Chapter 12
"Hmmm..." Pikango said.
The Sheikah painter studied the Sheikah slate thoughtfully, hand on chin. His white hair was pulled into a high ponytail that strongly resembled the paintbrush in his hand, rather than the neat topknot favored by most of the other Sheikah in Kakariko Village. Link tried not to shift his feet impatiently as the man concentrated on the image showing on the screen.
Pikango was more widely traveled than the other Sheikah here, and Link was hoping the painter would be able to help him find the locations of some of the images Princess Zelda had taken with the Sheikah slate. Purah, the Sheikah researcher who had helped him repair the device, seemed to think that if Link visited the places he had once traveled with the princess, it might help jog his memory.
He wasn't sure that would work. When he scrolled through the images on the Sheikah slate, they seemed totally unfamiliar. He couldn't remember being in any of those places. How would standing in the place itself be any different?
And already he had journeyed so far. Leaving the Great Plateau alone had been a big step. It was a shock when the old man guiding him there had turned out to be the spirit of Rhoam Bosphoramus, king of Hyrule. It was an even greater shock to be told that Link himself had once been a knight, given the monumental task of protecting the princess of Hyrule... and that he had fallen in battle a hundred years before, along with the king himself and the entire kingdom.
Link looked down at the bright blue tunic he now wore and tugged at the hem, feeling self-conscious. No one else around here wore clothing in this particular shade, and he didn't like how it made people stare. But Impa, the village elder, had pressed it on him and seemed to think it was important. And she must know better than him; Princess Zelda had trusted her enough to pass along her final instructions to Link.
Free the Divine Beasts.
He still barely understood what they were. Some ancient fighting machines meant to be piloted by great warriors against Hyrule's enemies. But Calamity Ganon, an ancient foe, had somehow hijacked them for his own use. Now Link was expected to win them back.
It had been a lot to take in. Only a week ago he had awoken in the Shrine of Resurrection not knowing much more than his own name. Now he knew that he was a knight, expected to complete difficult missions no one else had been able to accomplish during his long slumber.
He barely remembered how to fight. Already he had encountered several monsters, and the battles had been nerve-wracking. At first he'd had to fight them with whatever he could grab in the moment. Tree branches and pot lids against spears and shields. He kept getting hurt. Oddly, his body seemed to remember more than his mind did. He'd been able to swing back at them with some effectiveness. Still, he wasn't very strong. Limping away from a fight against a couple Bokoblins wasn't impressive for a knight once entrusted with the safety of a princess. How was he supposed to fight a Divine Beast like this?
"Ah, these two tiny stone statues depicted here..." Pikango said at last, "and that faint view of the Bridge of Hylia in the distance? From this angle, I think perhaps this is the northeast shore of Lake Hylia. Possibly Scout's Hill or perhaps a little further east of there."
Relieved to have a clue, Link switched functions on the Sheikah slate and looked at the map. Yes, there was the Bridge of Hylia, not too far from here, and there was Scout's Hill. He still wasn't sure visiting the routes he had traveled with Princess Zelda would help. He couldn't even remember the princess herself, and someone as important as that should have made an impression on him. But he couldn't think of anything else to do to relieve the strange blankness in his mind. It made him uneasy, the way Purah had treated him with such casual familiarity, even calling him by a nickname he didn't remember. He was glad the eccentric director of the Hateno Research Lab had helped him fix the Sheikah slate, but he had been glad to leave, too. He didn't want to face her or Impa again until he knew more about who he was.
He couldn't even remember his own family. That didn't seem right.
When Link arrived at the spot later that day, he looked around curiously. A mossy boulder sat under the spreading branches of a large tree. Two small hooded statues hunched down nearby, as if sheltering here from the heat of the sun. Link walked over to them, wanting a closer look.
Just then, the breeze stirred up, blowing in from the direction of Lake Hylia, its wide blue waters visible in the distance. The wind carried with it a scent: a damp air that mingled the freshness of green grass with the stench of rotting fish. Link froze, taking it in. That was familiar... hauntingly so.
Except there was something missing from that smell. Shouldn't there be cookfires, too? Coming from... that way. Link turned east expectantly. Another, smaller lake spread out in that direction. Lake Deya, according to his map. That lake looked wrong, though. Too big. Shouldn't there be something else there? His mind searched, trying to remember as he stared down at the water.
