Cold wind came howling through the door as it opened to admit another customer. It stirred the elderly shopkeeper's hair and Terra spun sharply towards the stranger, her hair protected by the many coverings she wore to hide her face and ears. Immediately, she regretted the action. It was too suspicious, if the person was looking for her (and it was extremely unlikely they were) she would've all but given herself away just then. Besides, he looked normal enough, maybe a bit worn and ragged for so early in the day, but normal.
A wisened hand took her own, and the shopkeeper spoke under his breath, "Do not worry, child, he is not here for you." Then louder he addressed the newcomer, "Aaron, any change yet?"
"Not yet, sir, she's still feverish. Please, don't you have anything stronger?" The man said, something urgent in his voice.
"Nothing in season, it's late fall and not all herbs can be preserved with any strength. I'll be happy to sell you more ginger for tea, but if it's not having any effect I'm afraid there's nothing I can do at this time of year."
"Please! I'll try anything! You have to have something else!" The man spoke with panic now, whoever was sick, she meant a lot to him. "I can pay! You know I can!"
Terra spoke up, she knew she shouldn't but she couldn't help herself: "I… might could help sir, I have a few herbs that aren't… native here. They're still good, if you're willing to let me try."
The man turned to her, hope sparking in his eyes, "Really!? You can save her!? Yes! Please come, I can pay… or… or do you need a place to stay the night? My wife is a wonderful cook as well!"
"A bed and meal sounds perfect. You can tell me about her condition on the way."
"Thank you! Thank you! Yes please, the house is this way!"
The man actually had a hard time explaining anything of use to her, Aaron was clearly at his wit's end. What Terra did manage to learn was that it was his soon-to-be-married daughter, Amy, who was ill. Apparently there was an old custom in this town for brides to visit the shrine out west of the town three nights before the wedding. Amy had gone, and stumbled back into town with a high fever. The exhausting struggle home had nearly killed her, apparently.
The doctor a few towns over had been summoned, but had been able to do nothing, he claimed there was no cause. But he was known to dislike this town because of the apothecary living here, so not many truly believed him. Terra had a hard time believing such a petty reason for dislike would cause a doctor to let a young woman die, but there was no convincing Aaron of that.
When she arrived, Terra hurried to Amy's room and examined what she could. Her worst fear didn't seem to be true, however, it wasn't magical sickness. She did seem to be poisoned, however. Terra wasn't familiar with native poisons and venoms to know what could cause this, however, and she doubted she'd actually have the anti-venom to save her naturally. She checked quickly for bite marks but found none.
Aaron's wife came and asked if he had managed to get anything stronger from the elderly apothecary, and he explained that Terra had been there and offered foreign help. She immediately asked if Terra needed anything, and Terra pulled some basic herbs from her satchel. She instructed the family in the preparation of the herbs into a broth and sent them to work while she used another to slow the fever.
Terra, all eyes finally off her, used magic. It wasn't hard, since it was a natural venom, to isolate the harmful chemicals in her blood. Then she used a trick she learned long ago to help make her healing look more natural. She moved the venom through the blood and pushed it into her stomach. It would do exactly what she's promised before and slow the fever. But it also meant she'd be able to force it out in a plausible way in a moment.
Magical work done, Terra retrieved a trashcan and placed it nearby. When the family came back with the broth, Terra put Amy back on the edge of consciousness and stood up to meet them.
"It looks like she ate something dangerous, and it's still in her. So we have to fight the toxin."
"Is that why this stuff smells so bad?" asked a smaller child.
Terra smiled and bent down, whispering conspiratorially to the child so that all would hear, "Don't worry, it tastes even worse."
"So, you don't have the antidote?" Aaron asked.
Terra stood back up, "We don't know what's in her, so that's why we're using that broth instead."
"So it… will help her fight any poison?"
"Something like that. Don't worry, we'll know if it works very quickly."
The man nodded, and his wife seemed to gain confidence as well. Terra took the broth from them and retrieved a funnel from her satchel. She began to pour the vile liquid down the unfortunate girl's throat. It wasn't long before Terra saw the signs, and hurriedly ceased angering her digestive system.
