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Chapter Text

Sunset is that time of day when the activities of the day ramp down. It is when the sky fades from blue to golden, and the light of day starts to blend into the darkness of night. It is a time of transition from work that has to be done to rest and leisure.

It was late evening, and the sun lay just on the horizon, its golden rays mostly blocked by clouds. The sky, if one looked west, was orange, but if one looked east, it was a deep blue instead. The moon hung low in the sky in a crescent phase, though its far milder light was drowned out by that of the sun. The shadows cast seemed to stretch on forever.

It was at this time that Malon was walking through Lon Lon Ranch. At about ten years of age, she was still young enough to be filled with wonder when observing the sunset, and filled with wonder she was. However, mere enjoyment of the outdoors was not the sole reason why she was out at this time.

She found her way to the door to the ranch stables, opened the door, and poked her head inside.

“Ah, there you are, Fairy Boy.”

Link, the boy in question was… interesting, to say the least. The two had first met several months earlier, in Hyrule Castle Town. She figured that he was like one of those forest children from those tales, since he was dressed completely in green, like the Kokiri were said to be.

The nickname “Fairy Boy” stuck almost instantly.

She had been waiting for her father to complete his routine shipment of milk to the castle at the time, but she eventually lost her patience and headed for the castle grounds. She encountered Link there, who was trying to enter the castle for whatever reason. Malon had taken the opportunity to give him a cucco egg so that Talon could be woken up.

When she returned to Lon Lon, she couldn’t help but be curious about the boy. There were a couple of things that were quite strange about him.

Firstly, what was a Kokiri like him doing outside the forest? All the stories that she had heard about the forest children said that they tended to stay within the Lost Woods.

And there was the other thing. There was… something about him that seemed to say that he had seen too much for his age. She could perhaps call it a profound sadness, but she never could quite figure it out.

So who else should show up a few days later at the ranch than Link?

He and Epona got along very quickly. Malon had barely just taught him the horse’s favorite song (though it almost seemed as if he was familiar with it already) when he became Epona’s second favorite person, behind only Malon herself.

Later that day, Link had gone to talk to Talon about possibly staying at the ranch for a while. Malon might have eavesdropped on them.

Link agreed to help with the ranch work in exchange for a place to live. He did say that he would have to go to Castle Town from time to time on extremely important business, though.

So that’s how it went. Link started to live and work at the ranch, though he spent a lot of time away on what apparently was pressing business.

In the present, Link was in the stables, attending to Epona. Noticing Malon’s presence, he paused and turned.

“Hey, Malon.”

“It’s dinnertime, you know. Dad’s been wondering where you were.”

“Just been giving Epona some company.”

“Ah. She’s a fine filly, ain’t she?”

Link nodded, and stroked Epona’s muzzle. “I almost can’t believe that she’s already old enough to carry me. Still as wild as ever, though, aren’t you, Epona?”

Epona snorted.

Link smiled slightly at that. “Well, some things never change, at the very least. Just as well, it seems, since so much has been changing around me. I need something to anchor myself with.”

“Oh? What’re you talking about?”

“It’s really complicated. I’m not sure if I can explain it. It’s just…” Link seemed to struggle with words for a moment. “A lot’s been happening. Have you been hearing the rumors floating around Castle Town? About the Royal Family banishing the Gerudo King?”

“I think I might have heard something like that?”

“That sort of has to do with it. You know how…” Link paused. “You know what, never mind. So, you were saying dinner’s ready?”

“Yeah. It’s going to go cold if you don’t eat soon.”

“Well, I suppose it’s not about to eat itself, so let’s get going.”

As the two of them left the stables, Malon couldn’t help but wonder why it seemed, for that one brief moment, that there was so much more going on with Link than met the eye.

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Link disappeared off to somewhere after dinner. Malon wasn’t sure where specifically, but she wanted to know.

The boy was one of the most interesting people she had ever met, and she was of course curious to know what he did when nobody was around. It couldn’t be helped, really. While Link had disproved some of the wilder tales surrounding the Kokiri, it was still true that the forest children were still quite mischievous.

And Link himself wasn’t above occasionally pranking people. Especially Ingo. Malon was starting to suspect that he held some sort of grudge against Ingo for whatever reason.

So what could Link be doing in this hour? Malon wanted to know.

However, bedtime came around before she could go look for Link. That, of course, wasn’t going to stop her. She instead snuck out of bed, tiptoed past Talon’s room without rousing him (the occasional creak of the floorboards being drowned out by her father’s snoring). She reached the door and opened it, and only then did she pull on her boots before walking outside.

The moon hung low in the sky and blanketed the world with a soft light that just barely gave the world definition, if not much else. The air was cool but not cold. It felt crisp in her throat as she breathed in.

Malon found herself walking around, probably looking for Link. She herself wasn’t particularly certain.

Her search was eventually rewarded when she found Link lying on his back in the grass. He was staring up at the stars.

Link seemed to notice her approach. He moved up into a sitting position. “Malon? Is that you? What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to know what you were doing,” she answered.

“Ah. I was watching the stars move across the sky.” Link smiled slightly. “They’re pretty, aren’t they?”

Malon looked up herself. The sky was specked with numerous stars in various shades of white, yellow, red, and even blue. “Yeah… they are beautiful.” An idea popped into her head. “Mind if I join you?”

Link shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” He lay down again. Malon lay down on the grass beside him.

A few moments passed in silence with only the chirping of crickets to accompany them.

“Do you think the stars care about what happens on the world below?” Link asked eventually.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t think they do, myself. They just move through the sky regardless, unaware of what goes on below, or perhaps uncaring. Personally, I think they know but don’t care.”

That sounded a lot like grown-up talk. Huh. What was Link talking about?

“I…” Link trailed off again. “Malon. I’m not going to be here anymore soon. I… I didn’t want to have to tell you this, but… it’s the least I can say.”

Under any other circumstances, Malon would have thought the boy was joking, but he seemed plenty serious about it. And plenty saddened, too.

“You’re… leaving?”

“There’s just so many things going on. I don’t know if you’ve heard any of the gossip from around Castle Town, but… these are scary times. The Kingdom is gearing for war after a diplomatic incident with the Gerudo. And there’s just so many personal things that I need to settle…”

Malon wasn’t sure what personal issues Link wasn’t talking about, but it sure sounded threatening. “Like what?”

“I… Malon, you’ve heard that the Kokiri always have a fairy companion, right?”

“Yes?”

“Then why do I not have one?”

That gave Malon pause. She hadn’t given Link’s lack of a fairy that much thought. Perhaps it was because Link was the only Kokiri she knew, and so she thought that because Link didn’t have one, maybe the whole ‘companion fairy’ thing was made-up.

He continued on. “I… I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be or what my role in this grand picture is. It… it worries me. I thought I knew for all my life, but… I’ve simply learned how little I truly know.”

Silence.

“Malon, I wish my life was less complicated. More than anything. At this point, I would give anything for that. But… that’s beyond my reach now.”

Link really loved being cryptic, didn’t he? No doubt he knew what he was talking about, but since Malon did not have any of the needed context, it was impossible to decipher the meaning behind those words. But he was genuinely sad now, and so Malon felt obliged to try to console her friend.

“Why?”

Link shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. I almost don’t understand myself.” He let out a sigh. “I’ve been thinking for a while about going on a journey. One where I can find out more about myself, since there’s so little I know.”

“You’re going by yourself? With no grownups?”

“I’ve been unaccompanied with all my visits to Castle Town. This shouldn’t be much different.” Link paused. “It certainly feels like the type of journey that I can only go on alone. I need direction, and I believe the only way I can find it is if I do this on my own.”

“Are you just going to leave without telling anyone?”

“Well, I’m telling you, right?” Link smiled sadly. “And, yes, I told Talon about this a few days earlier. He’s no doubt sad that there’ll be one less pair of hands to help around here, but, hey, one less mouth to feed, I guess.”

“You’ve really been preparing for this, haven’t you?”

Link silently nodded. “Malon, by the way… can I ask a favor of you?”

“Go ahead.”

“Can I take Epona with me? Talon seemed fine with the idea.”

On one hand, Malon was very attached to Epona, but on the other hand… if Link had the filly with him on whatever journey he was going on, it would be nice for him to have a familiar companion. Not to mention how it would surely remind him of Lon Lon Ranch.

“Sure. Just make sure to return her when you come back, alright?”

“I will, then.”

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Link was ready to go by the next morning. Malon and Talon went to see him off at the gate.

The boy had a small metal shield and a small blade strapped to his back. The metal shield was one he had obtained only a couple of weeks ago. He had let Malon keep his previous shield, which was wooden and had a red spiral design on it.

“I don’t actually need it anymore,” Link had said. “It doesn’t really do its job all that well, compared to my new one. Oh, and if I find one of the places I’m looking for, I can just get another anyway.”

Malon had promised to take good care of the wooden shield, even if it looked kind of beat-up. Link smiled slightly at that.

Link was also equipped with his pouch, which held some curious items. He had shown some of them to Malon as well. He had said that most of them were too large for him, so it was kind of funny how he still insisted on bringing them with him even when they were essentially useless.

“Well, I suppose this is farewell,” Link said. “Well, at least for now. I don’t know how long it will be before I return, whether it takes a few days to maybe even months or longer. So, uh, thanks for everything.” He gave Malon and Talon a sad little smile. “I’ll make sure to treasure the time I spent here.”

He paused, and for a brief moment, as the morning sun lay low in the sky, Malon thought that maybe he might change his mind and stay, and that she wouldn’t have to become reaccustomed to not having that green-clad fairy boy around.

“I…” Link took a deep breath. “I have to go now. It’s nothing personal, but… I can’t let myself hesitate more on this.” He mounted Epona, sitting straight on the horse’s bare back.

As he turned away for the last time, Malon tried to memorize how he looked, with how a light morning breeze was slightly ruffling his golden blond hair, or that mixture of wistfulness and determination in his bright blue eyes.

And with a slight kick, Link and Epona got going. As they slowly shrunk into a dot in the distance, Malon silently prayed to the Golden Three that everything would turn out alright.

Chapter Text

The Hero of Hyrule opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. Nothing he recognized, not that that particularly surprised him.

The two of them were in the middle of a great hilly field that seemed to stretch on and on, though it had a few paths and fences running through it. It was one of those places that would be fun exploring and seeking out all the little nooks and crannies in, no doubt.

His predecessor and companion, the Hero of Legend, was scanning for landmarks on the horizon.

“I think we can both say that we recognize nothing?” Hyrule asked.

“Seems like it.”

“I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get used to getting teleported to the middle of nowhere randomly. It’s just kind of disorienting, I guess.”

Legend shrugged. “I feel like I’ve been basically desensitized to that at this point. This kind of stuff feels almost routine.”

“Right… you did start your second and third adventures with just getting randomly teleported to distant lands.”

“Yeah, pretty much. Like I was back then, we’re here on a mission, Traveler. Remember what Nayru told us.”

The two heroes were on some sort of time-travelling quest where they would have to meet several heroes from all throughout Hyrule’s history. They were chasing some sort of darkness that was threatening Hyrule at multiple points in time.

They had been in Legend’s era only minutes before, where they had met with the Oracle of Ages, Nayru, where, before she had sent them into this time, she gave them some rather important information.

Legend pulled out a piece of parchment and unfolded it, revealing a line that went from left to right. About a third of the way from the left, the line split into three. The diagram looked almost like a fork with elongated tines.

The drawing was an extremely simplified illustration of Nayru’s description of time as a river that flowed from the past (represented as leftwards on the map) to the future (rightwards). The fact that the line even split at all still made Hyrule’s head spin just thinking about it.

“Rivers usually don’t split without outside intervention,” Legend had said.

Nayru’s reply didn’t exactly help Hyrule’s comprehension. “To sum up what amounts to a very long and surprisingly sad story, this one didn’t either. The biggest clue about it that can be found in the historical record is that the split roughly corresponds to the Imprisoning War. I think, given the nature of your quest, you’ll figure it out on the way.”

She had refused to give any details about what had happened, claiming that the knowledge could jeopardize Hyrule and Legend’s ability to build the team that the quest called for. An ominous sign if Hyrule had ever heard one.

“Traveler, since there don’t seem to any monsters within a mile of us, let’s talk about this map of time.”

Legend and his maps. With how obsessed he seemed to be about cartography, it was a wonder that he got any adventuring done.

The veteran knelt, setting the map down and lying it flat on the ground. He pointed at one of branches (distributaries? Hyrule had heard that word for the first time about five minutes ago). “This is the time we just left, which is also the one I hail from.” His finger followed the line to the left until he reached the point the lines branched from. “Nayru said that the Imprisoning War is right where our stream splits off from the others. Nayru told us that we are somewhere around the split, and as there is evidently no kingdom-spanning war since”—Legend gestured vaguely at the lack of war around him—“I think it’s safe to conclude that we are this is where we are now,” he now put his finger slightly to the left of the fork, “some unspecified amount of time before the war. Unfortunately, we don’t know about what scale we’re dealing with, so depending on what ‘around’ means we could be anywhere from centuries to mere days away from it.”

“If we’re only days away, doesn’t that mean that the war would start while we’re here?”

“I’m pretty sure Nayru isn’t careless enough for such a thing to happen, thankfully. Her namesake is the Goddess of Wisdom, after all.” Legend folded the map up and put it away before standing up. “I think I’ll heed her advice and make a copy that I’ll mark up. It’s harder to tell when you are when you can only figure out your time relative to historical events by asking people than it would be to make a spatial map by just looking around. Plus, making a map of the things around you would probably get you less strange looks for mentioning things that haven’t happened yet.”

Okay, Hyrule really needed to get Legend down to business, lest they talk about time while wasting too much of it.

“I think we should head for the nearest town. What do you think?”

“Great idea. The information we can get there will be important. Since we know that this time has a hero, we can find something out about them.”

Hyrule looked out at the horizon. “I can see some walls to the north.”

“If it’s a castle, then I suppose we could ask a guard for directions. Of course, while trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. We don’t exactly have time to antagonize the possibly more competent soldiers of this era.” Legend checked the position of the sun. “It’s noon, so we should be able to get there by nightfall. If we’re lucky, maybe they’re friendly enough to give us lodging, but I personally doubt it.”

They started heading north on that note.

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Their initial assumption that the walls surrounded a castle turned out to be half right. As they got steadily closer, they realized that the walls actually enclosed a city, which was a sight neither were accustomed to. The city looked larger than any that either the traveler or veteran had been to.

However, there was a castle, as was made clear when they got even closer. The towers and turrets of the castle, with its purple shingled roofs, stood high above the walls and the city.

The city’s gate was accessible from a great drawbridge that reached across a river that flowed along the walls, acting as a moat.

As predicted, Hyrule and Legend got close just after sunset.

“Almost there,” Legend said. He was looking forward to getting a bit of rest.

So, naturally, the world seemed like it was suddenly determined to disprove him. A great rattling sound issued from the gate, and the drawbridge started to retract.

The veteran let out a few select swear words before he and Hyrule made a mad dash for the gate. They were too late. By the time they were at the moat, the bridge was already out of reach.

Legend glared at the bridge as if he could force it back down with only the power of his rage. “Dammit! Why would they need to pull up the bridge at night, anyway?”

He suddenly heard Hyrule unsheathe his sword behind him. He turned around just in time to see the traveler thrust his sword through a short Stalfos-like monster, shattering its spine.

The monster’s bones clattered onto the field before sinking into the ground.

“We have company!” Hyrule shouted, stating what was now obvious to both of them.

A few more of those Stalfos-like monsters dug their way out of the ground and started lumbering towards them.

Legend unsheathed his sword and leapt into action, slashing monsters here and there. Hyrule did the same, destroying the monsters with those quick stabs that he seemed to prefer so much.

Within seconds, those monsters had also been defeated, but it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before more of them dug their way up. If they had to fight the entire night, they would come out with their strength sapped, which wasn’t something they could afford.

Legend’s mind went into overdrive. This was a high-stakes puzzle, like the dungeon puzzles he was so good at solving. He looked behind him, at the wooden drawbridge covering the gate, and an idea flashed in his mind.

He pulled out his Hookshot. “Traveler! Grab onto me!”

Hyrule obliged, holding onto him tightly. Legend aimed the device at the top of the drawbridge and fired.

The hook slammed into the drawbridge with a dull but satisfying thunk. Legend reeled in the chain, pulling the two heroes up to the top of the drawbridge.

Down below, more monsters dug themselves up and gathered at the riverbank but didn’t move any further.

Legend and Hyrule pulled themselves up so that they were standing on the thin end of the bridge.

“Traveler, do you have a way to fall without hurting yourself?”

Hyrule nodded.

“Great.” Legend pulled out his Roc’s Cape and put it on. He looked below him, at the small gap between the drawbridge and the gate, and then jumped. He felt the cape balloon behind him as it caught the wind and let him glide to a safe landing on the city’s cobblestones below.

He turned around to find Hyrule standing on the ground right in front of the bridge. “Nice cape,” the traveler said, as if he hadn’t just apparently somehow teleported down.

Legend decided not to question it. For now, at least.

“Traveler, we’re going to need to find a place to rest.”

Hyrule nodded. “Let’s go looking for an inn, then.”

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The city was so densely packed that the walls were basically merged with one another. It was almost like a maze.

There were also a lot of dogs out on the streets. Legend suspected that a good amount of them were actually owned by someone but were just allowed to roam out at night. There couldn’t be that many stray dogs.

They found an inn before long, and the rates were reasonable enough, so they walked inside. As they opened the door, the door hit a bell that made a small tink!

The innkeeper looked up from whatever he was doing to look at the two Links. “It’s a bit late, don’t you think?”

Legend shrugged. “Time got away from us.”

“You must be travelers. People here in Castle Town don’t really stay out at night that much. Though at least there’s only dogs out in the streets. But at least you’re not stuck out in Hyrule Field with the Stalchildren. Really, since the war, the night has gotten a lot scarier for most people.”

“Right. The war. That one.”

He had no idea what “the war” referred to. Maybe “around” the Imprisoning War meant that they were actually in a time just after its end.

He turned to Hyrule, and the two silently agreed to talk about that later.

“Now,” the innkeeper said, “I doubt you’re here just for conversation.”

“Right,” Legend said. “We’d like one room with two beds, please. Two nights, though there’s a real chance that we might have to check out early or extend our stay.”

“If you end up having to extend your stay, there’s a twenty Rupee fee on top of the standard cost per night. Otherwise, well, for twenty Rupees a night on top of our upfront sixty Rupee reservation price, that’ll be one hundred Rupees.”

Legend measured out a hundred Rupees and gave them to the innkeeper.

“Alright, I’ll go get your room key. Be back in a moment.” The innkeeper stood up, unlocked a door labelled STAFF ONLY, walked inside, and locked the door behind him, leaving the two heroes alone.

“…so I take it those Stalfos-like monsters are Stalchildren?” Hyrule asked.

“I suppose that’s convenient to know.”

“Well, as long as we’re finding out here, instead of figuring it out while stuck outside the walls fighting them all night.”

Legend nodded. “Looks like the field outside is called Hyrule Field—what an inspired name—and this city is called Castle Town.”

“‘Town’ feels like an understatement. This place is packed. Do people here get claustrophobic?”

Before Legend could voice his agreement with the traveler, the innkeeper returned, carrying two identical keys.

“This is your first stay here, right? Do you want to be shown the way to your room?”

“That would be great, thank you,” Hyrule said.

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The room wasn’t large, but it wasn’t small, either. Cozy was the word that came into mind for the traveler.

He and Legend spent a few minutes setting their stuff down and unpacking a few things. Once they were done getting settled, they sat on the two beds that sat on opposite sides of the room.

“Traveler. It seems like that there was a war within living memory of this era. I’m not sure if it’s the Imprisoning War, but… Nayru never said if we were before or after it.”

“It could easily be some other conflict. We just need more information.”

Legend nodded. “The reason why I reserved two nights is because I believe we should spend all of tomorrow gathering information. We need to find out about this era, and if we can get information on this shadow we’re chasing or the hero we’re supposed to find in this time, then that’ll be even better.”

“Makes sense, I suppose. How are we specifically going to find information? Do we just stop random passersby and ask them odd questions?”

“Of course not, that’d be too suspicious. We can scout out this place tomorrow morning so that we know our options.”

“Well, one thing I’d like to do tomorrow as well is to just get used to this place. There’s just so… much everywhere.”

Legend nodded in understanding. “It really is much bigger than any settlement I’ve been to.” He rubbed his eyes and let out a yawn. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to sleep. We can talk more about what to do tomorrow.”

“I will too, then.”

“Great. Good night, Traveler.” Legend blew out the oil lamp that was illuminating the room, and darkness enshrouded the room.

Chapter Text

Hyrule found himself awake at some point in the morning. He couldn’t see whether the sun was up since the view out of the room’s window only showed more city, but it was certainly bright enough for it to be after sunrise. Time practically stood still, as if the world was waiting for something.

He let his thoughts trickle in slowly. He recalled the events of the previous day, from what Nayru had said back in Labrynna to the encounter with the Stalchildren on Hyrule Field. This certainly was already an adventure unlike any he had before.

He sat up. Legend was in the other bed, still asleep. His red outer tunic, blue hat, yellow-and-black belt, and boots were on the floor by the side of his bed.

Hyrule moved off his own bed and put his boots on. He walked over to Legend and gently shook him awake.

Legend let out a groan and rolled onto his back, pushing away Hyrule’s arm. He rubbed the remaining sleep out of his eyes and yawned.

“Traveler, I don’t dislike mornings, but waking up sucks.” He sat up and slid his legs out of the bed.

“Aren’t you better about this on the road?”

Legend shrugged. “I think it’s the fact that I got to sleep in a real bed.” He sighed. “Well, however I might feel about it, I can’t exactly get much done while asleep. There’s quite a bit that needs doing today.”

“You wanted to scour this place for information, I recall.”

Legend nodded. “It’s nice and early. We have time to just scout out the city so we know where good sources of information could be. I would really like to find a library around here, since written records could be useful for establishing the times. And perhaps we might find a glimpse of heroes in the past that we might end up meeting on our journey. Taverns could be useful, as well, as a place to talk to people. In fact, we could probably do some information-gathering now, in this inn.”

“I’d prefer to walk around the city, personally.”

“That’s fair enough. I myself need to accustom myself to this place. These buildings are just... packed.”

“By accustoming yourself, you mean you’re going to make a map of Castle Town, aren’t you?”

Legend really, really liked his maps. Sure, he claimed that he preferred to go on his own intuition in places he was accustomed to, but Hyrule still found it funny enough for him to want to constantly tease the veteran over it.

“Well, it’s not like I can rule it out.” Legend paused to put his boots on. “At the very least, though, I want to get breakfast before we start walking around Castle Town.”

They did, in fact, get breakfast. It was okay. And it was real food. They went outside into the city after they were finished.

Now that they had daylight and weren’t in a hurry, the two heroes were able to take in their surroundings more carefully. The roads were paved with cobblestone, which both Hyrule and Legend found unusual—they were more accustomed to finding paved paths in a palace than in a town.

“Castle Town must be rather prosperous,” Legend noted. “Especially since it can sustain such a large population. I guess they can afford paving their roads.”

The main road through the city, which was paved with large white stone blocks, led from the city gate at the south end of the city northward through a central square. The square held a bustling market with a fountain ringed by a wrought iron fence at the center. There were also a bunch of shops with brightly colored signs, though one of them was closed and had a sign tacked on the door.

Legend read it. “Some sort of mask shop. Looks like the owner’s out traveling.”

The road continued north through the square, though there was also a path to the northwest that led to an open, green space. A tall building could be seen past a line of trees. It looked like some sort of place of worship.

“Kind of reminds me of the Sanctuary in my era,” Legend noted.

Hyrule nodded. “Do you think we should check it out later?”

“It can’t hurt.”

The northward road led to a castle some ways in the distance, but Hyrule and Legend elected not to go there, especially before they met this era’s hero. They instead spent the next hour or so walking through the streets, taking note of interesting places that may warrant further investigation.

They eventually ran into a large building. Above its large wooden doors was a sign in the script that pervaded this era:

“Ah, here we are! A library,” Legend said, his eyes lighting up.

Hyrule stared at him. “You can read that?”

“Yup. A lot of inscriptions from around the Imprisoning War use this old script. And it’s perfectly normal for you to not be able to decipher it. The only reason I can is because I’ve needed to use a book that allows me to translate old text quite a bit, and so I’ve gotten accustomed to reading this kind of stuff.” Legend paused. “You really won’t have much to do if you were to stay there while I try to do research, so we should probably split up. There’re a few shops in the market, so you should probably get supplies. You could also spend some time at the shooting gallery there or whatever other games they have to offer. Though I’d at least suggest walking inside with me—you’ll need to know where to go to find me.”

“Alright then.”

Legend opened the door, and the two of them walked into some sort of lobby. A librarian sat behind a desk next to a locked door.

The librarian looked at the two heroes. “Good morning. Have the two of you been here before?”

They shook their heads.

“All right, then. Before we get started, I should probably explain some of our rules. The books in this library are from the private collection of a wealthy family in Castle Town, and there’s a few security measures in place to make sure books don’t get stolen, since they’re expensive to produce and buy. Food and drink are not permitted, and you can either leave bags in here or they will have to be searched when you leave. Loans require a security deposit that will be refunded on return, though the specific value of the deposit varies from book to book. Some books are simply not available to be loaned. You will also need to state your name and purpose of visit before entering for record-keeping purposes, though ‘I just want to read books’ is sufficient as an answer.”

“Makes sense,” Legend said.

Hyrule tuned most of that out.

“Can you state your name and purpose?”

“My name is Alfon, and I’m a scholar from Labrynna with an interest in Hyrulean history, myths, and legends.”

The way Legend stated that effortlessly made Hyrule suspect that he had used that cover story several times before.

Legend pointed at Hyrule. “This is my traveling companion, Gulley, and he won’t be coming with me. He’ll be returning later to retrieve me.”

Hyrule wondered if Legend made these names up completely or whether he was using the names of people he knew.

The librarian wrote that information down on a little logbook on the desk. “Are you going to leave your bags here, or do you want to bring them inside?”

“I’ll leave them outside. I just need to get a couple of things.” Legend unclasped his bags from his belt and opened one of them. He pulled out a thick, green-bound book as well as a few pieces of parchment. “Are the bags kept in a secure location?”

The librarian nodded. “We have lockers.” She pointed at the far wall of the lobby. She gave Legend a key, and the veteran locked away his items. She then produced another key that she used to unlock the door behind her. She opened it, revealing a view of a space filled with shelves upon shelves of books. “I’m going to close the door behind you, but you can unlock the door from the inside. If you have questions, you could just ask. Oh, and…” She pulled a set of white gloves out of a box. “Please use these gloves when handling the books. Some of them are very old.”

Legend nodded and took the gloves before turning to Hyrule. “I guess this is where we split up, then.”

“See you in a few hours.”

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A trip to the library. Legend was quite the character. Was this what he liked to do in his free time?

Hyrule brushed that thought out of his head as he stepped back into the Castle Town market. He looked around a bit. There was what appeared to be a potion shop as well as a general store.

There wasn’t really a lot to resupply on, since they had been in Lynna City only the previous day, but he decided to check the stores anyway. Legend had stocked up on medicine when they were in Labrynna (though he wasn’t sure where the veteran had obtained it, since it wasn’t stocked at the Lynna Item Shop), but Hyrule’s own bottles were empty.

He bought a bottle of red potion. Apparently, unlike the red medicine from his own era, this potion only contained a single dose. Oh well.

The shop also stocked some sort of blue fire, which was odd. Hyrule wondered who would buy such a thing. Maybe it was a curiosity.

They also appeared to stock angry spirits which, when he asked an old man in the store about it, apparently could be drank, and doing so apparently had a random chance of either hurting or healing the drinker.

What.

Hyrule decided that it wasn’t his problem and moved on to the general store, or the “Bazaar” as it called itself. The Bazaar sold some general supplies, such as bombs, arrows (though Hyrule didn’t need them as his quiver was magic and created arrows while draining his wallet), and sticks (presumably for firewood, though the placard also seemed to suggest it could be an improvised weapon). It also stocked a metal shield emblazoned with the Triforce and some red winged creature, and nuts that could apparently stun enemies (which he found confusing).

He decided to buy some sticks. It was probably good to have some dry wood on hand, just in case he and Legend would end up camping someplace without trees or if it had recently rained. That done with, he walked back into the market square.

Legend had recommended that he check out what games were available to play around Castle Town, and Hyrule decided to do that now that his shopping was done with. Legend would still take some time to do his research, after all.

The first one he checked out was the town shooting gallery, since it was plainly obvious what he was supposed to do.

The targets were pretty large, and Hyrule was a fairly decent shot, so he hit all of them on the first try. He got a cash prize of 50 rupees, which more than made up for the cost of playing, as well as the cost of the supplies that the traveler had purchased.

The other game was the Bombchu Bowling Alley. Thankfully for the traveler, the operator was apparently used to explaining how to play.

Bombchus were apparently these explosive mechanical contraptions that could crawl across a floor or wall for some time before detonating. The objective of Bombchu Bowling was to hit a set of targets past obstacles.

The first target was set in the center of the back wall, with only a Spike Trap in the way. It was a matter of simple timing to hit the target. The back wall gave way to reveal another target behind it. This new target was somewhat larger and set at the side of the wall. There was also a Cucco (Legend’s least favorite bird, the traveler recalled) that was in the way as well as the Spike Trap. The Cucco wandered around at its own pleasure, much to Hyrule’s annoyance since it could just decide to walk in front of the Bombchu.

He considered his situation for a moment before making his move. He placed his Bombchu at an angle so it would climb up the wall to the right. It took a few tries for him to get it right, though.

The third target was in the center again, and the next obstacle was a larger Cucco (who would breed them to be larger?) confined to a horizontal pen that covered the center of the alleyway. It took a bit of luck, some timing, and quite a few Bombchus to hit this last target.

He got some Rupees as his prize for his troubles, though, so Hyrule left the Bombchu Bowling Alley satisfied.

It was now around noon, so he went back to the library to check in on Legend. The veteran must have been in the middle of his research, as he seemed like he was lost in thought as he popped his head out into the lobby. His hair also looked slightly mussed up, but Hyrule decided not to bring that up.

Legend raised a hand in greeting. “Hey, Traveler."

“Veteran. We should go have lunch. It’s about noon.”

“Alright. I need to tidy a few things up.” Legend walked back into the inner depths of the building, leaving Hyrule to wait outside for a few minutes. He returned right as Hyrule was beginning to wonder if he should check on him.

They ate lunch back at the inn in relative silence. Hyrule decided not to ask Legend about his findings, since Legend clearly was far from done.

An idea suddenly occurred to him. Legend clearly would be at this for several more hours, and Hyrule’s particular skills and abilities wouldn’t help that along, so why shouldn’t Hyrule kill two Keese with one arrow and go listen in on conversations in a tavern?

Legend seemed receptive to the idea when he asked, so, once lunch was over, while Legend headed back to the library, Hyrule started wandering the streets of Castle Town.

This place was really unlike any place Hyrule had been before. It was just so... big and busy. The settlements that Hyrule had known in his own era were smaller, more close-knit communities, but Castle Town could probably fit at least four or five of those towns.

He suspected that life in Castle Town would probably be a lot less personal than in the towns in his own time. There were so many people living here that it’d be impossible to keep track of all of them. There might be a sense of community (Hyrule would have to stay in the city longer than was advisable to find that out), but it wouldn’t be in the super personalistic fashion that he would be most familiar with.

Hyrule stopped when he saw the unmistakable sign of a tavern projecting out of the wall of a building. Though he couldn’t read the signs in Castle Town, the taverns seemed to have distinct signs (probably to cater to travelers who in fact did not know Hylian). Not to mention that it appeared to be one of the locations that he and Legend had scouted out earlier as a potential information-gathering spot.

Well, here was as good a place as any.

Hyrule walked in, ordered some water, and started listening in on the discussions around him.

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Hyrule walked into the deeper section of the library as the librarian closed the door behind him. It had been about five hours (by his reckoning) since they had finished lunch and Legend had returned to his little research expedition, so it was probably about time to check on him.

He eventually found Legend at a table, hunched over a bunch of open books with his hands propping up the sides of his head and his fingers interleaved with his hair. He was glaring daggers at a manuscript in front of him.

He was evidently quite frustrated.

Hyrule pulled up a seat and sat down next to Legend. “I don’t think you can win a staring contest against that book, Veteran. They can’t blink.”

“Thanks for the advice, Traveler,” Legend deadpanned. “Never would have guessed otherwise.” He took a deep breath and pushed away a few books. “I think the most immediately useful thing that I got is a map to copy down, since now I know where things actually are in this era. As for information, well… I guess we should start with what I have ample evidence for.”

Legend waved his hands over the books on the table. “So there’s quite a few useful historical sources in this library, thankfully. However, before a certain point, there seems to be an even older form of Hylian script than the one in this time. I cannot read that script, so I cannot say what any texts written before that time say. However, there’s quite a bit of history to be found in the sources that can be read.”

“Maybe this adventure will lead us to someone who can read that script.”

“Perhaps.” Legend paused for a moment, apparently to collect his thoughts. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, it has been about nine years since a devastating war tore across Hyrule.”

“Ah, the one the innkeeper alluded to.”

“The very one. I will say, however, that it is not the Imprisoning War. That war was known as the ‘Seal War’ or, well, as the Imprisoning War even at the time. This war is simply being referred to as the Hyrulean Civil War. Furthermore, there is nothing in the records to suggest that anything happened with the Triforce during or right before the conflict.”

“The Triforce! How is it doing in this time?”

“The Triforce appears to have been originally within Hyrule itself, but was sealed away in the Sacred Realm as a security measure due to risks from monsters.” Legend paused. “I think what I am trying to say is that we appear to be before the Imprisoning War. I did some particularly deep digging and found details on the seal. The door to the Sacred Realm is within the Temple of Time, which is apparently the large building northeast of the market square. The door is closed and has four keys that are scattered across the land, held by the Royal Family and its closest allies.”

“Sound secure enough.”

“It makes me wonder how Ganon supposedly happened upon it by chance. How do you just accidentally find your way through a magically sealed door with multiple keys placed with the explicit intention of the seal still remaining safe even if something happens to most of them? That is just not something that just randomly happens.”

“I think I can add a bit to that tale, Veteran,” Hyrule said. “My ears were not idle this afternoon, after all.”

Legend nodded. “Right. What can you say of recent times?”

Hyrule recounted some of the things that he had overheard in the tavern. There were certain tidings that were of particular concern to some people. One thing stood out.

“War appears to loom on the horizon after an incident with Ganondorf, who is apparently the King of the Gerudo.”

“The Gerudo also seem to pop up in the records. Desert thieves, apparently, and they appear to be the band of thieves the records in my era speak of. I suppose they’d be the thieves that Ganondorf led.” Legend paused. “I personally doubt that they’re an entire people of thieves, because that’s not how societies work, and the idea simply came from historically poor relations with Hyrule. The writers of history are rarely impartial.” Legend paused. “I digress massively. So, any information on what specifically happened?”

“Apparently the Royal Family got incontrovertible proof that Ganondorf was only in Hyrule as part of a plot to take the Triforce for himself. He fled back to Gerudo Valley, where rumor states he is amassing an army with the intent of storming Hyrule. Word is that Royal Family is considering fortifying its side of Gerudo Canyon.”

Hyrule wasn’t sure where all these places were, but it seemed like Legend did with the way he nodded.

“I wonder how that happened. Nonetheless, yeah, I think we can be absolutely certain that this era lies before the Imprisoning War.”

“All right,” said Hyrule. “What were you so frustrated about anyway?”

Legend took a deep breath. “Well, I decided to try reading up on legends of heroes from this time, since there’s a chance we might end up working with them. I can tell you that the legendary founder of the Kingdom of Hyrule was considered to be one such hero, and apparently bore the Master Sword, though it seems that in this time the Blade of Evil’s Bane is only remembered in the shadows of legends, such as it is in my era. And as for heroes between that one and now, well, there’s…” Legend trailed off and threw up his hands. “Anywhere from one and f*cking thirteen! The legends are just so damn inconsistent that I could point out more differences than similarities between the tales!” Legend’s voice rose to a shout as he said that last sentence.

Hyrule raised his hands in a gesture to calm down. “Can you give me the short version of what happened with that?”

