Chapter Text
The decision to finally face Calamity Ganon is borne from guilt more than anything else. Link has been enjoying traveling through Hyrule. With the Divine Beasts freed from the Calamity’s influence, they are no longer a threat and the people of Hyrule have been dealing quite well with the presence of the lesser monsters. The Calamity itself is still safely ensconced in Hyrule Castle. It is so tempting to wait just one more day, to travel to one more place. But it is unfair. Unfair to the princess, who has already waited a hundred years for his return. And unfair to the people of Hyrule, who deserve to thrive and not just survive.
He spends a week putting his affairs in order. He locks up his house in Hateno, visits the people he met on his travels and has one last meeting with each of the champions. He will miss them the most. Everyone else will still be there on the other side.
That is assuming he makes it out alive himself. He does not know how strong the Calamity truly is, only that he was unable to defeat it a century ago. The idea of facing Calamity Ganon remains daunting. Even more daunting is the prospect of life after that.
He spends his last night in Rito Village. He considered spending it in his own home, but the picture of the champions next to his bed, all alive and together, is too much to fall asleep to. Rito Village is quiet but not lifeless, the air just cold enough for the blankets to feel cozy and not stifling. Usually he would stay with Teba and Saki or Amali and Kass, but he does not want to spend an entire evening dodging their well-meaning concern.
Cecili wakes him at sunrise and offers him a breakfast that he declines. This early, only Kass is awake, and the bard merely waves at him when he spots Link leaving the village. Link throws a last look at where Vah Medoh is perched, but Revali’s spirit is nowhere in sight.
He warps directly to the shrine underneath the castle. It’s not the first time he’s entered the castle. Each excursion was dangerous, but coupled with his returning memories, he now has a fairly good idea of the layout of the place. So he makes his way through the secret passage and into the library, avoiding enemies along the way. No point in tiring himself out before he even reaches Ganon.
He has trained for this. He will never be more ready for this fight than he is now, even though the future is daunting and will remain so. He has to. He knows all the locations of the Guardians by now and Robbie has provided him with all the Ancient Arrows he could buy.
His journey up to the Castle Sanctum is still hard-fought. He barely avoids a Lynel and wastes more Ancient Arrows than he can afford on the Guardians lining the road. But finally he stands in front of the entrance, Malice rolling over him in waves. He breathes in, once, twice. Then he steps forward.
The fight, when it happens, comes to him in flashes. It is hearing the princess’ despair as she finally loses her hard-fought control over the Calamity. It is the Divine Beasts striking the monster before he has the time to nock his first arrow. It is his quiet pain at realizing that even this isn’t enough and would never have been enough a hundred years ago.
Then there is Ganon’s attacks becoming more frantic and so much more dangerous. There is Mipha’s trident shattering on an ill-timed throw, crystals strewn underfoot. Urbosa’s shield fracturing and Revali’s bow breaking when he fires his last bomb arrow. Diving for the frayed piece of fabric tied to it, just barely dodging an attack that brings the castle walls down.
He does not expect the massive hulking beast that Ganon becomes, nor does he expect his horse to show up. It is the first horse he ever caught, back when he didn’t even remember how to travel on horseback. A gentle creature, not fast or strong, and it most certainly shouldn’t be here. He has no choice but to mount it and steer it away from the massive maw of the beast, taking the bow the princess gifts him.
The Bow of Light is nothing like any other bow he has ever held. It radiates a power that is not his and for the briefest of seconds he considers begging the princess to take it up. It is hers by right; the power that infuses it should not be his to wield. But he has a duty that he has been neglecting for over a century. He has to defeat Ganon. Even when his horse fails to dodge the Beast’s attack and Daruk’s power cannot fully shield it. Even when Link dismounts and draws the Beast’s attention away from his poor horse, so terribly wounded and yet still hobbling after him. He runs, taking the Beast deeper into Hyrule Field. The arrows of light are the strongest he has ever fired and still the monster does not fall. The Beast is slow and lumbering but Link is exhausted. Each glancing blow feels like it might be the last. Mipha’s power is still warm in his chest, but what if even that isn’t enough?
But the princess’ encouragements ring in his ears and he finds a final burst of power, aided by Revali and his paraglider, to land one more arrow in the beasts’ head. It should be enough.
It isn’t enough. Not until the princess takes to the battlefield and finally, after a century of havoc on Hyrule, obliterates the Calamity. Her power is unlike anything he has ever felt and just for a moment he wonders: was he ever really needed at all?
But then it’s over. Then the princess hesitantly, tremulously, asks him if he remembers her. He does not know what to tell her. He does, in many ways. But all the small things, the weeks on the road getting to know each other? Those are long gone, and Link despairs of them ever returning.
He hesitates too long; the princess’ face falls. As always, the words fail to come when he needs them most.
