Chapter Text
He met her first when he was 16.
Link found himself by the shore of a beach just a month before his first big job. He’d found himself a job that some would say was… peculiar. Some might even call it illegal. But after years of apprenticing on shore, he’d decided he needed a little adventure, and what better way was there to adventure than completely free of the King’s reign of terror with fair wages for an honest day’s work?
There was work to be done on shore, preparing the ship for its venture. It had been brought in for some repairs, and the month’s time was the timetable for the work to be done. But for the most part, the day was still free to him, part time work put in before going to sea. For what, he wasn’t even sure, but he’d been promised a treasure beyond Link’s wildest imaginings, and Link could imagine quite a lot.
He kicked his feet in the sand as he stood alone on the beach. He dipped his fingers into the rising tide and watched the water drip off of them, imagining the world away from town where the worst thing wasn’t the frightening thought of getting older and worrying about wages. There were far worse things out at sea, and Link was determined to face them.
Hopping along several stones to where the water dropped off, he picked up a nearby stone and skipped it until it stopped and fell down into the waters below. It barely went anywhere, and he didn’t quite feel like trying again, so he headed back to the beach.
He grabbed a stick and began to draw in the sand, aimless patterns and designs that meant nothing to anyone, no sorrow felt when they were washed away by the tide. But Link looked up, squinting into the sun over the water, and saw the most peculiar thing: a young girl floating in the water, watching him, wet blonde hair glistening in the setting sun.
He was taken aback, of course, to see a girl so suddenly, but far more so when she was startled by his gaze and dove under the water. And to his most untrained eye, he could have sworn he saw a tail splash behind her.
He waited, watching for the girl to surface again, but she never did, and he told himself how silly it was that he’d imagined a girl when it had clearly been a whale moved in too close to shore. It had been far enough away and in the setting sun that he mistook the figure for a Hylian.
For the rest of that month that Link was ashore, he returned to that spot at sunset, hoping that the sun would play another trick on him and he'd see that tail splash out from among the waves once again. Sure, he often thought he saw it, glimpses just out of sight that disappeared the moment he turned his head, but he couldn't catch another glimpse of the figure. It was just a phantom in the corner of his eye, forever out of reach. He could even feel a chill down his spine, a feeling that he was being watched. It became normal to feel such a sensation.
But he was set to go to sea, and he put the tail behind him.
As best he could.
While he was out on deck, watching across the horizon for anything, sweeping the floorboards of the deck, or tying knots in the ropes, he kept one eye out on the horizon, eager to see if there was anything at their backs. He saw tails, clearly whales or dolphins, things he was sure that hadn't graced his presence that day upon the shore.
So, he began to talk to the water.
He would lean against the rail when the weather was fair and talk to the waves. He spilled his soul out to the salty air and heard nothing in response. He told the water of his mother and sister back home that he missed dearly. He would speak about his horrible failings in school and how this was the last life he could see himself living. Or of his missing father who had gone out to drink one night and never returned.
In his time at sea, he made several trips to ports unknown to him, but still, he looked out to sea, hoping to see something.
When he was seventeen, he returned back home after sailing around the world in the short time he'd been with the crew. They returned home to work on the ship and allow the crew some time off before setting out on their next embarkation, and Link found himself spending what time he wasn't with his family back on the beach. He took off his boots and let the waves lap up to his ankle as he sat there, peacefully looking at something so familiar, yet so different as the sea that had followed him the last year.
There was nothing out there as the sun began to set, but Link took out his sword and began practicing his sword forms in the sand, stabbing at air with precision and a learned eye. He spent so long that the sun was disappearing into the purple sky, and he turned to wipe sweat from his forehead.
When he saw her.
A girl was there, in the water, watching him. Her eyes were wide when he spotted her, but for the longest moment, she stayed still instead of reacting.
"Wait!" Link shouted, holding his hand out to her. She spooked and dove down, a tail flipping out of the water as she swam away.
Link raced into the water, dropping his sword into the sand, stopping waist deep before sighing that he'd lost her again.
He knew then that he was verifiabily and undeniably insane.