A Hero's Ballad

Chapter 1: The Knight

 I clenched my fists in anger, trying to contain my temper. "Father." I said as controlled as I could, "I do not need a knight. I can take care of myself."

My father sighed, shaking his head at me, "Zelda, we are not debating this. He has been assigned as your royal knight. And that's final."

"But father!" I protested, "I-"

"I said that was final." His voice cut me off and he gave me a stern look, "End of discussion." I bit my lip, anger coursing through me. The last thing I needed was a babysitter. "It may not be ideal, but with the foretold return of Calamity Ganon, we can not take any chances."

"I know that." I replied.

"Do you?" He asked, arching an eyebrow, "Because still you cannot access your powers. You need to work harder, Zelda."

I swallowed hard and looked away, dread filling me. "Yes, of course father. I will try harder."

He frowned at me. "I hope so and this isn't another empty promise."

I clenched my fists harder, holding back the anger inside me. "I will try harder, Father. I promise."

"Good. You are dismissed, Zelda. Tomorrow we will have the knighting ceremony."

I gave a stiff nod and then turned to leave the sanctum, my blood boiling. I stalked off to my room and once I was inside I shed the formal clothes I wore to council with my father... or rather have him order me around. I quickly slipped on a sports bra and a set of joggers, deciding to go for a long run as I needed to get out of the castle and release the pent up anger. Physical exertion always helped me control my temper.

Pulling my long blonde hair into a ponytail, I slipped out of my room and down the hallway. Exiting the castle, I began to jog, easing into the exercise. As I ran along, I passed by the knights training grounds. I gave a quick glance over at the knights training, wondering if the knight that had been assigned to me was there training currently. I grimaced and sped up, wanting to put as much distance between myself and this knight as possible.

Apparently he was supposed to be one of the best knights in the kingdom... Father had said something about being chosen by a special sword, but I wasn't paying much attention as I was too furious to really care. How dare he just assign a knight to me without any discussion on my end. And then he belittled me, accusing me of not working hard enough to unlock these stupid powers I possessed.

I increased my pace as these thoughts raced through my head, the anger fueling me along. I ran across Hyrule field, happy to be alone and away from the castle. No matter how hard I tried, the sage powers that were passed down to me by my mother continued to elude me. Sometimes I wondered if perhaps the powers had died with my mother and I was just an empty vessel, bound to disappoint the entire kingdom.

And that's why I had tried to find other ways to be useful to the kingdom. I had studied hard and had trained even harder. If I didn't have any special powers, then I could at least be knowledgeable on how to lead my kingdom and strategize in battle as well as look into potential technology that could help my people. Father had called most of it a waste of time, but he had thankfully left my education up to me as long as I kept up with my princess duties... which in all actuality mainly involved looking like an obedient daughter and smiling at father's side.

As for the training... Well it was only thanks to mother that I was able to continue with that, albeit father always managed to bring up his disdain for it. She had always said it was important for me to strengthen my body and my mind. And so I had learned martial arts from a young age and eventually took up the bow.