Reliving History
Chapter 3
The once bright and cheerful sun began to creep behind the thick forest and tuck itself into sleep. Warm candles replaced it's soft light as the three young adults took their seats around Thelma's old wooden table.
"You know, you can't say no to the king of Hyrule. After all, he is the king of Hyrule!" Corla annouced in a tone both stern and kind. She sat on one side of the table, the fork in her hand pointed at Link, who sat opposite her.
"I know." Link mumbled. He absentmindedly held a fork in his left hand, occasionally stabbing it into his food, but never brought anything to his mouth. Instead, he kept his focus on the letter to his right. No matter how many times he had read, reread and analyzed the letter could he find an answer to his most important question. "Why would he ask for me anyway?"
Thelma smiled proudly as she snatched the letter from Link. "I always knew my sister's boy was special! Even the king sees that!" With that, she left the room to do the chores Corla probably didn't finish.
While Corla and Thelma wholeheartedly encouraged Link to take what they called "the opportunity of a lifetime," Carlo found himself even more against this idea. It wasn't as if he didn't want what was best for his friend. In fact, Carlo wanted even better for his friend than whatever the 'best' could ever be. All that put aside, he just didn't want Link to have the chance end up with the beautiful girl he'd been dreaming off for most of his life. Princess Zelda. At the same time, he considered the possibility of using his connections to Link to swipe the heart of his dream girl.
As he began to pour soup into his bowl, Carlo finally found himself asking, "You are going though, aren't you Link?"
Link simply shrugged and continued to play with his food. "Probably. I mean, it's not like I can refuse of anything. Corla's right. You can't say no to the king."
A self-righteous smile crossed Corla's lips. "Corla's right... No two words more beautiful than those..." She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and mumbled, "Focus Cor, focus."
"When do you have to go then?" Carlo asked as he sat down at the table. Without waiting for a reply, he snatched the letter and began to read it to himself. "According to this, he needs you there by the 7th, so I guess you'll need to leave by tomorrow, if you want to make it with some time to spare, I think. If memory serves me right, and it usually does, it's about a three days trip through both the woods and Hyrule fields, and that's without taking into account your lack of experiance travelling through the area."
"Sounds right to me!" Corla said brightly.
She took the chair she'd been sitting on and began to pull it across the room towards a tall cabnet near the window. The legs of the chair squeaked and squealed loudly as she scraped them across the wooden floor. "Thelma put a map of Hyrule up here somewhere," she said as she groped blindly around the top of the cabnet, "I think anyway..." Corla grew more and more frustrated as the map evaded her, until she finally "found it!"
Jumping from the chair, Corla giddily waved the folded map over her head. "Can you believe our Link was hired by the king?"
Carlo laughed, noticing Link had taken the letter back, again reading it. "He certainly can't. This isn't like him, is it?"
"Most definitely. I haven't seen the boy this quiet since..." Corla's voice trailed off, yet in her mind, she said since his parents disappeared. "Well, since quite some time ago, and that's saying a lot he's quiet to begin with."
The twins had learned that over the last three years, Link's missing parents had been a touchy subject. In the imaginary book of rules that kept order on the farm, even so much as mentioning the lovely Malina and the brave Rine was forbidden to most. Malina's only sister was the exception to this rule.
"Kids, look here!" Thelma's voice cried with excitement as she pounded down the stairs, "I'd never thought I'd find this again!" Clasped tightly in her hands was a long, thin wooden box, made of dark red wood. The top of the box was engraved with the most beautiful designs. Set in the very center was the royal family crest, painted in gold. "The king presented this to your father, you know, when he first became a knight. After receiving a larger sword, he decided to pass this on to his first born son, should he have one. So, Link, I suppose this is yours."
With a smile starting to glow on his face, Link took the box and gently lifted it open. The sword was smaller than that of a senior knight, but the perfect size for a boy of only 17 years. "Thelma, I--"
"No need to thank me boy, I was only doing what your old man woulda done where he here. Now go pack, you've got a big journey ahead of you."
With that, the boy turned on his heels, and ran up the stairs.
"I haven't seen him run in a long time." Corla admitted. She'd become rather used to Link's lazy, absentminded, aloof ways, and to see him excited with bizarre and new.
