Village of Given, still the second morning after Heroes' Day
Link had three songs that could bring him to Given.
He'd set the first one when he'd first been given the ocarina by the Great Deku Tree, shortly after he'd claimed the Master Sword. That first song, creatively named by his younger self "The Home Song", had an arrival point in his own bedroom and was an old song his grandmother had sung often.
He had created a second one a couple of years later, when he'd found himself not wanting to arrive home in the middle of the night and badly startle his parents with the ocarina travel's distinctive light show and magically enhanced music. That second song was almost the same as the Home Song, but slower and with some of the notes changed to make it sound more serious. Playing it allowed Link to arrive in his archery field. He'd called the song "Cows Memorial" because although the archery field had already been a few years old at that point, he'd still wanted to commemorate the cows that had had the use of it as a pasture before Link had been discovered to be the hero reborn.
The third song that could bring Link back to Given was the newest one, created a couple of years later again, this one for the admittedly questionable purpose of being able to just nip home for a horse and leave again right away without getting tackled by everyone he knew. It was called "The Secret Escapade" and it landed in an abandoned root cellar behind the stables, out of view and out of earshot. It was a third version of "The Home Song", but one not as easily recognized as such, with the melody hidden inside a rhythmic staccato reminiscent of a horse's trot.
This third version was the one Link had played as soon as the Serenade of Water had left him on one of the small islands dotting Lake Hylia. The Lake had disappeared behind a rush of luminous phantom hoofprints that had faded to the dark inside of the empty root cellar.
The song was designed to leave Link facing the door. He put his hand up, met the wood of the door as expected, and pushed.
He frowned: the door was stuck. He pushed a bit harder, and the door moved a little, letting in a line of light. The continued resistance made it clear that the door was not stuck but blocked by something heavy left in front of it.
Link did his best not to conclude that the horse master had blocked the door precisely to be a nuisance and pushed harder, exerting increasing pressure until whatever was in front of the door gave way, forcefully pushed forward. He slipped out as soon as the opening was wide enough to squeeze through.
"Well, lookie here," a familiar voice drawled.
Link winced, sagged and turned towards the speaker.
Arin, the village's horse master, was sitting on the nearby fence, looking at him with both a scowl and a smirk. The expression was impressively efficient at conveying that Arin was annoyed at Link while happy to have caught him in the act.
Link plastered a smile on his face. Arin loved the horses and treated them well, but he absolutely hated Link and he had never been bothered to hide it. Attempting to butter the man up was almost certainly a lost cause, but it wouldn't take any longer than NOT trying it, so it was worth a shot.
"Hey Arin," Link said. "Found your crate! Want me to bring it back where it should be?"
Arin shrugged. "It's just full or rocks, and it already did its job. You were just going to take off with one of my horses again, weren't you? With one of your cute little notes telling everyone they're not worth your time?"
Link frowned. The notes were meant to let people know he was fine and to apologize for not sticking around and saying hi. He wrote them precisely because everyone WAS worth the effort even when he was in a hurry. The real issue here was that Arin would prefer Link never take a horse and only be allowed one when Arin himself deemed it vital enough after a lengthy interrogation. The fact that the village would have far less horses if not for the Royal Family gifting them some SPECIFICALLY for Link didn't seem to make an impression on the horse master.
"I was going to take a horse out, yes," he said, "but I can't be horsing around too long…" He winced. Between the Plateau and Arin's natural talent for getting on his nerves, he supposed it wasn't surprising his brains were attempting to escape into terrible humour again. "I need to get back to…"
"EVERYONE!" Arin suddenly bellowed. "LINK IS HERE! AND HE'S TRYING TO JUST SNEAK OFF AGAIN!"
Link sighed, resigned. The ranch wasn't that far from other people, so Arin's strategy worked like a charm: Link could already hear other yells in the distance as word got around that he was back. He COULD still just take a horse and leave, but it somehow felt even worse than it would have if people had only discovered he'd been here after he'd left.
