#Mabe a bit of vent? But not a lot

[selvepnea]

Today has certainly been a day

[kittmoon]

zelda post-calamity?

Ah!! What a bundle.

I’ve said this before, but her relationship with Link post-calamity is a separate post. For now I’ll be focusing on general insights.

Zelda, Post Calamity [list of general mental health headcannons]

Zelda is quiet for a long time after the Calamity is sealed. She isn’t mute, but she doesn’t feel the need to constantly fill apparent silence like she once did. The irony is not lost on her, having a companion like Link.

She takes several weeks to adjust to living in the material world again. Actions like eating and sleeping switch between being easy and very, very difficult. She is thankful that her knight is incredibly patient with her still. Zelda couldn’t be happier to have him back by her side, especially him, the only person who could possibly understand what she had gone through. All of this said, though, she doesn’t actually talk about it, vent about it - she is merely relieved that he is there to exist in tandem.

By the time Zelda fully adjusts, her mindset is all business. It truly irks her, how much her kingdom has changed. She used to keep track of its every shift in culture, but after being slammed with so much grief, she began to fight Ganon in a haze, unable to fully focus on her fight nor the transformation of Hyrule. As a result she is only vaguely familiar with how the new world looks and feels. And seeing her old friends, Impa, Purah, Robbie, all so old and withered, it’s...the ultimate drop in her stomach.

Zelda attempts to throw herself into relearning things, however, deciding to start with visiting each race and their respective villages, taking her time while traveling. Her powers have faded, and she can no longer hear the voice in the Sword, but in a way she is relieved - it’s as if a burden has left her. It literally has.

Zelda will wander off sometimes, and she only will realize that she’s lost in her own world when Link comes to find her. She tries to keep a straight head, after all their job is always far from finished, but occasionally she will zone out entirely and view the sunset, pure and simple, its golden beuty glowing softly amongst scarlet and and marigold and lavender shades. It’s a lot for her, and she becomes obsessed with the plain brilliance of nature that had exploded in her absence. She never had the free time in her last life as a Princess to explore the wild.

Old bits of the world come back to her. She catches herself humming an old nursery rhyme here n there, weaving flower crowns that were common in Mabe Village in the spring, murmuring past-common prayers, wondering what the races will be doing “this year” for the Din Celebrations...she always, always needs to take a deep breath and remind herself, solidly, that this world is not the same as the old one. Sometimes this will make her restless, and to calm herself she tells Link stories of what Hyrule used to look like. He quietly and dutifully listens, and that in itself harbors its own nostalgia.