Village of Given, the Morning After Hero's Day
The Colonel immediately got up and stood to attention with his fist on his heart when he saw him. Link felt his cheeks burning: eleven years on, there was STILL no getting used to this sort of thing.
"Please don't. Hi," Link said awkwardly, sitting down. He turned to his mother. "You're not packing?"
She didn't get a chance to respond. The Hylian Colonel cleared his throat and spoke instead.
"Evacuation is completely unnecessary. Three dozen of my unit will remain here to defend this village, and other units have been deployed to all the other refugee settlements." He gave a quick bow. "It's an honor, Hero. Colonel Remiss, at your service." Finally, he sat down.
Link nodded in acknowledgement, but his heart was suddenly racing. "Other units were deployed? Why?" he asked.
"Whoever sent the monsters didn't actually know where you were," his mother said in a shaky voice. "They attacked the seven and the three," she added, referring to the seven isolated communities and the three neighborhoods in Castle Town where most Sea Folks lived. "All we achieved in hiding you was to multiply the danger to all of them." She lowered her head and covered most of her face with her hands, taking long slow breaths in an apparent effort to calm down.
Link looked from her to his father to the Colonel, eyes wide, before settling on his father. "The others were attacked too?" he asked uselessly. The actual question was too difficult to ask.
"I don't have the number of victims," Remiss said, "but yes, there were several. Guards were dispatched to all areas under attack as quickly as possible, but even that was not quickly enough to fully protect the residents."
The news felt like a cold claw had closed on Link's heart. His imagination provided detailed scenes of carnage with people dead or dying… he should go and see if he could help, he had to be able to help. Maybe fairies... he put the fairy ocarina to his lips but the notes didn't come. He wasn't sure where to go first, everywhere that came to mind just caused him to suddenly think some other place might need him more urgently. Beginning, maybe? It was the biggest of the Seven, but it was pretty close to reinforcements. Hope was further out from anything, and it was pretty big too. But there was that one neighborhood in Castle Town that had a lot of senior citizens...
Colonel Remiss' voice, which seemed to come floating in through the fog around Link's mind, stopped him. "…ro! Hero!"
Link forced his eyes to focus on the Hylian Colonel. Perhaps HE knew where to go first.
Remiss nodded, satisfied he had his attention. "The troops all brought more than enough potion and fairies. Please stay, we need to talk."
Link stared at him. "Can you swear to that?" he asked.
Remiss put his hand on his heart. "On the Goddess Hylia herself, I swear I would not seek to prevent you from going if there was any chance at all that you could help. Every unit dispatched would have followed protocols and brought more than enough supplies, and would have already procured more by now if needed."
Link bit his lips but lowered the ocarina and forced his mind away from picturing the carnage in the other settlements. He couldn't afford to dwell on this, his job was to make sure no more suffered than already had.
The Colonel nodded. "Thank you. I'll cut directly to the point. These attacks were almost certainly the work of The Enemy. You need to start your quest to find them and defeat them. We will guard every settlement for as long as necessary."
Link clenched his jaw. As worried as he was about Remiss's potential reaction, it made no sense not to inform the Colonel, and by extension the Crown, that he couldn't go straight to hunting whoever was responsible, as tempting as that was. Or that he might not have the Master Sword to face them.
"I agree," he said, "but there's a complication and I need to take care of it first." He got up, unsheathed the sword and held it upright in front of himself.
The blade looked just as bad as it had when Link had last checked on it. If anything, he thought it looked a tiny bit worse again, but it was hard to be sure. Either way, it looked bad enough that Remiss stared at it in shock, his mouth agape.
Link gave the Colonel a second before clearing his throat to get his attention and continuing what he'd been saying. "I don't know what's wrong with it," he said. "It was fine yesterday, but when the fight started, it was like this. I can't use it like this, I need to bring it back to its resting place. The Great Deku Tree may be able to help."
The Colonel had torn his eyes away from the Master Sword to stare at Link instead with a mild frown. Once Link finished talking, Remiss looked back to the Blade of Evil's Bane and swallowed.
