The Third Sword Spirit

Chapter 3 - Realising Mistakes

How could that happen? He was the best knight in all of Hyrule! Things like that happen but this monster wasn't really strong. When I touched his face with my hand he was burning. Link had a fever, it probably is the cause of him being hit by an arrow, he might not have paid attention. I managed to hold him and get him on my horse behind me. The castle wasn't too far away, I would be able to get there before his condition would get even worse than it already was. My horse ran back to the castle with Link and I on his back. I asked on the way for a villager from Kakariko's village to take care of Link's horse while he wasn't there. When I arrived at the castle I called for help and the soldiers took Link to the Infirmary.

I kept blaming myself for what happened and I didn't know he had a fever! I kept asking myself questions about what happened. How could he think that he could handle everything on his own? What if I hadn't been there? What if I left like he asked? Was it all my fault or was it only my fault that he fell the first time, and the other time didn't have anything to do with me?

Zelda came running to me and asked what happened. I explained everything to her, she started to blame herself as well :

"I should have told him to stay here today! I knew he wasn't feeling good yesterday evening."

"Zelda, it's not your fault! It's mine ! If I hadn't followed him, he wouldn't have been there!."

"Both of you, it wasn't your fault, said Impa"

She continued and said :

"Link is the only one to blame, he is the one that didn't listen to the both of you, he thought he could deal with his sickness by himself. And if he got mad at you Lorelley, it's only because he wasn't himself today, he acted the same way towards Princess Zelda."

I felt better with Impa's words but still felt guilty for his ankle because that was actually my fault. When Impa left to get back to her duties, Zelda started to cry, I held her in my arms trying to make her feel better and asked :

"What's wrong?"

"I hate it when he is so stubborn to do everything by himself. He always gets hurt at the end!"

"Do you want to go see him?"

She nodded and we walked to the Infirmary. When we arrived there, Link was still unconscious, he had a fever and got hit by an arrow after all. Zelda and I stayed by his side all day waiting for him to wake up. It was getting really late when Impa told Zelda to go to sleep. Zelda refused but Impa insisted and she took her to her room. I had promised Zelda to make sure Link was okay.

In the middle of the night, Link started to move, he wasn't awake though, he was sweating, and kept moving. He was having a nightmare. I tried to wake him up but he was getting worse. I was about to call someone but he grabbed my hand during his sleep and was holding it tightly. His hand got on my wrist but he was holding too strongly, he was hurting me. I tried to take his hand off but it was impossible, the pain was too strong, tears started rolling down my face.

I was scared he wouldn't let go. After a few minutes of intense pain on my wrist, he woke up abruptly. He seemed lost at first, he was still holding my wrist tightly, when he looked at me, he saw that I was afraid and that he was holding me. He finally let go and asked what was happening.

"Where am I?, he asked"

"You are in the infirmary, I answered"

He wiped my tears and asked :

"Why were you crying?"

Before I answered, he saw my wrist and realised he had been holding it tightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, he said"

"It's fine."

"Let me help you with that"

I was going to say that I was okay but he tried to get up to help me get what I needed. He was still too weak to walk and he fell on the floor. I got up and wanted to help him get back on his bed but he refused.

"I can do it by myself."

"No you can't, stop lying to me and to yourself. You can't do everything alone, just admit it, you need help."

"No, really, I can manage"

"If it wasn't for me you would still be in the lands lying on the floor after getting hit by an arrow and falling unconscious!"

"You were still following me?"

"Is that all you memorised from what I just said? And no, I wasn't following you, I heard some noises and came back."

"But it's your fault if I twisted my ankle!"

"Don't you get it?! You had a fever and you still do! Don't blame everything on me! Even the princess warned you yesterday, but you never listen! You only think about yourself, you don't understand the consequences that it has on people around you! Zelda was worried sick and blamed herself! Stop thinking that you can handle everything by yourself!"

He stopped talking, and was hiding his face from me. He was still on the floor and still didn't ask me to help him or say sorry.

"Well if you don't need anybody, I will take my leave now."

I didn't want to leave him there looking like that but he had to understand what he was doing, he was acting like a child. When I was about to close the door, he said :

"Please, wait. I'm sorry."

I stopped and looked at him. He looked upset and he seemed to be about to cry.

"I do need help..."

When tears started coming to him, I walked back to him and sat beside him.

"You know, it's not because you show everyone that you're the best, that you don't need help. Everybody needs helps sometimes"

"I'm sorry..."

He kept apologising, I never thought I would ever see him so upset and crying, but everybody has weaknesses.

"Calm down, it's going to be okay, I said calmly."

I wiped his tears and took him back to his bed. I thought he would be talking about his problems with Zelda but I guess he was keeping everything to himself.

"Please don't tell any of our conversations to Princess Zelda, I don't want her to know about this side of mine."

"I won't, but I doubt she would ever judge you about that, you know. She would understand."

"Maybe, but I still don't want her to know so please keep it to yourself."

I nodded. We talked for some more time and Link fell asleep. Later he started having another nightmare, I held his hand to try to calm him down and it worked, he was peaceful again. I wondered what kind of nightmare he could have, he seems to be in pain every time he has a nightmare. After many thoughts, it was my turn to fall asleep, while holding Link's hand.