Instead, he turns towards the castle. Ganon’s Malice has evaporated, leaving the castle framed by a clear blue sky for what must be the first time in a century. From this distance, the damage isn’t clear. It looks like a solid monument to Hyrule’s splendor. Much like Hyrule itself, the reality is a crumbling ruin.
The princess follows his gaze and winces — a much more visible reaction than he expected.
“It would be prudent to find shelter for the night,” she says. It is early afternoon. Link usually doesn’t even think about where to spend the night until sunset and he has no clue where the princess would want to go.
“The castle?” he asks. The first words he’s said to her in a hundred years.
“No! I —” The princess takes a deep breath. “I believe it would be good to reassure the people of Hyrule. Spread the word that the Calamity is gone.” She swallows. “And start rebuilding.”
Link turns away instead of replying, hands twitching towards the Sheikah Slate. The amount of work ahead of them is terrifying. He would like nothing more than to disappear in the Faron Jungle or the Hebra Mountains. But he forces himself to walk up to where his horse is patiently waiting for him. It neighs when he reaches for the reins, but refuses to move. He fishes out an apple and coaxes his horse into eating.
“Is it okay?” the princess asks. Link shrugs. It will be, he hopes. He offers it another apple.
“There is a stable at Wetlands. And Riverside.”
Much like the princess, he too has absolutely no desire to spend any more time near the castle, which leaves the stables as their closest options.
“I would like to go to Kakariko Village,” the princess says. “Do… Do people still remember Impa?”
Link throws her a surprised look. He knows she followed his journey; did she not see the people he met?
“Lady Impa is still alive, your Highness,” he tells her. After a moment’s hesitation, he adds: “She will be happy.”
The princess looks lost for words. She clutches one hand at the skirt of her dress and lowers her eyes, blinking rapidly. “I’m glad, I was afraid… Is— did anyone else survive?”
Link nods. “Lady Purah and Robbie. King Dorephan too, and Sidon.” And Bazz, and Gaddison and Rivan, but those were Link’s friends. It’s not like the princess would be interested in hearing about them.
“Then I would like to visit them. Is the road past Sahasra slope still accessible?”
Already the many questions are clogging up his throat. Link only gives her a brisk nod. Yes, the road should be accessible enough. It must have been a real road once, but Link doesn’t remember. Nowadays he doesn’t often use it, preferring the Sheikah Slate to quickly move from village to village. But the slate can only carry one person and he refuses to leave the princess behind. Ganon may have been defeated, but they do not know what the monsters will be like without the Malice guiding them.
It becomes clear within an hour of leaving that they will not reach Wetland Stable by nightfall. They might not even reach it by morning. Link’s horse is too badly hurt to carry either of them and they are all too tired to walk any faster than a river snail. By the time the sun starts setting, the castle still looms just as large behind them as it did when they left. At least no monsters have attacked them and the Guardians that usually roam the area have all shut down.
They set up camp near what remains of Mabe Village. Link has been here many times now and the sight doesn’t sadden him the way it saddens the princess. He starts a fire while the princess wanders off, steps stiff and small. There used to be a Guardian stalking the ruins here. It too is now inactive.
There’s a burning in his chest that he attributes to hunger at first. He watches as the wood catches fire. The smoke makes him cough. He feels strange, light-headed and heavy-hearted at the same time. Despite the fire, a warmth that has kept him company for months is disappearing, leaving him as cold as when he just emerged from the Shrine of Resurrection.
Realization wells up along with the tears in his eyes. He feels powerless and defenseless. Drained dry and tied down by the sudden loss. They’re gone. They’re gone.
He crouches down but can’t bring himself to jump up, knowing that he will only land on his feet instead of being carried away by the wind. He had hoped… But it was always an idle hope, wasn’t it? He had always known that they wouldn’t return.
That is how the princess finds him, crouched down next to the fire and hiding his face to prevent her from seeing his tears.
“Link?” she asks. “Is everything all right?”
He can’t nod and doesn’t want to shake his head, so he just continues staring at the flames. The princess crouches down gingerly. Her movements have been stiff all day, unused to walking and exhausted from the years and years of effort she expended. She freezes when she catches sight of his tears and makes an aborted movement, hand falling short of his shoulder and curling into a fist.
“What happened?”
When the words stopped coming, he developed a language based on the hand commands of the Hylian army and the signs the Zora use to communicate underwater. He got quite good at it and even the princess and the other champions picked up enough to talk to him. But it was always a language that consisted of simple commands and questions. It isn’t nearly sufficient to explain to the princess what just happened. Right now, when the words are further away than they’ve ever been, he’s helpless.
“… Gone,” he manages.
“What?” the princess asks. When Link doesn’t reply, she asks more urgently: “What’s gone?”