There were numerous broken stone walls sticking up from the shallow waters at the north end of the lake. Suddenly Link's heart began beating faster, looking at those ruins. Yes! He was right! There used to be a village here! It looked like it had been destroyed and then the lake had slowly crept in to flood the ruins. Or maybe the flooding had come first, forcing the village's inhabitants to flee.
It was like a glimmer of golden light, those first inklings of memory returning to him, and Link's eyes narrowed as he concentrated hard, reaching for it.
And then a flood of images came, and his eyes widened as they swept through his mind as vividly as reality itself.
"I doubt this will let up anytime soon."
Rain poured down from the sky, heavy with the scent of nearby Lake Hylia, but Link and Zelda stayed dry under the spreading branches of a great tree. Zelda sat leaning against a boulder near its roots, looking up at the gray sky, content to take a rest on this ledge of land that overlooked Deya Village.
She was the same age as him. Her blouse matched the color of his tunic, and her long blonde hair tumbled all the way down her back. She wore no crown, only a braid across the top of her head, but everything about her - her dignified posture, the crisp enunciation of her words, the rich detailing of even her sturdy traveling clothing - spoke of her royalty.
Impatient with the inactivity, Link was on his feet with Sword in hand, running through a kata with vigor and precision. Zelda watched him with quiet interest as the rain pattered down.
"Your path seems to mirror your father's," she said thoughtfully. "You've dedicated yourself to becoming a knight as well. Your commitment to the training necessary to fulfill your goal is really quite admirable. I see now why you would be the chosen one."
She looked away from him, her head bowing down. "What if... one day..." she began, and the note of sadness that crept into her voice made Link stop what he was doing and turn to look at her. "...you realized that you just weren't meant to be a fighter. Yet the only thing people ever said was that you were born into a family of the Royal Guard, and so no matter what you thought, you had to become a knight. If that was the only thing you were ever told, I wonder then: would you have chosen a different path?"
The flood of images stopped as suddenly as they had begun. Link stood there dazed, alone, the cool rain of a hundred years ago abruptly replaced by the hot sun of today.
Scattered thoughts fluttered through his mind. So that was what the princess had been like? That sadness... he had not expected that. What did she have to be so sad about? All those things she had said about his choice to be a knight... it was almost as though she had been talking about something else entirely.
He had recognized Zelda's voice even before her face. It was the voice that had awoken him back in the Shrine of Resurrection.
And... his father had been a knight too? And not only a knight, a Royal Guard. The elite of Hyrule's knights, chosen to protect the Royal Family. A great honor. Link fought with a sudden desperation to remember his father. What had he looked like? He could not recall a face, or even a name. But he could guess that his father must have been a good teacher. In his memory Link had performed a complicated kata with confidence and strength, far more than he had now.
Link looked down at the soldier's broadsword he now wore with faint disappointment. He had been thrilled to find it on the Great Plateau, finally replacing the wooden clubs he had been using with a real weapon. Now it seemed plain and small and lightweight compared to the magnificent Sword he had held in his memory. Where had that weapon gone? Was there any chance of getting it back? Was he even strong enough to hold a blade that heavy?
He began wandering away without even thinking of a destination, his mind still on the memory he had recovered. His father, a Royal Guard! His mind kept coming back to that. What had happened to him? Of course he could not still be around. Link had realized that very quickly after King Rhoam had explained his loss of a hundred years. Everyone he had known before must be gone now, except for a few of the Sheikah, who were unusually long-lived.
The entire kingdom had fallen when Calamity Ganon had arrived. An uneasiness swept over Link as he walked, and he shivered. It had been his father's duty to protect the king. And King Rhoam had died.
If his father had been on duty that day...
Link's stomach clenched, and suddenly he felt sick. He couldn't know for sure. Maybe he would never know. But a few minutes ago, Calamity Ganon had seemed to him an enemy from a dream or a story, dark but distant, someone everyone knew to oppose because he existed to be opposed.
Suddenly it was hitting much closer to home than that.
Was it possible to grieve for a man he could not even remember?
More. He needed to know more. He needed more memories.
Link knew he was supposed to free the Divine Beasts. That was Princess Zelda's last instruction for him. But that had waited for a hundred years, and it could wait a little longer. If he found more of the locations where Zelda had recorded images, maybe he could learn more about his own life. How could he be an effective knight until he knew who he was?
