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Lilac tightened their cloak around themself. They’d been traveling for several days now, and three days ago, the skies had cracked open and it hadn’t stopped raining since. When they’d crossed into the Faron region, the rain had turned into a lightning storm, and all of the hair on their body bristled every time lightning struck. They’d wandered off the path not long after crossing a bridge and headed north.
Their boots had multiple times sunk into the mud and newly-formed puddles as they followed the river north. From there, they could simply climb the mountain and save themselves a few days on the road.
At least they were relatively dry. Their cloak was more or less waterproof and the thick leaves above served as effective umbrellas. They quickly noticed that someone had been here recently; the underbrush had been hacked away and some mud still held muddy footprints. Hylian footprints. Unfortunately, the rain covered everything and made it impossible to tell how recent the scent was. The prints had to be fresh, though, or else they would've already been washed away by the rain.
They stepped away from that path, not wanting to run face to face with Hylians. They looked at their hand to change their skin tone from grey to a more Hylian one. At least if they ran into someone, they wouldn’t immediately be mistaken for a monster.
The rain continued to fall as they continued to walk. Eventually, they heard something other than the pitter patter of the rain and the sounds of the forest. They heard shouts and fighting. They quickly scampered up a tree, their claws digging into the slippery surface with ease. Then they hopped from tree to tree, getting close to the sounds.
In the forest below, two Hylians (or maybe one of them was a Sheikah?) were fighting a pack of Lizalfos. Only one of the Hylians seemed to be equipped to fight, while the other didn’t have any weapons. There was no chance that a single Hylian (or Sheikah) could fight off an entire pack of Lizalfos while also trying to protect someone else.
They had to intervene. They quickly nocked a few arrows on their bow (lovingly made for them by their mother before they’d left) and fired at a few Lizalfos that had been sneaking up on the blonde Hylian. The girl (?) shouted and the other turned around, distracted by the newly fallen Lizalfos, which left them open to those in front. Lilac sighed and shot some of those down, too.
Over the sound of the rain, they heard more shouts.
“Princess! Stay close!” The older one ordered, looking around for the source of the arrows.
They would have to jump down there. They steadied themself, made sure they could pass off as Hylian, and jumped down. They unsheathed their sword and brought down a lizalfos as they landed. There was a gasp from the blonde one. They quickly turned around to look at her.
“Are you alright?” They almost cringed at the sound of their own voice. They weren’t very practiced and their hands were too full for sign language.
The girl nodded, eyes wide.
The other one slashed down a few Lizalfos before turning their back too. “Thanks for the help!” They had to shout to be heard over the thundering rain. “We have to get out of here! Can you help? If we can take these down, we can make a run for it.”
Lilac nodded. They were already helping, after all. They were going to answer, but they heard a crackle over the rain. It wasn’t lightning, at least not from the sky. “Behind!” They shouted.
The white-haired one whirled around to face a lightning Lizalfos. In this weather, those had to be taken seriously. Lilac saw more coming and shot those down, keeping themselves between the forest and the blonde one.
The fight went on until there seemed to be a lull and the pack was thinning. “Should go now!” They shouted.
The white-haired one nodded, sheathing their knife. “Yes, let’s go!”
They grabbed the blonde one’s hand and ran south, Lilac hot on their heels. They occasionally turned around to shoot at some chasing Lizalfos, inwardly wincing and apologising every time.
The three of them ran through the forest, not stopping until they could be sure the Lizalfos were no longer following them. The path here was just as muddy as the side path they were on before, but it had widened and evened out; they must finally be on the main road through the Faron region now.
Zelda doubled over, panting, not used to running for so long and certainly not through a forest. Even Impa took some time to recover, which just went to show how narrow that escape had been. But the stranger who'd saved them only seemed winded for a moment - after just a split second, they were doing fine, even better than Impa.
Zelda was almost a little jealous.
“Thank you so much for your help back there,” Impa breathed. “We probably wouldn't have made it if not for you. My name is Impa, what’s yours?”
The stranger hesitated for a moment, before putting their bow away on their back and raising their hands to chest level. “ My name is Lilac, ” they slowly signed, spelling out each letter individually.
Zelda nodded, glad she was finally able to get a decent look at their saviour. Lilac , they were called. What a pretty name. And it suited them, too. Their eyes were the most striking thing about them; lilac, just like their name. She’d never seen anyone with such a colour. Their hair was also extremely pale, practically white… Perhaps they had some Sheikah ancestry? It was odd, but not unheard of.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lilac," she said with a smile. "I can’t thank you enough for helping us. I'm Zelda.”
At this, Lilac made a startled gasp of recognition, retreating back into their hood somewhat. “ I just did what I had to do, ” they signed meekly.
Impa shook her head. “No, I think a lot of people would have just kept going in a situation like that. You saved our lives!” She searched her pockets - definitely looking for something to pay them with, Zelda figured. “Which direction are you heading in? Maybe we could stay together for a little while.”
Lilac paused again, before pointing down the path. Zelda couldn't tell which direction that was, but a quick glance at Impa's disappointed face confirmed that it wasn't the same way they were headed.
"Towards Lurelin Village?" Impa asked, and Lilac nodded. “Ah, darn, we’re headed the opposite way. But! I can’t let you go away empty handed.” She handed Lilac a small pouch. “It’s not much, but it’s the least we can offer.”
Lilac took the bag uncertainly, tucking it under their arm. “ Thank you. Stay safe. ”
“You stay safe too,” Impa said as she started down the road.
“Safe travels, Lilac,” Zelda added, curtsying slightly before turning to follow her.
Lilac waved goodbye, sighing faintly in relief that the others weren't going the same way. They'd pointed east on a whim, because the north path where they'd been headed was full of Lizalfos now… This detour would probably set them back by at least a day, but at least they wouldn't travel with other people any longer than they had to.
They started heading east, waiting a little bit before peeking into the bag of rupees. They stopped in their tracks. There was easily a thousand rupees in there; how was that “not much”? That was more money than they’d ever seen in one place!
They had half a mind to head back down the road to give them their rupees back, but their mother had taught them never to refuse money. Instead, they stored the bag safely in a pocket inside their cloak. They tightened their cloak around them once again, and continued down the road.
The princess and her aide walked alone together for a while, with no sound but the rain all around them. It was beginning to let up, if only a little.
Impa eventually broke the silence. “We really lucked out there,” she said quietly. “If they hadn’t acted when they did…”
Neither of them needed that sentence to be finished. They both knew what would happen to Hyrule should Zelda’s life be cut short.
Zelda let out a heavy sigh. This expedition had been of no use once again. Hours of praying in the rain had shown no progress or result. She’d be lucky if she didn’t catch a cold. She could already hear her father admonishing her for it. She was spending too much time researching, not enough time praying. Nevermind the fact that she prayed more than she slept. Nevermind the fact that her knees were bandaged from all the hours she’d spent kneeling on the ground.
Not to mention how upset he'd be on hearing she'd ditched her usual guards and nearly gotten herself killed… Having to be rescued by a stranger.
Zelda cast a glance back over her shoulder. Lilac was already long gone, of course, lost among the trees. Still, some irrational part of her was hoping she'd catch a glimpse of them.
"Where do you think they came from?" She asked Impa.
Impa took a breath as if to answer, then cut herself off, shaking her head. Zelda frowned, but let it be.
Even if she didn't know where Lilac had come from… There was one thing Zelda was sure of. She hoped she would meet them again.
She had a feeling she would.