AN END TO HYLIAN HISTORY
I
.
The Bonds of Knight and Princess
Lace curtains fluttered as a golden breeze flowed into a traditional-style house on the southern edge of Hateno Village. The house, like all of its kind, was built primarily of plaster and wood, with stone incorporated into the chimney and foundation, granting it strength against the harsh rains that swept up from the bays of the Necluda Sea during late summer. A nose wrinkled as light and wind danced across his smooth face. A moment later, blue eyes flickered open. Link, Hero of Hyrule and the Princess's sworn knight, stared at the ceiling of the home he had saved years ago. It had been meant as a home base when traveling to and from the old research lab on the hill beyond Hateno, but now it was something more.
Those days were during the final year of the Calamity, an event he witnessed the beginning and end of. He had been born some hundred and thirty years prior, during the last golden age of the Golden Kingdom. Once he had merely been a solider, but that was before he showed great valor in the field of battle. Later, he proved his true worth when he drew the fabled Master Sword, the Blade Blessed with the Power to Banish Evil.
A warm presence dug into him, snuggling into that soft spot between his shoulder and chest. His thoughts drew away from his past and returned to his present. His right arm drew tighter around the warm shape curved against him, and a soft sight of approval greeted his ears like a whispered blessing.
Link laid there for a while longer, delighting in the warmth by his side and the coolness of the breeze that carried the smell of Hateno's looming harvest into his home.
Our home, Link thought groggily as his partner snuggled into him again, whispering something in Olde Hylian. Link snorted and smiled to himself. It had been strange after waking from his long slumber to struggle with communicating with his fellow Hylians, let alone the other peoples of their kingdom. At least he wasn't like Zelda, who periodically spoke the Ancient Hylian of ten thousand years ago. Link vaguely knew that tongue, thanks to Wortsworth, the archeologist he assisted while traveling the skies of Hyrule.
He smiled fondly as he remembered the day Zelda first moved in. That had been shortly after the Calamity, when they finally came east after spending time recovering in Kakariko. The people of Hateno had been friendly, yet distant; all knew something momentous had happened on the central fields of Hyrule, long abandoned to the horde of possessed Guardians left to roam the wastelands of their dead Golden Kingdom. But none had known what, for none dared venture to the field where Link and Zelda ended the Calamity Ganon.
"Sir Link!" cried two of the children as Link dismounted. "Sir Link!" He had meant to help Zelda down from the gold-coat mare she had found near Lon-Lon Ruins. Instead, half the town's children crashed into his legs and demanded stories and tales of his most recent adventures. During his trips to investigate the Divine Beasts causing havoc across Hyrule, he had returned to Hateno. The children had forced him to regale them with tales of his heroism and daring.
Link gestured to where Zelda sat, still dressed in her pristine priestess dress. Her doe blue eyes took in the village, her lips parting slightly. He saw in her face that same wonder and love for life in Hateno that he felt when he first arrived. He still cherished the day he first rode into Hateno, aching for a place to lay down his head without receiving strange looks. The stables had left him unsettled, while Kakariko had never made it secret that he did not exactly belong. The Hateno Inn had taken him in, gave him soup and a bed, and only asked for help in return.
The children stared at her for several seconds. And then that child Link knew somehow had access to books from before the Calamity pointed at Zelda and shouted as only an overly excited child could: "THAT'S PRINCESS ZELDA! THE PRINCESS! SHE'S ALIVE!"
A great uproar broke out across Hateno. Link stumbled backward, right hand itching to draw the Master Sword, as he put himself between the villagers and his charge. The children, seemingly unaware of the sudden fear coursing through him, attempted to climb over him and reach the focus of their interest.
It was Zelda's laughter, high and twinkling as it had been a hundred years prior, which gave Link pause. He watched as the princess slipped off her horse with ease, stepped around him, and squatted before the children.
"Now, what are your names?" she asked with a pleased smile. "You already know who I am."
And so Link was forced to play guard for the better part of the morning and afternoon as Zelda personally introduced herself to every resident of Hateno. They then went up the hill to Purah and the rest at the Hateno Research Lab. She had known every researcher before the Calamity, and Zelda had made it clear to him that they would be rude if they did not pay a visit, being halfway up the road.
