Trying Out the Mask
By the time it reached late afternoon, he could remember at least half of the alphabet, count to ten, greet people, and say what his name was. His finger drifted toward his chin, 'Now that I think about it, that can't do much for me—at all…but," he shrugged, "it's a start and my brain is melting.' He folded the pamphlet and stored it in the vanity's drawer, looking at himself in the mirror for the first time that day.
"Wow, I look…different. Kinda." His hair was a bit messy from the scuffle in the forest, but his face looked a little thinner than he remembered it being. He flexed his arms to be funny, but at the same time was astonished to see just a bit of muscle, at least for his ten-year-old body's sake. "At this rate I'll hit puberty in no time," he said sarcastically, laughing to himself.
"Okay okay, all this learning is making me hungry. I don't know how to ask for food yet, but I guess I'll try to put what I've learned to some use." He pulled his boots on, grabbed his sword and deity mask, and exited the room. Taking in the hallway, there didn't appear to be any room numbers to tell the identical doors apart. Looking back at his own, he saw the white note that hung just out of his reach. It was decently indicative by itself, but he counted the doors that lead up to his just in case the note was removed.
He retraced his steps and found his way down to the first floor. His eyes watched for some indication of food and where it was coming from. Though it wasn't for long as the Princess from earlier came up from behind him.
"Hello young one, I hope you're liking your room," she greeted.
He only understood 'hello', "Hi?" he responded, sounding uncertain.
She clapped her hands, smiling, "Yes! Good job! Do you need anything?"
The universal inflexion in her tone at the end of the phrase made it clear she was asking him something. He made an eating motion in hopes that it would tell her to show him where he could find something to eat. Midway, his cheeks had grown flush. It felt a little embarrassing to do in such an open space.
"Ah you're hungry. Well follow me," She took a hold of his hand and started leading him elsewhere.
Young Link was careful not to step on the trail of her royal blue dress as they walked. He tried to keep an eye out for statues, doorways, and other landmarks so he could remember how to return later, but at the same time the Princess had his full attention, even though she wasn't saying anything. 'I've got a feeling about her,' he thought, looking up at her, 'It's in her eyes. She's powerful but…only beneath the surface somehow. Weird.'
Within a few minutes, the two of them made it to the Dining Hall. The smell of fresh baked bread and cooked meat made his mouth water. Zelda led him to one of the long tables and signaled for him to wait there. He took in the atmosphere while she was gone. The room had a noisy buzz that hung in the air as people talked while they ate. It was also rather dimly lit to his surprise, but that only added to the sense of homeliness it gave off.
When the Princess returned, she had two other people holding plates behind her. Young Link was appalled at the amount of food.
"I don't know what you like so I had just a few more things brought out."
He frantically nodded his thanks, 'She really didn't have to do this! Especially since killing that guy from earlier could cause problems.' There were mashed potatoes, hot bread buns, steak, what looked to be a soup, and a miniature cake that he learned in the previous universe was called a "cupcake." He started with the bread, his focus on the food made the chatter around him sound more like a static hum from a beehive.
"Your Highness, where did you find this boy?" A man with armor asked. Maybe he was a captain, "More importantly, you realize he has a sword, right?"
She explained, "I was on another one of my excursions and we heard him playing a familiar song. When we found him, he had run right into a Yiga Clan warrior and was getting attacked. Link stepped in and knocked him out, but then he…" her eyes looked away, "…killed him before we could do anything."
"That sounds like we need to double your protection and get him out of here! For all we know he's given them every right to come attack us at the castle!" The man exclaimed.
"I'll have you know it's certainly crossed my mind, but wouldn't it be better if we taught him otherwise? You weren't there. You didn't see how he killed him." Her hand came to her mouth, almost murmuring, "It was a clean slice from navel to neck with little thought or preparation beforehand."
"So we've got an assassin sitting before us?!"
She was annoyed, "No. We might have a useful ally that we might be able to train," Zelda gestured in his direction, "Look at him, he's clearly still a child."