It wasn't long before he was surrounded by a quickly growing crowd that thankfully didn't include any guards for now. Five little kids seemed to materialize on his legs, arms and back and everyone immediately started talking over each other trying to ask him roughly the same questions as one another: how was he, had he found the Enemy yet, did he win yet, did he need anything, did he want to come over for a meal… Link put his hands up and waved them to try and get a turn to answer, much to the delight of the two small children currently hanging off his arms. After a few moments, everyone got the hint and stopped.
"Bunch of fools…" Arin audibly muttered. "Yeah, let's ask the Demon cursed child how he's doing…"
Link made himself ignore him. "Hi," he said to the crowd. "Sorry, I can't stay. I actually need…"
He didn't get a chance to explain that the Princess was waiting for him. Mindo's father cut him off, waving a hammer at him.
"OH YOU NEED SOMETHING AGAIN, DO YOU? SHOCKER. DIN BLASTED LEECH!"
"DAaaaAAADDDDD!"
Link held back a smirk. Mindo's father had been part of the village's thankfully small "anti-Link" crowd since Link had rejected his son's advances. Mindo himself had never shared his father's grudge, thankfully. And he was now dragging said father away.
"Anyone else mouths off, I'm siccing 'chus on you!"
Link's eyebrows shot up and he immediately turned to the new speaker.
"Geeve, NO," he said sternly. "You can't…"
"Anyway, you were saying you can't stay?" Geeve interrupted, buffing her nails. She actually HAD a few small Chu chus crawling on her legs.
Link's eye twitched. He took a deep breath: at least the small monsters really didn't seem to register Geeve as foe or food, they looked totally relaxed. He decided it wasn't something he could do anything about at the moment and that it was better to get back to his own business. "The Princess is waiting for me," he said. "I'm not hurt, I'm fine. I haven't made any actual progress yet, but Her Highness is going to help now. I need a horse, though. She's getting one herself too, which is funny because then Her Highness will be higher… off the ground…" he groaned. "Why am I like this…"
"You're… losing it… and you were… holding it together… in front of Her Royal Highness. Where... are you... riding?"
Link turned to the new speaker: his mother had just arrived. She was gasping words between breaths, making it clear she'd been running all the way here from the school where she would have been teaching at this time of day. She was bent with her hands on her knees, heaving but eyes locked on him just the same.
He waved at her. It was a treat to see her again so soon after all, but it was difficult to enjoy it while he felt like he had already been here too long. "Hi Mom. Midah. I know, it's in Faron, but it's not one of the reds."
"Not that you remember… anyway," Limsy said, her voice gradually returning to normal. "Do you have a Safe Journey book with you?"
"Er…" Link opened his pouch and peered in: he didn't. "…no. I'll be careful, don't worry."
"You're coming with me," Limsy said, straightening. "I'm loaning you mine. I don't need it for the time being, and I keep it up to date."
"But…" Link started.
"The Princess needs to be kept safe as well," Limsy said. "You need a book, end of story. Come along."
She didn't wait for his answer, walking quickly back towards the main part of the village and their house.
"Take Butter if you HAVE to take one," Arin said. "He's better for long distances. And don't run him ragged on Nayru Forsaken stamina balm!"
"I won't!" Link called back over his shoulder, already trotting to catch up to his mother after prying the kids off his back and limbs with an apologetic smile.
The nice thing for Arin to do would have been to get Butter ready, but Link was pretty sure he'd find the horse roaming on the mainland somewhere with no saddle or bridle on.
Just like the one before, this day so far was just delay after delay. Link was just about ready to tear his own hair out. Hopefully his mother wouldn't insist on keeping him too long.
Limsy plucked the Safe Journey book from her bookcase and put it on the table. She batted Link's hand away when he went to grab it. "Let me look at the description for Midah," she said, opening the book to the last few pages.
Link sighed and sat heavily on the nearest chair. "Mom, I don't want to keep the Princess waiting."
Limsy snorted. "Handy excuse for your usual level of patience. Ah, here we are." She pointed at the paragraph on Midah.