By the time she finished, Link saw the exhaustion Zelda fought back. She might be able to hide her yawns, but he recognized the trace of purple under her eyes and the way they softly crinkled, struggling to remain open and awake. Still held to his vow of silence with her and uncertain of what else to do, he swept her up into his arms and started for his house.
It took months for Zelda to forgive his sudden and starling action, though soon after that it had become something of a joke between them. A playful event in their long, continuing history.
In the present, Link felt a shift above him. He always knew when Zelda would awaken, even when he was still dead asleep. Her lips pursed slightly and her brows furrowed, as if she were suffering a bad dream. She did not dream, or so she claimed, though some nights she was so restless Link feared something plagued her sleep. He would never say contrary to her face, but he had gone to speak with a trusted pharmacist down in Lurelin. Zelda had been slow to embrace the tea he gifted her, but now she enjoyed a freshly brewed cup before bed.
Zelda suddenly murmured something. Link did not catch all of her words, though the lyrical feel of them meant it was Ancient Hylian. He closed his eyes, else he sigh. She had acquired a bad habit of saying potentially embarrassing words before him in that tongue—and only that tongue.
He knew he could learn, but the one time he suggested she teach him, Zelda had gone ruby red and denied his request—and every one since.
"Wake up," whispered Link. His voice remained rough, even though he had been speaking frequently over the past few months. The years of nearly absolute silence between when he first swore his oath and the end of the Demon King had modified his vocal cords for the worst. He brought his lips closer to her ears. "Zelda. Wake up."
"…mmm. Don't wanna."
"Zelda."
She whined, shifting so every inch of her front was pressed completely against him. Link closed his eyes and breathed slowly as his blood flow changed course. Zelda hummed and shifted against him, brushing the very spot he had hoped would go unnoticed. They had important matters to attend to this day—the mayor had scheduled an hour-long meeting, they had a lesson to teach at the school, and Link had to go about the thankless task of riding down to the small garrison at Fort Hateno and asking why they had suddenly contracted Hudson and YunoboCo. He had his suspicions, yet—
"You're thinking," grumbled Zelda. She pushed up off of him, arms to each side. Link smiled up at her, even as she glowered at him. "You're thinking, and that's my job, Link."
"Then what's mine?" he asked.
"To smack things really hard and run errands across Hyrule, of course."
Link leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. Zelda's face burned red. He nearly chuckled at her embarrassed shock; he had plenty of experience with her being angry or merely contrite with him whenever he tried to tease her. For whatever reason, teasing was a one-way road with his princess.
"I do have to retrieve something from Goron Town," he admitted. "It's involved with something I have going on with the craftswomen of Gerudo Town."
Zelda frowned slightly. "Are you certain this is not some excuse to go get wasted with Riju, or get stomach pains like the last time you dropped by YunoboCo's HQ?"
"Who told you about Riju and I going out and drinking?"
She smiled slyly as she said in a mocking singsong, "You did, Link-y!"
And with that, Zelda leaped out of bed. She wore only a simple white shift, her milky shoulders and thighs left bare. There was a dark mark where her neck met her shoulders, with a few splotchy teeth marks still visible. Link watched her as she sorted through the clothes sprawling from out of their trunks. His gaze lingered, especially went she bent over in that particular way that made him thank Hylia and the three Golden Goddesses that Zelda shared his feelings. It had been strange, falling in love with her before the Calamity and then falling in love with her again as he worked to right the wrongs their past failures caused. It wasn't the falling in love that had been strange, but that it happened twice.
"That means it's supposed to happen, silly," Zelda had said when he confessed what happened. They had debated on the first night who would take the bed and who would sleep on a bedroll. She beamed at him then and said, "How about we share the bed? It isn't that small."
His middling protests went ignored, which had secretly relieved him. Link had struggled with sleeping in beds alone ever since. That had helped drive him forward while awakening the Sages of his current age and later, when he descended beneath Hyrule Castle and destroyed Ganondorf.
"You need to get out of bed as well," said Zelda, turning to face him. She had a pair of black slacks and a thick green riding dress slung over an arm, with stockings and undergarments in the other. "We do have a busy day ahead of us, Link."
He sighed and rolled out from beneath the sheet and blanket. The wood was solid yet cold against his bare feet. Zelda made a choking sound at the visual reminder he preferred to sleep nude. Link thought it was silly that she insisted upon pulling her shift back on before going to sleep, but he guessed some habits died hard.
