All Hallows Eve

(Author's Note: Yes, you do get a Halloween special ^-^ )

"Boo!"

Link jumped, nearly dropping the pumpkin in his hands. His head jerked over to the source of the scare, a young Hylian child hanging around the corner of a stone wall. He wore a homemade skeleton mask over his head, painted white, and featured a few roughly drawn flowers and a smile. Link rolled his eyes and fished in his pockets, pulling out a small, wrapped candy. He gave the boy a nod and tossed the candy up to him, the child giggling and dashing away after catching the sweet treat. Link hefted the pumpkin up to his chest once more, and carried on up to the castle, weaving through the crowds.

This 31st would be the first celebration of All Hallow's Eve in over a hundred years. The holiday had been forgotten, along with many other traditions with the advent of the Calamity. Zelda believed that an important part of Hyrule's reconstruction was the embracing of its roots. Old traditions and legends long past brought back to the forefront. It would give the people something to cling onto, a unifying force. To bring everyone into an imagined community, so that no matter where you were on Hyrule, you could still feel like part of the whole. One could think of it as a family of sorts. No matter what race, gender, or orientation, everyone could be a part of this family.

"What better way to feel like family than to celebrate a holiday together?" Zelda proposed.

Thus, All Hallow's Eve had been reborn. Link had scant memories of the holiday from when he was a child. Mostly dressing as a knight of course, with a little wooden sword to boot. The holiday was a time for people, especially children, to dress up as monsters or heroes as a way of scaring off evil spirits. By becoming what they were afraid of, it would help tackle the fear of said thing in the first place. It's the main reason that bokoblin and lynel costumes were so popular. Link had thought this was all a wonderful idea and venture, up until he realized that he too would have to dress up again.

"Well, of course you have to. You're the Hero of Hyrule! People all across the kingdom look up to you and I. If we want this to work, we'll need to show our enthusiasm," Zelda advocated.

"But I don't even know what to go as. I haven't dressed up since I was 10!" Link signed.

"Well, you have until the 31st to figure it out. And no, your new uniform doesn't count as a costume," Zelda replied. "Ask around, get creative, I'm sure you'll find something you like."

In the weeks preceding the 31st, Link toiled away at costume ideas while the castle prepared for the event. The streets were lined with decorated pumpkins, hay bales, and bright sparkly garlands. As time continued, wood cutouts of ghosts, keese, and spiders adorned homes and shop windows. The whole town looked like it was born from a children's picture book, and it was beautiful. Link was able to take in the sights and sounds as he traversed through the space and finally made his way into the castle, and up to Zelda's parlor room.

Upon tossing open the door with his foot, he had to quickly drop the pumpkin as a startled Mipha fell into his arms.

"Eek!" She shrieked, until noticing she hadn't hit the floor.

Her eyes slowly opened one at a time. Noting that she was not in mortal peril, "Oh, thank you Link. I was just putting up some decorations and slipped. If you hadn't been there, I may have been flattened like a flounder."

Link helped her back up to her feet, giving her a smile. He signed, "Outside of almost being a pancake, how's the decorating coming along? Your costume looks great too!"

Mipha blushed a bit as she fixed her wrappings. She was going as the visage of an ancient ruler of times long past; something called a Pharaoh. Not a queen, but not an empress either. It was said that pharaoh's were buried in elaborate tombs and wrapped in cloth to preserve their bodies as their souls entered the spirit world. Mipha took inspiration from that and had wrapped herself in a linen type cloth. While leaving herself enough room to be mobile, she was wrapped from her feet all the way to her neck. Atop her head was a reproduction of what a pharaoh's crown would have resembled. Gold, black, and bright blue in coloration, it came around her head like hair and sported a tall cobra atop her forehead. Her lips and eyes were painted with a makeup that resembled sparkling gold and styled after the style of the old rulers. It was as elaborate as it was gorgeous.