Link stretched over the table to read along. "Code Pink. Non Violent but unpleasant… trade possible but unfair more often than not…"
"Verbal abuse and attempted fraud likely. Last updated... this past summer," Limsy finished. She sighed.
"Not dangerous," Link said lightly. "Just unpleasant. Pretty much what I figured."
Limsy harumphed. "I think of those as dark pink," she said. "No physical violence, but bad enough you end up expecting it to start at anytime. Not exactly a nice place for a Princess, but then, it won't be directed at her and maybe they'll mind their manners more with Royalty around."
She closed the book and handed it to Link, who promptly put it in his pouch.
"Thank you! Okay, I got to run. I was just trying to get a horse, but Arin decided to be..." he switched gear at the last second, not keen on giving his mother an excuse to lecture him on language by calling the horse master an ass. "…a donkey," he finished.
Limsy grabbed his arm and pouted. "Hold on. Three questions. Just three. Then you can take off into danger again and leave me here. Aaaall aloooone..." she leaned the back of her free hand on her forehead and dipped her head back in a dramatic pause, "to worry…"
Link groaned and sagged. "You're not alone at all… fine, ok," he said resignedly. "I have my own question first. Do the guards know? The ones we walked by didn't react to my clothes at all. One of them saluted. It wasn't to you because of the Council, was it?"
"They're not stupid, sweetie," Limsy said. "They had you figured out within minutes of getting here, just like their Colonel did. And they don't salute the Council members. I doubt most of them know who we even are."
Link nodded. He wasn't sure he liked the fact his location was known to so many guards, but then, it wasn't like he could do anything about it at this point.
Limsy took a deep breath. She wanted to ask every detail of what Link had been up to since he left. He was wearing a new piece of hair jewelry with a bejeweled Goron emblem on it, and that probably meant he'd been to Goron City, so she wanted to ask why. She wanted to ask if he'd made any progress at all, if he had a plan going forward, and in particular why he was going to Midah. She wanted to ask if he was eating and sleeping right, she wanted to ask at least 500 questions, and most of them would just make things harder for him by letting him know how worried she really was. She needed to try and sound like she was mostly curious and only a bit concerned. She opted to get some information on his newfound companion first.
"How is the Princess? I don't mean her health, I mean… what is she like? Does she look like her portraits?" She added that last on an impulse, to make the query seem more like curiosity and less like 'is this Princess person an acceptable companion for my dearest son' investigation.
Link shrugged. "We've only just met up. So far she's… inquisitive, but supportive. She looks just like her portraits: golden hair, round gentle face, she's wearing a scarf like she always does. She's in a riding dress, so she's being practical, too."
So far so good, Limsy thought. She decided to take a little bit of a chance and ask about the Goron jewel. It wouldn't come off as asking about everywhere he'd been and what he'd been doing.
"You have a new braid clip. Very nice one too... a gift from Trodur? How is he?"
Link smiled and his fingers went to it. "Yeah," he said. "Trodur said that if the Royal Family gets to make me wear their symbol, the Gorons should get to as well since I'm an honorary brother. He's... ok. Ish." His smile faded, suddenly replaced by urgency. "I already wrote about this but I might as well tell you in person too. The roads are dangerous lately, for everyone. There's a bunch of monsters around. Nobody's still allowed to leave here alone, right?"
"We're not going to change that rule in a hurry, especially now," Limsy said. "And with this warning, we'll strongly recommend bigger groups."
Link nodded. Except for himself, people in the village hardly ever travelled anyway, and never alone, so he wasn't particularly worried.
Limsy quickly went through other things she could safely ask that had at least some chance of giving her a bit of information. So far she was reassured that Link seemed to be getting along with the Princess just fine, but she'd found out monsters were already roaming. She decided she was allowed to at least ask him how he was.
"Are you ok?" she said. She bit back the more detailed enquiries about what he was doing next.
Link sighed heavily. "I... it's just frustrating," he admitted. "We have a lead now, we think, that's why we're going to Midah, but... I still don't know how we're going to fix the sword, and I'm constantly trying to find traces of monsters to try and clear out at least some of them, but I haven't run into ANY. Other people are, though." He shook his head, scowling. "There's been deaths. But I can't find even a trace of any monster!" he cried out, his fists clenching. "I'm not even sure which problem I want to take care of first, but it doesn't matter because I have no idea what to do about either of them!"