"How did you know the sword would work?" Carlo asked, slightly in shock himself.
Thelma chuckled. "Every little boy wants to be like his father, they just need something to show that goal is within reach. For Link, that sword is what set it in motion.
The sun was just beginning to set when Thelma and Corla pried Link away from the luxuries of soft pillows and warm blankets.
Like weighed down by a dozen heavy stones, he sluggishly pulled himself around the house, from the kitchen table where a hot breakfast of pancakes and poached cucco eggs waited for him, to his bedroom again, where he dressed and gathered the very last of his belongings. Tucked safely into his pouch where a small bottle filled with a familiar, sweet smelling potion, a tiny pictograph of his family, which Corla insisted he take with him, should he find a handsome prince for her, the tiny four holedd ocarina Carlo had carved for his six years before as a birthday gift, and a slingshot he'd bought as a child, saving up every last rupee to buy the last the Ordon shop had. A few other essentials were loaded into Epona's saddlebag.
As he saddled up, Corla peered out from behind the porch beams. "Eh Link?" she asked nervously.
"Yes?" he replied absentmindedly, fumbling with the saddle, still half drunk with sleepiness.
"You'll come back right? Exactly the way you are?" She toyed with her the ribbon lacing on her dress and avoided eye contact, just in case he didn't give her the answer she so desperately wanted to hear.
"Of course Cor. I'll do whatever I can to come back. The king can't have something dangerous in mind if he's sending a teenaged boy, can he?" Link asked, in attempts to make the mood more light hearted. He swung himself up onto the horse and ran his hands along her soft coat.
"You're right," she admitted, "I'm silly to think otherwise."
Link laughed a little, he couldn't disagree with that.
Rather than getting flustered and angry, like she usually did when he laughed at her, she grabbed him my the collar and pulled him down to her level to kiss his cheek. "Please come home soon." she whispered.
"I will, I promise, now I'd better g--"
"But--"
"The sooner I leave, the sooner I'll be back. Now stop worrying so much, I'll be fine. Good bye Corla." he said as Epona began to walk, still slow from her early awakening as well.
"Bye Link." she said, and turned back to the cabin. "I'll miss you... Please be careful."
"You know, you can't say no to the king of Hyrule. After all, he is the king of Hyrule!" Corla annouced in a tone both stern and kind. She sat on one side of the table, the fork in her hand pointed at Link, who sat opposite her.
"I know." Link mumbled. He absentmindedly held a fork in his left hand, occasionally stabbing it into his food, but never brought anything to his mouth. Instead, he kept his focus on the letter to his right. No matter how many times he had read, reread and analyzed the letter could he find an answer to his most important question. "Why would he ask for me anyway?"
Thelma smiled proudly as she snatched the letter from Link. "I always knew my sister's boy was special! Even the king sees that!" With that, she left the room to do the chores Corla probably didn't finish.
While Corla and Thelma wholeheartedly encouraged Link to take what they called "the opportunity of a lifetime," Carlo found himself even more against this idea. It wasn't as if he didn't want what was best for his friend. In fact, Carlo wanted even better for his friend than whatever the 'best' could ever be. All that put aside, he just didn't want Link to have the chance end up with the beautiful girl he'd been dreaming off for most of his life. Princess Zelda. At the same time, he considered the possibility of using his connections to Link to swipe the heart of his dream girl.
As he began to pour soup into his bowl, Carlo finally found himself asking, "You are going though, aren't you Link?"
Link simply shrugged and continued to play with his food. "Probably. I mean, it's not like I can refuse of anything. Corla's right. You can't say no to the king."
A self-righteous smile crossed Corla's lips. "Corla's right... No two words more beautiful than those..." She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and mumbled, "Focus Cor, focus."
"When do you have to go then?" Carlo asked as he sat down at the table. Without waiting for a reply, he snatched the letter and began to read it to himself. "According to this, he needs you there by the 7th, so I guess you'll need to leave by tomorrow, if you want to make it with some time to spare, I think. If memory serves me right, and it usually does, it's about a three days trip through both the woods and Hyrule fields, and that's without taking into account your lack of experiance travelling through the area."
"Sounds right to me!" Corla said brightly.
