Twas a bright, sunny day. A soft gentle breeze blew through the field, the grass curling as it did. Princess Zelda sat alone in there all curled up, her face in her arms and knees as she gazed aimlessly into the open plains. She suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.
"What is it, Link? I'm not in the mood to talk at all right now." she asked gloomily.
"We're all packed up, Princess." he told her.
"Hmm? Oh, right of course." she answered. Getting up to her feet, she began to head to her horse: a pale white mare with a golden mane. As she got onto the horse, she ordered her to go forward. The mare began to trot forward, but in exactly the opposite direction of the road.
"Hey wait! Stop, not that way!" she exclaimed, as she tugged on the reins. The tugging started to upset the horse, as she quickly bucked back, suddenly throwing the princess of her horse.
"AH!"
Upon seeing her in distress, Link quickly darted in her direction. Zelda plummeted to the ground, landing with a dull thud.
"OOF!"
Zelda opened her eyes. The fall didn't seem as hard as she had expected. Looking underneath her, she suddenly realized why. Link had dove right underneath her to break her fall.
"Ow..." he groaned.
"Oh my goodness! Link, are you alright?"
Link gave a small nod. Zelda quickly got off of him and dusted herself off.
"What happened there with your horse?" Link asked.
"I don't know. I've had some trouble getting her to obey before. But today, she just threw me off when I tried to control her." the princess explained.
"Can you show me?"
"Um... Alright."
Reluctantly, she got back onto her horse, as she tried to get her to move forward. The horse refused, grunting as it stayed in place.
"Come on... Go forward, please?" she asked.
Standing beside them, Link observed the horse carefully. That's when he noticed it. The horse's bridle was a lot tighter than usual: a mistake no doubt by the stablehands from the night before.
He quickly raised his hand, silently telling Zelda to wait as he loosened the mare's bridle. She whinnied in relief, as she felt it no longer press so hard on her head. "Try now."
The princess spurred the horse forward. She began to do as she had been commanded, trotting forward slowly.
"It worked!" Zelda exclaimed, smiling, before turning the horse and apologizing, "I'm sorry for being so rude. I didn't realize you were uncomfortable."
"Be sure to take the time to soothe your mount. That's the only way it will know how you truly feel." Link instructed her.
"Like this?" the princess questioned, as she stroked the horse's neck gently. The horse whinnied calmly, as if to say it understood her.
"That's it." her personal knight replied. Realizing he'd left his own horse behind, he quickly ran back, mounting the stallion before quickly catching back up with her. "Would you like me to show you some more tricks for riding, princess?" he asked her.
Zelda smiled a little, and answered: "Yes please."
"Well then, do as I do."
He began to show her how to properly ride a horse, her following what he did as they rode through Hyrule Field.
Later
The two came to a stop, as the sun was beginning to set. They got off their horses, Zelda petting hers as she got off.
"You're such a good girl." she told her.
Link pulled out two apples.
"Horses love apples. You can give yours one if you want." he said, passing one of them to her. Zelda, taking the advice, held the fruit near her mount's mouth. The horse hungrily dug in, taking large bites out of the food. Once it had finished, it raised its head to look Zelda in the face, as it began to lick her.
"Oh, hey!" she protested, before bursting out into laughter. "Hahaha!"
As Link watched her, he began to feel warm inside of himself. It was strange, it felt so... peaceful. Her smile, the way she laughed, it was... beautiful to him. He didn't understand why he had allowed himself to have such a bond with her. Sure they were the same age, but it still confused him. They'd shared so much about each other with each other. She was the only one who was bringing him close to...
Trying to shrug off the feeling, Link got to work setting up camp for the night.
One hour later
Link stirred the stew around in the cooking pot for him and Zelda. The girl was lying on her back, staring at the stars.
"Link... do you look at the stars sometimes?" she asked.
"Not really," he answered.
"My mother and I would often gaze at the stars together when I was little. She taught me all the different constellations in the sky."
She began pointing at them individually, enthusiastically sharing her knowledge with him.
"That right there is the great bird! And there's the sky-whale! Oh, right there is the wolf! And..."
She went on and on. Link listened to her attentively, taking in every word she spoke. She suddenly stopped, as she raised her head and sat up.
"Link, do you miss your parents?"
The Champion was silent for a moment, before saying: "I do. But I can remain assured they know I am doing my duty to Hyrule."
"Oh, of course..." Zelda said. "I know that your father was a royal knight, but what of your mother? Surely you must remember her?"
Again, silence. Then:
"I didn't know her much. I remember watching her, her showing me how to cook. And she had a beautiful singing voice."
"She sounds very nice." Zelda complemented.
"She was."
"Because she passed away so soon... is that why you are always so silent? Because you only had your father, who was a soldier?"
Link stopped stirring, as he suddenly began to think back. After his mother had passed, his father had insisted he start training as soon as possible. That was what he mostly could remember of his childhood: training to be the perfect knight. Somewhere in the process, he'd learned to shut out his own feelings. How long had it even been?