He talked to Pikango again, and followed the painter's directions to another location nearby, following the Hylia River further north. He stopped at Riverside Stable to sleep, resupply and cook some meals for the journey. Link was getting tired of eating rice balls and wished he knew how to make something more interesting, but he couldn't take the time for that now. Warned by the stable master that a corrupted Guardian was known to patrol the area, he stuck close to the river as he resumed his journey. He passed a swamp and then entered a small wooded area, glancing at the Sheikah slate from time to time. He was close.
Link entered a small clearing that looked about right, and glanced at the image to confirm. Yes. This was it! He looked around expectantly. Any moment now, it would come. Maybe he would get more hints about his father. Maybe he would even see his father! As a Royal Guard, it was possible he had accompanied Princess Zelda on some of her journeys.
He tried to relax, open himself to the memory. That tree over there... it looked familiar. Link moved around it, looking at it from every angle. He put one hand against the bark, feeling its roughness. He turned, and put his back to it. Yes. Here. He had stood here with Princess Zelda beside him. Hiding. Hiding from Guardians.
And there had been someone else here with them. Someone hiding behind the next tree over. Link turned his head slowly, hoping against hope that he would see his father.
He saw a man in gleaming, pristine armor.
The morning sunshine had vanished, replaced by a rainy night. The moon briefly peeked out from the clouds, giving enough light for Link to see the face inside the helmet.
Young. A young man, about his own age. Not his father.
The name came to his mind easily, now that he could see the face. Kester. His good friend Kester.
"Get ready to run," Kester mouthed to him.
And then Kester readied his shield and leaped out from behind his tree, putting his fingers to his lips and whistling shrilly.
Link stood there in shock as corrupted Guardian after corrupted Guardian scrambled after Kester, chasing him through the trees until he vanished from sight.
And then he grabbed Zelda's hand and pulled her in the other direction at a run. Kester had bought him the time he needed to get the princess to safety.
They ran until Zelda collapsed on the ground. Not from exhaustion. From despair.
Link knelt beside her on the muddy ground, and she threw herself into his arms and poured out her anguish. The Guardians had turned against them. The Divine Beasts had turned against them. Mipha and Urbosa and Daruk and Revali were trapped inside them.
Link had never heard any of those names before, but each one struck him like a blow. Each name contained its own flood of images, flitting by too quickly to fully absorb, but Link caught enough of them to understand. These people had been his friends. The loss of any one of them would have seared his heart and left him wounded for life.
He had lost them all in a single day.
Calamity Ganon had done this. He had destroyed Castle Town and sent innocent people running for their lives. He had brought the princess of a glorious kingdom down into the depths of despair. Reduced the chosen hero of the Goddess to the desperation of running and hiding in the dark. He had defeated their friends: all four champions and maybe Kester too. He had killed Zelda's father. Probably Link's father as well.
All Link could do was kneel there in the cold mud and hold Zelda as she sobbed, blaming herself. Blaming herself for the monstrous evils that Calamity Ganon had committed.
When the memory faded and the sunshine returned, Link shakily put the Sheikah slate back into its pouch and then sank to his knees in the deserted clearing, staring dully at the ground, feeling drained.
He'd thought these memories would show him who he was. But all he was seeing was what he had lost.
He wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready.
Link went over and over the memory in his mind, aching from the revelations it contained, until finally he managed to find something to latch onto and give him hope.
Zelda hadn't said the champions were dead. She had said they were trapped inside the Divine Beasts. Obviously the four of them had never regained control of the ancient machines, since a hundred years later they were once again threatening Hyrule. But wasn't there some reason to hope the champions may have eventually escaped? Maybe they had met a better end than Link himself. Maybe while he rested in the Slumber of Restoration, they had been able to return to their homes and at least live out the rest of their lives in peace, if not victory.
He pulled out the Sheikah slate and looked at the map. He was fairly close to the Lanayru Wetlands, and he had heard that Zora's Domain was in that direction. That was where Vah Ruta was sending down unending rain upon the people who lived there, according to rumors. Maybe if he got a good look at Vah Ruta, he would remember more about the champion who had piloted it. Maybe he would learn his or her ultimate fate.
It was a good plan, and as soon as Link had settled on it, he felt a fresh surge of energy that brought him back to his feet. He checked his equipment quickly and then got underway.
Getting to Zora's Domain was harder than he had imagined, even when he got some unexpected help from a Zora who introduced himself as Sidon, prince of the Domain. Sidon had provided directions up the Zora River, given Link an elixir that would help him against the monsters who inhabited the area, and even shouted enthusiastic encouragement from the river from time to time.
