Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zelda looks herself up and down in the mirror. She does not recognise what she sees. Her once-white dress is ragged and almost cream in colour, and there are patches of... Hylia knows what smeared and splattered across it. Blood? Malice? Dirt? It could be any of that. It will not last her much longer, and despite its historical relevance she cannot wait to get out of it and never lay eyes upon it again. Though this reaction, she finds, is not unexpected. 100 years of tireless battle (both mental and physical) have taken a toll upon the former Princess, and yet she looks not a day older than when she sealed herself away.

Hyrule, on the other hand, has aged gracefully. Or ungracefully. She isn't quite sure yet, as she hasn't gotten a good look around. Link says he will give her a tour soon, but right now she needs to take a well-deserved rest. It has only been a week or two since Calamity Ganon's defeat after all. Zelda stands up and paces around, taking in her surroundings for the first time since arriving (then she had been too preoccupied with learning how to control a physical body again). It is Link's cottage, in Hateno village. Hateno. The name is familiar to her, but she can only remember vaguely most parts of Hyrule. Zelda silently wonders what has become of them.

Her gaze finds Link's leather pack, which he has conveniently left behind while he goes to buy supplies. He won't mind if I borrow something, surely? She thinks to herself, opening it up to put on something other than her ruined dress. She immediately glasses a very brightly coloured outfit, and identifies it as Gerudo make. Curiosity getting the better of her, she pulls out the set, and raises an eyebrow when she notices that it is a Vai outfit, rather than Voe. She'll certainly have to ask Link about this later. Zelda laughs a little at the thought of him wearing it - the first time in a century.

This should be a milestone, but it doesn't feel like one.

Placing the clothes back in, she rummages through the bag some more, before deciding upon some traditional Hylian travelling gear. It isn't really her style, but it's only for the time being, and better than her alternatives. After all, heavy armour isn't particularly comfortable. It does not look as if Link has worn it much either, compared to the stains and rips in a few of the others.

Link. He's very... different. But it's a good difference. The slumber of resurrection had cost him his memories. This had its downsides for sure, but it meant he got to build himself again from scratch, free from the expectations and pressure of being the Master Sword's chosen. She gets to see the side of him he used to keep hidden behind an icy wall. Link was and always would be a man of few words - but what had once been a silence born from stoicism, distance and paranoia was now simply not needing words to express himself.

How Zelda wishes she could start again the same way. Forget about everything. Be herself, be... free. She recognises her situation as a chance to do so, but that was easier said than done. The people who pressured her most - more specifically her father - were gone, and her restraints should have gone with them. But they only tightened, out of guilt and disappointment in herself. If only she had unlocked her sealing power sooner. She could have saved them. She could have saved them all.

Her train of thought is broken by Link arriving home again. He smiles at her and nods, and she tries to grin back in return, but it must have turned out more like a grimace. Eyeing her up and down, or rather her outfit, he raises an eyebrow. Zelda immediately feels a pang of regret for using his clothes.

"The dress was practically in ruins and I needed something to wear. I should have asked first, I apologise."

She was fluent in Link after many years of friendship, and that was one thing about him that had not changed at all since the Calamity. He 'tells' her that it's fine, it looks good on her. She scoffs apprehensively, and at this he feigns offence. Zelda cannot help but laugh slightly. Link looks proud of himself at this.

He drops his load on the oaken table, a handful of different foods cooked into a slightly burnt omelette. Even so, Zelda can hardly contain her excitement. For the century she had spent trapped in Hyrule Castle, she had effectively been a being of purely... power, meaning that she did not need to eat, sleep, drink, anything that made her feel human. She still did not know if she needed to now or not, but decided to do so anyway. The feeling of simply living was euphoric. Zelda recalls when Ganon had first fallen, how she had revelled in the feeling of air in her lungs and grass at her feet and warmth on her skin. Hyrule would always be the same in some ways at least.

Zelda sits down at the table beside Link, the chair wobbling slightly as one of its legs was bound to it only by rope. Again, she does not mind. It gives the chair character.

Admittedly, the omelette could only have been mediocre at best, but to Zelda it tasted like heaven. She had not yet eaten a full meal, and had forgotten what the sensation felt like. The flavours in the filling clashed somewhat (strong Gerudo spices mixed with a tireless frog for stamina does not make the best combination), but the fact that there was flavour at all felt like a privilege. The texture, too. It had been so long since she had experienced anything like it. Though lumpy in places but chewy in others, it was just what she wanted - all of the things she had missed in one.