“I’ll try. So, basically, there’s a bunch of assorted tales that seem to refer to the same rough time period, given that certain details line up. The similarities end there. I can roughly categorize these tales into four separate stories, but they don’t agree on details. They seem to be roughly related to each other, largely involving a similar set of individuals, but they’re all just so inconsistent that they all disagree on which ones happened and which ones didn’t. And some of these tales claim that there were actually four heroes running around at the same time!” Legend groaned. “There’s an astonishing lack of primary sources, so it’s hard to tell apart the actual stories from later embellishment, even if some additions are more obvious.”

“Have you encountered nothing on your own travels that might make things a bit less ambiguous?”

“Not to my knowledge, at least thus far. Well, there was—no, it wouldn’t be that. That was one at a time.” A shadow seemed to pass over Legend’s face as he said that last part, though it was gone quickly enough for Hyrule to decide it was a trick of the light.

“Veteran, I don’t think this is particularly important information to have right now, so you probably shouldn’t tear yourself up over it. And hey, with the quest we’re on, we’ll probably find someone with firsthand knowledge of what happened.”

Legend sighed and nodded. “I look forward to that.”

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The sun had sunk below the horizon by the time Hyrule and Legend left the library. The dogs were out again, roaming the streets of the city like they had the night before.

The two heroes walked in silence until they were walking through the now quiet market square, when Legend spoke up.

“Traveler, before we go back to the inn, can we go somewhere?”

“You’re asking to go off the direct path to the place we need to be? Who are you, and what did you do to the veteran?”

Legend didn’t even bother responding with a snarky comment or an eye roll like usual. He just stared solemnly at Hyrule. Apparently, he was actually in a serious mood.

“Okay, fine, Veteran,” Hyrule said. “So, where did you want to go?”

“The Temple of Time.”

Hyrule turned his head towards the path that led to the Temple of Time. It stood tall and proud over even the buildings of Castle Town, rivaled only by the battlements of Hyrule Castle in the distance.

“Sure.”

The northwest path from the square led up a set of stairs built of stone brick before opening up into a space walled off from the rest of the town to the south and west by a brick wall and from the castle grounds to the north by a wrought iron fence. The fence and walls, as well as the Temple itself, were lined by trees. A pair of reflecting pools sat at the foot of the building, between which the path led to another set of stairs that led up to the entrance of the Temple under the distinct symbol of the Triforce. A volcano with a faint halo of smoke over it could be seen in the distance.

The Temple of Time had no door, so Hyrule and Legend walked in.

The interior was well-lit, with light appearing to filter through high, bright windows on the walls to the heroes’ sides. Hyrule figured that they were probably enchanted to look like they always had sunlight streaming through them. The walls were built of white stone blocks, while the middle of the floor was built of diagonally arranged square marble tiles with the sides instead built with a white-and-black horizontal checkerboard. A short red carpet embroidered with a script Hyrule hadn’t seen before led up to a short, hexagonal pedestal graven with the image of the Triforce with a circular sigil at the center.

At the end of the room sat an altar built too with marble but capped with black granite. Behind the altar, the floor gave way to steps that led to a square door with no handles (or a recessed wall, it was hard to tell) in which was engraved the image of a circle (perhaps the sun) casting off rays. The back wall of the room was built to give the appearance of the door casting off rays, while the symbol of the Triforce in black and white stone was set above the door.

Legend walked silently down the center of the room, with Hyrule in tow, until he reached the altar. There were three empty hollows on the top of the altar, as well as an inscription above and below four horizontal lines.

Legend spoke up, his voice echoing through the wide space of the temple. “This is a stylized musical staff. The inscription consists of the following words: ‘ocarina,’ ‘the door opens,’ ‘Master Sword,’ and ‘the Hero of Time descends.’” He paused for a moment. “The Master Sword? So perhaps it hadn’t so much vanished into legend as much as it had been sealed behind”—he pointed at the door behind the altar—“that very door. And one more thing.” He pointed to a point in front of the three hollows, where Hyrule now noticed another inscription:

After a short pause, Legend spoke again. “This is a set of instructions. It reads as thus:

Ye who owns 3 Spiritual Stones
Stand with the Ocarina of Time
And play the Song of Time

“So those are our four keys to our magic lock, I suppose, as well as what amounts to a password. Three of the keys, as I mentioned earlier, were given to the kingdom’s allies to ensure that no single person would be able to bring them all together, and the song would presumably be a closely-kept secret by the royal family. Quite a lot to guard a single door, but I suppose it makes sense given what lies behind the door.”

Legend paused for a moment, though that moment felt like an eternity passed in silence.

“All the information I’ve encountered today has only served to raise more questions about the Imprisoning War than I ever expected to have. The narrative in my era was simple enough. No one knew where the door to the Sacred Realm was, though many looked for it in greed and lust for power, until Ganondorf encountered it by accident. The only thing that the Sages could do was seal him away into what became the Dark World because there was no hero around to wield the Master Sword.

“Yet it turns out that, nay, the door was known to be in the center of Hyrule and required several keys to open, and that Ganondorf was more than just a thief, and now this. The Master Sword also sits behind the door, waiting for the ‘Hero of Time’ to descend and claim it.” Legend turned around to face Hyrule, and the traveler could see curiosity glittering brightly in his eyes like a raging fire. “So just what happened, Traveler? Why the inconsistency? What happened to the Hero of Time, and why was the sword not claimed?”

Hyrule recalled something that Legend had once brought up when they were discussing myths from his era. “The Fallen Hero…?”

“I don’t know if the tales of the Fallen Hero state whether he had the Master Sword or not, but it’s a possibility I can’t really rule out now,” Legend said. “Which is odd for me to say, given that less than two weeks ago I had dismissed those stories as hearsay.”

He turned and walked up the stairs to the door. He put his hand out and set his hand on the stone.

“I’ve always considered the Imprisoning War to be a spectacular case of divine negligence. The Three simply did not have any safeguards against the Golden Power falling to evil beyond the Master Sword, and yet there was no one heroic enough to wield the sword in its time of need. It took centuries after Ganon seized the Triforce before I—a random nobody—scurried about and proved myself worthy of it. Centuries. Was it that there were no true heroes around to wield the Blade of Evil’s Bane? Was that something that the Goddesses considered? Why did I only come about centuries after the war to clean up the mess, and not during it, when the damage could have been minimized?

“And yet… all these locks on the door, and the Master Sword waiting to be claimed by this Hero of Time… those all suggest that there were more safeguards and there was some sort of plan to keep the Triforce safe. And yet, despite all of that, it somehow failed. The keys, of course, have the essential limitation of all keys in that they can be seized by enough force, so it’s very much plausible that Ganondorf could have seized them in one way or another and opened the door, but that would have also left the Master Sword open to be claimed.” Legend took his hand off of the door and turned towards Hyrule again. “So, again, just what happened? Did the Hero of Time simply never come about? Was there a Hero who attempted to do so, but failed, becoming thus remembered as the Fallen Hero? It perhaps reflects somewhat better on the powers that be in that they at least had a plan, but its failure remains a testament to their fallibility.”

“Do you remember what I told you in the library, Veteran?” Hyrule asked. “The Kingdom in this era is rapidly preparing for war, so there’s no possible way for Hyrule and its allies to be caught off guard like it presumably was in the Imprisoning War. We’re missing a huge part of the puzzle, Veteran.”

“That’s completely fair.” Legend sighed. “I wanted to find answers, but all I found were more questions. I can speculate endlessly without bringing myself closer to the truth.” He paused. “Nayru sent us to this era for a reason, and that was to seek out a hero accustomed to time travel. I would almost try to connect this person to this web of mysteries, especially since ‘time’ seems to appear a lot in it, and yet I find myself hesitant to do so. Nayru knows what she’s doing, so we’re definitely here in a time after this hero did, well, heroic things, and yet this door is closed. No, I have to conclude that it is very likely that the person we seek is not the Hero of Time.”

“I’d personally say that the most plausible series of events is that the war happened some time after the one that’s brewing on the horizon, after Hyrule had let down its guard,” the traveler said. “However, I will again note that we’re speculating on a base of circumstance. We’d know more whenever we find who we’re looking for.”

“You’re right,” Legend said after a brief pause. “We now have all the answers that are available at us for the time being, even if they have proven woefully inadequate. The more complete picture will have to wait until later, regretfully.” The veteran slowly walked down the stairs until he was standing at the same level as Hyrule.

“Well, we should get back to the inn,” Legend said. He then smiled wryly. “After all, we have gone off the path, haven’t we?”

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that Link was prone to feeling bitterly, it was loneliness. His adventure as the Hero of Time had been an awfully isolating one, and he now understood that he had taken many, many things for granted before the fateful day he set out on his adventure.

Link was the kind of child who was predisposed to feeling alienated due to circumstance. He had felt a degree of alienation from the Kokiri since he was the only child who didn’t have a companion fairy. The others may have regarded him with hostility (like Mido) or some degree of pity, but it was hard to contest that he in some way was somehow different (as he would later find out, in a fundamental way) from the other Kokiri.

Things hadn’t changed much once he left the forest. The grown-ups were not exactly inclined to believe the words of a nine-year-old child, after all. And even when he had been catapulted into a future where things had gone oh so horribly wrong and could easily pass for a Hylian adult, he still felt some sort of disconnect. He suspected it was how different his experiences were from everyone else’s.

However, he had always had one critical thing: companionship. Back in the forest, he had always had Saria to confide in. He could never feel truly alone even without a fairy, since he had her to play with. And even when Link had been thrust into parts unknown and brought further and further away from the world he thought he had known, he had had Navi at his side.

Navi. Oh, Navi. No matter how bad things had gone for Link, there was always Navi to comfort him. To give him company. To simply be able to relate to his experiences, by virtue of having been there when they happened. Navi had become the emotional anchor to Link.

And then she left him without even a word.

It had been perhaps a year since then, but it still pained him to think of the moment. That sense of betrayal and abandonment was still palpable. He wasn’t sure whether he could truly move past it.

He was then truly alone for the first time in his life. It was a crushing, suffocating feeling. It felt like Link’s world was crashing down around him, even more than it did after the Master Sword had sealed him away for seven years.

He had wondered how he could possibly move forward from such a devastating thing. And yet, if only out of necessity, he built himself back together. He was now more resilient and resistant to pain. He was now far more wary of confiding in others, but Link believed that they simply wouldn’t understand even if he tried to do so. And even if they did, that just would make Link vulnerable to being hurt again.

There were those that were interested in reaching out to him, but Link kept his distance. And if it meant that Malon, the curious, feisty girl from Lon Lon Ranch, would never be as close to Link as Saria or Navi had been (even as he grudgingly admitted that he wanted her to), then that was merely the price to pay.

He was, after all, much like a child’s toy once much used but now long cast aside and forgotten. He had been simply abandoned and forgotten by the elements that had once made him a hero. Companionship appeared to be one of those things. He was certain that he would never truly enjoy it again.

He needed to know what he was without those elements. He simply didn’t know who or what he was supposed to be anymore. It was one of the main reasons why he was now setting out for the unknown once again.

Conversely, he couldn’t help but hold out hope that he would be able to find Navi. She was ostensibly the reason why he was setting out, and there really was nothing more that Link wanted than to be able to talk to his old companion once again. There would now be quite a bit of baggage between the two, such that Link doubted that they would be able to have the emotional bond they once enjoyed, but at the very least he wanted closure. After all, only Navi had any hope of understanding what had happened to him, and he’d be a fool to let that chance pass him by.

His quest would be one of solitude, however. There would be nobody like Navi by his side, encouraging him and pushing him ever forward. He would only have himself.

As he rode through the main street of Castle Town from the field to the castle, Link thought about where he would go. He knew that his search would almost inevitably lead him back to the forest. And yet the way through could very well be shut to him. He was not looking forward to braving the enchantment of the Lost Woods without a fairy to guide him.

And even if he did manage to get back to Kokiri Forest, he just held too much baggage for a place of innocence.

Link had considered investigating other places before heading for the forest, but he knew that he was only doing so to put off going back to the forest.

As he reached the castle grounds, he showed the guard attending the gate on the road a pass that granted permission from the Royal Family to come and go at his own wishes. It was a rare honor, sure, but it was only a formality. Link knew the holes in Hyrule Castle’s security by heart at this point and would have gone wherever he pleased even without explicit permission from the King of Hyrule. Plus, the security in the castle was a lot more relaxed these days than it had been when he had first gone there. It was just his luck that his quest had occurred during a time when recent incidents had caused Hyrule Castle to tighten up its security.

He wondered what the guards thought of him. When Link had returned to this time after sealing away Ganon, he had known the guards’ patrol routes well enough to slip by unnoticed this time around, so their first impression of him wouldn’t be of that mischievous kid who kept trying to sneak into to castle but instead of the strange foresighted child with grave tidings. They probably thought better of him this time around, but it wouldn’t be hard for them to conclude that his mere presence was an ill omen. In fact, Link sometimes wondered if he himself was a bringer of misfortune. As much as he did his best to do what he thought a hero would do, he felt like he tended to leave things in a worse state than when he had found them.

Link dismounted Epona before climbing up the set of stairs that led up to the castle. He used his pass to get past the guards manning the innermost fence. He took a deep breath before setting foot on the drawbridge that led into the castle’s gate.

This was something he needed to do. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be here again, so there was a loose end that he would have to tie off before he officially set out for his adventure.

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Hyrule and Legend’s second day in Castle Town passed much like the first. This time around, Hyrule managed to dissuade Legend from spending a second day in the library.

“I don’t think there’s much else you’d be able to find there,” he had said. “The most that’ll happen is that you’ll get even more frustrated.”

Legend had to give him that point. The whole mystery of why those stories were so muddled together could wait. There was the chance that it was connected to one of his prior experiences (one of those things that he avoided thinking about because it made him feel bad), but there were far more pressing matters before the veteran.

There was the quest, for example. Legend knew that there was a hero in this current era that would be destined to be part of the quest. Nayru had told him as much.

In that matter, however, the lack of information proved to be somewhat instructive. He hadn’t encountered any recent accounts that would suggest the presence of a hero. A hero didn’t appear in the accounts that Hyrule had told him of the gossip floating around Castle Town, either.

With that in mind, Hyrule and Legend eventually decided to spend most of the day in the taverns again, listening to what they could around them. Though, of course, Legend convinced Hyrule to let him play the minigames around Castle Town for himself.

Hyrule had been quite surprised when he found out that Legend already knew what Bombchu were. The veteran was at first slightly confused that the ones in this era didn’t have homing capabilities like the ones he had in Holodrum and Labrynna, but he’d decided that the guidance system was probably a later development.

The day was otherwise uneventful. They didn’t pick up any new information that suggested the presence of a hero. The only thing Legend thought was of note was that Hyrule Castle had apparently recently started allowing visitors again, though under a tighter security regimen than they used to use because of the whole war looming on the horizon.

From what he had heard, the castle had been shut to outsiders for the last year due to a series of security and political incidents, starting with Ganondorf’s ‘diplomatic’ visit and a person caught trying to sneak into the castle to see Princess Zelda. Clearly, the exposure of Ganondorf’s plot to steal the Triforce did not help matters.

It had been enough time, though, that the Royal Family was starting to allow audiences again.

When they had returned to their room in the inn after nightfall, the two Links discussed what their next move would be. They briefly discussed the ‘Hero of Time’ lead, but they decided that it’d probably be a dead end, since whatever had happened to cause things to fall apart during the Imprisoning War had clearly not happened yet. There was no way to know if the Hero of Time failed or simply never existed before the relevant events occurred.

They’d eventually decided that they should try to go to Hyrule Castle and get an audience from the Royal Family. Maybe they could help them with their search.

It really wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Their trail seemed to be growing cold, and it was probably the best way forward.

Such were their thoughts as Legend and Hyrule stepped onto the central square of Castle Town a short time before noon on the third day.

The main road through Castle Town continued north of the square. Off in the distance, the buildings on each side of the road eventually came to an end and gave way to a field with its surface about twenty feet above that of the road. The road, whose path became unpaved, cut a twenty-foot-deep trench into the field and passed through a stone archway that was closed with gates of wrought iron.

The top of the archway was flush with the field above, and the passage through the gate was manned by a rather bored-looking guard. He was armed with a simple spear and was dressed in a chain mail shirt, over which were worn two steel plates (one of which covered his chest and the other his abdomen); metal greaves, and a helmet with a red crest. The symbol of the Triforce was inscribed in multiple places on his armor, because, Legend supposed, there really wasn’t any other symbol that could scream “Hyrule” so loudly.

“…I don’t think we’re going to be let through,” the traveler said. “Wasn’t the rumor that the castle was allowing visitors?”

“I think how it usually works is that you have to request an audience, and then they get back to you with a date and time. At least, that’s how it works in my time. If they handle it in this time like they do in mine, they’ll try to put those wherever they can in between the other parts of their schedule. Though I’m told the waiting time is usually at least a week from requesting an audience to actually having them.”

“Why does it take so long? Are they that busy?”

“My era's Zelda told me that it’s kind of expected of them to adjudicate disputes between anyone ranging from powerful nobles over who owns some castle to a couple of ordinary folks in Kakariko. Part of the whole ‘rulership’ deal, I suppose. They get these requests a lot.”

“You’re saying that our pursuit of that nebulous shadow we’re after, after all we’ve done to get a head start, is going to be stalled for an entire week because of a schedule.”

“Isn’t bureaucracy just great?”

Hyrule sighed. “That’s time we really don’t have.”

“Well, Traveler, the reason why I tend to be able to get expedited access to the people in power in my time is because they know that I would only ask for things if it was over an existential threat to the Kingdom. The Royal Family in this era would have no reason to know who either of us are. If we had, say, this era’s hero, though, we probably could get inside immediately.”

“But we’re trying to ask them for information on this era’s hero. It’s like a key locked behind its own lock.” Hyrule paused to think for a moment. “How about sneaking in?”

Legend shrugged. “Well, I’d certainly be down for a little bit of breaking and entering. It’s been far too long since I last got the chance to do so.” He paused. “My concern, however, is that I’m not sure how the guards would react to intruders, especially since we know that the Kingdom is on a war footing. If you’re willing to take the risk, though, I’d be willing to go along.”

Hyrule was taking some time to think about it when a loud CLANG! suddenly issued from the gate. The gate slid (Legend decided not to question how it was able to do so without any apparent wheels or bearings) into a slot in the archway to its right.

“Or, well, the gate could do that,” Legend said. “I think I can see someone going through.”

There was indeed a mounted figure visible through the gate, heading outwards. The figure rode at a canter through the gate, and as he got closer, Legend was able to get a better view of him.

The figure was a boy about nine or ten years old, with golden blond hair, dressed in a bright green tunic and tapered cap that immediately struck Legend as familiar. He was riding (without saddle or bridle) a filly whose coat Legend would try to describe as “bay,” except for the fact that the horse’s mane was white, its coat faded from black to white around its fetlocks downwards, and its tail faded from black to white. The horse looked just about old enough to be able to carry the boy.

Legend turned to Hyrule and gestured for him to stay silent. What was going to happen in the next minute or so would be very important.

The boy rode towards the two heroes until he was right before them, at which point he coaxed his steed to a stop. He studied the traveler and veteran with his bright blue eyes, which Legend got the troubling feeling could perceive more than they let on.

Time seemed to stand still.

After what felt like an eternity, even though it couldn’t have been more than a minute, the boy spoke up in a careful, guarded tone.

“Who are you?”

△
△△

“We’re travelers,” Legend said. “We go by nicknames, since my companion and I have the same name. I go by ‘Veteran,’ while my companion goes by ‘Traveler.’”

The boy nodded slightly. “The two of you must be fairly similar, if you see the need to go by another name to distinguish yourselves.” He paused. “Where are you from?”

“We’re from Labrynna. We were interested in learning about the myths and legends surrounding Hyrule.”

“I see.” The boy seemed to contemplate something for a moment before speaking again. “If you’re interested in learning about where the Triforce is said to rest, don’t bother. Even if you knew, it would avail you not.”

If his mind immediately defaulted to thinking that the myths that Legend was referring to referred to the rumors of the Triforce, that said something about the boy. He definitely knew more than most people, at the very least.

“You don’t seem that disappointed,” the boy noted. “You’re not after the Triforce, then. Good for you. Those who seek to meddle in the affairs of the goddesses invariably end up meeting with ill fortune.”

“We actually wanted to explore the land around Castle Town as well, but we haven’t really done so yet. Hyrule Field has all those Stalchildren.”

“Are you looking for something else, perhaps? Or someone else?”

Silence.

The boy’s facial expression remained impassive. He turned to look at Hyrule. “You haven’t said a word. Are you not the talkative type?”

“There are times when silence is best,” Hyrule replied.

“That’s true. We all have to do our best to play the parts that we are assigned, I suppose.” The boy smiled grimly. “Even if we sometimes have to act like something we’re not.” Another salient pause. “And yet I digress. What brings you to Hyrule Castle today?”

“We were chasing legends of heroes who echo throughout Hyrule’s history,” Legend said.

“I’m afraid that you will find none here,” the boy said.

“I would hate for our time in Hyrule to be for naught.”

“Then I would suggest that you seek something other than that which doesn’t exist.”

Okay. He was really going to be like this.

The machinery of Legend’s mind started to spin into motion. He would need to convince this boy to somehow travel with them at least for a while, if only to make him somewhat more open to the idea of joining their quest.

And yet… the boy had stated that there were no heroes to find. If he was the hero they were looking for, why would he say that he wasn’t? That troubled Legend for reasons he couldn’t quite put into words.

Legend decided that the best way to proceed was to present himself and the traveler as being in a situation that the boy could help them with. The willingness to help others was such a fundamental part to being a hero that if the boy was one, then he’d surely be drawn into helping them.

“We were also seeking to see what there is worth seeing around Hyrule, but we’ve thus far spent our time in Castle Town, and it is dangerous outside the walls. The traveler and I have experience with self-defense, but the monsters in Hyrule are unfamiliar to me.”

The boy seemed to contemplate that for a while.

“I am on the threshold of a journey of my own, though few can follow to the places I will be going. I could guide you, insofar as you’d think that a child would be your best choice for guidance.”

“I would be glad if you could travel with us while, as you say, we walk the same path, and we would certainly be grateful for whatever help or advice you may have.” Legend paused. “May I ask you your name?”

The boy considered the question longer than Legend expected before answering. “Link.”

Legend decided to spare the boy the conversation about how both his and Hyrule’s names were also ‘Link.’

“That’s a good name, Link.”

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Meeting two travelers on the way out from Hyrule Castle was not something Link had expected, but at the very least it had given him an excuse to put off returning to the forest. He could confront what he had once called home another day.

‘Veteran’ and ‘Traveler,’ as they called themselves, were staying at an inn in Castle Town. They’d given Link directions to it, and he’d promised to catch up with them at the inn later.

There was somewhere that Link wanted to go first, however. Or, more specifically, somewhere he felt he needed to go first.

As he rode south on the road through Castle Town, he had Epona turn to the left as he reached the market square. She climbed up a few short stair steps before Link turned her to the left again and had her stop shortly afterwards.

Link dismounted Epona and looked up to the familiar building that was before him.

The Temple of Time.

He took a deep breath and walked inside. He could hear the clack of his boots against the marble flooring reverberate throughout the massive chamber inside the Temple.

In a span of time that at once felt all too slow but yet all too quick, he had reached the altar. He looked at the empty hollows on the top of the altar, and the closed Door of Time that lay behind it.

The Door of Time would stay closed. Link held two of the keys. The Kokiri’s Emerald was a token of the burden he’d carried since he left the forest, but it was also one such key. The other one, the Ocarina of Time, had been given to him earlier that day by Princess Zelda, who told him that the Goddess of Time would look after him, and that the Song of Time would invoke her power.

Link found that kind of silly. Nobody looked after Link anymore. He’d been abandoned.

“It’s been a while,” Link said. He didn’t know why he was saying this out loud. There was nobody to listen. There hadn’t been anyone to listen since he had closed the Door of Time.

“I haven’t been here in more than a year. I think I’ve been afraid of being here again. There’s… just so many things that have happened here. I…” He trailed off. There were a number of things he wished he could say, but…

“This place was where my life got torn to pieces around me twice. When I pulled that sword… and when Navi disappeared.”

Silence, and no answers. Maybe the Goddesses had answers, but were they even listening?

“Navi, are you still around? Do you know how lonely it’s been without you?” He paused before continuing. “Din, Nayru, Farore… was it not enough that I had to let go of everything I had? Did you have to abandon me, too?” His voice got louder and shakier as he went on. “Must I have to see this damned Temple every time I go through Castle Town, standing as a memorial to everything I’ve lost? Do I really mean that little to you, to the point where your sacred sword thought it was better to let Hyrule go to ruin than let me wield it as a child?” His voice suddenly reached a shout. “AM I REALLY NOTHING TO YOU?”

His voice echoed throughout the building, but once it died down Link was once again met with silence.

He was shaking now. He wanted to cry. He had wanted to cry for a long time now.

But he couldn’t.

Heroes don’t cry.

So he didn’t. He regained his composure.

“I wish I could go back to being an innocent child living in the forest. But… my innocence was the price of fixing my mistakes, and that damned sword that sits behind the door made sure I wouldn’t have my childhood anymore. I’m not even sure if I can even go back to the forest anymore.”

No explanations or answers or apologies. Just deafening silence.

“With all that I’ve lost, I need to find out what I have left. So I’ll take my leave. Thanks for nothing.” Link turned around and walked towards the exit.

△
△△

“I have a small question for you, Traveler,” Legend said.

“What?”

“How old were you when you saved Hyrule for the first time?”

“I think I was about ten,” Hyrule said.

They were in their room in the inn. It had been a few minutes since their meeting with Link, and they were waiting for him to show up.

“Huh,” Legend said. “At the time, you would have been about the age the Link we met is, I think. Enlighten me, Traveler. I was thirteen when I went on my first adventure. Did going on an adventure at age ten affect you in a way that would have been different for me, since I was older?”

Hyrule took a moment to consider that question. “I don’t think so, honestly. I don’t think it affected me all that much.”

Legend nodded. “Alright.”

“Can I ask you something as well?”

“Ask away.”

“Why didn’t you tell him about our quest?”

“I’m not sure, actually. I think it just kind of happened by instinct.” Legend paused. “Did you notice, Traveler? He volunteered as little information about himself as he could. I wasn’t even sure he would state his name when I asked. I… What I think went through my head at the time was that we should get to know him a bit better before asking this of him. It is a lot to ask of someone. There was something that slightly confused me, though.”

“What?”

“He said that there are no heroes to be found here. And yet we know that there’s a hero in this time. Of course, we have a lot of reason to suspect that he is the hero we’re looking for, but… why would he just say that he wasn’t? Why would he want to hide that about him? I know why someone might want to put away adventuring for a time, but… burying it completely? That’s so removed from anything I’ve come close to feeling that it may as well be a few kingdoms over.” He paused again. “I think I noticed that and took that as a sign to be cautious. It may have occurred to me that, for some reason, he might even refuse to join us on this quest.”

“Why would anyone do such a thing?”

“Again,” Legend said, “I have no clue. It’s a hunch, so I could very well be wrong. Plus, he seemed perfectly willing to guide us through this era. Still, with how… closed-off he acted, it’s probably best to take the time for him to acclimate to our presence before telling him who we really are and what our mission is.”

Hyrule nodded. “Now that I think about it, we could take the time to see if his actions suggest that he’s the hero we’re looking for.”

“That’s a great way to put it.”

Legend was about to say more when someone knocked firmly on the door. The veteran stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it to see Link.

“Ah, you’re here now. Come in, Link!”

Link walked in after Legend, though he stopped a few steps into the room to look at the equipment strewn across the floor. He seemed somewhat bemused.

“Is something that matter?” Legend asked.

“That’s a lot of stuff. I’ve seen a lot of adventuring gear in my time, but I don’t even recognize some of this.”

“We really should start calling you ‘Hoarder,’ shouldn’t we, Veteran?” Hyrule said.

Legend rolled his eyes.

“Well,” Link said, “it certainly seems like you have the equipment needed to navigate Hyrule. Honestly, a sword and shield probably would have been enough.”

“I like to take pride in being prepared for every conceivable situation and especially the inconceivable ones.”

“I think Traveler has every right to call you ‘Hoarder,’ then.” He picked up a Hookshot that Legend had lying on the floor. “Is this a Hookshot? Where did you even get this?” He set it down. “Again, the only equipment I’d have personally recommended would have probably been a sword, shield, and a decent ranged weapon like a bow. With what you have, well, saying you’re ‘overprepared’ is an understatement. I didn’t even know that there was more than one instance of some of the things you have in existence. I think you’ll be fine, Hoarder.”

“Veteran.”

Link didn’t reply and instead grabbed a chair and sat down. “Did you have places to visit in mind?”

Legend pulled his map of this era’s Hyrule and looked at it. “I kind of want to visit, well, everywhere, if you don’t mind. I’m not familiar with this land, but I think you probably know it well enough to help us plan.”

“Alright, if you think so.” Link seemed to consider things for a moment. “If we go counterclockwise through Hyrule Field, well, Gerudo Valley is to the west, but the road is closed and is under guard. There’s Lake Hylia to the south, which is a nice enough place, I suppose. There’s the Lost Woods to the east.” He studied Legend’s and Hyrule’s faces with that guarded expression that he seemed to constantly have. “I wonder, have you two heard about the forest and what lies within?”

In the library, Legend had run across stories relating to the forest, but he hadn’t really examined them in detail since they were unrelated to the matter that he was pursuing. The stories told of fae creatures in the forest who would set people astray and play tricks on them.

Legend had his own experiences with enchanted forests. There were, of course, the Lost Woods of his own era, but there was also the Fairies’ Woods in Labrynna, which he knew without a doubt had such fairies. He had reason to take the stories seriously.

And yet he reminded himself that he should not let on that he knew far more than he let on. If he were truly a traveler from Labrynna in search of views and heroic stories, wouldn’t he be less inclined to believe them?

“Only fanciful tales and nothing more.”

“The forest has long been a source of such stories, I suppose. Perhaps there lies in them a grain of truth. The Lost Woods has a name of dread about it.”

“I suppose we may ascertain the accuracy of those stories firsthand, then.”

“If the prospect doesn’t terrify you, you must not understand it enough.”

A brief span of silence passed before Hyrule spoke up.

“Link, are you trying to make us scared of the forest?”

Link did not answer.

“Well, Link,” Hyrule said, “if you are, it won’t work. If we didn’t have the courage to face what we fear, then we wouldn’t be here, talking with you.”

Link’s face remained impassive. “Foolhardiness excused with luck has often been mistaken for courage. Yet we should get back to the topic at hand. East of Hyrule Field and north of the forest, you can find the headwaters of Zora’s River, as it flows from its sacred source in Zora’s Fountain down through Hyrule Field and Gerudo Valley and eventually into Lake Hylia. And, northeast of the field and somewhat to the east of Castle Town itself lies Kakariko Village, a relatively quiet village at the foot of Death Mountain.”

“And I don’t suppose you have any cryptic warnings for those?” Hyrule asked sardonically.

Legend gave him a look. “Traveler…”

“If you really want one… Kakariko’s peacefulness belies the bloody history and dark secrets it sits atop of,” Link said. “And beware of the well water! You wouldn’t want to know where it’s been.”

“Link, I’m pretty sure most places have a shockingly bloody history once you dig into it,” Legend said. He thought for a moment. “Link, would you recommend the clockwise path in the order you listed?”

“Well, I don’t think the path we take would make that much of a difference if you just want to have a look around. If you think it’s convenient, well, then, that’s up to you.”

“Let’s just go that way, then, since there isn’t really a reason not to.”

“So be it, then. When do you plan on setting out?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Link nodded. “It seems like the two of you are eager to go. I’ll meet up with the two of you here tomorrow, then.”

“Where are you going to stay for the night, Link?”

The boy smiled slightly, and for a brief moment, it seemed like he let his guard down. “Look, don’t worry about me. I know my way around here.” He paused, and that moment was over. “Unless there’s anything else that needs discussing before we meet again, I should probably take my leave of you for the day. Farewell.”

And then Link was gone, leaving Hyrule and Legend to dwell on his words.

Chapter Text

Morning arrived again with little fanfare. The sun had already risen by the time they had woken up, and the next hour or so was spent rather quietly, as the traveler and veteran ate breakfast and then spent most of their time packing their stuff and making sure all their supplies were in order.

Shortly after they were finished, there was knocking at the door.

“Come in,” Legend said.

The door opened and Link walked in.

“The time is 10:00 AM. I spent part of the morning getting supplies for myself, and I hope that you have too. We will need to get going soon.”

“How do you know the time?”

“Those stones sitting in a line by the Temple of Time will tell you if you hit it hard with something.”

“I see.” There was silence for a moment. “So, what’s the plan?”

Legend noticed that Hyrule rolled his eyes slightly at that. Of course he did. Hyrule was a bit more of the play-it-by-ear type.

“It’ll take two or three days to reach Lake Hylia on foot. In the interests of that, we won’t be taking a straight path to the lake, as I presume the two of you want some place safe at night without Stalchildren.”

“Good thinking.”

“I’ll meet the two of you outside, then.” And Link was gone.

Hyrule and Legend put on all their adventuring gear, went through some final equipment checks, and were soon ready to go.

“Traveler, you can go on ahead. I’ll meet you and Link after checking out at the front desk.”

Legend did in fact do those things while also taking the time to reflect on how having to extend their stay at the inn had made his wallet sixty Rupees lighter.

He met Hyrule and Link outside. Link now had his horse with him.

“Veteran, I’d like you to meet Epona,” Link said.

Epona stamped at the ground impatiently.

“She’s quite feisty, isn’t she?” Link smiled slightly. “There’s only a couple of people she’s willing to put up with, and I’m one of them.” He stroked Epona’s muzzle with one of his hands.

Legend approached Epona slowly (he had worked with horses before and knew that spooking them was a very bad idea) and carefully reached out his hand.

Epona whinnied and shook her head. Legend pulled his hand back.

Link laughed. “She does that. She ran away from me the first time I met her.” He paused, and his smile subsided. “Are you ready to go? We should get going.”

△
△△

Now that the trio was on Hyrule Field, Legend was able to get a better look at Link’s equipment. Strapped to his back with a broad leather baldric was a short sword (that was so short that Legend would almost classify it as a dagger) with a gold-colored crossguard and a blue pommel with a gold accent at the tip. His shield was blue and was emblazoned with a red bird of some sort carrying the Triforce.

The day was spent traveling Hyrule Field with little incident. If Legend didn’t have in mind the fact that Link wasn’t really part of the team yet, he would almost call it routine. It was like any one of the days he and Hyrule had spent travelling to Labrynna over the last couple of weeks.

Legend tried to initiate conversation with Link a couple of times, but Link proved to not be the talkative type. He stopped trying after the second or third attempt.

As they headed southwest over Hyrule Field and the sun started to near the horizon, they eventually reached a part of the land where the grass stopped growing and yielded to brown, bare earth. This, from what Legend knew from the map he had copied of this era, was close to Gerudo Valley.

After a while, they reached a circle of rocks on the ground.

“Well, here we are,” Link said. “So… does anyone have bombs?”

Both Hyrule and Legend nodded.

“You’ll need to put a bomb in the circle.”

Hyrule obliged. The bomb exploded, causing a hole to open up in the middle of the circle.

“These are grottoes,” Link explained. “We’ll be safe from the Stalchildren there, though we don’t have to go inside until nightfall.”

“How about we set our stuff down inside and go back outside for the remainder of daytime?” Legend asked.

Link shrugged. “Up to you.”

Legend jumped down into the hole. He fell a short distance before some sort of force slowed him to a stop as he landed on a multicolored platform in the middle of a pillar of light. The grotto was in a cavernous space that had quite a few spiderwebs in it. The veteran pulled out his Fire Rod and torched the webs away. At one end of the grotto was one of those stones with an eye and a smiling expression like the ones lined up by the Temple of Time, while at the other end, there were a couple of pots, a tuft of grass or two, and, bafflingly, a cow.

The cow stared at Legend and gave him a defiant moo, as if it were aware of how its location seemingly defied logic and didn’t care.

The veteran set down his stuff on the ground and stepped back on the multicolored platform and found himself thrown out of the grotto and back onto Hyrule Field.

“So what’s inside?” Hyrule (the traveler) asked.

“It’s basically a cave.”

“Well, if you say so.”

While Hyrule went into the grotto to set down most of his stuff, Legend took the opportunity to talk to Link for a bit.

“What’s with the cow?”

Link simply gave him a shrug.

“How are you going to be looking after Epona? You can’t bring her down into the grotto.”

“I’m confident that she can look after herself just fine. She’s done it before, and if she wanders off I can just call her.”

