#they also had a close relationship with the Sheikah because of it and they had worked together even post calamity

[volgrawr]

My face when I've included the Deku in my BOTW AU and had them living in Faron with rainforest themed designs and then watching the new Zelda trailer...

If the Deku in that game also have environment-oriented variants and they're big on archaeology/anthropology I'm cooked.

[caramel-catss]

botw/totk zelink headcanons

for @waroferas 🫶

they get married. first and foremost LOL. i will elaborate

after botw, zelda moves into link's house. they were already in love pre-calamity but neither realized or did anything about it. so they get to fall for each other againnnnn GAH. it just naturally progresses between them... there's only one bed, so of course they share it. of course link makes breakfast for himself and zelda. of course zelda braids link's hair and weaves flowers into it. of course link gives zelda his coat when she's cold. and then one night zelda is looking into link's eyes and they are so soft and his face is so joyful and carefree in a way she never imagined he'd ever able to be and suddenly she's brushing her hand against the scars on his chin and his breath hitches and they are so close and link leans in closer and zelda kisses him .

they make graves for the champions together

to me zelda drops the princess title, declares the castle a historical monument, and dissolves the monarchy. also to me like 90% of totk doesn't exist. so

link has no last name and zelda doesn't like hers. they create a new one for them both

the two fully embrace a domestic village life. link takes care of his and zel's horses or forages or helps out townspeople or follows zelda around or does whatever he feels up to doing. zelda starts the school and splits her time between it and working at purah's lab to research sheikah tech

zelda has a telescope and stays up late to look at the stars. link joins her. sometimes (mostly in the winter when it gets dark early) they'll invite hateno townsfolk to join them

botw took link 2-3 years, and the time between it and totk is about 5 years. when they marry, link and zelda are 23-ish? give or take a few years. being a kinda-medieval-ish world, it's probably a more normal age to marry

they get married at the heart pond. they only invite a few people; kass, riju, sidon, teba, yunobo, purah, impa & paya... close friends of theirs

link made their wedding rings by hand! got some help from the jewelry seller in gerudo town. zelda's has a silent princess shape - a topaz in the middle, and the petals made from diamond and sapphire

link has chronic migraines and zelda takes care of him. she tells him about hyrule before the calamity and helps him get his memories in order

they trade off for dinner w/ link cooking and preparing the meal and zelda cleaning the dishes

it is so so so important to zelda that they have an equal partnership, especially now that she isn't a princess and link isn't a knight. link respects this!!! it's a bit hard for him to adjust at first because of his previous relationship with zelda, but they are equals :)

sometimes they'll catch themselves falling into old habits!!! zelda sets the table in a traditional royal way without realizing. in the beginning (re: adjusting) link would subconsciously stand at attention when zelda approached him.

zelda had to learn a lot of things about life because she grew up rich!!!! link teaches her how to cook, mend + sew + wash clothing, etc... she's never done chores before and he had to re-learn them on the fly. they laugh a lot while they do this

link cuts zelda's hair short. zelda brushes link's hair as he grows it out

TOTK IS A ROLESWAPPPPPP FOAMS AT THE MOUTH TOTK ROLESWAP. GOD. only thing that makes its story bearable for me HONESTLY .

they're the kind of star-crossed lovers who are soulmates and would sacrifice themself for the other in an instant. important for totk lol

link places absolute faith in his wife when he swallows the secret stone. he knows how smart she is and know she'll find a way to help him, but even if she isn't able to... he doesn't mind. as long as this decision will help her and hyrule, he is okay with being a dragon for eternity

it's absolutely DEVASTATING for zelda when she finds out. link already lost an entire century because of her inability to save him. and now, he's lost his entire self for goddess knows how long... because she didn't catch him

zelda spends hours laying on link-as-dragon. she prunes his scales for him and memorizes his flight path

after botw, zelda passed out from exhaustion and link carried her on his horse back to hateno. after totk, link passes out from exhaustion and zelda carries him back on her horse <3

they officially adopt two cats after totk (i know they're not in either game shhhh they exist now) but link has and will bring home whatever animal is friendly to him and there are many feral animals in their backyard that link feeds

link had a very cloudy head and dissociated a lot post-botw, but after totk it got a LOOOOT worse. he'll be there one moment, and zoning out the next. over time it does get better but he's never quite the same

zelda wielded the master sword during totk and became quite a good swordsman herself. link used to sometimes go off to deal with small monster problems, and now either both of them go or just zelda if link's not feeling well

they don't use the master cycle often because it takes a lot of important materials to power it... but sometimes they'll go to hyrule field and play with it for fun

link primarily signs still. his voice was damaged from the fatal guardian hit, and the shrine of resurrection didn't fully heal it. but, when he feels safe (usually around zelda), he quietly speaks out loud. zelda, knowing why he was silent pre-calamity, can't put into words how happy it makes her

they grow old together :) after totk, they're finally allowed rest, and they live out their days as carefree village folk. both of them are the happiest they've ever been

[autumngremlin]

Introducing: BotW/TotK DR

L O A D I N G . . .

"You have shown unflinching bravery and skill in the face of darkness and adversity. And have proven yourself worthy of the blessings of the Goddess Hylia."

This may be one of my most confusing DRs jesus fuck

Arien, She/They

Occupation: Knightess, Second Hylian Champion

Weapon: Heroine's Bow

Acts similarly to the Master Sword in terms of being used against Ganon/Ganondorf. Has it's own abilities

(This is not my only weapon, just the most known one amongst others)

Favorite Flower: Blue Nightshade

Home: Castle Town; east side (before Calamity)

Relationships

Link (aged to an adult): Confidant. The way to describe our relationship is a complicated one— we were incredibly close before the Calamity and had been in multiple battles together, though as King Rhoam had gotten more desperate for Zelda's powers to awaken, we started drifting apart because of our duties. The fondness I have towards him that implied more than just friendship had vanished due to losing my memory, and those feelings don't make it's return. And of course, he's an amnesiac too.

Zelda: Close friend. Before the Calamity, she had given her approval/blessing to Link and I because of our bond. Other than that, she's roughly the same as canon

Jack: This isn't seen until the Tears of the Kingdom era, but we were old souls that had reincarnated from the Zonai/Ancient Hylian period— lovers that promised to find each other again somehow... even though Sheikah technology had put me in regenerative stasis for a century and he wasn't around for the Calamity to happen. (AKA I'm not putting this man through the same fate as me)

Revali: Also complicated in a sense. He had romantic feelings towards me that I didn't know about, but it never got addressed with the severity of the impending Calamity. I only found out when Teba gives me a pile of unsent letters that were with Revali's diary. I apparently don't find some peace of mind until the gap between the events of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, despite having seen his spirit.

The Rest of the Past Champions (Daruk, Mipha & Urbosa): We were very close friends with all of us working towards one goal— sealing Calamity Ganon. But that didn't go too well, now did it?

Teba (has his own because he doesn't become a Sage): He's.. a guiding figure in a way? His dad talks are helpful when I'm not trying to instigate any banter for the hell of it while trying to get my memories back

The New Sages (Sidon, Yunobo, Riju and Tulin): God, I adore them/p I have almost a sibling bond with all of them, especially Tulin since he's itty bitty in the Breath of the Wild era. I wouldn't be surprised if I come up with silly nicknames for all of them

Purah and Robbie: They're dorks, but in a smart and silly way. Buut Purah pestering Link and I about our memories while trying to get them back has caused Link (or myself) to lash out a couple of times. Yeah, good stuff/s

Divider: saradika-graphics

[1tsjusty0u]

another quastion. how does zelda feel about the castle. pre and post calamity. have people gone into the castle after the calamity and could she sense them/how does her telepathy work/what can she see if anything

HM!!!

ok so. this had me rethink a Lot about my zelda because. trying to tie her into the story and/or give her thematically relevant motives/problems is Specifically Hard with the theme i chose (if you can even call it a theme). and also i had to go over what she would actually think in her situation and it. not really tying into how she thought of it beforehand. im still going over it honestly and canon botw makes this so much harder why did they Do That…. this especially complicates her father and hers relationship at least from normal fandom standards but at the very least i can deal with that

castle time ok!!! pre cal its mostly just her house. one that has stupid rules sometimes but otherwise shes doing pretty great!!! the sheikah tech are extremely abundant near the castle, both seen in the memories (including the champions dlc memory) but also makes sense given where the sheikah tech was buried to begin with. her relationship with her father gets. More Strained as time goes on. to be clear he does care for her and the whole reason he bans her from the tech in a memory is so she can prove to everyone how she isnt a failure. the problem with that though is that he prohibits her only real solution to her powers, the one tangible thing that Can stop the calamity. id also feel like at he end of conversations he would ask about her training which could lead to arguments. shes still able to infodump things to him (only really more towards the beginning though), which he takes more to heart once hes dead. and he kind of has to unban her from the sheikah tech at one point, nearing the calamitys arrival. it leads to a Hell of an argument from both of them because he Wants to keep her banned or grounded more than ever before, but well. circumstances have changed. but back on topic castle wise everythings chill. most of the knights or soldiers cant go into the castle having like. 2 rooms where they are allowed, and the guards are just like maids and such to her. theyre there and they dont intrude Too Much. gestures to the post she doesnt want to Not be a princess she doesnt want to be a Failure of a princess, and the castle doesnt really remind her much of that. her room might..? but theres no signs to that when you go into it when its broken and such. there isnt even a goddess statue in there. so. yeah! i may add that? BUT ANYWAYS.

post cal!!! mixed feelings. on one hand? Anger. anger that the calamity revived There, angry that it came early when she was so close, angry that the payoff she hoped for never came and she had to do all of that only for the castle to get destroyed and 100 years to pass and her friends to die. she doesnt think she did it for nothing, but shes Close to thinking that just by proxy of how events happened. she needs to go in there eventually to retrieve Her Stuff (plushies, printed photos that werent taken by purah, diagrams, books etc) and it just. messes a bit with her how everything is destroyed and how the grass and trees are all dead from malice and guardians. if she rebuilt the monarchy she’d likely leave the old castle in ruins, building another one in a different location, leaving the old one as a monument of sorts to What Happened. she wouldnt view everything as her or links failure she’d just view it as a stupid stupid moment that didnt have to happen but did anyways. especially because she Has Her Powers Now. she got to the springs she has her powers shes a Princess. she didnt fail at what she was supposed to do, its just her monarchy is a failure rather than her if that makes sense??????????? she has no place to Be a princess after she spent so long trying to be one. an ending that wasnt worth it. so the castle is generally unpleasant to be around. shes upset about everything being destroyed but also pretty mad about it. she keeps it there more to hurt herself than anything else. she thinks its a reminder and in part it is its just not a useful reminder of any kind . not to say the monarchy was good mind you just the circumstances in which it got destroyed, Especially For Her, werent great!

