Chapter 1: Return to the Wild

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Snow fell through the dark sky and landed on the ground, piling up more and more as it always did on Mount Lanayru. There weren't any ice-breath lizalfos or moblins or even ice chuchus on the mountain. In fact, there were barely any monsters in Hyrule anymore. The Great Calamity had been defeated nearly six months ago and the people of the land had all but cleared the monsters as well as the malice that stained the ground. There was also no blood moon to summon them back. Having no monsters in the kingdom was fantastic, but finding monster parts was becoming more and more challenging. Each village had their own supply and would borrow from each other when needed. Nevertheless, no one had any supply of ice chuchu jelly, which could be used for heat induced illnesses.

A cold breath broke through the frigid air, followed by a pair of footsteps. The figure was dressed in full snowquill attire with a sword and bow on its back. The person seemed to be winded, as if it had been wandering for a while. The person continued around the turns and cliffs of the mountain in search of... something. It started to climb up a particular steep incline, but it seemed to not be a problem. The person cleared the cliff as if it was the thousandth one it had done. As it reached the top, a sigh of relief drew from its mouth.

Six ice chuchus were rolling around a tall tree not far from where the person was. It was a miracle: no one had seen a monster in a long time.

The wanderer obviously knew that these chuchus could freeze people in close encounters so it drew its bow and took out an arrow. He let it fly and followed the arrow with his eyes to one of the monsters. It immediately burst, leaving some jelly behind. In five more swift movements, they were all gone, leaving the jelly that was needed. The adventurer approached the dropped jelly, but stopped in his tracks. He turned his head slowly in all directions, as if he was listening for something.

"..."

"link..."

"Link..."

"Link, I hope that you have found some ice jelly up there. Her condition is starting to worsen and I'm not sure if she'll last through to the morning. Hurry, Link. Please."

He let out a long sigh and took off his hood.

Link

—————

Hero of Hyrule

Link walked forward and gathered up the jelly. He took a look around to see if there were any more monsters he had missed. After a minute, he took out his Sheikah Slate. He thanked the Goddess he had remembered to place his travel medallion near Hateno Village. Most of the shrines had sunk back into the ground after Ganon had been vanquished. They had served their purpose in aiding the hero to seal the darkness. The towers remained, though, as landmarks for the people of Hyrule. Link took one last look up, and quickly teleported to Hateno Village.

As soon as he materialized he dashed through the nighttime air to the inn, which was the only building with a light on. He burst through the door and surveyed the inside. A blonde haired girl, his age, was waiting just inside and leapt up to him.

"Please tell me you have-"

Link cut her off by taking the ice chuchu jelly from his pouch and handing it to her. She took it and rushed to one of the tables next to a bed where Purah lay. Symin was there, too. He watched anxiously as she put some of the jelly into the mixture that was in the bowl.

Purah's small body was shaking and sweating profusely on one of the beds.

"Purah," the girl started calmly. "This should ease the pain for now. By morning you should be back to normal." She put the bowl up to her lips and tipped it back so Purah could drink the elixir.

"Thank you two," Purah said weakly after she had finished drinking. Link nodded.

"And never travel without telling me again!" Symin pleaded. "And to Death Mountain no less!"

"I agree with Symin," the girl added. "What were you even doing up there?"

"Well, I have no more guardians to experiment with." Purah's voice was already noticeably better. "I was hoping the volcano would hold some mysteries to be solved."

The blonde smiled at her answer. It was fitting of Purah to always want something to do. "Well, we've learned our lesson, haven't we? Symin, you're sure you're ok staying with her?"

"Oh, of course, princess. It's no problem," Symin answered. "We'll head back up in the morning as well if you want to check on her."

The princess continued to smile. "Thank you, Symin. Goodnight."

She turned around and walked towards Link by the doorway.

"Link! Where did you even find these?" she asked. "How did you know where to look?"

Link shrugged. He honestly had no idea how he had found it.

"The Goddess must have blessed us then. Thank you so much," she said as a grateful smile grew on her face.

"You're welcome, Zelda," he returned the smile.

Zelda

——————

Princess of Hyrule

Link covered his mouth to conceal his yawn: it was now almost 1:00 am. Link had been searching for the jelly for around 3 hours and Zelda had stayed to keep watch after Purah.

Zelda lightly laughed. "I'm tired, too. Let's get to bed."

They walked out of the inn side by side toward Link's house. After the Calamity was defeated Zelda had no place to call home. Hyrule Castle as well as the town were all completely destroyed. Zelda had hired Hudson to be chief constructor overseeing the repair of both places. Work had gone fast seeing that Hudson had hired everyone from everywhere to help. Rito, Goron, Zora and Gerudo were all involved in the repair. They all felt that they owed it to Zelda and the kingdom as a whole. But before the castle could be complete, Link had offered his own home to Zelda. She was reluctant to accept but she eventually gave in. She was even more reluctant when Link gave up his own bed for her. She argued and argued but Link wouldn't budge. So Zelda slept on Link's bed at the top of the stairs, and Link had made a little makeshift room for himself under the stairs. The pair stepped into the cozy house.

"You know," Zelda said as she went up the stairs, "I still feel guilty every time I get in y-"

Link smiled and put his hand up. He had heard her say this for months now.

"But I feel bad forcing you to sleep on the ground under the stairs. Isn't it small?"

Link looked at his "room." A sleeping pad given by Teba was on the ground and his clothes were on the boxes to the right. He smiled up at her and shook his head no. "I'm fine," he assured her.

Zelda smiled back at him. "Ok." She walked towards the bed and turned back to him. "Well, goodnight Link."

Link nodded. "Goodnight, Zelda."

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