Lizalfos attacked him again and again with electro weapons. At first it wasn't so bad, with Sidon's elixir offering some protection. He was getting a little better at wielding the soldier's broadsword he held. But then the elixir ran out, and Link found himself getting shocked over and over again. The monsters didn't even need to hit him to hurt him! They kept firing electro arrows into the puddles of water at his feet, ubiquitous thanks to the unending rain. Soon Link found himself aching from the shocks, his legs shaking as he tried to press on through the rainy night.
Finally, he was forced to admit the facts: Zora's Domain still wasn't in sight, but he needed to rest and eat something.
He managed to ambush a pair of Lizalfos sitting at a fire built under the shelter of an overhang. Painfully, Link sat down in the dry spot he had commandeered and closed his eyes in relief at the warmth the fire was providing. He rummaged through his pack and was disappointed to discover that he still had nothing but cold rice balls in there. He was so tired of eating them. What he really needed was another electro elixir. What he really wanted was something hot and nourishing. But he had no idea how to make something that could fulfill either desire.
Stomach growling, he stared at the ingredients he had bought recently from traveling merchants or gathered from the wilds. A bottle of milk. Some rock salt. A bunch of fresh green Hylian herbs that put off an interesting scent. Some unfamiliar bright yellow mushrooms that had intrigued him. What would happen if he cooked all those things together?
Probably nothing good. He had tried experimenting with ingredients before, and ended up making some truly unappetizing meals that he had struggled to choke down.
Link looked at the cold rice balls again, wrinkled his nose, and shoved them down to the bottom of the pack. He couldn't face that right now. It was time to take a risk.
He poured the milk and the mushrooms into the cookpot the monsters had set up over the fire and waited patiently for them to heat up, stirring from time to time to keep the milk from scalding at the bottom.
He frowned. How did he know the milk might scald at the bottom? This was the first time he had tried heating milk. Usually he just drank it straight from the bottle.
It took some time, but eventually the mushrooms softened in the milk. Link tasted one, paying close attention to the texture. Not quite done, but close. It was time to add the herbs. If you added them too soon, they would get slimy, and no one liked slimy herbs.
Link was taken aback again. How did he know that? In his previous attempts at cooking he had always just dumped all the ingredients in together to begin with.
He added the herbs now and stirred briefly, then quickly moved the pot off the flames before they could turn slimy. He grabbed a pinch of salt with practiced fingers and added it, then tasted. Not quite enough. He added another pinch of salt, tasted it, and nodded. It was perfect.
He leaned back against the rock wall, warming his toes by the fire, eating with an enthusiasm he had not felt since waking up. This was delicious! The mushrooms were tender and the herbs added a bright note of flavor. The piping hot cream of mushroom soup was now sending a pleasant warmth spreading from his stomach all the way to the tips of his fingers and toes.
How had Link managed to make something appetizing? It was like his hands had known just what to do, even if his mind had not.
Best of all, the soup was giving him an unusual lingering sensation, similar to what he had felt when he had swallowed the electro elixir Sidon had given him. These mushrooms... they seemed to have the same effect as that elixir! The soup was going to help him face the Lizalfos lying in wait down the road. He knew it with a sudden certainty.
It seemed too good to be true. Link couldn't have made up a recipe this perfect on the spot. He must be remembering it, the same way his hands often remembered how to swing a sword. Who had taught him how to cook? It didn't seem like the kind of instruction a knight in training would be given. There were too many other more important things to learn: weapons and horses and battle tactics.
There were still a few spoonfuls of soup left. Link lifted the spoon to his lips more slowly than before. He tried to relax his mind as he chewed, paying close attention to the textures, savoring the flavors. Trying to remember the last time he had eaten this soup. He closed his eyes and opened himself up to the possibility.
The memory came to him.
A woman, short and slender, stood with her back to him, straining to swing a heavy pot off a fire. Link hurried to help her and she let him, stepping back and tucking behind her ear a long blonde curl that had escaped its ribbon.
Link took the ladle she handed him and began to fill the bowls she held out one at a time. There was a big stack of bowls on the work table, but then again the steaming pot of cream of mushroom soup was deep. This was far too much food for one family, but the two of them worked on the task together with crisp efficiency. They were used to making this much at a time.
The ranch hands and stable boys, Link remembered. There were a lot of them and they always worked up big appetites. Not to mention, Mother's cooking was worth taking seconds.
He filled the last bowl, and Mother set it down on the work table. They caught each other's eyes – hers were the same bright blue as his – and sighed together with satisfaction. Another meal finished in time.