Limsy threw her arms around him in a hug. "You'll figure it out," she said. "You and the Princess. I know it."
Link relaxed slightly and returned the hug. "I hope you're right."
Limsy knew a time for a distraction when she saw one. She pulled away to look him in the eye and schooled her face into a dead serious expression.
"Speaking of the Princess, are you going to fall for her? I mean, you know as well as I do that heroes do that pretty often. If you are, please consider adopting? I would like some grandkids and I'm sure the King and Queen wouldn't object to more of them either."
Link barked a laugh. "Like I ever fall for anyone. I can adopt as just me anyway. I'm not saying I will, just… leave Her Highness out of it. Also, that was FOUR questions."
Limsy chuckled and let go of his arm. "Fine, off with you again. I'll tell your Dad you said hi, his boat is out and I'm guessing you wouldn't wait for him even if I signalled."
"I can't," Link said. "I really need to get going."
He gave her a quick hug and then he was out the door again.
Limsy sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. Maybe the Princess really would be able to help… who better to solve the impossible than the avatar of Wisdom?
The Great Plateau, a bit later
Butter was actually one of Link's favorite horses, for one specific reason: the brown, yellow-maned stallion did not freak out QUITE as much as most horses when travelling by ocarina.
Unfortunately, Butter still did very much freak out upon arriving on the Great Plateau. The fact he tolerated the magical travel better than the others just meant it didn't take quite as long to soothe him. It still took long enough for the panicked neighs and stomping hooves to draw attention.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT POOR HORSE?"
Link glanced towards the voice for a second before resuming eye contact with Butter, continuing his gentle strokes on the stallion's neck and a constant babble of soft reassurances. He integrated his answer to the guard, whose yell had just spooked poor Butter all over again, in his soothing talk.
"It's alright, Butter. I'm here, see? Yes, I know, I took you on an ocarina trip and everything's different than it was a moment ago and it's confusing, and that other person was really loud just now, but it's okay. You're safe. I got you. And once you're calm enough, I got a treat for you. Would you like that? Would you like an apple?"
The guard was clearly not satisfied. He approached with his lance pointing straight at Link. "Where did you steal him, Boy?" he asked. "And nice costume, by the way."
At least he wasn't yelling this time. Butter had reacted to the word apple just as Link had hoped and had forgotten to be scared, instead busying himself with poking at Link's pouch. Link reached in the magical tool and closed his hand on an apple that he obligingly presented to Butter. It disappeared nearly instantly.
Butter now calm and merely poking at his pouch looking for more treats, Link turned to the guard.
"It's not a costume," he said, "and the horse is mine. Horses don't like ocarina travel... apparently, the whole world suddenly changing is neigh-rve racking," he added. And immediately regretted it. He supposed he should thank his luck he at least hadn't submitted the Princess to his 'jokes' yet.
The guard chewed on his lip. "Not a costume, you say? I'm going to need to see your pendant to prove that."
Link blinked. He was tempted to point out he shouldn't have to prove who he was since anybody was allowed on the Plateau, but arguing would likely just make things longer. He removed his pendant instead and offered it to the guard at arms' length.
The guard frowned. "Put it down and walk back ten steps first. And once I'm able to put your fake medal on, you're under arrest for trying to impersonate the Hero."
Link sighed but did as told, putting the pendant on the ground and walking back ten steps.
The guard approached the pendant and attempted to put it on. As usual when Link was no longer near enough for Farore's Medal's liking, it pulled back towards him. The guard was unprepared and so the pendant successfully yanked itself away and flew straight back at Link.
Link caught it, put it back on and walked back to Butter. The guard had the good taste to stop glaring at him by way of not meeting his eyes at all.
"I need to meet up with Princess Zelda," Link told him, "and I don't wish to keep her waiting. If that is all?"
