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I
They are immediately back to business after they depart from the castle, and that is just what Zelda wants. There is so much to do, and she is not ready to return to the castle. While Link did a tremendous job clearing out the Guardians from the castle grounds, the damage is too much to look upon. Time is a confusing thing; her mind feels every minute of her fight against Calamity Ganon, but her body does not show it. She was trapped in time as she was trapped inside Ganon, fighting against both. But the castle was not spared by time. The wreckage is intense and overwhelming. She knows little of architecture, and feels she will need another hundred years to restore the castle to its former glory. Link mentions a construction company he knows and the great work they have done on his house.
“While learning of your past and training to regain your former strength, you decided becoming a homeowner was equally important?” Zelda asks, smiling to show she is joking. A small part of her still worries that he thinks she still dislikes him. Time is a funny thing.
He looks sheepish, smiles and shrugs, as he leads her to their horses. He is still as quiet as ever. She wonders what burden he feels now that the Calamity has been defeated.
So she fills the silence, falling back into a familiar role. She provides their itinerary: head to Zora’s Domain to check on Vah Ruta. Perhaps she can offer some solace to Mipha’s father as well. She knows how much King Dorephan loved, no, surely still loves, his daughter, and Zelda wants to convey how kind and brave his daughter was, and how indebted she is to her and the other Champions.
Her jaw trembles, just for a moment, but she bites the inside of her cheek. Now is not the time to cry. She and Link have work to do.
II
She met Prince Sidon once before, long ago, when she first traveled to the Zora Domain to meet Mipha. He was shy, unused to Hylians, but lost all hesitance when he found out what his older sister was meant to do. Zelda remembers most vividly his awestruck face as he clung to his sister’s arm, excitedly talking to her and their father, unable to believe she would be piloting the great Vah Ruta. Mipha was humble, but her father looked so proud. Zelda wondered then, as she still wonders now, how pride would look on her father’s features.
No. Not now. She banishes the thought.
Prince Sidon bears none of the shyness he had in his youth. He hurries down the stairs to greet Link as they enter, enthusiastically giving Link a handshake and a grin. Zelda knows Link had assistance in purging the Divine Beasts of Ganon’s presence, but she is pleased that Link made friends on his recent quest. As Sidon leads the two of them to his father, Zelda cannot take her eyes off the statue of Mipha. It stands out to her as it had not been there the last time she was here, but she understands that it is there to honor her dead friend. She wonders how the other Champions have been remembered, and she feels her lungs tighten and her eyes sting. Link’s looking at her, and she can feel his eyes on her, watching her as he always has. She forcefully exhales and blinks away the tears. All is well.
III
They leave shortly after they survey the Divine Beast. Zelda is slow to warm to the Beast, unable to ignore the dread she feels as she approaches it. She knows Link brought them back to their side, but the knowledge that her friends died inside them feels so recent. Link has told her of the help he had in defeating the blights inside the Beasts, the help from the past and the present, and Zelda cannot help but feel a little envious. Where is her closure? How can she say goodbye? Mipha’s gentle eyes, Revali’s boasts, Daruk’s easy laughter, and the warmth of Urbosa’s hand on her shoulder; the memories have not faded with time. A hundred years sometimes feels like yesterday, but she feels too old for her seventeen year old body.
Her next trip is a sentimental one: Kakariko Village. She tells Link he does not need to come if he wishes to spend more time in Zora’s Domain with Prince Sidon. She can tell they have become close friends, and she wishes for him to be happy. He has more than earned it. But she knows the look in his eyes as he shakes his head and says his farewells to the prince. He is going to remain by her side; after all, that is his role.
The Sheikah warriors outside Impa’s home kneel to greet her. Link allows her to see Impa alone, and Zelda is thankful for that. As he heads off to buy food, she climbs the steps into her home.
Impa is old. That is something Zelda logically knows, but seeing it is entirely different. Her face is wrinkled by time, by stress, by grief. She could be Zelda’s grandmother, despite only being a few years her senior. But it is more than a few years now. Many more.
Zelda cannot speak as she sees Impa’s face light up in recognition. Is that how her face would look if her body was not still seventeen? She cannot imagine it, cannot imagine her skin sagging or her body moving slowly. She cannot picture it and does not want it, but… she feels robbed. This should be her reality, but she is one hundred years behind everyone she knows. While she battled Calamity Ganon, everyone else lived. Impa has had a life while she was frozen in time, and Zelda does not hold that against her. So why can she not ignore the choking feeling in her throat?
“It is so good to see you, Princess,” Impa says, reaching out and grabbing her hands.
Zelda swallows, and swallows again, finally able to push out words. “I’m so happy to see you, Impa.” And she is. She is.
“I cannot imagine what you have been through, Princess. Can I do anything for you?”
“Impa… tell me about your life.”
Impa is quiet for a moment, stares at her, but then waves over a young woman she introduces as her granddaughter. Zelda pushes away her emotions, allowing herself to get lost in the details of her friend’s rich, long life.