Link involuntarily tightened his grip on the Master Sword, his whole body tensing. He could guess what was coming. He wouldn't have been able to pinpoint any one thing about Remiss that tipped him off: the specific ways the eyes drifted from his hat to his ear, or from his clothes to the exposed dark skin of his arms? The slight, very slight motion backward? The subtle clench of the jaw? The fact was that Link had a lot of experience recognizing what people saw when they looked at him, and the Colonel had just gone from looking at the Hero to looking at a Sea Folk pretender. The only question was how far the Colonel would let his doubts take him. Link mentally switched to his guarded, formal mode – he wasn't among only friends anymore and caution was needed to avoid a fight.
Remiss didn't seem to notice the sudden tension. "And you're going straight there?" he asked. "To the Lost Woods?"
Link nodded crisply. "You have my word that I am indeed headed directly to the Lost Woods, yes." He kept his face neutral, hiding how much he wanted to just end this conversation.
"We'll escort you," Remiss said.
"Thank you for your kind offer," Link said, faking gratitude to hide growing irritation, "but that is not at all necessary. I intend to travel instantly, by way of the Fairy Ocarina, directly to the Lost Woods. Riding instead, even in company of an escort, would merely delay things, and significantly so. I cannot accept."
The Colonel hesitated. "We need to ensure the blade's safety," he finally said.
"I promise that you need not worry. I am better able than anyone to protect the Holy Blade. Additionally, as I just mentioned, the road will be much shorter and safer for me alone since I will travel to the Lost Woods instantly." Link managed to get through all three sentences without so much as tapping his foot in impatience. It was unfortunate that it always took so long to say something as simple as 'buzz off' to people when you were going out of your way to be polite and formal to try and avoid a confrontation.
The Colonel frowned. "Perhaps we should spare you the trip altogether, Link. Give the Master Sword to me, I will bring it back to the King and he'll arrange for its return to the Lost Woods."
Link noted with a pang that Remiss was no longer calling him Hero. That probably meant he wouldn't take no for an answer and that it was possible a fight was coming, no matter how much Link tried to avoid it. He tried the optimistic approach anyway. It was possible he was being paranoid.
"Another kind offer, but I'm sure you'll understand that I cannot possibly leave the Master Sword with anyone else," he said, faking calm with a slow, modulated voice, trying to sound as though he were explaining a basic rule to a misbehaving child. "Thanks to the Fairy Ocarina, I can be at the Master Sword's resting place in less than half an hour, and I will leave the sword there to sleep and be restored unless the Great Deku Tree advises otherwise. You have my word on that."
"I must insist," the Colonel said, his frown deepening into a scowl.
Link estimated that Remiss would soon drop all manners and try to grab the Master Sword. Allowing that to happen was out of the question, it would almost certainly end with the Colonel being at least mildly injured. Link took a breath to keep his voice under control and to work up the determination to do something he'd never done before, never thought he'd do, and didn't usually even like to acknowledge he COULD do: pulling rank. "COLONEL," he said forcefully, not yelling but no longer using his polite and formal tone. "I will go to the Lost Woods alone, YOU are ordered to travel to the Castle and inform the King of the situation. You mentioned some guards are staying in all the communities to provide protection in case of renewed attacks. Leave everyone here you were planning to, except for yourself. I will trust you to decide who should be in charge of your unit in your absence."
The Colonel's upper lip curled slightly. Link held his breath. This could go either way: Remiss would either comply, or attack.
Remiss sighed heavily but stood again, putting his fist to his heart. He was still scowling. "As ordered. It is not within my authority to rule on your identity, so I will inform the King that the Master Sword is now very obviously rejecting you, Link of Given. Do not expect me, or anyone else within the King's Guards, to defer to you once this is done. If you have not returned the Master Sword yet, we will hunt you down." He paused briefly before adding: "Don't take me for a fool, young man. There's no way the Master Sword sustained this kind of damage in one day as you claim, and I will make sure the King is aware of your attempted deception now that the state of the Blade of Evil's Bane is known. In the meantime, perhaps you should reflect on the danger you put your own people in."