She quickly set down the broth and funnel and grabbed the trash can. Poor Amy suddenly sat straight up and retched up both vile broth and the venom straight into the can she held out for her. Unfortunately, Terra heard someone retching behind her. Oh well.
Amy coughed and spluttered as her mind came alive just a bit after her body, "What… what was that stuff?"
"Just something to make you throw up whatever you ate," Terra said smiling at the girl.
She began performing what should look like some checks, but activated her magic again behind the young woman's back so none could see. She seemed fully cleared out now, but she'd be weak for a few more days.
"It was just some berries" Amy said, "I was hiding and… and I got hungry so I tried the berries."
"Hiding from what?" Her mother asked, and Terra perked up as well. If it was those… those creatures again.
"There… there was a man in the woods… I think there was at least… it's all fussy now."
"Well, you're safe now, right Miss? She's ok now?" Aaron asked.
"Yes, she'll be fine, just let her body rest and recover. Give her lots of food and tea too, it doesn't look like you've been able to force anything but liquids down her throat since she came home."
The family couldn't stop thanking her all night, and happily gave her the promised meal and roof for the night, but Terra had a hard time sleeping. What Amy had experienced was growing more and more common wherever she went. Terra wasn't her real name, of course. It was Zelda, but her pursuers knew that, so every so often she came up with a new name to travel by as she ran. Terra had been the name of the protagonist in one of her favorite games she'd played growing up… back when she'd had a home.
She wondered if Link had suffered anything similar, if he'd lost house and home when he learned what he was, or if he even knew yet. Maybe she'd stumble upon him before he knew anything about who he was, wouldn't that be something? It didn't seem likely though and she didn't actually want it to be like that. She wanted him to recognize her immediately when they found each other. She wanted him to be ready to fight all the things chasing her.
She turned over and, comforted by memories of her chosen hero, finally managed to find sleep.
Her dreams were fitful memories of her times on the run from or even captured by the King of Evil. It was all she ever seemed to dream of these days. Sometimes she also dreamed of Link coming in to save her, but that had become less and less common as her year of running had gone on.
Tonight, she was lucky. She dreamed of the moment Link had leaped a wall of fire to save her from a minion of Demise's. He'd grinned and asked if he was late. Her guardian, Impa, had given him an undue scolding about his timing before. Then she'd run away again, leaving Link with an enemy entirely out of his league. How she wished she had Link's courage.
When she woke, she was crying, and one of Aaron's younger daughters, Amber, was leaning over her. Zelda, no she had to remember she was Terra for the moment, started and hit her head on the wall. As she massaged her head, and her pride, the young girl asked who Link was. Terra realized she must've been talking in her sleep.
"Someone… that I lost. I'm looking for him. At least… I think I am."
"You don't know if you're looking for him?" The child asked her.
"I guess that sounds pretty silly doesn't it. But the funny thing is, I haven't met him yet, and I don't know where he's gone," Terra sighed.
"Why don't you just call him?"
"I don't know his number," she said, shrugging, "All I can do is look in places he might be. Eventually, he'll find me… I hope."
"How do you know?"
Zelda felt tears building up again, but fought them, why was she opening up to this child?
"I… I just do. It… it has to happen. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a point."
She felt arms around her middle and looked down to see little Amber hugging her. Zelda felt herself smile. Her parents had never had more children after her, was this what it was like having younger siblings? Did they intuit when you needed something so simple as a hug? Zelda didn't know, but she hugged the child back, and let the tears flow, for just a little while.
Terra left Aaron's home early and made for the shrine. If there was anything of significance there, she wanted to know. Who knew, maybe Link would be finding the same one about now. The worst part of traveling alone, however, was how much time she was left with her thoughts, for the more she thought, the darker her thoughts became.
To push those thoughts away, she often tried engaging her mind with more… theoretical thinking. Like why she hadn't been born a royal this time. She still hadn't worked that out. In every lifetime she had memories of, she'd been born a princess (if there had been a kingdom at all), and always along her own bloodline.