Link slipped a spoon out of a drawer and took a taste from one of the bowls. Mother shook her head a little, watching him.
"I already tasted it," she told him with a hint of exasperation.
"I just need to make sure it's all right," Link defended himself.
She snatched the spoon out of his hand, but her expression was good-natured. "As if I didn't already cook everything to your exacting tastes," she said. "Were the herbs slimy?"
"No."
"Mushrooms soft enough?"
"Yes."
Mother lifted an eyebrow. "Salt?"
"Perfect. Like you."
She scoffed, but her smile was pleased as she turned to carry the bowls through the swinging doors and into the dining room.
The room faded, and Link found himself once again sitting alone by the fire as the rain fell in sheets in front of the overhang he sheltered under.
"Lanna," he murmured out loud. Now that he had the face, he had the name, too. Both had been lovely.
His mother... where was she now?
Dead, of course. That memory was a hundred years old.
Why hadn't Impa mentioned her? The elder of Kakariko Village had seemed to know so much about Link. She hadn't thought it important to tell him about his mother? Or his father? Only Zelda. She had prodded him to remember more about Zelda. Gently, though. She hadn't revealed even that much until Link had come back and asked several times. It was like she'd been worried about how he would react, remembering things from his past.
Link thought of his father once more, imagining him in his Royal Guard uniform, desperately fighting off King Rhoam's attackers. If it had happened that way... no wonder Impa was reluctant to tell him. She wouldn't want him to collapse in grief over a hundred-year-old death when she needed him to brace up and go after the Divine Beasts.
He couldn't help but feel a little betrayed by that. He deserved to know about his own family, no matter how painful it might end up being. And why wouldn't she tell Link about his mother? Surely she would not have been placed in harm's way the way his father was. She would have been safe on the ranch, wherever that was, not at Hyrule Castle on the day Calamity Ganon showed up.
He glanced up at the cloudy sky. There was no sign of the rain letting up. He'd better move on before the electro protection the mushrooms gave him wore off.
A day later, Link sat on the edge of one of the elegant bridges that crisscrossed Zora's Domain, staring down between his feet at the water far below.
The rain still coursed down, drenching him. He'd promised King Dorephan that he would try to tame Vah Ruta, the Divine Beast that stood in East Reservoir Lake dumping water everywhere and threatening to burst the dam and destroy the whole domain. The situation was dire. He really should get started.
He couldn't quite make himself move. What was the point? Mipha was already gone. There was no saving her now. He had been too late a hundred years ago.
Link looked down at the new armor he was wearing: a beautiful blue breastplate with finely crafted silver accouterments and scale mail that covered the shoulders and back, made from overlapping dragon scales. Dragon scales were incredibly rare and valuable and had imbued this armor with the power of the dragon Naydra herself, enabling the wearer to swim through the water easily, even up waterfalls. But that wasn't what made this armor special.
Mipha had made it for him. Mipha, the Zora champion. He remembered her now.
She had been small, delicate, young. Her skin patterned red and white, adorned tastefully with silver jewelry, with a bright blue robe over one shoulder to match the shade of Link's champion's tunic.
King Dorephan had seemed disappointed at first when Link hadn't been able to remember her. All he knew was that Zelda had said in one memory that Mipha had been trapped in her Divine Beast, like the other champions. Link had hoped that maybe she had escaped sometime after he had fallen in defense of Princess Zelda, but he had quickly learned that Mipha had never returned home from her mission.
She had surely died long ago, and half the Zora in the Domain openly blamed Link for it.
He slid one hand along the Zora armor he wore, feeling the smoothness of the perfectly overlapping scales, and squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't deserve to wear this. He had failed to protect Mipha after she had made it as a labor of love for him. Armor this precious was made only by Zora princesses as a gift for an intended husband. The elders in Zora's Domain had struggled to believe it, but Sidon had been insistent: Mipha had made it for Link. She had meant to marry him.
Wearing it for the first time, Link had gazed up at a statue the Zora had erected in honor of Mipha's sacrifice, and the memories had come flooding back to him at last. He remembered her face now. They had shared a quiet moment alone aboard Vah Ruta as Mipha sweetly healed an injury he had gotten. She had called him reckless as a child. Always getting hurt. But she had vowed in her gentle voice that no matter when or how Link got hurt, she would always heal him.
