Work Text:
“The interdimensional mailman strikes again!”
The sailor waves the handful of letters and skutters back to the group. He ducks under Twi’s grasp and holds the letters just out of sight, basking in the other’s anticipation. Legend, as always, holds an air of indifference but his perked ears give him away.
Wind licks his index finger and, with an insufferable smirk, shuffles through the letters.
“We have letters here for Link, Link, aaaaand Link.”
There’s a mix of chuckles and goans.
“Old man, this one’s for you! It’s from Mrs. Malon!” Wind passes off the letter to a warmly smiling Time.
“And Four, this one’s from Dot!” He singsongs the name and passes off the tiny letter with its carefully placed red seal to a grinning Four.
“Twilight, I think this one’s yours.” A letter is passed off. Its envelope is brightly marked with scribbled horses and wildflowers drawn by young hands.
A similar letter surfaces, this one decorated with seagulls, and Wind grins from ear to ear. He pockets it.
“My sister.” He explains and flips to the next. “Let’s see here, this one is from,” He squints. “Saha- Sahasril- Sahasilhabida-”
“That one’s mine.” Legend grumbles and swipes the rest of the letters from a scandalized Wind.
“The fuck is Sahabida?”
“Sahasrahla.” Legend corrects. “One of the seven sages. I don’t know what he wants.”
Legend glares at the letter and then banishes it to the back of the pile and hands the rest out. “Sky, here’s one for you.”
Through the rest of the group and back again, the letters find their way into eager hands. The group loiters around the tree at the entrance to Windfall. Wind can look at his letter later. He’s much more interested in what everyone else got.
Turns out Twilight’s letter is from the children from Ordon. It's been stuffed with pressed wildflowers and bits of grass. Twilight gently twirls one of the flowers between his fingers while he reads.
Sky holds his letter from Sun close to his nose and closes his eyes with a smile, adrift in down soft memories.
Wild’s letter consists of folded pages that look like they were torn out of a notebook. The handwriting is concise and intermixed with mathematical equations and footnotes. He summons a pencil from the Sheikah Slate and immediately jots something down on the back of one of the pages.
Legend got two letters and he cracks a rare smile reading the loopy purple cursive.
Like Wind, Wars has put his letter away to look at later.
The only hero not reading is Hyrule. He leans against the shade of the stone wall of Windfall’s entrance. His hands are crossed behind his back and he watches the group with a wistful eye. Wind saunters over and takes up a spot at his side.
“What’cha get ‘Rule?”
Hyrule shrugs. “Oh, uh, nothing.”
“Seriously? What about from your Zeldas? They know you’re traveling, right?”
“Yeah. They do.” Hyrule rubs the back of his neck and makes a dismissive gesture. “But they’re probably busy taking care of stuff in my Hyrule. There’s a lot to do. I wasn’t expecting anything anyways.”
“But we sent them letters last week!”
“That’s true.”
Wind throws up his hands. “I put them in the postbox and everything! There’s no way they didn’t get them so why didn’t they write back?”
Wind is visibly more upset about this than Hyrule. The traveler pats Wind on the shoulder with a chuckle, “It’s alright.” He says. But the way Hyrule is drawn, the way his head is ducked and how his eyes linger on the letters in the others hands tells otherwise.
This interaction is not missed by Legend. He glances at them with a look of concern and then folds his letters and gets to work.
The group is set up for the night in Lenzo’s Gallery. The man had declared anyone a friend of the young pictographer a friend of his own, and offered them the upstairs room. It’s stuffy but spacious, and the nine have enough room to comfortably spread out their bedrolls.
Legend excuses himself from the card game going on between himself, Wars, Hyrule, and Sky.
“Giving up so soon?” Wars pesters.
“No. I just thought I’d give someone else a chance to win.” He stands up, gets a good look at everyone’s cards, and then whispers something to Hyrule.
“I’m pretty sure that’s cheating.” Sky frowns.
“You don’t know what I said.” He shrugs.
Hyrule plays a card with an innocent grin.
Sky relents with a sigh and returns to the game.
The rest of the group is spaced out relaxing on their own bedrolls. Legend makes his way over to Wind who’s kitted out on the other side of the room. The boy is laid flat on his stomach, reading over his letter and idly kicking his feet. Legend sits criss-cross next to him.
“Got anything to write with?”
Wind looks rightfully suspicious. “Yeah, sure.” He fiddles around in his bag and supplies a few rumpled papers and a handful of colored pencils.
Legend selects a blue pencil, smooths a page, and asks, “Can you keep a secret?”
Wind leans in on his elbows. “Of course!”
Legend shushes him and rolls his eyes. “I want to get letters for Hyrule.”
Wind bounces quietly. “I was thinking the same thing! Did ya notice he didn’t get anything today?”
“Or last time?”
“Yeah… So what do we do?”
“I was thinking we could all chip in on a letter to Malon or something. That way maybe she’d write us all back?”
“That would work! We could all write a little note and sign at the bottom! That way we would get a response for everyone!”
“Yeah, but then the letter would belong to all of us. I want something Hyrule can keep.”
“What if we asked her to write specifically to Hyrule?”
“I mean, we could, but I don’t want it to be forced.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Malon would love to write to any of us.”
“Yeah, I know. But still....”