She took the chair she'd been sitting on and began to pull it across the room towards a tall cabnet near the window. The legs of the chair squeaked and squealed loudly as she scraped them across the wooden floor. "Thelma put a map of Hyrule up here somewhere," she said as she groped blindly around the top of the cabnet, "I think anyway..." Corla grew more and more frustrated as the map evaded her, until she finally "found it!"
Jumping from the chair, Corla giddily waved the folded map over her head. "Can you believe our Link was hired by the king?"
Carlo laughed, noticing Link had taken the letter back, again reading it. "He certainly can't. This isn't like him, is it?"
"Most definitely. I haven't seen the boy this quiet since..." Corla's voice trailed off, yet in her mind, she said since his parents disappeared. "Well, since quite some time ago, and that's saying a lot he's quiet to begin with."
The twins had learned that over the last three years, Link's missing parents had been a touchy subject. In the imaginary book of rules that kept order on the farm, even so much as mentioning the lovely Malina and the brave Rine was forbidden to most. Malina's only sister was the exception to this rule.
"Kids, look here!" Thelma's voice cried with excitement as she pounded down the stairs, "I'd never thought I'd find this again!" Clasped tightly in her hands was a long, thin wooden box, made of dark red wood. The top of the box was engraved with the most beautiful designs. Set in the very center was the royal family crest, painted in gold. "The king presented this to your father, you know, when he first became a knight. After receiving a larger sword, he decided to pass this on to his first born son, should he have one. So, Link, I suppose this is yours."
With a smile starting to glow on his face, Link took the box and gently lifted it open. The sword was smaller than that of a senior knight, but the perfect size for a boy of only 17 years. "Thelma, I--"
"No need to thank me boy, I was only doing what your old man woulda done where he here. Now go pack, you've got a big journey ahead of you."
With that, the boy turned on his heels, and ran up the stairs.
"I haven't seen him run in a long time." Corla admitted. She'd become rather used to Link's lazy, absentminded, aloof ways, and to see him excited with bizarre and new.
"How did you know the sword would work?" Carlo asked, slightly in shock himself.
Thelma chuckled. "Every little boy wants to be like his father, they just need something to show that goal is within reach. For Link, that sword is what set it in motion.
The sun was just beginning to set when Thelma and Corla pried Link away from the luxuries of soft pillows and warm blankets.
Like weighed down by a dozen heavy stones, he sluggishly pulled himself around the house, from the kitchen table where a hot breakfast of pancakes and poached cucco eggs waited for him, to his bedroom again, where he dressed and gathered the very last of his belongings. Tucked safely into his pouch where a small bottle filled with a familiar, sweet smelling potion, a tiny pictograph of his family, which Corla insisted he take with him, should he find a handsome prince for her, the tiny four holedd ocarina Carlo had carved for his six years before as a birthday gift, and a slingshot he'd bought as a child, saving up every last rupee to buy the last the Ordon shop had. A few other essentials were loaded into Epona's saddlebag.
As he saddled up, Corla peered out from behind the porch beams. "Eh Link?" she asked nervously.
"Yes?" he replied absentmindedly, fumbling with the saddle, still half drunk with sleepiness.
"You'll come back right? Exactly the way you are?" She toyed with her the ribbon lacing on her dress and avoided eye contact, just in case he didn't give her the answer she so desperately wanted to hear.
"Of course Cor. I'll do whatever I can to come back. The king can't have something dangerous in mind if he's sending a teenaged boy, can he?" Link asked, in attempts to make the mood more light hearted. He swung himself up onto the horse and ran his hands along her soft coat.
"You're right," she admitted, "I'm silly to think otherwise."
Link laughed a little, he couldn't disagree with that.
Rather than getting flustered and angry, like she usually did when he laughed at her, she grabbed him my the collar and pulled him down to her level to kiss his cheek. "Please come home soon." she whispered.
"I will, I promise, now I'd better g--"
"But--"
"The sooner I leave, the sooner I'll be back. Now stop worrying so much, I'll be fine. Good bye Corla." he said as Epona began to walk, still slow from her early awakening as well.
"Bye Link." she said, and turned back to the cabin. "I'll miss you... Please be careful."