Link shakes his head. He forces himself to take a breath and roughly wipes away the tears. His chest aches with emptiness. The names are too much right now so he uses his hands: the signs the Sheikah used for the ancient machines, always doing double duty as the names of their pilots: Ruta, Rudania, Medoh, Naboris.
The princess makes a small noise of confusion before gasping. Link finally risks glancing up. The princess’ face has fallen. She glances to the east, where the giant form of Vah Medoh is still perched above Rito Village, but now without Revali.
“I see,” she says softly. “They helped save us all. May Hylia embrace their souls.”
Link looks down again. They were her friends too, weren’t they? In many ways, the princess was closer to them than Link himself. Doesn’t she realize what this means? They’re not coming back. They’re never coming back.
But the princess doesn’t seem inclined to say anything else. She folds her legs underneath herself with surprisingly little decorum and tugs on the Hylian tunic Link gave her to wear. She is still wearing her ceremonial dress underneath it, but the skirt is in tatters and provides no protection against the elements.
Link wordlessly turns away and busies himself with finding meat to roast. The princess makes a small noise at the back of her throat, but when he looks back, she’s staring intently at the fire and refuses to make eye contact.
The rest of the evening is spent in silence. When night falls and the usual Stal monsters don’t even appear, it truly hits home that Ganon is gone. Link keeps an anxious eye on the moon, but no red bleeds into it. Ganon will not rise again.
They only sleep a scant few hours before day breaks again and they move on. Link is used to going without sleep unless he’s in a village or a stable and clearly the princess doesn’t need much sleep either, for she spent most of his watch tossing and turning before finally quieting down in the final hour before daybreak.
The rest of their journey to Wetland Stable, something that would usually only take him a few hours, is interminably long and feels even longer by their utter lack of conversation. Every so often, Link would join a group of travelers on their way to the next stable or town. He never said much, but he liked letting the conversation wash over him. Now, with the princess, neither of them have said a word beyond practicalities.
The journey itself provides no distractions either. The Guardians have all shut down and the road is remarkably devoid of monsters. Once, Link spots a Bokoblin, but by the time he’s notched an arrow the monster has already disappeared.
He lets out a breath of relief when they finally cross the river Hylia and the stable is in sight. The sun is already past its highest point and his horse is flagging despite Link continuously feeding it apples and carrots.
When they arrive at the stable, it is teeming with people. Link hands off his horse to the stable owner, who looks him up and down with clear disapproval.
“What’d you do to this poor thing, huh?” he asks, running careful fingers across the horse’s flank. “Run’er into the castle?”
Link shrugs. He wouldn’t believe the actual explanation anyway.
“Mind, might be safe to do that now!” a Hylian woman pipes up. Link thinks he’s talked to her before. “I came here from Riverside yesterday and not a monster in sight! The castle looks pretty safe now, don’t you think? After that light show yesterday, I’ve half a mind to check it out myself, see if there’s any of those royal weapons left in there.”
The princess jerks, mouth opening but no sound coming out. She’s spared from having to speak when the stable owner scoffs loudly.
“Yeah, if you wanna get slaughtered. I heard there’s Lynels in there, they’ll murder you.”
“Laugh it up,” the woman says. She nods at Link and the princess. “Come on, I’m gonna grab a bite and I suggest you do the same. Beats listening to that grump.”
Link gratefully latches onto the excuse, glad to be away from the scrutiny of the stable owner and honestly quite hungry. The princess follows him inside, looking helpless among the gathered crowds. That leaves Link to order food and beds for both of them. He glances back towards where the princess has found a table with her back against the wall and thinks he understands. Back when he’d just left the Great Plateau, he had spent a night at Dueling Peaks Stable. In hindsight, there must have been only ten people at most, but the sheer number of them and their voices echoing through the stable had been overwhelming.
When he returns to their table, she has crossed her arms, making herself look even smaller than she already is. This is no longer the princess who kept the Calamity at bay for decades. Link places her plate in front of her and sits down on the opposite side of the table, hiding her from the rest of the people gathered in the stable.
The atmosphere is jubilant and rumors about Ganon’s sudden demise fly everywhere, but fortunately no one seems to make the connection with the teenagers tucked away in a corner of the room. It is still early when the princess stands up.
“I think I shall retire for the night,” she says, voice barely audible over the din in the stable. “Do not feel obliged to leave on my account.”
Link shakes his head. He’s tired as well and he has no desire to stay among the crowd, which is getting rowdier the later it gets.
“They believe it was the Goddess Herself who destroyed the Calamity,” the princess whispers once they are both under the covers. Link turns onto his side to look at her. The princess is staring at her hands. “I imagine they are not wrong. This power is Hylia’s, is it not?”
Link can only nod. She’s not wrong.
“Is it really bad?” the princess asks. She lowers her hands and turns towards Link. “Hyrule? How much of it is left?”
