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Link limped proudly through the halls of the castle, nodding at his fellow soldiers with a grin when they waved at him. While having injuries was a sign of failure for most people, for Link, it was a sign of success. It showed how well he had done with his job of distracting Cia’s armies and giving Hyrule’s armies a chance to attack them while they were distracted. It made for a lot of trips to the medical tent, but it was worth it.
He walked into the throne room, and Zelda met him at the door with a grin and a hug.
“How are you feeling, Link?” she asked. Link frowned at the worry in her tone.
Is everything okay, Princess? Link signed, raising his eyebrows.
Zelda sighed. “I’m all right. It’s you I’m worried about. You’ve been coming back from battle with more and more injuries— morso than the rest of the soldiers.”
Link smiled. I’m okay, he signed back. I go ahead of everyone else to distract some of the monsters, and the more weak I look, the more monsters follow me. When the rest of the group comes, they have a smaller group to fight and the monsters that follow me are tired. Link was proud of his job. He was the only one who could do it, because he was the one Cia wanted.
Zelda frowned. “Link, that’s not good.”
Link hesitated before he brought his hand to his head, his eyebrows lowered. Why?
“Link, your job is not to get hurt purposely. Your job is to fight.”
Link tilted his head. If I’m helping, shouldn’t that be what I’m doing? I’m not as strong as some of the others, and all of them have been trained longer than me.
Zelda frowned and wrapped Link in another hug. “Link, you’re going to hurt yourself more than you know. You are just as good, if not better, then all of those soldiers and you know it. You are the hero, for Hylia’s sake. Do you think the goddess would choose a hero that was sub-par?”
At Link’s head shake, Zelda continued. “I need you to promise me that you won’t do that anymore.”
Link nodded.
He knew it wasn’t a promise he was going to keep.