Chapter Text
Link stared over the edge of the Great Plateau, looking down through the depths upon a world that was unfamiliar to him, but he should have known it.
He should have known what the hills were called, what the roads sprawling through the expanse were named, and where the cities and villages were nestled. But he didn’t, and despite King Rhoam’s runaround in an attempt to jog his memory, nothing made any sense to him. He was a warrior—a great warrior at that; champion of Hyrule—that had been asleep for a century while he recovered from wounds he could not recall.
Ganon.
Rhoam had said the name with such emphasis as if he should recognize it.
Ganon had taken control of Hyrule castle even as the four champions of the Divine Beasts and Princess Zelda—another name the deceased King had tried to use, with less effect than the other—tried to fight off his onslaught.
Link felt like someone was joking with him.
It couldn’t be real.
Why did he not remember?
He felt a great burden on his shoulders, threatening to crush him under the weight of the duty placed upon him. He had to defeat Ganon... he was told he had to defeat Ganon. With what? The rusty blade on his back that he pried from the hands of a goblinesque monster that tried to slay him? Bokoblins, the king’s voice echoed in his head.
There was so much to learn —again.
The Master Sword was said to rest somewhere in this land but the ghost could not tell him where, and in a thought of churlishness Link almost wanted to tell the king to shove it, but the thought was gone just as quickly as it had come. He wanted to spit at the world, tell it that he didn’t want to be their savior, to find someone else. Someone worthy, who could remember everything. It was too much to be expected to solve such a problem. But at the same time, Link felt it in his blood; the call to be the hero. Faint though it was…At least it gave him a goal, he reminded himself with less enthusiasm than he should have had, as he hefted the newly gifted paraglider in both hands.
With that, he eyed the drop below once more before plunging off the cliff that had once been the walls surrounding the Temple of Time. The wind whipped at his hair and tattered clothes, making the fabric of his shirt feel like it would rip to pieces during his slow descent to the ground. But they held, barely, as his feet touched the dirt.
Now the world seemed even larger from this spot.
The mountains looming over him even as they sat a great distance away. From here they felt unreachable, and he had to clench his jaw to keep the feeling of being overwhelmed at bay. He had to force himself to take those first steps on the worn cobblestone road that became overrun with grass in sizable patches from disuse. Not many people seemed to travel this path and a wry smile barely graced his lips.
How metaphorical.
Night was approaching faster than his legs carried him as he walked aimlessly in one direction, and he had the sense that the darkness was laughing at him, and he itched to draw the worn blade just to make himself feel a little safer. But he let it rest, hoping for the best as the moon lazily crawled through the sky. It was maddening—this feeling of going nowhere as he spied no one else on the road. He hadn’t seen another soul for hours, if one could even count a ghostly king. Perhaps he was the only one that dared walk the night alone.
A small eternity was passing, and the moon began to wearily drop behind the mountains before he spied smoke climbing into the air. The space underneath seemed to be faintly lit, and as he drew closer he spied the outline of a building, nearly hidden by the empty darkness that preceded the dawn. If he left the road and cut across the field, he could go directly there instead of wasting his time following the winding trail, and so he did just that.
If he had been smarter, or knew more about the things that haunted the fields long after the war had ceased, he would have known better than to take shortcuts through Hyrule Field. But unfortunately for him this was not the case. Thus, he was more than a bit startled when what he thought had been a statue in the dim morning shifted and lit up in a bright magenta gleaming. It swiveled one piercing blue eye towards him, moving on metal tentacle-like legs that he had not seen before, scuttling closer towards him. The red beam that ended as a dot on his chest suddenly clicked as he had seen one—without legs—before one of the shrines. He began to sprint to the left, trying to escape what was going to be his death so soon after coming back to life.
So much for destiny.
An arrow streaked through the air like a comet, a cyan glow following behind it in a rush to keep up, and pierced the Guardian in the eye, stunning it enough that Link heard hoofbeats pounding like a drum into the soft soil and grass behind him. He turned his head, still running, and the shadowed outline of a horse carrying a rider was heading swiftly in his direction, running full speed towards him. Another arrow with the same glow illuminated the bow that it was nocked to as the rider took aim again. It flew as true as the one prior, but Link didn’t look to see if it killed the thing.
The rider slipped the bow to a spot in front of the saddle and leaned to the side, arm outstretched. “Get on!” The rider, sounding distinctly feminine, shouted. He maneuvered so that he could do so, and she managed to haul him up onto her horse without even slowing down. Seated precariously behind her in the saddle, she carefully brought the bow up a final time and the third arrow stopped the Guardian in it’s tracks. It exploded as she pushed her horse faster, clutching the reins in both hands. The building that he had tried to reach was fully in sight before she finally brought the steed to a less frantic pace. The sun peeked over the mountains, shining brightly on the wooden representation of a horse head.
It was a stable.
He didn’t have too much time to take it in as the rider turned in the saddle to look at him and pulled down the crimson hood she was wearing. Green eyes stared at him, curious and mocking at the same time, even as one eye became obscured under a mess of deep brown hair.
“What were you doing that close to a Guardian? Were you trying to get yourself killed?” She demanded in a stern tone, looking him up and down as best she could.
“I didn’t know it was there.” He answered shortly, voice soft and it crackled slightly when he spoke until he cleared his throat.
“Didn’t..! Where have you been these last hundred years?” She fairly shouted in surprise by his reply, “Everyone knows not to go that way, especially at night when you can’t see them. You’re lucky I came along.” She sounded like a mother reprimanding a child for staying past curfew.