Legend decided that Link probably had this figured out, so he decided not to push the matter further.

Hyrule suddenly popped up through the hole and landed on the ground. “Neither of you mentioned the spiderwebs or the…”

“The cow,” Legend said.

“That.”

“I don’t know how it got there either,” Link said.

There was about an hour of daylight left, so the three Links elected to stay outside until sunset. They made a bit of small talk, but their conversation inevitably went in a certain direction.

“Tell us a bit about yourself, Link.”

Link studied Legend’s and Hyrule’s faces with that guarded expression he had worn often in his interactions with them the previous day. “I am as you see me.”

There was a long pause after that.

“Perhaps a more fitting question may be something you may ask yourself. What did you see, on the grounds of the castle, that led you two to ask me for assistance?”

Legend and Hyrule exchanged glances. A silent exchange of thoughts occurred.

Hyrule spoke up cautiously. “When I was your age, I adventured and explored a lot. I found lots of cool things hidden behind rock walls and under trees. I think that’s what I was reminded of.”

“I see.”

“Link, whatever we see in you, you definitely know enough to know this grotto is here and to agree to take us around Hyrule,” Legend said.

“That’s fair, Veteran.” Link seemed to think for a moment. “Traveler, since you say you liked to explore when you were my age, I wonder… what led you to do so?”

“Curiosity and a sense of adventure,” Hyrule said without hesitation.

“I see. What did you think your place in the world was?”

Legend and Hyrule once again exchanged glances. “Is that a normal think for ten-year-olds to worry about?” Hyrule asked.

“Perhaps not.”

It vaguely seemed to Legend like Link might have projected a bit on Hyrule. “Is that something you have been worrying about, Link?” Legend asked. “What do you think yours is?”

Link seemed to ponder that question for a brief moment. “We all have parts we must play, Veteran,” he said evenly. “I will fulfill mine.”

That put an end to that conversation.

The three companions took the time to watch the sun set before moving into the grotto before it got dark enough for the Stalchildren to start showing up. Even during the nighttime, the grotto was dimly lit by natural light filtering in from above, but most of the light in the grotto was provided when Legend pulled out his lantern and had it light with a burst of his magic power.

Legend then pulled out a pack of cards, and the three started playing card games (after Link was brought up to speed on how to play). It turned out that Link could pull a convincing poker face—his expression hardly shifted at all no matter how he was doing.

“Can I ask you two a question?” Link asked, in between games.

“Yeah?”

“Since the two of you are travelers, what does ‘home’ mean to you?”

Now that was an interesting question. Hyrule and Legend took a moment to collect their responses.

“I grew up in a rather stable environment that I could easily call home,” Legend said. “Yet a time came when I had to take it upon myself to venture beyond those safe confines to help someone in need. Nowadays, I tend to call the road home more than anything. It is a space between places, whence I can venture out to places unknown or to towns where I can meet new people.”

“As for me,” Hyrule said, “I suppose I see quite similarly to the Veteran. I feel like I belong in the great outdoors, constantly exploring for what new discoveries might be had constantly waiting if I venture just a bit further. I’ve felt that way for as far as I can remember.”

“Interesting.” Link paused for a moment. “I suppose you would want to know what my response to that question would be. I think… ‘home’ is a place where you can just feel like yourself. Though, now that I say that, maybe it doesn’t really have to be a place, as much as a state of being. You could be at home in a certain place, or doing a certain thing, or interacting with certain people. It’s just where you belong.”

Another long, onerous silence passed before Link spoke up again. “On the subject, Veteran, you’re implying that what you considered home changed once you started setting out. Is that true?”

“Absolutely,” Legend said.

“Alright. That makes me wonder about how many people feel like they don’t belong anywhere. With nothing they’d consider home to them.”

“I’d venture to guess that there’s quite a few people who feel that way,” Legend responded. “I only hope that those people find something they enjoy doing, or someplace where they enjoy being.”

Hyrule nodded. “Sometimes it’s a matter of seeking out things we might enjoy. I know I probably wouldn’t be the way I am if I weren’t willing to take on a bit of risk.”

Link nodded thoughtfully. “It does seem like a difficult place to be, doesn’t it? It’s great that it’s possible for us to look for something we may call home, if there isn’t one for us.” He paused again, and looked at Hyrule, then Legend, and then at the deck of cards still in Legend’s hands. “Veteran, can we play another game?”

So it went.

△
△△

Link woke Hyrule and Legend up quite early the next morning. The two of them quickly packed their belongings before leaving the grotto. It was daybreak.

Link had clearly taken the time to get ready to go before he woke up the two. He was already fully packed and, if Epona had wandered off, he had made sure she was back in place.

“If you think it’s a bit early to get going,” Link said, “it’s because if we start now, we’ll just barely be able to get to where we need to be by nightfall.”

He pulled a bottle that was full of milk out of his bag, pulled its cork stopper out, and drank half of the milk in the bottle. He then wiped his mouth with a broad sweep of his arm and let out a satisfied sigh before closing the bottle and putting it away.

Legend raised an eyebrow. “Milk?”

“I got it from the cow in the grotto.”

“How?”

Link smiled slightly. “I have my ways.”

Legend decided it was too early in the morning for him to question it. He quickly glanced over to Hyrule, who appeared to have come to a similar conclusion.

Hyrule and Legend ate a quick breakfast from their provisions before the three set off. Link led them south, and soon the bare, arid earth of the land around Gerudo Valley gave way to the hilly sea of grass that exemplified Hyrule Field.

Legend hadn’t exactly been a big fan of the name, but by now he had to give it some credit for its concise descriptiveness. It certainly was Hyrule, and it certainly was a field. Hyrule Field was certainly that.

To the east, in the distance, was a sheer rock face that marked the boundary of Hyrule Field. It reminded Legend a bit of his own time, with how parts of Hyrule were often boxed in by highlands and cliffs.

The group continued walking to the south for the rest of the day, occasionally taking a few short breaks to rest, drink water, and eat. Their path slowly started to curve to the east as the day went on.

The cliff to the east slowly curved eastward as well until it eventually became the southern edge of Hyrule Field. Here the cliffs suddenly let a passage through, almost as if a path had been cut into it (though the grass there suggested otherwise). There were a pair of walls that extended the southbound channel a bit further north than the cliffs, though the way was blocked by a square of fences that jutted further into the field. There was a pair of ladders on one of the walls that seemed to make it possible to bypass the fences.

The sun was setting by the time the three got close.

“We’ll be staying inside that square of fences,” Link said. He mounted Epona, spurred her to a gallop, and charged one of the shorter (about waist-height for Legend) fences on the side. The horse leapt over the fence, placing him inside.

“Show-off,” Legend muttered. He and Hyrule simply climbed over it.

Link dismounted and walked into the center of the square. “The grotto is here, so if one of you would do the honors.”

Yet another bomb, yet another hole cleared into the ground.

Link held up a hand in a waiting gesture. “I’m going to go inside first, and I’ll tell you when you can come down.”

“Sounds alright to me,” Legend said.

Link jumped into the grotto, and a short moment later he gave the all-clear. Hyrule and Legend entered the grotto after him, and before long everyone had unpacked.

The three Links then ate a quick dinner from their provisions (and Link drank his remaining milk), before they started playing cards again.

“The two of you are from Labrynna, you say?” Link asked, in the middle of one such game. “I haven’t really heard of it before. Do you care to talk about what it’s like?”

“And do you have any twos, Veteran?” Hyrule added.

“Go fish,” Legend said. “Labrynna consists of a few scattered villages. Lynna Village and Symmetry Village come to mind. “There’s some Zoras that live off the coast, but since they’re underwater they’re fairly isolated. There’s also the Tokay of Crescent Island, who are just off the coast as well, but I don’t think they know much about the outside world. The waters off Labrynna get very treacherous, after all, between the Sea of Storms and the oh-so-invitingly-named Sea of No Return.”

Hyrule gave Legend a quizzical look. Legend shook his head slightly at him. This was definitely not the time to talk about how Labrynna’s geography had changed over time.

Legend looked at his hand of cards. “Any fours, Traveler?”

“Go fish.”

Legend sighed slightly and pulled a card from the pile (that was tragically not a four). “I do have to admit that I’ve been taking more of an interest in Hyrulean folklore than I do for that of Labrynna. However, worship in Labrynna is generally centered around Nayru, the wisdom goddess. One of the chief figures in this is the Oracle of Ages, who as far as I know also tends to be named Nayru.”

He now wished that he had talked to Nayru (the oracle) more on the subject so that he could speak more convincingly on the matter.

“I see.” Link’s expression remained neutral. “Veteran, any fours?”

Legend groaned loudly and gave him three four cards. Link placed them down face-up along with a fourth four card. His expression remained defiantly neutral the whole time.

Link spoke up again. “So have you traveled outside of Labrynna before?”

“A fair bit.” It was technically the truth. “This is my first time in Hyrule, however.” Well, the Hyrule of this era, anyway. With how different the geography of this time was from the veteran’s own era, it may as well have been a different land entirely.

Link hesitated a bit before speaking again. “What was it like to venture beyond the familiar for the first time?”

“It was a bit scary at first, I have to admit. I got the hang of it, though, and I can’t imagine doing anything else nowadays.”

Hyrule cleared his throat loudly. “Link, any sixes?”

Link handed him a single card, again with a neutral expression. “And how about you, Traveler? What was it like?”

“Hm. Well, I think I was largely driven by a sense of curiosity, even when starting out. I think what’s changed is that I’ve learned how to handle and accept risk better, especially since I’ve gotten more used to exploring dangerous environments.”

Legend recalled that Hyrule had been travelling for some time prior to his first full adventure. “Traveler, would you say that you had already learned the essentials of travel, like, say, being able to feed yourself, by the time your travels brought you to dangerous places?”

He wished that he could be more direct in referring to Hyrule’s first adventure, but that risked giving too much information to Link.

“Yeah.”

Legend decided to speak up again. “I supposed that differs somewhat from my own experience. I’d received some training on certain things before I started adventuring on my own, though I had to figure out the rest as I went.”

“Sounds unusually risky for you,” Hyrule said.

“Perhaps. I certainly quickly realized that I didn’t like the feeling of not being properly prepared for a situation.”

“No kidding,” Link said.

Legend decided to try asking a probing question, like he had the previous night. Sure, Link might deflect it like he did last time, but maybe the way he did so might be informative.

Link really wasn’t the talkative type and hadn’t really conversed with Hyrule or Legend during the day, so it really was only conversations like these where Legend could try to learn more about the boy.

“Link. It seems like you’re familiar with adventuring through the outdoors yourself, wouldn’t you say? How was your first adventuring experience for you?”

Link simply stared at him. His expression hadn’t shifted at all, and remained neutral, but Legend could feel irritation radiating from the boy. Yet Link spoke no words, and simply continued to stare at Legend in a drawn-out, uncomfortable silence.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Link finally spoke.

“It’s your turn, Veteran.” He pointed at the cards in Legend’s hands.

The discussion never truly picked back up again.

△
△△

The three Links left the grotto at daybreak and used the ladder from earlier to bypass the fences blocking the way to Lake Hylia. They reached the shores of the lake not long afterwards.

Lake Hylia was, well, a rather large lake that was about a third of the size of Hyrule Field, at least if Legend’s maps were accurate.

He asked Link what he could do there.

“There’s a fishing spot,” he said. “There aren’t Stalchildren here, so you can stay out as late as you want.”

“And what will you be doing?”

“Looking around.”

Legend was unable to get a more specific answer out of Link.

The fishing pond was a walk and a short swim away, and Legend figured it would be a nice diversion while the others did whatever they were going to do—as much as Legend enjoyed travelling for its own sake he didn’t know how Link felt on the matter and he knew that Hyrule would prefer getting the chance to scour Lake Hylia for secrets. It’d also give him time to think about his next move.

Plus, of course, he quite enjoyed fishing.

He borrowed a fishing rod from the man running the pond for 20 Rupees, scouted out a spot by the pond that he liked, and started fishing.

He cast out his line and watched the lure drop into the water and went through the familiar motion of regularly pulling slightly on the reel to make the lure seem to wiggle about in the water. Fish found the movement irresistible, from Legend’s experience.

While he waited, he thought about the new Link that was now traveling with them for at least the time being.

Link remained quite enigmatic to Legend. Even now, he seemed to keep much of what he knew a secret. And when Legend tried to probe too deeply, well, it turned out Link could communicate with silence as effectively as he could with words.

Link was not a talkative boy. He rarely, if ever, joined the conversations Legend and Hyrule had while they were on the trail, and even during their card games, Link largely only spoke when the game required it of him. The only exceptions were at the very start of the day and at the very end.

So it seemed like Link wanted to conceal as much as he could from both Legend and Hyrule. But then what motivated him to ask the questions that he did?

Were those questions so important to him that he was willing to risk revealing things about himself just to ask them? It was something that bore examination.

Legend was suddenly roused from his thoughts by a great tugging on the fishing pole. A sizable fish had bitten onto the lure and was now struggling against the line. Legend instinctively pulled the pole back and started reeling in.

About half a minute later, despite the best efforts of the fish, Legend had reeled it all the way in and now held it dangling from the fishing line. His mouth curled into a satisfied smile. The fish was rather large, but it certainly wasn’t the largest the pond had to offer.

He decided to let the fish go and continue fishing. After all, the day was just beginning.

As he continued to fish, to plenty of success, he continued to think about Link with the occasional interruption of fish biting and getting reeled in. He wondered what would motivate him to try hiding as much about himself as he could. Perhaps Link was worried by the fact that Legend had identified him as knowing that he was a hero, despite the fact that Link was perhaps more inconspicuous to the average inhabitant of this era. It would seem suspicious.

When they had first met, Link had expressed that he had had plans of his own. He would be going to a place where “few could follow.”

As Legend’s mind wandered further, he recalled that Link had brought up the Lost Woods and talked about their apparently terrifying reputation. It was very possible that Link wanted to go to the forest, though Legend also supposed that there were probably other extremely dangerous places in Hyrule that he couldn’t definitively rule out.

It was entirely possible that he was trying to scare them off. Link had his own plans, and Legend suspected that he wanted to carry them out by himself, without the potential interference of two mysterious travelers, or, for that matter, two heroes from different eras who wanted him to join their time-traveling adventure.

If that were his plan, it wouldn’t succeed. Hyrule had told Link as much.

Legend paused. Link was about ten years old, while both Hyrule and Legend were significantly older. Maybe he was overlooking something by assuming that Link thought in much the same way he and Hyrule did.

Perhaps his questions represented parts of his thought process.

Legend himself had never pondered the questions that Link had asked back when he was Link’s age. That could be easily explained by the fact that Legend hadn’t started adventuring until years later, though even after his first adventure, it had never seemed pressing enough to actively ask about someone else’s perspective.

Link could have been genuinely curious about his companions, but then he probably would have talked to them more. Maybe he was trying to unnerve them like he may have been with his talk of the forest. That, too, wouldn’t work, and besides, anyone who wasn’t spooked by how he’d spoken of the forest probably wouldn’t be fazed at all by the questions.

Maybe Link didn’t know.

The thought popped into his head, and he examined it like a flat stone pulled from a riverbed now being turned over and over in his hands. Maybe Link didn’t know.

What would that, in turn, say about Link? That he was far less certain about what he did than Hyrule or Legend? Then how would his comment about playing his part from their first meeting be explained?

There were also the things about Link that he did volunteer about himself. He clearly was attached to Epona. He demonstrated a somewhat sly wit, not too dissimilar from Legend’s own. He clearly knew his way around the outdoors.

So what was the deal with Link?

Legend spent several hours contemplating the mystery, catching fish along the way. It was late afternoon by the time he decided that he was done fishing. He considered getting his largest catch weighed, but he decided against it. He technically didn’t exist in this era.

While he returned the fishing rod to the owner, he decided to check the current record.

Link, 18 lbs.

So Link held the fishing record? That must have meant that he too was a fishing enthusiast. Legend supposed it was a good thing to have in common.

He turned towards the exit and was about to walk to it when the door opened. Link walked inside.

He suddenly noticed Legend’s presence and stopped in place. The two stood there, staring at each other in silence in a rather awkward moment.

It was as if the two were holding a conversation bereft of words. They stood there amidst a symphony of silence.

Legend couldn’t bear the noiseless cacophony. He spoke up. “So, you like fishing too?”

Link’s expression shifted ever so slightly. He remained silent, though somehow Legend could figure out his meaning just from what little Link did. Yes.

That had not diminished the awkwardness of the moment one bit.

“Excuse me.” Legend said, walking towards the exit. Link moved to the side, letting him through.

△
△△

Legend, Hyrule, and Link gathered together at the end of the day. They set up camp by the shore of Lake Hylia.

The veteran took the opportunity to try talking to Link again.

“Link, about that, uh, exchange back at the pond…”

“I’ll pretend it didn’t happen if you also pretend it didn’t happen,” Link said.

“Deal.”

Once they were done setting up, they sat around Legend’s lantern to discuss plans.

“It takes about nine hours to get from the lake entrance to the forest,” Link said. “It’s probably just as well, given that it’ll take some time for us to get from here to the lake entrance anyway. If we leave shortly after dawn, we can probably be at the forest before the evening.”

“So no Stalchildren,” Legend said.

Link nodded. “The plan is to roughly follow one of the roads through Hyrule Field. Even if we were somehow to get stuck out at night, the Stalchildren wouldn’t bother us if we’re on the road. There’s just one problem, though.”

“What is it?”

“There’s a couple of Peahats on the way from here to the forest. They can be a lot to deal with, especially if you haven’t encountered them before.

“We’ll be fine,” Hyrule said. Legend nodded. They both had Peahats in their own times. It shouldn’t be that big a deal.

“If you say so,” Link replied. “Anyway, there won’t be much to see in the Lost Woods. At least, not much you can see and afterwards be able to return to talk about.”

“Link,” Legend said, “you seem to know a lot about this land. What do you know about the Lost Woods that we should apparently be so scared of?”

“There is an enchantment laid about the forest, Veteran. They confound those who walk in and lead them around in circles. Tales tell of unageing forest spirits, the Kokiri, who appear as children dressed in green.” Link gestured to his own clothes. “Perhaps not too different from how I myself appear. The Kokiri are said to live with their fairy companions in the deepest section of the forest, with the enchantment of the Lost Woods serving to turn outsiders away and maintain the Kokiri’s seclusion, and perhaps their innocence. But those who venture into the forest without a fairy to guide them around like the Kokiri do, well, they don’t return. The forest’s enchantment slowly eats away at them until they end up as Stalfos.”

It seemed like Link seemed to know quite a lot about these Kokiri. “What happens when these Kokiri try to leave the forest?”

“They don’t. It is said that those who do die.”

Ah.

“How long will we be staying there?”

“A night, probably,” Link said. “If you want to leave early, we’ll leave early—it’ll be better to play it safe, and you might end up changing your mind on how deeply you’re willing to go once you’re there. 12 hours should be mostly safe.”

“Link, I don’t think being there in person is going to change any minds here,” Hyrule said.

“It might not. That’s possible. A single night will probably not hurt anyone. I’d be more worried if you were to get the idea to stay there longer, though.”

“Probably?” Legend asked.

Link shrugged. “No guarantees here. I think people in low spirits may be more susceptible to the forest, but I’m not actually sure.”

“Then we’ll be fine,” Hyrule said. “I don’t give up, no matter what.”

Legend nodded in agreement.

“Well, if you’re that confident, then I won’t stop you,” Link said. “Things that you will almost certainly not expect may happen there, so I’d suggest that you be vigilant tomorrow. There’s a lot that can happen.”

“We can at least do that much,” Hyrule said.

Link smiled in a manner devoid of happiness. “Well, then. I’d suggest you get plenty of rest. Tomorrow will likely turn out to be quite demanding, so you might need it. Good night.”

Chapter Text

The Lost Woods were a place not all too unfamiliar to Link, since it surrounded Kokiri Forest. It was a place Kokiri occasionally ventured out into, though Link himself rarely did so on his own. Saria often spent time out in the Lost Woods, so usually when Link was out there, it was because he was playing with her.

Things were different now. Link was now a grown-up. He certainly didn’t feel like one, but other people said he was, so it had to be true.

He couldn’t play in the forest anymore either. Even disregarding the fact that he was on a quest and therefore had much more important things to do, none of the Kokiri recognized him anymore. The Deku Tree Sprout had outright told him that he was a Hylian, not a Kokiri. So while he ventured into the Lost Woods more often, accompanied as he was by Navi, he did so for far more serious reasons than he once did.

Some things at least remained the same. There was always Navi, the one constant in his life. Even as Saria herself was now beyond the reaches of the world since she had become the Sage of Forest, the sound of her song on ocarina still drifted cheerfully through the Lost Woods.

This time, he was in the Lost Woods pursuing an errand. He was to deliver a medicine derived from forest mushrooms to the boss carpenter’s son, who was in the forest.

However, when Link arrived at the spot where he had last seen the boss carpenter’s son, he was nowhere to be seen. Instead, in his place, floated a fairy, and as Link got closer, Fado, the blonde-haired Kokiri, appeared into view.

“That guy isn’t here anymore,” she said cheerfully. “Anybody who comes into the forest will be lost. Everybody will become a Stalfos. Everybody, Stalfos. So, he’s not here anymore. Only his saw is left.” She giggled.

Something in Link’s mind vaguely suggested that she was supposed to notice that the medicine that Link was carrying was made from forest mushrooms and demand it back, but that was not what happened. Instead, in a single instant, Fado disappeared, the music stopped, and everything darkened.

This wasn’t what had happened, that same thing in Link’s mind said. But how would he know that? This was the present, not the past.

Link wanted to ask Navi and see what she had to say, but as he looked around, with dawning horror, that Navi was nowhere to be seen. To make things worse, Link could now feel a sensation akin to his energy draining. He tried to run, but his legs were sluggish and seemed almost rooted to the spot. He tried to scream for help, but no sound came out.

He could feel himself become drowsy, as if voices were whispering in his ears telling him to sleep and never again wake up. He looked down at his arms to see them slowly withering.

He knew what was happening. The enchantment of the Lost Woods was turning him into yet another Stalfos, a mindless monster perhaps worse off than dead.

Before his consciousness gave way to eternal darkness entirely, he heard Fado giggling cheerfully again.

“Heh heh heh. Are you going to be… too? Heh heh!”

Link woke with a start, with his heart rapidly beating like it was trying to reassure itself that he was still alive.

He took some slow, deep breaths to calm himself down. He was not a Stalfos. He was not in the Lost Woods. He was not in an adult’s body, either.

Link sat up. It was some time before sunrise, at a point where everything was starting to get lighter. It’d be about an hour, he reckoned, before sunrise proper. Before they’d set out from Lake Hylia.

Before they started to head for the forest.

The thought made Link feel kind of strange. Was it possible to be terrified of a place and yet be homesick for it at the same time? Should he be excited to return to the place that he had once called home? Link wasn’t. He wasn’t even sure if he could still call it home.

Kokiri Forest, by its nature, was a place that didn’t change. Link had changed irrevocably, however.

Maybe he was terrified of finding out just how little of that child from that morning, the one where he’d been woken up from a prophetic nightmare by a fairy who would become his companion, yet remained.

Yet would it be less painful to go directly to the forest, and get that done with, or to continue to avoid it out of fear of what would happen, and so prolong the uncertainty in which Link stewed? Here, Link had already made his decision. It could prove to be a vital step in finding Navi, and that was not an opportunity Link could afford to pass up, regardless of his own fears.

He supposed that was courage. He’d gotten pretty good at exercising it, he supposed, where it mattered most.

If only doing what needed to be done didn’t make him feel so isolated.

There was also the matter of the Lost Woods’ enchantment, as well. Would it still let him through without a fairy? Even before Navi, his early forays into the woods were usually with someone else, like Saria. There was always the chance that the Lost Woods might reject him in the ultimate manner.

Navi had once speculated that children who wandered into the Lost Woods ended up as Skull Kids instead of Stalfos. Now, even though Skull Kids generally weren’t hostile (to children, anyway) and could be perfectly friendly (again, to children), Link wasn’t exactly keen to join their ranks.

That was another risk that Link had needed to accept before he’d left Lon Lon Ranch to begin his search. It was yet one more item in a long list of risks that Link was willing to put upon himself on this second, personal journey of his.

At least he was far more aware of how dangerous this was than he had been on his first journey, setting out onto Hyrule Field as a naïve child who knew of nothing outside the forest.

But those were just the risks he was taking upon himself. Ever since he had been in Castle Town, he had two more lives under his responsibility.

The Traveler and Veteran may have been experienced adventurers in their own right, but there were dangers that Link was completely unwilling to expose them to. Whatever happened, they could not be allowed to go too deep into the forest.

He looked over to where those two were now sleeping. They were an odd sort, and far more perceptive than Link would have thought.

Somehow, they were able to tell that something was up with Link. They could somehow tell that he knew the land of Hyrule perhaps better than anyone else, where most had dismissed him as merely a child. Link knew that he had to be careful about what he said around them. If he said too much, they might be able to figure out something that may prove detrimental for Hyrule’s safety. After all, Link suspected that they were keeping their true motives hidden.

They also were perhaps the most intriguing people that Link had met since the end of his quest.

Veteran was very deliberate most of the time, except when bored. Traveler was significantly more spontaneous and was more interested in checking out some place or other where Veteran just wanted to get to his destination, though Traveler also seemed to be good at assessing risks. Link supposed that they were cautious but impulsive in their own unique ways.

They seemed to know more about whatever it was that heroes were supposed to do than Link himself did. They claimed to be in pursuit of stories of Hyrule’s fabled Hero, after all. Sometimes, while he was travelling with them over the past few days, he wondered how they’d react if they knew that this rather terrified, lonely boy who felt profoundly alienated from the world around him was actually the Hero of Time. They were probably more likely to see through his act than most people.

Link wanted to know more about who they were, what they were doing, and what their stories were. It was a shame that he could not afford to get close to them. Yet such was the price of the life he led. Even now, he kept his distance, acting more as a guide and observer than a third member of the duo.

He had let his curiosity get the better of him from time to time and asked them questions about their outlook on life. He’d supposed that they had something to say on questions that Link himself wasn’t all that sure about.

On the other end, it seemed that Veteran definitely wanted to know more about Link than he was willing to let on. It had been somewhat harsh for Link to have to resort to glares to get him to stop earlier, but it had proven to be necessary. Link also suspected that Veteran somehow knew more about him than he let on, though Link couldn’t tell how that happened given that he simply hadn’t given enough information about himself for Veteran to draw any conclusions from.

Traveler had suggested that Link had reminded him of how he was when he was younger. What was it that made Traveler think that way? He probably hadn’t gone through a time-travelling adventure to save Hyrule that ended with his deeds wiped from history.

Link suspected that what Traveler had noticed about him were various attributes that Traveler himself held. After all, not only was it natural for people, Link included, to want to have things in common with others, but leaning into that commonality was often essential for trying to see from someone else’s perspective. While that assumption of a somewhat similar thought process could make differing perspectives and traits easier to understand, at the same time, they could make certain other traits harder to notice if they weren’t already known.

Link supposed that if he needed to hide his secrets even more than he already did, he could use that assumption to his advantage, leaning into the ways he could be similar to others to obscure the ways he wasn’t. The main downside, though, was that it would require knowing the target quite well in order to know just what similarities existed that he could exploit. He was already reluctant to get close enough to people to be able to know them at that level of detail.

That aside, if they were in fact pursuing tales of Hyrule’s Hero, it would be interesting to know just what they found so compelling that they were willing to travel all the way from a different land for it. The information could even prove useful, though Link had to admit that he mainly wanted to know out of pure curiosity.

But how much could he ask them on the subject without revealing too much about who he was? If they knew, they’d probably ask Link more questions than he was willing to or had time to answer. Finding Navi was still his top priority.

He let himself ponder that matter for some time before he moved on to other things like the demands of this next leg of the journey. Though it was shorter than the trip from Castle Town to Lake Hylia, it was more dangerous just from the possible Peahat encounters alone. He was confident that everyone would pull through just fine, though. As for what came after they reached the forest, well, that remained to be seen.

△
△△

“Link, what’s that?” Veteran pointed to something that resembled a large plant in the ground right next to the road. The trio had been travelling northeast from Lake Hylia for a few hours now.

Link raised an eyebrow. “That’s a Peahat. Don’t you recognize them?”

Something was up. Link could tell that much, but he couldn’t tell much more, which troubled him.

Traveler and Veteran exchanged glances. “That’s… bigger than the ones I’ve dealt with,” Traveler said. He seemed a bit worried.

Veteran nodded along. “At least it’s on the ground right now.”

They were… always on the ground when people weren’t nearby?

“Are the Peahats in Labrynna smaller?” Link asked.

“Quite a bit,” Veteran said. “They’re annoying to dispatch.”

Well, at least that was the same.

As they got closer, the Peahat’s leaves started to spin, and it lifted off the ground with a distinct sound as its leaves whistled through the air. Everyone unsheathed their swords.

Link held up his shield and carefully approached. The Peahat hovered towards him, with one of its petals (or rotors?) hitting his shield with a metallic CLANG. The Peahat was knocked slightly backwards by the force of the collision.

“What are you doing?” Veteran shouted from behind him. Link looked back to see that he and Traveler had backed away to a safe distance. “You can’t hurt it yet; it needs to land first!”

What the f*ck? That’s not how you fight them at all!

Link did not have time to contemplate what had gotten into their minds because he was suddenly hit by a petal. He grunted in pain and backed up. He must have let down his guard while trying to process whatever it was that Traveler and Veteran were trying to do.

He’d gotten a rather painful scratch, but he pressed on and focused on the problem in front of him. He had to do this himself, like everything he did after Navi left. He readied his sword, raised his shield, and approached the Peahat once again.

Either Traveler or Veteran were shouting something again, but Link didn’t let himself listen.

Peahats tend to precess, causing the root at its bottom to lean outwards. And those roots were the most vulnerable part of the plant.

Link carefully circled the Peahat with his shield up, making sure not to let his attention drift away from the Peahat so that he could continue blocking its petals.

Soon, it was right in front of him. He leapt, swinging his sword down as he fell, hitting the root. Link quickly crouched, brought his shield up, and stabbed at the root again and again and again.

The Peahat was knocked away and exploded about a second later. Link was safely behind his shield when that happened.

Traveler and Veteran ran up to him. “Are you all right?” Veteran asked. He seemed worried—perhaps he realized that he had distracted Link into getting hit.

“Bit scratched up. Nothing serious.”

Veteran continued to fuss over him while Traveler just looked to the side awkwardly.

“Veteran, I’m all right! You don’t have to be so worried,” Link said.

“Veteran, you’re making this even more awkward,” Traveler said.

Veteran sighed. “Fine.” He pulled a bottle full of Blue Potion out of one of his bags and handed it to Link. “At the very least, drink this.”

Well, if it’d make him stop worrying so much, then fine. Link gulped it down and wiped his mouth with his arm and let out a sigh.

“I really didn’t need it,” he said.

“Well, whether you needed it or not, you’re definitely fine now.”

Veteran really didn’t like leaving things up to chance, did he?

“We should probably talk about what just happened,” Traveler said.

“Yes,” Link said. “Are there really Peahats that are only vulnerable when landed?”

“In Labrynna, there are,” Veteran said.

“Well, the Peahats here are not like that. They’re only vulnerable at a root at the very bottom.”

“I won’t assume everything is like what I’m used to, then. I shouldn’t have in the first place, anyway.”

They elected to take a break to catch a breath and eat. While they were doing so, Link decided to take the opportunity to ask them about something that had been on his mind since he had woken up.

“So you’re here in Hyrule to learn more about the legendary Hero, right? Why is that?”

Both Veteran and Traveler seemed to take a moment to ponder that question.

“Well,” Veteran said, after a while, “I suppose that stories have always been quite interesting to me. I would say it’s more of an exercise of curiosity than anything else.”

Link nodded, even as he could tell that he was not telling the full story. “And why are you willing to go all the way out here in pursuit of this particular story?”

“There’s quite a few reasons, I’d say.” Veteran said, after another long while. “A few that come to mind right now are all the strange and wonderful locations that the Hero gets to discover on the journey.”

Strange and wonderful? Link supposed that the entire land of Hyrule beyond the confines of the forest had seemed strange and wonderful, even if much of that enchantment had long since worn off.

Veteran continued on. “Another thing that comes to mind is how the Hero is able to lift people up, and make their lives markedly better, whether in small ways or big ways.”

Link had screwed up that part pretty massively thanks to the Master Sword. While that mistake had since been undone, it still had left an impact on him. He sometimes wondered whether what he did would actually make things better. Even now, his actions in exposing Ganondorf had caused Hyrule to once again be threatened with the specter of war, and he wondered whether there had been a better way to safeguard the Triforce. It was entirely possible that he had once again doomed Hyrule to ruin, just further down the line than had happened the first time.

On the other hand, at least Hyrule actually had a fighting chance this time around. That was at least worth something.

“Interesting.” Link paused for a moment. “I’ve heard stories, too, you know. I think most children have. What I found so interesting about them is how they’re able to stand up to threats larger than themselves. Heroes can look great monsters in the eye and stand up to them and come out victorious.”

This wasn’t a lie, even as Link omitted his own experiences acting as one such hero. He had idolized heroes from stories, to the point where he had carved a drawing into the tree below his house in Kokiri Forest envisioning himself as one such hero, with the fairy he’d always wanted to have, fighting some huge beast.

Link supposed that he should have been careful about what he wished for.

“That too is true,” Veteran said. “It’s something that can give people hope. Those deeds inspire people to stand up to great beasts of their own, whether literal or metaphorical.”

Traveler nodded. “Learning not to give up while trying to do difficult things is a very important lesson, and those stories help teach that.”

All this focus on the hero being remembered, Link noted.

“Would you say that heroes’ deeds are so great that they are inevitably immortalized in their respective tales?” Link asked.

Veteran nodded. “Heroes do amazing and memorable things. Not just the Hero who echoes throughout Hyrule’s past but also heroes in general. It’s human nature to want to pass down stories of great deeds.”

“But what about those who have done feats of equal, if not greater magnitude, but for one reason or another, will not be remembered? Are they any less of a hero for being doomed to fate into obscurity?”

Was Link himself less of a hero due to the nature of his deeds, since no one would commemorate them?

That seemed to be a question the veteran hadn’t been prepared to consider. “No, I would say. As long as they have gone to extraordinary lengths to help, protect, or contribute.”

“I personally don’t think the legendary Hero is a good bar to compare oneself with,” Traveler said. “I’ve long decided that I wanted to be nothing more than a simple traveler.”

Veteran gave Traveler a rather odd look before clearing his throat. “I think, as far as doing good goes, it may be more useful to think of just heroes, not capital-H Heroes. I’m not too sure how much that sentiment is shared by others, though.”

That certainly was a perspective Link had never encountered before, though again it really wasn’t every day that he asked people what makes heroes heroes.

“I see,” he said steadily. “You know, something that’s been on my mind recently is what those heroes get up to once their great task is done. What, precisely, does it mean for someone to live ‘happily ever after?’ What happens after the story has ended, that tales do not tell of?”

Veteran seemed to be quite contemplative about that question. “I’ve wondered that myself, at times. And the truth is, I don’t truly know. I have my own answer as for what I would do in that situation, but I cannot speak for everyone.” He paused. “Everyone, not just Heroes, needs to figure out their path forward in life. Those are often unique.”

Link certainly didn’t see his own path forward. He’d lost it a long time ago, if it had existed.

“Veteran, if everyone’s paths are unique, does that not mean that they cannot find theirs just by following the examples of others?”

“They may resemble each other in some ways, perhaps, but everyone is different. Fundamentally, stories can serve to guide us, but we should not try to thoroughly reenact them. We are not the people in the legends we hear, and the circumstances that they acted in are not the ones we do.”

“And what for those who do not know how they should move forward?” Link asked. “Those who have lost their way?”

“Then, I believe, their best hope is to find what gives them purpose and comfort. How did you put it, Link? They should ‘look for home.’”

△
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The shortest path from where the trio were to the forest brought them through the territory of another Peahat. No one was particularly excited for a second encounter, so they elected to take a detour that followed the road through Hyrule Field as it curved westwards away from the forest before turning sharply towards the forest at a fork in the road. This would significantly lengthen the journey, but it avoided the Peahat.

Legend had time to think about Link’s words as the day went on.

What did it mean for a hero’s story to end with them living happily ever after? In Legend’s case, the answer was quite simple. He had no intentions of letting the story of his own deeds end until he physically couldn’t adventure anymore.

