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Zelda, who is obviously in shock, won’t let him comfort her.
She’s almost power-walking through the sand ahead of him, hurrying as far away from the bodies-and him, Link supposes-as possible.
“Zelda,” he calls, jogging to catch up. He walks fast beside her, and when he looks at her face she turns it away. “Zelda, we should-”
“We should what?” her voice is ragged, and he doesn’t have to strain to hear her heavy breathing. Whether or not it’s from tears or exhaustion caused by her…outburst, he isn’t sure. “What should we do, Link?”
“Talk, maybe?” he reaches out to touch her and she tears herself out of his grasp the moment his fingers brush her skin. “Zelda-”
“We have to get to Gerudo Town,” she walks impossibly faster, taking even longer strides- “If we want to get there before nightfall we can’t make anymore stops.”
(Why won’t she let him touch her?)
There is figurative blood on her hands, Fi answers. Perhaps she does not want to smear you with it.
“Can you at least look at me?” he asks, helpless.
She doesn’t.
Give her a moment, Master, Fi tells him. You do not know what it is like to go against your nature.
What are you talking about? he silently demands.
This Zelda is not meant to be a fighter. The last thing she wants to do is cause harm to others. The fact that she has, that she has gone against such an intrinsic part of herself and is just beginning to realize it...It’s jarring.
And you know what that’s like?
The Master Sword is quiet.
Link opens his mouth to tell Zelda-
I do, Fi whispers, her hushed voice...wavering? I was...forced to change, forced into a role I did not know I was being forced to accept. I was happy to obey my orders, to help, but along the way...
(This is the most the sword spirit has ever spoken to him at once, and the first time she’s decided to reveal anything even remotely about herself besides her name. Link can’t help but listen like she’s telling him the secrets of the world.)
He hears her take a breath, a breath that hitches as if caught in the back of her invisible throat.
Along the way, she repeats. I met someone who helped me realize that I had been forced into my new role. He helped me adjust, and he taught me what it was to be...myself again, despite the fundamental change in my being.
He sounds like a good person, Link thinks, meaning every word of it. If only he was like that- Who was he?
He was my only friend, There is a...a smile in Fi’s voice, a fondness- He was you, Master.
And Link’s mind, Link’s soul, is shoved-
He’s sitting on a patch of grass, leaning back against a stone wall. He’s dressed in a green outfit reminiscent to his ‘Hero of the Wild’ gear, a weird hat on his head, and there is a light blue scabbard across his lap, the hilt of a sword sticking out of it.
One of her humans gifted her a sword, A voice-Fi’s voice-says. Her voice comes from a blue woman dressed in the colors of the Master Sword sitting to his left, her legs hugged close to her chest. He thought his simple steel would be enough to thwart Demise if it was in her hands. It wasn’t, not on its own, so she imbued it with her magic.
He taps the scabbard on his lap. And turned it into this?
Yes.
And it worked?
Wonderfully.
So why did you get stuck in it?
The blue woman-Fi? Is that what Fi looks like?-stares at him. Her eyes are blank blue spaces, with no irises or pupils to focus on.
Stuck? she asks, repeating the word as if she’s never heard it before.
Yeah, he says. It sounds to me like the Goddess Sword worked just fine on its own. Why did Hylia need to put you in it?
The corners of Fi’s lips curve down, almost like she’s frowning-
Link wants to ask her another question, to press further, to get all of the information he can to help her solve whatever problem she’s having, but the body he’s in doesn’t respond, doesn’t move. The body he’s in, the Hero he’s experiencing the memories of, sits and waits for his companion to speak.
Link blinks and he’s back in the Gerudo Desert, walking alongside Zelda. She’s staring down at her feet, wringing her hands in front of her stomach, unaware that he was just…somewhere.
Take your own advice, Master, Fi breathes, Gerudo Town visible and getting closer. They already passed the Kara Kara Bazaar? Give her time to process.
(He needs to ask one more question.)
“Zelda?” he says.
“Yes?” she mumbles, pushing her curtain of long hair off her sweaty face.
“Did Ganondorf tell you what he is? I remember you asking him before…”
(Looks like they have another ‘Before’.)
She swallows, finally meets his eyes, and lies, “No.”
(And he’s not supposed to press?)
You have good intentions, worrying like this, Fi says. But this is something you can only help with in the aftermath, when she’s recognized the weight of what’s happened to her and is willing to share it.
Do you know? he gives it one last shot. Do you know what Ganondorf is?
The Master Sword hums on Link’s back, and Zelda’s hands twitch.
I have a highly educated guess, Fi responds. And I am 100% certain that my guess is correct.
And that guess is...?
I can confidently say that Ganondorf is the-
“Link?” Zelda glances to him, unintentionally cutting Fi off.
“Yes?”
“How are you getting into Gerudo Town?”
“I, um…” he clears his throat. “I have vai clothes.”
“Oh,” she frowns. “Here I thought you were sneaking in and out, hiding in the shadows.”
He laughs a little, unable to help himself. “I tried that at first. It didn’t end well.”
