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Most people would say that Princess Zelda of Hyrule was rarely ever nervous. She was always confident, composed, and wise. A respectable and dignified heir to the throne. Yet, the Princess was starting to have second thoughts about being such a dignified and worthy heir. In fact, she was starting to regret many of her recent actions.
Wearing a cloak with its large hood up and over most of her face, the Princess liked to believe she was unrecognizable from the common traveller. Zelda was currently hiding out in an alley in Castle Town, the large bustling village surrounding Hyrule Castle. Despite living so close to it her entire life, she practically never went there, and especially not by herself without some form of escort. Her father will be livid when he hears about this…
Sighing, she leaned against the wall of some building, head in her hands. Zelda was incredibly lost, and there were far too many people around compared to those she interacted with inside the castle. People’s voices, the stone road, the hinges of doors and windows… Zelda took a deep breath as she calmed herself down - or at least attempted to - and tried to remember why she had even left the castle in the first place.
Ever since she could remember, Zelda had a strange mark on the back of her left hand - three triangles that were placed next to each other to make one bigger triangle. When she had gotten older, she recognized it as the Triforce, a holy artifact made by the Goddesses, and started to notice the symbol in many different places. It was on the symbol for the royal family, the shields the knights bore, the stained-glass murals in the windows, patterns etched into the walls, even the floor she walked on.
And yet, despite this, either little was known about the Triforce or much of the information about it had been lost through the passage of time. The records and the castle’s library had very little information for her to work with, only that it was created along with the land by the Goddesses. So, in an effort to find out more about her strange birthmark, Princess Zelda had decided to try a different approach. She planned to look into other places where she could find details, like the libraries or bookstores of Castle Town. She could also go to that Temple of Time if she got desperate.
Zelda turned her head to look out to the street. It must have rained a little last night, as she noticed small puddles on the road, and water splashing as people walked into them. Across said road, and diagonally to the right from where she was now, Zelda noticed there was a sign for a small bookstore.
Pulling her hood down even more, Zelda carefully weaved through the crowd of strangers as they walked by her. When she got to the bookstore, she quickly opened the door, as a small bell above it rang out. The bookstore had a small counter in the back, and a handful of shelves on the walls and in the middle of the store.
Zelda decided to walk to the back of the store, trying not to seem as nervous as she was.
You belong here, She thought to herself. You know exactly where you’re going, where you are. Who you are. Which is not the Princess of Hyrule.
She was starting to doubt this whole plan.
“Can I help you?” The man behind the counter asked. He was leaning on said counter, holdling up his head in his hand.
“I am looking for information on the Triforce.” Zelda blurted out before she could think. Her voice sounded a little strange.
“Oh! Uhm…” The worker tapped his fingers on the counter for a moment, as he pressed his lips inward and squinted in thought. “Maybe try something on the history of Hyrule? Over there.” He pointed to a portion of the store titled “History”.
“Thank you very much.” Zelda nodded, as she walked over to one of the shelves and pulled out a book about old legends and fables, and a book on the history of the royal family. She was sure she had seen something similar to these books in the castle’s library, but there wasn’t much else that stuck out to her in the store. Somewhat satisfied, and somewhat defeated, she went up to the counter to pay for the books.
“Found something?” The man seemed genuinely shocked. “Alright, that’ll be twenty-five Rupees.”
Zelda fished out a blue and a red Rupee from one of the pockets of the cloak. “Here.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.” The man said.
As she opened the door to leave, she sighed. It was thankfully not as hard as she thought to find what she needed. Now, she just needed to get through the crowded streets of the town and get back inside the castle. Somehow. Zelda honestly didn’t think she would get this far. But before she could think of a plan, she felt something hit her head. A drop of water? Zelda blinked. Rain began to fall on the ground, light at first but picking up drastically. Putting her newly purchased books underneath her cloak and holding them there - albeit inefficiently - Zelda began to run.
As she raced down the street, she felt something hit her hard, and all of a sudden she hit the ground. When she opened up her eyes, shocked and scared, she noticed her books were all sprawled out on the ground in front of her, soaking up the rainwater. Then, a hand came into view, and she looked up to see the face of a young man, probably around her age. He had short brown hair, deep green eyes, and the princess could not stop staring at his face as he smiled down at her and extended a hand to help her stand up.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!” He apologized, and shifted his shoulder. It had a small pauldron on it. “Are you alright?”