She had spent a century wearing her white priestess dress. Link was certain that was why she continued to insist upon the shift. He could not fathom why else.
Link grabbed the whalebone comb on the nightstand, a gift from his first visit to Lurelin. He drew it through his long, tangled hair. He no longer grimaced whenever he punched straight through a nasty tangle, though he pulled out too many hairs with his haphazard method. He was halfway through when a small hand took the comb from him and continued on.
"How does your hair always become so tangled?" asked Zelda. Her voice reeked of fondness, and Link thought she was pouring oil into his darker blond hair. His did not possess the same yellowy shine she had. "I swear I could be three times as active as you are and I would have no trouble brushing and combing every morning."
"Maybe now," grumbled Link. "But before you cut your hair?"
He didn't need to see her face to know it bloomed brightly with a brilliant flush. There was nobody he knew better than Zelda—
"You like my hair short, though. It makes nuzzling my neck easier for you."
—and there was nobody she knew better than Link. His cheeks warmed and rose with a soft smile. He grimaced a moment later, as Zelda went over a particularly nasty section of tangles. She sighed as she ran the comb through that stretch of hair several times. She only finished once his hair was perfectly smooth and straight.
"Din's fire, Link! How do you manage when you're on your quests?"
Link paused, thinking about the care he had given his hair. Given all the swimming and the times it got singed by lightning or the conditions of Death Mountain, the answer was very simple: "I don't."
Zelda choked on her exasperation. A moment later, both of her hands came to rest upon his bare shoulders. He could feel the comb in the right, and the small callouses that lined both hands. She rubbed small, mindless circles for a few seconds, and then leaned and pressed her face into the back of his head.
"Why did it have to be someone like you?" she asked, words muffled slightly by his hair.
Link twisted so he could stare back at her. He pressed a quick, soft kiss against her lips, and then smiled. "You say that as though it could have been anyone else."
Zelda poked his nose while wearing a mischievous smile. "Let me get your hair fixed up, and then we'll need to hurry. The sooner we speak with the mayor, the sooner we can give our lesson, and thus the sooner you can ride on to Fort Hateno."
Link nodded, turning so she could finish combing his hair. "I'll miss you while I'm gone."
"It's an hour's ride, Link. Two, if you stop to converse with those good folk beyond the village. You can always come home at night."
He shrugged. "It's the principle of the matter, Zelda. I'll want to remain with them until my task is complete."
She frowned, brows drawn close enough to touch.
Silence settled uncomfortably between them. Link clenched his hands, trying to find the words to say. He didn't know what those words were. Still, his mouth opened, ready to say something. Anything.
Zelda laid a hand over his open mouth. "I think we should handle our business here in Hateno first and then go together. I am curious about how you handle the troubles and problems of Hyrule. And… I would greatly appreciate being able to see it myself."
Link drew the hand aside and whispered, "As you wish, my princess." Zelda's face bloomed with heat.
They ended up being late for their meeting with the mayor. Their hair was only slightly disheveled.
"Come on, Link," said Zelda as they stepped out of the mayor's house. "You know how the children are when we teach them."
"You just wanted to get away from Cece."
Hateno's fashionista had surprised them when she entered the house near the end of their meeting with the mayor. Apparently, she had her own meeting with the mayor, scheduled after theirs. By coming late and thus not finishing at the proper time, they had technically intruded upon that other meeting.
Zelda remained quiet for only a second before she grumbled, "That woman has a noxious sense of design! I cannot believe you kept that grotesque hat of hers!"
Link huffed. "It's up in Akkala. Out of sight, out of mind, Zelda."
She paused and turned to face him. "Akkala? How can you keep things in Akkala? Hudson would have mentioned if you bought a house there."
"I have a second home up there, overlooking Tarrey Town. I… I bought it from Rhondson, not Hudson. You recall her dream houses."
Seconds passed before Zelda surprised him by nodding. "Then we will need to travel up there. I would love to see it."