Chapter Text

It had taken a couple of months to fully settle back in to having a corporeal form, but it was finally time to leave East Necluda and Hateno to go on that long-awaited tour of Hyrule. Link still seemed... reluctant, at best, but he knew he could only put it off for so long, so here they were. Zelda wanted to visit the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab first - she had already reconciled with Purah so it seemed right to visit Robbie as well.

Right now, they were a few days away from Zora's Domain. From Hateno they had travelled there, stayed a couple of nights (and met Sidon and Dorephan) before leaving again. She recalls the experience fondly - most of the Zora she had recognised, so it was like meeting with old friends. It was a change from Hateno, where nobody had known who she was. Though... not being recognised was almost better than... hm.

A little voice in the back of her mind continued to speak. They look down upon you behind your back, as they should. You failed them.

She shakes her head, trying not to think about that kind of matter. Focusing her attention on Link instead, she matches his pace. He keeps looking down at his Sheikah slate thoughtfully, most likely at the map trying to figure out where they were. It would be another week or so before they would reach the tech lab, and life in the Wild is certainly something else. Sleeping on moss if they were lucky, hard rock if they were not. Having to forage for food, and fend off bokoblins. It is vastly different to the sheltered lifestyle Zelda had led before the Calamity. She isn't sure if she prefers this or not. It will certainly take some getting used to.

Soon they come up to a tall cliffside. There is a lake below it, with a small island in the middle. She can see the faint blue glow of a shrine on a ledge that juts out over it, and feels the urge to go over and investigate. The former princess had never seen an active shrine before now - she had tried to power them up many times in the days when research was her biggest concern, but always to no avail as she was not the Hero of Hyrule. She was not a hero in the slightest.

Link's attention is elsewhere. These shrines are likely commonplace to him now - he must have been inside many to be so nonchalant around them. Zelda feels a pang of envy at this, but suppresses it. It's not his fault, after all. She follows his gaze back down to the island in the middle, and as the sky darkens she notices lights scattered about the place. What she thought previously were rocks appeared to be houses. A town of some sort? Knowing that Hyrule has prospered and grown despite peril is far more intriguing to her than the shrine.

Link meets her eyes and smiles, passing her the Sheikah Slate. There is a little marker he has put in the middle, marked 'Tarrey Town'. She can see that there is a bridge connecting it to the main island, and begins to make her way down, but Link stops her and winks mischievously. Pulling his paraglider from his pack, a boyish grin that says 'Watch this!' plastered on his face, he leaps off the edge of the cliffside.

Zelda, again, feels a pang of envy for the carefree warrior, but suppresses it, smiling at his antics instead.

~~~

Tarrey Town was unlike any place Zelda had ever been before. In a good way, of course - it had a very pleasant atmosphere, and made her feel at home despite being there only for the first time. People of all different races lived here in harmony, and they were all equally happy to be there and welcoming. Especially to Link. It was no surprise, in hindsight; she soon found out about how he had helped them build this place from the ground up.

That was another thing she admired about her knight. He never did things for his own gain - he did things purely to help others, and when he walked in to a room it lit up. This wasn't because he was a legendary warrior who wielded the Sword that Seals the Darkness, no - it was because of the little things he did that made life just a little bit better for everyone. Zelda longs for that kind of respect: for who she really is, not just what she's capable of.

The man who built the town, by the name of Hudson (everyone's name ended in 'son' for some reason - most peculiar), invited her and Link to stay for a while, since he was close with the Zora, Kapson, who owns the inn there. Both gladly accepted the offer - it was a nice change from being woken up at 1am by a woodland creature rummaging through your food reserves. Plus, they were allowed to stay for free, the least he could do for Link.

The room they were staying in was warm, but cozy. The floors, walls and roof were panelled with wood, and there was a lantern sat on a small cabinet beside a soft bed. There was only one, though, so Link was going to sleep on the floor in a pile of blankets and pillows instead. No matter how much Zelda insisted that he should take the bed, he always shook his head as if he preferred to sleep like that. Soon, she gave in - it was difficult to argue with someone who looked so content down there.

A few hours pass, but the princess does not sleep. Zelda stands on the balcony, lost in thought. Her gaze follows the many stars that are dotted across the night sky. The eventful day replays in her head. Thanks to her stay here, she feels much more at ease about the state of Hyrule. If places such as this were common now, despite the circumstances, then perhaps she needn't be so worried. Perhaps her own failure had not damaged Hyrule as much as she had thought.