Young Link saw her hand was drawn out to him. 'Hmph, what an awfully serious sounding conversation…it's probably about me.' His eyes perused to the cupcake, 'Well, it wouldn't be the first time I do the "little-kid-schtick." I think I've managed to make it pretty convincing by now.' Looking thoughtful, he placed the little cake in her palm.
"See what I mean, captain? I believe my point has been proven."
His eyes widened. There must have been some argument left in his eyes, but it yielded to royalty, "Yes, your Highness. I understand."
Now that he could tell their conversation was over, the young hero found a napkin and tried to spell "Where is a training arena?" He passed it to Zelda, hoping she could read it. In return she gave him the cupcake.
She read it, "Where..train..areh...na. Where is the training arena? Are you done eating?" Zelda's gazed flicked to the empty plates. She tried to hide her surprise, "Well let's go then!" She took his hand.
'I wonder if she has anything better she could be doing. She does seem a bit tense after talking to that guy back there.' They walked out of the Dining Hall and continued toward a building that had a ton guards standing around outside. They'd been talking amongst each other until they bowed upon recognizing Zelda's appearance.
She appeared to politely dismiss their curtesy as she looked for someone.
Then Link, the knight from earlier, came up to her with a questioning look on his face, taking a short bow, of course.
"Ah, there you are. Because I partially put him under your watch earlier, I wanted to make you aware that we're going to the training arena. I've got a bit more time before I need to be elsewhere. Namely to work on this power—"
'Power…interesting.' That was the only word he recognized. 'That's a familiar word too. I might be wrong, but I'm starting to think the words that are the same between my language and theirs are the words that matter the most from the prophecy. Like, power, courage, wisdom…hand…maybe. Well," He thought longer, "Cuss words definitely aren't in the prophecy, I think that's just from my language.'
"I can go with y—"
Zelda shook her head, "That won't be necessary, but thank you. I think the other guards need you." She nodded toward a group of four men that seemed to be watching their interaction. The Princess leaned in, whispering, "You wouldn't want them to think you're trying to skip patrols."
Link nodded, "Right. Well, before you go, it would turn out that his name is Young Link. We have the same name,"
"Young Link?" She looked between them, "Well perhaps I can see why. The namesake is interesting, though." She waved, "We'll be off."
While they appeared to be purely civil with each other, Young Link couldn't help but remember the hero from the last world he left. 'Huh, I hope this Link doesn't get as jealous as the last Link. He gets a tunic from her and suddenly she's his world,' He quietly snickered to himself. They continued past another gate and walked a ways to the training grounds where the arena was. The armored guards stood aside at her gesture as she unlocked the gate. His eyes widened at the sight of the dummies and targets. "Thank you!" He happily mused.
Before he got to hacking and slashing, he saw Zelda point at the mask on his back. He immediately made an X and shook his head, trying to signal that the mask is only for him. 'But now that I remember, the Zelda and Link from the last realm didn't have a problem looking at me with the mask on.' He internally shrugged, 'That's probably a little extreme for practicing anyways.'
She didn't seem to have any more questions, so he took out his sword and lunged at one of the dummies. His adrenaline soared when he—to his delight—stabbed through it and backflipped off. After landing, he kicked up dust as he dashed to the next one and took off its head. Whilst still in the air, Young Link felt his free hand instinctually shoot to his waist to slap on the mask to do a finisher, but he abruptly stopped himself and, as a result, fell. He motioned to the Princess that he was okay before she could ask, but thought as he got back on his feet, 'I sure use this mask a lot if it's an important part of my attacking style.' He crossed his arms, 'And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or if it means I'm not good enough for myself on my own.'
