Chapter Text
Prologue
"We're approaching the harbour, Captain."
Link looked up from the mess of maps and notes on his cabin desk. "Thank you, Mipha," he said to his first mate with a nod. "I'll be up on deck in a moment."
She dipped her head and spun on her heel to leave, her daggers swinging at her hips. Link scrutinised his papers for another minute or two while he chewed on his lower lip. A map of the Hyrule seas took up most of the desk’s surface, half obscured by pages of various scribbles and markings that had been crossed out and re-written. His eyes lingered on a scrap of paper that contained nothing but four lines of text, a short riddle that he knew by heart and which sometimes pervaded his dreams.
Quiet beauty on a lonely shore
Guards a secret within a hidden door
Misko's treasure awaits a soul
With courage true and armour whole
Eventually he stood and stretched, rolling out stiff shoulders from sitting hunched over his desk for too long. He picked up his belt and sheaths from the bunk where he’d tossed them down and buckled them on tightly, checking the ammo in his pistol before sliding it back in place. His sword leaned against the wall, but he wouldn't be taking it with him for this particular excursion. Finally, he reached for a short hooded cloak hanging from a nail in the wall and swung it over his shoulders, the forest green fabric rustling softly and concealing the gun as well as a dagger strapped to his thigh.
His boots thudded on the floorboards as he climbed up the steps and made his way to the quarter deck, where several of the crew were already gathered. Mipha swept a sharp eye over the ship, taking stock of the crew’s activity while her flame red hair whipped out into the wind. Sidon, his chief navigator and Mipha's brother, stood at the helm. One hand rested easy on the wheel, the other shielded his eyes while he peered at the coastline. The stocky Daruk stood nearby too, Link's trusty bo'sun who oversaw the deck hands and did a remarkable job of keeping morale high with his booming voice and equally booming laugh. It usually wasn't too hard to find Daruk when he was needed; one just had to listen to which area of the ship was the loudest.
When Link appeared, they all turned to him in unison with salutes and wide smiles. Link stepped up beside Sidon to gaze ahead at the strip of land that grew rapidly larger in front of them. The harbour of Hyrule's capital spread out in a resplendent blaze of glinting windows catching the evening light. From here they could just about make out the looming castle which stood some distance inland, its flags fluttering in the breeze.
"How are things looking?" Link asked.
Sidon grinned and slapped a hand on Link's shoulder. "We should be approaching an anchor point in about ten minutes, Captain."
"The tide is perfect, Goro!" Daruk boomed with a toothy grin. "And we're flyin’ the Hyrule flags, which should fool the soldiers long enough for ya to get the job done."
"Are you ready?" Mipha asked quietly. "Are you sure it's a good idea to go on your own?"
Link grinned. "Trust me, I've got this. I'm the master of stealth, remember?"
Mipha rolled her eyes while Sidon chuckled appreciatively. "If anyone can pull this off, it's you, Captain," he said. "Personally I’m glad not to be joining you."
Link squinted at the city in the distance, picking out a few recognizable landmarks already, the familiarity of it all stirring up an unexpected rush of melancholy. "It's strange being back here," he murmured, wondering if everything was still the same or if he'd find himself a stranger in his home city. Well, technically it wasn't really his home. The tiny Kakariko village was. But he'd spent so much of his youth in Castle Town that it had become the place his mind naturally landed when he considered where he came from, the backdrop for his dreams and his reference point for the rest of the world.
He shook off his malaise and busied himself in the preparations to drop anchor and prepare a longboat for him to paddle to shore.
"Remember, if I'm not back by tomorrow morning, you sail back out of the harbour before anyone comes poking around to the ship," Link reminded his crew. "You're no use to me if you get arrested, so move far enough away to avoid any trouble and then come back."
"Aye, we know," Mipha reassured him. "If we're not right here when you return we won't be far off."
When he was ready to set off, everyone gathered around, and Link waved and grinned from his perch in the little boat while the crew lowered it to the water with a splash. Shouts of "good luck!" and "don't die!" followed him as he lifted the oars and carefully navigated around the side of his ship. He allowed himself one last look back and a salute before turning his focus ahead, scanning the waterfront with a calculating eye and seeking somewhere discreet to land. There was no use moping over childhood nostalgia, and there would be plenty of time to celebrate with his crew later.
For now, he had a princess to capture.