The guard nodded. "Yes, Hero. Thank you for your cooperation," he said stiffly.
Link mounted Butter, turned the horse around and rode towards the garrison, not sparing the guard another look.
He found Zelda in the company of First Lieutenant Deemil, by the fountain near the temples. A black mare was nearby, already loaded with a pair of full looking saddle bags.
Link couldn't really tell on sight whether the mare was in fact a good horse or not. She was certainly calm, and she was not obviously bad. He just hoped she wasn't significantly slower than Butter, and that she was not too easily fatigued: preferring not to use too much stamina balm unless it was strictly necessary was one of the very few things Arin and he agreed on.
He dismounted and kept himself from bowing since it was forbidden. The lack of prescribed movement was awkward enough to prompt him to speak instead.
"Your Highness, I beg your pardon for the delay."
"Not at all," Zelda said, waving her hand in a dismissive motion. "Truth be told, I've only been waiting for a minute at most: I left the palace last night without anything I might need for a journey, so I went back to gather some supplies. I've only just returned."
Zelda forced her eyes on the Hero's horse. Link's motion to dismount had been incredibly smooth: he was clearly a good rider, and that was absolutely the only reason Zelda had felt entranced at all.
"Your horse is beautiful," she said, truly noticing the animal itself for the first time. "Is that one of the ones we sent to you?"
Link smiled and nodded, patting Butter on the neck. "It is, Princess," he said, "and I am very grateful for him. His name is Butter."
He was dying to ask whether they could get going, but it would have been incredibly rude to rush her so. "He's a wonderful horse for long journeys: he loves nothing more than to be on the move," he said instead.
Zelda smiled. "Would I be correct if I were to guess that in this, you two are alike?"
Link's cheeks darkened, which was answer enough. She giggled and turned to Deemil.
"We must be off, First Lieutenant. Thank you for your assistance, and please thank Colonel Atlar on my behalf for the horse."
She hoisted herself up on said horse. "Poe, was it?" she asked.
"Yes, your Highness," Deemil replied.
"Well then Poe," Zelda said, addressing her mare, "Let's be off." She clicked her tongue, flicked the reins and briefly tightened her heels.
The mare did not move.
Link opted to pretend he hadn't noticed anything and mounted Butter. Deemil was the proper person to give the Princess some instructions.
"Poe responds to standard vocal commands only, your Highness," Deemil said. "Surely your Highness is familiar with them?"
Link didn't need to wait for the answer – he could think of no reason for the Princess to know the commands Service Horses were exclusively taught to keep them from being easily stolen by civilians. He could also see no reason for Deemil to think the Princess had any chance of knowing them and he didn't appreciate whatever game the First Lieutenant was playing.
"Would that still be the same set of commands as the Knights' mounts?" he asked Deemil, doing his best to sound merely curious. "Onward, Peace, Hurry and Like the Wind for walking, stopping, trotting and gallop?"
Deemil cast him the quickest of glance before turning back to the Princess.
"Indeed," she said. "Your highness knows how to turn, I trust?" she asked.
Link's eyes narrowed.
"How kind of you to ask," the Princess said, staring at her horse's head as she patted her. "You will be surprised to hear that I was not actually familiar with the commands the Hero just confirmed were the right ones. If the proper method to guide Poe is not to tug on the reins, I'm afraid I'm just as unfamiliar with it." She turned to Link. "Hero?"
Link's eyes widened slightly and he fought back the urge to grin: the Princess had just deliberately snubbed Deemil by asking him instead. "Guard and Knight horses respond to the same tugging technique as domestic and royal ones, your Highness," he said, "but are also trained to do sharp turns in response to hard tugs."
Zelda nodded: she knew the kind of sharp turns the Hero was referring to for having seen it performed a few times. If she were to tug hard enough to one side, Poe would rise to her hind legs to make a 90 degrees turn on the spot.
"Thank you. Lieutenant." She nodded to Deemil and then turned her attention to the road ahead of her. "Poe, Onward."
Poe obediently started forward. Link flicked his reins and clicked his tongue, and Butter followed meekly.