it, on eye ahead of her. When she got close to a line of trees she released the staff. It had the desired effect. The bulbin had spare seconds to cheer in it's 'victory' before the warthog skidded between two slim trees. Instead of dropping the staff, the bulbin got shoved off the warthog. Aria delivered the final blow before returning to the caravan where Link had just finished slaying the last warthog rider. The caravan slowed to a rocky stop and two men and a young girl stepped out of the caravan.
"Thank you for saving us, kind heros." The long haired man in the robes spoke as he mostly looked at Link. The young girl was eyeing her curiously, and Aria glanced down at her horse, focusing on fixing the straps that helped hold the old saddle to the stallion's back. It was a saddle she'd had to borrow from Link, Epona's older one, before Link had been able to build the one he currently used. She wasn't really paying attention to what the man was saying to Link, until the words 'escort' came up. Immediately her head jerked up and Link looked at her, as if she was actually important in this decision.
"Hmm?"
"Would you two be so kind as to escort us to Kakariko Village?" the long haired man, she later learned was Renado, asked her patiently.
Aria glanced eastwards, pondering their options. She could find her way home from Kakariko, but it would make their trip longer. Still, people needed their help and for the short time she'd known Link, she knew to him it was unacceptable to leave or ignore someone who needed help when there was something they could do.
"Of course, it would be our honor." She gave a slight bow, ignoring the almost giddy grin of Link's. Link took to the front, eagerly chatting with Renado and Barnes. The young girl, Luda, watched Aria as she rode behind the caravan, grinning at her every time Aria glanced or looked in the girl's general direction. Aria was so sure that the girl would get tired after a while, but no- she just kept smiling away watching her ride Titan and keep an eye out for danger.
Night came upon quick wings, and reluctantly they settled down for the night. Luda immediately skipped over to Aria as she was untacking and grooming Titan. Unabashedly she asked Aria about herself, how she knew Link, how she became a warrior, if she could teach her. Aria nervously glanced at Renado, but he was busy settling the horses and moving things about in his wagon. She explained a little bit of how she became a warrior, telling the girl she'd been taken in around a year ago by a warrior tribe- not mentioning the gerudo by name, nor did she talk of magic or Ganondorf, just a bit of the training and a hint of what work she'd done with Link. When Luda asked if she could train her, the hair on Aria's arms rose.
"You should talk to your father about that."
"He wants me to be a healer like him."
"There is good in healing."
"Yeah, but there's good in knowing how to fight."
"You mean defending yourself."
"Protecting those around you, yeah, and making sure no one gets hurt ever again."
'That, little one, is impossible. There will always be creatures, people, or accidents waiting to happen. Heros.. do not go looking for trouble. Trouble find them, and they deal with it in the best way that fits the situation. Not every situation will require fighting. Some situations may just been a bit of conversation, getting to the root of the problem."
"How do you know which ones are fighting and which ones are talking."
"Generally speaking, it's all up to how you approach the situation. It's almost always better to try talking before fighting. Always try to see the situation through their eyes first. There's always two sides to a coin, multiple views in a story." Aria chose her words carefully, realizing that Luda could every well be the next hero, she was the future and Aria feared the worst for the future already thanks to the nightmares.
"Huh.." Luda made to say something, but her father called her over, giving Aria a curious look. She shrugged it off and went back to grooming Titan. That night they took turns staying up and keeping watch. A few stalhounds popped out of the ground, threatening the small group but they were easily taken care of. Aria gazed longingly at the sky. She didn't mind being out, she actually enjoyed the traveling and the practice in real battles. She just… she missed the gerudo. She missed the lessons, the dancing, the magic, and a particular king.
Aveil had sent out a group of girls, headed by herself after they reached the Gerudo Fortress. On fresh horses they rode through Hyrule along the river searching for traces of Aria, traces of the staliion's tracks- if they survived.
Near Lake Hylia they found what they were looking for. A corpse of a horse lay near the river- half eaten by wolfos. A few miles further they found Titan's tack and Aria's satchel. Cursing Hyrule and their goddesses, Aveil and her group rode swiftly back to the Fortress, announcing the news to everyone.
Koume and Kotake flew from the dining room, where it'd been announced, to their own abodes, silent and solemn. That night they lit a great pyre in her honor, reaching towards the sky, one that could be seen for miles and miles.