Link grimaces. “Some places,” he says. “Kakariko, Hateno. Lurelin. Zora's Domain, Rito Village, Gerudo Town and Goron City. Oh!” he smiles. “And Tarrey Town. It’s new.”
The princess smiles too, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I am glad to hear that. I would like to visit it, I think. Where is it?”
“In Akkala. Near Akkala Citadel.”
“Then they are well-protected,” the princess concludes before spotting Link’s grimace. “Oh. The citadel fell, did it not? I think I heard… But I was sure it would have remained standing.”
Link shakes his head. He doesn’t know how the citadel fell — the last thing he remembers is facing down a Guardian near Fort Hateno. He knows that some of the Hylian troops evacuated towards the citadel, intending to destroy the swarming Guardians when they entered the valley. He has since explored the citadel a number of times. Enough to know that they were overrun by Malice.
“I suppose it can’t be helped anymore.” The princess turns around and pulls the covers around her, even though it is a balmy night and there is no real need for them. “I should like to ride for Kakariko Village in the early morning.”
Link makes an assenting noise. An actual bed should make sleeping easier, but as the night before, sleep eludes him. He thinks he dozes off into a restless slumber, only for him to be woken up when the light of dawn is only just filtering through the curtains. The princess is putting on the boots Link lent her. He waits until she leaves the inn before getting up and following her.
He finds her near the shrine. She gives him a faint wave when she spots him following, not at all surprised.
“This feels familiar, does it not?” she says, gesturing between them and the shrine. Link expects bitterness, but the princess smiles at him, a little uncertainly. He smiles back, not sure if he actually feels like it, but the princess’ eyes light up and she steps closer to the shrine.
“When were they activated? Did Purah and Robbie figure it out?” she asks, stepping up to the pedestal and tracing a hand over the glowing cyan lines covering the shrine. Link shakes his head, remembers that the princess can’t see him and follows her onto the pedestal. He unlatches the Sheikah Slate from his belt and holds it up.
“When I activated the Great Plateau Tower. It activated all the other towers and the shrines.”
“Oh, so that’s how it worked?” the princess breathes. She reaches for the Sheikah Slate, but stops at the last second. “May I?”
Link nods, activating the slate and passing it on to her. He shows her the map with all the glowing dots of the shrines that litter Hyrule. She goes to tap one of the icons — a shrine deep in the Hebra Mountains — but he grabs her hand. The princess makes a startled noise. Link quickly lets go and locks his hands behind his back.
“It moves you to the shrine,” he explains. The princess would be alone in the furthest reaches of Hebra with nothing but the thin Hylian tunic to keep her warm. Her eyes widen when the implication of his words sink in.
“Is that what it does?” she whispers. She stares at the Sheikah Slate in her hands with deep regret. “If we had known… We could have prevented the slaughter.”
Yes, if they had been able to use the shrines to move around Hyrule, they could have halted the Calamity in its tracks. The champions would have made it to their Divine Beasts instantly, instead of needing hours to cross an increasingly dangerous Hyrule. Perhaps they could have defeated the Blights Ganon sent to infect the Divine Beasts. Perhaps they could have lived.
“… It can only take one person at a time,” Link says. It is no consolation to him and it clearly doesn’t help the princess either. She hands the slate back to him and walks back towards the stable, gait wooden in a way that cannot be explained by mere exhaustion from the day before. Link trails after her, feeling uncomfortably like he’s a century back into the past.
With two horses in good shape, the journey to Kakariko Village passes a great deal faster than their journey the day before. They aren’t willing to push the horses too hard and Link is still watchful for any monsters, but the stretch of land at Sahasra Slope was always peaceful and today is no exception. They enter the canyons surrounding Kakariko Village in the early afternoon and finally arrive at the village when the sun is at its highest point. The sounds and sights are intimately familiar to Link, but the princess takes it all in with ill-concealed wonder.
“It really still looks the same,” Link hears her whisper.
Any hope they have for a quiet entrance, however, gets dashed when they round the final corner and find the entire village waiting for them. Link flinches at the loud cheer that goes up; the princess startles and straightens up abruptly, taking on the veneer of royalty that she let slip throughout the day. The village is decked out for a festival and they are swarmed by people immediately. Link’s horse neighs, as unused to the crowd as he is. He pats it soothingly and dismounts, only to be swarmed by people immediately.
“You did it!” he hears from far too close. He doesn’t recognize the speaker, too many voices blending together into a cacophony of sounds. The princess remains seated on her horse and he cannot blame her. Her shoulders are set in a rigid line even while she smiles at the children swarming her horse.
“You really did it!” Paya shouts, making her way through the crowd. “I knew you would!”
Link breathes out and gives her a small smile. Paya looks more relaxed than he’s ever seen her before, fully caught up in the festivities around her. From atop her horse, the princess also catches sight of Paya. Her eyes widen.