"But why?" he wondered. He had made the decision long ago. And yet, he felt... empty in doing so. "That's the price I have to pay in order to serve this kingdom."
"Um, Link? The stew is starting to boil over." the princess suddenly warned him, breaking out of his trance. Reacting quickly, Link took the pot off the fire.
"Dinner is ready," he told her.
Link ladled some of the stew first into Zelda's bowl, then into his. The princess took a spoonful, as she tasted the concoction.
"Mmm! This is delicious, Link! Whatever your mother taught, it truly did help!" she told him.
As Link was about to dig into his food, he stopped upon hearing that comment. Zelda's eyes suddenly jolted open in shock, as she saw something she thought she would have never seen.
Link smiled back.
Later
Princess Zelda was lying down, a blanket over, as she tried to fall asleep. Link sat by, his sword in arms reach, keeping watch of the campsite.
As his eyes perused the field around him, he heard the princess start to speak to him.
"Link?"
The Champion turned to her, prompting her to continue. She sat up and resumed where she'd left off.
"I just wanted to say thank you. I was really feeling sad from..."
She paused, not wanting to reminisce on the poor results of the last few days of rigorous training.
"... Well, anyways, I had a lot of fun learning how to ride my horse better. Thank you."
Link, simply gave her a nod.
"You know, your lesson today actually gave me an idea." Zelda told him. "What if I just need to look somewhere else to solve my own problems? I actually thought back to an old text I read back in the castle library. It may be the key to unlocking my sealing power!"
"What is it?" Link asked.
"I'll tell you soon enough. That's why, before we head to Rito Village, I want to make a stop at Sanidin Park."
"Very well then, princess."
"Oh, and Link."
Link quickly turned back to Zelda as he was resuming his focus on keeping watch.
"I'm really glad I saw you smile."
The Champion was silent, unsure of how to answer that. He turned his head away, as he resumed guarding the campsite.
End of the flashback
Link stood in complete stunned silence, as he held the Sheikah Slate in his hands. There, 100 years ago, right in front of the princess of Hyrule herself, he'd smiled. He stood there, trying to find a reason, trying to find an answer as to why he had done that, why he had let himself slip and lose focus like that.
However, his mind went to other matters. More importantly... what was this secret Zelda had found that she claimed would help her unlock her sealing power?
He checked the other pictures. There were only a few left to go. Only a few more and that would be it. Not wanting to waste time, he ran over to Epona and hopped on her back.
"Yah!"
She galloped forward, Taima following their lead. Remembering the path they had taken from his memory, Link followed it, hoping to get some answers as to where the next location was.
Later
Unfortunately, after having passed by the campsite near the end of the memory, the trail started to go cold from there. Link tried heading to what appeared to be a huge, abandoned stone building.
Quickly peering in, he suddenly spotted a silver lynel standing in the center of the old ruins. Suddenly, it sniffed the air, as it turned to where Link was. He immediately ducked back behind cover, not wanting to risk himself over that enemy.
Carefully, he waited for the beast to stop looking, before running off as quickly as possible.
Later
Link stopped by at the Outskirt Stable. He had been searching around for a while now, and his animal companions were starting to get tired. After boarding Epona up in the stable, he gave Taima a piece of meat and let her settle down.
Leaving her to dig in, he began to search through his Sheikah Slate. He took a look at the next picture from Princess Zelda's old photo album to see if he could get any clues.
"I say now, that is quite the good picture of Sanidin Park." an elderly voice suddenly spoke out from behind him.
Link turned around to see an old man, one of the stablehands, looking over his shoulder.
"Oh, apologies. I didn't mean to intrude on you like that, young man."
"Can you tell me more about this place?" Link asked, pointing to the picture."
"Oh, of course. I remember my grandfather telling me often about how beautiful it really was. Apparently, one day, he saw the royal family's white horse grazing nearby."
He paused for a moment, thinking back a little.
"Come to think of it... the other day, one of our customers said he saw a white horse near the park on Safula Hill recently... Who knows, perhaps it is a descendant of the royal family's one from long ago."
"Where is the park?" Link asked.
"Oh, just follow the road north, cross Manhala Bridge, turn right and head past Safula Hill. You can't miss it." the old man instructed.
"Very well."
Walking away, Link immediately began to head in the directions, all while leaving his animal companions behind at the stable. The old stablehand called out to him one more time:
"If you see the horse, tell me about it!" he shouted.
Later
After following the old man's directions and heading north, Link soon found what he was looking for. A large statue of a horse stood at the top of a hill, a stone walkway leading up to it. Sprinting forward, Link soon got there.
The walkways from the park were made of stone, with several old columns covered in moss outlining it all. A staircase led up to the top platform, where the horse statue stood, surrounded by a green patch of grass. Beneath was a small pool of water: the remains of a fountain that had long stopped working.
Walking up to the metal railing, Link looked out into the open. From where he stood, he had a quite good view of the landscape around him: from Mount Lanayru, to Hyrule Castle, to the Gerudo Highlands.
