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fioreofthemarch · 11 months

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Finding Her - Chapter 9

Link makes notes, takes photos and keeps time on his quest across Hyrule, in the hopes of finding Zelda and staying sane until he does. [ Previous | Next | First | AO3 ]

Log date: 14:30. 6th month, 24th day 104AC Location: Ukoojisi Shrine, West Necluda Sky Archipelago Weather: Sunny

Back up above, in the islands. Taking a break for a moment. Decided to explore the skies above Necluda for the day. Something about the loneliness of the open air. It’s peaceful.

Completed a few shrines here and there. About fifty total by now. There’s a large island east by northeast of here. Kinda looks like a huge vase, or a horn-like instrument. Met a horn player back in Hyrule Ridge that I helped out of a tricky spot (literally) but his didn’t look like this.

Would judge it to be a few hundred feet away, so will need a flying machine. Been experimenting with Zonai tech and getting more comfortable with the arm. Fans - reliable. Rockets - powerful. Wings - slow but useful in a pinch. Balloons - handy. Steering sticks vital (don’t forget one this time). Trying to make something with as few parts as possible. My best machine so far uses only a steering stick, a metal bracket and three fans. Wonder if I can get that down to two…

Wondering what the limits of this arm are as well. I dropped a fan over the edge of the island by mistake and in a last ditch effort tried to Recall it. It was half-way to the surface but I focused, and felt my reach extend beyond my fingertips, like I could touch the horizon. With a wave of my fingers – ding! The fan fell upwards and back into my hands.

Zelda gave me this power, didn’t she? Can barely describe it. Otherworldly doesn’t do it the tiniest justice. Heading over to the horn-island after this, and then down to Duelling Peaks for the night. Forward, always forward.

A photograph taken from the top of Zonaite Forge Island, a huge, vaguely tuba-shaped landmass with an atrium at its centre. The photograph is of the atrium, with a lattice of red lasers guarding it. At the base of the atrium appears to be a shrine, barely visible.

Caption: Got my glide armour ready. Here goes nothing.

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Log date: 19:35. 6th month, 24th day 104AC Location: Duelling Peaks Stable Weather: Mild, scattered clouds

Made it to the stable. Hands shaking. Can barely write. But have to or it'll get under my skin and blister.

Caught sight of Penn. Was glad to see him, at first. ‘They have the Princess!’ he said. ‘They have Zelda!’ I was making toast by a fire and dropped it, dropped everything. The bread burned as Penn told me the Yiga had taken Zelda to a cave in the Duelling Peaks. Of course. It would be that simple. She fell into the past, but used her brilliant powers to come straight back, into the greedy hands of those arrogant, sniveling little—

I ran to the top of Duelling Peaks so fast my legs were screaming. Had to go as fast as I could, had to find her – and there she was. Oh Hylia. There she was. Knees shaking. Crying, babbling, blubbering that I’d free her, I’d get her out, and it’d all be okay.

Such an idiot. Such a stupid, hard-headed, idiot knight. Less sense than a pile of rocks. I ran headlong into that Yiga ambush. And I knew the second I freed ‘Zelda’ that something was wrong, but it was too late. In a flash, she was gone, and three Yiga in her place. Weapons ready. Bows drawn.

I don’t remember much after that. There was a fire in my chest, hot as red iron, tearing itself out of me. The fury that heroes, and monsters, are made of. Someone was screaming. Was it me?

My hands are still shaking. There was blood on my knuckles, I scrubbed them red raw in the river. I walked away from that fight without a scratch, but the Yiga? They probably limped away, if I knew what I was doing. With a sword I usually do.

Penn is waiting. I don’t know what to tell him. I’ll say I found nothing. Or that the Yiga escaped unharmed. Maybe if I speak it, I’ll believe it.

A photograph of a low-burning campfire, the blackened remnants of burnt toast among the logs.

Caption: …

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Log date: 14:10. 6th month, 26th day 104AC Location: Riverside Stable Weather: Sunny

Ran into Penn again. Gut dropped seeing him. Back at Duelling Peaks Stable he asked if the Princess was okay and I lost it. Don’t remember what I said, only that I yelled it.

‘Where’s Zelda now?’ I asked this time, still angry. Feel bad about that. Feel terrible. What happened wasn’t his fault. He flipped nervously through his notebook and told me to talk to the stable chef. Something about some missing friends of his and a recipe that Zelda gave them.

It didn’t seem like much but I figured I’d better make it up to Penn and chase the lead. The chef said he feared his friends had gotten lost in the nearby woods. It seemed unlikely (this part of Hyrule is always easy travelling) but if all four hadn’t turned up, something must have happened. Poked around for an hour or so in the woods and found a camp of comatose travellers and the ruins of some dreadful cooking. Can still remember the smell.

Found some notes they’d left saying they were trying a recipe Zelda had given them - a rice and meat bowl. I know just the one. She likes it best with slow roasted beef, rice made with just a touch of salt, and green onion garnish. An easy recipe, if you know what you’re doing.