Then she had wistfully looked forward to spending time with him, once the battle with Calamity Ganon was over. In his memory Link hadn't understood what she meant by that. But now that he had seen this armor, he understood. She had been waiting for the right moment to offer him this rare and precious gift.
That moment had never arrived.
Link heard movement behind him, and a few moments later Sidon sat down on the edge of the bridge beside him, dangling his legs down like Link was. The Zora prince didn't speak. Sidon had a cheerful disposition, Link had noticed, but now his face was serious. He seemed to guess something of what Link was feeling.
"Sidon?" he asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the water far below.
"Yes, Link?"
His voice was barely audible over the sound of the nearby waterfalls. "Was I in love with Mipha?"
Sidon took his time answering. "I was very small in those days," he said at last. "All I remember is playing with you in the shallows. But I can't imagine anyone meeting my sister and not loving her. She was... rare and precious. And she was shy. Admitting that she loved you would have been difficult for her. I can't imagine that she would have gone to the trouble of making that armor unless she felt there was a good chance you would accept it."
Link put his face in his hands. So that was it, then. Calamity Ganon hadn't just destroyed the kingdom of Hyrule and the champions tasked with defending it. He had destroyed Link's future. The life he had been destined to live. He had lost something precious that he barely remembered, and he could never get it back.
The pain was unbearable. He couldn't bear it. He wouldn't bear it. Calamity Ganon... he had done this. And for the last hundred years he had reveled in his triumph, circling Hyrule Castle like he owned the place, going unpunished for the evils he had committed.
For that, he deserved to die.
Link lifted his head from his hands. Moving slowly, as if in a dream, he got back on his feet. He pulled his soldier's broadsword a few inches out of its sheath, checking to make sure it was still sharp. It was. He pushed it back in with a snap, and glanced back at his quiver. Full enough. His shield was strapped to his back. He'd finally gotten a metal one, an elegantly designed silver shield that went well with his Zora armor. It would do.
"Oh," Sidon said, getting back on his feet. He sounded eager. "I remember that look on your face! Are we going now, Link? Are you ready to tackle Vah Ruta?"
Link turned to stare at him. "Vah Ruta is empty."
"Well..." Sidon looked puzzled. "Something of Ganon must be in there, controlling it."
"Calamity Ganon," Link said, turning to point in the direction of the castle, "is that way."
Sidon followed his gaze with increasing confusion. "Yes, but the flooding!" he said. "We have to stop Vah Ruta first. Isn't that what Princess Zelda told you to do?"
"Defeating Calamity Ganon," Link said with forced patience, "will drive his influence from the Divine Beasts. The way Zelda wanted me to do it is backwards. I have to get Ganon first. I have to go to the castle."
"But..."
Link strode off, heading for the Great Zora Bridge that would take him out of the Domain. Belatedly, Sidon hurried to keep up with him.
"Now, Link," he said, speaking quickly, his voice tense. "See, this is just what Father always remembered about you. You were a reckless child! Always trying to do things you weren't ready to do yet! You... you have just woken up! You barely remember anything yet!"
"I remember how to fight. I fought monsters all the way here."
"Yes, but... I do not think you have recovered your full strength! You mentioned that you were supposed to visit the shrines all across the land. Practice fighting, obtain spirit orbs, get as strong as you once were. How many have you visited?"
"A few."
"A few? There must be a hundred! Don't you think you had better-"
"No one has hurt Ganon in a hundred years," Link said tersely. "I think it's been long enough. Don't you?"
He strode away. Sidon stood still, letting him go, although Link could feel his eyes on his back.
Maybe Sidon had always been this overly cautious. Link wouldn't know... he couldn't remember. He pulled out the Sheikah slate's map and found the most direct route toward the castle.
Long enough. It had been long enough.
It took Link the rest of the day to make his way through the Lanayru Wetlands, and then he had to spend the night at Riverside Stable again. He chafed at the delay, but he needed to be well-rested for what was coming. He knew he would have to face Guardians to get through to the castle, and that would be no easy task. But he found himself free from fear. What more could Ganon do to him than what had already been done?
He set off in a northerly direction, passing the wooded area where he had remembered Princess Zelda collapsing into despair the night of Calamity Ganon's attack. She would be waiting for him to join her at Hyrule Castle. He was sure the princess would be glad to see him at last. From what little he had remembered, they both had more than enough reason to abhor Calamity Ganon and all his works. They both had their friends and their fathers to avenge. She would fight as fiercely as he was about to.