Zelda blinked a couple of times. She needed to stop staring at his face. He was just so… mesmerizing. It almost felt like she knew him somehow.
“I am fine.” She said, as the man handed her the books that had fallen on the ground.
“Sorry, they’re a little wet.” He said, and as she grabbed the books from his hands, a sudden sharp pain in her head rang out. She lifted a hand to her forehead as her face grimaced. Noticing this, the man asked, “Are you sure you are alright? You hit the ground pretty hard…”
Zelda shook her head no, realizing that if she decided to lie, that would be a fight she couldn’t win. The sharp pain wasn’t going away anytime soon, but she could open her eyes, at least.
“Uhm…” the man paused, before grabbing the princess’s arms and leading her to an alley, thankfully shielded from the rain by the roof of a building. He and Zelda then sat on the ground, as he rifled through a leather bag. Eventually, he took out a small vial of some shiny, red liquid. “Here, this potion should help.”
Zelda took it and swallowed it as fast as she could. It tasted awful, but after a few moments, the headache subsided.
“Thank… Thank you, sir.”
The man chuckled. “You can call me Link. What’s your name?”
Zelda suddenly felt a pit in her stomach. She couldn’t just tell the man her name was Zelda, the same one strictly reserved for only the princesses of Hyrule.
“My name is…” Zelda paused. “Sheik?”
She wanted to die. That was the worst lie she had ever made!
“Oh, well, Sheik, it was nice to meet you.” The man said with a smile. For whatever reason, he didn’t catch her obvious lie. Zelda sighed in relief internally. “Although,” Link began, looking out at the rain pouring down from above, “I don’t think either of us should move from this spot for a while, this storm is getting a little-”
BANG!
They both shrieked.
“...dangerous.” Link finished.
Silence then fell, as rain consumed the sound around them. A plus side of being in the middle of a large town during a storm was, apparently, that crowds became very scarce once the thunder came rolling in.
Zelda took this time to take in Link’s appearance. Along with the two pauldrons, the man also wore a metal breastplate and gauntlets, on top of a dark green tunic. He had worn, leather boots and a leather belt that held some kind of basic steel sword on his side. On his head was a strange, pointy hat that matched the color of the tunic he wore.
Zelda coughed, trying to break the silence. “What are you doing in Castle Town?”
“Sorry?” He replied. “Oh! It’s, uh, kind of a long story.”
She motioned her head toward the exit of the alley. “We have time.”
“Well, then.” Link sighed, and then carefully removed the gauntlet covering his right hand. “I have an audience with the King. The royal family suspects I’m some reincarnated ‘Hero of Legend’, or something, because of this.” He showed Zelda his hand. It had the same symbol hers did - the symbol of the Triforce.
Zelda couldn’t stop looking at his hand.
“I hope with this rain, the King won’t mind me being late.” Link sighed. “Anywho, what are you doing here?”
“...I am just buying myself some books.” Zelda said, coming back to reality. She really needed to stop staring at his hand.
“Right. They got pretty soaked though, huh? Hold on –” He fished into his bag, and took out a pouch for Rupees. “– how much did they cost? I’ll pay you.”
“What? Why would you?” Zelda said. “It is not like it is your fault that it rained today.”
“Well, I did bump into you, did I not?”
“Yet I was the one recklessly running through the crowded streets of–”
“Just. Here. I insist.” He shoved thirty Rupees into Zelda’s lap. “Those books are completely wrecked from water damage. You need to buy new ones, but I would feel bad if you had to pay double.”
“Well then… Thank you.” Zelda said, and she and Link made eye contact for a split second, until lightning rang out from the skies above them.
They sat there in silence for a while, as the rain eventually began to calm down. They both began to stand up.
“Well, Sheik, I hope we see each other again.”
“I do too.”
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Later that evening, Princess Zelda would look out of the window of her bedroom, as the night sky drifted along. She would ponder over her birthmark, and its meaning. If it meant that Link was supposedly the reincarnation of a great hero of Hyrule, then what did it mean for her? What would be her fate? What would be Hyrule’s fate? For all she knew, her kingdom could endure a great catastrophe soon, and both Link and her would be in the very center of it.
Most people would say that Princess Zelda of Hyrule was rarely ever nervous. Those people were very, very wrong.