people have gone into the castle after the calamity!! or at least before link wakes up but during when zelda is still fending ganon off. that mostly aligns with canon surprisingly as npcs can tell you how they Used to be able to get into the castle for gear but now theres monsters all over the place. i think that ganons malice was still there and the cocoon was also still there he just was less actively fending off the castle because there was no need. priorities 🔥🔥🔥. i..! think she could sense them, but not really realize it was them for lack of a better word. like she knew someone was in the castle but she either was A not able to focus on it too much or at all or B could focus on it but had no idea What It Was. like it couldve just been a feeling when someone was in the castle but she’d have no idea thats what that feeling came from if that makes sense. once link wakes up shes able to focus on other things more outwardly but still focuses more on ganon. her telepathy i think works based on ganon and sheikah tech alerts :] like for example theres apparently a control unit for the towers underneath the castle. if ganon was using that accidentally then zelda would also have a tie to that just by proxy of being eaten by him. its like. she could visually see or audibly hear something change, and that goes for when the divine beasts yell when you come near them and she warns you of them if you havent talked to impa or when ganon yells when you come to the castle. she was able to wake you up to do the shrine of resurrection letting out an alert of some kind. how it works or even if its connected to the castle at all i dont know though. maybe a hivemind or a message system like the divine beasts? where the shr actually the shrine of resurrection Is Technically a divine beast so it could absolutely have a messaging/alert system. how it gets to the castle i have no idea. either the castle is also a divine beast or theres a main control unit under there. or the alerts from the SoR get broadcasted across the main tech that needs it, though i dont know why theyd do that… but the tower is more straightforward thats connected to the castle. the five minutes after playing she just has no idea what links doing and tells him to head there out of necessity . the divine beasts yells are just Loud and more loud to her specifically because ganon has a hand in that. ganon yelling is self explanatory. how shes able to talk to link telepathically to begin with ? no clue. it probably has something to do with whatever her powers are or how zeldas of the past were able to use telepathy, but its more likely just a result of her powers. i think she more or less found out via ganon though. either he can also do that or she just. kind of Had To after being eaten.

for what she sees….! thats tough. i saw a comic once that had zelda be able to see through hylia statues, which is cool however thats kind of bogging her down to being hylia 2.0 which. she isnt. and also considering her Issues with hylia i almost feels mean. she Could be able to see through the divine beasts possibly ? whether im doing that is up for debate though. Though it could make for some accidental horror? like having a divine beast constantly Facing Your Direction no matter how far away you are, or when its moving in a circle it suddenly just doesnt turn and either stands and stares at you or goes towards your direction. horrifying and i dont think zelda would be able to do that (more looking through them rather than controlling them) but i like divine beast horror. anyways considering the divine beasts have consciousness? i dont know if she’d be able to. do that. like hijack it just to see whats happening

inside ganon she can actually see things.! not from the outside mind you but its not just pitch black. whether its a different world, pure malice, just sheikah tech, is up to debate. or up to how i design it honestly i need to figure . that out. but yeag. i shall draw it once i have an idea of it

also please note how she feels about the castle is . Subject To Change. i feel like a conspiracy theorist trying to make her work here. but for now!!!!! yeah!!!!!! im going to try to expand her when i expand the champions. or when i decide how the relationships are going to work and what works better . 👍

[neverchecking]

That is a Galaxy Brain idea. Aaliyah and Tia switch.

Because on the one hand, if Sage has already skip-de-do-dah-ed into Full Yandere for Aaliyah, Tia is going to have to do some really quick talking (and possibly shielding) to get Sage to at least humour her when they figure out that it was a switch. (Her resemblance to Natura isn't helping at all.)

Meanwhile, Sweetpea (which is Tia's favourite nickname for her Link alongside Gremlin) is happy to have a new fellow feral friend, but is also deeply concerned about her because she's confronted with the fact that in a different timeline, a timeline without her and a 'different' Princess, all of the champions survived, Hyrule itself wasn't nearly as damaged, several people that died are alive (including Link's sister who I've named Ariel) and there are still Divine Beasts here. (An extremely stressed Sheikah who bites and blows things up and is possibly on the edge of tears at any given moment is a bit beyond his still redeveloping social skills. Would she like a snack? Or some tea. Tia always makes tea for situations like this. He'll make some tea!) (Pray for him. He's usually more self-confident than this, but he is so out of his depth rn.)

(Tia learns about Aaliyah, thinks about the whole situation and starts wondering if she could commit interdimensional kidnapping.)

(Tia to Natura: If you can't play nicely with others, you don't get to play at all.)

Thank you, thank you <3 I was bound to have one eventually.

Okay, so, the best thing about Sage and Aaliyah is that they have been so broken ( I promise her backstory is coming soon so you guys don't have to guess what's going on in my head), that they can't recognize what a healthy relationship is. They understand what they have between themselves, and what they want from each other, but their relationship is probably dangerously co-dependent. They rely on one another to keep going. They have no care for doing things for themselves, but if bandaging a cut sets the Sheikah at ease, then Sage will do it. If eating more than just whatever scraps she finds settles him, Aaliyah will make time to eat a full meal. So when one half of that co-dependency is broken, the other is panicking. And when they panic, they get violent and unpredictable. Primal in the sense that they're missing such a big half of themself. Like a caged animal wound up, ready to strike.

And now, instead of his other half, he's faced with this imposter who looks so close to that witch that had damned them to start with? Yeah, she's going to have to talk fast and get to the point quicker. He's stalking towards her like a vengeful spirit, Master Sword dragging against the ground as it glints dangerously. He is a machine. anything to get what was his back. After she explains the switch and what it entailed, he's probably a little less jumpy. He's giving it some merit because it's what gets him back Aaliyah.

That doesn't mean he likes it though.

Sweetpea (AHHF I LOVE IT-) is deeply concerned. He's actually wondering if he can get her into therapy with the time he has her, because, like I said, Aaliyah is deeply co-dependent. So she's on edge and frazzled and so out of her depth she's freaking out. She hates not being in control and this gives her none. Not only that, but she's face with the Champions and the divine beasts and a kingdom that didn't fall.

I imagine with her title as the Sheikah Champion (Back in the Calamity days), she was privy to a lot more information than anyone else. Because there is no way the Sheikah didn't know more than they let on. My personal headcanon is that they know everything. They keep records of past generations. Of past Links. They know the prophecies and the stories foretold. They know it all. And they keep it locked down. Not even the average Sheikah knows. Just those in positions of power. Impa, Purah, Aaliyah. However because of this, she was trained from a young age. Groomed to be this weapon for this generation's Link and Zelda. She deviated however. She followed her duty in the sense that she died and fell for them (Only being kept alive by the Sheikah, who's loyalty lied with her rather than the crown), but after her death, it was like she was rewired.

Anyway, so being faced with her trauma once more hits her hard. The Calamity was something she was punished for mere moments after getting out of her own life preservation device. She didn't even know what she had done and they were holding her down. She couldn't even tell them her name before her back was being marked with lines that haunted her to this day. And it didn't happen here. Because their princess was worth so much more than the one she was faced with.

Sweetpea truly lives up to his name because just like Tia, he takes it in stride. He's following her at an appropriate distance, apologizing to those she snaps at and making sure she doesn't give anyone lasting trauma. He has no idea where she keeps pulling bombs from, but he's Stressed. But again, like Tia, he understands it comes from a place of grief. She's hurting and lost and this is just how she's been taught to handle it. And when the loneliness sets in and she's struck by just how far from home, from her Link, she is, she just shatters. It's a burst of destructive anger that leaves at least one forest in flames before she's just sitting there and crying.

Sweetpea is there the whole time, approaching when her flame shield finally shatters. He's offering tea and snacks because that's what Tia would do in this situation and she would for sure know what to do here because he doesn't and he does not wanna get skewered.

He's just as out of his depth as she is and is treading as carefully as he can. Her accepting the sweet bun he offers brings him a little ease even if he knows she's still wildly unpredictable. She trusts him just a bit.

(Interdimensional kidnapping could happen but she'd have to fight Sage. And he fights dirty.)

(Natura loosing privileges faster than she can blink-)

[justapixelthing]

So I didn't know canon character x OC was a common way of shipping, but I'm glad it is. I'm always team Zelink but I don't like loose ends so....

Meet Arod, a skilled archer of the Hylian Army, who ends up marrying Malon, the beautiful ranch girl from Ocarina of Time.

Arod and Malon are especially prominent in the 4th timeline (where my Zelda story 'TLoZ: Remnants of the Past' is set on) but I see him with her in any timeline. In the 4th timeline however, their bloodline creates the ROTP side characters Maron and her son Aron who run the ranch as Ron Ron Ranch many generations later.

Have some 4th Timeline specific info on Arod and this relationship:

He originates from an ungoverned area outside of Hyrule

He doesn't know for sure, but it is rumored (or pretty clear) that his family is of the Sheikah, due to their white hair and red eyes. But they have lost the knowledge of their tribe.

Arod is a highly skilled archer, a skill he has practiced since childhood

He came to Hyrule during the period of reconstruction post-Oot, after news of what happend spread to neighboring places.

Eventually he joined the Hylian army, which was being reformed by Impa and the Hero of Time.

He butted heads a lot with Link and teased him a lot.... even though Link is his literal trainer.

Arod is VERY cocky. He thinks very highly of himself and brags a lot. Unfortunately for the people around him, his archery skills do kinda give him those bragging rights. He can be very sweet with the right people.

Because of his archery skills, he is also nicknamed 'Sniper' in the Hylian army.

He first saw Malon when she made a shipment of goods to the construction site and instantly fell for her.

But Malon was heartbroken because she had feelings for Link and Link, while caring for her, was clearly destined for Zelda. So Arod found it hard to approach her.

Once Link found out Arod was into Malon, he set them up to meet more often by causing random coincidences where they'd have to spend a bit of time together.

It worked! Arod and Malon became familiar and Arod eventually offered to work on the farm after trainings. Over all that, Malon eventually realized she didn't love Link, but she loved what he did for her. What she felt for Arod, that was true love.

Arod literally became the knight to sweep Malon of her feet, as Malon always wished for.

Link and Malon became better friends over this. Link and Zelda eventually became official too and both couples became super close.

Because Link and Arod still tease each other, Malon and Zelda joked that their men are gay for each other and anytime the guys would tease another, one of the girls would go "Go get a room!" Arod clearly didn't care enough about the fact that Link became King to stop messing with him.