He turned on his heels then and stalked out of the house. Link sighed heavily and looked at his parents, who were staring at him with wide eyes.
"I never knew you could actually order Hylian troops," his father said before sighing heavily. "For now, anyway."
Link nodded. "I'm pretty sure the King's not going to agree with him, but a lot of the soldiers are going to think exactly like that Colonel. I'll have to steer clear of Royal Guards when I can for now. YOU can't though – if they do stay to protect the village, it'd be crazy to chase them away."
His Mother sighed. "The Council will decide," she said. "I didn't expect him to turn like that, he seemed so nice… your hand's glowing by the way. Couldn't bother to start while HE was still here, of course. I take it you're roaring to go."
Link glared at the back of his left hand: the mark of the Triforce was indeed glowing now that Remiss was not around to see it.
His father scoffed. "I swear that thing has a sense of humor, and it's not a good one."
Link scoffed too and then shrugged the matter off to answer his mother's guess. "Yeah, I need to get going. Send word if no guards stay and you end up evacuating after all?"
"I'll let you know," his father said. "Take care, ok? Write. We need to hear from you as often as possible."
"That would point an arrow at the village," Link protested. "I'll do my best. Expect news to come from odd sources and never the same one twice, ok?"
His mother nodded and threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. He hugged back.
"You have what you need?" His father asked. "What about a sword? Until... you know."
Link's eyes wandered to the cabinet containing his father's sword. It was an old heirloom, not meant to be useful beyond that, and one his father only kept out of guilt at the thought of throwing it away.
"Not that piece of junk, are you crazy?" his father said, following his eyes. "Come with me, Maran has got to have a better blade than this she can loan you."
Link nodded and followed his father out the door. The delay wasn't welcomed but hopefully this wouldn't take long and going without a sword was probably a bad idea.
Maran, a short brick wall of a woman with her hair shaven and startling blue eyes, had been waiting for them by the door of her workshop, arms crossed. She grinned when she saw them and waved them over.
"Took you long enough!" she said, ushering them inside. "I saw the Master Sword when you charged at those moblins. Nice moves by the way. But you can't start each fight by trying to steal your opponent's weapon, it's just not practical."
"I don't know what's happening…" Link started, feeling like he owed an explanation despite having none to offer.
"I know honey, I know. Don't worry, ok? You'll figure it out. In the meantime, try these out!"
She had brought them to a table near one of the windows. On it, three blades gleamed in the bit of sunlight that was managing to get through the smoked out glass: they were all one handed and in the same style as the Master Sword, but varied in size.
"I know the Master Sword is legendary and perfect and all that, but you're a tall boy, Link, and strong. You could easily handle a bigger blade," she pointed at the biggest sword. "Or, if you want to stick with the same feel, I'm pretty sure this middle one is really close to the Master Sword. Assuming the blessings and magic and stuff don't weigh anything. Or, if you want something lighter and faster, I guess you could take the small one… I mean you're already fast with the bigger ones, I just have it there because it came out really good and I don't want to presume to know what you want."
Link didn't argue with the assessment that he was tall or strong – he was basically of an average height for an adult Sea Folk or Hylian but people couldn't seem to get used to a hero who wasn't short. And as for strength, it was pretty irrelevant when he was wearing the Golden Gauntlets.
He stepped to the table and picked up the middle sword. It was of a size with the Master Sword, and the weight was similar. It felt perfectly balanced and was without a doubt one of the best swords he'd ever seen. He put it down and tried the bigger sword: he could feel the extra weight but Maran was right, it was nothing he couldn't easily handle even without the gauntlets. Just like the middle sword, it was perfect in every way he could think of. He picked up the smaller sword for the sake of thoroughness, expecting not to like it, but he blinked: it was pretty much weightless. He swished it around a couple of time: it felt like nothing at all and seemed to cut through the very air.
He put it back down and did a few moves with the other two. The middle one just felt like a step down from the Master Sword, even though it was superbly crafted and perfect in every way. But the bigger one and the smaller one…
"Take both," Maran said, grinning. "Raise your arms and let me look at your belt, we'll figure out the best way to fit them both on."