Link smiled weakly, thinking of his green "dream home" that he had purchased and built up. It was wonderful for storing the ancient relics he discovered in the Depths, but to live in? He much preferred their home in Hateno. Frankly, he'd rather live in the ruins of Hyrule Castle than live in his Akkala "house". He glanced at Zelda as she hummed, a slight smile on her face. Best he didn't tell her that. She had blocked off all conversation about the old castle and the leveled ruins of Castle Town. It hurt to remember his first life, when he had been a boy and then a soldier. Then, all he knew was that town and the castle everyone gazed upon with pride. Were it not for Zelda, he never would have seen all of Hyrule; the cold tundras of Hebra, the mirages of the Gerudo desert, the high peaks of Eldin, or even the entire plain of Central Hyrule.
They came to a short road up to the grassy field before Hateno's schoolhouse. When they had surveyed Hateno, planning to construct a school, Zelda had questioned him about where he thought it should go. He had brought her up this exact path and showed her the empty green field beyond. They had come to it when the children of the village were playing one of the games they invented after hearing about Link's adventures.
"Oh! What are they playing?" Zelda had asked him.
Link gestured toward the kids. A few prowled, chests puffed and standing tall. The rest snuck around the boxes and ladders they had set up that morning. Link suspected their game was inspired by his infiltration of the Yiga Clan Hideout in the north of Gerudo Desert, but he wasn't completely certain.
Zelda had pressed forward after several seconds, interrupting their game. Amusingly, the kids had been very quick to tell her what they were up to. She had giggled and teased Link about the children trying to be him.
Today, like then, they found the children before the school. Symin, the Sheikah who had leaped at the opportunity to teach—and to get away from Kakariko, Link suspected—stood near the schoolhouse door. He spotted them first and raised his hands to his mouth. He slotted a pair of fingers into each side and whistled. It was a high, piercing sound that always made Link flinch. Zelda grimaced as well, raising her hands to cover her long ears.
The children, though, reacted without fear. They stopped their game immediately and reformed the two teams necessary to whatever they had been playing. Most were content to stop and stand, regaining their breath, but a few noticed the pair approaching.
"Miss Zelda!" screamed one child while another bellowed, "Professor Link!"
"Professor Link?" asked Zelda, turning to face him. "Since when have you been a professor?"
He blinked. Had the children not called him so in the weeks since Ganondorf's defeat? "I helped with the teaching while you were away, following the Upheaval. The children decided to grant me the title of 'Professor', though I have no doubt you could easily win it as well."
Zelda hummed with a pleased smile. They continued up the path, reaching the wide green before the schoolhouse. Symin clapped his hands twice; the children clapped three times. A moment later, they charged Zelda and Link, screaming and laughing.
"Oh!" shouted Zelda as the wave of children crashed against them. They did not have enough force to knock them over, though Link did widen his stance. He had been too upright when the children arrived. He learned the hard way many times just how dangerous a poor stance could be.
And then Zelda suddenly fell backward. She grabbed him, yanking him down alongside her. Unsurprisingly, as far as Link was concerned, was how the children proceeded to leap onto them, laughing and giggling as they piled up on Link and Zelda.
"Children!" called Symin as he bustled over. "I understand your excitement to see the princess and her knight, but you do need to remember—"
"It's fine, Symin," said Zelda. She sat up, poking out of the pile of children atop them. Link remained on his back, pretending he had taken a nasty hit from a monster. His side twinged, remembering the battering he received while taking down that noxious Silver Lynel in the Depths beneath Hyrule Castle. "They were only excited to see us."
The Sheikah teacher did not appear relieved by her words as he kneeled beside them. "Still, you are the princess. Everyone, including us here in Hateno, look to you for guidance and wisdom." His voice dipped low and solemn. "It's a hard burden, yes, but one you know you were always meant to take up."
Zelda sighed and nodded. Link made an effort to sit up, though the two children lying over his chest made it more difficult than he'd like. They stayed on him for a little while longer, then crawled off in a manner that made his skin crawl.
There were nights when he dreamed of the sandy desert and the fiends that wandered the dune—
"Though since the both of you are here, I wished to have you help me with a special lesson," continued Symin. "We have been discussing the peoples of Hyrule, and some of the children have wished to know more about life before the Calamity."
Link's mouth opened immediately. "I don't think—"
"No, Link," said Zelda. She rose to her feet gracefully and stood, proud and erect like the day he first laid his eyes upon her. He felt her courage, wearing that dress of green fields. "I think it is time I told them. They deserve to know the entire truth, for they are the ones who will inherit Hyrule from us."