The children of Malon and Arod would call Zelda and Link auntie and uncle. The children of Link and Zelda would do the same with the other couple.

Though despite that, one child of Zelink would actually eventually fall in love with one child of Marod. I headcanon that this also happens in the child timeline and there this new couple would lead to TP Link's bloodline (Like, the Zelink child leaves the throne to a sibling to stay on the farm with the Marod child, thus TP Link who is their descendant doesn't end up as a royal)

[linksthoughtbrambles]

I would love to hear about "Be Mindful" :)

Wow, anxious, it's amazing you asked about that one, because it's a draft of an idea I had for a gift fic for you! I ended up not going with this one because I thought it would end up extremely long - like a multi-chapter fic - but I would like to write it in the future.

It's an AU in which the only initial change from BotW is that Link arrives at Hyrule Castle much earlier with his father - long before he would pull the sword - and meets Zelda right away, neither of them having any idea who the other is. It gives them a little time to develop a relationship without the sword being an issue, and changes the entire chain of events. Here's a snippet:

----

A fair number of people were in view—some soldiers on the battlements, some Sheikah, some going about daily castle business—but a glint of bright lemon-yellow drew Link’s eye to a woman taking the same path he and his father had to reach the courtyard stairs.

That bright yellow sat atop her head in the form of hair—an astoundingly long braid wrapped around the rest of it, tied back out of her face.  She clutched something to her chest—a book maybe—and she had a frown on as she watched the flagstones pass her feet.  She was walking fast, her practical clothing allowing it far better than a dress would have, but it wasn’t Sheikah clothing, nor did it look like a servant’s.  She wore Hylian trousers, soft and close to form-fitting like his, and boots (also a lot like his) with a practical shirt and bodice, with leather half-gloves.

He found her eyes downturned, as deep green as rhododendron leaves in sun-dappled thicket, and his heart—which had ceased to beat—careened into his ribcage.

She was beautiful, wasn’t she?   She-

She looked up.

Her eyes widened as her mouth fell open.

Link realized he was doing the same thing.

“Uh,” he said.

“Oh!” she said.

Her eyes stayed on his.

And his stayed on hers.

Somehow, it didn’t feel awkward to Link.

Apparently it didn’t feel awkward to the woman either.  She approached him, small step by small step, hugging her book to her chest more tightly.  “Are you new here?” she asked.

Why wouldn’t Link’s mouth close?

He tried very hard to swallow.  His mouth and throat were so dry—but he couldn’t take out his canteen and just… swig water down while she was waiting for him to answer her.  Right?  Right.  Imagine if she did that.  If he asked her what her name was, and she just… grabbed that container off her belt and started drinking from it, looking him right in the eye while she gulped and gulped and gulped and time just got longer and that WOULD get more and more awkward, with total silence except for the gulping—he wouldn’t be able to look away from it either, he’d be riveted to the spot.

Yep.  He would not drink from his canteen. That would be really off-putting and it would take way too long to answer.

Kind of like how he was taking way too long to answer—right now.

Her mouth had closed and she had kind of a worried look on her face.

“Sorry,” he said.

“S-sorry?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“For what?”

“For- for taking so long to answer you.”

She just stared at him.

“Oh!  Right!  Um.  Yes, I’m new here,” he said, turning a little red, but less red than he thought he would, so that was something.  He needed to get his inner monologue under control.

Her face started moving in an odd manner.  It turned downward and to her left a little, and that side of it scrunched up a bit.  Then that corner of her mouth started to turn up and ohhhh, she was going to laugh at him, wasn’t she?  Yeah, he deserved that-

“Eh- eh- hehehe!” she giggled.

Yeah.  Totally deserved.  He was kind of an idiot.

“I take it by the sword at your side you’ve come to enlist?” she asked.

Link’s mouth dropped open for the second time.

She… still wanted to talk to him?

“Yeah-s,” he said.  On the end of the word, he’d remembered courtly manners were a little more formal than what he’d been used to in Hateno.  He turned ever so slightly pinker than he’d already been.

It didn’t do anything to dampen the smile the woman now wore.  She turned her face upward and it accentuated the swooping shape of her nose.  “I see.  Have you some skill already?”

“Oh,” he said.  “I- yeah, I know how to use a sword,” he said.  His hand itched to come up and grip the back of his own neck or scratch the back of his head, but he resisted.  No need to act like a shy kid.  People would make enough fun of him, with how short he was.

----

[It's still in a very drafty state - but someday I hope to spruce it up and flesh it out!]

Thanks for the ask!

[serandipity]

About - Sheik;;

Please note: this is a heavily canon divergent and separate version of OoT Sheik where Zelda and Sheik are separate people. Zelda is still "Sheik" in the adult timeline helping Link, but she took the name of her brother because he is presumed dead and is minion for Ganondorf until the end of the adult saga.

A reboot of @/yuureibanaa

Name: Sheik Age: 11 at the start of the child saga; 18 during the adult saga Height:  5"11 during the adult saga Birthday: March 17 Zodiac: Pisces Appearance: Lithe an underweight for a young man his size. Typically found in a twisted form of the Sheikah armor, as an adult most of his distinguishing figures are hidden beneath his armor and mask. If one is lucky enough to get a peak underneath the mask, they would find beautiful golden blonde hair and piercing red eyes. A common trait among half-Sheikah.

History: Born the bastard son of the King of Hyrule and the body guard of the King of Hyrule, Sheik’s origins began in shadows. His mother tried to shield him as best she could from court politics, but her efforts were in vein when her life was stolen from her during a mission when Sheik was 2. When Sheik’s mother died, the King of Hyrule reluctantly adopted him into the castle where only a handful of Sheikah were actually allowed to care for him. The King believed if it got out that he had a bastard child, there would be an unnecessary scandal. After all, the Queen had also recently given birth to Princess Zelda. Because of his isolated upbringing, Sheik grew into a quiet and shy boy. He had trouble speaking with strangers and clung to the few Sheikah attendants he knew of.

He was introduced to Zelda shortly after his fifth birthday. By this point, Sheik had been allowed more freedom to wander around the castle as the Queen had passed away. It was decided ten that Sheik would be trained to be Princess Zelda’s personal guard. He had no legitimate claim to the Royal Throne, but he was half Sheikah, it was only natural that he be allowed to follow in his mother’s footsteps to guard the Royal Family.  And thus, training began when he was a young child. Sheik, being a mild mannered boy, took more interest in weaving flower crowns than he did swinging a sword, so much so that Impa often joked that 9 times out of 10 it was Princess Zelda protecting him and not the other way around. Still, Impa always encouraged their relationship. She believed it was good for Zelda to have a friend instead of constantly talking to air.  And the two were indeed very close. Especially after it was revealed to them that they were half-siblings. Sheik would do anything to make his sister smile, whether it was helping her sneak out of the castle or bringing back souvenir’s from his training missions. However, their quiet little world would soon be interrupted by the cruelty of destiny. Zelda had warned Sheik of her prophetic dreams, and everything seemed to fall apart quickly after that. Ganondorf, who had swore allegiance to the King as part of peace trety to end the Hyrulean Civil War assassinated the King. Fearing his sister next, he offered up himself as a decoy to allow Zelda time to escape.  Impa had wanted to save both royal children, but there simply wasn’t enough room on the horse for both of them. Her duty as Zelda’s attendant was to get to the Princess to safety, and so Impa took Zelda and fled the castle.  Ganondorf stormed the courtyard looking for Zelda, and Sheik distracted the Gerudo King for as long as he could. The ruse might have worked for much longer had it not been for Sheik’s red eyes. When Sheik turned to meet Ganondorf adorned in Zelda’s clothing, the ruse was immediately blown and Ganondorf knew he’d been fooled. He was furious. And while he had to chase after Zelda, he had his minions throw Sheik in prison– vowing that Sheik would pay for his little stunt.  And pay he did.  In the seven years that the Hero of Time slept, Sheik was subjected to seemignly endless torment. Ganondorf molded the young prince into the perfect servant. Now, standing by Ganondorf’s side, Sheik searches for the missing Zelda and the Hero of Time to eliminate them. Little does he know that his sister has also adopted the moniker Sheik to aid the Hero of Time– perhaps in memory of the brother she thinks she’s lost.

Personality: Sheik was shy and mild-mannered as a child. He preferred reading books to running around outside– this is most likely due to his isolated upbringing. He grew very attached to a handful a people, but had trouble bonding with other people. He had a particular interest in botany, and often spoke of having his own garden in the castle courtyard one day.  As an adult, he is cold and withdrawn. Not only that, but he’s efficient. He dedicates all of his being to the mission’s given to ihim by Ganondorf. This type of loyalty could only be achieved by years of magical brainwashing at the hands of Ganondorf and Twinrova. He swears ultimate allegiance to Ganondorf, but that is the result of Ganondorf’s hold over his mind.

Tag: Nocturne (Sheik) ;;

[sapientiiae]

“You’re insane, and I say that with all the affection in the world.” They’re not in her study this time, but her bedroom. The curtains had been drawn shut and Sheik had removed his top head covers, mask, cowl and head wrap. They sat on her small reading table by the windows, with some tea that had already been drunk. Sheik was sitting on the side of her bed, a lamp lit for some extra light. It was still the middle of the evening, not late in the least, and he was scribbling down some notes in a small book. Translations for her, that she had asked for. He doesn’t know what she’s doing, but she had brought some books from the archives that weren’t in Hylian or had any translation counterparts. She had asked Sheik to translate them for her, which he was more than willing to do and wasn’t the reason she was crazy in the least. No, she was crazy because she’s now added more work to her already busy plate. A breath is taken and he marks his spot in the notebook, setting it aside before picking the other book up. As he opens it to the last page he was on he feels the Princess move over to his side and lean slightly against him. Blinking at the book he tilts his head upward and looks into her bright blue eyes. “Don’t you have enough on your plate? I don’t understand why you have to take on more work. You should be worrying about when you’re eventually going to be crowned and what comes with that. Not some old books in the library.” He tapes the book in his lap. “Which, from what I’ve translated so far, is just surveying notes from old tribe members during the Great War.” Sheik reached his hand up and gently took hold of Zelda’s dress, gently tugging on the front of it to get her to lean down. He placed a kiss to the corner of her mouth and hummed. “Or does that stuff really interest you?” @guideoftime

Cerulean eyes narrow into slits as the princess casts a glare over to the Sheikah. Luckily, he backpedaled enough to promise that the statement was made affectionately, otherwise she might have been tempted to push him off the bed.

Maybe that aspect of their relationship hadn’t changed much since they were children.