“Impa?” she asks.
Paya stumbles upon being the focus of the princess’ attention. “Oh! Your Highness! We are so grateful for everything you have done for us! Grandmother is eager to see you, will you join us?”
The princess slowly dismounts and steps closer to Link. “Grandmother?” she mouths to him.
“Paya,” Link mutters. “Lady Impa’s granddaughter.”
The princess’ face shutters. “I see,” she says and turns an unconvincing smile to Paya. Perhaps Link still knows the princess better than anyone else, because Paya doesn’t notice anything amiss. She turns towards the crowd.
“Let them through! You’ll have more than enough time to see them later, give them some space!”
Grateful for the sudden room, Link follows Paya towards Lady Impa’s abode. The princess follows after him, still the picture of royalty even in her ill-fitting Hylian tunic and torn dress.
“We knew you were coming, of course,” Paya chatters to Link when they walk towards the house. Between him and the princess, he’s clearly the person she feels more comfortable talking to. “And we knew you were the ones who finally defeated the Calamity! Oh, Grandmother was so happy!”
“How is your grandmother doing?” the princess asks. “The last time I saw her…”
But she falls silent and looks at the ground. When was the last time the princess saw Lady Impa? Link doesn’t even remember when he saw her last. Probably before they left for the Spring of Wisdom and Calamity Ganon broke free.
“Grandmother has kept an eye on the castle all this time, Your Highness,” Paya says. “She will be very relieved to see that you are well.”
Link nods at Dorian, who didn’t join the crowd that is trailing after them but instead keeps guard at Lady Impa’s residence. The man nods back with approval; Link hopes that with Ganon gone, the Yiga will hide away to lick their wounds and leave Kakariko village alone.
They finally leave the noise of the village behind and enter the large entrance hall that houses Lady Impa. Lady Impa herself is sat in her usual spot, but she is leaning forward as far as her age allows her, eyes fixed on them when they enter. The princess gasps.
“I- Impa?” she asks, rushing forward. She ends up in front of the dais, kneeling so she’s at eye level with Lady Impa. Link follows after her, more sedate. Paya closes the doors behind them and comes to stand to Link’s right.
“Is— Is the princess okay?” she asks. The princess seems lost for words. Link also doesn’t know the right words, but that is a far more common occurrence for him. He makes a so-so gesture with his hand when Lady Impa speaks.
“Princess, it is such a great pleasure to finally meet face-to-face again,” she says, voice choked up. Paya rushes forward to help her stand up; the princess, with a moment’s delay, goes to help, but Lady Impa waves her away.
“I am glad to see you are doing well,” the princess says faintly. Lady Impa’s smile turns mischievous.
“Ah, I imagine you are surprised to see me this way. That one —” she gestures at Link, “— didn’t even remember anything. Good thing we Sheikah can stick around so long, isn’t it?”
“I— Yes, it is a blessing,” says the princess. She is looking at the ground, not meeting Impa’s eyes. “Impa, what happened after I— After Fort Hateno? After I went back to the castle?”
Lady Impa sighs. Paya brings her to a low table, where she kneels down and gestures for Link and the princess to do the same.
“Paya, be a dear and find us some food and clean clothes for the princess, will you?” she says, casting an appraising look at the princess. The princess flushes, as does Link. There had been no time to get her better clothes. The stable didn’t sell anything and only allowed for them to wash up quickly. “You can stay here for the night, of course, but the inn might be more comfortable. You will be able to bathe there.”
“Impa…” the princess presses. Lady Impa waits until Paya has left the house and laboriously shifts at the table.
“Once you… awakened and traveled to the castle, Purah and Robbie took Link here to the Shrine of Resurrection. I am told that he had to be revived multiple times during the trip, but they made it there and sealed him in the shrine along with the Sheikah Slate.”
That is news for Link too. He knew he had come very close to death, but he didn’t expect it to be quite that close.
“And the rest of Hyrule?” the princess asks, voice barely audible. Lady Impa bows her head, eyes shadowed.
“Kakariko Village was spared, as you can see. These canyons allowed us to pick off the Guardians easily. And with your defense of Fort Hateno, Hateno Village and everything beyond it also remained unharmed. As for the villages in Central Hyrule…” Lady Impa shakes her head. “I fear those were already lost before you arrived at the castle, princess. There was nothing we could do. The survivors who chose to flee to Hateno Village were lucky. The ones that headed for Akkala Citadel…”
“Link told me it fell.”
“Yes. To this day, I am not sure how it happened. I can only imagine the army stationed there ran out of supplies and was overrun. Fortunately, most everything beyond that was spared from the Guardians, although the monsters continue to hamper our efforts to rebuild.”
“And Gerudo?” the princess presses. “Rito?”
