New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 13 - The Dueling Peaks

"So," I began as I folded my bedding up, "what are your plans once you make it to Kakariko?"

"You mean when we get to Kakariko," Link supplied, smiling at me from where he stood by Epona, getting her breakfast ready.

"Mm," I hummed, considering it. "Right, I guess. When we get to Kakariko, then?"

"Well," he began, sitting back on his heels as he went through his own belongings in a crouch, "while you visit your parents, I have to visit with Impa."

"Oh," I said right away, "I wasn't really planning on, you know..."

"Visiting your parents?" At that, he lowered himself to sit with a cloak and tied bundle of provisions in his lap, and looked at me directly, his curiosity and surprise clear on his face. "Why?"

"Ah, well," I said sheepishly, "I kinda... Let's just say they're expecting me to be at home. If I show up out of the blue in Kakariko, they might not be too happy with me."

"Really? They won't want to see you?"

"They're my parents," I started to explain, "and they do love me, but when they left Hateno, it was under the understanding that I would remain there on the family property, and with me gone, well..."

"I don't really get it..."

"Honestly, neither do I," I admitted. "It's a lot of... expectations, should I say, placed on me."

"Seems unfair to me."

"I..."

I agree.

But I had remained there for so long, did I really still have the right to say that? Could I really admit to something that I'd always felt, if I pushed it down for so long?

Link had been the catalyst for my desire to adventure, for my desire to pay him back for saving my life weighed far more to me than the potential dangers of doing so did. Link had been the catalyst, having my life be in danger yet conversely not feeling as though I would lose my life, the one I'd sheltered for so long...

I'd remained in Hateno.

I'd sheltered myself.

I had abided by my parents' wish for me.

No one else had but myself.

Link had been the catalyst, but there have been some supplementary factors. That tunic being gifted to me, Leah pressing me for answers on what I wanted to do, my growing restlessness, my want to find out for myself what Hyrule looked like, what had happened to that poor, selfless hero that had supposedly given his life to save Hyrule...

Link had been the catalyst, but what he had done was irreversible.

He had made those many small things seem large, forced me to think about them, to think about my life.

So... I did agree. It was unfair for my family to have decided my life for me. It was unfair of me to believe I didn't have a choice. It was unfair of me to provide myself a choice, but force myself to stay.

It was unfair...

And I would humor it no longer.

When Link figured I wasn't going to answer, he turned back towards what he was doing. I stood silently, and on quiet feet, quieter than I thought possible, passed through the clearing towards the underbrush and woods beyond, but paused mid step when Link spoke, his words drifting easily through the air towards me.

"I know it's not my business," he said carefully, "and I don't mean to overstep. But your life is your own. No one should, or should even be allowed to, make decisions for you. Sorry if that's unwarranted. But I learned that... too late."