“Glad you seem to be choosing your words carefully at least,” she taunts before leaning forward to try to peer over the book he was currently scribbling his notes in. Despite his teasing remarks, she couldn’t help but to smile as she stood upright once more, peering around the room. The wraps and masks he traditionally used had been been taken off, carefully placed on one of the small tables in her room. Then there was Sheik, sitting at the edge of her bed as he worked on transcribing the translations she’d requested. The sight was—comfortable. It was more relaxed than their usual setting, more relaxed than she typically had a chance to see him given he was so often reporting for duty.

It was…nice.

Something she could get used to.

It’s that feeling that coaxes her forward, moving her to his side where she may comfortably lean against him. A distraction? Possibly. But she’d been a bit more selfish lately with wanting him so close. Lips part, prepared to give him an answer to the question and ideas he’d rattled of, but she is stopped when he takes hold of her dress, gingerly tugging on it so she might lean forward. The kiss she gets, though misplaced, was one that leaves the princess beaming as she doesn’t dare to pull back, peering into his crimson red stare just as he’d done with her before.

“First,” she begins, that smile of hers morphing into a grin, “This is not adding more to my plate, technically, since you are the one doing the translations.” Technically, all she had done was slipped into the archives to gather some old tomes she knew held no translations. “Second, yes this does interest me. Anything involving the Sheikah interests me.” A large portion of that came from her love for Sheik, and even Impa, but she also knew there was a history that needed to be corrected, and maybe she could have a part in that.

“But it may also be a chance for me to learn — learn something I was never told or perhaps was intentionally left out of the library. And if I can learn something, use these as a way to lead Hyrule to a better future, one where the tension between the Hylians and the Sheikah subsides, then it is very important.” 

[sapientiiae]

When she’d told him he could leave, there was a small part of her that had still hoped he would stay. That wishful part of her that was still that naive little girl that had hoped he would stay because he’d actually wanted to, not because he’d been bound by a promise. That idiotic part of her heart that had prayed he’d actually want to remain by her side. 

His leaving wasn’t a surprise — not really — but that didn’t make the departure any less gut wrenching. It hadn’t been enough to prevent the stab and twisting of the blade to both her back and core.

And when she’d told him he was free to do as he wished, which included leaving, silent tears has sluiced down her cheeks as she listened to his steps fade with each bit of distance he put between them. 

Shi had taken her up on her offer, but it hadn’t been the one she’d wanted.

That same foolishly optimistic part of her that wanted him to stay had also believed he would return in a few days; her Sheikah guard would not truly abandon her, would he? But days morphed into weeks, which spanned across months, and eventually faded into years. It’d been over two years since he’d departed from Hyrule Castle without ever bothering to look back, as far as she was concerned. Two years, four months, and seventeen days, to be exact.

The day after he’d left, the court began their preparations on finding her an appropriate suitor, now that Shi was no longer around to contend. They’d (begrudgingly) told her that they would accept the relationship she’d so desperately yearned for with the Sheikah, but with him nowhere to be found, that bargain was null and void. It was on her twentieth birthday that a banquet and ball was held, a long list of respectable suitors having been invited to attend the celebration. They’d flooded Hyrule in droves, having travelled from various kingdoms both near and far, and thus the official courting process began.

It was on the two year anniversary of his parting that a prince knelt before her, formally asking for her hand in marriage — a mockery of the day Shi left. The court had already decided on who they believed to be the best match to allow Hyrule to prosper, and preparations had been made for both the betrothal and the celebration that was to take place immediately after. Bells were rung through the streets of Hyrule, and the people of Castle Town could be heard cheering all the way from the palace. They’d drank, special pastries were shared, and bouquets and flower crowns were sold by vendors that lined the market square. All had been in high spirits as the news rang out and spread to all corners of the kingdom.

Meanwhile, Zelda had been forced to paint a demure yet happy and hopeful mask upon her face. Behind closed doors, it has been one of the worst days of her life. In the privacy of her own bed chamber, she’d mourned the life she’d always wanted for herself but would never have. She would never marry for love. She was being forced into a marriage of arrangement; an idea she had always detested.

But those feelings were only ever shown when she was completely and utterly alone, certain that no one else was around to hear or see the way that she wept. When she stood before the people of her kingdom or beside her betrothed, the carefully painted mask returned.

She was a doll, meant to look pretty sitting high up on a shelf next to her husband-to-be. Though he wasn’t vain enough to believe she loved him, given the way she kept quiet and remained at a distance any time he approached, rather than fawning over him, her betrothed hadn’t understood just how repulsed she was in his company. He’d believed the delay in finalizing all the details for their wedding ceremony was due to the distance between their two kingdoms, unaware that his own future wife made any attempt she could to subtly sabotage their wedding preparations to further delay that dreaded day that loomed like a dark cloud in her future. 

In his own way with his own twisted logic, Shi had not been trying to compare their situations. His thought had only been to make it clear the hurt she would suffer by loving him. He loved her, so why was it so wrong of him to want to spare her that pain? Why couldn't she understand that?

She wanted to be idealistic. He didn't think he could be, not after the horrors he had born witness to during Ganondorf's reign. And maybe that simply meant... they would not be a match for one another. They both could love each other as deeply and powerfully as they did and yet still fail to be able to provide what the other needed.

Zelda needed someone who would stand by her side without fear. And Shi...

It was hard to say what he needed when he was still stuck on the phase of being unable to feel he was good enough for the Princess.

There was no need for any further discussion. With a soft nod he turned - and left.

And stayed gone.

Days ticked by, turning into weeks into months into years. He watched her from afar, making sure that nothing was ever able to get close enough to even try to hurt her. Even if they were not speaking, he would still play the role of the Sheikah - even if he shouldn't, even though he was nothing more than an outcast. Political intrigue and assassination plots were foiled before they could come to fruition, detractors of her attempts to repair Hyrule vanished. Perhaps it was not aid she wanted, but he did not care. He would do all in his power to ensure her rule was long-lived and successful.

[neon-lights-stardust-nights]

🔗 || What's the most extreme thing they have ever done for you? - for ganon? :D

Me, seeing you manage to ask a question that has layers and being fondly reminded of all the times you've poked The Hugo Box and gotten an answer that also has a Shrek meme's worth of layers

[meme]

So! Ganon(dorf) and Ymir!

As of now (though this is subject to change,) there are three incarnations of Ymir in relationships with Ganondorf. They are:

Zanzo (Kokiri)

Velzin, kinda (Twili)

Zedriel (Sheikah? Yiga? I'm debating making up my own clan, but the design was inspired by OoT Impa, SkSw Impa, and the Yiga from BotW)

That's a lot of incarnations! In comparison, Vaati only has one (Fufunmir - Minish,) and Ghirahim was with the first incarnation of Ymir (who uhhhh WORKING ON IT!) Zant has two incarnations to his name, but that's as close as anyone else gets to Ganondorf.

Now, granted. That's partially because he's been alive so goddamn long. (Or... Revived so many times?) But still. I am trying to contextualize that he has had a lot of time to wrack up "extreme things he has done."

I think on some level, the necklace he fashioned Zanzo could be considered one of them. After all, he had to have a portion of The Lost Woods torn through just to make it (not that he TOLD Zanzo that though.) The metal, gems, glass for the locket-thing part, and water inside it are all sourced from the woods, allowing him to enchant it so that it could sustain Zanzo. After all, Kokiri who leave the forest die eventually (and sometimes unpredictably) after they begin aging... The Lost Woods is a small price to pay for his lover's safety.

But on some level, that's understandable! It's not even the worst thing OoT Ganondorf has ever done. No, no. This boy has done plenty worse. A man who turned basically everything alive in Hyrule Castle Town into fucking Redeads is not a man who stops at tearing up a forest and their partner's former home.

Velzin is a Twili, long lived and complicated. Fae technically had a whole character arc before TP took place, before Ganondorf or Zant ever had a chance to do much of anything. By the time Ganondorf is properly alive again, able to recognize Velzin as an incarnation of Zanzo... I mean, Velzin didn't even remember being Zanzo. Let alone why Ganondorf was slinging all these claims about. Zant also had been talking about a prince for his master, and now it all clicks. That was apparently fucking faer.

Ganondorf sort of kind of killed Velzin with magic to try and force a quick reincarnation, for lack of better description.

IDK, killing a version of your lover who refuses to acknowledge the truth of their past in order to potentially obtain a version of your lover who does feels pretty extreme to me. Velzin didn't exactly appreciate being magically incinerated. I think Velzin would whine and say this was it, if Velzin were capable.

There's also just all the shit he's done for Zedriel and Zanzo. Especially Zedriel. Fae is supposed to be his prized assassin, but he's more than willing to handle "things" for faer that fae doesn't want to. Zanzo also sat on a throne of bloodshed.

People have died in their names.

This too could be rather extreme.

I'll say it's either Velzin's death, or Zanzo's necklace.

[bokettochild]

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

Angst! My Beloved!

Not a lot of whump here, but I put Wild through the wringer!!! Lots of BotW2 ideas and concepts here, but nothing really cannon.

Also, disclaimer: I think Flora is a wonderful person, a bit harsh and sometimes unkind, but I feel for her a lot. The prompt submitted to me however asked for her as an ass, so that's what's here, for angst reasons. THIS IS NOT HOW I PLAN ON WRITING HER NORMALLY!!!

When Wild left the Chain behind in the woods, it was with a soft smile and a hesitant wave of his right hand. It was with a gentle ‘See y’all later’ that made Warriors shake his head with a sigh while Twilight offered a wobbly grin.

He would join them again, he knew that. After all, Hylia wouldn’t have chosen him to go with them in the first place if he was only supposed to leave before they’d even really started to know what it was that they were meant to be doing.

He’d see them again, and he’d fall back into a routine with all of them, sparring with Warriors and teaching Hyrule to cook and shield surfing with Wind and learning to carve from Sky. He’d go back to sewing with Legend, to exploring with Hyrule, to learning the Ocarina with Time and teasing Twilight about his terrible singing. He could work with Four on the Sheikah Slate and experimenting with different plants he’d gathered. He would see them again, and he’d go back to being busy and smiling nearly every day.

For the time being however, he had to square his shoulders and harden his jaw as he stepped through the swirl of black that had repulsed all the others every time they tried to enter. He had to tame his mind and wild spirit and come to stand before the Princess of Hyrule in all of her stern glory and receive the scolding he was due for wandering off without permission.

He never had time to question what she meant by being gone for ‘two whole weeks’ before she was marching off towards the labs and explaining that there was a new task for them to complete.

