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Their journey had come to an end and Hyrule found himself jittering slightly at being in his own time again. He wasn't scared, but rather he felt as if he had come to know the Old Man who aided him in his journey much more than he had before. He was exited to meet with the Old Man and ask him if he remembered their adventure together. He quickly gathered an idea of where he was and began running to find a cave where the Old Man would be. When he found it he felt excitement clog his throat when he saw the Old Man's figure in the cave. The man notice him as he entered and looked at him with humor in his eyes.
Hyrule found himself chattering about his adventure with the others, about Legend. The Old Man watched him blather on in silence with amusement and fondness, a look the Legend often cast him when he spoke with excitement. He felt himself shaking with excitement as he blurted out, "why didn't you tell me who you were sooner Legend?" He said it in a playful tone, grabbing a hold of the older mans sleeve to fend off potential escape, and the Old Man choked in response. Hyrule was about to rib the Older Man but found his words leaving him at the sorrowful look in the Old Man's green eyes. Legend does-didn't have green eyes.
The Old Man looked like he was about to start crying when he spoke, "oh, Link." He pulled his sleeve out of Hyrule's grasp and gently grasped his face in his worn withered hands. "Lin-Legend loved you so dearly." The look in the Old Man's eyes filled Hyrule's stomach with dread, "the years made the toll of Legend's adventures, he passed away many years ago." He remembered how Link had grown brittle with age, how it his back hunched under the weight of the world and he had to fight his own body to move. He also remember when Link had said he was merely resting himself when he'd sat down against one of the trees in their orchard, he looked so peaceful resting in the sun. He never woke up after that.
"I thought- than who?" Hyrule's stuttering broke him out of his reminiscence. The Old Man smiled sadly, Hyrule tried to search his features for anything familiar. The Old Man's robes and long whited hair prevented any recognition, the only thing that stood out were his bright green eyes.
The Old Man let out a weak, stuttering laugh, "I'm Ravio, the one and only. Link wanted to make sure to help you on your journey after meeting you, I suppose it was a good thing I didn't have anything better to do." Hyrule looked at him with tears in his eyes and Ravio quickly pulled the younger man into a hug. Ravio gently told Hyrule how Link had spent the last short years of his life. He had attempted to continue his apprenticeship at the blacksmith for a short time but eventually his worn hands made any work dangerous. Then he had simply aided Ravio in running their little shop, adding the apples and honey collected from the orchard as regular items in their little shop. How he and Fable had on running augments. How he had been cremated after his death and his ashes had been scattered in all the lands he had saved.
Hyrule made a poor attempt to clean his reddened face of tears and spoke, "th-thank you, for taking care of me Ravio." The boy quietly managed to get out between hiccups. Ravio giggled sadly, but felt a degree of mischief forming within him from being in the younger mans presence.
"Say, there Kiddo, do you wanna see where I hid all of the items Legend collected?" The young hero looked up at him in awe.
"You didn't sell all his stuff?!" Ravio was offended, why in Loria's name would this kid think he'd sell such a treasure trove?