Link had never ventured this far into Hyrule Field before. He could see some ruins ahead, not extensive enough to be a village. Just a few buildings. There were also the remnants of a big circular track in the dirt, although the grass was trying to overgrow it. A horse track? Maybe this had once been a ranch.
He stopped in his tracks. A ranch? Like the one where Mother had worked long ago?
Abruptly, he forgot his rush to get to the castle. Maybe this wasn't the same ranch. But if it was... maybe it would jog his memory of his mother. Maybe he could learn something more about her here.
There was a Guardian roaming around near the Ranch Ruins. Link went straight for it, and with frantic speed he slashed at its legs and ran around it and slashed again. He barely knew what he was doing, but luckily his sword hand knew what to do. After several minutes' sweaty work, he managed to tip it over and stab at its innards until finally its lights flickered out for good.
Unfortunately, the final blow damaged his soldier's broadsword beyond repair. It hadn't been made to fight machinery. Well, no matter. He was sure to find another weapon on the way to the castle. Many knights had probably fallen on Hyrule Field a century ago, leaving their swords behind.
In the meantime, he wanted to explore what was left of this old ranch.
He walked around slowly, studying the broken stones, trying to guess what structures had stood here long ago. There had been two large buildings, he thought. One was long and narrow and he guessed that had been the stables for the horses. The other one had probably housed the ranch hands. But there was one other remnant of a building, this one much smaller. Just the size of a small cottage. Link stepped over the low wall of stones that must have been its foundation, and stood in the grass that now grew in the center. The floorboards had long ago rotted away.
One spot had a rough hole in the ground, and the earth around there had sunk deeper than other places. There must have been a cellar there.
Suddenly his mind began to race. This place... he knew this place! There was something about it that was intensely familiar.
Link could feel it coming now, that rush of images he got whenever a memory was triggered. Eager to know more, he opened his eyes wide, letting it come.
Link burst into his mother's cottage, trying not to cry but only half succeeding.
Startled, Mother turned from the stack of clean clothing she had been folding in time to see him limp into the room wearing a grimace, hunched over to press one hand against his leg.
"You're hurt!" she cried, dropping a shirt and hurrying over to him. "Oh, Link! What happened?"
"Horse... kicked me," he managed to say through gritted teeth.
"Oh, no!" She ushered him into the nearest chair, and then she carefully pushed his trouser leg up until she could see the great spreading bruise already forming there. Link grunted as Mother carefully prodded at the spot, but finally she sat back on her heels, looking relieved.
"Nothing broken," she said, getting back on his feet. "Wait right there. I'll be right back."
She hurried down the trapdoor into the cellar, and came back a minute later with a few chunks of ice tied inside a napkin.
"Here," she said, gently pressing the ice against his bruise. "For the swelling."
The door opened again, and Father came in. He was dressed in armor and looked every inch a knight of the Hyrule, although his plumed helmet was tucked under his arm and his light brown hair was sweaty and mussed.
"Ranulf!" Mother said in surprise, looking up. "When did you get here?"
"Rode up just in time to see that happen across the way," Father said, nodding toward Link. He walked over and knelt down beside Mother, his brow creased with concern as he looked at Link's leg. "How bad is it?"
"Just a bruise, though a deep one. What happened?"
"That big wild stallion they've been trying to tame?" Father said. "He started running wild and kicked Marc down into the dirt. He was about to get trampled. That horse was out of control. Link came sailing in to help, and then he got kicked too."
"Oh, dear."
Link was glad to see Father, as always, but the expression on his face as he looked at Link was a little odd. He couldn't quite figure out why, and finally he decided just to come right out and ask.
"What are you thinking, Father?" he asked, trying not to grunt from the pain that still throbbed up his leg.
"I'm glad you aren't hurt too badly," Father said. "And I'm... disappointed. In myself."
"Why?"
"I never intended to raise a son to do something as reckless as what I just saw you do."
The unexpected criticism stopped Link cold. Even Mother looked a little surprised, turning to look at Father although her hand still held the ice in place against Link's leg.
"I'm not reckless!" he objected after a beat, a hot flush moving up to his face. "I'm... brave!"
"Yes, that's true. You are very brave," Father said. "I never saw a boy of eight with the kind of courage you have. I'm glad you wanted to help Marc. You have a good heart. And skilled?" He shook his head. "You have a way with these horses that men four times your age don't have."