Such a task was one that left in his mind no time for thoughts of his brothers save on the lonely nights in the sky when the islands above the clouds were silent save for the birds about him that reminded him of Sky, or when he ran across the forests and was reminded of the wolf that once ran at his side. And, alright, the tiny people in the grass and the fountains reminded him of Four and Hyrule. When the wind sang strong in his ears as he dove towards the earth from the highest places in the sky, he couldn’t help but envision a small hero whose laughter danced like the sea and who’s fingers mastered the currents of wind and sea both.

It was a lonely quest, just like his last before it, but somehow it was more painfully so, now that he knew what it was to have brothers at his side to catch a monster’s blade when he was too slow or to help him patch himself up afterwards. It was quiet when the Princess and he sat around the fires as night, she studying him as he sat still and stonelike as she worked.

The hand that had waved goodbye to his brothers now flickered green and ethereal in the night shades, iron bands clinging to the wisping appendage and acting as a bond to hold its form together. It was nothing like what he’d known or studied in the Sheikah technology, or even what he’d seen from the many worlds he’d traveled with the other, and it earned many a stare and twist of the lips from those he met and traded with during his journey.

The arm was only the first of many changes, it’s power seeping through his body and altering him before he even knew what was happening. He’d hated it at first, disliking how it changed him, made his eyes glow and his hair touch with the same ethereal shades, red bleeding through at the roots and earning him even more wary looks.

Ganon, in all his terrifying power, had been a surprising comfort during the quest, an aid to discovering his new abilities and training them to bend to his own will. The Princess had been wary of their relationship, but had accepted it when she saw what he learned to do, and every evening she would require a report of his newfound skills, as well as the occasional demonstration or examination.

It all came to an end both too soon and not soon enough.

Ganon was gone, as if he’d never been there at all, and the Princess was as cold as ever even after their second adventure at each other's sides. And now there was no use for the abilities that had fused to his soul like the arm had to his flesh. He’d asked Purah if there was something that could be done to restore his body to its normal Hylian state, without the glowing limb that earned his only stares and insults from the village people, but the Princess had overheard it and declared that such a thing should not even be attempted.

“You don’t understand, Link. Don’t be foolish! We have here a scientific marvel ready for our investigation and exploration and you want to get rid of it just because it looks odd?”

He’s shuffled his feet slowly, resisting the impulse to rub at his chest where the Hylian part of him ended and the eldritch horror began. “I can’t live like  Hylian anymore.”

“Because you aren’t one!” Her Highness rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Sir Knight, after everything I certainly doubt that Hylian even applies to you anymore! Hylians do not possess the qualities that you now do, and they most certainly do not travel through stone or time or any other such thing at will. Think would you! You’re something else entirely, and I intend to find out what that is!”

Purah had frowned at that, eyes full of sorrow as they met his own with an apologetic sigh. But there was nothing the de-aged scientist could really say against the royal Sovreign of Hyrule, not as a Sheikah sworn to the service of the royal family. The woman/girl had offered him a sympathetic pat on the head later after climbing up to reach high enough to do so, as well as a few dumplings that Paya had sent on her grandmother’s behalf the day before. It was a welcome gesture, but amounted to so little on the grand scale of life. Not when so many others he had once called his friends had so blatantly rejected the mere sight of him.

Bolson and the other carpenters shied away from him with harsh whispers as they spat insults across the distance.

‘Half-blood’.

‘Gerudo Bastard’.

‘Freak’.

‘Demon’.

There were favorite insults spread from stable to stable and up and coming village to up and coming town and slowly all of Hyrule knew of the monster that had once been the hero. Gossip abounded, and he couldn’t even turn to shield his face with his hood without drawing attention to his arm.

It was only the koroks that welcomed him, themselves all too accustomed to the strange and ethereal. Them and the blupees.

Maybe it was the knowledge of how it felt to be shot at for his oddness that allowed him to ease into the graces of the flighty animals. And maybe it was his lonely heart crying for comfort, but when nestled in their midst, it almost reminded him of how it felt to be hugged by the salty veteran, on the rare occasional that the pink-haired hero had let down his guard.

The fairy’s tangled themselves in his hair and the blupees gathered at his feet, koroks dancing around him and flying to his side as if he was some sort of forest god, but the strange rise of his spirits in their presence shattered the instant a traveler caught sight of him.

Arrows and fire, once his favorite of weapons, were turned against him as words in every language of the New Hyrule had burst from the mouths of its people, and like his namesake, he ran before them, darting through the forest and fading in amidst the trees, hiding, incorporeal and translucent within the halls of the forest as those he’d once seen as allies pushed him away.

He’d begged the new Queen for aid, for relief or even just a word to the people that he wasn’t the evil they had come to think he was, but she only waved him aside with a purse of her lips. “You are not meant to be here without first asking.” The Child of Hylia declared, eyes as cold as the Shrine’s waters themself. “And why should I make a declaration on behalf of a man who refuses to even speak to me properly? You come groveling like a worm, yet for years it was I who you ignored. See how it feels, Sir Hero, to be the one left helpless at the hands of the country. Know what it is to be scorned by those who you thought would love you.”

He’d barely made it out of the window before the trainee guards of the newly repaired Hyrule Castle had caught him and Queen Zelda Diana Hyrule had stared after him with eyes colder than Hebra’s tallest peaks.

It was the Father Tree -the Deku Tree as the Queen had called it, but the koroks laughed at him for using the name, so he’d adjusted in kind- who suggested that he hide the changes, and he’d begun to wander Hyrule as much as possible to find the materials he would have needed.

The Queen still required his presence regularly so she could inspect him; her love of science no ways tainted as to stop her from ordering him to appear regularly, as there was now no need or safety in his acting as her guard. The Queen sought her people’s respect, and to employ such a being as himself, not Hylian and not quite mortal, would be to spark fear in the people. Indeed, when he skirted villages, he would wince at word of ‘the queen’s monster’ as gossip was traded. Those who didn’t see him themselves knew him as a beast of feral nature who lived amid the lost woods and destroyed any who came close.

“A specter that glows with the light of the shrines.” They would tell each other over campfires. “It has eyes like a ghost, empty and lost, with no care for humanity or Hylia’s chosen. They say it was once the Hero of this world, but he died ages ago.”

“I heard it’s the body, possessed by a being beyond this realm, a monster escaped from the edges of reality that tried to hide in our midst but corrupted it’s host so that it only scares away others, leaving it roam the earth in a shattered body. If you get too close to it though, it’ll take your instead.”

He’d stayed away from towns after that.

The blupees and koroks had been happy to help him to find what he needed to hide among the Hylians should he wish though, and two in particular guided him; the korok swinging little twigs like they were batons and humming swinging little shanties as it hopped along the path, the blupee snorting softly and nipping at his heels when he wandered too far, unnatural purple eyes staring up at him with something that was fondness and a reprimand all at once, and in their care he’d made his way across the land of Hyrule to find what would be needed to return to his once life.

The fairies and their Great cousins had been welcome help, and in time, he’d been able to walk amid the populace of Hyrule like any other, as long as he kept a long cloak about him and his hair pulled back to hide where the roots would begin showing again in gold and ethereal blue.

Once Hyrule had talked about needing to hide in his world, about the curse that followed him and made the Hylian people afraid. He’d thought it bizarre and ridiculous of the people at the time, but now he understood what it was to live it.

When the portal opened beneath his feet the day that the Queen had reprimanded him for concealing and potentially damaging the strange limb, startling the Skeikah scientists and Queen both, he’d nearly cried tears of relief.

He was going away, somewhere where he wasn’t a science project and where, unless they traveled to his world’s future, no one would know how much he had changed. His copy of the slate had enough hair dye to last him a few months, and he was certain he could make more over time, and as long as he continued wearing the tunics and gloves the fairies had helped him to adjust to hide the glow the others would probably never catch on. Or well, he could extend it anyway.

His brothers greeted him with open arms and teary eyes, and in a strange parallel to his adventure, he found himself thinking of blupees when Legend had curled against him, stiff and cold on the outside, but with fingers that clutched his tunic just a bit too tight to really be reluctant. And Four, Hyrule and Wind’s exuberant hugs and chatter brought to mind tiny forest people and koroks with twigs for batons.

It was good to be home.

It was good to cook for other people again, and they were glad to have him cook for them, even if his fondness for both Gerudo spiced dishes and fae like sweet things had increased exponentially during his newest adventure. It was good to fight at their sides, even if it was strange to once again have to take others into account before he could select a weapon. It was good to sit around a fire and talk with the others too, but that was perhaps the hardest one; it had been ages since he’d had a proper two-way conversation with anything other than a tree or a korok, and neither of those was good at either staying awake or staying focused for very long.

There were some harder things to adjust to though. Fire, for one. Unlike before when he’d have been happy to burn an enemy camp to the ground, now he was wary of using faming weapons or spreading heat further than necessary. The same went for hunting; he couldn’t bring himself to shoot an animal unless it attacked first or they needed the meat it would provide, and even then, he felt a bit bad for doing so. Is this what Twilight had felt like? Is this why the rancher never liked hunting? Because he too knew what it was like to be on the other end of the bow?

But the hardest thing by far to readjust to was his name.

‘Wild’ they had called him again, and after months of ‘the wild one’, ‘wild beast’, ‘monster’ and every other insult, slur or title that had been used on him, it made him flinch ever so slightly at the words. And unlike the other things where his brothers dismissed it as a change caused by his adventure or an increase of maturity, it was something that the others seemed to either not notice or to excuse as situational.

He had adapted though, learned to keep a smile on his face where blankness had once been required in his knightly duties, and the more he wore the mask the easier it was to put on again.

He’d reveled in traveling across time again, in dancing through battles and exploring the world without the Queen reprimanding him in her cold tones to stop wandering off. He’d pushed himself to learn more music in the last adventure, and even if his experience was more with what few instruments Ganon had had time to help him learn, he’d enjoyed sitting down with the others and borrowing one or another instrument to play a tune and sometimes he even got to sing.

He fell to comfortably into his role though, even with the changes, and he hadn’t even noticed when they’d come back to his world. To be fair, it was different in the daytime, and Hyrule had changed so much in the absence of her hero as he hid himself away from the eyes of civilization. Towns and roads had sprung up where there had only been fields before, and the Guardians that had littered the land had all been dug up and hauled to the castle to be either restored or destroyed by the Sheikah, depending on what Queen Zelda decided after she looked at them herself. The world was so different to him, so unlike that which he knew, that he’d failed to keep as alert as he ought to have been when he wandered about an open market with the others, laughing and chattering away with the other younger ones as Time and Legend herded them towards the needed stalls.

It was a traveler that was his downfall, a man who’d seen the Monster Hero and had been among the first to discover the disguise he wore.