Link was pleasantly surprised by how swiftly the children gathered in the classroom and sat down. They waited patiently as Zelda prepared at the front of the room. Symin stood beside Link, an uncertain look on his face.
"She'll be fine," whispered Link. "Zelda wouldn't have volunteered if she wasn't certain."
Symin glanced at the knight, to the princess, and back. "If you say so, Professor Link. You are the expert when it comes to Princess Zelda."
No matter which, he thought, recalling memories not his own that sometimes surfaced.
Zelda cleared her throat loudly. The two men gave her their full attention as the children straightened. A moment later, she began speaking:
"I shall begin at the very beginning. Before the kingdom of Hyrule your grandparents and great-grandparents knew. Legends tell us that in the beginning, there was only a great void. The three golden goddesses of the ancient kingdom came to that void and created life. When they departed, their creation finished, a fragment of their power was left behind upon the very place where they first touched the world—this fragment was the Triforce. It is a holy relic of immeasurable power, and so demonic forces arose to try and claim it."
The children were silent, almost not breathing.
"With time, another goddess, charged by the golden three, came to Hyrule. Her name is Hylia, and we, the Hylians, bear her name in honor of her sacrifice. She gave up her immortality and divinity to ensure the kingdom—and the Triforce—would remain protected. As such, she became the first queen of Hyrule."
Link frowned. He recalled the memories the Light Dragon—his Zelda—had scattered across the land. They had shown him the first queen of their Hyrule, yet Sonia had never seemed like the goddess type. Not as, say, Zelda might have.
"That Hyrule rose and fell, and eventually became legend. And then the Zonai, who you have all certainly heard about, came to Hyrule. They solved the crisis of the Triforce, but in doing so created a new problem for the land of Hyrule and her people."
Zelda paused, swallowing heavily. The secret stone at her throat glowed with golden power. Link knew it was her power of time, inherited from Sonia throughout the generations. Zelda also had her inborn power, which restored the Master Sword to its full power.
(Across the village, the Sword that Banishes Evil glowed faintly. The ancient spirit within trembled. Time came for all, even her.)
"The Zonai fashioned secret stones, objects of magical power they guarded carefully. As far as I am aware, only six ever fell into the hands of those who are not Zonai: mine," she said, brushing the golden yellow stone at her throat, "those of the four sages, and the one stolen by the Demon King."
The children began whispering amongst themselves. They knew about the Demon King, had seen the great blinding light that had scarred the wetlands between Hyrule Field, Eldin, and Lanayru. But for them, he was a story. Link still remembered the ghastly thing Zelda and him had found under the castle, the false Zelda that had drawn him into danger after danger, and the monster he fought in the deepest part of Hyrule, so far beneath the ground the Sages had to come in person to fulfill their sworn vows.
"The Demon King belongs to a greater race of demons, all who have inherited the will of Demise, the first demon. He swore unending hatred against Hyrule and her defenders: the bloodline of the royal family, and the one who bears the spirit of the hero."
Link nearly choked on his breath. Ganondorf had hated him in particular, and not just because of Rauru's promise. Link had curbed the Demon King's plots at every turn, whether it was returning the clear waters of Zora's Domain or liberating the Gorons from the sway of the marbled rock roast. He had even survived the trap laid for him at Hyrule Castle, and thus introduced the new generation of sages to the Demon King they had all heard of from their sage ancestors.
"Demise's hatred has reincarnated time and again. However with recent events…" Zelda rolled her lips into her mouth. "For now, however, we are safe from his malice. I wish I could promise Hyrule shall be eternally free of Demise's taint, but I do now know if that is the truth." She smiled, though it was sad, as if she were about to pass on a great, terrible burden. "It is my hope you will all grow up in a land of peace and plenty. Legend has it that Hyrule has been a golden kingdom whenever freed from tragedy." Her gaze caught Link's. "I was born into one, and I will see one last for all of your lives." Her smile bloomed into one of relief and joy, or at least that was how it appeared.
"All I…
"All I pray for… is that you will all…
Zelda paused to take in a great, deep breath. Her eyes even closed briefly as she sighed. Her face had lost much of its color. Link shifted slightly, ready to move.
"That you all live good lives."
Zelda then bowed and hurried from the classroom. Link spotted the tears streaking down her ashen cheeks. He heard Symin calling after them; he had moved almost immediately, following Zelda from the schoolhouse that symbolized all they had fought for.