God Games: A Legend of Zelda

Vanishing Act

Link always woke up before Zelda. He seemed programmed to stir at the first trace of light outside their bedroom window. Zelda had tried to convince him to stay in bed longer, when they first got married. Ganondorf was gone, she got to focus on teaching and researching with Purah, and if Link wanted to, he could sleep in.

"But then who would make you breakfast?" Link had responded each time with his gentle little smile, and he'd kissed her forehead and told her to go back to sleep. So she had, only to wake to a brightened sky, delectable scents from downstairs, and the sound of her husband happily humming to himself as he tended the cooking pot.

This morning, the air seemed empty and cold without the scent of food or the sound of Link busying himself. Zelda blinked, and absorbed the lack of sensory input, and then sat up.

She trotted downstairs and looked around. The kitchen appeared undisturbed, almost distressingly neat and tidy, just as Link had left it the night before.

Zelda frowned and went outside. Link did tend to go for a morning ride here and there, but he always told her, and he never did so before breakfast.

Besides, his horse was still in the paddock, a silvery-blue mare with a pale mane and a sweet disposition. Safflina nickered quietly at Zelda, and the princess murmured something or other to her about being a very good horse, running a hand along Safflina's muzzle to comfort her. She stared out at the landscape beyond Hateno, thinking. Perhaps Link had gone shopping for breakfast ingredients and lost track of time.

She headed across the bridge into town to check. The market was beginning to come to life, but there was no sign of Link- no favorite blue tunic, no thick messy hair, no bright searching eyes.

Zelda bit her thumbnail, thinking. She could keep searching Hateno all day and get nowhere, if Link was running around doing something. She needed a better way to track him down.

She snapped her fingers at that, and snapped them a few more times as she turned sharply towards the Hateno tech lab. Purah traveled back and forth between her old lab and Lookout Landing with enough frequency now that Zelda figured she could either find or contact her there.

She barged right in. "Purah?" She called out hopefully.

The resultant crash and shriek above told Zelda that Purah was in fact in, and she smiled a little in spite of herself.

Purah slid down the ladder to the second story. "Princess Zelda!" The inventor said, brushing herself off. "What in the world has you in such a panic? I could have heard you from Lookout Landing, coming in here yelling like that."

"I'm sorry, Purah," Zelda said, "but I can't find Link anywhere and I was hoping you could track his Purah Pad. It's not like him to run off like this."

Purah frowned. "That it most certainly is not," she conceded. "Not to worry, Princess, I can track him in a snap." She went over to a desk and activated a large screen- a newer installation, Zelda thought, and quite impressive. She tapped a number of buttons and runes, and the device's glow flickered as it gave a warbling couple of beeps.

Purah blinked, then tapped a finger against her chin, thinking. "Your instincts appear to be correct, Princess," she said. "My tracker can't find him. I have signal repeaters all over Hyrule. I should be able to see exactly where he is. His Pad has been damaged so thoroughly the automatic transponder ping has been disabled."

Zelda gasped softly, covering her mouth.

"I think we can officially say that Link has gone missing," Purah concluded. "I'll contact the sages and see if they've seen him. Don't worry. We'll figure this out. In the meantime, we'll need to figure out another way to track Link down."

"Thank you, Purah," Zelda said, then quickly left.

She walked through Hateno, lost in thought, and nearly ran clear into a guard.

"Oh!" she put a hand over her heart. "My apologies. I was lost in thought."

The young man blinked and studied her, seeming concerned. "The guards have been saying you've been acting oddly this morning, Your Highness," he said. "Are you all right? Can we assist you with something?"

Zelda chewed on the tips of her hair. "I... possibly," she admitted. "I may be needing to travel soon. Normally Link would go with me, but, well... he's the reason I'd need to be traveling in the first place."

"He's missing?" The guard inferred quietly, eyes widening- he was quick, Zelda noted with some appreciation.

"I don't want to start a panic," Zelda said, "but he seems to be."

The young man thought on that, eyes darting- they were a peculiar shade, almost a grayish seafoam blue-green.

He looked up at her again. "With your permission, Princess, I'd like to accompany your efforts to find him. I can help keep this quiet and protect you until he is able to do so."

Zelda straightened. "Your assistance would be greatly appreciated," she said. "What is your name?"

He fidgeted with his light armor briefly. "Arn, Your Highness," he said. "I'm Arn."

"Well then, Arn," Zelda said, "we're headed west. Purah will contact me if she hears anything."

"I suppose I should retrieve my horse?" Arn guessed. "Where do you want me to meet you?"

"Just outside the gate leading into town," Zelda instructed him, and Arn nodded once before heading off.

Zelda sighed when he had gone, and headed home to retrieve her own steed. All she wanted was to find Link as quickly as possible. There was a sick feeling wound up in her stomach she never thought she'd had to feel again- she'd wished never to have to.

She hesitated with her hand on Glori's saddle- it was at times like this she regretted having such a flashy horse. She'd have to leave Glori here, she supposed.

Instead, Zelda saddled Safflina, talking to her quietly. She rode slowly out to the edge of town, making a pretense of visiting friends out of town to anyone who asked.

Arn was apparently the type to obey orders in a snappy fashion, and was already waiting, holding a deep gray-brown stallion by the reins.

He nodded to Zelda as she approached and slung himself into his saddle. Zelda noted he'd changed to more informal, leather traveling armor over a gray shirt. Good. That would draw very little attention.

"I'll follow where you lead," he said, and Zelda urged Safflina forward, into the west.