"No need," Link said. "I do want both, but I'll attach the smaller one here," he pointed to his shoulder, "and the big one is going in my pouch."
"You're not putting the Master Sword in there? That's what I'd do."
Link shook his head. "Can't. It'd be convenient sometimes, but it just won't go in."
"Ah well," Maran said. "Guess an ancient holy sword gets to be a bit finicky about that sort of thing."
She bent under the table and came up with two sheaths. "I got to be honest with you, I sort of made those for you in the first place as a personal challenge. I wanted to make a sword good enough that you'd be fine with using it instead of the Master Sword sometimes."
Link took the sheaths with a smile and sheathed both blades, attaching the smaller one as planned to his back holder and slipping the bigger one in his pouch. He drew the smaller sword a few times, adjusting the position of the sheath until the movement was as natural as it could be, then took his wallet out of his pouch and turned back to Maran.
"They're amazing," he said. "How much?"
Maran scowled at him and his father snickered. Link's eyes widened.
"I'm not just taking those," he said. "You just said you worked really hard on them and they're wonderful."
Maran crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor. She scoffed at him and turned to his father. "You're going to let him insult me like that and just laugh it up, are you?"
"You don't understand," Link said. "This is just like Geeve and Mindo and their Chuchus, you guys don't get it, I don't NEED freebies, I…"
His father shut him up by holding up one finger. "We happen to know some Hylian merchants charge you crazy prices for everything," he said. "Partly because we've run into them too and partly because word gets around."
"Well, yeah, some do, but…"
"You're one of us, Link," Maran interrupted. "We intend to welcome you back home when this is done, and we intend to make very sure that you come back in one piece, body AND soul, both still attached together, and that means we're going to do absolutely everything in our power to help you in any way that we can at all. Has this not been clear to you for the past 11 years? What in the Dark World have you been teaching this boy, Garm?"
Link's father snorted. "Exactly that," he said. "He's a bit stubborn."
"I don't want my problems to be everyone's problems!" Link exploded. He stopped, breathed, and started again in a calm voice. "These help a lot EVEN if I pay for them! Please, just… I don't want to leave you short. That's a lot of time and material that you should be paid for."
Maran rolled her eyes. "Honey, thanks to you, we're all still going to be around and kicking for years to come instead of dying in some kind of cursed apocalypse. You are GIVING us time. Payment enough."
Link narrowed his eyes. He didn't want to waste more time, but he couldn't stand the thought of basically stealing the swords with permission. He had to show Maran why gifting him her best work was unnecessary.
He opened his wallet and poured some of the contents on the table. The wallet was a gift from the Princess herself and was actually a specialized version of his pouch, able to magically contain a lot more than its small size should have allowed. It had come already containing one rupee of each available denomination, Link assumed as some kind of traditional gift.
Rupees of all colors and sizes cascaded on the table. Link closed the wallet before the pile started to spill to the floor. He counted 10 gold rupees and 8 silver ones. He didn't bother counting all the purple, red, yellow, blue and green ones.
"Just to be clear, this still has a lot left in it," he said, holding up the wallet. "So. 10 times 300 and 8 times one hundred, that's 3,800 plus a ton of 50s, 20s and 10s, and change. It doesn't MATTER that some Hylian merchants rip me off, because I find money literally everywhere. I can't camp for the night without picking it out of the grass before I lie down. Every old place I visit has pots and crates and chests full of it." He didn't mention that monsters often carried money as well: he didn't want to invite speculations or even comments on why none of them had tonight.
"The Picoris really adore you," Maran said slowly, most of her attention taken by the pile of rupees.
Link snorted. He didn't believe in the Picoris any more than he believed in the mystical bird people. He picked up the rupees but left two gold ones on the table.
"Think of it as funding for more of these," he said. "I have to return the Master Sword after this is over, and I might not even get to use it at all…"
"Pish posh," Maran said, waving off the possibility. "Yes, you will. You'll figure it out. I'm not taking 600 for two swords. Three hundred." She held up one of the gold rupees and put it in her pocket. "Last offer."
