In Nayru's Palm

“Do you know your purpose?”

“Nobody ever does,” I told Kaepora, reclining against his tree. Rue rested against my side, asleep. Din’s fingers still reached over the mountains, but Farore had descended.

“They do in time, child,” he corrected me. “Do you know yours?”

“No.”

“Have you thought about it, or are you answering without thinking?”

I sighed. “I have not thought about it.”

“Do so.”

I rolled my eyes in his direction, but obliged. I remembered my life in Hyrule Castle, and how we had fled from its flames. I hadn’t been anyone then, except maybe something being raised like a civilized flower, to bloom as seen fit. I hadn’t been anyone at all, not really.

I thought to my reception at the village, and how I had been slowly accepted into its society. How some had hated me, but several had gone out of their way to make sure I was welcome. Rue was still one of my greatest joys, and I had friends for the first time in my life.

I recalled the ordeal at Kakariko. I looked back on how Akana had lost her life, protecting me from the shadow monster. Pyrnna still hadn’t gotten over her mother’s death. She sulked around the village and avoided her friends. She hated me more than ever, and made it clear every time our paths met.

Soun’s words still made me feel odd. Even now, I wasn’t sure how I felt about his knowing who I really was, but I was kind of glad that somebody did. But did he really think I was somebody worth dying for? Did he believe that I would be somebody important enough that such sacrifice could be worth it? Or was he just trying to make me feel better?

Impa had saved me, brought me here for a reason. She had to have. But what was that reason? I had to have some higher purpose—the mark on my hand attested to that.

I had dreams of Link often still. Just the night before I had dreamed of meeting a redheaded farmgirl and her little equine best friend. That best friend had shoved me to the grass with her bony head so many times that I had woken fuming this morning. But were the dreams significant?

“I have dreams of Link often. Do you know why that is?” I asked, craning my head to see if I could catch sight of his corpulent body.

“That is…significant.” The owl sounded surprised. Should I have told him sooner? “This makes it all the more likely that he is still alive in the Temple of Time.”

“I thought as much,” I told him, resting my chin on my forearms. Rue grunted when my body moved. “Impa and I saw him through the stones, wandering around. He was different, though.” I still wasn’t sure what to think of Link’s survival, but I was still fostering doubts as to his loyalty, based on his behavior when we had seen him.

“Yes, but he is still in the Temple. I do not understand how he is able to leave, though. I found him after Impa told me he was by the Desert Colossus, and he did indeed look different. I suspect that an older Link is the one behind the child we met.”

And what did that mean? The owl was quiet, so I assumed that I was supposed to think about this, too.

“So he’s traveling back to this time?”

“No longer. I have not seen him in a month or so.”

So it wasn’t like I could find him and ask.

“Do you remember the Light priest named Rauru, perchance?”

The question seemed a bit off-topic. “Sort of. He was the pudgy guy that managed the Temple of Time when I was a child, right?”

The owl chuckled. “You still are a child, Highness.” Before I could offer a rebuttal to that unnecessary jibe, he continued, “Yes, he was often seen in the Temple of Time. Ganondorf killed him when he took Hyrule Castle.”

I shifted uncomfortably. Another death that would keep me up at night.

“You need to speak with this man, Highness.”

“Didn’t you just tell me that he was dead, Kaepora?”

“I did.”

“Then how am I supposed to speak with him?” My questions were growing more and more skeptical as the conversation went on.

“When he was killed in the Temple of Time, he entered a sort of limbo within the Temple of Light, which is a part of the Temple of Time. This limbo broke when Link entered and opened the Door of Time. My guess is that Link pulled the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time, and awakened Rauru as a Sage of Light.”

“So you believe he is the Hero as well?”

“It is merely a theory, Highness.”

“So a person has to die before becoming a sage?”

“Sort of. A spirit of immense spiritual power must leave its earthly body to ascend to the Chamber of the Sages, and the only place it can leave its body to become a sage is within the temple of its affinity. If Rauru was to die within the Fire Temple, for example, he would not have become a sage.”

“And what can the sages do if they’re all dead?”

“Nothing. In order for their power to truly emerge, they must have a medium that is still bound to the flesh. A seventh sage, their leader, and the one who helps link them with the Hero of Time, based on a deep bond.”

It clicked. “You think this seventh sage is me?”

“Your dreams of Link are an indication, I believe, of that conclusion. The Triforce on your hand is also a powerful step in that direction, since one of the bearers of the goddesses’ marks is destined to be the seventh, and I highly doubt it would be Ganondorf. No, I believe very strongly that you will be able to contact Rauru very easily. I also believe that he would be the one that is keeping Link alive within the Temple.”

“And how would I contact him? I can’t just speak to him, can I?”

“Letta is teaching you meditation, yes?”

“And through magic I should contact him like some animal?”

“The linking with your sages uses the same method, yes. The connection that this communication should bring…I doubt it would be temporary. Once you link to your sages, you will never break from them. The sages are bound together within the Sacred Realm, eternal servants of the three goddesses themselves.”

I leaned back against the bark of the tree, dimly registering that Rue put her head on my lap as I faced Nayru in the sky. Was this my fate? To lead the dead in order to purge the world of the evil that had broken the Sacred Realm?

Nayru, is that really what you want from me?

Rue followed me back to town. As had become the norm ever since returning from Kakariko, Soun trotted out from his house as I passed by.

“How did your lesson go?”

“It went all right.” I watched Rue trot to his side and lick at his hands, demanding to be petted. He obliged with a smile, not seeming to realize how big of a deal it was that she was so fond of him. She didn’t like most people, and still only tolerated Impa.

“You learn anything new?”

“Enough,” I shrugged, not wanting to tell him what I was. I was still trying to sort through all of it, and didn’t really want to talk about it yet. We walked in silence for a few houses.

“I’m leaving in two days. The elders say that it’s time that I started checking on things in Hyrule like the rest of the adults.”

“Where will you go?” I asked, looking to him instead of at Rue.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. I might stay at Kakariko for a while, and then maybe visit the Gorons and the Zoras.”

“Everyone goes to see them,” I teased.

“And where would you go?” he challenged.

“I would try to find the Kokiri,” I told him. He laughed.

“Anybody who goes to the Lost Woods gets lost and dies. The only people suitable to se the Kokiri are the Kokiri. Those woods have their name for a reason.”

“You just say that because you’re scared.”

“It’s reasonable, Sheik. People don’t go there.”

I didn’t argue.

“So you’re leaving in two days, you said?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s pretty soon.”

“Yeah, but I’m gonna keep in touch with everybody. It’s not like you can’t keep track of me with the stones, right?”

“I suppose,” I said, as Rue returned to my side and nosed at my hand, and I absently petted her. The conversation stopped until we reached my house.

“You wouldn’t miss me at all, would you?”

I turned and frowned at him. “I would, actually.” When he looked surprised, I grinned, though all he could probably see was the shift under the wrappings. “Though I might actually get some peace and not get so annoyed all the time.”

“Oh, you wish,” he laughed, cuffing my ear lightly. I skipped back before he could actually grab me, and I waved from my door.

“See you tomorrow, Soun,” I said, and Rue and I went inside.