“The Guardians don’t function well on sand,” Lady Impa explains. “They never made it to the town.”
“The Rito cut their bridges,” Link says. He’s momentarily surprised by the sound of his own voice; the princess and Lady Impa look surprised as well. He doesn’t quite remember who told him that, but he is very sure of it. Perhaps it was Kass or Teba, but he thinks it might just have been Revali.
“They were left quite unharmed,” Lady Impa affirms.
“And… What about the Divine Beasts?” the princess asks. “They were so close to the people, did they not— After everyone—”
“We can only imagine that Ganon’s monsters were hurt too grievously by the Champions,” Lady Impa says, eyes still shadowed, “for until recently, none of the Divine Beasts attacked anyone after their Champions fell. Link was able to free them from Ganon’s influence.”
Link nods, looking down at the surface of the table. The emptiness in his chest where the champions’ gifts used to reside still lingers and chills him to the bone. Now only the Divine Beasts remain, husks of themselves until a new champion comes along.
It’s at this point that Paya returns with food and new clothes for the princess, and the princess is ushered upstairs to change. Link remains seated, steadfastly avoiding Lady Impa’s eyes.
“It would be good for the princess to take some time off and see the land,” she says. When Link looks up, she has a knowing look in her eyes. “The people of Hyrule do not know yet that the princess has returned. Surely she can be excused for wanting to see what has become of Hyrule before taking up her throne.”
Link nods, eyes shifting back to the table. He has been afraid of the aftermath for so long. It never occurred to him that the princess must be afraid too. He knows they used to be closer but he is finding it hard to open up to her like before, not when his failure is the reason she was trapped with the Calamity for a century.
The princess reappears, dressed in simple Hylian traveler’s clothes with her hair pulled back. She could be any of the many travelers Link has met on his journey. Lady Impa nods approvingly.
“I still have your travel clothes from before, princess,” she says. “But I imagine you won’t want to stand out.”
“Thank you, Impa,” the princess replies. She carries her ceremonial dress over her arm. Link doubts it can be salvaged anymore, but perhaps Lady Impa can work a miracle, like she must have done with Link’s own Champion’s Tunic.
Lady Impa claps her hands. “It is late and you have traveled far. We shall have a meal before you retire.”
It is not that late — not even time for an early evening meal. But Link can eat anywhere and anytime, and he imagines the princess isn’t much different. Besides, the exhaustion from the previous days still lingers in his bones. He very much wishes to go somewhere quiet.
Lady Impa and Paya update the princess on the state of Hyrule during their meal. The princess remains quiet except for a few small questions here and there. Link tries to contribute what he knows, but he has only been revived for little more than a year. He does not know what happened in those long decades.
He expects that the princess will want to mingle after their meal, but like him, she has no desire to meet with the people in Kakariko Village. So they try renting a room at the inn, get their fee waived by the innkeeper, and spend the rest of the evening in the room while the sounds of celebration filter in from outside. No one seems to mind that their saviors aren’t actually celebrating along with them.
Link busies himself with checking his weapons. Not all of them survived — the pieces of Mipha’s trident, Revali’s bow and Urbosa’s shield are crushed underneath the rubble that was once the observatory of the Castle. He spends a long time staring at the tiny slip of blue fabric that had been tied to Revali’s bow. It is the only thing he managed to save. The weapons can be rebuilt, he knows, but he still feels guilty to have destroyed the ancient weapons so callously.
“Could I see the Sheikah Slate?” the princess asks. She carefully folds the ceremonial dress in her lap as Link gathers up his weapons and tucks the little blue scrap away in the pouch on his belt. He holds out the slate to the princess, who takes it with reverent hands. Will she want it back? It was hers before he used it.
He decides not to think about it just yet. Even if she reclaims the tablet, he still has his horses. He can get by without it.
He folds his arms behind his head and stares up at the ceiling, replying quietly while the princess marvels over the new runes and asks him questions about them. She lifts a metal pitcher with the Magnesis rune and freezes the water inside with Cryonis. Her eyes sparkle; she looks happier than she has in the past few days or even in the days before Ganon emerged.
He bolts upright when he hears the telltale whoosh of a bomb being summoned.
“Your Highness, please be —”
But the princess has already dismissed the bomb, clearly aware of what it is. She watches him carefully, happiness fading to make room for something regretful — and hopeful?
“You no longer need to protect me, Link,” she says, forming each word carefully. “There is no more need for formality between us. So please, won’t you call me Zelda?”
“I —” Call the princess by name? He couldn’t have in the past, not when he was merely a knight tasked to guard her. She is right — he is no longer a knight and she no longer needs his protection. But he failed her. Does he really have that right?
The princess is looking at him, the spark of hope rapidly fading from her eyes, so Link nods and watches that spark flare again. The princess gives him a quick but radiant smile and turns her attention back to the Sheikah Slate.
