Work Text:
The seal came back.
The sun had set. There was no sign of Link. But the sand seal he had rented came back.
Riju, always the sand seal lover, had been there for the horrified, grim silence upon its return. Link. He was out there in the freezing cold. She barely registered Buliara shouting at her as she geared up Patricia and set out.
No one deserved to die alone in the frigid desert night, especially not someone as kind and selfless as Link. But in the dark, it soon dawned on her that it would be almost impossible to find him. Certainly not in time…
No. No. She was going to find him. Alive. She tried to concentrate through the panic. She could do this. She’d never had to really use electromancy outside of lessons, but she knew enough to make this work.
She couldn’t hear anything but the howling wind and the sound of Patricia tearing through the sand. She listened harder, below physical sounds, searching as she covered as much ground as she could.
Life. Weak.
Link.
She immediately steered Patricia toward the telltale disturbance, drawing closer and closer to a patch of cacti—
~~~
It was so cold, cold to the point where his skin burned from the frigid, scourging winds.
Link had collapsed as night fell, finally too exhausted to go on. He’d curled up behind some cacti, but their protection from the wind and bitter cold was almost nonexistent. He couldn’t. He couldn’t.
Hands? Small, warm hands, a distant voice. Riju? He was moving, and she was pleading with him to hold on as she maneuvered him onto her back. He weakly complied, latching onto her as best he could as they tore through the desert night.
~~~
“This is an emergency!”
Riju tugged poor Link up the stairs to her room, the Hylian’s body almost entirely dead weight against her.
“You brought a voe—“
“He almost died, Buliara! I’ve been— ngh— taking him through the secret passages— no one saw... We need to put him in the tub…!”
Buliara fell silent.
~~~
Water. Lukewarm water, and gradually getting a little bit warmer. It felt so good on his exhausted body.
A soft, contented sound escaped his throat as the warmth seeped into him. He could feel hands on his head, fingers running through his hair.
“Hi, Link…!”
It was Riju. He smiled weakly, and she smiled back, relieved.
“...M’tired…”
He let his eyes slip shut once more.
~~~
It was a huge relief to see Link wake up a bit in the tub. He was so exhausted. He must have pressed on until he simply couldn’t anymore. Link needed to sleep so badly…
He could sleep in her bed, Riju thought. It was big! It would be like a sleepover! She wondered how long it had been since poor Link had slept in a real bed.
She carefully removed his outer layers so he wouldn’t get cold again once he was out of the tub. It was like peeling a banana made of cooked noodles. A banoodle. She laughed. Link was a banoodle.
The poor voe’s scars were horrifying. He had been through so much. His time as Hylian Champion was evident in his scars— only Guardian beams made those kinds of wounds. It only reminded her how badly Link needed some real rest.
She wrapped him in a fluffy bathrobe she’d dug out of her closet once he was out. Mother’s…
But it was pretty funny to see him in it. Hylians were so small compared to Gerudo, and Link was VERY small. He was wrapped up like an oversized baby, and it looked like the robe was eating him like a fuzzy Like Like.
Link practically melted into her bed.
~~~
It was so nice and warm. Something very warm was next to him… Riju. He turned his head to find her with her back snuggled against his side, hugging one of the many sand seal plushies around them in her sleep.
Twelve. She was twelve years old. Twelve years old with no mother and a world of responsibilities on her shoulders.
But he was only five years older. Or at least, he had been when he died. At least, that’s what Impa had said. He couldn’t remember.
He had so many questions about his past. The biggest one was WHY. Why did he have to live like this. Why was he the one responsible for this destruction.
He couldn’t remember his life, his friends, his parents, his siblings— he couldn’t even remember if he even HAD siblings.
A sleepy murmur from Riju, pressed up against his side after saving his life and tucking him into her own bed answered his question.
He had one now.