Yet plenty of stories ended with a ‘happily ever after.’ That was partially due to storytelling convention, but Link had raised an interesting point when he asked exactly what that entailed.

The problem with applying storytelling convention to real life, of course, was that real life was a random meaningless jumble that generally didn’t bother to comply with such rules. The particular convention Link had brought up likely had something much more complicated hiding behind those few simple words.

Yet more complete narratives of what happened afterwards were probably lost to time. As great as times of peace were, they simply didn’t make for as compelling stories. Society had simply not decided it was important.

How much did it matter, then, what a hero did after their great task is done, once the eyes of history have broken their unceasing gaze? If everyone had their own unique path, then what people did after their task was finished was irrelevant. There was nothing more to do other than fumbling around blindly in search of something new except for returning to the known and familiar.

And if returning to the familiar proved cold comfort, well, looking for something new was the only way forwards.

In Legend’s own case, after he had defeated Ganon and saved Hyrule, he’d found himself restless and dissatisfied with going back to how things had been before. How could he, when he had seen and done all sorts of momentous things on his adventure?

So his way forward was to continue adventuring like he had done before. He had wanted to see the world, so see the world he did.

And despite everything, despite the joys and pains, the triumphs and defeats, he still continued to walk that path.

As for the literal path that Legend, as well as Link and Hyrule, were currently on, the road ended as they got close, leaving them walking through the open grass of Hyrule Field. The sun sunk below the horizon as they approached their destination, so with the arrival of night Stalchildren started to claw their way above the earth as the group got close.

Much like the path into Lake Hylia, the path to the forest led between two sheer rock faces. This one, however, was heralded by two great dead trees on either side, and, as the path turned to the left, another large dead tree on the inner side of the curve.

“I’ll deal with them,” Legend told the others. He went to quickly dispatch them.

At the end of Hyrule Field was another rock face, above which could be seen many trees. Into the rock face was set a great log, several times Legend’s height, hollowed out. Darkness, somehow yet darker than the night, dwelt beyond.

The group stopped. Link dismounted Epona, stepped forward, looked up, and took a deep breath. He almost sounded apprehensive.

“Well, everyone,” Link said. “We’re here.” He slowly turned around. “The road ends here. Do you wish to continue forwards?”

Legend and Hyrule nodded solemnly.

Link nodded in return. “Let us go, then.”

He turned back around and walked steadily into the darkness. Hyrule and Legend followed after him.

After a long while of walking, the log eventually ended, giving way to the forest itself. A thick fog pervaded everything, reducing the skies above into a haze. There were no paths—just trees and ground.

Legend pulled out his magic lantern and felt the slight tug of his power being drawn into it. The lantern burst alight, enveloping the trio in a bubble of light.

“Follow after me,” Link said. “Remain alert. Do not wander off. Remember the fate that awaits interlopers who get lost among these trees.”

With that, he started walking, guiding Epona with him. Hyrule and Legend followed after him as he navigated gnarly roots and leaf-covered ground. Legend could not make head or tail of the direction he was going, and he eventually decided not to question it. Link seemed to know the way forward almost as if it were second nature to him.

As the group went deeper, Legend started getting the inexplicable feeling that this era’s Lost Woods were somehow different than the enchanted forests from his era. This one was somehow unfriendlier. Legend couldn’t explain why he felt that way. It was just different.

It seemed like Epona also seemed on edge as well, though perhaps more from the rough, unfamiliar terrain she was being led through. Link had to stop from time to time to calm her down.

The fog only seemed to get thicker as they moved forwards. Legend’s strange feeling started to morph into unease. Something was watching him.

He stole a quick glance at Hyrule, whose eyes were darting around, trying to peer into the gloom.

“Traveler,” Legend whispered sharply.

“I can feel something,” Hyrule said. “Do you think the trees are watching us?”

Legend looked around at the trees. “I don’t think so, but I just have this feeling…”

Link cleared his throat loudly, getting their attention. “Do you wish to turn back? I hear that the woods are more accommodating to outsiders who wish to leave and return outside.”

Hyrule and Legend shook their heads.

Link said nothing in return, and simply continued leading them forwards.

Before long, Legend could see strange lights floating around like incorporeal fireflies. The forest seemed not to get lighter but paler with the addition of these strange forest lights.

At some point, Link stopped and turned around to check on the others. Legend suppressed a gasp—Link’s eyes seemed to glow a luminescent blue like two pale fairy-lights in the enchanted gloom.

Legend felt like those eyes could stare directly at his soul. There was something distinctly inhuman about them.

With that his unease morphed into dread, and the steady drumbeat of his heart joined the plodding chorus of the group’s steps.

The forest definitely did not want him here, Legend decided that much. There definitely was something amongst the trees. There was something and it was there and it was watching him and it wanted him out.

It wanted him out.

Legend tried to steady his breath. He breathed slowly in and out. In and out. In   and     out…

He managed to get ahold of most of his fear, and his heartbeat steadied, though he could still hear it.

He could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. He wondered if Link or Hyrule were feeling the same thing. He wanted to ask, but he decided against it. Link didn’t seem on edge, so there probably wasn’t much to be worried about beyond what Link had already warned them of.

Things would work out. It would all be okay. There was nothing watching. There had to be nothing watching.

Legend wiped his now-sweaty hands on his tunic. This was not different than any of the other enchanted forests he’d encountered. This was just like the Lost Woods in his time.

He tried to focus his mind on the present, on each step he took as he followed after Link and Epona.

This wasn’t the first time that he had felt afraid, Legend reminded himself. It was a natural thing to feel. Courage wasn’t the same as fearlessness.

Courage was a meaningless concept without fear. Fear kept people from becoming foolhardy. It was natural to be on edge in an unfamiliar environment.

Link also likely had been here before. He knew the way around. He would keep everyone safe.

After a seeming eternity of following after Link, the group reached a small clearing.

Link stepped forward and looked around. He turned around and looked at Hyrule and Legend with those eerily intense blue eyes of his.

“…let’s stop here,” he said quietly.

Legend and Hyrule didn’t argue with that. The three went about making camp for the night. Legend pushed himself through it by reminding himself of all the times he’d camped out by himself in strange and sometimes nigh-inhospitable environments. This shouldn’t be more dangerous than that, since this time he wasn’t alone.

Before long, they’d set up camp much in the way they had on the last few nights, like an island of familiarity in the middle of the unknown. It had always served that role, Legend supposed. It’s just that usually the unknown was so much more inviting.

Legend asked Link whether he was worried Epona would wander off.

Link shook his head. “Where would she go?”

And when Legend asked Link about his comment about the woods letting people leave, he said, “The Lost Woods will let outsiders leave unless they have reached the very heart of the forest. Staying here is still dangerous, but we can yet turn back. Indeed, this is likely the furthest into the Lost Woods we will go. The point of no return is not far.”

“You seem to know quite a lot about the Lost Woods,” Hyrule noted.

“Perhaps.” Link regarded the traveler with his seemingly phosphorescent eyes. “And yet I perhaps do not know enough,” he said, after a while.

Legend spoke up. “Link, do you have firsthand exper…” he trailed off as Link stared at him with those lamplike eyes. It was a stare not unlike the one he had used the previous night, but this time it sent a shudder down Legend’s spine. “Never mind,” he said.

They ate dinner in silence, huddled around the light of Legend’s magic lantern.

After they were done, Legend considered bringing his pack of cards out, but he wasn’t in the mood for it. Nor did it seem that anyone else was, for that matter.

Link also didn’t ask Legend or Hyrule any questions this time. He simply looked at them, watching, waiting.

“Shouldn’t we set up a watch for the night?” Hyrule asked.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” Link said after a pause.

“I’ll take the first shift,” Legend said.

“Third,” Link said quietly.

“Then I’ll take second,” Hyrule said.

When it came time for the others to sleep, Legend had no effort staying awake. How couldn’t he, when he kept feeling that something really bad was about to happen?

He paced back and forth, back and forth, as he heard the ambient noise of nocturnal birds calling and saw the fog drift around him and those strange floating lights fly back and forth.

Nothing happened, of course. Legend knew that there was nothing going on, and nothing was almost certainly going to happen. He still couldn’t shake that feeling though.

Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong.

He tried to think about anything else other than his immediate surroundings. He couldn’t. It would have been irresponsible, anyway, since he was on watch.

What was there to watch, other than the murky fog and endless trees that lay beyond the bubble of light radiating from his lantern?

He continued to pace, though now he was doing so in a circle around camp.

How much time had passed since Hyrule and Link had gone to sleep? It wasn’t necessarily that it felt like time had stopped—it instead seemed like it had stretched in some places and squeezed in others and warped until it had stopped becoming a meaningful concept altogether.

For all Legend could tell, it could have been anywhere between 30 minutes and six hours. He felt trapped in an eternal present, disconnected from both past and future. Nothing had happened. Nothing was going to happen. Nothing was happening, forever.

Legend supposed that losing track of the time wasn’t the best thing he could do given that he had to wake up Hyrule when his shift was over. He didn’t want to burden the traveler with a longer watch.

He was certain that in a day he would look back and think nothing of it. But he wasn’t in that future. He was here, now. Worrying that something was going to happen very soon.

Was this part of the forest’s enchantment? Was it something else, like whatever it was that had given him dark premonitions not long before Yuga attacked?

Was he just jumping at shadows? Had he taken Link’s words too much to heart?

Once another eternity had passed, Legend was sure that his shift was over, though he really had no way of telling. At the very least, however, whatever difference there was probably not significant.

He woke up Hyrule. After he had gotten ready to take over the watch, Hyrule seated himself a short distance from Legend.

“Traveler,” Legend said, “is it just me, or does it feel like something really awful is going to happen?”

“I’ve been feeling a bit on edge, too. I’m not sure I like this place. It’s definitely not my first enchanted forest, but… there’s something about it. It’s as if the woods itself doesn’t like my presence. I feel unwelcome here.”

Legend frowned slightly. “It’s hostile to outsiders, right? I wonder why Link ended up bringing us here.”

“Maybe it’s because we kept insisting that we could handle it.” Hyrule paused. “For the record, I still believe that. We can absolutely pull through. It’s just that we may be more worn down by the experience than we expected.”

Hyrule was right. As unpleasant as the last few hours were, Legend could soldier on through that. He hadn’t gotten through everything that he had without the resolve befitting a Hero.

“Perhaps,” Legend said. “Look, I agree with you, but I think we should save our strength until we really need it. We’re here on a mission. Our stamina can be better spent elsewhere.”

The veteran tried to not insinuate that turning back early would be giving up in any way. Hyrule hated giving up. He was stubborn.

“We’re probably going to leave tomorrow morning, right?” Hyrule asked. “One night is more than enough to figure out what this place is like.”

“There’s always the off chance that that knowledge could prove useful, I suppose.” Legend paused. “Well, I best be going to sleep.”

“Good night, then.”

Legend moved over to where he had his sleeping spot set up. He lay down, closed his eyes, and tried to clear his mind as he fell asleep.

…

He couldn’t sleep.

Legend wasn’t sure what specifically was keeping him up. He of course knew why he was being kept up, that being his anxiety regarding the Lost Woods, but he wasn’t sure what from that was keeping him awake.

His heart was pumping so hard that he could feel each individual beat throughout his chest. It was just annoying at this point.

He let out an irritated sigh and turned himself over. This was going to be a long night.

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Legend wasn’t sure how long it had been. For all he could tell, he could have been asleep for anywhere between hours and minutes. Or he could just have not fallen asleep at all and had simply become really detached from his surroundings in a desperate bid to sleep.

The only thing he could say for certain was that if he had slept at all, he had not slept well, and now he had come to, having been roused by a sound.

He opened his eyes and rolled over so that he could see the source of the noise.

Link was packing his bag. It must have been his shift, since Hyrule wasn’t awake. The boy didn’t seem to notice that Legend was awake.

Once he was done, he attached it to himself, just as if he were travelling. Legend looked around the campsite and noticed that all of Link’s belongings had been packed.

Link walked over to where Epona was sleeping and gently roused her from her sleep. Epona whinnied.

“Hey, Epona. It’s just me,” Link whispered.

Legend sat himself up. “…Link? What are you doing?”

Link turned around. “…I’m about to leave,” he said, after hesitating.

Legend pulled himself out of his blankets and stood up. “Did I hear that correctly? You’re leaving?”

Link nodded solemnly.

Well, this was bad. If he left, all the time Legend and Hyrule had spent in this era would have gone to waste. The quest itself could be jeopardized.

Now that Epona was up, Link led her towards the edge of camp.

“Where are you going?”

“Deeper in. There’s something I need to do.”

The point of no return, Link had said, wasn’t far from here. Why would he want—

Oh.

“Link, I know you know these woods very well, but the enchantment won’t spare you either. Don’t go.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Link said. He turned around to face Legend and spoke up before the veteran could respond.

“Look, Veteran, I know you’re concerned. You shouldn’t be,” Link said. He paused, and then spoke up again. “And, for the record, it was nice to meeting you, Veteran. I wish I could have gotten to know you better.”

“You can, Link. You don’t have to leave!” Desperation started to leak into Legend’s voice.

Link simply smiled sadly. He turned away and mounted Epona.

“Link! Please!” Legend shouted. He picked up his lantern on the ground with his right arm and walked towards Link and Epona.

Link turned his head back to look at the veteran. “Goodbye, Veteran.” He pushed Epona into a canter and rode out of the clearing into the wider forest.

“LINK!” Legend burst into a sprint after him and reached his left arm forward for Link. He managed to find extra energy in himself due to how urgent his task was. In fact, he was gaining on Link. His dread had turned into newfound strength, and adrenaline coursed through his veins.

Just when he was about to reach Link, something seized him on his right arm. Legend felt a great jerk from the momentum of his run suddenly being halted.

The veteran looked back in shock and surprise to see Hyrule holding his forearm with a viselike grip with a determined expression on his face. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were gleaming in the lanternlight. Legend tried to yank his arm away and pull himself forward, but Hyrule held firm and pulled back.

“Let me go, Traveler,” Legend hissed. What did he think he was doing? “We have to follow him!”

“Can’t let you do that, Veteran.” There was a steely chord in Hyrule’s voice that Legend hadn’t heard before.

Legend again tried to pull himself forward and free himself, but still to no avail. He turned back around to see Link ride further and further away until he had disappeared into the forest haze.

He tried to free himself again. No luck. And now even the sounds of Epona’s hoofbeats had faded into the night.

Link was gone.

Chapter Text

Time stood at a standstill as that single thought flashed through Legend’s mind.

Link was gone.

He tried futilely once again to break his arm away from Hyrule’s grip.

Link was gone.

Hyrule started to pull him back, back towards the campsite. Legend tried to dig his boots in and resist the movement.

Link was gone.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Legend asked, amidst his shock and outrage.

“Do you know how dangerous it is to go deeper in?” Hyrule asked.

So? What did it matter? Link was gone.

“That’s exactly why I have to follow him!” Legend shouted. “It’s for his own safety, so let me the f*ck go!”

“Do you think he has no clue how he should navigate his own era?” Hyrule was clearly trying to stay calm but was not succeeding. “He knows what he’s doing!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of!” Legend pulled his arm away, but as Hyrule pulled back in response, Legend suddenly pushed his arm towards the traveler, knocking him off balance.

Hyrule let himself fall, but kept his grip on Legend’s arm, stumbling him in turn. The traveler quickly let go and rolled past Legend, such that by the time he had regained his footing, Hyrule was now directly in his path.

“Do you really not trust his judgement, Veteran?”

How could he when this was what came of it? Link was gone.

“You’re letting him put himself in danger!”

“I’m preventing you from putting yourself in danger, Veteran. He knows this place; you don’t!”

Legend’s anger was starting to override his judgement. Link was gone. He wanted, more than anything at that moment, to be able to run into the woods after Link and save him from whatever grim fate awaited him further inside. Who was Hyrule to deny him that?

“Are you really going to let Link die in there, and prevent me from saving him, just because you’re too afraid of the forest? YOU F*CKING COWARD!”

In the instant after those words left his mouth, he knew that he had said that not to convince Hyrule to change his mind, but to find a way to hurt Hyrule back for what he had just done. And, as he saw the hurt in Hyrule’s eyes as he processed those words, Legend could tell that he had said something that could not easily be unsaid.

It made Legend feel bad, but he pushed that emotion away. Hyrule’s feelings did not matter when Link’s life hung in the balance.

He moved forward again, pushing Hyrule aside.

Legend suddenly felt himself falling to the ground. It occurred to him, as he hit the ground, that Hyrule had shoved him. His lantern fell out of his hands and rolled away on the ground.

He rolled himself over and got to his feet only to see that Hyrule was once again between him and the way further in. The bastard.

Legend lunged at him. Hyrule tried to hold him back, but by some stroke of luck Legend was able to push him over. The traveler, however, quickly grabbed onto Legend, pulling him down as he fell. The two briefly struggled on the ground, rolling around, pushing, grappling, before a brief lull fell over them as Hyrule managed to pin Legend down on the ground. The traveler’s expression was defiant.

Legend refused to let it end like this. He clenched his fist and swung it at Hyrule’s face. Hyrule recoiled in shock from the punch, allowing Legend to get out from under him as Hyrule nursed his now-bleeding nose. He quickly rolled to his feet and tried to break into a run deeper into the forest.

His foot caught on something, tripping him and causing him to fall. Hyrule had stuck a leg out to stop him and was now on his feet again. Legend quickly jumped to his feet in kind. A single thought managed to register in his mind amidst his fury: if he tried heading further into the woods now, Hyrule would just stop him again. So instead of running into the woods, he turned around to face the traveler, who had taken a fighting stance.

Legend threw a punch at Hyrule again, but the traveler ducked before punching back. Legend managed to block it with his arm before hitting back in kind, striking Hyrule on the shoulder. Hyrule didn’t appear to react and counterattacked. Legend dodged and aimed another punch at Hyrule, only for him to block it and to punch him in the stomach.

Suddenly he was on his knees, hugging his abdomen in pain, gasping for breath. Hyrule had knocked the wind out of him, and worse yet, was again between him and the way into the woods. Legend forced himself to take deep breaths, though his lungs fought him the whole way.

He managed to stand up again, shaky from both the last hit and the adrenaline. “Let me through!” he managed. “I’m willing to do this all day if that’s what it takes.”

“I don’t know the meaning of giving up,” Hyrule said defiantly. He was breathing heavily.

“You say when you want me to run away from this!” Legend stormed forward before stopping right in his tracks. Hyrule had unsheathed his sword and was now pointing it at him.

He had had his sword and shield on his back this whole time, it belatedly occurred to Legend. His own sword and shield were lying back in camp. Sh*t.

And his item bag wasn’t on him, either. Legend cursed himself for being unprepared. He couldn’t even use his medallions without his sword to channel their power through.

Hyrule himself was slightly shaking even as he held his sword. “I don’t want to have to do this, Veteran.” The light of Legend’s lantern on the ground reflected off the red jewels in the sword’s crossguard in little dots, like the jewels were eyes watching him for his next move.

“W-what are you going to do, Traveler? Kill me?” Legend sneered. “For daring to want to save Link’s life?”

“I’m trying to save yours here, Veteran.”

Legend wanted to continue fighting and do whatever it took to get further into the woods and try to rescue Link. But some rational part of him had returned and he knew that he had exhausted all his options. And the adrenaline was starting to wear off. Contrary to his words, it was becoming increasingly apparent that he couldn’t keep this up.

His legs felt like jelly, and he fell to his knees again.

Link was gone. And there was nothing he could do about it.

Legend rolled onto his side and curled up into the fetal position as the weight of his failure sunk in.

Link was gone. And Legend was helpless.

Legend had felt many things throughout his journeys. In that wide spectrum of emotions, there was no feeling that he hated more than helplessness.

“…I hate you,” he managed.

Hyrule remained silent. He sheathed his sword and walked to Legend’s side.

“Come on, Veteran,” he said. “We still have to go back to camp.”

Legend ignored him. Link was gone, and with the way things were going, would probably die.

Hyrule let out a sigh. “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.” He knelt down by the veteran, lifted him up under his armpits, and started to drag him back to camp.

△
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It was the end of Hyrule’s shift, and Link was now awake.

The boy strapped his sword and shield to his back and glanced over to a sleeping Epona. He then stretched his arms out and let out a yawn.

Once he was done, he sat down by Legend’s lantern across from where Hyrule was. He steadily watched the traveler.

Why did his eyes seem to glow? Hyrule was sure it was a trick of the light, but it certainly made Link look unnatural in some way or another.

“Link, why does this forest seem… unwelcoming, somehow?” he asked.

“The enchantment, I suppose. Outsiders aren’t welcome here. They might spoil the Kokiri’s innocence.” Link paused for a while. “It may be for the best. Is there anything more tragic than losing one’s innocence?”

“There may be, but if so, not many,” Hyrule said.

“Perhaps.” Link gazed into the light of the lantern.

For a moment, suspended in time, the two sat in silence save for the ambient sounds of the forest.

“Traveler, can I ask… a favor of you?” Link asked, after a while.

“Anything. What is it?”

“Firstly, can you keep a secret?”

Hyrule nodded. “It’ll be a secret to everybody.”

“Alright.” Link hesitated before speaking again. “I said that I’m on a journey of my own when we met. It’s something deeply personal, so I’m not going to talk specifics. But I will have to part ways with the two of you tonight.”

“What?”

Link’s skillset would be important for the team, Nayru had said. That was what Hyrule and Legend were here in this era for.

Legend was the one who had stepped up to keep a handle on what information about the two that Link could know. But Legend was asleep.

It fell on Hyrule to figure out what to do. At least he was pretty good at fending for himself.

“You heard me.” Link let out a sigh. “Please don’t make it harder than it has to be. I’m not changing my mind, whatever you say.”

So his mind was already made up. Perhaps Legend’s idea had been doomed from the start.

“Is there nothing I can do?” Hyrule asked.

“Nothing. This is very important to me. I hope you understand.” Link paused. “The favor I wanted… please don’t try following me. The Lost Woods will kill you if you do.”

Hyrule didn’t like this at all. Link was important for the quest. Giving up simply was not in the traveler’s nature, so his immediate inclination would be to try to stop Link from leaving.

However, if Hyrule were in Link’s specific situation, he wouldn’t have handled things much differently. He’d have wanted to leave and wouldn’t have let anything get in his way, so why would Link be all that different?

“…please don’t take this as me thinking lowly of you or Veteran, please,” Link said. “In fact, it’s been really interesting talking to you or Veteran. I do genuinely wish that I could get the two of you better. But this is something I need to do. I can’t have you putting yourselves in danger on my account.”

This situation wasn’t really Link’s fault, anyway. Hyrule and Legend had set themselves up for this by not telling him of their quest. He had no way of knowing that this personal journey of his would potentially have consequences like threatening the land at multiple points in time.

Perhaps the traveler and veteran were simply now dealing with the consequence of hiding the full story from him. And now it was up to Hyrule to figure out how he could salvage this.

“Link, don’t tell Veteran I said this, but the two of us aren’t actually here to chase stories. We’re here because of some big looming threat to Hyrule. And no, it isn’t Ganon.”

Legend could always forgive him later.

“Ganon?” Link’s face registered surprise. It was the first time Hyrule had seen Link lose his composure in that way. “…Ganondorf, right? The army he’s not so secretly assembling so he can invade Hyrule?”

Now it was Hyrule’s turn to stare steadily at Link. “You know exactly what I mean, don’t you?”

“Traveler, there is no Ganon. There will hopefully be no Ganon, just Ganondorf.”

That couldn’t have worked out. But Ganon was beside the point.

“You’re the Hero, aren’t you? We need your help.”

Link stared into the light of Legend’s lantern for a long moment. He slowly looked up to level with Hyrule’s gaze.

“…no.”

“What?”

“I understand your concern, but Hyrule is the safest it can be with me as far from it as possible.” He let out a sigh. “Again… don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

The obvious option left to Hyrule was outright telling him everything, including the time-traveling nature of their quest. He wanted to, but he wasn’t certain it was a good idea.

Link spoke again after a moment, more shakily than before. “Traveler, I must go. I don’t have a choice in the matter. Please…”

He looked so scared and confused. Hyrule was reminded of the kidnapped child he had rescued from Maze Island. Except, in this case, helping him might endanger the quest.

This was a cruel decision that he was now faced with. It was in Hyrule’s nature to help other people. But it’d greatly aid the quest if he refused to help Link right here. Hyrule might have been stubborn, but he certainly wasn’t stubborn enough to callously refuse Link’s request without a second thought. Letting him go suddenly seemed much more like a viable option than it had before.

Hyrule tried to consider whether helping Link right here was better, potentially endangering people across time, or whether hindering him to the benefit of the quest would be better. He stopped that line of thought very quickly. It made him feel queasy.

He decided to think about what his decision would mean for the quest itself, rather than the consequences.

How essential was Link’s time travel experience anyway? Legend already had some. Was the extra experience for the team worth potentially recruiting Link when he clearly didn’t want to do this?

“Do I really have a choice in the matter?” Hyrule asked, after a while.

Link’s demeanor changed back to something more typical for him. “You do not.”

“Are you just going to leave anyway even if I try to stop you?”

“Yes.”

Was Link just going to choose this for him, then? That’d make this decision a lot less difficult, at least.

“Fine,” Hyrule finally said, with great reluctance.

“Thank you.” Link smiled slightly. “I… wanted to say my farewells. It’d be awfully rude of me to leave without a second word. It’s been nice getting to know you.”

“Are you going to say goodbye to Veteran, too?”

Link’s smile faded. “I’m not sure if I can bring myself to. I think the two of us… probably see each other too well.”

He paused for a moment. “Can you say goodbye to him for me, Traveler? It might hard for him to accept it, but… remember that the two of you shouldn’t try to follow after me. It’s too dangerous.”

Well, if Hyrule was going to do this, he may as well fully commit to this.

“Are you going to be safe?”

“I know my limits. I know these woods better than anyone else you can find. I can’t say that nothing will happen, but I can say that it’ll be much safer for me than it would be for you.”

Hyrule wasn’t all that surprised by Link’s response, but it was reassuring to hear, nonetheless.

The traveler knew that he’d be reaping the consequences of this decision very soon. But he wasn’t afraid of facing them. He had chosen this aware that it might make the quest much harder.

He just hoped that price of this wouldn’t prove to be too much.

△
△△

Was it worth it?

That was the question that echoed through Hyrule’s mind as the night passed and daylight crept upon the forest.

Was helping Link worth essentially burning his bridge with Legend?

Hyrule was wholly unused to having to answer questions like these, with no clear answer. Questions like these were more Legend’s specialty, but obviously Hyrule couldn’t ask him and get an unbiased answer.

Hyrule knew, however, that whatever choice he had made the previous night, that he would end up feeling horrible about it. He knew that there had been no good choices left by the time Link asked him about leaving. It had been small, innocuous decisions that he and Legend had made that allowed this to happen. He really couldn’t blame Legend for hating him.

Yet that was little reassurance to a hero who was used to being able to help everybody. He and Legend had erred, and so this had happened.

The traveler couldn’t sleep. Not after that. Not after the words and blows that had been exchanged. He had instead opted to stay awake and make up for Link’s watch in his absence, though not for any external threat as much as he was worried that Legend would have tried to sneak off if given the opportunity.

While he let the enormity of his decision weigh on him, Hyrule also tried to reassure himself by telling himself how much Link’s own journey seemed to matter to him. He wondered where Link was now and hoped that he was making progress on whatever it was that he needed to do so much.

Legend woke up not long after daybreak. His usual relatively friendly expression was gone, replaced by a cold distance tinted with veiled fury. Such was the price Hyrule had paid for what he had done.

“Veteran, let’s get out of here,” Hyrule said.

Legend glared daggers at him but surprisingly didn’t object. The two Links thus broke camp in silence and headed out westward back in the direction from which they had come.

The Lost Woods were visibly brighter in the day than they had been in the night, but even in day the sun could not penetrate the enchanted haze of the forest, such that the sky appeared a dim, extremely pale green. Those strange floating lights, reminiscent of fireflies yet somehow different, still remained. And Hyrule and Legend continued to navigate by lanternlight.

They travelled in silence, much like they had for much of the previous night. Yet it was a different kind of silence. It wasn’t one marked by a vague fear like the previous night; it was instead marked by the anger that seemed to radiate from Legend.

He didn’t even outwardly let himself seem angry, but it was obvious just from the way he carried himself and the way he constantly seemed to glare at Hyrule.

Hyrule kept himself alert. There was no guarantee that Legend wouldn’t try to surprise him and try heading back deeper into the forest. He kept an eye on the veteran at all times.

The two heroes did their best to retrace their steps from what landmarks they could recall from the journey inwards. It did seem like Link was right when he had said that the forest was more forgiving to those who turned back, since they could see much further when heading back west, though whenever Hyrule looked back he could see that the fog was thickening behind him.

At long last, they managed to find the hollow tree trunk and rock wall that marked the end of the forest. As they walked through it, the light of Legend’s lantern gave just enough light for the two Links to see each other, though not to see much further. Hyrule mentally prepared himself for Legend turning off the lantern and using the darkness to make a break for it, but despite the tense moment that they walked through the log, that scenario never materialized.

Soon they were out and on Hyrule Field again. It was midmorning, and the sun’s light seemed all the brighter after the forest’s gloom.

Hyrule thought for a moment about where to go. The gate to Castle Town was visible in the distance, half a day away, and if they didn’t tarry, they could reach Castle Town before the drawbridge rose. There was also another settlement, Kakariko Village, to the northeast of Castle Town, that would probably be closer.

To the east of that was upper Zora’s River, he recalled. That was the place he personally wanted to go, since it seemed like an interesting place to be, but there he wouldn’t be able to keep a constant eye on Legend. Without Link around and with Legend likely wanting to return to the forest, it fell on Hyrule to make this decision on his own. And that meant that he had to take responsibility for everyone, as ill-suited as he was for that.

“Let’s go to Kakariko,” he said.

Legend stayed silent. Not wholly unexpected. Hyrule hoped that he would one day be able to forgive him and understand why he had to do what he did, though that certainly couldn’t happen when it was still fresh.

Such it was that the two of them set out north towards the village at the foot of Death Mountain. They interacted with each other little, and it was often tense. Hyrule could not rule out the possibility that if he let his guard down, Legend would exploit it to try heading back to the forest.

After all, Legend genuinely thought that Link’s life depended on this. It was a shame that he didn’t have the full story, and that Hyrule had to continue to keep him in the dark to uphold his promise. Yet Hyrule knew that Legend would stop at nothing to do what he thought was the right thing, even if in this case he was misguided.

But Hyrule wasn’t going to give up. That was something that he simply didn’t do.

Legend, for his part, seemed to be carefully observing Hyrule, though he certainly did not make his thoughts clear. He could have been (and probably was) planning something, but Hyrule didn’t know what it was, and he certainly couldn’t find out by asking.

All the more reason why the traveler needed to keep his guard up. Thankfully for him, that was something that he could do very well.

These things notwithstanding, nothing of note transpired on the northbound journey, and Hyrule and Legend arrived at Kakariko Village without incident. The passage through the cliffs bounding Hyrule Field consisted of a set of stairs heading to the northeast, before it turned 90 degrees to the southeast, before once again turning until it went due east into a simple wooden gate.

There was a lone soldier at the gate of the village. “Ding dong, ding dong!” the soldier said. “I’m a clock soldier of Kakariko! The current time is: 4:19.”

That left Hyrule wondering what kind of training these ‘clock soldiers’ did to know the time so precisely. He supposed it may have been connected to the Gossip Stones somehow, since they seemed to have some sort of magical timekeeping properties from how Link had described them.

When he asked about Kakariko in general, the soldier answered, “Zelda’s attendant, the great Impa, opened this village to the common people. We have a small population now, but someday this place will be as lively as Hyrule Castle Town!”

Seems like an ambitious goal.

The Kakariko Village of this era was a small town, smaller than the Kakariko of Legend’s era, though as Hyrule looked around him he could see many buildings under construction. There was some work afoot, it seemed—clearly people really wanted to make the dream of making Kakariko an equal to Castle Town a reality. A tall lookout post stood at the center of the town, and at the back was a great windmill rotating serenely in the gentle breeze that flowed through town. Death Mountain was close enough to dominate the landscape, with its imposing profile seemingly dwarfing everything else.

The largest building in Kakariko was on the south side of town. There was another soldier standing next to the door.

“This used to be the great Impa’s house, but she doesn’t live here any longer. It is now open to all villagers. You are free to go on in,” the soldier explained after once again telling the time.

Why did people in this time need such precise timekeeping anyway?

Regardless, since Impa’s house seemed to be open to anyone, it was clear that that was going to be the place where Hyrule and Legend would be staying for the night.

Since it was still a couple of hours before sunset, Hyrule took the opportunity to walk around the village.

There was a well at the foot of the windmill. There was a sign in front of the well, with words in this era’s script. Hyrule couldn’t read it, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with the well.

He recalled that, for whatever reason, Link had cautioned against drinking from the well. It might have something to do with the “bloody history and dark secrets” that he had also alluded to. Whatever the reason, Hyrule was going to trust Link’s judgement on this. He wouldn’t have said that without a reason.

As far as getting water was concerned, the shortest path to Zora’s River as it traveled through Hyrule Field was about a couple hours, which while annoying and time-consuming, wouldn’t be the end of the world. So not drinking from the well was definitely feasible.

Hyrule then checked out the graveyard that lay at the eastern end of the village. There, he remembered that he couldn’t read this era’s script (and Legend wasn’t about to start translating it for him), so he really couldn’t glean any information that might have been there. Maybe there was a connection between the graves and the war that had apparently ravaged the land once, but there was no way for him to tell.

Without much else to see in the village, Hyrule decided to go back to Impa’s house.

△
△△

“What should we do now?”

Legend shot Hyrule a glare. “What do you think? We’ve lost out only lead here. You should know damn well that the two of us won’t be nearly enough to take on the threat we’re trying to pursue.” He paused. “And now the only thing we can do is wait around and see if something happens!” He threw up his hands.

This was probably the first time Legend had brought himself to speak at length to Hyrule since the fight. Legend had been treating him with cold contempt, but the sheer audacity of the traveler’s question had caused him to break his silence.

“I don’t take these decisions lightly, Veteran,” Hyrule said.

That did little to improve Legend’s mood. “You’ve halted the quest in its tracks, and that’s all you can say?”

“I was worried for your safety!”

“I can make calculated risks just as well as you can, Traveler!”

“You tried to run into the forest without your items or even your sword and shield!”

“Why didn’t you go in after him, then, if I couldn’t?”

Hyrule opened his mouth to make a retort but seemed to struggle to come up with one.  “I did what I had to do, Veteran. And I still can’t let you go after him.”

“Traveler, we’re heroes. If strength of spirit helps people last longer against the enchantment just like Link suggested, then it shouldn’t be much of a threat.”

“And you would be willing to stake your life on that assumption?”

“You’re damned right I am!”

Legend knew that he was not making these decisions in a particularly rational manner. He was far too invested in this to do this rationally. He didn’t care. He had dug his heels in on this matter. Nothing Hyrule could do or say could really change his mind on this.

“Well, unfortunately for you, I can’t just let you die like that,” Hyrule responded.

Legend himself knew that there was really no way he could get back to the forest if Hyrule was actively onto him. It was why he hadn’t tried anything on the way out of the forest or to Kakariko Village.

And Hyrule probably knew that, given that he seemed loath to let Legend out of his sight. So it went down to a contest of wills. But Legend could wait. After all, the quest wasn’t about to go anywhere anytime soon, since Link was gone.

Hyrule spoke up again after a pause. “I think the best place to go now is Hyrule Castle. It might take a while if we wait for the process to go through, but sneaking in shouldn’t be too difficult.”

So they would be exactly where they were a few days ago, when they met Link. If they did that, Legend and Hyrule would have spent the last few days going in a giant circle and accomplishing little.

“What good would that do, Traveler?”

Hyrule thought for a moment. Legend did not like the fact that he hadn’t had something in mind already. Unless he wanted to sabotage the quest, he should have thought through some alternative plan.

“When we met him for the first time, he was leaving the castle, right?” Hyrule said. “Maybe the Royal Family knows something about his purposes.”

“His purposes should be clear enough from the actions he took to fulfill them. He’s in the forest, and his life is in danger.”

“And at some point he’ll have to leave it. I doubt the path we used is the only way in and out, so when he leaves, we’ll have to know to where if we are to ever find him.”

“When he leaves? Quite optimistic of you,” Legend said. While his words seemed reasonable, they were greatly undermined by that foundational assumption. “According to him, we camped not far from the point of no return. If we do nothing, he’ll cross that point and then he’ll be gone.”