No questions were asked when the word spread, and Wild hadn’t caught on to the whispers until a stone had struck his cheek and he was stumbling forwards on the path.

“Wild!” Twilight was at his side in a minute, Time right after him as Legend launched a barrage of insults at the guilty party who’d thrown the thing.

“’m fine.” He was careful to wipe the blood away with his cloak, holding the fabric to the wound to prevent bluish blood seeping down his face and exposing him to his brothers. He wanted to keep them as long as possible and proving himself to be a monster, not even Hylian, would surely have them turning their backs on him.

“Get away from him!” A woman scolded, grabbing ahold of two of the younger heroes while several other shoppers had like ways grabbed Legend and Sky. “Are you dears alright? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Freaking what?” Legend shrieked. “Who’s the injured party here?”

“I’d avoid that thing, son.” A man huffed through a frankly walrus like mustache, eyes hard as they trailed to where Wild stood, cloak still pressed to his cheek as he attempted to wave off a fussing Twilight and Time. “It’s not natural. Sure, it looks like a normal Hylian, but that’s just an effective ruse.”

Another villager nodded. “It’s one of the Calamity’s puppets, a Gerudo-Bastard set on destroying the kingdom!”

“He’s the freaking hero!” Legend shrieked, barely being held back by a steely eyed Sky. “He saved all your freaking asses and all you can do is insult his flipping guts? Who’s the-”

“Enough.” There were few times that Sky’s voice reached levels worse than Twilight’s growls, but the stern command, regal and firm, froze all present as the man stiffened with a cold nod towards the villagers. “I see we are unwelcome here, and with that being the case it would be wise to spend our rupees elsewhere. Legend,” A tug to the boy’s shoulders. “Let’s join the others and be out of their hair. If they cannot be welcoming and kind to our brother than they will not receive our patronage.” And like a swan gathering it’s cygnets, Sky swept down the street, cape fluttering as he ushered the rest of them out of the town and back to the safety of the wilds. The village stared after them with wide eyes, as if they’d just been judged by a breathing god.

The stiffness in Sky’s shoulders faded as they neared the edge of the forest, and instantly the Chosen Hero been tutting over Wild, gently but firmly prying his hand away from his face with a kind smile that almost set Wild at ease. Almost.

“It’s fine, it’s just a scrape.”

“Still.” Sky crooned softly. “I’d rather we clean it up now and make sure it’s nothing worse than let it sit and get infected later.”

And though he’d tried to fight, his single Hylian hand was no match for the firm grip of the Skyloftian, and within minutes his face was exposed to the shocked faces and flickering eyes of his brothers.

“It’s blue...” Wind breathed as Hyrule darted forwards, hands already glowing softly only for them to stutter to a stop over Wild’s skin.

“It’s... Wild, why is your blood- why is-” The healer’s eyes had flickered golden for a moment, wide as they stared up at him. “What happened to you-”

“What the freak!” Legend had startled, blinking in surprise as he stared. “Your eyes are glowing!”

Shit! The healing properties of the arm had already taken affect and it was making everything act up all weird! He shot a glance down at his arm, one hand raising to tangle in the long hair he couldn’t even see at the moment, praying silently beneath his breath that nothing was showing through. It wasn’t, but that didn’t change how Hyrule had come to fixate on his right arm, or how the healer's fingers hovered over it sparking and eyes twinkling as he whispered softly under his breath.

“Wild.” Time had sighed. “I think this one is going to need an explanation.”

All the breath left his lung in instants.

He’d panicked to say the least and Time had eventually shooed the others away to make camp as the eldest hero had sat at his side, waiting silently for him to regulate his breathing. Touch was too much right now, and any attempts from the others to ease him down or help him level out his breathes had only made him panic more. But when at last his blue eyes blinked back to clarity it was to see Time sitting at his side, a gentle tune wafting from the Ocarina at his lips.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, trying his hardest not to startle Time or otherwise make the situation worse. “I should have said something, I know. I just- missed being Wild and I wanted to come back and be normal and I didn’t want to-”

“It’s alright.” Time’s voice rumbled softly, a single blue eye turning to him with a pained look, even as the man offered him a hint of a smile. “None of us talk about our adventures either.”

“Yes, but you’re people.” He sighed, rubbing the fingers of his glove together. “You’re allowed to choose things.”

There was pain in Time’s voice when their leader answered. “And you’re not?”

“I’m not Hylia anymore.” He whispered. “I don’t count.”

“You count to us.”

“That’s because you don’t know.”

Time shifted, turning to face him fully as the ocarina was set firmly in the grass. “That’s because you’re family and we care. Wild, I don’t care if Demise himself named you the king of the dead, you’re still my kid and Nayru knows I’m not going to let you go without a fight. If that means fighting you, alright, but you’d best better believe that no amount of physical or mental changes will break the bonds we all have with you.”

Something, something damaged and crushed and stitched up and torn open again clenched inside of him, tears pricking at his eyes as he stared up at Time’s royal blue gaze. “W-what?”

“You could be granted godhood, made a monster, I don’t care. You’re ours and you’ll have to deal with that.” Time smiled, warm even with the pain in his eyes as he looked down at him. “So how about you start again, maybe with the facts rather than the insults. Or,” Time softened, brows furrowing lightly. “If you want, we can just sit here and you can choose to talk about this later. We do need to know, so we can help you and keep you safe, but you don’t have to tell us right now. You can take some time to figure out what you want to say if you need.”

And, well, shoot him, but Time’s arms had always been a safe place and there was one thing he’d wanted more than anything since he had come back. Wild threw himself into his grand-mentor's arms with a soft sob, clutching tightly to the other, ignoring the armor and its sharp points and awkward shapes as he tried to hold back all the emotions swirling in his chest.

Time’s arms folding around him broke the floodgates though, and when the man’s hand had stroked through his shortened hair, he’d had to bury his face in Tim’s neck to muffle his sobs.

“There, there,” Time hummed softly, rocking slowly as he held the broken wild hero. “Let it out, little one. I have you, I’ve got you and I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”

[parksrway]

How easy or hard was it to come up with both Sheik’s design, as well as his story?

A little adjacent to that, how devoted to canon are you when you create AUs and OCs? (specifically Sheik’s AU) Are you very dedicated to making all of your added and custom ideas fit in nicely with the canon plot/characters, or are you more free with what you change?

coming up with his design was pretty easy as far as I remember. it was kind of just living in my head for a little bit before I first drew him. (fun fact, I was originally thinking about giving him a hat like young impa's in aoc but I decided against it. I wanted him to stand out from the other sheikah but that would. probably be a bit much since he's really just Some Guy.)

the story was a bit harder I think. I found myself going back and forth between things like whether or not he actually lived with paya and Impa or if he was just kind of a close friend to paya. and I also couldn't decide his gender for a bit at first djhsjfksjfk. I mostly struggled with his relationship with impa and paya mostly because I didn't want him to seem like some Mary Sue or something but now I don't really care and they're a happy family who all love each other 💖

for champion's shadow it's mostly gonna be canon compliant. I was more interested in the character building than the world building for this one. there are points where canon has been a bit bent of course, I want it to be at least a little interesting. but generally I kind of like making things fit neatly, or neatly enough that you can suspend your disbelief. there are also aus for this au that are pretty much completely separate from canon botw but those are mostly just one off thoughts I've had and haven't really developed.

[airplanned]

All the Trashy Novels Part 30

This was fun, y’all.  Thanks for humoring me!

Part 1...Part 29

***

She spent four days mostly standing in front of the Goddess statue, trying to glow without requiring something inappropriate to trigger it.  She could now get it every single time with very minimal effort, but that effort was usually Link coming up behind her and placing a kiss where her neck met her shoulder, or trailing his fingers from the inside of her elbow to her wrist.  And suddenly her skin was lit up like a camp fire, a fuzzy pleasure brushing over her like a thin blanket.  It was embarrassing and frustrating, but at least she could trigger it without an orgasm and could hold her luminous state for long stretches once she got it going.

"That's true," Link agreed.  He'd taken a seat on the ground with his arms resting on his bent knees.  "You just need to work on not making that face."

Zelda huffed, her arms flopping to her sides and her glow spluttering out.  "I'm trying!"

The problem was that now that she'd allowed herself to feel affection for Link, she always felt a little giddy and ridiculous when she did so.  Apparently, this manifested not only in a divine luminescence, but also in a love-struck look on her face.  Link referred to it as "bedroom eyes" when he was being polite, and "fuck me face" when he wasn't.  He'd taken a bunch of pictures to show her, and he was (annoyingly) correct.  She could not make that face in public.

"Maybe you'd look less sultry if you closed your eyes," he said.

"Then I wouldn't be able to see anything!"

"Can you use your Goddess powers to see things?"

"I can use my Goddess powers to glow!  They don't do anything else!"

"Are they supposed to?"

"I don't know!"

"Try it."

She closed her eyes and tried it.  She remembered the warm pressure in her chest and she remembered the heat of his breath on her skin and she thought about how he he'd made her a tiny little cake the night before and then blushed as she'd gushed over it.  Those were things that she liked about him.  Those were good things, and she felt a way about them.

The glow didn't light.  

Why not?  Those had made her feel things.  She felt things.  Things for Link.  She took another breath and pushed into less appropriate territory, of the way he'd wrapped around her back the night before and let his hands wander until she was moaning with abandon and glowing, burning.

"You got it?"  His hands came to rest on her hips, and her eyes popped open as she lit up.

Goddess, she hated that he could do that. She batted the thought away, and held tighter to her lust.  Goddess, she liked his hands on her.

He looked taken aback, almost awed.  Even though he was expecting it.  Even though he'd seen it dozens of times now.  

Part of why she needed to get her face under control was that it affected Link so.

He swallowed hard.  "Close your eyes.  Let's see if that...oh."  His voice turned rough.  "Oh, that's so much worse."

He pulled her in at the waist and kissed her desperately.

#

Link made himself scarce as she wrote up her field notes.  She had very little to write.  She'd made very little progress.

In frustration, she tossed her journal away.  She would just have to have Link come touch her when he was done battling Ganon.  Maybe he could magically poke her with his index finger as if she were the Sheikah slate.  And they most likely would evacuate the area, so it wouldn't matter if she had on her come-hither face.  Link would just have to deal with not making out with her for however long it took to seal the Calamity away.  And who cared if she made a face?  If making a face saved the world, no one would be allowed to say anything.

Except Zelda cared.  She didn't want to look ridiculous, and she didn't want to rely on Link to access her own powers.  She glared at her journal.

Where was Link anyway?

She stomped off to go glare at him.  Or go have him be gentle and compassionate until she had too much trouble holding onto her irritation.

