“Impa, I cannot cope with this!” Zelda shouted halfway through her rant upon returning home. “First I find out that my family life was a lie, and now I must figure out all of this, or Ganon will escape...” She was beginning to cry again, being far too overwhelmed for the Evil Realm ordeal.
“I apologize, your highness...” Impa said quietly.
“Still... I must know, Impa... It will ease me to hear his name...”
“...Your highness, I... mm...” Impa looked away. “...No... I apologize for my impertinence, but I cannot...” She shook her head.
Zelda sighed, placing her hands over her face. “This is ridiculous... absolutely ridiculous... How can so much be going on in one week?”
“Perhaps you’re just lucky, your highness.” Impa suggested sarcastically. Zelda frowned.
~~
“Link? Link, are you there?” Saria called up his tree house, just in front of the ladder. No reply came. “Liiiink!?” She tried again, a dull thud escaping the cloth covered doorway.
“Ow...” Foot steps followed the word, and Link stuck his tired face out from behind the cloth. “Uh... yeah, Saria?” He cleared his throat from the nights inactivity.
“Link, we’ve just had a meeting of the sages, and there’s something really bad going on...”
Link’s eyes widened, all tiredness fleeting as he registered what she had said.
“...Come up, then.” He nodded, smiling weakly and stepping back behind the curtain.
Saria climbed up the ladder reluctantly, and went through the curtain to see Link standing much taller than her as he finished putting on his shirt.
“What happened at the meeting?” He asked, pulling his hat on as well.
“Rauru said he felt a disturbance or something in the power that’s keeping Ganondorf in the Evil Realm... our power might be weakening, Link... Ganon might escape.”
His sapphire orbs drifted to the floor.
“I see... How long did Rauru say we had until...?”
“Fourteen days... approximately...”
He nodded. “That’s not much... “ He sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed. “This isn’t good... It hasn’t really been long at all since that happened...”
“Rauru said his power should have deteriorated while he was sealed away, eventually destroying him, but... he seems to be getting more powerful...”
“What if it’s the triforce piece he’s still got?”
“That’s what Rauru thinks too.”
Link nodded again, crossing his arms. “Well... at least we’ve got some sort of a lead. ...Did he say anything else?”
“Uh- ...mm...” She nodded. “In fourteen days we might need your help again, unless Rauru can figure out a way to seal him up entirely... “
He gave a small laugh. “Well I’m not just gonna sit around, am I?” Saria smiled weakly in compliance and nodded. “Is that all then? ...I’ll have to train more...” He said that last bit more to himself than Saria.
“Well,... Impa and Rauru did mention something else...”
“Yeah?”
“It was ... about the triforce.”
“What’d they say?” He was trying to seem childish.
“There was ... a fourth piece... it used to be a quadraforce, but they don’t know what happened to make it split into a triforce and someone might have the fourth piece, which is... apparently evil.”
Link stared at her quizzically, trying to see if she was joking or not.
“That’s ... new.” He said, scratching his head after he realized she was telling the truth. “Well...I’m guessing they’ll want me at the next meeting?”
Saria nodded. “A week from today.”
“Alright.” He smiled, standing back up. “Thanks, Saria...” Saria returned his smile with one of her own, and lead herself out after they said good-bye.
“Oi...” Link sighed, arms at his sides as he watched Saria leave. “This isn’t good at all... Why couldn’t he have waited a few hundred years?” He muttered to himself, shaking his head as he got his sword and shield out.
If Ganon’s power was returning, and the sage’s waning, then there was no doubt more monsters were going to turn up- which was perfect practice for Link who hadn’t picked up his sword in a long time. So out of practice it’s ridiculous...
Getting all of his gear ready, putting his tunic on fully, and strapping his sword in it’s sheath to his back he stepped out of his house and descended the ladder. Some of the Kokiri questioned him about his leaving, but he reassured them all he wouldn’t be gone that long this time.
~~
“I shall stand for it no more, Impa. I must know my brother’s name.” Zelda gritted her teeth behind closed lips, her eyes narrowing.