Legend knew that it was fairly likely that he had already crossed that point due to Hyrule’s stunt the last night, but he had to hold out hope for the off chance that he could still be saved. He had to. Everything depended on this.

“Can’t you be the least bit constructive with your feedback? I’m trying to salvage this quest from the mess we’ve put ourselves into without anyone dying, so work with me, goddessdamnit!”

“Our mess? Don’t try to pin your actions on me!”

“I wasn’t the one who suggested keeping our quest secret from him!”

“You think he would have bothered to hear us out?”

“There’s no way he could have joined our quest without knowing of it!”

Hyrule, unfortunately, had a point, which did little to improve Legend’s mood.

“Well,” the traveler said, “since it’s clear that you’re not going to have anything helpful to say, then we’ll go to Castle Town next. Though I think we should stay here for another day to hopefully give you the chance to cool off.”

“Cool off?” Legend took exception to that. “I’m trying to save someone’s life here, and you want me to cool down?”

“Well, maybe Link’s life isn’t in as much danger as you think!” Hyrule snapped back.

“Bullsh*t!”

“Regardless of how you may feel about it, Veteran, the decision’s final. I’ll be outside if you need me.” Hyrule turned, walked to the door, opened it, and was gone.

Legend sat himself down on the staircase inside the house with an angry huff. He knew that the traveler was stubborn once his mind was set, but this was absurd. Link was gone.

Hyrule probably thought his plan to prevent Legend from going back to the forest was foolproof. All he had to do was to keep an unceasing watch over the veteran.

As angry as Legend was at him, he wasn’t about to try using the overwhelming force that his items could contain. After all, even if the quest seemed to have badly derailed, he would still have to at least work with Hyrule at some point if it were ever to be salvaged. So using potentially deadly force was out of the question, and it would stay that way unless Hyrule tried to pull his sword on him again. And Hyrule probably knew that.

Yet there was another way out of this. Hyrule’s vigilance was not infinite, and it would inevitably waver at some point.

All Legend needed to do was wait and watch for an opportunity.

Chapter Text

Legend had a hard time sleeping that night. How could he rest, when there were things that needed doing? So he was hardly surprised when he opened his eyes, awake, while it was still dark.

It was now the third time that he had woken up from his exceedingly light sleep that night. As he had done the previous two times, he discreetly rolled himself out of his blankets, snuck past Hyrule, careful not to disturb his sleep, carefully opened the door, and asked the clock soldier outside for the time.

This time, according to the soldier, it was 5:06 AM. It would become light soon, and sunrise was not far away. Already, the sky was visibly lighter than it had been on his previous forays outside the door of Impa’s house, though the nearly full moon and the stars could still be seen there.

He tiptoed back into the house, silently closed the door behind him, headed back where his stuff was laid about, and began to pack, taking care not to make any loud sounds.

It was inconvenient that his stuff was unpacked and on the floor, but if he had kept his belongings in his bags Hyrule might have suspected something since that was not something he normally did. Legend instead had to go about the tense process of trying to stow his items away as fast as possible without making a sound.

Once he was done, he looked around him to make sure nothing was left, gave his bags a cursory pat to make sure everything was where they were supposed to be, and straightened the straps that held his sword and shield on his back. Satisfied, he cautiously walked back to the door and once again opened it. He asked for the time again (5:17 AM) and then looked back inside the house, to make sure Hyrule was still asleep. Legend then closed the door and then started walking to the village gate that led back to Hyrule Field.

Legend knew that Hyrule would realize, sooner or later, what had happened. He would wake up and find out immediately that Legend was missing. Hopefully by the time that happened, Legend would have had enough of a head start that Hyrule wouldn’t be able to catch up with him.

After all, there was someone in the forest that needed saving.

△
△△

Legend stopped briefly sometime after daybreak to eat a simple breakfast from his provisions. Hyrule would probably wake up soon, which meant that he’d probably start chasing after the veteran. It would be obvious to the traveler just where Legend intended to go.

He was confident that, since this time he was prepared and had had a massive head start, Hyrule wouldn’t be able to stop him again. Once he got going, however, he made sure to look behind him every so often to see if Hyrule could be seen in the distance chasing after him.

As the day progressed, though, he never did see the Traveler going after him, even though Hyrule Field’s terrain gave him the line of sight to see all the way back to the stairs that led to Kakariko Village. He eventually decided that something must have been going on. Maybe for whatever reason Hyrule wasn’t awake. Or, worryingly, something could have come up that Hyrule was forced to prioritize.

That possibility was very worrying.

But whatever happened, it certainly wasn’t that he had changed his mind. Legend was sure of that.

He reached the forest entrance without incident. It was now around noon, by the veteran’s reckoning. He decided that now was the best time for him to eat his lunch, since this was the last opportunity he would get to do anything before once again braving the forest’s enchantment.

Legend took the time to think about the nature of the task before him. This was dangerous. He didn’t doubt it. Yet it was something that needed doing, so he had to do it. This was something that he was doing by himself, for better or for worse.

Once he was finished with his meal, he stood up and walked in front of the forest entrance. The space within the hollow log set into the end of Hyrule field was pitch black even at midday.

His mind was swirling full of thoughts and emotions. He took several deep breaths and tried to clear them away.

Breathe in.

Legend needed to do this.

Breathe out.

He needed to keep himself calm. If he had kept his head screwed on properly when Link left, things wouldn’t have come to this.

Breathe in.

He really shouldn’t have panicked, really. He should have at least grabbed his item bag, if not his sword. Then even if Hyrule tried to stop him, Legend could have frozen his boots to the ground with his Ice Rod, which would have delayed him enough for Legend to make a break for it.

Breathe out.

That was in the past, though. What mattered now was the task that was before him, and that he learned from his mistakes.

Breathe in.

He knew his limits.

Breathe out.

He could do this.

“Hey!”

Surprised, Legend suddenly spun around, shoving his hand into his pouch, grabbing the first offensive item he could find, and aimed it at the source of the voice.

The source of the voice was a fairy colored dark green, with wings reminiscent of a dragonfly. For some reason, Legend could have sworn he had heard Hyrule’s voice.

The fairy stared at the Fire Rod that was now a couple inches in front of it. “…bad timing?”

Legend cautiously lowered the rod. “Who are you?”

“I’m a fairy,” the fairy said matter-of-factly. Okay, yeah, the fairy’s voice definitely sounded a lot like the traveler’s. No wonder why Legend had been spooked so much.

“Call me Veteran,” Legend said. “I was about to go into the forest to try to save a child.”

“Don’t you know about the forest’s enchantment?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve heard plenty about it,” Legend said. “I shouldn’t be in there for too long, so there shouldn’t be much of a risk of it killing me. I’m more worried about the person that I’m trying to rescue, to be honest. This is what, his second day in the forest?” He paused. “What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping to pay a visit to a friend,” the fairy said. “Fairies live in the forest with the Kokiri, you know.”

Legend nodded. Link told him and Hyrule that much in his brief time as part of the group.

An idea suddenly sparked in his mind. “Hey, fairies can navigate the Lost Woods safely, right? They guide the Kokiri around, I think. We’re both looking for someone inside the forest. How about we team up?”

The fairy seemed to think about it for a moment before hesitantly speaking. “Sure… I’m not from the forest though, so I don’t know the way around. I’m not sure that the protection would apply if it were me. Are you really sure about this?”

“Look,” Legend said, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to save this boy’s life. I know I’m putting my life on the line. But that’s just the line of work I do. It’s simply the right thing to do.”

“Well… alright then… But what if it gets too dangerous?”

“I know my limits. I ought to know when I must turn back. But I hope it won’t come to that and I can find the person I’m searching for by then.”

There was a long pause after that. Perhaps the fairy could perceive the slight bit of hurt that Legend noticed seeping into his voice as he said that.

Legend took a deep breath and regained his composure. “Now, unless you have more questions, we have a person to save.”

“I’ll go with you, then.”

He nodded and turned back towards the entrance to the forest, and the yawning void within. He closed his eyes, took a few more deep breaths, and opened his eyes again. His mind was clear.

Legend pulled out his lantern from his bag, its flame sputtering to life from the magic power it drew from him.

“Let’s do this,” he said, and started stepping forward into the inky blackness beyond.

△
△△

The forest, with all its fog and strange floating lights, was just as strange and mysterious as it was the last time Legend had been there. And just about as uninviting, too.

Legend had had a hard time navigating the path forward last time, due to Link’s winding path through. There were some parts that he didn’t confidently remember, which was an issue.

He refused to let any of that show. If Link could somehow figure out how to navigate deep into the forest, Legend could, too.

He hadn’t been idle on his way out, either. He had tried his best to internalize his surroundings. Plus, it was high noon, so it was somewhat brighter in the forest than it had been last morning or in the night. Those were little things, but it could make a real difference.

Such was it that, with each step, he slowly retraced the path he had taken before. He still did not understand why the way forward was so winding, but he didn’t need to understand the why to be able to navigate it, as long as he didn’t get lost.

The fairy remained by his side, too, that dark green light reminding him that he was not alone with this.

Thus he advanced, step by step. Step by step, through the endless sea of trees; step by step, through the dense fog; step by step, through the dancing lights. He kept his singular mission at the forefront of his mind even as the forest continued to unnerve him.

Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm.

Stay

calm

the forest can see him

the forest wants him out

the forest

Legend breathed in and out. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong whatsoever.

He was just on another adventure! Just like when he had found himself in the middle of nowhere those two times, to kick off his adventures. This would just be yet another thrilling chapter in the story of his life.

Ms nmkajr zx otx afvw enyv xzty, xlwl lyfzoagl cwj agyc klw nsyesog. Sck xzbx rzvw kjgtyw fngjmgg yvrx Dxlseh cgjk nsmei vrzw t mwxl jbxy fj cbqzzry ana. Esl pnhy xzx goxkszj vv gskwwvh xkta yenbsu pidejr rx Zrwici laj krc zx mou. Lw lywcp xxqh sev tgclx lafh.

But everything would be all right regardless. Jjvr ay ms brwp yvrx zx boj sfed rvgwbawek zbrgvpx pnhy lal wsrwknwoegwl.

Focus, focus, focus. Take deep breaths. In   and     out.      In and      out. Take   another step, and  another step   and  stay      calm.

Legend walked into what he at this point felt was an all-too-familiar clearing.

He turned to the fairy. “This is where I last saw the boy.” He let out a pained sigh. “I wish I could have gone after him at the time, but I couldn’t. I hope I can make up for that now. I owe him that much.”

He meant those words, every single one of them.

The fairy was silent for a while. “Do you think you can reach him?”

“I must.”

Yvv jgkjgk wltwsu vazmh zrlh yvv wgnqg fj latgv azh hoe yfwjfjxsgi hyi ohwrj xzty rvwuknpv xzbx otx. “Cxjd rasr, tikwawjf,” zx ktnr. “Pik, rti.”

On that ever-so-cheery note, Legend and the fairy got going. Legend dontioued to hold put hope uhat hf would be abme to savf Link.

This part would be the most dangerous part of this expedition yet, though, especially since Legend was treading new ground. He took more deep breaths and tried to keep himself calm as he went forwards into the unknown. Taking deep breath after deep breath, and step after step, and deep breath after deep breath and step after step and breath and step and breath and step and

108 101 97 118 101

there was something bubbling within him and he was letting it guide him and he was pretty sure it was some sort of instinct and it was probably related to the fact he was a hero

stay calm

leaves and branches and leaves and trees and leaves and branches and leaves and woods and leaves and branches and leaves and trees and leaves and branches and leaves and forest and leaves and branches and leaves and trees and leaves and branches and leaves and woods and leaves and branches and leaves and trees and leaves and branches and leaves

Why do you believe that you are above the rules of the forest in seeking to comprehend this? Turn away while you can.

Do it for Link, do it for Link, do it for Link, do it for Link, do it for Link, do

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𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓂.

The fog was denser than ever. Actually, on second thought, no, it had always been that thick. Legend supposed that, with very little objective reference as to whether he was going the right way, his heart would just jump at any sign that something, anything, was different than earlier.

So on and on and on the hero went
Regardless of those risks of which he knew;
He took the fairy’s silence for assent
And was determined to see this thing through.
He told himself above all things stay calm
Despite all that so far had gone so wrong.
For this there could have been no simple balm,
So all he could do now was to stay strong.
Enchanted though the forest clearly was,
Deterrence in this manner would not work.
Like words he used to justify his cause
As he advanced within the gloomy murk.
Through all this he would go, all to save Link,
No matter if it brought him to the brink.

It occurred to Legend that it might be useful to describe how he was feeling as he pressed deeper in to the fairy.

“I’ve been increasingly feeling like I shouldn’t be here,” he said. “I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the forest enchantment, or something else, like the fact that I might be intruding on the Kokiri.”

It was somewhat odd in that Legend liked to go where he damn well pleased, regardless of what anyone said, so the fact that Legend was almost inclined to heed it seemed quite peculiar.

the forest can see him

“It very well could be due to the enchantment,” the fairy replied. “I’ve actually been feeling this way myself, though I myself am not too sure whether it’s because I’m not from here and am somewhat unfamiliar or whether it’s because it affects me too.”

This could potentially be a bad sign.

103 101 116 32 111 117 116

Legend still needed to keep his head screwed on and to stay calm. This probably wasn’t going to kill him. Even as his heart rate started to pick up and he started to breathe more heavily and his hands began to dampen with sweat.

But the thought that he should start thinking of what conditions under which he should back out was stubbornly persistent in his head, no matter how much Legend tried to push it out. He supposed that, since he was usually relatively cautious, he really would normally entertain the idea more.

Yet Link had said that the point of no return was some ways out from the clearing. Qsxifw boj mfwjsu jsk rcii kvffvh lafb yi otx kzpdbsu ks swrwk inxs hf lafxscj. And indeed, finding the way forward had become increasingly difficult as he pressed on, though he pressed on regardless.

the forest wants him out wants him out wants him out wants him out wants

Fh nlsm uczrl ptich zx gs cskm? Boj lw tqfvevr qcjx? His sense of unease certainly wasn’t going down the deeper he went, desperately trying as he was to keep himself together.

The forest █████████ ███ █████ ████ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██████, ██████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████.

Still, what he needed to do was to stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay calm Stay calm Stay calm Stay calm Stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay calm stay stay stay stay stay stay stay stay stay stay stay stay

Legend pushed some brush aside and found himself standing before another hollow log set into a rock face, exactly like the one he had used to enter the forest. Everything in him desperately wanted to get away from what was within, except for the part of him that was still focused on trying not to panic.

“This looks a lot like the forest’s entrance,” he told the fairy. “But the area around it isn’t the same, so the woods can’t have turned us around.”

“It must go further in.”

Maybe the point of no return was further in. Link had said it was not far from the clearing where they had camped.

Had Legend not gone far? He wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure how long or short of a time it had taken to get here from the clearing. Perhaps the way it was affecting his sense of time was part of what made the forest so dangerous – the danger was being too deep for too long, but with it being had to judge how long it had been people could easily spend too much time in a dangerous part of the forest.

Regardless, there was probably something significant about this passageway.

“Do you think I could go through this safely?”

“I’m not too sure. Maybe you should turn back if the urge to leave gets too strong, though. I think that actually might be connected with the enchantment.”

“I’ll go in, then.” Legend took a few deep breaths in an only partially successful attempt to get his heart rate under control and to calm himself down.

After one last deep breath, he took step after step and advanced into the darkness.

Eventually there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and before long Legend reached it. Here, the ground ended, as if a channel had been cut through it. Over this gap spanned a bridge constructed of rope and long wooden planks, beyond which was another hollow log passageway through rock. To the side of the bridge, sprouting from the ground below, were tall, stout tree trunks that had been cut off below any branches that might have been there, leaving them with the appearance of thick wooden poles.

Here Legend stopped at the foot of the bridge.

“…this is definitely something important,” he said. “In what way, though? I don’t think there’s any way to find out except by going forward.”

“This place gives me the creeps, Veteran,” the fairy said. “Are you sure about this?”

Link probably had to have been here at some point, since the path deeper into the forest apparently went through here.

“I’m not sure we have a choice in the matter if we want to find who we’re looking for.”

It wasn’t like Legend liked the prospect himself. Despite all his efforts, he hadn’t really succeeded in being calm. Not if the audible roar of his heart or the sweat on his palms or his heavy breathing had to say anything about it, anyway.

He wanted to get away from whatever was on the other side of the bridge and hide in some dark hole. But this had never been about what he’d wanted. He still had a duty to fulfill.

With a concerted effort, he lifted a foot and placed it on the bridge, leaning into his step as the bridge sagged an infinitesimal amount and the ropes creaked as they accommodated this new weight.

Despite the fact that the bridge was by all means structurally sound and could clearly support Legend’s weight, he felt somehow that stepping away from the ground behind him and onto the bridge was terribly risky, like as if the bridge wasn’t there at all and he was just stepping off onto thin air.

He took a few breaths that were altogether too short and took another step forward. His heart beat along with a newfound urgency.

Again, it felt distinctly as if the bridge weren’t there, leaving nothing to anchor him as he was free to plummet to the ground below.

He looked around him, noting again those cut tree-trunks on both sides of the bridge. They loomed like sentinels watching the bridge. How many travelers had they witnessed wandering off to their doom amongst the Lost Woods?

Don’t think about that. Just don’t.

Though it felt like his muscles were resisting him the whole way, he took another firm step forward. The distinct feeling of being untethered did not abate, nor did the sound of blood rushing through their vessels in his ears.

More breaths. More breaths. Steady it goes.

If there was any place in this time that Legend would have guessed would be the threshold to another world, it would be this bridge suspended within the murky mist.

Another shaky, haltering step. Every muscle in his body felt more sluggish and heavier the further he moved forward.

With how much his unease increased with every step, it was almost as if this malaise was directed, and its source was right past the bridge. How close was he, then, to the heart of the forest, and those therein that the forest sought at all costs to shelter?

Legend once again wiped his sweaty hands off on his tunic and tried to calm his rapid, uneven breathing. He forced himself to focus on the wood-graining of the bridge planks as he forced another leaden foot forward.

Three things clicked in his panicked mind.

He had felt disconnected as soon as he stepped off the ground onto the bridge, something that was reinforced by bridge’s undeniable liminality, like he was in a void in between. Additionally, not only did his present fear seem to be directly caused by the enchantment, but the way it was growing stronger faster as he advanced suggested that there was some sort of important locus in the forest’s spell that he was near.

Thirdly, Link’s words about the point of no return being not far from the clearing had continued to echo in Legend’s head. He felt like if there was any place that would mark such a point, if the forest did in fact mark it, would appear somehow significant, or perhaps like an entrance… or a threshold. A threshold to the deepest part of the forest, where not only did the enchantment strengthen greatly, but its nature changed from turning away outsiders to keeping them inside in perpetuity.

With all those things in mind, if there was any point where this point of no return was, it was probably this bridge that Legend was on right now.

He looked around himself again. He was now about halfway across the bridge, and he felt rooted in place, like he physically could not move further along.

He managed to still his rapid, shaky breath enough to speak. “I… don’t think I can go further than this.”

“What do you mean?” the fairy asked.

“I… just can’t. There’s something keeping me out. It’s not… tangible, but…” he trailed off.

“You don’t have to go any further than you feel comfortable going.”

The thing was that Legend hadn’t been comfortable with this long before this moment, but up to now he soldiered through. This was different, though.

“I feel like death awaits at the other end of the bridge. Can you feel it? The enchantment is much stronger here.”

“Yeah, I think I know what you’re talking about,” the fairy said. “There’s some strange power flowing from deeper in. It’s like a wall of sorts, I think.”

Legend didn’t really want to say this, but… “I think this is the furthest we can go. Especially if we want to leave alive.”

There was silence for a moment, save for the ambient noise of the creatures of the forest.

The fairy spoke up, after a time. “Let’s turn back.”

△
△△

What happened next was a blur in Legend’s recollection. He didn’t know how long it took, or whether he walked or ran desperately back.

Whatever happened, he arrived back at the forest clearing after an indeterminate amount of time. He stumbled into its center just in time for his adrenaline to wear off, causing him to collapse into an exhausted pile on his hands and knees. He just felt drained.

He had enough strength left in him to move himself over to a tree, against which he sat. As he rested and the terror faded from his mind, the sheer magnitude of everything that had transpired in the last 48 hours slowly sank in.

Legend had failed. He had failed Link not once but twice. Hyrule unfortunately had a point when he had pointed out that this probably wouldn’t have happened had Legend been upfront about the nature of their journey.

The quest was over. He’d f*cked up so thoroughly that there was practically no way to recover. Hyrule probably didn’t want anything to do with him by now, after Legend had insulted him and taken the first opportunity to leave him behind in Kakariko Village. And for what? Link was gone, and probably dead by now.

He let out an anguished scream before curling himself up.

The fairy took notice and hovered in front of his face. “Are you all right?”

Legend did not answer.

“That’s a no, then.”

After a moment, Legend found it in him to speak up. “…I’ve screwed up really bad over the past few days. I think I was in denial for a while, since I thought everything would work out. But… it hasn’t.” He let out a defeated sigh. “It’s more than just the boy. I think I could have stopped him from going here.”

But he hadn’t told Link about the quest, because he was so off-put with some of the ways in which he acted that he chose to wait until he knew Link’s mind better. And he had been so occupied with this that he didn’t interrogate Link’s intentions closely enough, like an idiot.

He wasn’t sure how much he had wanted to say when he had said that last part, about stopping Link from going into the woods, but once he had started, he couldn’t bring it himself to stop. He needed to say this, even if this fairy wouldn’t understand the full extent of this mess.

“It’s just… where do I even begin?” Legend sighed. “I arrived in Hyrule with a companion, and the two of us were on an important mission. We met this boy in Castle Town, and he promised to guide us. And he was pretty good at it, too, much more than you’d expect from someone his age. But… he ran off down there”—Legend pointed eastward—“and I wanted to run after him to try to save him from the forest’s enchantment, but my companion stopped me, and…” Here he paused. “We argued. I… said things. I’m not sure if I can easily unsay those words. We fought. And now I’ve gone in here again despite my companion trying his best to prevent me from doing just that. He’s probably really angry at me. I don’t think he can forgive me for this. I can’t blame him if he didn’t. I’ve just acted really stupidly this whole time.” He trailed off, once again, and silence settled over the forest.

The long silence was broken up by the fairy speaking again. “What I think you need to do is to be more forgiving towards yourself.”

“I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t apply a high standard to myself,” Legend said. “I have to be as competent as I know I ought to be, at least.”

“And what if you don’t meet that standard? What if you make a mistake, like you admit having made here?”

Legend hated making mistakes, especially those he knew he was more than capable of avoiding. Yet they often happened nonetheless, just not ones of this magnitude.

“So what should I do next?” he asked, after a moment. “Do you think my companion will forgive me?”

“…I don’t think your companion is nearly as angry at you as you are at yourself, or you were at him, for that matter,” the fairy replied.

There was a long pause, again.

It was in Legend’s nature as a hero to want to help and save everyone around him. He wanted, or perhaps needed to save Link since it was simply part of who he was.

Yet, though he loathed that crushing feeling of helplessness, he also knew that sometimes there was nothing he could do. He had been thrown into one such situation in Koholint, and he had been forced to completely reconsider his worldview after that had happened.

He knew something like this could always happen again. He wasn’t always guaranteed to succeed. Yet it didn’t make these moments any less painful.

But the world moved on regardless. Legend could learn to move on, too, though it could take a while. He still needed to look forward, even as this matter would consume him inside. He had long ago decided that moments like these were the inevitable toll of the things he was able to accomplish and had accepted that price, though that was cold comfort for the moments when he had to pay it.

“I wish things didn’t have to go the way they did,” he said. “There’s a lot I think I’d do differently if I could do all of it over again. But it’s not like I can turn back the hands of time to three days prior, can I?”

The irony that he was more than capable of moving himself back centuries to change the course of history but couldn’t travel shorter timespans was not lost on him. He wasn’t even sure it was possible, since he was used to time travelling in cases where he simply wasn’t present in the intervening time between his past and present points, which would not apply in this situation, as he had been all too present. If it were possible, it would use a method that he did not yet know about.

Goddesses knew he wished he could have done some things differently, though. Yet there was no way out but forward.

“I’ll survive,” he said. “It might take a while, but I’ll get through this.”

There was always the extremely f*cked up possibility that Link was meant to disappear into the forest, and that preventing it would have had downstream effects. That was something Legend wasn’t going to consider. It was a mere deflection. The truth of the matter was that he messed up.

Legend stood himself up again. “Thanks for hearing me out. It’s been a weight on me for the last couple of days, I think. I’m sorry that I had to burden you with all this information, though. It’s a lot.”

“It’s no problem,” the fairy said.

“I’m not sure what I should do next, but I am certain that my first step is to get out of here.” He could always regret his actions in a place that wasn’t enchanted to put him in mortal danger.

Chapter Text

It had gotten quite late by the time Legend found his way out of the forest. There was no way he was going to get anywhere on Hyrule Field by nightfall, so he had decided to set up camp just inside the forest, right by the exit, where the Stalchildren could not bother him, and then he bade the fairy farewell.

It was the next morning now, and he was awake. Normally, before he got up, he’d refresh himself on what he needed to do for the day, but this time there was no plan. He had had two plans derail on him over the last three days, and now he needed to decide what to do on the spot.

At least he was good at making decisions on the fly. The ability to plan was useless without at least some improvisational skill.

The first priority as always was the quest. While such assessments might be very cold-hearted, the fact was that the price of failing the quest was so much more than just one life. The events of the past few days had been enough of a setback, and as painful as it was to admit it, losing even more of their head start to the slight chance that Link could be found was probably not worth it anymore.

He needed Hyrule, of course, to fulfill the quest. While not having three heroes on the team wasn’t good, not having a team at all was even worse. The only problem with that was that Legend had acted stupidly two days ago and basically insulted Hyrule for making what in hindsight was a somewhat reasonable choice. Legend obviously needed to apologize for that, since he wasn’t a jerk.

Hyrule was most likely in Kakariko Village since that was where Legend had last seen him. There was really no reason to believe otherwise. Ergo, he should go to Kakariko. It wouldn’t be a long journey, and he’d be there by noon.

To do that, he’d have to break camp. He still had some food in his pack, so he could eat a quick breakfast right before he went.

As for what would happen after he found and apologized to Hyrule, well, that depended on how the traveler responded.

Alright. That’ll do for now. He rolled himself out of his sleeping position and stood up. He quickly took in his surroundings and couldn’t help but notice something peculiar.

“Traveler?”

Perched on a branch some distance above him was none other than Hyrule himself. It seemed like he had been watching Legend for some time.

“Morning, Veteran,” Hyrule said with a bit of a smug smile. It almost made Legend suspect he knew what had happened the previous day. How would he, though? He wasn’t there.

He clambered down the tree he had been sitting on.

“When did you get here?” Legend asked.

“I’m sure you’d love to know,” Hyrule said.

Okay, maybe if he had been acting like this, Legend’s actions back when Link departed would have maybe been a little justified.

Hyrule’s attitude aside, this entirely scuppered the plan Legend had hacked together on the spur of the moment. This was happening now, apparently. He now had to completely improvise.

“We need to talk.”

Hyrule’s expression became more serious. “Yes, we do.”

There was a brief pause. It seemed like neither Hyrule nor Legend were particularly enthusiastic about doing this. It was still something that needed doing, though.

“I’m sorry for what I said two days ago,” Legend said. “I was really desperate and angry, I think, though that still doesn’t justify what I said.”

“It’s all right,” Hyrule said. “I never doubted your intentions. You never hesitate to do what you think is the right thing.” He paused. “There’s actually something that I need to tell you myself, though.”

What would Hyrule have to say, that Legend didn’t already know about? He didn’t know, but he decided to hear the traveler out anyway.

Hyrule took a deep breath. “How do I say this…? The night when Link left… at the end of my watch, Link told me that he was going to go deeper in the forest, as part of his own journey. He promised that he’d stay safe, and I figured that he’d know how to, since he clearly knew so much about it.” He trailed off for a moment, before speaking again. “I promised to keep the whole thing a secret from you. For whatever reason, he didn’t want you to know.”

Legend didn’t know what to say.

“I mean, I asked him to stay. Of course I did. We have the quest,” Hyrule continued after another pause. “But… this was clearly so important to him. I… I don’t think there were any particularly good outcomes left by then.”

“…do you think he would have joined us if he knew what we were actually doing, then?”

Hyrule shook his head. “I hinted very heavily at our true purposes, but I don’t think he could have been convinced.” He paused yet again. “I don’t feel like I made these calls very well. It seems like the kind of situation that you’d be better at handling.”

“Yet I was asleep,” Legend said. “Our watch schedule made sure of that.”

“He volunteered to take third shift after you took first.”

“…he was avoiding me, then. I don’t think what I would have done there would have mattered if he was actively preventing me from being there.” Even if Legend had taken second watch, if Link’s mind was that set, then he probably would have snuck off anyway.

Hyrule paused for a moment. “I’m telling you this now, since, I think, at this point, it doesn’t matter what secrets I promised I would keep for Link or not. At this point I don’t think it’s likely we’ll run into him anytime soon. And I don’t feel great about having to hide all that from you. It doesn’t seem worth it at this point.”

“I understand why you would do so, though I’m not sure about your keeping secrets for a person who’s probably dead by now.”

“If there’s anyone capable of surviving that forest enchantment, it’d be him.”

He’d said this before. Yet Legend had been there.

“Traveler… I went deep into the forest yesterday. Deeper than we got last time. I had to turn back. If he went even further…”

“Link told me that he knew his limits. He promised that he would stay safe.”

“Do you think he would have been able to keep that promise?”

“I trust him to.”

Legend wasn’t sure what to say to that. He found words to speak, after some time.

“I think it would have been better for everyone in the end, if you had told me earlier, though I understand why you did so.”

“You would not have listened to me.”

That too was true. Sometimes the need to make a judgement quickly could be very useful, but other times judgements made in haste could go astray. The latter seemed to be the case here.

“I made a lot of mistakes then, Traveler. I can’t promise that I won’t err in the future, but I can say that I will learn and become better. I wouldn’t be what I am now if I didn’t.”

“There’s nothing more either of us can do about Link. That’s up to the goddesses now. We need to focus on our quest.”

Things certainly weren’t going well with the quest, no matter how Legend cut it, what with the hero they were supposed to meet up with now beyond their reach and with no sign of the shadow anywhere. They had pretty much messed up every objective they had set out to accomplish in this era.

“Traveler, while you were in Kakariko yesterday, did you hear anything that might help us know where to go next?”

That question seemed to give Hyrule pause for some reason. “No.”

“Well then.” They weren’t any closer to finding signs of this shadow that they were after than they were a week ago, back in Castle Town. “We still can’t just wait for the shadow to come to us. We still have to seek it out.”

“Agreed.” Hyrule paused for a moment. “Since asking around in towns hasn’t been forthcoming, maybe we might have better luck in places we have yet to explore.”

“That means either the headwaters of Zora’s River or Gerudo Valley. I don’t think Gerudo Valley will be particularly accessible due to the ongoing fears of war between Hyrule and the Gerudo.”

“Then that leaves the river.”

“For some reason, it feels somewhat premature to set out now,” Legend said. “Maybe it’s because of everything that’s happened over the last few days, but I think we might need a bit of time to get used to working with each other again. Just sit still for a while to unwind from… all that.”

Hyrule raised an eyebrow. “Was it that much to you?”

“Traveler, it was everything, even if but for a brief moment.”

“Ah, I see.” Hyrule thought for a moment. “I think you can forgive me for not wanting to stay here in the forest, though. If you want to camp in place, we could always go out to Hyrule Field. It’s literally down there.” He pointed at the forest’s exit.

“I can do that, yeah. Do you want to help me pack, or…?”

“I probably should. It’ll get us out of here faster.”

△
△△

Once they had returned to the open skies of Hyrule Field, Legend asked the traveler if the two could discuss everything that came to pass when Link left, once again, in more detail this time.

Hyrule went and recounted the discussion he had had with Link right before the latter’s departure in full this time. After that, they discussed exactly what had happened when Link left.

“I knew you would go after him,” Hyrule said. “But I made a promise. And I knew that in going after him, you would be putting yourself in far more danger than he would be. He’s had a lot of experience with that forest. You can just tell.”

“I saw that he was going to do something that would certainly get him killed. What choice did I have? Was I meant to magically just know that he’d be fine, when I had no reason to do so?”

“You responded quite poorly when I tried to stop you.”

“I thought Link was about to die and you were preventing me from saving his life.”

Hyrule considered that for a moment. “I think the only thing that would have prevented this mess from happening would have been if we had talked about this prior to his departure. But by the time he told me, there was no way I could have woken you up and told you without him noticing. It was his watch, after all.”

“So Link really didn’t want us to communicate and coordinate on this. Was he that afraid of what I would have said or done?”

“He just told me that he didn’t want to talk to you. I think he sees too much of himself in you.”

“Why should he be afraid of that? Would that not be somewhat reassuring?”

“Only he knows.” Hyrule paused for a moment. “Would you have tried to stop him, if you had known?”

“I can’t say I wouldn’t have.”

“Even if he managed to convince you that the enchantment wouldn’t affect him?”

It was certainly a tricky dilemma. Yet it wouldn’t have been Legend’s first. He knew that sometimes there wasn’t a good resolution to a situation as much as a least bad one. It had been a painful lesson to return, and something about it didn’t quite sit right with him, but it wasn’t like the world was going to stop to strictly comply with one hero’s moral code.

In this case, since letting Link go would endanger the quest (and it had), it carried a risk of endangering everything throughout time. Link had described his own intentions as a journey, but the way he put it didn’t sound like he was on a quest. Even if he was, the threat posed by the shadow was simply greater in magnitude due to how far-reaching it was.

“Again, I wouldn’t be able to rule that out. It is a difficult choice to make, though.” He would have added that he wished Hyrule hadn’t needed to make such a decision, given how painful Legend’s own experience with moral dilemmas could be. He supposed heroes could only last so long until the world caught up with them, however. It was bound to happen.

“Interesting.”

There was silence for a bit longer before Legend spoke up again.

“I think I’m a bit mad at myself for not telling him about the quest before we reached the forest,” he said. “I think that was the fatal mistake there. I think I knew he might try going in alone, but I didn’t think he could manage to leave the two of us.”

“…Maybe we shouldn’t have let him have a watch shift at all, if we wanted him to stay.”

That was pretty dumb in hindsight. It had been a particularly glaring failure of imagination on Legend’s part.

“So, what do we do now?” Legend asked. “I know you wanted to go to Zora’s River. Do you have any idea what we’re looking for?”

“No.”

Legend sighed. “It’s not like any of our options are particularly good. I guess if there’s anything really worth noting it’d be self-explanatory.” He considered things for a moment. “You know, Hyrule Field is just flat enough that we can see for some distance around us. Of course, that’s limited by the hilly terrain, but if anything interesting happens nearby, we’d have a good chance of seeing it and going to investigate. So I feel like we should not only stay here today to unwind from the mess of the last few days, but also to cast our proverbial net wide. We can go to upper Zora’s River tomorrow, I think. It’s only a few hours out.”

“I think we should get higher up on the one of the hills here, then. Probably on the path since Link mentioned back at Lake Hylia that Stalchildren avoid it.”

So that was what it took to get Hyrule to stick to a road: the need for camp to be in a safe location if possible. Not that Legend was under any illusions that the traveler hadn’t at least thought about wandering off to look for something interesting, though Link had probably picked the grottoes clean of anything valuable long ago.

He supposed that he would find out if Hyrule realized that same thing by seeing if he went to bomb random spots on the ground to look for grottoes, since they seemed to be this era’s equivalent to the caves Legend was more familiar with. He hoped the traveler did, if only to preserve the Hyrulean terrain. Rendering it into a moonscape did nobody any favors.

“That sounds reasonable,” Hyrule said. “And, as you said, it’s not like any of our options here are just clearly better than the others. The opportunity to make that clearly better choice passed long before we realized it had.”

Legend had to admit that it was kind of impressive how badly things had gotten messed up just by a set of multiple small, individually innocuous decisions he had made. In the absence of any way for him to just wave his arm and undo all of them, he still had to choose one of the ways still open to him.

Just as he had always done.

“Right. So…” Legend paused. “I guess we ought to do something to pass the time while we’re here.” He pulled out his deck of cards. “What do you want to play?”

“How about something new?”

“Something… new.” Legend thought for a moment. What would be a good card game for this moment? Maybe crazy eights? Or…

An idea hit him, and he could feel his eyes light up. This was going to be good.