“Well, we’re practically here,” she nods to the looming wall surrounding the town. They’re so close he can see the color of the guards’ eyes. “Do you need me to distract them while you get changed? Or block you from their view?”
“No,” Link shakes his head. “They never seem to notice.”
He can’t stop thinking as he gets changed into his vai outfit. He wants so badly to tell her, I’m here for you, just tell me what will help and I’ll do it, but he has to trust Fi’s words and his own past life. He has to stop himself from interrogating her and wait for her to be ready and Goddesses he’s impatient-
Fi, not unkindly, bashes him over the head with, She waited one hundred years for you, Master. There is a 100% chance that you can wait a day for her.
(He can’t possibly argue with that.)
He clips the veil over his face and puts his hands on his hips, grabbing Zelda’s attention. “What do you think?”
(The least he can do is try and act normal, right?)
She stares at him, looking him over, and the shadows in her eyes clear the slightest bit as her cheeks flush.
“Very…nice,” she manages.
(As soon as she turns away from him, the shadows are back.)
They waltz right into Gerudo Town, Zelda tensing as one of the guards greets him with a firm, “Vasaaq!”
“Vasaaq!” Link parrots as they pass, and the novelty of the disguise working has yet to wear off, even if this must be the thousandth time he’s used it.
Gerudo Town seems to be in the midst of a party. There are lanterns strewn between the buildings, illuminating the town as the sun begins to set, and a group of Rito women sing while a Gerudo plays accompanying music on a flute. Tourists and citizens alike dance through the town square, their laughter and conversations carrying through the heat.
“What…” Zelda falters as a few children run by. One holds a doll that looks suspiciously like Urbosa, making little zapping noises with her mouth and giggling when her friends all act like they’re being electrocuted. “What’s going on?”
“I have no idea,” he says, leading her through the crowd and to the steps leading up to the palace. “Looks like some kind of festival, maybe? We can ask Riju.”
“Riju?”
(He doesn’t miss the way her gaze darts around like she’s searching for danger, or how she goes back to wringing her hands and avoids eye contact with anyone that looks at them.)
“The chief,” he explains. “You’ll love her.”
“-renovated our spa!” Olu, the spokeswoman for the Hotel Oasis, is calling to nearby tourists. “In honor of Lady Urbosa, we are now offering haircuts with your spa day for the additional price of fifty rupees-”
“My grandmother says that Lady Urbosa herself once blessed this stall!” Estan boasts to the Hylian women browsing her selection of meats. “What better way to honor her memory than making the same purchase she once did?”
Link’s a little shocked that they’re exploiting a dead Champion to make a profit, especially when Urbosa is worshipped nearly as much in Gerudo Town as Hylia once was everywhere else.
“She’d think it was funny,” Zelda whispers, apparently able to read his mind.
(Her eyes linger on the spa, one hand curling in the ends of her hair as Olu continues to campaign for haircuts like the idea is running in an election.)
They go up the palace steps and into Riju’s throne room, where the young Gerudo is dressed in her usual black clothing and eating what looks to be a piece of cake, happily chattering away to Buliara.
“Do you think Patricia would like this?” she asks, holding up her plate. “It has wildberries.”
“Wildberries make her sick, Chief Riju,” Buliara says, stern. “You know this.”
“But Buliara! It’s a holiday! She should get to celebrate like the rest of us!”
“My idea of celebration is not spending an hour cleaning sand seal vomit out of the grooves of the floor.”
Riju pouts, muttering, “Fine,” and that’s when she spots them, perking up on her throne.
“Link!” she breaks into a smile. “It’s been too long since you last-”
Riju’s eyes land on Zelda and she stops, gaping. Buliara frowns, looking between the two.
“You’re Princess Zelda,” Riju says, shocked.
Zelda nods, sharing a confused glance with Link. “How did you know?”
“There’s a picture of you in Lady Urbosa’s diary!” Riju shoves her cake into Buliara’s hands and hops off her throne, eagerly rushing up to Zelda. “You’re so much prettier in person!”
“Oh-” Zelda’s face flushes again. “Thank you, Chief-”
“Please, call me Riju!” The young Gerudo turns back to Buliara. “Buliara, Patricia told us today’s celebration would be special!”
“About that,” Link butts in. “Why is there a celebration to begin with?”
“Today marks the hundred and first anniversary of Lady Urbosa’s death,” Buliara answers, picking off a corner of cake and eating it. “We usually hold a festival in her honor, celebrating her life and thanking her for her sacrifice, and this is the first time we’ve done it without Naboris’s rampage or the Calamity’s presence to ruin the mood.”
“It is a truly blessed day,” Riju adds, focusing her attention back on Link and Zelda. “I just know-Princess?”
Zelda’s hands shake, her breathing not much better. She stares at him, searching his eyes.
“The anniversary of Urbosa’s death,” she repeats. “The day the Calamity struck.”
He’s in her bedroom and her weight is on his lap and her warmth is on his fingertips-
Happy birthday.