IV
They stop at the Dueling Peaks Stable to get out of the rain. They are making their way to Hateno Village on Impa’s suggestion.
“Purah would love to see you,” she tells Zelda as she readies to leave.
Zelda looks forward to seeing Impa’s sister. She is eager to talk about the Guardians, too. She feels the researcher in her stirring, slowly waking from a century’s long sleep. She has that freedom now. She can decide her own fate, she thinks, as she stares out at Ash Swamp.
The rain is coming down as hard as it did then. It is so easy to lose herself in the past. The present has slowly stopped feeling like the future, but the past lurks in the shadows, ready to pounce on her when she slows down.
She stares at her hand, wonders if she still has any power left. She and Link both know she can no longer hear the voice of the Master Sword anymore, but she wonders if she has any of the Goddess’s power left. That is a part of her she is content with leaving in the past. Her father’s disappointment, her self-hatred; they are the ugly parts of the past that bubble up and refuse to vanish. She can decide her own future now, but it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth, knowing the happiness she still desires never brought her father any joy, and that he never got to see her harness the Goddess’s power.
A gentle hand on her shoulder brings her back. Link guides her into the stable. She watches him pay for their beds, and she selects the one second to the left, allowing him to take the one closest to the entrance. They have come to know each other quite well on their adventures. She allows him the burden of being at the forefront of any potential danger, and he allows her silence to contemplate until they both fall asleep.
V
Zelda’s eyes open and she sits up quickly, trying to identify a noise that brought her out of sleep. It is not the crackling of the fire or the chirping of bugs; it is Link, whimpering in his sleep.
Before she can decide if it is a good idea or not, she is reaching out and holding his hand, just like her father did for her after Mother died and she had bad dreams. He would hold her hand and whisper to her until she fell back asleep, telling her he would still be there in the morn—
Not now, not now.
Link bolts up with a gasp, the two of them narrowly avoiding their foreheads colliding. His eyes dart around until they settle on hers, his breathing heavy.
“What did you dream about?” She asks quietly, afraid she would startle him if she spoke at a normal level.
Link is silent for a long time, and Zelda fears that he will not confide in her, that they will continue to just bury their feelings and painful memories, but eventually he speaks. He starts slowly, telling her how he dreamed he is too late to stop Calamity Ganon and that Hyrule is lost forever, how everyone he has met on his new journey will die, but soon his talking speeds up, and he blurs together people or the present and people of the past. Zelda keeps hold of his hand, letting him say whatever he needs to say, even if it is all a jumble of people and experiences.
Sometimes she forgets that Link, too, is lost in time. Instead, she has held all the pain in, not realizing that sharing her pain with him might help them both. But not tonight. Tonight is Link’s night to let it out.
VI
They reach Hateno Village late at night, so Links suggests they stay at his house until morning. Then they can go see Purah. Zelda is immediately charmed by his home. It is located on the outskirts of the village. The house is quaint, and Link’s property has lovely trees, a small pond, and an outdoor cooking pot. The inside is sparse, save for his collections of weaponry, shields, and bows. Link invites her to sit on his bed while he goes out and prepares some food. Just before he exits, he tells her to wait there because he is going to make her a surprise.
She lies down on his bed, worries it is too personal, and stares at the ceiling. She is happy that Link has a place to call home, but she wonders if she will ever consider anywhere home again. The confines of the castle suffocate her even now. The castle brought her misery in her youth and was her prison during her one hundred year long battle. Still, it is the only home she has ever known.
Zelda does not know how much time passes before she hears Link coming up the stairs, food in hand. She sits up to see him smiling, offering his creation to her.
She stares at it for a moment before her eyes widen. “Link, is it really…” She does not finish her sentence. She reaches forward and rips off a bite of the cake with her fingers. As she chews it, she can taste the sweet flavors of apple and wildberry. “Fruitcake,” she whispers after swallowing.
She opens her mouth to thank him, but instead, she sobs. The tears rolling down her face catches both of them off guard, but Zelda cannot stop them. She can only remember sitting in the dining room with Father, the two of them with a shared sweet tooth, sitting and eating fruitcake.
Link sits beside her on the bed, close but not touching. He begins to talk. Zelda listens as best she can while heaving out painful sobs. He tells her about waking up on the Great Plateau, and of the old man who guided him at the start of his journey. He tells her of the spirit of her departed father, who waited one hundred years to guide Link to his daughter. Zelda cries harder as Link tells of her father regaling Link about how courageous Zelda was for fighting Ganon for so long. Link says he was proud. Zelda covers her face with her hands and cries more, picturing her father’s face, his voice; the image is both clear and hazy. She cries for the circumstances that drove them apart. She cries, finally, for his death, for the deaths of everyone she knows. She mourns. She is afraid she will never stop mourning.
Link stays with her through it all, like he always has, and Zelda knows the two of them will make Hyrule better, as thriving as it used to be. With her father watching over them, she will make him proud by being true to herself and making the kingdom the best she can make it. Time is cruel, and she can never get the last one hundred years back. But she will no longer be a prisoner of time.
It is time for her to shape the future.