“Oh, I know!” he said, rather enthusiastically. “Let’s play 52 pickup!”

Hyrule raised an eyebrow. “52 pickup?”

Good, he didn’t know what was coming.

“Yeah, it’s actually one of my favorite card games, believe it or not. I take it you don’t know what the rules are?”

Hyrule shook his head.

“That’s great. The rules are actually really simple. I’ll explain them as I go.”

Legend went through the cards and eventually found the two jokers. He pulled them out. “This game is played without the jokers.”

He then shuffled the cards a few times. Once done, he put the deck neatly on the ground between the two. “Alright. Are you ready to start?”

“Of course.”

“Great.” And in a single motion, Legend seized the stack of cards and threw it upwards. They quickly dispersed into a cloud that rained cards all over the place. “52! Pickup!” he shouted, with a really smug grin on his face.

Hyrule just stared at him in disbelief for a single moment suspended in time. He then looked around himself at all those cards strewn about all over the place, still with a shocked expression.

“Well?” Legend said, cackling with laughter. “Pick them up!”

Hyrule sputtered incoherently in disbelief. Man, petty revenge felt good.

△
△△

Eventually the day drew to a close and night descended upon Hyrule Field once again.

For this night, the moon was completely full and shone brightly in the sky. As it rose above the horizon, it seemed close enough that it was almost as if either Link could have reached out and touched it. There were no Stalchildren to interrupt the view, since they were camping on the road.

As was agreed to, the two Links broke camp the next morning and set out northeast towards the headwaters of Zora’s River.

It was hard for Hyrule to deny that a lot had happened over the past three to four days. But it seemed like he and Legend had turned the page on that whole mess, so maybe there was still hope for the quest as a whole.

It was hard to tell, what with the shadow they were after nowhere in sight. Hyrule wasn’t even all that certain what he should be looking for. He just hoped whatever it was would be so obvious that he’d recognize it one way or another.

Regardless of all these uncertainties, they set out along the northward road through Hyrule Field, which would take them towards Kakariko and Castle Town to their northwest if the two Links didn’t turn eastward off the road after a couple hours of travel. They reached the river as it flowed through Hyrule Field not too long afterwards.

They had to cross it to continue following it upstream, due to the way the land was laid out. Legend swam across without much trouble. Hyrule walked across with his magic boots.

Legend clearly could not help but give the traveler a quizzical glance.

“I’m sure a lot of your items would seem similarly mystical to anybody else, Veteran,” Hyrule told him.

“I suppose that’s fair.”

That done with, they began to follow the river upstream, their steps joining the never-ending chorus of flowing water. Before long, they had reached the edge of Hyrule Field. Beyond the end of Hyrule Field was a wide gorge that cut through the rock bluffs. Where this channel met the bluffs, it formed a large tunnel that opened up into the field, through which the river flowed. The two Links followed it upstream along its northern bank, while the southern bank met the wall of the canyon.

The river snaked northwards after the end of the tunnel, while the land sloped upwards away from the water. As they continued to walk, the flowing water crescendoed into a dull roar, as some distance from them the river rushed through a short waterfall as its channel dropped from the height at the end of the slope down below.

The way forward was blocked at the end of the slope, however, by a wall and by a line of boulders that continued past the end of the wall.

“Hm,” Legend said as he walked up to them.

“Bomb it,” Hyrule said.

Legend drew his sword and struck one of the boulders with its pommel. “Well, it’s definitely worth a shot,” he said, after sheathing it.

He pulled out a bomb, placed it down, and lit the fuse. He and Hyrule dove for cover before the bomb exploded, sending small chunks of rock flying everywhere.

Once the impromptu stone rain had finished, Hyrule and Legend were free to walk through the space where the boulders had previously been.

A short distance upstream of that wall was a circle of small rocks, above which a couple of butterflies were fluttering. There was also, for whatever reason, a Cucco wandering around near the circle.

Legend seemed to notice Hyrule’s interest in the circle. “Don’t.”

“Aw, come on, Veteran.”

“Yes, I know there’s probably a grotto in there. But I’m more worried about the Cucco. They can be vicious.”

They continued as the river curved eastward again, though it very quickly became clear that the way forward on this side of the river was blocked, this time by a tall metal fence. As the river curved, though, it got a new southern bank that was separate from the canyon wall.

There was also a man sitting at the foot of the fence chomping on something, but Hyrule decided that this was not his concern, since the man seemed perfectly content with whatever he was doing.

“I know you can just walk around the fence,” Legend said, “but I’ll have to be a bit more creative, especially since the river seems to be too fast to swim upstream. I could use the Switch Hook but you’d… actually, no, I’ve got it.” He pulled out his Roc’s Cape and used it to leap over to the other side of the river, walked to past where the fence was, and jumped back across.

A somewhat bemused Hyrule did, in fact, simply walk around the fence. Given how choppy some of the water further upstream seemed to be, this probably wasn’t a trick he could pull every time here, but it was still handy to have.

Why was the river choppy? Further upstream the river split into two. The south rivulet went into the river off another short waterfall, while the northern one curved northwards under a natural rock bridge that spanned from the northern bank to the spit of land between the two halves.

As Hyrule and Legend looked around, they could see that the rock had been weathered into rough terrain, some of which stood high in the middle of the river.

“Did the river do this?” Legend asked. Hyrule couldn’t think of any better explanation.

They worked their way further upstream, though it took some hard work, a bit of climbing, and some item use.

Eventually, the canyon suddenly got much narrower. They crossed a bridge over the river to a piece of land on the left side of the canyon, and after turning a corner, saw what seemed to be end of the uplands.

The canyon opened up very slightly at the end, which was spanned by three archways weathered into the rock that zigzagged from one side to the other. Behind these, at the very end, was a great waterfall, taller than all the others, above which water issued forth and was lost in a great cloud of mist at the bottom where the falls met the river. A trio of butterflies were fluttering around just in front of the waterfall.

“I guess Zora’s Fountain must be above there.” Legend said, looking up at the falls. He paused. “Do Zoras live in there? The name has to come from somewhere, right? We haven’t seen any Zoras in the river.”

They had run into a couple of Octoroks, that was for sure, but no Zoras.

“Maybe it’s a misnomer,” Hyrule said.

“Perhaps. It’s strange, though. River Zoras are very territorial. If the river is named after them then there’s probably some around here, but… if they do, they would have absolutely announced their presence.”

“Wouldn’t Link have warned of them, too?” Link had warned of the military tensions off west in Gerudo Valley, and of the enchantment in the Lost Woods. He definitely would have mentioned the presence of fish monsters with a tendency to spit at people.

“That’s a great question. There are some River Zoras that can be reasoned with, though, so maybe Link’s contact with them might have been limited to those.”

That would be news to Hyrule.

“What I can say is that there’s probably at least a few living behind the waterfall,” Legend said. “They tend to like that sort of environment.”

Maybe they should have asked Link about that. It just hadn’t seemed important at the time. It probably still wasn’t important, for that matter.

They got going again. They followed the bit of ground they were standing on as it sloped upwards and met the first rock arch. This archway was a short jump from where the second and third ones met and merged in front of an alcove in the canyon wall. The two Links decided to set up camp on this platform, right by a deep pond within the alcove.

Once they were mostly unpacked, Legend walked over to a stone plaque in the middle of the third arch. “It says that this is the Sleepless Waterfall. ‘The flow of this waterfall serves the King of Hyrule. When the King slumbers, so too do these falls.’ I take it they probably wouldn’t want us snooping behind there, then, Zoras or no.”

Legend walked back, and the two Links rested in the shade of the alcove for a while.

“Veteran, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“You mentioned something about ‘river’ and ‘ocean’ Zoras. I haven’t heard of any sort of distinction between Zoras.”

Legend raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, if you’ve only encountered one type of Zora, they’re probably River Zoras. You know, the ones that spit at you from the water.”

Hyrule nodded. “Definitely seen those kinds.”

“Ocean Zoras are also fish people, but in a different way? Instead of, like, green or teal or stuff, they’re light blue. They’re a lot friendlier and as far as I’m aware don’t have a spitting attack. But I’ve only met them deep below the waves south of Labrynna, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if you’ve never run into them. I think they sort of just keep to themselves.”

“Kind of wish the other kind of Zoras would do that.”

“Yeah, it’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

The sun disappeared behind the top of the waterfall at around midafternoon, casting the canyon into shade though it was still light.

“By the way, Traveler,” Legend said at this time, “did we establish if Stalchildren show up here?”

“I’m not completely certain. But we’re in a very defensible spot, if it has to come to that. I guess we’ll find out in a few hours.”

The day slowly gave way to the beginnings of night, but with it came no Stalchildren. That was the answer to that question.

“Traveler, I’ve been wondering if you’ve been looking down into the pond,” Legend said, shortly after nightfall.

“Not really, and it might be too dark now.”

“The water’s just clear enough that you can see something down there. It looks like a passageway.”

“We should probably investigate it, then.” Hyrule would do it himself if he could swim.

“Yeah, I was thinking about it,” Legend said. He pulled off his boots, took a set of flippers out of his bag and put them on. “I’ll let you know what I find down there.”

With that, he set himself down into the pond, and with a kick of his flippers swam down into the hole.

Hyrule was left by himself in the light of Legend’s lantern. He wondered what Legend might find. Hopefully something interesting.

Legend popped back up not too long afterwards, his expression dead serious. “I think you might want to see this, Traveler.”

△
△△

The passage at the bottom of the pond wasn’t all that long, but there was something about it that made Legend feel like he had passed through a portal. That he was going to a place that was further away than the tunnel’s length let on.

And then he surfaced on the other side to see an all too familiar fog and trees with the occasional dancing, floating lights.

This was the Lost Woods.

Immediately panic shot through Legend’s mind, though he caught ahold of himself shortly. He needed to stay calm. As long as he didn’t wander around he was right on top of a way out. Yes, he didn’t belong here, he knew that.

As he climbed out of the pool, and took in his surroundings, he noticed a couple of things that were different than the part of the Lost Woods that he was in. There wasn’t the constant sound of forest creatures like there had been last time, and in its place was the ghostly sound of incessantly cheerful ocarina music.

The area was bounded by rock on all sides, though there were three passageways out through hollow logs set in them, like with the forest entrance.

And like with the bridge. Much more like with what the bridge had been like. Which meant he must have been as deep or even deeper than the bridge even though the bridge had been the no return point which meant that he

no

Legend stayed calm. He thought about what he needed to do next. He needed to get out of here, obviously. He didn’t need any more exposure to the forest’s enchantment. He should probably tell Hyrule about what he saw, too, since this discovery might necessitate moving camp a fair bit.

But did words really convey the peril that Legend had found himself on the doorstep of? No, it would probably be best to show Hyrule firsthand. But first, to get out of here.

Legend dove back into the pond and swam back through the tunnel at the bottom. To his relief, he surfaced back right at camp, with Hyrule looking at him.

“I think you might want to see this, Traveler,” he said. He had to be honest about this. Especially after what had happened the past few days.

“How do you expect me to get across?” Hyrule asked. “I can’t swim.”

Legend thought for a moment. “I could probably pull you across. You have to hold your breath, of course. Just try not to panic.”

“Alright.” Hyrule carefully lowered himself into the water, though he held on to the edge of the pond. Legend could tell that he was still a bit worried.

“Ready?” Legend asked.

Hyrule nodded.

“Take a deep breath.”

Hyrule breathed in, and then Legend pulled him down into the water and through the tunnel.

The two heroes surfaced on the other side. Hyrule gasped for breath upon surfacing, and slowly dragged himself out of the water. Legend got the distinct mental image of a wet cat watching this.

He looked around. “Wait, this is the Lost Woods.”

Legend nodded. “It’s right here. It really shouldn’t be. But it is.” He pulled himself out of the pool. “I don’t think words really can put across how dangerous this can be.”

“We might have to move camp, then.”

“At least there aren’t Stalchildren? So I don’t think it matters where we decide to move camp to. It’s more of a matter of space.”

Hyrule nodded, and then paused. “What’s with that music?”

“No idea,” Legend said, “and I don’t think we should stick around to find out.”

“I’m with you there.”

Legend was about to turn back towards the pool when something caught his ears. He turned suddenly towards Hyrule, who had also seemed to have heard something.

“You heard that, didn’t you?” Hyrule said in a hushed tone.

Legend nodded silently.

The sound slowly got louder, enough that Legend could identify it as some sort of steps.

“I don’t think we have time to get out of here before whatever that is arrives,” Legend whispered. “We have to face it.”

Hyrule nodded and drew his sword. Legend did likewise.

The steps got closer.

Legend breathed in, and out. In, and out. He kept himself calm but guarded.

Closer still.

Legend’s heart beat hard in his chest, ready for whatever would come next.

Closer still.

A small reddish-brown shape—no, a horse. A small reddish-brown horse carrying a green-clad figure walked out of one of the logs.

Wait. No.

That was Epona. And that meant that the person on top was…

As Hyrule and Legend stood there, transfixed by shock, Epona walked closer to them.

Link was slumped over on Epona’s back, his eyes only slightly open. He seemed aware of his surroundings, but just barely.

As Epona stopped before the two heroes. Link lifted his head slightly and regarded them with those two bright blue eyes of his, though this time they were absent of their apparent glow.

“Whence…?” Link said weakly.

And then he went limp and fell off of Epona.

Chapter Text

Link slowly opened his eyes to the sight of the foggy skies above the Lost Woods. He still felt exhausted, but also somewhat relieved.

He was back in Hyrule. There had been some moments, sometimes, where he had wondered whether he would ever see it again, or whether he would continue to be trapped in a cycle that was at least partially of his own making for the rest of his days.

He was lying down on his back, on the grass. He didn’t know where Epona was but tried not to worry about it. What mattered was that he was free.

And yet he wasn’t sure how he could go back to experiencing new events for the first time, new things that he didn’t know would happen beforehand. The idea of going back to that was exciting and terrifying and all sorts of other things at once.

And then what? The best idea Link had was to continue his search for Navi. He remembered, once, though it now seemed like an entire lifetime ago happening to a whole different Link, that he felt like he could not go on without his onetime companion. The matter of Navi was still the big unanswered question in Link’s life, though other things remained unanswered too.

But for now, Link could content himself with not having the shadow of doom constantly looming over him. No more time limits, and no more cycles. He moved his fingers around in the grass, getting a feel for each blade. He took a few deep breaths of the air. They were all familiar to him, from those much simpler times that seemed now an eternity ago. But after everything he had been through recently, it was still good to be back.

A face popped into view, leaning over him. A young man with brown hair and a bit of a button nose, looking down at him with a concerned expression. He was dressed in a green tunic above brown.

He turned his head. “Veteran, he’s awake!”

He was joined by another young man, though with strawberry blond hair with a stripe of pink on one of his sideburns. He wore a red tunic, embroidered with gold, over dark green.

He’d seen them before. From where?

He tried to recall everything that had happened after he had defeated Majora, the evil being in that mask. He had woken up on Termina Field to the sight of Tatl and Tael, in a manner quite similar to the situation he was in now, actually, in time for the Giants and the Happy Mask Salesman to leave. Over the next few hours, he tried to tie off all the remaining loose ends he still had in Termina and bring closure for those three whose forms he had used on his quest. Those that he could not have saved.

And then he returned to Hyrule and left for parts unknown. And now he was here.

“How do you feel?” Veteran (that was what the green one had called him) asked.

“Tired, I think,” Link said.

Link was pretty sure he knew why he thought they looked familiar. He thought he had seen them the previous day, though he had been so tired then that he wasn’t sure if he actually did.

No, it was deeper than that. He had seen them before, right? A long time ago?

Oh.

He had seen them before. Before everything.

“How long as it been?” he asked.

“Four days,” responded Veteran.

Right. It had only been four days for them. Those three days and the one afterwards. Yet Link struggled to recall how long it had been for him.

“Where’s Epona?” Link asked.

The green one gestured past Link. Link turned his head to see that, yes, Epona was sitting there, watching Link as well.

He really was the center of attention here. Wow.

Link just wanted to sleep more. He felt like he had earned it.

“You should get rest,” the green one said. The pink one nodded solemnly.

Link could agree with that.

△
△△

Link felt a lot better the next time he woke up. He let his mental faculties start themselves back up again and return him to full wakefulness. It usually took about fifteen minutes for this to happen.

He was so conditioned to trying to parcel out when he could sleep to accommodate what he wanted to do each cycle. It felt so strange being able to do so whenever he wanted.

He slowly sat up with a yawn, which clearly got the attention of those two attending to him.

Veteran knelt down next to him and gave him a piece of jerky. “Hey, Link, eat up.”

So they know his name? Link could vaguely recall that he had travelled with them briefly before going to Termina. It wouldn’t be that surprising, he supposed.

Link ate the food in small bites. As he did so, his stomach seemed to start asserting its presence with a vengeance. Perhaps it had been roused into remembering how empty it was.

He took in his surroundings again. He recognized this place, actually. This was the place in the Lost Woods with the exit towards Zora’s River. His stuff was laid out to his side, most prominently among them being his Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield.

He could still make out the sound of Saria’s Song drifting through the forest, as well. A reminder of what he once considered home.

“Have you two been in here this whole time?” he asked the other two.

They shook their heads but didn’t seem particularly inclined to specify beyond that.

“We’ve only stayed here only so you could rest,” Veteran said. “If you’re feeling up to it, we can leave now. But I’m not sure how we can get Epona across.”

“Don’t worry about her,” Link said. “I can always call her later.” He refastened his bags and his sword and shield to himself.

“I have to basically pull Traveler across,” Veteran said, “so you can go on ahead.”

The green one went by ‘Traveler,’ then? He felt like he had known this once and probably still should have known. He couldn’t have asked, though, since it had been only four days to them, and it would have seemed terribly rude to forget them so quickly.

“Alright, thanks.” Link dove into the pond and swam through the tunnel to Zora’s River. He surfaced to the sight of a camp laid out before him. So they hadn’t spent all their time in the forest after all.

Traveler and Veteran surfaced shortly afterwards. Traveler in particular looked a lot less dignified when completely drenched. Link snorted slightly in laughter.

“Hey!” Traveler said. This did not make him look any more dignified than he already did. He clawed his way out of the water in a way that made Link suspect that he really was not accustomed to this.

Veteran climbed out much more easily. “So, Link, now that you’re back, there’s a conversation we need to have. About why Traveler and I are here.”

Was Link supposed to know this already? If he had, he couldn’t remember.

Link stayed silent.

Veteran took a deep breath. “I know we introduced ourselves as travelers. We’re more than that, however.”

“We told you that we go by ‘Traveler’ and ‘Veteran,’” Traveler said. So those were effectively their names. “The truth is, we have the same name. He and I are named Link.”

Wait, what?

“The two of us are heroes from different eras,” Veteran said. “From the future, we believe. We’ve had similar experiences, in that we’ve both defeated Ganon. We’re here because there is a shadow that is threatening Hyrule throughout all of time.”

…alright, when Link had decided to go out on a journey of self-discovery, this was not what he had meant by that at all. What the f*ck?

“And we’ve been bothering you in particular because we’re very sure that you’re the Hero of this era,” Traveler said. “Plus, you’ve been gone for four days, but your equipment’s all different. No ordinary child could do that.”

Link had had more than four days to get them. Way more than that. But Link knew that they knew that he was the Hero. Denying it wouldn’t go anywhere.

But how much did they know, beyond that?

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, you’ve got me. I’m a Hero. Do you happen to know what my specific title as Hero is?”

Veteran shook his head. “We know that you know some important things about time travel, but not much beyond that.”

Wow, that was really upfront from him. All the better so Link could try to bury his failings in his first adventure. They would simply never need to know.

After all, Tatl didn’t, either.

If Link had to take up the role of Hero once more, he needed to reinvent himself for this particular matter. The parts of him that weren’t important didn’t need to be shown.

“I suppose I should talk a little bit about what I’ve done, then,” Link said. “I’m the Hero of Termina. I have been trapped in a great gyre in the current of the river of time. What has been but a few days to you since I gave my farewells has been far longer to me than it has been to you.”

Ooh, that sounded confident. A good quality.

“We’ll be travelling throughout various eras in time in pursuit of the shadow,” Veteran said. “We believe your firsthand experience with the strictures of time travel will be invaluable going forward. We would be honored if you could come with us.”

That cleared up all uncertainty about their intent, then.

Link had intended to go after Navi again. Why Navi? Because only she understood what he had been through. Only she could understand, he had told himself. And he still needed the closure.

But these two heroes before him! They had fought Ganon themselves. They knew what it was like, right? Maybe in traveling with them he could better understand what it was that Heroes do, and what that by extension made him.

They wouldn’t know as much as Navi did, and they would never need to, just like Tatl. It’d be another step on his personal journey, like Termina had been in a fairly messed up way. And maybe, along the way, he might get ideas about what to do next once this nebulous shadow was defeated.

“I accept your invitation, Veteran,” Link said.

“Great!” Legend smiled. “And one last thing. What do you want us to call you?”

A nickname to go with this new identity that Link would be traveling with, as the expert time traveler who had gone through Termina and saved it from certain doom. It had to be something that could sum up everything this persona was. Names were a central part of identity, after all.

Link was many things in Termina. He had been the Hero, and Link too. But he had also been Darmani and Mikau too, after those identities’ original bearers perished.

Link was a very meaningful name in itself. It was a name of heroes. Yet in a group that was all heroes, that was the baseline, and correspondingly everyone was named Link. The names Traveler and Veteran had chosen summed up who they were outside of that.

The name he needed to choose for himself needed to distinguish himself beyond the heroism of his given name. And yet the question of what he was outside of his role as a hero was why he had started to travel again.

He was a child who wore masks, though. Masks, both literal and figurative. Perhaps if Navi and Tatl were to somehow come together and pool all they knew about Link, there could be someone other than Link within the wide confines of the world who knew him in his entirety, but he could count with his own two hands all the people who had seen more than one or two facets of his identity. He wore different masks, sometimes literally, in different situations and most people would have just seen the masks.

The identity he was crafting for himself right now was one such mask, in fact.

“Call me Mask.”

He wasn’t sure whether he had entirely intended to say this out loud, but it fit.

“Mask? Might I ask why?”

“It fits me, I think. Masks have been quite a significant part of my life. I ought to pay homage to them somehow.”

“Welcome to the team, then, Mask.”

Things were turning out new and unexpected, alright. Maybe Mask could get used to some uncertainty in his life.

△
△△

“Mask, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about this era?” Legend asked. “Now that you know who we really are, I mean.”

Mask smiled. “Sure.”

“Have you ever heard of a ‘Hero of Time?’”

Mask’s smile faltered. Did they know? He hoped they didn’t know.

“What do you know about them so far?” he said carefully.

“There’s a fragmentary inscription on the altar in the Temple of Time that mentions the Master Sword and the Hero of Time. It’s weird, because from what I know of the history of my era, there might not have been one.”

“The inscription shouldn’t say that,” Mask said, almost impulsively. It shouldn’t be there at all. It was only supposed to be there after the sword had been pulled and ruined everything. And now that accursed sword had never been pulled. It simply shouldn’t be there. “Did something go wrong with…” He trailed off and took a second to collect his thoughts.

“It’s quite simple, Veteran,” he said, after a moment. “The Hero of Time never existed. They did, once upon a time, but in waging their wars across time they ended up erasing an entire timeline and themselves along with it.”

It was almost true, in a metaphorical sort of way. Everything he had done as the Hero of Time had been reduced to nothing. The ‘Hero of Time’ meant nothing, was nothing, ever since Zelda had sent him back.

“It goes to show the dangers of time travel,” he concluded. “You can negate your own existence.”

“Mask,” Hyrule said, “what’s a ‘timeline?’” The whole conversation was seemingly a bit much for the traveler, though a quizzical expression on Legend’s face suggested that he had the same question.

Oh, Mask had used that term. He hadn’t realized. He really needed to be more careful with these things.

“I’ve been time traveling enough myself that I’ve come to use a more abbreviated set of terms to describe how it flows. You know it as a river, flowing from past to future, correct?”

Legend and Hyrule nodded.

“Think of how rivers get abstracted down to lines on a map, flowing from one point to another. A timeline is, in a literal sense, that for the river of time, in a straight line going from left, in the past, to right, in the future.”

Something in Legend’s eyes simply lit up, and he quickly started rummaging through his bag until he drew forth a rolled-up piece of parchment. He unrolled it to show what looked a bit like a fork, with one line on the left splitting into three going to the right.

“The Oracle of Ages in my time drew this diagram to illustrate a sort of ‘split’ in the river, as it flowed into three separate streams. Would this be a timeline?”

Mask nodded and then paused. “Wait, did your Oracle draw the timeline as splitting in three? What the f*ck is going on there?”

“Language!” Legend said, seemingly on instinct.

“I’ll say whatever the f*ck I want,” Mask said in response.

Legend stared at him with a mixture of confusion and slight reproachfulness. After a couple of seconds, he just gave a resigned sigh.

“Anyway, as far as we know, it’s just like that. We know that something caused it, but not what. Nayru—the Oracle, not the Goddess—suggested that there was some sort of tragedy underpinning it, but she didn’t provide any details. We just know that it happened sometime after your era.”

Well, it couldn’t have been from anything Mask did. The timeline where he did pull the Master Sword, curse it, no longer existed. And that wouldn’t explain why there were three timelines after the split, anyway.

“Veteran, I’m surprised you’ve been keeping up with this discussion as well as you have. I thought you’d be more confused, like Traveler seems to be.” Mask gestured at Hyrule, who seemed like he was trying his best. Time travel was complicated. He couldn’t blame him.

“I’ve had a fair share of time traveling experience myself. Probably not as much as you, but some.”

“So you understand how much of a headache it could be. Nothing makes sense.”

Legend nodded. “I have a friend who almost erased himself by trying to kill his distant ancestor.”

“Wow. That’s… something.” Mask paused. “So I hope you’ll understand when I say that we should be careful. We don’t need to erase ourselves and our entire timeline like the Hero of Time did.”

Mask’s own personal motives aside, it was important to be careful with time travel. That needed to be emphasized.

A short lull in the group rapport ensued that was only interrupted when Mask decided to speak again.

“Enough about me. I don’t think I ever learned that much about the two of you in the end. So, now that none of us are under any pretenses that we are anything other than who we truly are, how about you tell me something of your own experiences as Heros?”

Mask knew that asking about this this early would mean that they wouldn’t say everything, but that was alright. He could always find out those other, more hidden things later.

He had all the time in the world to do so.

“I’m really just a simple traveler above all things,” Hyrule said. “All this hero business comes along with it, of course, but I really don’t feel like one of those characters in those stories. I just like to explore and discover things, and along the way I happen to have helped a lot of people.”

That was interesting. Hyrule didn’t seem to be actively struggling with that part of him, but as core as it was to who he was there were still other things he seemed to value more about himself.

“I’m not sure if any of us consciously try to fit into that image that stories tend to give their heroes, Mask,” Legend said. “We’ve always tried to be ourselves. I think it’s just that everything seems grander if you aren’t in the middle of it all.”

Mask would disagree with him there. He knew from experience that being able to control how he presented himself was a very significant boon. If he acted a certain way, he could be treated more seriously, or appear beneath notice. Not to mention how his masks helped him do this even more effectively.

And there was so much that Mask could do simply with the ability to feign confidence. He didn’t even need to actually be confident—as long as he acted like he knew what he was doing convincingly enough, other people wouldn’t think too hard about what was going on.

It wasn’t like people would see him as who he was even if he tried his best to act naturally, anyway.

“Your nickname implies that you’ve had plenty of experience, Veteran. How has that informed you as to how you view your own role as the Hero?”

“It’s true that I go on quests a lot. Adventuring is fun. I couldn’t imagine spending that long doing anything other than being on the road. I’ve travelled more in the span of a few years than most people will in a lifetime. And of course I care a lot about doing the right thing. Nothing can stand in the way of that. I think it’s those two things that drive me and make me who I am.”

Legend really was into his own status as Hero, then. He had a passion for questing and for helping others, both things Mask deemed crucial traits for a hero. He seemed to be the most, well, hero-y out of the Heroes.

Mask did not really consider himself that much of a Hero. He had always wanted to be one, of course, but his own adventure through Hyrule had left him wondering if that was really what he wanted. He could play the part convincingly, but was it truly who he was? Did that question really matter?

If there were easy answers to those questions, he wouldn’t be here right now, and he probably wouldn’t have been in Termina, for that matter.

“I would ask about stories from each of your own adventures, but I think maybe they would be better told at a different time,” Mask said.

“Over dinner sounds like a great time to do so,” Legend said. “I know I have a lot of stories that I could tell.”

Hyrule nodded. “Same for me, though probably not nearly as much as Veteran. He’s really done everything.”

“I wish that I had stories of my own I could tell,” Mask said. “But I don’t think my experiences make for good stories.”

That wasn’t really true. Mask just didn’t want to talk about them.

“Well, that’s alright,” Legend said. “I hope this coming adventure will give you plenty of moments that you can retell. I know I myself am excited to do this with other people who share a love of adventure in a way that I’d thought was unique to me.”

That was the essential appeal of the quest, wasn’t it? The chance to travel with others who understood. It was probably the main reason Mask signed on.

Just because he wasn’t planning on sharing much of himself didn’t mean he couldn’t come to understand the others’ worldviews and use that to better understand his own.

 “I look forward to that, then. I think it’ll be fun listening to what stories the two of you have to tell.”

“And let us make some new moments worth remembering!” Hyrule added.

Another brief pause, before Mask spoke up again.

“The two of you mentioned you defeated Ganon, right?”

Both Legend and Hyrule nodded.

“Ganon shouldn’t exist, though. He doesn’t have a way to get the Triforce of Power, since his plot to steal it has been exposed. So what happened?”

“The myths in my time said that Ganondorf happened upon the entrance to the Sacred Realm on accident,” Legend said. “It’s really vague, but the way in was just sort of unguarded, I think?”

“…wow.” Mask wasn’t sure what to say. “The only way into the Sacred Realm is behind the Door of Time, though. That’s not opening any time soon. The keys are all scattered throughout the land.”

“It’s really baffling, I agree,” Legend said. “We’re missing something. I don’t know what, but we just are.”

“And what about you, Traveler?” Mask asked.

“Well, the best we know is that, after Veteran defeated him, he stayed dead for a few hundred years, but then was resurrected somehow and then went to steal the Triforce of Power.”

Mask thought for a moment. “Whatever happened, it seems like my actions have only bought time. Ganon doesn’t exist. He shouldn’t exist, at least anymore. There’s only just Ganondorf. And yet…” he trailed off.

“Mask, think of it like this,” Legend said. “Every time we defeat evil means that people can live their entire lives without the shadow of evil looming over their lives for several generations. Your actions would mean something to them.”

And yet the irony of the matter was that they didn’t. They couldn’t. Nobody except Mask and Navi now knew just how large of a threat that Ganon was, and now that his theft of the Triforce had been averted (at least for this era) nobody else would ever know. They would just have words, and words paled in comparison to true knowledge.

But at least his actions did actually make a difference for the better? He was pretty sure he could live with that.

“That helps.” Mask paused for a while. “So, what do you know so far about the quest? What is this shadow that you’re chasing?”

“We don’t quite know just what it is, but it can travel through time, which means that the threat isn’t just in one era.”

“We’re three heroes. Is this shadow such a threat that we need multiple heroes?”

Legend nodded solemnly. “And we’re pretty sure we’ll need even more heroes.”

“…wow.”

“If the three of us are anything to go by,” Hyrule said, “then we’ll all be fairly similar. We’ll all be named Link, and have defeated some great evil, probably Ganon. I think three of us being like this is enough to say that this is not a coincidence.”

An entire team of heroes like Mask? Heroes that share that same name of Link?

“A group of Links, you say?” Mask said. “Would that be called a chain?”

Legend and Hyrule immediately groaned at the pun.

Mask smiled. “Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all day.”

“Please never say that again, Mask,” Legend said.

“No promises.” Mask paused. “So, if you don’t know much about this shadow, what have you been doing then?”

“Searching for anything suspicious,” Legend said. “We haven’t really seen anything really out of the ordinary yet, but we have to keep our eyes peeled.”

“We’re hoping to find something that might give us a lead on where to go next, especially since our main task in this era, finding you, is now done,” Hyrule said. “We weren’t given pointers for that like we were about you, so we’re just waiting for something to happen that we can investigate. Personally, I think the best way to do it is for us to explore the area independently, but I doubt Veteran is going to give that the go-ahead.”

“And you’d be right, Traveler,” Legend said. “If whatever we’re up against is dangerous enough that we need to gather multiple Heroes from across time to oppose it, then we’re putting ourselves in unnecessary risk by splitting up. Plus, Traveler, with what happened a couple days back, you should know better than to recommend splitting up.”

Did something happen while Mask was in Termina?

“Fair,” Hyrule said. “One way or another, that’s not happening.”

…and the subject moved away from whatever that was already. Between how quick Hyrule was to do so, and the way Veteran referred to it only indirectly, Mask got the distinct impression that this was probably not something he should bring up right now.

It would be something he would have to find out about later.

“I take it you’ve asked around already?” Reasonably, they should, but it was worth asking.

Hyrule nodded. “We didn’t catch word of anything that would really help us. Maybe we just haven’t found the right person to ask, honestly. We’ve been speculating that the Royal Family might know, but we haven’t had the chance to try to sneak into the castle yet.”

“I don’t think it’s likely they can help,” Mask said. “I spoke with Princess Zelda when I was in Hyrule Castle before I set out for the forest. She would absolutely have told me if she had any premonitions of a threat to Hyrule. She always knew what was up with Ganondorf, after all; she just didn’t have proof of her allegations.”

Legend seemed to ponder that last part for a moment. “What was the thing that really proved that he was after the Triforce?”

Mask gave a grim smile. “That’s between the Royal Family and the Goddesses now, I think.”

He was the only witness now to those deeds and actions, since undone. Navi had been, too, but she was missing.

The veteran did not seem altogether satisfied with that answer, but he let the matter go. At least for now. Mask’s recollection of those times immediately before Termina were fuzzy due to how long ago now it was, but he was pretty sure Legend didn’t easily let go of questions.

Mask made a mental note to make sure the veteran never got the chance to question certain specific things about him.

“Regardless,” Legend said, “I do think that there is someone in this era who probably might know better than most of what the shadow might target in your era.” He paused. “You, Mask. You’re unusually perceptive. So what do you think an evil seeking to threaten this era as it currently stands might strike at first?”

Unusually perceptive? It was always true that Mask always knew more than the way he presented himself would otherwise suggest, unless he was outwardly presenting himself as the Hero. He was, to many of the people in Hyrule Castle, a messenger of fate, or perhaps a seer, able to bear witness to that which had not yet happened.

Yet if Mask could look forward, it was only because he had stumbled headlong into the unknown darkness beyond before running backwards and looking behind him. He only knew what would happen when he had already experienced them for himself without any sort of future guidance and returned to before, whether it had been in Hyrule or Termina. Was that truly foresight?

Unusually perceptive? He bore the ability to see the truth through lenses and through masks. He could see things otherwise hidden, from platforms to chests to the inner thoughts and desires of others.  The Happy Mask Salesman had warned him once that that last ability, the ability to pierce through the masks people put themselves behind and see them for who they truly are, was a scary one to wield. He hadn’t understood what he had meant by that at the time.

Mask understood far better now. He had never tried to see into people with the Mask of Truth, since he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like what he saw. People needed their masks, after all. The prospect of being laid bare before that glaring eye, to be truly seen, was naturally terrifying. In the end, did he really want to see the truth, when he himself so often hid from it?

If he was unusually perceptive, then it was as much a curse as it was a blessing.

“What would an evil force strike at, if it wanted to put Hyrule at as much threat as possible?” Mask paused for a moment. “I think, ultimately, it would want to strike at me.”

He bore three of the keys to the Door of Time. He carried the Kokiri’s Emerald, the Ocarina of Time, and was the only person outside of Hyrule Castle itself who knew the Song of Time. He now carried the burden his onetime protector, the Great Deku Tree, bore, and in carrying just that single Spiritual Stone, had been large a link in the seal on the Door of Time as the entirety of the Gorons and Zora were. With the Ocarina and the song…

“You?” Legend seemed taken aback. “What have you done, that you think the shadow would strike at you specifically and not, say, the Royal Family?”

“I know too much, I think. I have borne witness to that which nobody else knows of.” He paused. “Not to mention that, in the end, I am the Hero. With me out of the way, what hope is left for the land?”