They came within the small fence-line of the stables and she slid down from the horse, which he could see was dappled with brown and cream coloring. It snorted at her as she stroked its neck with one hand and offered the other to him to help him down. “Sorry, but you scared me half to death. Thought for sure I’d have to watch someone get lasered to pieces right in front of me.” Now she gave him a crooked smile as he joined her on the ground. He barely stood an inch or two taller than her. Which then amazed him that she had been able to so effortlessly pull him onto a horse like she had.
He didn’t know what to say to her, this girl who was now properly scrutinizing him with unabashed openness, though it would be unfair to say he hadn’t done the same. He just did it more subtly when she hadn’t been so focused on him. He didn’t recognize the clothes she wore, but that didn’t surprise him. The crimson cloak nearly blended in with the equally crimson shirt with green accents and what he spied as chainmail underneath. She wore sensible and worn tan pants, and soft brown boots that came up almost to her knees. Her brown hair fell just past her shoulders as she ran her fingers through the mess to tame it. She didn’t look like a warrior even though she carried a sword at her hip, sheathed in gold and purple. He stopped assessing her for the second time as a question for her finally presented itself. “What were those arrows?”
“Ah...” she eyed him with a small amount of suspicion, as if deciding whether she should tell him or not. “They are Ancient Arrows. So far the only thing I’ve found that can stop the guardians. And they are real hard to find, so don’t go thinking I’ll hand them over.” Then she looked away from him and muttered begrudgingly, “I’m already down three. They are for emergencies only.”
“I wasn’t thinking anything like that.” He put his hands up in defense at her tone, but he was more upset than he started. He didn’t like that his situation constituted an emergency.
“Hmm... well, in any case, you would need a bow to use them.”
“But you won’t give me yours.” Link gave her fleeting half-smile as he said this, and it took her longer than she would ever admit to notice he was teasing her.
“Precisely.” She grinned back at him, chuckling, “well, anyway... I have some deliveries to make, hopefully it won’t be too late when I get there. Try not to wander away from the paths until you’re properly ready.” She started to mount back up into the saddle, but paused halfway, with one foot in the stirrup, “Oh, uh... where were you headed, anyway? I guess it’s just rude of me to dump you off somewhere.”
“I’m supposed to go to Kakariko. I was told by—“ he almost said ‘a ghost’ but refrained, “someone to take the road to Dueling Peaks, then left at the fork in the road and then… Well that’s all I remember.”
The woman frowned deeply, confused, concerned or both, and clicked her tongue, “And this person just… said all this and then… vanished? Dueling Peaks was on the opposite side of the plains from where you were.”
“Oh.” Was all he could reply. Uncomfortable that somehow she deduced pretty much exactly what happened, as it happened. “Maybe I misheard.”
The confusion and consternation began to morph into something else on her face, possibly awe, but at least something clicked for her, “Oh, you really are—” she took a stumbling breath “—lost.” she ended lamely, not convinced she used the right word.
All he could do was nod, embarrassment winding its way down from his impossibly hot ears to his chest.
Then she chuckled, raising a hand to firmly pat her mount on the neck as the horse started to assess whether treats were in the conversation somewhere, “Alright, alright.” she drawled. Whether to the horse, or Link, it wasn’t clear. She produced an apple from a front saddle pocket, which the horse took with great enthusiasm, crunching noisily. “What is your name, by the way?”
“Me?” Link squeaked, for a second forgetting he was standing there himself. He cleared his throat, “I guess it’s Link.”
“You guess?” She teased, covering for the sudden tension in her shoulders at his reply. Almost imperceptible, and was gone so quick, maybe she had only shrugged. “Well, possibly-Link. My name is Caddrielle, undoubtedly, but you may call me Caddy. Everyone does.”
She then frowned a little, idly shoving against the velvety nose that was nudging her hands for more snacks, trying to eat her fingers. “Well, anyway, Kakariko is a bit out of my way, but... I guess deliveries can wait. I can get more work from the stables that way, too.” She wasn’t so much talking to him as she was thinking to herself aloud. “Eh, yeah, okay. I can take you as far as the Dueling Peaks stables if you want. I won’t charge you this time, but you should probably have breakfast while you’re here, since it’s a little over half the day away.”
His stomach growled at the very mention of eating, and he realised he hadn’t eaten more than a few apples in his time at the Great Plateau. But he didn’t have much in the way of rupees to pay for a proper meal. He could feel her staring at him as he contemplated what to do. A heavy sigh drew his attention back to her, seeing her shake her head at him and clicking her tongue.
“Fine, come on over here. I’ll fix us something, but we’re leaving soon after.” She beckoned him towards a cooking pot set outside for use by travelers passing through that didn’t care much for stable fare.
Again, he hesitated, but she grabbed his arm and he hardly fought her on it. “Do you always do so much for people you just met?” He finally asked as she began to pull ingredients out of her pack.
“No.” Her voice lowered for a moment, and he couldn’t tell if she was just concentrating on preparing the meal, or if it was a mood-swing, because she perked back up immediately, “But they say the goddesses smile on those who are generous even to strangers... and it’s good practice.”
They dined on rice, eggs, and salted fish. It wasn’t the most tasty thing he’s ever had (he assumed) but it was enough to quiet his belly. He had barely finished packing away the bowls when she snagged the pack from his hands and tied it to the saddle. Then she hoisted herself up with a practiced easiness that was borderline graceful and offered him her hand once more. This time getting in the saddle behind her was a much more comfortable experience and with a gentle squeeze to her mount’s sides, they set off towards his first destination.