He looked at Link in a way he didn't like. "But you are reckless. Owayn and Hugues were right around the corner, which you knew, because as I was riding up I saw you over there talking to them just a minute before. Link, you could have called out for them to come help you with that stallion. They would have been there in a moment. With the three of you working together, you could have calmed down that horse quickly and then no one else would have been kicked."
"I don't care if I get kicked," Link said hotly, although the pain was now making him dizzy. "I can handle it! I'm strong!"
"I just watched Owayn and Hugues struggle to get that horse under control between the two of them," Father said, his voice stern. "They really needed your help, and they didn't get it because you got hurt, because you had to run in and try to fix it by yourself."
"Well... what about you?" Link demanded, desperate to get the focus off him. He didn't like the way both Father and Mother were looking at him now. "You're a knight! You fight monsters all by yourself!"
"Link, I fight Bokoblins and Lizalfos by myself!" Father said, looking amazed. "What do you think I do when I see something like a Hinox or a Lynel? Even my captain doesn't try to fight the big ones by himself! We all know to call on each other for help. It's part of being a knight."
Link looked away, biting his lip to keep himself from crying, although the pain of the scolding hurt worse than his leg did.
"Link, the best knights know how to patiently prepare for a big battle," Father said more softly, putting his fingers under Link's chin and gently turning his head so that he would look into Father's gray eyes. "They make sure they have a good strong weapon, and they bring as many allies as they can. If you want to keep training with me the way we've been doing, you have to learn more than just how to swing a sword. You have to learn to control yourself! Or the people around you will suffer from your failures as much as you will."
Father's face faded away, and the memory dissolved into the air. Link sighed heavily, finding himself standing once more in the ruins that used to be his childhood home.
Father. Link had grown up desperately wanting to please him. He seemed to remember now that he usually had. Father had always been generous with his praise. That was why he remembered so vividly this time that he had disappointed him instead.
Link hadn't taken Sidon seriously when the Zora prince had called him reckless. But now Link remembered with a start that Mipha had said something similar in the memory of her he had recovered. Now it was clear his own father had thought the same thing.
Those who knew him best could not have been mistaken about something like that. Link lowered his head, feeling a flush of shame creeping across his cheeks. He was reckless. Here he was, rushing off to fight Calamity Ganon, a foe he had not been able to beat the first time around when he had been much better prepared.
It was Link's destiny to fight Ganon, so he must be capable of it. Otherwise the Goddess would not have chosen him. But something had gone wrong the first time around.
The Divine Beasts. No one had expected them to fall under Ganon's control. They were meant to help Link and Zelda and instead they made everything worse.
No wonder Princess Zelda's last instruction to him had been to free the Divine Beasts. She was trying to get him to correct a mistake that had been made the first time around. Trying to give him the chance they had lost a hundred years ago.
He chafed at the thought of going back to Zora's Domain and infiltrating Vah Ruta. And then he'd have to go to Rito Village, and Gerudo Town, and the Goron region. Four Divine Beasts to reclaim. It was a lot of travel, and a lot of effort, and a lot of time lost.
It also might be the only way to accomplish the mission he'd told Impa he would take upon himself for the second time.
And there was more. That beautiful Sword he had carried in his memory... where was it? Did he need that too? Fighting a single Guardian had just shattered the soldier's broadsword he had been using. Father's advice from a hundred years ago rang in Link's head. He needed a good weapon. He needed allies. It was foolish for him to think of trying to beat Calamity Ganon without getting all the help he could find.
Link scuffed his boots in the dust, embarrassed. Had he been this reckless the first time around? He couldn't remember. Maybe he hadn't. Before he had had his father with him to remind him to collaborate with others, to slow down and think, to patiently prepare. Now he was missing that.
He was also starting to realize that all the time he had spent alone since waking up in the Shrine of Resurrection wasn't normal for him. Before, he had often been with Zelda, or his parents, or Kester, or Mipha. Maybe others, too. Purah? Impa? Maybe he had had a friend or two in every village. Suddenly it occurred to Link that maybe half the reason he had been so miserable the last few weeks wasn't only because the memories he was recovering were hard to accept. The truth was... he was lonely.
Maybe going around to the various villages wasn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe he needed to connect with friends to get himself into a better mindset. Visit more of the shrines so he could be a stronger fighter. Win back the Divine Beasts so that he and Zelda had a better chance the second time around.
Link sighed, and then turned to walk back towards Zora's Domain. It was going to be embarrassing, facing Sidon and admitting he shouldn't have stormed off like that.
But he would do it. It was what Father would have wanted him to do.
TO BE CONTINUED