“There are ways for evil to be vanquished in the absence of a Hero,” Legend said, “but that is a conversation we must have another time. It is not a matter immediately important to the quest, though it is something I am intensely curious about.”

That was an interesting claim. Mask needed to know more about this, in time. But now was not the time for it.

“I know what it’s like to be targeted in particular due to being the Hero,” Hyrule said. “So if the shadow is targeting you, we’ll probably be able to tell before long. The shadow is probably going to want to send monsters after us one way or another simply because we’re seeking to stop it.”

At this point, honestly, what hadn’t either Legend or Hyrule experienced?

“I suppose I’ll need to trust Traveler’s judgement on this, then,” Legend said. He seemed to put a bit more emphasis on that word trust for whatever reason. It probably wasn’t a conscious choice on his part. “Whether or not the shadow is after you in particular, the safest place you could possibly be is with us.”

That was pretty hard to argue with. He supposed it was another benefit of being part of this group.

“To go back to your original question, about how we’re going to find a lead on the shadow,” the veteran continued, “in the worst-case scenario, the shadow is going to start moving more openly as whatever its plan is begins to unfold. So we’re either going to find something that will help us chase it or its activities will become impossible to miss. Hopefully in that case that’s before the shadow might try chasing us, but we’ll worry about that when we get there, I suppose.”

“Alright.” It wasn’t the best, due to that general lack of information, but Mask probably couldn’t come up with a better plan in the constraints that they were working with. He considered himself a rather decent planner, but he had known exactly what he was facing in Termina. Dealing with unknowns? Contingencies were something Mask still needed to learn how to plan beforehand.

“I think that’s all the questions I have, at least for now,” he said. There were of course things Mask wanted to know about them—that was why he was here, after all—but those things would take time. They needed to feel more at ease with Mask and to build up that trust and familiarity. The answers would flow forth then.

But for now, it was up to Mask to play the part he had allotted himself while steadily honing the persona he had crafted for the task. He needed to use it as a means for the others to attach themselves to him, so that they would consider him perhaps even a close friend.

And then maybe Mask would not be lonely anymore.

Chapter Text

It was 11:32 PM of the night of the final day, in South Clock Town. Link was sitting on the top of the festival tower on the south side of the central plaza, across from the Clock Tower. He had learned, a long time ago, that this festival tower was intended to feature a bridge that went from it to the Clock Tower. He wondered what it would have looked like, had the carpenters not fled Clock Town due to the impending apocalypse.

He wondered when the last time he was out here to watch the fireworks was. Perhaps it was that first cycle, so long ago. But Link thought it was fitting that he be here once again. It was a special occasion.

It was not just the final day, but it would be the final cycle too. Link had done everything he could do, for better or for worse. He had fought long and hard to get to this point. He had pushed himself to the point of exhaustion trying to do everything he possibly could and had to learn the hard truth that not everyone can be helped all at once. He had triumphed, he had been defeated, he had his achievements preserved eternally, he had them erased every three days.

Link could just tell that his time in Termina was going to be the kind of experience that would sit with him for the rest of his life. He didn’t have the time to think about everything right now, however. He never did. While he was still in this cycle he had carved out for himself, what mattered now was just doing what needed to be done.

But soon, it would all be over. The Happy Mask Salesman would have Majora’s Mask back, the Skull Kid would be thwarted, and Link would return to Hyrule. And then… and then…

Link didn’t want to think about that part. He refocused himself on the present. Just him, Tatl, and on the other side of the plaza, the great Clock Tower, and looming above it, the moon.

The great clock on the tower displayed the time that Link had long learned to internalize. It was 11:35 PM now.

“…Tatl?” he said. “Can I ask you something?”

Tatl seemed a bit surprised by that. In their interactions usually Tatl was the one who spoke first, in her particularly blunt manner.

“What?” she said.

“We’re going to be facing the Skull Kid again soon.” Link paused. “Aren’t you a little bit worried about that? You were friends…”

Tatl harumphed slightly. “Well, not after all those terrible things he’s done since he got that mask. And he hit Tael!”

Link decided not to mention that that hadn’t happened yet, at least for this cycle.

“What do you plan to do once everything is done, then?” he asked. It was a bit probing of him, especially since he himself had no idea what he would do after he left Termina.

“…That’s none of your business!” Tatl said with her characteristic bluster, though Link picked up slight hesitation. She probably wasn’t sure, then.

That made two of them, Link guessed.

“You should figure out soon,” he teased with a slight smirk.

Tatl took exception to that. “Hey! I know what I’ll be doing afterwards! I’m just not telling you!”

She really wasn’t a great liar. Unlike Link, she was never one to hide her opinion of other people.

Tatl had plenty of reason to be frustrated with the Skull Kid anyway. So much of the pain that Link had encountered and helped heal as he explored Termina stemmed from the Skull Kid’s actions.

Personally, Link was more inclined to pity him. There was something about him that was familiar, like they had crossed paths prior to Termina, but Link had encountered multiple Skull Kids on his first adventure, back when Navi’s company had allowed him to freely explore the Lost Woods. He wasn’t all that good at telling them apart, not to mention that it was a long time ago now.

Maybe the Skull Kid’s background was too relatable to Link. Tatl had recounted first meeting the Skull Kid, alone, having been abandoned by his friends after getting into a fight with them. Link later found out that those friends had been the Four Giants. The Skull Kid had been upset that they were leaving, and caused no small amount of mischief in anger, leading to the quarrel.

Link knew how devastating it was to be left behind by friends. It was in pursuit of one that had led Link to Termina in the first place. He also knew how it felt to feel abandoned by the world and to be filled with anger by the unfairness of it all.

What made Link different was that, instead of lashing out, he had held that anger within him. Heroes didn’t cry, and for that matter they didn’t lash out. They simply endured. So Link did too.

And everything was okay, now. He didn’t dwell on all the things he had lost after that fateful day he met Navi anymore. Termina had made that impossible. So it had all turned out alright in the end.

Right?

11:46 now.

“Link,” Tatl said. “I have a question I want to ask.”

“Ask away.”

“Every time you’re in those Goron and Zora forms, everyone thinks you’re Darmani or Mikau since you’re using their bodies.”

Link nodded.

“It goes deeper than that, doesn’t it? I’ve seen you act slightly differently in those forms. You’re trying to be them, right?”

Okay, maybe Tatl was a bit more perceptive than Link had given her credit for. “Mikau and Darmani were trusted members of their communities. If the Gorons and Zora think I am them, then it’ll be easier for them to tell me what I need to know.”

“What about your Deku form? You also act differently in that form, but you didn’t know whose form it was.”

That was true. Link had only found out that that had been the Deku Butler’s son after he defeated Odolwa, which was long after that first cycle when he had been forced into that Deku form against his will.

Then where did the way he acts in that form come from? He thought back to that first cycle, now seemingly so long ago.

When he was forced into that form, he was stuck in a body he was not familiar with, and one that was incapable of using what possessions he had brought with him. He was then thrown into a whole new world, one Link was completely unfamiliar with.

As a Deku Scrub, Link had been turned into a lost child. He had hated it. He had wanted above all things to get out of that form. He hadn’t appreciated the ways it could be useful until he had returned himself to a human and got the Deku Mask.

It wasn’t that he hated the form (to the contrary he thought it was quite useful) as much as he had lost some degree of agency. He had been turned into a lost child against his will, and one who wouldn’t be let outside Clock Town without parents at that.

As Link thought about that, he got a pretty good idea why he had hated it so much. It was too much like what had happened at the end of his first adventure. When he had walked out of the Temple of Time, he had lost everything. He wasn’t the Hero of Time anymore—that title had no meaning now. He was just some lost child, ignored and forgotten. He wasn’t even that Kokiri child anymore, now that he knew he was actually a Hylian, and doubly so since Navi disappeared. While it wasn’t the gaping hole in Link’s heart that it had been before Link ended up in Termina, it still hurt to think about that day.

There were some sorrows that even the Song of Healing could not entirely make whole.

Was that what the Deku Scrub he became using that mask was? Was it that directionless, broken child, now put to rest? Or…

Or was the way he acted as a human, as a confident, determined hero who could bear light into deep darkness and restore hope to a land bereft of it the true act, and the lost child was who Link really was?

No, no, that couldn’t be the case! This was who he was! Surely that lost child had been healed and laid to rest. He must have.

“Link?” Tatl asked. Link glanced over at the Clock Tower. It was 11:54 now. “You can’t just ignore my question!” the fairy said.

Whoops.

“I don’t know,” Link said sheepishly. It was true that he didn’t. He just left out the part where he no longer wanted to think about it.

If Tatl had visible eyes Link was certain he would have seen them roll. “Of course you don’t.”

Some things never change.

11:55. Just another five minutes, and then soon it would all be over. It still felt surreal, yet he wasn’t dreaming.

He had to admit, as blunt as Tatl tended to be, she had been a constant presence that Link could rely on for this journey. He would miss her.

He would miss Termina and all the people here that Link had spent so much time getting to know and trying to help them, for that matter.

11:56.

At least this time around, Link was prepared to say goodbye. He wouldn’t be caught off guard, like that last time. His mistake then was to leave himself vulnerable to being hurt in that way. That was a mistake he would never make again.

Everyone he had met had parted company with him at some point. He knew better than to expect anything else.

11:57.

The world around Link and Tatl seemed to stand perfectly still, as if in anticipation. All except the Clock Tower, which continued on as it always did.

11:58.

Link closed his eyes and focused his mind on his breathing. He took slow, deep, steady breaths, felt the cool, crisp nighttime air, and heard the ambient sounds of an empty town, from the Clock Tower ticking to Tatl flying around nearby. He immersed himself in those senses while clearing all those thoughts and worries he had out of his mind.

What was about to happen would have many emotions running high. But that was in the future, albeit momentarily, and now was now. The present was something Link always needed to value, despite everything.

He steadily opened his eyes.

11:59.

Link kept his focus on his breathing, even as he watched the clock tick ever closer to midnight. In and out. In and out.

Thirty seconds.

In and out. In and out.

Twenty seconds.

Breathe. Focus.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Midnight. 12:00 AM. The Clock Tower’s bells, those haunting ones that always reminded Link of the inexorable passage of time, the ones he could have sworn he could hear all the way in the far ends of Termina, began to toll. Fireworks erupted into their bursts of fiery color around the tower, heralding the start of the Carnival of Time: this year, a festival with no festivities.

The clock face raised upward before the wooden mechanism within the stone structure fell on its side with a decisive THUD, bringing the clock face-up at the top of the tower. This clock face was to be the site of this last confrontation, much like that first one in that first cycle Goddesses know how long ago.

That feeling of slight despair and dread that always seemed to permeate the last six hours of each cycle began to set in as the clock bells continued to toll. Link had always thought of the constant ringing as the death knell for all of Termina.

Yet this time will be different. It had to be different.

He turned to Tatl. “Let’s go,” he said. And so they went, with destiny awaiting them at the top of the tower.

△
△△

It was a new day, and Legend was up to greet it. The morning sun was just high enough to shine light into the canyon, and a slow, cool breeze, carrying some of the mist from the waterfall, blew down from Zora’s Fountain above. It was perfect weather to be up and about—bright and warm from the steady sunlight but not hot.

It felt nice.

The veteran was at rest for once. His mind was often going a mile a minute, constantly working to calculate the best step forward, but it always paid to take a step back once in a while. And now was probably as best a time as he could take to do so, now that their main objective in this era was done.

He didn’t have to worry about Mask anymore. He hadn’t realized how much that whole affair was weighing him down until Mask had agreed to join them as a proper member of the team. There was of course the obvious part, that being the whole mess that had happened in the forest and the days immediately after, but there was something more than that. The idea of needing to withhold critical information from the boy until the time was right in hindsight hadn’t sat entirely well with the veteran. No wonder why he ended up fumbling it enough to allow the whole debacle in the Lost Woods to even happen.

But that was over now, thank the goddesses. Now all that remained for now was to start tracking the shadow, which would no doubt help lead the group to their next member.

The plan Legend had for pursuing it, while it was pretty much all that could be done with what he knew, did not sound nearly as good saying it out loud. He supposed that he owed it to Mask a bit for making him explain it out loud, since now he realized its shortcomings. It would certainly need to be adjusted once they had enough information to be able to search for the shadow more smartly.

Unfortunately, they did not have that information right now. Which left guesswork.

Speaking of Mask, the boy was walking up to Legend. Relaxation time was probably over, then.

“Veteran, I’m thinking of scouting the upper river area down to Hyrule Field.”

Legend raised an eyebrow. “By yourself? Might I ask why?”

Mask seemed to consider that for a moment. “Well, there might be things that might seem normal to you that wouldn’t be in this time. And there might be things you think were strange that are normal here.”

“Is it safe for you to go alone?” Legend naturally remembered the last time Mask left him and Hyrule by himself given that it was only a few days ago.

“I’ll return, don’t worry. If there’s any monsters, I have ways to avoid getting spotted.”

“Did you clear this with Traveler?”

“He seemed okay with the idea.”

“Won’t it take hours for you to get back if you spot anything?”

Mask seemed to need to think on that a bit. “I have ways of returning more quickly than I left. I’d prefer not to here, for personal reasons, but if it’s urgent that won’t be an issue.”

Legend wasn’t exactly enthusiastic to give this the go-ahead, but it seemed like he had this thought out. “Fine,” he sighed. “Just don’t get killed.”

Mask nodded before jumping into the river some distance below. He swam down the river, boosted by the current, until he rounded a corner and out of sight.

That left Legend and Hyrule again. The veteran found this a bit awkward. The whole argument that had happened in the forest was now behind the two, and Legend knew that he needed to move on, but at the same time it was only a few days ago, and he knew how much his words had stung. It would take a while for the impact of that fight to entirely fade away, even while Legend pledged to do better and to make amends.

But it wasn’t nearly as tense as it had been only about three days or so prior. Things were better. Legend was willing to actually make conversation with the traveler this time.

Mask returned a few hours later by popping up in the pond that led to the Lost Woods. “Well, I’m back.”

“Did you come from the forest?” Legend said incredulously.

“Not important right now,” Mask said curtly. “There’s some weird lizard-ish monsters with axes out near Hyrule Field. They remind me of Dinofols, but yellower and with more teeth. They were exiting out of some dark archway, kind of like a gate.”

That got Hyrule’s attention. “How many?”

“I saw two by the time I decided to get back here. There’s likely more.”

“That description reminds me of Dairas from my era,” Hyrule said. “They’re dangerous. They hit hard and through shields.”

“We should be careful, then.” Legend said. “Is there anything particularly effective against them?”

Hyrule shrugged. “We should simply hope there aren’t too many. Strike low and at a distance, since our swords have more reach. Whatever you do, try not to get hit.” He paused for a second. “I’ve figured out a way to duck and attack that’s pretty reliable, but obviously I don’t have time to teach the two of you right now. Perhaps another time. If you have other ways to avoid getting hit or otherwise shrug off damage that would probably be ideal.”

“Alright. So don’t get hit, got it,” Mask said. “How fast are they?”

“They’re not slow, but they’re not fast either. They can run as fast as you or me.”

“We should probably get going as soon as we can,” Legend said. “We can’t get the situation get too out of hand, and we can always talk tactics when all of us have eyes on the situation.”

“Agreed,” Mask said. “What I have is what was the case a few minutes ago. We’re already going to lose time just getting there without waffling, and every minute we take is a minute more monsters can show up. We have to act decisively.”

“That makes three of us, then,” Hyrule said. “We very well might have found what we’ve been looking for. Let’s pack quickly, and then go.”

△
△△

Things hadn’t gotten all that much worse by the time the three Links were within line of sight of the Dairas and the dark gateway.

At least, not much worse.

“One of them is red,” Legend said, pointing out what he knew was plainly obvious. “Is that something to be concerned about?”

Hyrule sighed. “I was hoping they wouldn’t show up. Red Dairas are nasty. At least there’s only one of them, though.”

“Are they stronger?”

“They throw their axes instead of swinging them. I’ll deal with that one personally and will try to take it down first. Everyone will be safer that way.”

There were five other Dairas other than the red one. They were more of an orangey-yellow color.

“We should probably keep an eye on the gate, too,” Legend said. “More monsters might come out of it. We really don’t want one of them to catch us off guard.”

“Given how long it took for us to get here from the waterfall, I wouldn’t really expect any to show up right now,” Mask said. “But we might be just unlucky enough to be here right when that’s about to happen, so we should still be careful. Should we move out now, Traveler, or are we waiting for something?”

“I just want to remind the two of you that you can make a tactical retreat if you find yourselves overwhelmed. I could probably take them all on myself, but I know that Veteran would never allow me to do that on my own.”

“I’ll take on one of the Dairas and try to play distraction so that Traveler can take out the red one as soon as possible,” Legend said. This would put him in harm’s way, but he could easily think of ways to render that a non-issue. That was the benefit of his toolbox being as diverse as it was.

Mask seemed to think a bit. “I could also distract them, though I can also pick off the Dairas that go after Veteran.”

“Help Veteran, then,” Hyrule said. “You shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Alright. I can strike essentially unseen, so I shouldn’t be in much danger myself.” Mask paused. “I think, since shields are not of much use here, I can just focus on attacking.” With that comment, he reached into his bag and pulled out a sword that was about as long as he was tall. It had a multicolored blade with the distinct image of two black roses etched into both flat sides of the sword. He then pulled out a mask that seemed like it was made out of rock with a face crudely carved into it and put it on.

Legend’s eyes refused to acknowledge Mask’s presence with that mask on. He knew he was there, and if he focused his eyes in a weird way he could just about make the boy out, but there was something that made it impossible to really notice him or to get a good look at him. For all intents and purposes, he was basically invisible.

“I guess it’s time to fight,” the veteran said. He reached into his bag and pulled out the Cane of Byrna, holding it with his right hand, before unsheathing his sword.

Hyrule nodded. He held his hands to his chest and concentrated. He seemed to do something that made his hands glow, and that glow seemed to flow into his tunic until the whole thing was shining. And then the light disappeared, and the tunic had suddenly turned red. With that done, the traveler took out his own sword.

And with that the three began to approach the monsters.

On the way, Legend took the chance to ask Mask something. It was a bit difficult, since Mask was nearly invisible, and Legend had to make do by just speaking in the general direction he was pretty sure Mask was at.

“How many times have you used this trick before?”

“A handful of times. It usually works, but a few people and some monsters can see through it. Hopefully this isn’t the case here.”

“Does it consume magic?”

“Not at all.”

So it was unlike Legend’s own Magic Cape in that regard. The way Mask had described its invisibility, it seemed like it didn’t allow him to phase through enemy attacks like the Magic Cape did either. That was a risk to keep in mind.

Once they were nearly within earshot of the Dairas, Legend turned to Hyrule.

“I’ll draw their attention and go left.”

“I’ll go right, then.”

Legend nodded and then ran forward and leftwards. “Hey! Over here!” he shouted.

That got the monsters’ attention. While they were fixated on Legend, Hyrule took the opportunity to run off in the other direction without attracting too much attention.

Mask was… somewhere. Trying to look for him with that mask on in the middle of combat sounded like an exceedingly bad idea.

The Red Daira threw a few axes at Legend, who barely managed to dodge them. It then seemed to notice Hyrule, who was approaching it, and so turned to face the traveler.

Legend managed to draw off two Dairas from the group. It would have to do for now, and hopefully Hyrule would have a handle on things. He kept his distance away from one of them while approaching the other, sword and cane in hand.

The Daira charged at him with axe raised. Legend stood his ground and raised the Cane of Byrna. Just as the Daira was upon him and about to swing its axe, Legend swung the cane. He felt the rush of his magical power moving through his arm and in the cane, and a shield of swirling magic suddenly kicked into motion around the veteran.

The Daira had already committed to its heavyhanded blow and was not able to react in time to avoid hitting the magical shield. It struck the shield and was knocked back, hurt. Legend lunged forward, dismissing the shield to save magic, and swung his sword at it, cutting a nasty-looking gash in it. He quickly jumped away, out of axe distance.

The second Daira began to charge at Legend but was suddenly stopped by being hit by something unseen. It turned around to face its assailant but could not find them, leaving it looking around with its axe at the ready.

Right, Mask had that handled. Legend needed to focus on the Daira right in front of him.

It was not easy for him to find an opening when he was at close range, because it was relentless with its swings. It also ran fast enough for Legend to not have an easy time backing away.

He swung his cane, bringing that magic barrier up around him again, and closed the distance again. He’d prefer to close the distance before bringing it up to save on magic, but in this situation, he needed to play it safe. He lunged forward and stabbed upwards into the Daira’s chest. The now further wounded Daira swung its axe at Legend again, though it seemed weaker than before, and was again staggered. Legend slashed his sword this time at the Daira’s neck. The Daira lunged at him with the last of its strength, but Legend easily sidestepped it. It succumbed to its injuries soon after.

He dismissed the shield before checking his surroundings again. That other Daira that had been drawn off the group was still flailing around trying to attack an invisible Mask, while most of the others were trying to attack Hyrule. Hyrule, for his part, was fighting the Red Daira. He got a few hits here and there but was mainly focused on dodging its axes.

It was probably best to draw another one off the group. Legend pulled out his bow and shot one of the Dairas. It did not seem like it got hurt very much, but it certainly noticed. It turned towards him and raised its axe menacingly.

Legend stood his ground. He had improvised a bit with the first one, but at this point he felt like he was starting to get the hang of fighting them. Hyrule was right when he had said that there was a certain rhythm to fighting them, even if his method here was different than what Hyrule did.

Wait for it to swing, use the cane to block the attack, take the opening to strike. Rinse, repeat. Rinse, repeat.

Regardless, this Daira did not take long to kill at all. He looked at the remaining Dairas. Mask had felled the one he had been fighting and was now fighting a second one. Hyrule had by now slain the red Daira and was now taking on one of the normal ones. Legend drew the attention of a third Daira, once again by shooting it.

Well, he had this down by now. He used the Cane of Byrna to block its attack, and just barely managed to get two hits in with his sword afterwards. He repeated this again, and then saw that the Daira had recovered faster and was now swinging its axe at him.

He wasn’t in position to summon the shield in time. Sh*t.

Legend leapt backwards as hard as he could, taking him mostly to safety—mostly. While he was largely at a safe distance by the time the attack reached him, he was still close enough for the axe to graze him on the chest.

He had jumped back hard enough that he wasn’t in a position to land gracefully, and instead tumbled onto the ground while a sharp cutting pain welled up where he had been hit. That sensation was soon joined by the sickening wet warmth of blood—his blood—soaking into his tunic.

Legend tried his best to ignore the pain and used the momentum of his fall to roll to his knees. He looked up in time to see the Daira charging him. He didn’t have time to stand up, so instead of trying to attack he shielded himself with the cane again. The Daira’s attack safely glanced off the shield as Legend stumbled backwards and rose to his feet, readying his sword again, waiting for it to recover and charge him again.

It never got the chance. Just as the Daira was about to recover, it abruptly stopped and made a strangled sort of noise, before it fell dead to the ground. Hyrule had stabbed it in the back.

Legend looked around him. Mask had killed the Daira he had been fighting, too, which meant that the area was monster-free again, at least for the time being. There was still the matter of the dark gate, though.

“Veteran,” Hyrule said, “you’re bleeding.”

Legend sheathed his sword and touched his wound with his hand. He looked at it, now stained red with blood. “I noticed,” he deadpanned. “It’s not that bad, actually. Just a flesh wound.”

It was not lost on him at all that if he had failed to realize his mistake just a split second later he would be in far worse condition.

“I told you to be careful!” Hyrule said, with a mixture of worry and anger.

“Got overconfident.” Legend reached into his pack and pulled out a bottle of Blue Potion. He drunk it and tried to ignore the quite nasty taste. He felt the wound mend itself up and his energy recharge.

With how much the Cane of Byrna consumes his magic, he would probably have needed to take a potion afterwards anyway.

He held up his bottle. “Hey, Traveler, we have our supplies just for this kind of situation. Things happen.”

“You know as well as I do how much worse that could have been!” Hyrule replied. “Are you not in the least concerned about your own well-being, between this and the fo—” Hyrule’s eyes widened as he realized what he had almost said.

“Between this and what?” Mask had rematerialized, having taken off his mask, and was now staring intently at Hyrule with confusion written on his face.

Yeah, nobody was willing to explain that.

“Traveler, I’m more than capable of looking after myself. Yes, I made a mistake. But I’m not so fragile as to get hit once and immediately keel over!”

“What about the next time you’re up against a dangerous enemy? What if you had realized your mistake just a little later?” Hyrule said. “If you get killed by your carelessness, then there’s no recovering from that.”

Mask opened his mouth, as to speak, but then shut it without saying anything.

“I’m not about to get killed anytime soon, Traveler,” Legend said.

Mask did in fact speak up this time, by loudly clearing his throat. “Look, I’m sure this is a conversation that needs happening, but I think the much more pressing matter here is the currently open dark gateway that we know monsters appear out of. We need to do something about it before we can let our guard down.”

“He’s right,” Legend said, happy to change the subject to literally anything else. He paused to think. “As I see it, we have a couple of options. We could wait here and keep guard over the gateway until it disappears, to make sure that if any more monsters pop out of it, that they can’t get loose and cause problems. It’s safe and effective. Or…” He took a deep breath. “Or we could go through it ourselves. Since the monsters came from whatever is on the other side, perhaps we might be able to find some clues as to where they came from. It’s definitely a more pronounced risk, but I think there’s a chance we find some valuable information for the quest.”

“If either of you had to guess what was on the other side of the gate, what would you say?” Mask asked.

“These Dairas were not just similar, but identical to the ones in my era,” Hyrule said. “We’ve seen that monsters can differ between our respective eras, which means that they might be the ones from my era. Does that mean that this gate goes through time?”

“I personally wouldn’t be surprised. It’d be hardly unprecedented. And if it’s related to the shadow we’re after, then it almost certainly does.” Legend said. “For what it’s worth, to my knowledge there are not Dairas in my time.”

“Or in mine, for that matter,” Mask added.

“Then if this gate goes through time, which we can probably safely assume, it probably goes closer to my era than either of yours,” Hyrule said.

“What’s your era like, anyway?” Legend asked. “You’ve never really talked extensively about it, other than it being generally sparser than my era.”

“Nothing all that different than this era or yours,” Hyrule said, “except for the distances being much wider.”

“It’s entirely possible that something you’re accustomed to and think is normal is something that neither Veteran nor I have dealt with,” Mask noted. “And we’re not guaranteed to be end up in exactly Traveler’s era.”

“We simply have to accept that uncertainty,” Legend said. “There’s always the unknown. Is it truly adventuring if we only go to places that we have been before, and do things whose outcome are already prewritten?”

“Well… I suppose not.” Mask paused. “Do you think the risks in going through the gate are acceptable, then, since that’s what it seems like it boils down to?”

“From my perspective, going through might put us in significantly more danger but can help us significantly with the quest. It’s very possible we can find valuable information, or even another Hero. Staying here is safe for us, yes, but we’ve already spent more than a week here not really making any sort of progress towards the quest more broadly. I’m not exactly anxious to spend more time here doing nothing while the shadow grows in power.”

“If there’s anything with my era that may cause issues with you two, I could help,” Hyrule said. “So that shouldn’t be much of an issue. The bigger problem is whether we’d be walking right into the enemy, but I think if there were many more monsters on the other side, they would have popped up by now.”

“I think I have to support going through, too, then,” Mask said. “It’s certainly better than dithering about what to do. Getting lost in the what ifs can be perilous.”

“Then we should probably go through,” Legend said. He approached the portal. “Are the two of you ready?”

“There’s one thing I have to do before we go, actually,” Mask said.

“Alright, then, do whatever it is you need to do.”

Mask nodded. He pulled out a bright blue ocarina out of his pouch and played a short song on it. A neigh was audible in the distance, and before long Epona had run up to Mask.

The bond between boy and horse had to be quite strong indeed for Epona to appear this quickly, especially when Legend had last seen her in the Lost Woods of all places.

“Hey, Epona,” Mask said. He stroked her muzzle with his hand. “I think this is my farewell, at least for now. I think it’s too selfish for me to ask you to go through even more on my account.” He paused. “Will you go back to the ranch for me? I think I will be able to rest easier knowing that you’re safe.”

Epona snorted.

“…is it possible for you to let Malon know I say hello?” He paused. “…and that I’m sorry for not being able to keep my promise?”

Epona did not reply.

Mask sighed. “I wish you could speak sometimes, you know that, right? …Go. Please.”

If Epona wasn’t able to understand the rest of what Mask had said, she seemed to get that last part. She ran off, heading deeper into Hyrule Field.

Mask watched her disappear into the horizon before turning back to Legend and Hyrule. He seemed a little sad. But he quickly composed himself, with a new determination clear in his face.

“Alright, I’m ready now. After you, Veteran.”

Legend gave a nod, turned back to the dark gateway and the swirling void within, took a deep breath, and walked inside.

Chapter Text

As soon as Mask could see his surroundings again after passing through the dark gateway, he immediately unsheathed his Gilded Sword and brought up his shield and looked at his immediate surroundings. They were in a small forest clearing. No monsters immediately apparent.

There was something about the trees that were different than the ones he had seen in Hyrule (at least in his own era) and in Termina. Perhaps they were hardier, having grown less tall but more sturdy. That certainly didn’t mean that they weren’t living or thriving, but perhaps harsher seasonal weather had pushed them to be more resilient in a way that Mask hadn’t really seen in Kokiri Forest or Southern Swamp.

Legend was waiting for him on the other side. He seemed aware of his surroundings, but he wasn’t actively prepared for a fight. Mask suspected that he had taken a bit of time to look around.

The two were joined shortly afterwards by Hyrule, who quickly took out his own sword and shield. “Let’s sweep the surrounding area in case something’s hiding nearby.”

They obliged, checking the surrounding area but finding nothing really of note. They regrouped in front of the gate.

“Since this is most likely closest to your era, do you recognize this place, Traveler?” Legend asked.

“I’ll see if I can get a view of some landmarks from above the canopy.” Hyrule walked over to the tallest nearby tree and climbed it. He returned a couple minutes later.

“I think I recognize the general geography of my era. We’re north of Death Mountain. We’re probably north of the road that leads there, and that will lead us straight to North Castle.”

“Do you think we’re precisely in your era?”

“We won’t know that until we reach an inhabited area and ask for news, I think. If we want to go straight to North Castle, which I think would be a solid plan, it’ll take us through Rauru Town, though it will be quite some time before we go there. Though Saria Town would be closer if we want to just go straight to the nearest village.”

“Wait, Saria Town?” Mask asked. There’s a town named after her? And Rauru, for that matter?

“Is there a problem?”

“Do you know where they got the name from?”

Hyrule shook his head. “Never thought there was anything odd about the name.”

Mask hid his disappointment.

“Anyway, regardless of where we may want to go, I think what we probably should do right now is to find the road. Monsters avoid it, so it’ll be safer to deliberate our next move there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Legend said.

“See, I knew the veteran would support going straight to the road,” Hyrule teased.

Legend elbowed him. Hyrule lightly pushed him away.

“Anyway, we’ll want to go south,” Hyrule said. “Death Mountain is in that direction, so we should go in the direction I saw it.” He turned in a certain direction and started walking. Legend and Mask followed him.

While they walked, Mask took the opportunity to chat a bit with Legend. The veteran was subject to more than a little interest from Mask, due to his general outlook on adventuring and his significant amount of experience.

“So you’ve been through portals like these before, Veteran?”

“Not exactly like this one, but similar,” Legend said. “It certainly has not been the first time I’ve been whisked off to a distant land, or even another world entirely, after passing through some magic passageway. It’s definitely a good thing we have Traveler to guide us here.”

Mask nodded. “It wouldn’t be my first time getting whisked to an unfamiliar place either.” Termina came to mind. “So would you say that you’ve gotten used to it?”

“Sure. It’s definitely a distinct experience that always carries an element of novelty, but once you’ve done it once or twice you pretty much know what to do.”

This seemed like a very distinctly Legend thing to say.

“So what about you, Mask? You’ve had plenty of experience traversing through time. How do you feel about this? Are you used to it?”

“There’s always a bit of an element of surprise.”

“You sure don’t act like there is.”

“I think I’ve come to expect the unexpected.” Mask was sure he’d be fine with more time travel as long as the Master Sword was nowhere in sight.

“That’s fair. I think I have in my own way. I don’t think there’s a lot of things that can genuinely shock me at this point.”

So there were at least a couple of things Mask had in common with Legend. That was useful to know. For the sake of his fitting into the group, he would need to cultivate the image that he was just like him and Hyrule.

He’d probably need to figure out what else he had in common with the others, while learning what was important enough to their outlook that playing into them would lead to them assuming he saw the world the same way they did.

Anyway, all this thinking about managing his image within the group reminded Mask about something that had happened the previous day.

“By the way, Veteran, I’ve been wondering something. Remember yesterday, when you berated me over my use of language?”

Legend raised an eyebrow, apparently confused. “Not really?”

“I swore, and then you chastised me over that, and then I said that I would be saying what I wanted, and then you seemed confused and dropped the matter.”

The veteran thought about that for a second. “We talked about a lot of things yesterday, so I think I can be forgiven for not remembering this particular exchange. Why do you mention it?”

“I was just wondering what your thought process was there.”

“Ah.” A brief silence passed before Legend spoke up again. “I’ve babysat and helped raise children before, you know. If I reacted that way, it’s probably because I’m used to not wanting people your age to swear. A sort of instinctual thing, I suppose. But…” He paused again. “You’re not just a child, though. You’ve done quite a lot. We all have. I think you’re probably mature enough to be allowed to swear.”

So Legend wanted to see him as essentially an equal, but there was always that instinct to make conclusions based on his age. That was useful to know.

Whatever Mask was, he certainly did not have the outlook of a child. He no longer had that innocence, or that rose-tinted view of the world, and was more acutely aware of his responsibilities and obligations towards others. But he still inhabited the body of one most of the time, and that shaped others’ perceptions of him in its own way.

This wasn’t inherently bad, and was something that Mask could probably use to his advantage in the right situations. But at the same time, he needed to have some degree of control over when and how that would affect others’ perceptions.

A bit of time passed in silence as Legend and Mask continued to follow Hyrule wherever they were headed.

“By the way, Mask, how are you feeling?” Legend asked.

“Hm?” Mask turned and noticed some concern on Legend’s face.

“It seemed like parting with Epona was hard for you.”

“Ah.” Mask’s history with goodbyes had always been fraught. Parting with Epona stung very much, even though this time it was of his own accord. In Termina, she had been one of the few links he had with his past. It reminded him of how welcoming Lon Lon Ranch had been to him, and how it was probably the place that was closest to something he could call home.

“I’m fine,” Mask said. He was, or anyway, he would be. “We’ve been through a lot together, but the time was going to come where we would have to part ways. It just happened to be this particular moment.”

He thought about the words the Happy Mask Salesman had left him after Majora’s destruction. When there is a meeting, a parting is sure to follow. He was going to have to say goodbye sooner or later. He just needed to make sure it happened when he was prepared to do so.

For similar reasons, he couldn’t get himself too emotionally attached to the other Links. He had to keep himself detached, even as he wanted them to attach themselves to him. After all, once the quest was over, he would have to part ways with them, and he’d never be able to see them again.

His role, then, was to observe, and learn through watching the others. He would still participate, of course, to the degree that was required of him, but at the same time he needed to keep some amount of distance. Part of that was not showing the parts of him that weren’t relevant to the quest at hand, but at the same time it also meant that he needed to think of them as something more akin to teammates than friends. They would work together and share their struggles and triumphs, but Mask simply could not afford holding them close.

“Alright,” Legend said. “Well, if you ever feel the need to talk about how you’re feeling, or just need some sort of advice, I’m always around to listen. Don’t hesitate to talk.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Mask said. He did not plan on ever doing so.

This exchange was useful, even if it was probing as Legend tended to be. Mask had let some vulnerability show when he parted with Epona, and the veteran had picked up on it. He was also one to ask questions about these sorts of things, Mask now knew.

Then it was more important that he evade Legend’s notice. He knew how to do this already, at least. He just needed to make himself look similar enough to Legend that he would assume that Mask thought the way he thought. But in order to do that, he would need to get to know Legend better.

That would be a long, drawn-out task, but Mask was patient enough for such things.

Of course, the same process would also apply to Hyrule, though since it seemed like he didn’t pick up on these things as readily, the bulk of his efforts would be focused on Legend. And since, at least to Mask, Legend seemed to be the closest to the ideal of a hero, this would also help him fit into the group as a whole.

These were not things that should prove too difficult, given time—and Mask had all the time in the world at his fingertips.