Well. I think these travellers made theirs with monster meat. Actual monster meat. I can’t… who would even… why would you even… Anyway. Even if they hadn’t all been sick I would have re-cooked their meal just on principle. And these guys are chefs?

I cleaned out the cauldron (twice), crushed some rock salt and fried up some rice, and sautéed some doe meat with a touch of oil, and even without all the sauces and spices I keep at home, the aroma was enough to wake the weary travellers.

They’re all back at the stables now, enjoying seconds. Penn mumbled something about another dead-end story, and before I could say anything he’d flown off without even a soar long!

Next time I see him I’d better apologise. But it’s a big kingdom, so that might be a while. Will give me time to practice what I’ll say, at least.

A photograph of a newly drawn-up poster in the Riverside Stables, illustrating the ingredients and proper method to make a meat and rice bowl. In the corner of the poster, highlighted by a bright blue callout, are the words ‘Endorsed by Princess Zelda!’

Caption: I gave her that recipe.

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Log date: 20:00. 6th month, 28th day 104AC Location: Wetlands Stable Weather: Mild. Rain easing.

…Ran into Penn, again.

Gave him a fright. He squawked so loud when he saw me that a flock of nearby sparrows took wing. This time I was on the offense (so to speak): ‘What’ve your little birds got for us, Penn? Excited for another adventure!’ He blinked at me with his bright, beady eyes (his goggles left around his neck, I suppose because the rain would prevent him from flying), and buried his face in his notebook. Turns out he did have a story, but he insisted it was just as mundane as the last.

The stable’s ferryman, Izra, had been complaining of unreturned tools, borrowed by Zelda some months back. Penn said Izra hadn’t been willing to give a statement but maybe a Hylian would have better luck interviewing him. I offered Penn come with me this time and after some preening he agreed, making sure to put his goggles back on before we left.

Izra recognised me on sight and refused to speak. He couldn’t talk ill of his Princess to her Knight, he said. I promised not to tell. He made me double promise and sealed it with a handshake. He said he’d lent Zelda some farm tools and had been trying to catch her to ask for them back. ‘I’d ask for her at Lookout and hear she was in Hateno, so I’d send word to Hateno and be told she was in Faron, and then I sent word to Faron and–’. We stopped him there, his point made.

Izra said he’d seen Zelda take the tools to Floret Sandbar, so after a bit of Ultrahand magic (definitely getting better at it now), Penn, Izra and I clambered onto a ferry and sailed south. There we found a blooming garden. All three of us could hardly speak at the sight of it. Flowers of every kind from every corner of Hyrule, including a perfectly cultivated set of Silent Princesses. A floral oasis, like those you’d find in Gerudo Desert.

It struck me then, the memory clear as a ringing bell. Zelda, pouring over a notebook with pressed flowers gathered from our travels. ‘If only I had somewhere with all of Hyrule’s flowers in one spot,’ she’d said. We were at the house, lounging together on the settee by the fireplace, her back to my chest and my arms around her. I must not have said anything, all I remember was tracing the pattern of one of her braids with a finger and admiring the skill of it. But she still went and made her garden, and this was it.

There we met Magda, who said Zelda left her in charge of the garden. It’d been partly destroyed by ruins that fell after the Upheaval, so she’d made it her mission to get the garden in perfect shape. Before Penn or I could intervene, she drafted Izra to help her in exchange for returning the farm tools and then shooed us away. ‘Too many feet running about the place will trample all my hard work!’ We left Izra with the ferry so he’d at least have some method of escape, and walked back to the stables.

The whole way Penn didn’t say much, which I thought normal for a writer with a story bouncing around their head. But he didn’t write anything in his notebook either, only looked down at the waters of the river passing by. At the stables, he was hurrying to fly off again without a word, but I caught him.

On the walk back it occurred to me that he and I aren’t much different. Both looking for Zelda, both travellers, both alone and both dedicated to our craft - him with his words and me with my sword (and magic arm). To my surprise I realised I missed talking to someone. You can only think your thoughts so long before they well up and demand to be let out. I wondered if Penn felt the same, that maybe his notepad was no substitute for a friend. That maybe he’d like to swap stories without worrying about getting them perfect for the newspaper.

I wasn’t sure where to start my apology. But I did say sorry, and asked him if he wanted lunch. I said I could cook, and if he wanted we could sit by the wetlands once the rain stopped and talk about where we planned to travel next.

To my relief and happiness, he said yes.

A photograph of Link in his Zonai glider’s armour. It is sleek and aerodynamic, with a woolen undershirt for warmth. Link is proudly posing for the camera with his arms held wide to show off the ‘wings’. In the background are the sparkling Lanayru Wetlands. Link is wearing Penn’s goggles.

Caption: He offered to let me borrow them, but I refused. I’ll get my own next time I return to the sky.

#zelink #tears of the kingdom #totk #tloz #legend of zelda fanfiction #tears of the kingdom fanfiction #my writing #finding her #legend of zelda #penn chapter penn chapter penn chapter #'yeah i guess id say the rito are my favourite people in hyrule but I try not to make it too obvious'

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