As he looked around, he took the Sheikah Slate once more and stared at the picture attentively. Seeing what the park once was compared to what it had become, his mind began to drift off. Back to another time.
Flashback
The sun was starting to set as Link and Zelda made their way to Sanidin Park. The two rode side by side, as their horses gently trotted along the road.
"Be sure to take the time to soothe your mount... That's the only way it will know how you truly feel." the princess repeated, as she gently stroked her horse's neck.
She advice turned to Link, saying cheerfully:
"Your advice was quite helpful-Thank you. This little one and I are getting along quite well now." She looked at the royal horse gear she had fitted her mare out with. The bridle had drawn in gold a pattern of the royal family's crest.
"At first, I wasn't sure whether I should outfit him with all the royal gear. I thought maybe she should have to earn it first. But it works, she wears it like a true natural!"
Zelda looked back to her appointed knight again.
"I'm trying to be more empathetic. Benefit of the doubt, you know?"
Link didn't answer. His eyes were poised on what was in front of them. Looking forward, Princess Zelda saw Sanidin Park up ahead. Dismounting her horse, she began to head there on foot. Link did the same, following behind her.
He followed her up to the metal railing, giving a view over the horizon to the east. The sky was now a bright gold and red, as the sun was setting in the east. Zelda stared off at the tall mountain peak, as she began to make her intentions known to Link.
"See that mountain? That's Mount Lanayru. It takes its name from the Goddess of Wisdom. Lanayru's decree is very specific. It says: "No one is allowed, under the age of seventeen... For only the wise are permitted a place upon the mountain." I've prayed at the Spring of Courage and at the Spring of Power, yet neither awoke anything inside me. But maybe up there... Perhaps the Spring of Wisdom, the final of the three, will be the one."
She paused for a moment, before resuming speaking, her voice beginning to betray her as she began to show uncertainty.
"To be honest, I have no real reason to think that will be the case. But there's always the chance that the next moment will change everything. Tomorrow... is my seventeenth birthday. I assume yours has already passed, is that correct?"
"Indeed." Link answered quickly.
She turned to him, fear, uncertainty and nervousness filling her eyes.
"So then I shall go... and make my way up the mountain."
End of the flashback
As the memory ended, Link looked to where the last memory was. To his surprise, it seemed to be right in front of Lanayru Mountain.
"I went up there all on my own and I never realized I had been there before? "
He began to regret having not cared to find his old memories. One had been right under his nose all along and he had never noticed.
"It's too late to think of that now. I'll head there at once and find the memory."
Putting the Sheikah slate back on his belt, Link looked around. That's when he suddenly spotted something off in the distance.
A pale white stallion with golden mane, grazing atop a hill. It looked like the exact same one Zelda rode.
"Maybe I should catch that, just in case." Link thought to himself.
Exiting the park ruins, Link slowly crept up to the horse from behind. Once he was close enough, Link leapt up onto the horse's back. It wildly began to buck up and down, back and forth, trying to throw the young Hylian off. However, thanks to the stamina he had collected from all the spirit orbs he found, Link managed to remain mounted on its back, as he did his best to calm the animal.
After some coercing, the horse finally stopped struggling and calmed down. Link gently stroked its neck, doing his best to soothe it. This stallion had been a lot more resistant than Epona had been when he first tamed her.
Giving the horse a light kick, he began to ride back to the stable.
Later
Link registered the horse into the stable. The stablemaster looked at the animal in astonishment.
"A fine specimen you have right there. Alright, registration's done. Now all he needs is a saddle-"
"Hold on, one second!"
Link turned to see the old man walk up to the stallion with his cane.
"Well I'll be... Grandpa wasn't lying!" he said with astonishment. "Son, you've made my life. Staying alive in this godforsaken land may just have been worth it after all. You know what, I have a surprise for you."
He turned to the stablemaster.
"No need to give out a bridle and saddle, I'm giving away some that I own."
"Oh. Whatever you say, Toffa."
The old man went inside, then came back out carrying the same purple bridle and saddle the princess' steed used to wear.
"The look will now be complete with these." he said, handing them over to Link. "Ah... My grandfather told me when I was little that the sight of atop that steed was supposed to be a beauty beyond words..."
"He wasn't wrong- Wait what?" Link suddenly thought.
"Well, take good care of him!" Toffa told him, before walking away, cane in hand.
As he returned to his usual tasks around the stable, Link attached the bridle and saddle to the pale white stallion. He looked exactly as the princess' steed once had, all except for the mane which wasn't as neatly tied together as its ancestor's had been.
He gave the horse an apple, as it quickly dug in, hungrily chomping away. As it did so, Link took a look at Princess Zelda's photo album. There were now only three pictures remaining. He'd soon have... everything.
Link suddenly began to feel a sense of dread at the back of his head. For he was realizing... the memories were slowly converging towards one... single... event: The Great Calamity.
(To be continued...)
(Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and have a wonderful day, bye!)