But, in this incarnation, her parents had been middle-class, financially speaking. Stable, but not rich, and not involved in politics at all. Was her bloodline dried out? It could explain the large distance in time since the last incarnation she had memories of, but it didn't seem like enough. Just what was going on? And what was her role in it this time?
Usually, she was the one to pick up the pieces of whatever havoc Ganondorf had wrought in Hyrule. As its rightful ruler, she took charge and built her people a stable society again. Today's world was fractured. Humanity had grown past the possibility of a single, united, kingdom, and they had lacked the fear of one recurring evil to face every few hundred to a few thousand years to keep them together.
She couldn't be what she had been. Her role didn't exist anymore. If she wasn't able to lead the damaged world, what was she good for? It seemed that each time she tried to step out of the role, she only made things worse. Like the time she had given up on learning magic and tried digging up old technology to prepare for Calamity Ganon.
That had been a disaster. Calamity Ganon had simply taken control of each and every working piece of Guardian tech, and used it against Hyrule and every other kingdom. No, she'd not make a mistake like that again. Not this time, when she had all these memories to warn her of her past mistakes. But what could she do?
Her brooding (so much for keeping her mind off unpleasant thoughts) had carried her all the way to the shrine and immediately she knew the trip had been worth it. It was a Hylian shrine for certain, the architecture and runes were certainly the work of her ancient children (it really felt odd thinking of Hylians as her children, but she remembered being Hylia now).
Humanity had created incredible architecture, a great deal of which equaled Hyrule in beauty and even surpassed it in ingenuity, especially given the lack of magic. Hylian architecture was distinctive, however, to anyone with a discerning eye, and it was far, far more durable. Humanity had managed to lose most of the Seven Wonders to time in under 10,000 years, all because they'd forgotten how to enchant their structures and tools. Only the great calamity bringer himself, Ganondorf, had managed to wreak lasting damage on Hylian temples and shrines.
This particular shrine seemed to have evaded the King of Evil's notice up until this point, Terra could sense no dark magic or evil intent on this place. Still, she determined to search for any clues, though she really wasn't sure what to look for. Just as she'd earlier been brooding over, she wasn't sure that she had a role in this incarnation. All she could think to do was evade capture by Ganondorf and try to find Link. She searched anyway.
She looked for messages or hidden rooms without luck, but she hadn't really expected anything. Many leftover shrines were just… leftover. They served no purpose anymore, only that humans seemed naturally attracted to them for reasons they themselves could rarely explain. Perhaps just some remnant memories of magic. Not all contained hidden Goddess Pools to give healing or memories of past lives, in fact Terra doubted there was any besides the one she'd found hiding under a small Japanese shrine.
It was then that she thought of another trick to check for. That Goddess Pool had been well hidden, but Terra (she'd still gone by her given name of Zelda at the time) had discovered it by accident while secretly casting a healing spell on a lady who'd come there to pray. The concealing magic had reacted to hers and revealed the path down for her. She didn't have a target this time, healing oneself was impossible, so she instead used a tiny bit of time magic to age a tree branch growing inside the stone structure.
This time it was not a path that opened for her but just a panel right in the back, where any offerings might have been laid in times past. Terra hurriedly walked over to inspect the development. She found just a small opening behind what had moved for her, but inside was a rolled up piece of paper. She delicately took it and unfurled it, paper was extremely difficult to enchant to last a long time so it was far more likely that the container was enchanted to preserve whatever was inside, and she felt her jaw drop.
It was a map, a magic map, enchanted to guide one to a location, even if that location moved. These weren't common even back in Hylian times, mainly because there was no way to insure the wrong person couldn't read them, but in this case she could guess why such an item had to have been risked. This was a map to the original Temple of Time. The resting place of Link's greatest weapon against evil: the Master Sword.
Here at last was purpose. Now, when she'd nearly despaired in her own value she had a role. She would find the location of the Master Sword and find Link, in whichever order, and bring them together. That would be her role. Link would need this to save the world, and now it was hers to deliver. Of course, that put pressure on her to succeed, and that was far from a given, but she would gladly take that over running endlessly without guide or goal. Now, with the world's survival riding on her shoulders, Terra felt happier than she had in days.