“Your highness, I cannot tell you his name. We have been through this... I’ve said before there are others who know. Just think it over and it’ll become clear... Now Saria’s just informed me that Link is getting ready to begin training again, I must meet him in the field so we can prepare him... He has gotten rusty, highness.”
Zelda nodded haughtily before exited the room. Impa disappeared in a flash of light.
~~
“Oh... Hi, Impa.” Link said dully.
“Saria told you, I’m assuming?”
“Yeah, all of it... the Ganon and quadraforce thing... So a fourth Goddess...?”
“Exactly. The Sheikah, as well as the two most ancient sages know of it, of course...”
“One’s dead, and Rauru’s not corporeal...” Link finished for her.
“So you have agreed to aid us once more. It’s no wonder you have the triforce of courage.”
Link laughed sheepishly- flattered, but not wanting to stall his training any longer.
“Right. I’m guessing you’re not here to talk, so...”
“Yes. Your skills must be honed once more. You’ve lost your touch.”
He nodded.
Link really had lost his touch if it had taken him so much more work to fell a peahat than normal. The work was hard, and lasted many hours. Link flopped back onto the grass, a few blades flying up when he collapsed.
“Nice work.” Impa smirked. “You have not entirely lost your prowess.”
Link laughed through his heavy breathing.
“Y- ...yeh... guess not... you’re tough competition, though..”
“It is different when raised as a warrior, Hero of Time.”
Link sat up, resting his arms on his knees.
“We’ll have to do this daily... until I can do it all without thinking again...”
Impa agreed. “But you must rest now. It is nearly nightfall.”
“Yeah. Thanks again, Impa. You’re a huge help.” He smiled, collected his gear (sword and shield) and walked back to the Kokiri Forest.
The Kokiri had all gotten tired of waiting for Link to come back, so no one was outside by the time he returned. He climbed up his ladder, put his sword and shield away and fell onto his bed.
“Thirteen days...” He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
~~
“Um... Link?” Saria’s voice woke him. His eyes half opened, the green and tan blob in front of him slowly cleared into a feebly smiling Saria.
“Uhn... Wh- wha... What?” He replied, slurring as he wiped his bangs out of his eyes.
“Zelda’s outside...”
His eyes shot open and jumped up, throwing the blanket off of him (fell asleep dressed, minus the boots).
“What is she doing here?! What time is it- oof!” He fell onto his back, one leg raised, both hands on the boot. “Ow...”
“She said she really needs to speak with you.”
“Alright. But ask her what for.” He pulled the one boot on and began on the next one.
Saria stepped out of the curtain and looked down the ladder. “He wants to know why, but he’s getting ready now.”
Zelda looked over her shoulder, arms crossed. “It concerns my family... as well as the issue with Ganondorf.”
Saria nodded and went back in. “Did you get that?”
“Yeah.” Link patted his shirt to get the dust from his floor off of it. “Thanks, Saria.” He threw her a smile before stepping out onto the deck.
“Oh, good.” The princess whispered, stepping up to him as he descended the ladder. “Link, I’ve need of you. Impa gave me this,” She took out the pictograph. “This woman is supposedly my mother, and this other child..” She pointed. “Is my brother that was lost and I had no knowledge of...”
Link stared at her for a few seconds, looking from the pictograph to her. “And... This has to do with me, how?”
Zelda sighed. “I need your help. The castle library is gigantic. I need to locate the few royal family’s pictograph albums. They are scattered about, and I cannot find them all on my own in that place.”
“So you want my help.” Link stated rhetorically.
“Yes. It won’t take long with the both of us, we shall start at either end and find at least something before we reach the center.”
Link sighed, folding his arms in front of him and leaning back on the ladder. “I’ll need to train with Impa, so it can’t take all day.”
“Of course. That is why I came so early.”
“...What time is it anyway?”
“Five in the morning.”
“...The castle and the forest are at other ends of Hyrule, what time did you have to wake up to get here at five!?”
“I have yet to sleep.”
Link gaped at her. He shook his head. “Alright, but we’re warping... I’ll be too tired to train if we walk the whole way.”
