I Live to Serve

Chapter #9: Nothing to be Afraid Of

Link was quite happy he left when he did, as when he returned to Paya's room, he practically fell down into her bed. A wave of exhaustion overcame him. One moment he had been entirely alright, and the next he was succumbing to a miserable pain that he couldn't force away with any amount of dexterity. He sunk into her bed, not thinking twice about the politeness of doing so. A slow burn developed in the front of his head as he closed his eyes, and as he turned over, he immediately succumbed to sleep.

He saw Zelda in his dreams. She was there, glistening, with her hand placed out in front of her. A triforce glowed from inside her palm. Around her stood a small group of Sheikah soldiers. In front of her, a bokoblin, now collapsing under the weight of the burning glow cascading from her hand. Link himself seemed to be merely a third person watcher, not there in the flesh at all. Although, he still felt a sense of... frustration as he watched the sight. How easily she dealt with the beast.

"Well, let's make haste, now," said Zelda to the Sheikah accompanying her with a sort of smile tracing her lips. "There's no reason to be afraid."

Link awoke then. His eyes opened, revealing a dark overcast over the room. It was night, but the moon illuminated the room enough so that he might look down upon the sleeping form of Paya on the ground. He sighed. He hadn't intended to sleep so long. He hadn't intend to sleep at all, really, but it seemed like the chronic fatigue that now racked his body didn't allow him any mercy. Still, he regretted not taking a place on the floor, so that Paya could sleep in her own bed. There wasn't any purpose moping about it now, though. He slowly rose to his feet, attempting to be quite quiet as to not wake the sleeping Sheikah girl. Despite his efforts, upon taking a step, the floor creaked and the eyes of Paya fluttered open.

"Link?" She whispered. Link managed a smile at her.

"Good evening, Paya. You ought to go back to sleep."

"Where are you going?"

"...On a walk, I suppose. I need to stretch my legs."

"...Might I come with you?"

Link couldn't help but smile at her proposition. He approached her and held a hand out, which she took, and pulled herself up to her feet. The gesture, though small, was enough to make Paya turn pink. she ushered over to her closet and pulled a cloak out from it. A good idea, considering the night breeze. Link mirrored her, grabbing his Hylian Cloak and adorning it.

The pair crept down the stairs, slowly approaching the door, when the voice of Impa rang through the room.

"Leaving so soon, are you?" She spoke, causing Paya to gasp and jerk back, and Link to stiffen in surprise.

"...Grandmother! We're merely going for a stroll! What are you-?" Paya sputtered quickly in response.

A trace of a smile hinted at Impa's lips. "Oh, is that all? That's good... You know, a little birdie had told me of a more grand escapade in the planning. You were going to tell me, I'm sure? Of your plans to leave with our Hero?" A twinkle in her eye revealed that she was merely toying with Paya; even still, Paya didn't seem receptive to the hint and continued to panic.

"You- Who told you such a- I mean- It's more complicated-"

"Yes, indeed," interrupted Link, reluctantly. Paya seemed incapable of answering, and for her own sake, he spoke. "I intend to leave soon to fulfill some unfinished promises I've made... and due to my... health complications, I thought it best to bring a companion. And who more loyal and trustworthy than Paya?" He spoke firmly, though a hint of hesitation was woven through his voice. He felt prepubescent in a way. Despite all he had accomplished, he felt entirely incapable of even the smallest of things.

Impa raised an eyebrow as he spoke. "Ah. I see," she paused (seemingly for dramatic effect). "I believe this is your destiny, Paya. The Sheikah Artifact you've guarded all your life has been utilized; it's time for you to seize a new destiny!" her eyes widened and she gazed with a sort of intensity at her granddaughter.

"Yes, grandmother! I couldn't agree more!" replied Paya in a sort of squeak.

"...You'll leave tomorrow, then. You've been here long enough," said Impa to Link, resulting in a rush of guilt and shame in his stomach. "Promises aren't something that can be taken so frivolously... Where will you go? To whom have you made promises?"

Link hesitated.

"All over Hyrule," he confessed truthfully. "To dozens of people, to names I've long forgotten... I remember only what I have written down. I've kept a log."

Paya nodded. "Mm... I see. You ought to go lay down again, Hero. I fear your health cannot take such strains as interruptions to your sleep. Not until we figure out what's wrong with you!" Her intense gaze returned, this time fixated on Link.

"Of course," he replied, thoroughly embarrassed. She was right, of course, regardless of whether or not he liked it. He needed to be significantly more careful regarding his new condition. How humiliating.

With a sort of drag in his step, he returned back to Paya's quarters, this time taking his place on the floor. Paya, who had followed behind, made a face at the choice.

"You can't sleep on the floor, Master Link," she whispered, shaking her head as though the idea was quite preposterous.

"Indeed I can; I've slept in far less comfortable places," he replied, recalling a night slept between two boulders in Zora's Domain. "And it's your room, Paya. It would be disgraceful to continue to take up your space. Please, Paya."

After much hesitation, the Sheikah girl relented and returned to her place in her bed. Quite a relief to Link, as any arguing with her was especially draining. It was so very intolerable to him to not get along with women. They could often be ever so confusing.

He laid in his makeshift bed for quite some time before sleep laid pity on him and took him into her embrace. He thought of many things: of Zelda, of Paya, of Impa and her glare... Of his headaches and his failures, and all that he still couldn't remember. Such was silly to dwell on, as he couldn't ever change it, but he couldn't help but wonder it....

And to grow frustrated by it. By all that was taken from him in the Shrine of Resurrection. The place in which he was stripped of everything he had ever known and turned into an empty shell of a soldier... He was destiny, surely, and all had gone according to plan, but still. He knew so little of his father, nothing of his mother... He didn't know what his favorite food was as a child, or how much he ever really liked being a knight in the first place. All he remembered were empty little memories that had been so casually scattered before him. It was...

Unfair. It was unfair, Link decided with a shaking breath. It was unfair. This sentiment accompanied as he returned back to sleep.