Link lies back down and stares at the ceiling. He doesn’t get to call her by name — not when he has done nothing to earn it.
The next day dawns early, both for Link and the princess. The princess remained tossing and turning long into the night. More than once, she sat up abruptly, breathing fast and panicked. Once, well past midnight, she got out of bed and paced for a solid five minutes before glancing guiltily at Link and going back to bed.
Nevertheless, he thinks the princess looks a little better rested than she did yesterday. He himself feels better as well. Perhaps this is how it’s going to be: each day Ganon’s terror will be a little further away and Hyrule will be a little better for it.
The village is quiet when they venture outside. Only Dorian is already awake and guarding Lady Impa’s house, although the signs of the previous day’s celebration are still littered around the village.
“I am glad it is quiet now,” the princess whispers conspiratorially as they walk past Lady Impa’s residence and towards the upper parts of the village. The princess wishes to see the shrine in Kakariko Village and Link can only accompany her, even though part of him still aches to take the Sheikah Slate and go somewhere — anywhere — else.
The princess spends the morning marveling over the shrine and the Sheikah Slate while Link remains seated on the rocks nearby and keeps a half-hearted eye on their surroundings. The forests closest to Kakariko Village have always been safe, even before Ganon’s defeat. Dorian must have passed on where they went, because no one comes looking for them.
He shows the princess how to use the slate to travel the short distance from his rock to the Ta’loh Naeg shrine, and her giddy exhilaration when she reappears on the pedestal of the shrine is more than enough to erase his earlier misconceptions about letting her use it.
When they finally head back around noon, the princess is still talking a mile a minute. They didn’t enter the shrine — as far as combat trials go, Ta’loh Naeg was one of the easiest ones, but Link still doesn’t feel up to facing any kind of active Guardian and when he told her what was inside the shrine, the princess also blanched and agreed that they should find a less dangerous one. But the mere fact that she finally got to use the Sheikah Slate as it was intended is more than enough to keep her spirits up.
So against the odds, Link finds himself in a good mood when they enter the village again. His good mood is quickly ruined when they join Lady Impa for lunch and she updates them on the rest of Hyrule.
“The Guardians have all gone inactive,” she reports. “We also haven’t had any reports of Stal monsters since Ganon’s defeat and the other monsters have refrained from attacking travelers unless provoked first.”
That is all good news, so Link is already bracing for the blow when it comes.
“We have received reports from the Zora that Divine Beast Vah Ruta has gone dormant. I believe the same to be the case for the other Divine Beasts.”
And there it is. Link pulls out the Sheikah Slate with trembling hands and yes, the marks that used to indicate the Divine Beasts on the map are all gone. If the Divine Beasts have returned to their dormant states, the Guidance Stones inside are no longer functional.
He already knows that the champions are gone. He wishes people would stop confirming it.
The princess leans over to look at the map and comes to the same conclusion. “It is a pity we can’t go there easily,” she says. “I would have liked to study them.”
Any goodwill he built up in the morning abruptly evaporates. He shuts off the Sheikah Slate and tucks it away. The champions have only just moved on — does she really have to take their graves apart just to satisfy her curiosity?
“Can’t take us both,” he says curtly. He wonders how long it will take before the princess demands the slate back from him. The princess looks contemplative at his words.
“If we could fix that…”
“If you wish to make further improvements to the Sheikah Slate,” Lady Impa says, “perhaps you should talk to my sister.”
“Purah? Is she here?” asks the princess. Lady Impa shakes her head.
“We wished to keep our knowledge safe. I remained here, Robbie is in Akkala, and Purah has moved to Hateno Village. She has a laboratory there.”
“Then I would like to go there, if that is okay,” the princess says, turning to Link. Link avoids her eyes and nods, because what choice does he have? If nothing else, he’ll be able to check on his house and safely store the weapons of the champions that survived the battle.
“It is late. You will not make Hateno Village by nightfall if you leave now,” Lady Impa tells them. Link knows they could if they pushed the horses, but what use is there in hurrying when time stretches out in front of them, unending? “You should leave tomorrow. In the meantime, princess, we have received more reports on the state of Hyrule. I will have someone fetch them.”
The princess’ face goes blank and she straightens her shoulders into the posture Link recognizes from her worst days, when the king had dismissed her interests once again. She will go back to her duty as the rightful ruler of Hyrule.
He thinks this should be a good thing, but it feels very much like he just sealed his own fate.
They leave late into the morning, after Lady Impa has taken the princess aside once more and handed her the reports that came in after their meeting the previous day. The princess thanked her graciously, then turned around and shoved them into the saddlebags as soon as Lady Impa had disappeared from view.