Wind leans on an elbow in thought. “You think we can mail packages? I’ve gotten rupees and treasures in the mail before. I don’t know if the mailman will take items between our times but it’s worth a shot.”
“So, what? Like little gifts from each of us?” Legend crosses his arms.
“What about little gifts?” The conspirators jump to find they’ve been joined by Four. He stands just behind Legend and is already in his night things all ready for bed.
“We’re getting letters for Hyrule!” Wind says.
Four perks up.
Legend hisses and swats Wind. “It was supposed to be a secret!”
Four sits with them and Wind fills him in on what they’ve got so far.
“-If we all send a gift then we’re more likely to get gifts back. That way Hyrule has something to keep.”
Four takes in the plan and then shakes his head. “You’re making this way more complicated than it has to be. Wait a second.” He goes off to his own bedroll and when he returns he has with him a piece of paper and a pen. He lays the paper down on the floor between them. Glossing over the letter, they can see it’s addressed to Dot and some of the sentences are written in a different colored ink. Green, red, blue, and purple. Four begins to write. His choppy hair falls loosely over his eyes without his headband on but he does his best to keep it back by brushing it behind his ear.
Finished, he pushes the letter across the floor to Legend and Wind.
The addendum reads as follows:
“P.S. I have a favor to ask of you. Hyrule hasn’t received any letters. Could you send small personalized gifts for each of our friends? He might not be receiving something from his home, but I like to think we’re the next best thing, and at least this way he will be included. I’m sure that finding a personalized spin for all of the gifts will be no problem for you. ;D”
Four’s pen is multicolored. The smiley winking face is in green. There are red flowers in all of the corners.
“There. Much more direct.”
Wind snatches the letter. “Four, you’re a genius! Can I copy this for Tetra?”
“Go ahead. And I’d like to also follow through with the idea of group letters. It would be nice to thank Malon, and Sun, and your Grandma again for their hospitality, and to let them know that you’re taking care of us.” Four tweaks Wind’s ear.
The next batch of letters finds them in Kakariko Village in Twilight’s Hyrule. Or that is, the mailman finds them, somehow.
It’s a moment of downtime. The group has just split in two, deciding who was going with Twi to check in at the inn and who would stay at the spring with Time. The mailman found them before they split, allowing Time to pass out the letters to go with everyone during the break.
Hyrule stays seated by the water’s edge. He’s turned to listen politely and watches the parcels of comfort be passed out, but he doesn’t bother to stand. Time passes the letters to the inn group so they can leave and then walks around handing the rest to those who remain. Hyrule watches the spring water lap at his boots. He’s given up on anticipating letters. He doesn’t hold it against Dawn or Aurora for not writing back. They’re both extremely busy and his letters might not have even made it to them and vice versa. It’s not like there’s anyone else who would write to him anyways. He and the people of his time aren’t very good at writing to begin with, or reading, for that matter. He’d needed Legend’s help to even send a letter in the first place. He’s resigned himself to expecting nothing, that way he won’t be let down when he inevitably doesn’t get anything.
This is why, when Time taps him on the shoulder with a neatly sealed envelope, that Hyrule is taken entirely by surprise.
“Letter for you.”
Hyrule opens and closes his mouth and then takes the letter. It’s sealed with the same red wax of Four’s letters. Wind is handed two letters, Legend gets a letter, Four gets a letter, Sky gets three. At first Hyrule thinks that maybe Time gave him Four’s but then he notices that everyone has one of the red sealed envelopes. He turns it as though it’s made of butterfly wings. He can recognize his name and title written in neat handwriting on the front. In the upper left are symbols he doesn’t recognize. Above one chunk of symbols are a few he does, vaguely. Four takes a seat next to him and points them out.
“It’s from Dot.” He explains. “She’s been learning everyone’s Hylian, so this part here is her name in my alphabet and above it she’s written out her name in yours. The full letter should be in yours but I can help you read it if you need.”
Halfway through Four’s explanation Time comes around again and hands Hyrule two more letters. Three whole letters. He gets three whole letters after not receiving any in months.
The best Hyrule can manage is a tight, “Thank you.” to Time and, “Y-yeah that’d be great.”
Four leaves him to it, settling next to the spring and opening the seal on his own envelope with a practiced ease.
Hyrule does his best not to tear his. Inside is a once-folded paper and something more, small, tucked into the bottom of the envelope. The something more he pulls out is a bracelet. It’s made up of many, many knotted threads. The design’s background is a shade lighter brown than his tunic, and on it is his name in a golden-yellow, bordered by twisting green vines and leaves. The leaves are filled in with multiple shades of green making them appear as if bathed in sunlight. It’s wonderful.
Four finishes tying off his own and holds up his wrist. His bracelet is the same colors as his tunic. Primarily green with what’s probably his name in gold and then one thin stripe each of red, blue, purple, and black along the right edge.
Hyrule opens the letter. The handwriting is clear and made up of neat rounded lettering like Four’s, but for the life of him it’s utterly incomprehensible. Four waits patiently as he tries the first few letters. He can recognize them but he can’t remember what sounds they make. He's too giddy to focus for it, so he passes the letter over. Four scoots in and they delve into it together awash in sunlight and excitement.
“Dear Hyrule,”