New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 11 - Alone Where Shadows Lie

It was not lost on me that Link only promised to find us, not that he would return unscathed or unhurt or even all in one piece. But for now, we fled. It was all we could do.

It was also not lost on me that I had no idea where I was going, nor how far I would need to go until we were effectively safe. But for now, we continued into the forest. It was all we could do.

It was, of course, not lost on me that everything was out of my hands now. I was not fighting because I could not fight, so all I could do was run. Link's safety is on him and him alone - no help, no assistance, not even his horse to ensure he was as mobile as he fought mounted units...

I never felt more useless. Actually, I felt worse than useless, because I had taken with me his only method of being on equal footing with those monsters. I mean, fighting monsters was one thing, but fighting those on horseback was another, even with a steed. So without one, how could he possibly...?

Hylia, this was awful. With each stride further into the forest, towards safety yet away from Link and any possibility of offering him help, the pit in my stomach grew deeper and deeper. I felt sick, almost physically so, though I knew it was all just anxiety, ripples of doubt and lingering worry merging together and coalescing into this awful miasmic mess localized entirely in my stomach.

But maybe... Maybe I could salvage this, somehow. I could not fight, at least not yet, or at least not effectively, but I could at the very least stay close, close enough that even after a long fight he could reach us, yet far away enough to be safe in the event he had to flee the monsters or had unknowingly led others to the site of the battle.

The fighting was not in my hands - but that did not mean that nothing was left to me. It wasn't much, but I would do something, anything, all that I could do.

"Alright, girl," I said to Epona, tugging back slightly on her reins, urging her to slow. She did so willingly, snorting a little as she did. "I think we've gone far enough, haven't you?" I chanced a glance behind us as I sat up straighter in the saddle. "No, perhaps not. Just a little further, Epona."

She continued trotting along, the bouncy, rhythmic gait falling away into little more than a simple mindless sensation I acknowledged only in the very back of my mind along with nearly everything else. In all my ruminations, in my planning for what I wanted to do and my lamentations for all that I could not do, I could not focus on the scenic nature of the woods we were in.

Necluda's lands were, of course, gorgeous. I knew that while living in Hateno, but as far as these new, beautiful areas - I never knew any of this existed. Looking at a map was nothing compared to the real thing, because a map was flat paper, noting only tiny details - "important" details, to a traveler. But far more important, far more interesting, was this: the reality.

And damn, if this wasn't breathtaking, and it was only a forest, one of Hyrule's many. But it was unique, because only this forest had these trees, these animals, these worn paths crisscrossing through it. That patch of flowers, hiding tucked beneath the underbrush, was one that I had never seen before and likely never would ever again - and still, I could not focus on it. I couldn't, in all my worry.

There was only one thing I could do as I focused on a point far, far to my left - a thunderstruck tree, bare of bark and naked of leaves - and that was to ensure I knew what I could and would do. I was forced to settle for that, just for now.

So, I would do well. I would make damn sure of that.

I did notice, barely acknowledging the fact that my focal point was now obscured by a denser grouping of trees, that beneath the thick canopy of trees, it was gradually growing darker. The sun was starting to set, and with it, all sunlight was being seeped from the land and would soon be replaced with shadow and for the land that was lucky, moonlight.