He flinched as he noticed Zelda was waving goodbye to him. He quickly waved back as before his eyes squinted, "Now that she's gone…perhaps I can see how this mask works here." He checked the surrounding area high and low, at least five times, and didn't see anyone around. "Okay…" He put on the Fierce Deity's mask, a deep howl bursting from his lips as it merged into his skin and transformed him into his god-like, ten-and-a-half-foot form. Feeling the familiar strength flowing through his veins, he raced from dummy to dummy with little to no thought. He was quicker than the shadow the sun cast behind him and completely rearranged their already deformed bodies. Perhaps one of his songs could repair them? That wasn't likely.
'Aahhh, it feels nice to use this again,' A cheeky smirk crossed his face, "It's lucky that all my senses expand as well…except for smell for some reason, but I'm not complaining.' He continued to go about the arena and pulverize any dummy he could get his blade on. He was about to finish off one more when he heard footsteps followed by a yell. He whipped around—"Link!"
The knight had stumbled backwards and fell. Young Link, using the power from his mask, easily jumped up to the top of the arena where he'd stood. Before he could land, he ripped the mask off, returning to his typical child form. He rolled after hitting the ground next to the knight and pulled out his ocarina, playing the Song of Healing as fast as humanly possible. "Are you okay!?" His heart pounded out of his chest as he panted. In hindsight, he knew the song didn't work that way, but it was the only thing he could think of.
The hero of this universe shook the dizziness off and blinked, his eyes seemed fine.
Young Link sighed in relief, "I'm really sorry about that. I thought I was alone and just wanted to see how it would work here."
"Sorry?" Link repeated, it being one of the few other words Young Link knew how to say. He looked at his hands as if he was checking for something, "I don't exactly know what happened, so I guess I forgive you."
'He sounds unsure, maybe I'm in the clear for now. Well, this might help...' Young Link reached into his wallet and pulled out a red rupee, 'Money has always made me feel better.' He placed it into Link's hand and watched as his eyes sparkled for a split second.
This made him laugh, "Why thank you, not that I need it."
Young Link began to head back to his room when he caught sight of Link's earrings, his eyes glowing with want. 'They pierce ears here!? Yes! I couldn't ever get anyone to do it in the other universe!' He pointed at them.
Link looked surprised as he reached up to feel what the child was intently pointing at. He was even more astonished when Young Link pinched his own earlobes and wiggled them around, "You…you want your ears pierced? Gosh I don't even remember when I had this done." He patted his head, "Maybe once you learn a bit more you could have yours pierced, okay?"
'What the?!' It took a considerable amount of self-control to keep his eyes from rolling. He knew exactly what that tone of voice meant: not right now, but later after you do something. 'Dammit, sounds like there's an obstacle I need to overcome and there's no way I'm going to ask anyone else. Ugh, I guess I should spend a little while longer on that pamphlet tonight if I'm ever going to be able to communicate to anyone.' He nodded his head anyways even though he had zero idea what Link had said. "Bye."
"Ah good job! Bye!"
…
When Young Link reached his room, he sat his boots by the door and vaulted into his bed, realizing after he landed that he'll lose all the skills he'd learned if he didn't practice them. Jumping and dodging with a sense of style was one of them, and he was proud of it since he'd taught himself most of them. He put the Fierce Deity mask into one of the drawers of his nightstand, turning on the lamp, 'I think it's best if I don't use this for a while. Maybe I'll get used to being on my own in a way. I'd hate to be using a crutch when my legs work fine!'
His face fell as his eyes trudged to the side of the room. He didn't want to, but he got out of bed and grabbed the pamphlet from the vanity along with his pen and piece of paper. Young Link studied until his eyes were droopy and his brain turned into soup. "Yeah, I'm gonna take a bath and then go to bed."
The bathwater was pleasantly warm, which was a bit of a first since he had gotten used to either bathing in streams or lukewarm-edging-on-cold water. After sinking down to about where his nose only stuck out of the water, he would've been fine with just sleeping there, but the comfiness of the bed called his name, and man its voice was sweet. When he was clothed in a worn, oversized shirt, he checked the halls for activity and then promptly went to sleep.