She found him before the Goddess statue, his head bowed, the sword drawn with its tip resting against the ground.

She frowned harder.  "Are you praying?" she asked.

He startled and spun around.  "Oh.  Yeah.  Um.  You haven't been praying lately, so I've had to...pray by myself."

An old, familiar hurt settled over her. Of course he was on such good terms with the Goddess, when she was...she was...

She was working on her relationship with the Goddess.  She understood that maybe it was all a big misunderstanding, but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt, and it didn't mean she wasn't still upset that she couldn't fully access her powers without the help of someone the Goddess liked.

Link looked nervous, as if he knew she was about to shout at him again.  Guilt lanced at her stomach.  She lowered her eyes and stepped near him.  

"What do you pray for?" she asked quietly.

"Um.  Nothing?"

She snorted.  "You pray for me."

He didn't say anything, which confirmed it.

"Show me," she said.  She turned him back to face the Goddess, and slipped her way into his arms, her back to his chest.  She placed her hands over his as they planted the sword to the ground.

He held himself stiff with discomfort, but then relaxed his arms under hers and lowered his head.  "Close your eyes," he murmured.  

Well, this was her idea.  She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"I pray for you to have some guidance," he said.  "Because you desperately want to please her, and you want to do it right, but all you have to go on are rumors and what you're ordered to do by people who don't know what they're doing either.  I pray for some sign that you're on the right path.  Not because I want to know, because I know you'll get there.  But for you.  You need assurance or your self-doubt eats at you, and there's no way that self-doubt will save Hyrule.

"And I pray for you to be happy.  Because you're beautiful when you're sad and you're beautiful when you're angry, but I would die to see you smile.  To hear you laugh.  The way you carry yourself when you're at ease, the excited way you talk when you catch onto something new.  That light in you could light the whole world.  It could burn away the Calamity."

"You're a charmer," she murmured.

"You're a peach."

She snorted.  "You don't pray like I do."

"Yeah?"

"I wouldn't tell the Goddess all that."

"Why not?"

Why not?  "Because she already knows?"

"But maybe she wants to hear you say it."

"She wants me to wax poetic about a girl?" she teased.

"Wax poetic about what you love."

"Love is a strong word."

"And you're asking for a powerful weapon."

Her eyebrows furrowed.  In a small voice she asked, "What should I pray for?"

He thought for a moment.  "Why do you want to save Hyrule?"

"Because it's my--" 

Duty.

She startled.  The answer had rolled off her tongue.

Anxiety she couldn't name clawed at her chest.  She shifted uncomfortably.  Maybe standing like this had been a bad idea.

"She'd like to hear you say it."

Her breath shook.  "I want to save my people.  My friends.  Urbosa and Revali and Mipha and Daruk.  They're so devoted and encouraging.  If they fell, then their people would suffer.  All the brilliance of our people would falter, all compassion and the triumphs.  The wonderful art and music and literature--"

"Even the bad literature."

"Especially the bad literature!  And the bad music!  All the ridiculous rumors, and the guards who devour those rumors, and all the fake girlfriends out there.  We would lose all of that!  And as shameful as it is, I would fight for those things."

"What else would you fighting for?"

"The Sheikah technology.  You don't know the victory you feel when two pieces snap together.  The thrill when a guardian lights blue under my hands.  The way Robbie nods along when I ramble and then picks up my thoughts and runs with them, taking them somewhere new, and the I can pick them up again and run farther.  The way Purah grabs my arm the moment I walk into the lab.  The way she drags me to a diagram and asks my opinion.  As if I'm wanted!  As if I'm needed!"

The sword flared under her hands, a ringing note at the base of her skull, and her eyes flew open at the call for attention.

She was glowing.  A warm pressure burned in her chest, and she grabbed hold of it to maintain it.

"What--"

"Things you care for," Link murmured.

She turned her head to look at him in surprise and confusion.

The corner of his mouth quirked.  "You're not making the face."

"How long have I been glowing?"

"Since you declared your love for trashy novels."

"Love is a strong word."

He shook his head and laughed under his breath. 

"But,” she said, “I need a strong weapon.”

His eyes darkened.  “You’re making the face again.”

When she kissed him, it was bright and sharp as the sun.

[pocketseizure]

A Noble Pursuit

None of the lessons from the Gerudo Classroom have prepared Rhondson for married life with Hudson, who has grown restless and disappeared from Tarrey Town a year after its founding. She travels to the Akkala Citadel Ruins to hunt for her husband while reflecting on the bridges that will need to be rebuilt in order for Hyrule to embrace a peaceful future.

This story about archaeology, castles, ruins, cultural differences, giant monster friends, and what it means “to live happily ever after” was written for @memorabiliazine​, and it’s also on AO3 (here). The accompanying illustrations are by the stylish scholar @pocketwei​.

. . . . . . . . . .

This wasn’t the first time Rhondson had set off on a husband hunt.

It was late summer, almost a year after the ghost of the Great Calamity vanished from the castle. Most of Hyrule was still green, but the first touches of red and gold had already begun to appear on the trees of Akkala. It was chilly when Rhondson left Tarrey Town, but the morning fog had lifted and the sky was crystal clear.

Rhondson had always enjoyed mornings. Most people woke up early in the desert and took a nap during the worst heat of the afternoon so that they could stay up late into the evening. Rhondson kept the same schedule in Tarrey Town, a practice that Hudson found inexplicably upsetting. He complained, almost every day now, that she never went to bed with him. He insisted that a man and his wife should fall asleep together. Rhondson explained that she enjoyed sewing by lamplight at night, when the world is quiet and even the plainest thread shines like gold, but he refused to understand.

Hudson had recently grown restless. Perhaps it was because of the tension in their relationship, or perhaps it was only the change of season, but he left Tarrey Town one afternoon and never returned. Ashai’s classes hadn’t prepared Rhondson for this. They’d talked so much about how to catch a man, but never about how to keep him. She wondered if other vai had the same problem. All of the romances she read when she was younger ended with a “happily ever after,” but what was supposed to happen the next day? And the day after that?

All things considered, Rhondson was content with her life in Tarrey Town. Her feelings about the settlement had been ambiguous at first. The location was out-of-the-way, to say the least, but the town received more visitors than she’d expected. The son of the two Sheikah researchers who lived in an old lighthouse up on the northern cliffs made his living as a traveling merchant of fine clothing, and he saw to it that Rhondson always had work. Tarrey Town was unique in its appeal as a marketplace for goods from all over Hyrule, and Hudson’s brightly painted modular houses had become something of a tourist attraction. He’d been flooded with orders for summer rental homes, and a satellite community had sprung up on the other side of the bridge to satisfy the demand.

Hudson managed to keep himself busy, but he seemed to harbor doubts about establishing Tarrey Town on such a small island. To make matters worse, many of the people who’d come to town for the summer were starting to drift away as the days became shorter. Perhaps they were worried about Akkala’s infamous autumn thunderstorms. Rhondson happened to enjoy the heavy rains, whose gale winds and lightning crashes reminded her of the sandstorms back home, but she understood how the violent weather and sudden drop in temperature might put off people who weren’t accustomed to the climate. She’d camped at more than a few oasis waystations during her travels, and she knew it was perfectly natural for the population of a place like Tarrey Town to wax and wane with the season.

Rhondson tried to explain to Hudson how it was normal for people to come and go. Many of the town residents were nomadic by nature, she said, and they had no excuse not to indulge their wanderlust now that it was safe to travel. Hudson adamantly refused to listen. He insisted that a man’s home was his castle. But why not have two castles, Rhondson objected. And people would come back next summer, she reasoned. They’d had to hire new workers to perform upkeep on the vacation homes during the winter, after all, so it wasn’t as though the population was shrinking. If he was feeling ambitious, she added with a wink, they might be able to add their own contribution to the town’s population.

“I’m just not sure how long this town will last,” Hudson replied, ending the conversation with a sigh.

His admission put Rhondson ill at ease, and she couldn’t help recalling Hudson’s anxiety when she realized that he hadn’t come home during the night. “Sometimes you have to treat voe like children,” Ashai had once explained. “There will be times when they take action without thinking about how it will affect you, but it’s likely that their behavior comes from simple thoughtlessness, not spite.” Rhondson didn’t know about that. She’d met enough silly and immature vai in her life to understand that voe didn’t have a monopoly on being pigheaded. Still, if Hudson had gone out and gotten himself lost, purposefully or otherwise, she might as well go find him.

Rhondson set out from Tarrey Town and walked due south, pacing herself as she made her way up the gentle slope of the hills leading to Upland Zorana. Once the mountains began in earnest, she turned west at the road leading to the old stone quarry and kept going until she could see the waterfalls at the source of Lake Akkala.

She’d crossed the Sokkala Bridges when she first came to Tarrey Town instead of taking the longer road to the north, and she was just as impressed by them now as she was then. The log bridges were simple structures, really, not much more than planks laid over support pillars embedded in the banks of the rivulets flowing from the waterfall basin, but they were sturdy and well-constructed. A traveler could cross them with ease, secure enough in their footing to look up and appreciate the rainbows that danced in the misty spray of the waterfalls.

Not every bridge needed to be the Bridge of Hylia, Rhondson thought. Perhaps it was better if most bridges weren’t, in fact. The Bridge of Hylia was a magnificent piece of work, to be sure, but it seemed as though it was already in a state of disrepair even before the Great Calamity. Judging from the conversations between Hudson and his former boss Bolson, no living stonemason had any idea how to repair its gargantuan supports. Meanwhile, more modest structures like the Sokkala Bridges could be maintained whenever the need arose. In their own way, the Sokkala Bridges were just as important at the Bridge of Hylia, even if they never became monuments.

As she crossed the final bridge, Rhondson could see the hazy outline of Akkala Citadel rising in the west. Its massive size was impressive, but she couldn’t imagine it being particularly beneficial to anyone. Truth be told, the ruins weren’t much more than a glorified pile of old stone bricks that could almost certainly be put to better use elsewhere. Speaking of which, Rhondson was starting to get an inkling of where Hudson might have gotten himself off to. “A man’s home is his castle,” he liked to say, and how intriguing it must have been to have an actual castle so close to home, especially if its materials could be repurposed.

Rhondson headed north when the road forked and made her way across the old high bridge over the river, carefully navigating the deep fissures in the stone. Once she was safely on the other side, she began climbing the winding path up the mountain.

The leaves of the trees on the upper slopes of the hill had already turned a bold shade of crimson, and the weathered steel of the Sheikah Tower gleamed in the sun. Rumor had it that the citadel used to be patrolled by Guardians, but nothing confronted Rhondson save for a few moss-covered remnants of ceramic casing. Parts of the road had been washed away in a landslide, probably after the Malice swamp dried up, but the majority of the paving stones were still intact.