Link took back the gold rupee but took out a silver one and dropped it on the table. "For the sheaths," he said.
Maran threw it at his father. "Room and board," she said. "Makes as much sense as giving it to me."
Link rolled his eyes but beat down his irritation. He wasn't going to leave angry with such a gift.
"Thank you," he said instead to Maran. "These will make things so much easier, I am really, really grateful."
"Dang, he went all formal," Maran laughed. "You're welcome, kiddo. Now shoo, I got to get back to work."
Garm chuckled and led Link back outside. "Come say goodbye to your mother again, she won't stand for not being the last person you saw before leaving."
Link followed meekly enough. More delays, but this one didn't feel like wasted time. The large scale attack, not to mention whatever was happening to the Master Sword, pointed to whatever calamity was cursing this age, whatever demon Link would have to fight, being active at last – just like Remiss had said. Link didn't know how long he'd be gone. He technically didn't even know for sure he'd be back alive to see his parents again.
His mother was waiting for them in front of the house. She thrust an extra bag at Link. "Fruits and nuts," she said. "For the road. I put an extra skin of water too. You be careful, ok?"
She wasn't meeting his eyes. Link took it to mean she felt the same way he did about this departure. He took the bag and put it in his pouch, then threw his arms around her. She returned the hug.
"Come BACK," she said against his shoulder. "That's an order from a member of the Council AND your mother. COME. BACK."
Link suddenly felt his father behind him, closing his own arms around them both, squeezing him into a sandwich between his parents. "Mind your mother, boy," he said. "Don't you dare die."
"I'll be careful," Link said. "Can't have you throwing a Hero's Funeral right here, that would be WAY too suspicious."
"We would make it obnoxiously grand," his father threatened, playing along with the admittedly terrible joke.
"They'd be talking about it for centuries," his mother added. "Fireworks for days."
Link chuckled. "I'll be careful," he repeated, more seriously.
He extricated himself from the double hug and took out his ocarina again.
"Love you," he said. Then, without waiting for the answer, he put the ocarina to his lips and played the minuet of the forest. He disappeared in a flurry of green glow.
Limsy sighed heavily once he was gone. "Haven't actually seen him in his greens for ages. First time I even see THIS set on him. I don't like it."
Garm pulled her into a hug. "He'll be fine."
"The embroidery on the chest looks pretentious. The royal mark, big and bold."
Garm snorted. "It looks like the Royal Family put their name on him so he could be returned to them if lost, doesn't it?"
She sighed again and squeezed him tighter. "That funeral joke was bad even by his standards," she said. "He's trying to hold it together but he's rattled."
Garm nodded in her shoulder. "I was really worried when his eyes glazed over. Took the Colonel a few tries to get through to him, too. And he barely put up a fight to take the two best swords Maran's ever made. She only accepted half of what he tried to pay for them, and he took them anyway."
"When this is over, I'm burning his greens."
"Sounds good," he agreed, playing along with pretending there was no doubt at all that Link would come home again and that they'd have a chance to burn his 'work clothes', because anything was better than dwelling on the alternative.
Remiss was riding away a few short minutes after leaving Link and his parents, having put Gibson in charge of the troops remaining in Given with a one sentence order and a declaration he had business at the Castle. There was no need to share the catastrophic news with his troops yet and besides, it would have been unacceptable not to ensure the King was the first to know.
Hyrule was in the gravest danger it had ever been in: as evidenced by the coordinated attacks on the settlements, the Enemy was upon them and unlike any other cursed age, the Hero, when he woke to his destiny, would find his sword missing from its resting place, dying instead in the hands of an incredibly dangerous prankster, who had fooled both Farore's Medal and the sword itself, playing pretend and hoarding the holy blade and who knew how many priceless artefacts. Remiss didn't want to believe Link or his village were actually in league with the Enemy, but it was difficult to entirely dismiss the possibility.
He felt panic grip at his heart and tensed his whole body against it before relaxing again. The technique worked to calm him down somewhat, but he still spurred his horse faster and massaged some stamina balm on his mount's neck to allow the stallion to keep going without rest for as long as needed.