△
△△

After a bit of walking, they reached the road that cut through the forest. The midafternoon sun, now unobstructed by the forest canopy, shone in the sky.

The three Links rested at the side of the road, under the shade of the trees. They ate a bit of their provisions.

“How much food do the two of you have, anyway?” Mask asked.

“Enough for a few days,” Legend said. “Not enough for a long journey, but hopefully we can hunt or forage to keep us going to where we need to go.”

“I’m familiar with which plants are edible,” Hyrule said. “I can forage or hunt if we need to.”

“Great,” Legend said. “We also need to figure out our destination.”

“I’ve been thinking about that while we were walking,” Hyrule said. “I think our best bet is to go towards North Castle. “Even if we’re years off my era, whoever’s there can probably help us.”

“I don’t have any problem with that,” Legend said. Mask nodded along.

“I know you like your roads, Veteran, and so you’ll be happy to know that if we follow the road,” Hyrule said, pointing east, “we’ll get there. There’s another way, though.”

“Do tell.”

“The eastbound road cuts through a mountain pass before turning northwards towards Rauru. There’s a shorter path that cuts that corner by instead trekking through Midoro Swamp. It’s significantly more dangerous and we probably wouldn’t even save time since the swamp isn’t easy to traverse, but it’s still an option.”

“I’ll take the road, thanks,” Legend said.

Hyrule didn’t seem particularly surprised.

“How much more are we going to travel before we set camp?” Mask asked.

Hyrule thought about that for a moment. “I was thinking of foraging for food, which would take a couple of hours, which probably means we’d have to stop right here. We’re still mostly full on food, since we last restocked when we were in Kakariko a few days ago, but we probably need to forage some to get our stocks to last all the way to Rauru Town.”

“Can you safely forage alone?” Legend asked.

“I’m pretty confident that I can. I’m pretty scrappy, don’t forget.”

“Not sure if I can,” Legend said with a slight smirk. “One way or another, you know the threats in your era best. Just be careful in case there’s any monsters from another era, like how the Dairas showed up in Mask’s era.”

Hyrule gave him a thumbs up before leaving camp, once again leaving Legend and Mask alone to talk.

“Anything you want to talk about, Mask? In case you didn’t want to bring it up earlier?”

“Do you really like the sound of your own voice that much?”

That comment got a chuckle out of Legend. “The accusation has probably been made before. But all that aside, back before the forest you would always ask these questions, and I’ve always thought they were interesting to think about. So I was wondering if you were going to ask another one of them.”

And that was why Mask didn’t want to do that. It was too unsubtle. The unrefined tools of someone who hadn’t quite mastered his technique yet. No, Mask would not be asking these questions now. He would do so in a time and manner where it wouldn’t garner suspicion.

“I think I’ll pass.”

Legend raised an eyebrow. “No? Then I have a question of my own to ask. What do you think you’ve gotten out of your adventures? I’d have thought, before meeting the Traveler, that my own perspective would be largely shared by those with similar experiences to mine, though what he finds rewarding differs somewhat to what I do. So I would like to know how you see things.”

“How do you and Traveler view such matters?” Mask asked.

“I can speak for myself the best, I suppose. I learn with every choice I make, including the mistakes. I learn how to gather information and other ways to view the world around me, and it better prepares me to tackle the unknown. I get better equipped to deal with whatever life may throw at me, and so can confront it on my own terms.

“As for Traveler, to my understanding he values the sense of exploration and serendipity more.  He finds joy in discovering hidden things and needs that sense of spontaneity and adventurism. It is in pursuit of that that draws him further and further afield, I think. And with every tumble, every scrape, every hurt he takes, he stands back up and becomes tougher and more resilient.”

If it was this easy for Mask to reflect Legend’s questions on himself, he really needed to do this more often. Regardless, now Mask had to compose his answer. He naturally couldn’t completely copy Legend’s answers—Legend would certainly notice—but he could take the spirit of those responses and try to make his own experiences fit the mold.

“I think I’ve learned to get a better perspective of my place in the world,” Mask said. “Only a couple years ago, I really didn’t know anything about the world outside where I grew up. Yet I’ve travelled all across Hyrule now. And I think I’ve come to learn something about where I stand amidst all this.  I hope that by travelling with you and Traveler I can learn something more.”

That last part was more sincere than Mask was willing to admit. The rest was true in part—if only because he had learned how little he truly knew about his place. But at least awareness of his ignorance was the first step to learning. It was, after all, what had brought him on this path on which he now walked alongside Hyrule and Legend.

“I see,” Legend said.

“So do you think your adventures were good for you?” Mask asked.

“Largely so, yes,” Legend simply said. “There are, of course, exceptions, but they are exceptions for a reason.”

Such a positive view of his experiences! Mask wondered if Legend ever had to pay the price for it. To him it was always at best a double-edged sword.

Legend was silent for a moment. He seemed to have something on his mind.

He eventually spoke again. “Anyway, enough about that. How do you feel about travelling with us so far? I know this is your second day with us on this actual quest, and we’ve also travelled together before that, though from what you’ve said before it seems like that was a while ago for you. Be honest, please.”

This might be a good time to broach the question of why Hyrule had berated Legend earlier. It wasn’t the kind of behavior Mask would have expected from the traveler.

“Why was Traveler so worried about you earlier? I vaguely recall that you’re the one who tends to worry, not him.” A vague memory of fighting a Peahat the day before his arrival in Termina came to mind.

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it,” Legend said. “There’s a couple of things we don’t see eye-to-eye on, and that’s okay. Why do you ask?”

Yeah, there was definitely something going on. “I just thought it was a bit strange, since he talks all about not giving up and stuff. I feel like he wouldn’t focus so much on recklessness as much as he would on getting through the fight intact.”

Legend hesitated just a bit before responding. “It’s probably because we’re fairly certain my era is before his, so I’m his predecessor of sorts. My getting badly hurt can have downstream effects through time.”

That was a valid point, but Legend was definitely lying. But it was probably better at this point to act like he bought this story for the time being. He didn’t want either Hyrule or Legend to think he was trying to uncover what was afoot.

“I can understand that. Any of us getting killed could potentially have catastrophic effects down the timeline.”

“I think not dying is a great plan,” Legend said. He could not quite maintain a deadpan expression with that comment, and Mask couldn’t blame him.

Of course, Mask actually had the ability to make sure that anything of that magnitude could be undone. He hoped it would never have to come to that, but it was an option.

“Indeed,” he said, keeping his composure better than Legend. “That aside, I think it’ll take some time for me to really feel like I know the two of you, but I’ve personally been enjoying your company so far.”

“What do you feel like your place in the team is?”

“Well, I’m really here as a sort of specialist on time travel, right?” It was, after all, what was expected of him. “It’s not like I’m going to be outdoing you in terms of general experience anytime soon, though I assume that everyone who is and will be part of the team has a general baseline of competency.”

“Interesting,” Legend said. “Personally, I do think we all have things we personally excel at, but of course all perspectives ought to be valued regardless. I do have my own blind spots.”

Mask couldn’t help but wonder what these might be, but it seemed to him that why Legend considered his blind spots the way he did would be more informative. Still, he needed to be patient. He didn’t have a three-day deadline to structure his actions around this time.

“Well, hopefully we don’t find out just what those blind spots are at exactly the wrong moment,” he said.

“I suppose only time will tell,” Legend said.

△
△△

“I think that cloud looks like a…” Mask paused a bit. “A rabbit.”

Legend raised an eyebrow and turned towards him. “A rabbit?” He looked at the cloud Mask was pointing at. He could sort of see it. “You know, Mask, I’ve gotten to see a real rabbit before.”

“Really? Where?”

“There’s this place in my era, the Haunted Grove, where creatures gather. Sometimes you can see a rabbit there. I think they’re especially drawn by music—sometimes you can hear the sound of ocarina music playing there. There’s also a few in Labrynna, where they like to listen to Nayru—the Oracle, not the Goddess—singing.”

He was not going to bring up the Dark World. That embarrassment was going to stay where it belonged.

“Wow,” Mask said. “No one has seen a rabbit in my era for a long time. There were many of them, once, but they were overhunted. Now nothing remains of them but old legends.”

“Traveler also told me that in his era, rabbits are legendary creatures. You should have seen how he reacted upon seeing one for the first time when we were in Labrynna. He was so excited—”

Legend almost jumped at the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat behind him. It was Hyrule.

“While I’m sure you were going to have a great time talking about me behind my back, I have returned,” he said.

“Aww,” Legend said in mock disappointment. “How much food did you find?”

Hyrule opened his bag and pulled out a piece of cloth tied together into an impromptu pouch. “I found a few berry bushes, so I gathered some. These are usually a bit sour, but they’re perfectly edible.” He handed it to Legend.

“Cool.” Legend untied the cloth, revealing small red berries inside. He popped one into his mouth. Yup, it definitely was a bit sour. “You want any, Mask?” He held the berries out to him.

“Sure.” Mask took about a third of the berries and started to eat them.

“I also foraged some edible mushrooms and I managed to trap a couple squirrels,” Hyrule said. “I’m probably going to make a stew.”

“We’re eating squirrels?” Mask seemed to take exception with that prospect.

“Look, the outdoors doesn’t care how cute the critters we’re eating are,” Hyrule said. “It’s certainly better than starving.”

“Have you cooked before, Mask?” Legend asked. “In case you want to help.”

Mask shook his head.

“Ah. Well, don’t worry about it too much. There’s always a time to learn. Though maybe not from me—everything I do turns out super bland.”

Hyrule grinned. “Well, then you’re in for a treat!” He reached into his bag and pulled out a large chunk of dried meat with a bone that went through it. “This is the secret ingredient to everything. It makes you big and strong!”

Legend did not like how that chunk of meat looked. He kept that thought to himself.

He went and helped Hyrule get a fire going (not a difficult task with a magical fire source) and a pot over the fire. Legend decided to leave Hyrule to his own devices cooking, even though if that piece of meat was indicative of anything he probably had cause to be nervous.

Legend decided to take his mind off of dinner by bringing up something that he had wanted to talk about between the whole group. “So, I’ve been thinking about a comment Mask made the other day, of how Ganon shouldn’t exist. I of course would agree that Ganon shouldn’t have existed, but there is undoubtedly something deeper going on. I think talking things over might help us figure it out.”

“Well, he just shouldn’t,” Mask said. “Ganondorf has no way of gaining the power that allowed him to transform into that, save some sort of divine prank or something.”

“From what I know about your era, from what you’ve said and from things that Traveler and I have overheard, there isn’t really a way for the events that occurred before my time to have occurred. But it’s hard to contest that they happened, given that my era is a direct product of them. Traveler, would you happen to have heard stories that might explain it, that I might not have heard of?”

Hyrule shook his head.

“Well, then, I think it may be best if I recount the history of the Imprisoning War as remembered by my era.” Legend took a deep breath. “So according to the stories and legends, the entrance to the Sacred Realm was not known, though it was sought by many. Then Ganondorf and his band of thieves discovered the entrance to the Sacred Realm by accident. Ganondorf killed his companions, seized the Triforce, and became Ganon.

“Now, obviously, with the Triforce’s power being unlimited, if it falls into the hands of someone evil is it exceedingly difficult to counteract it. The Goddesses, foreseeing this, had the people of Hyrule forge the Master Sword as a means of defending the Triforce from evil.” As Legend mentioned the sword, one of Mask’s eyes twitched slightly. He didn’t pay it much mind and continued talking. “The Sages, at the direction of the King of Hyrule, were asked to find the blade and a hero worthy of bearing it, but in the time they had they were unable to do either before Ganon attacked Hyrule Castle, leading to the kingdom’s Knights to sacrifice themselves to buy time for the Sages to seal away Ganon.”

“Well, considering some of the standards the Master Sword seems to have, I’m not sure I can blame the Sages for having trouble finding someone who could wield it in your story,” Mask said.

“Do you think true heroes are that rare?” Legend asked. It wasn’t really something he had put much thought to before, beyond his own experiences gathering the Pendants and all that prophesized stuff with his descent from knights or whatever.

“By the sword’s reckoning, maybe. But that aside, I presume you’ve seen the Temple of Time before?”

Legend nodded. “Yes. The entrance to the Sacred Realm is known, as is the location of the Master Sword. It’s strange that my era’s stories seem to contradict this.”

“Let me add one more thing to that: the Master Sword is the last key binding the gate of the Sacred Realm, even after the Door of Time is opened. It’d be frankly impressive for that passageway to be used without anyone noticing the evil-banishing sword that needs to be pulled in order to go through.”

“Wait, doesn’t that mean only someone the sword deems worthy can open the gate?”

Mask nodded.

“Then how could evil even enter the Sacred Realm?”

“It is possible. Just because the passage is opened by someone capable of holding the sword, or at least someone with the potential to be capable of wielding it, doesn’t mean they can pass through the entrance into the Sacred Realm. I know of a timeline where this has happened, but it no longer exists. This will not happen.”

“How do you know?” This was the second time Mask had referred to knowledge of timelines that no longer exist.

“For the same reason I have all this knowledge of time travel that you recruited me for. I do have a knack for finding things out that I shouldn’t.” Mask paused. “How accurate do you think your era’s recollection is?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some details got changed in the retelling, but the fundamentals couldn’t have been too distorted over time.”

“I see. I suppose it’s not worth getting too hung up on small details when the major facts still need to be worked out—that being Ganon’s entry into the Sacred Realm, and the Master Sword not being used. If we want to figure out what happened there, we have to figure those two things out first.”

“For what it’s worth, Nayru mentioned that the timeline split happens around the time the Imprisoning War does.”

“You said you were sure it happened after my time, right?”

Legend nodded.

“If Hyrule let down its guard to the point of just letting him wander into the Sacred Realm after everything that’s happening in my era, that’d be astonishingly negligent.”

“You should mention the Fallen Hero,” Hyrule said, looking up from the pot of stew he was looking after.

“Right,” Legend said. “There’s also another story that speaks of a Fallen Hero who tried to stop Ganon but failed, but I strongly doubt its authenticity.”

“I can speculate as to how that could have happened, but again that assumes the kingdom as a whole collectively let its guard down despite the fact that Ganondorf is likely to wage war against it not too distant in my future,” Mask replied. “So I do not believe I can give you any concrete answers. I can only restate that he should not be able to get the Triforce, and if he somehow did despite everything, several people would have had to make some exceedingly stupid decisions. Decisions, I might add, that they should know better than to make, due to information I’ve given the Royal Family.”

“Things could be forgotten, with time. My time apparently does not remember that the entrance to the Sacred Realm was even sealed.”

“Perhaps. Do you think your Ganon is a different individual from my Ganondorf?”

“I strongly doubt it, but I cannot disprove it.”

“I see.” There was silence for a bit before Mask spoke again. “Well, there’s not much truth we can find in all of this with the information we have. We can speculate, but I think we will only be able to tell what happened if we get more information about what happened.”

“Oh, and dinner’s ready,” Hyrule said. He went and served the other two Links portions of his stew.

Legend brought a spoonful to his mouth, tasted it, and gagged. He fought to control his retching and then grabbed his canteen to drink a somewhat large quantity of water to flush that rancid taste out of his mouth.

Mask sniffed his own portion, wrinkled his nose, and leaned over to Legend. “Would you happen to have any food of your own?” he whispered.

“I have some jerky, yes,” Legend whispered back. He made a mental note not to let Hyrule cook in the future.

Chapter Text

It was always a good day to be outside.

There was just something about it that spoke to Hyrule on a fundamental level. Maybe it was the sensation of fresh air around him, which filled his throat and lungs with a crisp feeling whenever he breathed in. Maybe it was the combination of the familiar, of those elements that were always constants in travel, and the unfamiliar and unexpected. Maybe it was the joy of discovery, of finding something new and exciting for the first time.

His adventure to reclaim the Triforce of Courage had brought him further from the familiar than he ever had before. By the time he held the reunited Triforce in his hands, he thought that he had mastered all the lands upon which the Kingdom of Hyrule stood at the height of its power, and that all there was left was the admittedly challenging task of weaving the long-fragmented and scattered realm back together. He had been a little sad now that there was no longer more of Hyrule to explore, but it was still an accomplishment he was proud of.

That had changed when he found himself in the era of his direct predecessor and met Legend. He had been whisked to a place that he was completely unfamiliar with and in a time where many of the basic facts of his era did not apply. Suddenly, things had felt new again in a way that he hadn’t felt since his last quest. And this quest had also brought the two to Mask’s era, another time with its own unique places.

He had wondered on more than one occasion whether this was how Legend had felt being whisked off to Holodrum and Labrynna. He knew that the veteran had been overtaken by wanderlust soon after his first adventure and had sought to seek new challenges and to hone himself. When he looked at it like that, it seemed plainly obvious why Legend had adventured as much as he did.

But, after those quite eventful days in Mask’s era, they had returned to Hyrule’s era. As fun as it was to explore Legend’s and Mask’s times, there was something that made Hyrule happy to have returned. It was good to be home.

It had been several days since their arrival through that dark gateway. The three heroes had followed the eastbound road as it led through the forest, along the southern end of Midoro Swamp, and up into highlands. Now, they were descending down into the plain northeast of the swamp, where they would continue to follow the road north until it brought them between more mountains and to Rauru Town.

Legend and Mask’s company had taken up the time Hyrule had freed when the completion of his second quest caused monster encounters to fall dramatically. Where he once spent his time on the lookout or planning his way around or through a group of monsters, he was now splitting the watch and sharing stories with his two companions.

While Mask didn’t tell his own stories, Legend certainly did. Over the last few days, he had taken to telling a story that he said was his favorite as a child. It was a story about the prince of a land called Sablé.

“Our Prince of Sablé is both a childhood friend and rival to the prince of the Custard Kingdom, Richard,” Legend had said. “They like to compete with each other and were close matches in all things except for fencing.”

He went on to recount how after one such sparring session (that Richard naturally won), a messenger suddenly burst into the fencing arena, with tidings that Mille-Feuille, a kingdom allied with the Custard Kingdom, had been invaded by the Croakian Army of Lord Delarin. So Richard and Prince Sablé set out for Mille-Feuille in hopes of rescuing Princess Tiramisu from Delarin.

“This is just a fictional story, right?” Mask asked at one point. “Not like one of these legends that may have actually happened?”

Legend nodded. “Just a story. Though,” he paused with a knowing smile, “maybe at some point I met Prince Richard myself, in a house filled with frogs on an island that doesn’t exist! Who knows?”

The story had more frogs in it than Hyrule would have expected. The Prince of Sablé himself gained the ability to turn into a frog and later a snake, which he used to reach places he otherwise couldn’t.

“I do like how he uses all those forms to his advantage,” Mask later said. “I think any careful adventurer who found himself in his situation would know to use each of them in conjunction with each other, especially due to their own unique advantages and disadvantages.” He paused. “I do wonder, though, whether the two of you have ever been in a similar situation, having to change form to do something you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

Of course, Hyrule had the fairy spell, and that allowed him to reach places he otherwise couldn’t. He did not mention this. He did not think Legend was emotionally prepared to find out just who that fairy he had encountered in the forest was.

It wasn’t like the others noticed that he was withholding this information, given how quickly Legend acted to change the topic. It was almost as if he wanted to hide something of his own.

The three Links had set up camp for the day. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and about two or three hours, by Hyrule’s reckoning before sunset. At the moment, Legend was patrolling the area around camp to ensure the immediate surroundings were clear. Whenever they were camped and the sun was out, the trio had come to the agreement that patrols should be done once an hour, and more often if there was reason to be extra alert.

It was certainly a significantly higher level of awareness than had been exercised at any point earlier in the quest, and certainly more than on any of the Links’ prior solo adventures. However, since they had reason to believe that there could be more signs of the shadow in this era, this was the current arrangement until they had more information.

Mask was very good at keeping track of the passage of time, and so usually was the one who would tell everybody that the rounds needed doing again. He was in camp right now, with some of his equipment laid out next to him.

The equipment he had after his return from the Lost Woods was definitely different than what he had had before. Instead of a blue shield, he had a reflective shield much like Legend’s, except it was circular and bore the image of a face frozen in a grimace. His sword was longer and had a pattern of golden lozenges that went down the length of the blade.

Mask had not been in the group for long enough prior to the Lost Woods for Hyrule to know how much of his other stuff he had prior to his departure, but Hyrule was pretty sure that he didn’t have as many masks as he did now. And he certainly didn’t take them out and fidget with them the way he did when he was idle, sometimes staring contemplatively at them.

“Oh, it’s a sentimental thing, really,” Mask said, when Legend asked him about them. “Each and every one of them has their own story behind them and how they made their way into my hands. They’re all significant in their own little way.”

At this moment, Mask was sitting across from Hyrule, staring at a mask in his hands. This particular one was one he seemed to take out a lot—it had the face of some yellow foxlike creature with closed eyes and a black nose.

“You seem to like that one a lot,” Hyrule noted.

Mask looked up from it and transfixed Hyrule with his piercing glance. He raised an eyebrow. “Do I?” He paused. “You haven’t seen one of these before meeting me, have you?”

Hyrule shook his head.

Mask held out the mask for the traveler to see. “This is the Keaton Mask. It’s of a character that’s been quite popular as of late in my era, at least among children.” He paused. “Though I do suppose the mask shop can’t run with its salesman out travelling.”

He stood up and put on the mask. “Keaton’s pretty cute, don’t you think?” His posture shifted slightly as he put it on, and so did the tone of his voice. If Hyrule didn’t know better, in that moment, Mask could just have been like any other child his age.

The Keaton Mask by itself was pretty cute, though, so Hyrule nodded.

Mask took it off and shifted back to his normal demeanor, with that sort of relaxed confidence that he and Legend seemed to have. He sat down. “It’s a fun, childish thing for most, I suppose, but what’s just another silly thing now could be a treasured memory in a few years. For one person I met, it was a token of a long-held friendship. It’s interesting how these things turn out.” He paused. “I will say, there are legends of intelligent three-tailed foxes that bear a resemblance to this mask. Do you think that maybe Keaton may not be such a fictional character after all?” He gave Hyrule a knowing smile at that last part.

The conversation trailed off from there, and a moment passed before the sound of approaching footsteps became audible. Legend had returned.

“Anything interesting?” Hyrule asked.

“Not anything that I would immediately suspect is directly related to our quest.” Legend said. “However, there is something I found that may be of interest to you personally.”

“Oh?

“I think it may be best if you saw for yourself.”

“Take me there.”

The two set out from camp, initially in silence. Things were still a little awkward between the two after everything that happened, even though the actual argument had been long settled by now. Hyrule had been beginning to suspect that it might be related to the fact that the two of them had apparently decided not to let Mask know back after the fight with the Dairas. The need to keep this a secret seemed to keep the knowledge of what happened in Hyrule’s head.

Or perhaps it was that some of the fundamental causes of the argument hadn’t really been addressed. After all, even after everything had been patched up after Legend’s last excursion to the Lost Woods, Legend had still acted maybe a little too recklessly in the Daira fight and got injured for it. Just because he hadn’t been grievously injured didn’t mean he couldn’t be in the next tough fight.

Whatever the reasons, they had been acting somewhat cagey around each other whenever Mask wasn’t around to force them to maintain appearances. It was nothing like how the two had acted before the forest. Hyrule felt awkward about these silences, and Legend obviously did too.

“So, uh… Mask was showing you something from his collection, right?” Legend said, after a while.

Hyrule nodded.

“What was it this time?”

“Some sort of popular character. He said it reminded him of how significant seemingly silly, childish things can become over time.”

“He always has interesting things to say. I like that about him.”

“He’s been good to have around. I’m glad we have him, even despite…” Hyrule trailed off. The forest was in the past. They had already discussed it. No point beating it further into the ground.

“Yeah,” Legend said. He turned to look at a nearby wall of rock and stopped. “Anyway, this is what I wanted to show you.” He patted a part of it that looked like it had collapsed and was now covered. “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you?” He gave Hyrule a mischievous grin.

Hyrule returned a grin of his own, nodded, and pulled out a bomb. “I’ll do the honors.” He set it down and lit the fuse, and then he and Legend dived for cover and held their shields above their heads.

BOOM!

After the shower of rocks subsided and the dust settled, Hyrule and Legend got back up and took a look. The explosion had cleared the rocks and exposed a cave inside.

Hyrule couldn’t help but smile at that sight. There were still secrets to be found, even after all this time.

Legend pulled out his lantern, its magic flame bursting to life, and began walking inside. Hyrule joined him. They walked through a short passageway that opened up into a fairly large chamber.

Hyrule’s eyes widened. The chamber was full of pots. Just, so many pots.

He turned to Legend. “Dibs on the left side,” the veteran said.

“Last one to clear their half is a rotten egg!”

“Oh, you’re on!”

△
△△

Night had descended upon camp, and the group was going through that lull of activity that often occurred after dinner. This happened fairly regularly every day, but things would inevitably pick up again when someone found something to talk about or some activity to drag everyone in until it got late enough for people to start sleeping and the watches to start.

Legend was absentmindedly shuffling through his deck of cards, as he often did after dinner. Mask had learned by now that this usually meant one thing.

“Is there a game you want to play, Veteran?” Hyrule asked.

“I think there is,” Legend said.

“Do tell.”

He shuffled his deck one last time before handing out cards in a circle until each of the three Links had about the same number of cards. “This is a game about lying to your friends. I’ve seen it go by a few names, like ‘Cheat,’ but the name I’ve come to use for it is ‘BS.’ No points for guessing what that stands for.” Legend smiled slightly. “Do you all feel up for it?”

“You’re on,” Hyrule said. How competitive of him. Mask, for his part, just silently nodded. This seemed like the kind of thing he’d do well at, but given the kind of game this was, he probably didn’t want to openly show confidence.

Legend went and explained the rules. It was a game about shedding all the cards in hand, where the order of the cards that needed to be played went in sequence. They were placed face-down, and any number of those cards could be played. But any player could play something else, thereby lying, but any other player can call their bluff by saying the name of the game (in this case “BS”), and if it was in fact a lie the lying player would have to take the whole pile of previously played cards into their hand. But if it wasn’t, then the person who called them out had to take the cards.

And, under Legend’s rules, jokers could fit in for any card.

“The way I’ve learned it, the person who has the ace of spades goes first,” Legend said. “That happens to be me.” He took out a card and placed it face-up. It was in fact the ace of spades. “This is the only card we need to be honest about.” He flipped it face-down.

Hyrule took two cards out of his hand and placed them face-down. “Two twos.”

Mask looked at his own hand. He didn’t have any twos, so he had no way to know if Hyrule was lying. Better to let this slide.

He had two threes. Did he want to play both of them? He’d be completely screwed the next time he had to play threes. But that wouldn’t happen for the next two times a 3 had to be played. And if he was wrong, well, he also had a joker.

“Two threes.”

Legend played a card. “One four.” Mask looked at his cards. He had two fours. He looked at Legend, who maintained a fairly decent poker face. From his posture, Mask was pretty sure he had thought this decision through before Mask had made his choice.

“Three fives,” Hyrule said. Mask had none, and no other reason to not believe him.

He had a six of his own. “One six.”

Legend played a seven, and Hyrule played an eight. Mask had two nines, so he played them. Legend played a ten, and Hyrule played a jack. Mask had and played two queens. Legend followed up by playing one king, and Hyrule did as well with one ace.

Mask looked at his hand. He had no twos. He did have two jokers, though he didn’t really want to give that flexibility to the next person who received the pile.

He looked at Hyrule, who seemed fairly relaxed, and then at Legend, who was carefully studying his deck. There was something that felt off to Mask. He decided not to risk it and played a joker.

“One two.”

“BS,” Legend said. He flipped the card Mask had played and let out a resigned sigh. “Well, you certainly can’t say that jokers don’t make the game more interesting.” He took the pile with a groan. “Three threes.”

Well, it wasn’t all that unlikely he didn’t have that many at this point.

Hyrule played two fours. Mask didn’t have any fives though. He wanted to save his remaining joker, so he played one of his kings. “One five.”

“BS,” Legend said almost immediately. Well, crap.

Now out of the three, Hyrule was the one with the smallest pile. Legend played two sixes, and Hyrule played three sevens. Mask didn’t have any eights, but at this point he was pretty sure he’d rather take the cards than use his remaining joker. “One eight.”

Legend called him out again, so now Mask’s deck was really starting to get large. At least it was still smaller than Legend’s. Mask held the frustration from both his facial expression and his body language. All the work he had put into truly becoming other people with his transformations was very handy for this kind of game.

Legend played three nines, and Hyrule played a ten. Mask played his two jacks. Legend played four(!) queens. Hyrule played a king.

Mask had three kings. He wasn’t sure who had the last one, but there was a good chance Legend did after all the cards he got. Between that and how Hyrule’s body language at this moment seemed to be just the slightest bit off, Mask was willing to take a chance here.

“BS.”

Hyrule sighed and flipped the topmost card to reveal a six—the gamble had paid off. Mask played his ace, Legend played four twos, and Hyrule played a three. While they were doing this, Mask counted off through the next few turns to see which cards he needed to play next. Fours, sevens, tens, kings. He had at least one of each, so he was set for a while. “Four fours.”

“Four fives,” Legend said. Now both Legend’s and Mask’s hands were about the size they were earlier in the game, but that pile was about the same size too. Given how long it would take before the next time Mask would have to lie, hopefully it would have emptied before then.

Hyrule played two sixes, and Mask played his three sevens. Legend played four eights, and Hyrule played four nines. Mask played his ten, Legend played two jacks, and Hyrule played four queens. He now had three cards left, but that card pile was really large now. Mask played his three kings.

What did he need to play next? He looked at his hand—a joker, three threes, and two sixes. He counted through the next few turns—the next cards he needed to play were exactly the ones he had. He was guaranteed victory in six turns, no lies required.

“Three aces,” Legend said. He seemed unaware of Mask’s impending victory and seemed to be paying more attention to Hyrule’s three-card hand. Not that knowing what was coming would have helped him. Five turns left.

“One two,” Hyrule said.

“BS,” Legend said. He flipped the card Hyrule had placed to reveal a jack. “Well, Traveler, you certainly won’t need to lie for quite a while, at least.”

Hyrule simply sighed. Four turns left.

“Three threes,” Mask said. Three turns left.

Legend hesitated a while before placing a card down. “One four.”

Hyrule started flipping through his deck before seemingly finding what he was looking for. “BS.” He flipped the last card over to see a joker. “Dang.”

Legend’s hand had four cards, and Mask’s had three. The entire rest of the deck now belonged to Hyrule, who only a few turns earlier was seemingly leading. But that didn’t matter anymore. Two turns left.

Hyrule flipped through his hand a little more before taking out four cards. “Four fives.”

One turn left.

While taking care not to let his posture or expression shift, Mask placed all three of his remaining cards down. “Three sixes.”

Hyrule flipped through his deck some more before pausing. “BS.” He flipped the cards over to reveal the two sixes and the joker. “Well, at least Veteran didn’t get to win after handing me the entire deck.”

“Dammit!” Legend said. “I was going to win in the next four turns, too.” He flipped his hand over to reveal a hand of one seven, two tens, and a king.

“You should just get better at lying; I think that’d help,” Mask said in that same deadpan manner that Legend seemed fond of using.

“You say that, Mask, but I’ve been pretty good at finding lies.”

That was true. Mask had somehow not been able to get a single lie past Legend that game. And Mask was pretty sure that if it came to that, he was the best liar in the group. Legend certainly was clever.

“How do you do it? You didn’t had all four of the cards that were being supposedly played every time you’ve done so.”

“By paying attention. A useful skill in general, I might add. It helps in so many other places than just card games.”

So Mask’s own observations were true when he figured out that out of the two other Links, Legend was the one who picked up on things faster. It was good to confirm that, as astounding as it was that Legend would just freely volunteer that information.

“Careful observations that I can’t help but notice get messed with by the jokers,” Mask teased. Legend had been tripped up by the joker he had played early on, though it did seem like he had figured out that Mask had no twos there.

“And that’s why playing with them is more interesting! I think it’s more fun this way, honestly.”

“Feel free to continue telling yourself that,” Hyrule said.

“Hey! I really do!” Legend shouted indignantly.

Hyrule simply smiled.

“Do we want to play another game?” Mask asked.

“I’d be up for it,” Hyrule said.

Legend took the cards that weren’t already in his hand and shuffled them together. He began passing them out and smiled slightly. “Then may the best liar win.”

△
△△

Legend was roused from his sleep by being gently shaken. It was Mask, who had the previous watch shift.

“My turn?” Legend asked.

Mask nodded and walked over to the fire that they had set up, sitting down where he had apparently been attending to the watch.

Legend sat up and yawned. He grabbed his item pouch, which he had set next to him, and attached it to his belt. He got up, put on his boots, quickly stretched, put on his sword and shield, and then walked over to Mask.

“Do you plan to stay awake for a bit?” It seemed like everyone liked to stay awake past their shift for a few minutes from time to time, probably to be able to have one-on-one conversation. In one such conversation, Hyrule had said that “it’s a good way to relax after having to stay alert so constantly.” It made for easier sleeping afterward.

“Yeah,” Mask said. “I don’t want to hold you for too long, though, so I’ll keep it brief.”

Legend situated himself by the fire. He quickly adjusted the straps that secured his sword to his body to make sure he would be able to quickly draw it if he noticed something. “Anything you wanted to talk about?”

“Nothing in particular,” Mask said. “I just wanted to watch the stars for a bit.”

“Alright.”

Mask laid himself down on his back a bit further away from the fire, resting his head on his hands as he looked up at the skies above. A few minutes passed in virtual silence, with only the rustling of vegetation in the slight wind and the crackling of the fire audible.

Legend took a quick break from his silent vigil over camp to join Mask in looking skyward. The night sky was always a sight to behold. Even in the darkest of places serene beauty could still be found, if one just knew where to look.

“You know, Veteran, I used to not know what the sky really looked like. I only found out maybe like a year ago.”

“Really?” That was not something Legend would have expected from him. Mask seemed largely cut from the same cloth Legend was, in that they both seemed to like to soak in information around them like a sponge. So to hear that the boy hadn’t known about something as basic as the sky until that recently was very unusual, to say the least.

“Yeah.” There was silence for a while, before Mask spoke again. “Where I grew up, there was this fog that would always cover the sky. It wasn’t until I left and started seeing the rest of Hyrule that I got to see the sun and moon and stars for the first time.”

He paused again for a long while. “It’s so strange. The fact of their existence seems so obvious. With how much of the moon alone I’ve seen…” He trailed off. “It’s just… Can you imagine describing what a clear sky looks like to someone who has never seen one? If I were told that it was so blue just a little more than a year ago, I would have thought I was being messed with.”

“There’s always a first time for everything,” Legend said. “Even something as simple as seeing a blue sky.”

“Indeed. I feel like I find myself staring at the stars from time to time. Perhaps I find the need to remind myself of what wonders I’ve been able to see after I got to step out on Hyrule Field the first time.”

That would probably be what Legend himself would do, if he were in Mask’s shoes. It must be truly wonderful to be able to do something as simple as looking up and being filled with awe.

A couple moments passed in silence before Mask spoke up again.

“Do you think the stars care about what happens on the world below?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The stars,” Mask said. “I’ve always thought of them as watching overhead. Do you think they care about what they see?”

That was an interesting question. “With how far above they are, I don’t think they do or can. But does that matter? They have their own duties, to provide guidance at night, but they can’t change the world for us. It falls to us to ensure that our world is a just one.”

“That’s an interesting answer. You certainly sound assured of it,” Mask said.

“It’s been a long journey to get to the way I see the world around me now. Maybe I can share that with you and the others someday.”

“I’d like that,” Mask said. “As for me, I always thought that they didn’t. They watch, and know, but don’t care. Yet…” Mask paused. “There was a moment, after I found myself in that whirlpool in the river of time, when I knew I was in a major predicament but didn’t truly understand its extent. And yet I came across a place built for observing the stars, and despite how scary everything was at that time, I found comfort in that place. Not to mention…” He trailed off again. “It’s possible that there might be a star or two that has tried to guide me. I was really certain that they didn’t care, but I don’t really know anymore.”

That was not a trivial thing for Mask to confide. “My advice would be to work towards a new understanding. I have always tried to bring my understanding as close to the truth as possible, and part of that is being willing to admit that I don’t know everything,” Legend said.

“And I will.” He smiled. “You make for a good conversation partner, Veteran. I’m glad I can talk to you and share these kinds of things.”

Legend was glad that he was able to get to know Mask so well.

“Well, I think I’ll have to take my leave of you for the night,” Mask said. “I look forward to seeing you and Traveler in the morning.”

“Good night, then.”