Rhondson entered the gatehouse at the foot of the outer wall surrounding the citadel. The inside was littered with rubble from a century-old battle, and the remains of more recent Bokoblin campfires were scattered across the floor. A partially overturned Guardian occupied a corner of the room, its segmented legs folded neatly underneath its casing like the paws of a sleeping cat. When she first set out from the desert, Rhondson had been terrified of encountering a Guardian, but she’d grown fond of the broken bits and pieces of their chassis that had been left beside Hyrule’s roads to remind travelers to remain vigilant. Their round faces and decoratively textured bodies were actually a bit cute, like oversized toys.

Rhondson passed through the gatehouse and entered a small courtyard. The walls of the citadel rose on every side of the open space, but the gaps between turrets were wide enough for the sun to shine through and warm the paving stones. One side of the courtyard was dominated by a large alcove that was probably used to shelter horses. The bare soil under the dilapidated wooden awning was covered in pale green scrub bush and dotted with bright yellow wildflowers.

A covered walkway ran along the opposite wall, connecting the gatehouse to the larger body of the citadel. As Rhondson followed the shaded path, she imagined how heavily the snowfall would accumulate at this altitude. She didn’t envy the soldiers tasked with shoveling duty. She glanced at the enormous wooden door that marked the entrance to the main hall, but its iron fittings were orange with rust. Thankfully, the smaller door at the end of the walkway was barely hanging by its hinges, and Rhondson had no trouble pushing it open.

She called Hudson’s name into the shadows of the citadel. Aside from the echo of her own voice, there was no answer. It probably wasn’t safe to go inside, but she had already come so far. Rhondson figured that she may as well make sure that Hudson wasn’t here before she left. 

The interior of the fortress wasn’t nearly as impressive as its silhouette. The entryway was much smaller than she expected, and the floor was made of packed earth. As Rhondson’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, she could see that the wooden beams of the ceiling were exposed. They were dark with ash. The smoke had probably come from the tall braziers secured to the pillars set into the stone walls.

Rhondson walked across the hall, glancing around her with interest. A few piles of old leaves moldered just inside the open service door, but the room was remarkably clean. The tapestries displayed in the bays between pillars still retained some of their color, and wooden weapons racks still clung to the stone walls next to the main gate. Rhondson realized that the earth floor must absorb the humidity of summer and the chill of winter, keeping the wood and cloth relatively preserved. The layer of ash coating the wooden beams of the ceiling probably helped protect them from the elements as well.

Large passageways ringed with shallow arches connected the central hall to the east and west wings, but Rhondson was more interested in a spiral staircase carved into the back wall. Although she had to bend her head to enter, the stairs bore her weight. Each step dipped slightly toward the middle from centuries of use. As she climbed to the next floor, Rhondson was amused by the thought of walking in the footsteps of people who had lived so long ago.

The room above was much smaller than the citadel’s entrance, but its ceiling was almost as high. The walls were constructed of the same unpainted white limestone as the fortress exterior. Their rough surfaces were irregularly broken by small rectangular windows positioned slightly above eye level. Some of the glass panes were missing, allowing a cool breeze to enter the bright and sun-warmed space, but the floorboards were level and seemed solid enough

Rhondson began to make her way from room to room. Her first thought was that the haphazard layout was due to poor planning, but she gradually realized that different parts of the Akkala Citadel must have been built at different times, more than likely after various battles. Very few furnishings remained in the deserted fortress, but the architecture differed so drastically between rooms that it was clear she was walking through different periods of history. Rhondson was amazed by the evolution of the windows, which became larger and more ornate as she walked. She imagined that this was what Hyrule Castle must look like, an amalgamation of architectural styles that had grown and transformed along with the kingdom itself.

Rhondson enjoyed her stroll through the ruins, but Hudson was nowhere to be found. The sun was already low in the sky, so she made her way outside and began her descent. From her vantage point at the top of the path, she could see a flat patch of land at the base of the hill. The soldiers stationed here must have used it as a parade ground for exercise and training. It would be as good a place as any to make camp.

Dusk had begun to gather by the time she arrived on the field, and the shadows lay long across the tall grass. Rhondson didn’t see the Hinox immediately, but she could smell it. The odor wasn’t unpleasant, but it was unmistakable. As soon as she realized that she wasn’t alone, Rhondson turned to leave. Most Hinoxes tended to ignore the travelers that wandered into their vicinity, but she didn’t want to take any chances.

Without warning, the Hinox bellowed. Its scream sent startled birds up from the nearby trees in a rush of beating wings and angry squawking. Rhondson prepared herself to make a run for her life, but she was stopped in her tracks by a voice she would recognize anywhere.

“Don’t cry, you big baby. It only stings at first. You’ll feel better in two shakes of a blupee’s tail.”

Rhondson shook her head with amusement as she walked across the field toward the source of the voice. The Hinox pouted at her, giant tears spilling from its eye.

“Hudson?”

The broad-shouldered man crouching beside the Hinox jerked his head up. “Rhondson? What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing. I came looking for you. Is this where you’ve been this whole time?”

“I meant to come back last night,” Hudson replied, averting his eyes. “But this oaf hurt his foot while helping me clear away the rubble on the path up the mountain, and I couldn’t just leave him like this. The wound would have suppurated, and he’s all alone out here.”

Rhondson gave the Hinox a closer look and saw that it – he – had a deep gash on his heel. Hudson was cleaning it with a balled-up wad of fabric. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was the first workshirt she’d sewn for him. She’d made it just as they were starting to get to know one another, before she knew his measurements, and it fit him poorly. She asked him to throw it away and bury it with the compost months ago, but he’d apparently kept it. Hudson was surprisingly sentimental for a man who insisted on utility over decoration. It was one of the things she liked about him.

Rhondson smiled as she shrugged her pack onto the ground and dug out a jar of safflina salve. As Hudson helped her dress the Hinox’s wound, he explained that he had indeed come here to assess the state of the stonework. He assumed the citadel would be in ruins, but the structure was still sound. It would be a shame to dismantle it. With a few minor renovations, it would be almost as good as new. Still, making it more habitable would mean reducing its efficacy as a fortress.

“But what does that matter?” Rhondson asked. “Who’s going to attack it?”

“There are monsters roaming about, and…”

“Does this ‘monster’ look like he’s going to attack anyone?”

The Hinox had fallen asleep as they talked and was snoring lightly.

“He’s not a monster,” Hudson replied with a frown.

“Exactly. It seems to me that you’re already thinking about hiring him to work for you.”

“I’m not… Well, I guess I am. Having a Hinox around would be useful, especially if I decide to fix up this place, but we’d have to knock down some of the interior walls to make more room for him.”

Rhondson winced as she remembered all the times she’d banged her forehead on Hylian doorways. Now that she thought about it, there was no reason for those doors to be so low in the first place, especially not when her husband could so easily make them more accommodating. “Weren’t you planning to knock down the walls anyway?” she pointed out. “You could use the materials to repair the bridge.”

“But it’s disrespectful not to honor the past,” Hudson objected. “Shouldn’t the history of the Akkala Citadel be preserved?”

“It’s in ruins.” Rhondson put a hand on his shoulder. “One day you’ll have to come with me to visit my family. Everything in Gerudo Town is built on top of history. Nothing gets done if you worry about preserving the past as it once was. Living things change, and that includes old castles like this.”

“Maybe it includes towns too,” Hudson replied. “I guess it won’t be so bad if Tarrey Town grows. We could have a sister city maybe, right here on this hill. It would be a convenient waystation for travelers.” He thought for a moment. “And a good place for Hinoxes, too. It’s built on their scale, at least, and they’re all over Akkala. It’s a shame they always have to sleep in the open. Besides, Mason looks like he could use a friend. He’ll be lonely without me.”

Mason? Rhondson grinned at the name her husband had assigned to the Hinox. “Are you going to bring him home, then?” she asked.

“Home is wherever you are, Rhondson. We’ll go wherever you like. I missed you.”

“I missed you too, but we can spend a night or two away from Tarrey Town. I’d like to go back to the citadel tomorrow morning. I don’t think anyone has been inside this place for at least a hundred years.”

The sun had finally set, and stars were beginning to shine in the deepening indigo of the twilight sky. Rhondson smiled as she pictured the castle on the hill once again filled with lights. There was a certain charm to speculating on what the past might have been like, but the future held much more potential for imagination.

[1000dactyls]

any warriors hcs??

too many. they’re spilling out of my arms. let’s do this

- warriors is sheikah. i will stand by this for literally Forever, because 1) lu has a lot of, how do we say, pasty boys, and the group needs diversity. 2) it’s a really interesting way to analyze warriors’ relationship with the crown, given that the sheikah are seemingly bound to serve the royal monarchy regardless of their own personal feelings

- like, he has no choice but to die in service, even though his own destiny is fulfilled—he’s gotta sacrifice even his own morality based off what the crown wants, and i just think it would be rlly neat to explore the negative connotations of the sheikah-hylian relations through warriors

- also i really just think warriors would take off his shoes when he gets into the house

- has all the markings of a southern belle. drinks sweetened ice tea. knows how to stay cool in the heat. sincerely and utterly dramatic in the best possible way

- used to be incredibly self conscious about how he looked when he was a teenager (teen as in, 13-17). only grew to be confident when he joined the army

- he’s unflappable but really you need to give him a routine, because otherwise he just. is not in a good mood for the rest of the day. he likes his things and his time the way they can Be, please

- had to take speech therapy when he got promoted. I’ll die on this hill too. he’s very good at speaking non verbally — sign is soldier language — but to give morale, Impa and zelda wanted him to directly speak to the troops, so to help him not stutter as much, he took speech therapy. yes he still stutters. no nobody makes fun of him. if you make fun of him you’ll Die

- actually is very religious? like. the army is an institution that works closely with the royal family. the royal family is very religious and zelda is typically a high figure in the hylian church as a prophet. institutions r screwing Warriors’ life over LMFAO

- on that being said, though, he’s got a lot of religious things with him that he doesn’t rlly show the others. he understands it’s not really their thing

- but he’s definitely got a prayer wheel stashed in his bag somewhere

- hair is very important to hylians as well, either in a religious or just in a general cultural sense, so he often spends much time on that aspect of his appearance as well

- mostly it’s only wild who gets it

- so. yk

- edit I FORGOT TO MENTIONNNNNN he has a gag gift shirt that someone got him and he literally cannot remember for the LIFW of him who it was. but it reads “DILF (damn i like fishing)”

- he’s contractually obligated to wear a “sorry women” cap