Overall, Link is guiltily relieved to be on the road again and the princess appears to feel the same. Her shoulders relax once they leave the canyons surrounding the village and approach Kakariko Bridge. They have a quick lunch at the Dueling Peaks Stable, since it’s only barely out of their way, and then set off across Blatchery Plain.
The first time Link crossed the plain after his resurrection, he remembered next to nothing. The only active Guardians he’d come across had been the ones at the Eastern Abbey, and while they had been scary, they had also been easy to dodge. Seeing the Guardians littered across Blatchery Plain had been disconcerting, but nothing more than that.
By the time he regained his memories of their final stand at Fort Hateno, he had already crossed the plain so often that it didn’t make much of an impression anymore. He had almost died here, but it was so long ago and he had taken down so many Guardians since that it didn’t bother him.
He should have known that it would be different for the princess, but he is enjoying the silence and the surprising lack of monsters, so it doesn’t occur to him that the princess hasn’t said a single word in hours until they are almost at the ruined gates of Fort Hateno.
The princess is holding herself stiffly, barely even moving along with her horse and staring straight ahead as they follow the road. She doesn’t notice him looking at her. He wants to call out to her, but her name gets stuck in his throat. He coughs instead. The princess visibly tries to relax her shoulders and gives him a smile.
“Oh Link, are you okay?”
He nods and gestures, returning the question. Are you?
“Yes, yes, of course,” she says, “They’re all harmless now, aren’t they? Nothing to worry about, I’m fine.”
Of course she isn’t. If Link had any of Mipha’s gentleness or Urbosa’s way with words, he would have pressed her for more. But he doesn’t, so he doesn’t ask. Instead they ride through the gates of Fort Hateno in utter silence and the princess only starts relaxing again when they near Ovli Plain.
They make good time, but still the sun is already setting by the time they enter Hateno Village. They could still visit Purah — Hylia knows when she actually sleeps, because Link has never once caught her asleep — but they are both exhausted. It only takes them minimal conversation to agree to sleep first and visit Purah in the morning.
Link only bought the house on a whim. It was one of the very few things he felt a connection to and he had the money anyway. Still, he likes having a place of his own. No one bothers him here. His neighbors believe he is merely a traveling merchant who returns every once in a while.
The princess looks fascinated when he opens the door and lets her in. The last time he came here, it was just to pick up the champions’ weapons, so the house smells a little dusty. Nothing that can’t be alleviated by opening up a few windows. He does just that and then removes Urbosa’s Scimitar of the Seven and Daruk’s Boulder Breaker from the Sheikah Slate. They are the only weapons that survived his fight with Ganon. Without Daybreaker, Urbosa’s Scimitar looks lonely hung up on one side of the wall.
“This was Urbosa’s, wasn’t it?” the princess asks, silently coming to stand next to him. She reaches out a hand, but pulls back before touching the blade of the scimitar. “And Daruk’s. The others…?”
“Broken,” Link says, looking down. He thinks of the pieces scattered underneath his feet. He thinks of the scrap of cloth that used to decorate Revali’s bow and is still tucked away in his belt. The weapons can be repaired, but will they still be the same?
The princess blinks quickly, eyes once more drawn to Urbosa’s scimitar. “They would have been happy, I think. To know that their weapons were used to defeat the Calamity.”
Well, yes. He got explicit permission from each and every one of them. He turns away, takes off the belt that holds his sword and carries it up the stairs to put it on top of the drawer there. It brings him face to face with the picture Kass gave him: the champions, the princess and himself.
“Purah took that picture, didn’t she?” the princess says softly, coming up the stairs after him. Now, finally, he hears a waver in her voice. “I remember. At the castle garden. I didn’t think it had survived.”
“Kass had it. He’s Rito. A bard.”
“I’m glad it found its way to you after all this time.” She reaches out and touches the frame. “It’s been so long. I wish I could have spoken to them once more.”
Ah. The last time he saw the champions was just a few days ago. For the princess, it has been over a century. Some of his earlier anger fades, only to be replaced by an even deeper loneliness. How strange, to be the only person who really remembers them when he remembered nothing at all so very recently.
Night has now truly fallen. Link offers the princess his bed, which she takes with only a token protest. He puts his own bedroll on the floor near the stairs. It means that when he lies on his back, he catches sight of the frame with the picture of all the champions in the castle garden.
The princess is lying on her side, eyes closed but breathing too fast to be asleep. Tomorrow they’ll go to Purah, and after that… After that…
Link closes his eyes as well, but the picture is still at the forefront of his mind. He finds himself wishing, just for a moment, that they had a chance to all still be here together.
It’s hopeless, but it’s a nice thought. Unlike the previous nights, he dozes off quickly, the exhaustion of the last few days finally catching up with him. His sleep is deep and dreamless, and he only comes out of it when he’s shaken awake by Cecili in the Swallow’s Roost.