God Games: A Legend of Zelda

Dracozu Lake

Arn's fever broke by the next evening, but the girls still insisted on a slow, gentle start when they got going again the following morning.

"I'm perfectly fine. We could at least go at a trot," Arn complained.

"Shhhhh," Kyta said, grinning good-naturedly. "Arn, we like you in one piece."

"I'd like to make sure Zelda also gets Link back in one piece," Arn countered.

"Why don't you let Zelda worry about keeping Link in one piece, and you can keep her in one piece, and I'll keep you in one piece?" Kyta suggested. She stopped. "Wait, did that track...?"

Arn laughed. "I think so. But that leaves you without someone to look out for you."

"That's why the Yiga taught me to shoot two arrows at once. I'll shoot your problems and mine at the same time," Kyta joked, earning another chuckle.

Slightly ahead, Zelda rolled her eyes a bit at that. Kyta was... well, if someone described her background to Zelda, she would have expected someone quiet, introspective, and perhaps harsh. Kyta could be overly practical and wasn't always observant of others' needs, but the ones she did see she tried to take care of. She was warm and caring by nature, and mainly the effect being cast out for most of her life seemed to have had was making her nervous, not jaded or guarded.

And Arn- Arn was calm and gentle, selfless and intelligent. Had he not chosen the life of a soldier, and had Hyrule still been a more normal kingdom, Zelda thought he might have been rather a good advisor. He wanted to make things better for people- they both did.

She tuned back in and heard Arn and Kyta bickering about... lizards? Were they bickering about lizards?

"Children," she said calmly.

"Sorry," Arn and Kyta said in unison.

Zelda chuckled. "It's a hightail."

"I told you! How did you not know that??" Arn said to Kyta, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

They stopped outside the Shrine of Courage, and Kyta began to set up camp, very firmly telling Arn that while Zelda approached the shrine, she was going to check his arm. Arn was complaining about this when Zelda stepped out of earshot.

Imposing walls of stone rose around her, and without any warning wind raced through, blowing her hair in her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them to see, perhaps unsurprisingly, a shifted scene.

Before her rose Farore- she must have been Farore. She appeared young, her face soft and round, but her posture was straight and firm, her shoulders back. She wore nothing more than a simple dress, pristinely cleaned but a bit frayed at the hems. She was barefoot, unarmored, even sleeveless, but she gripped a bow in one hand and a near-empty quiver hung on her opposite hip. The wind whipped through her wild hair, and brilliant, electric-green eyes met dark, cool green ones.

"Zelda of Hyrule," Farore greeted her, and Zelda remembered too late to bow. Regardless, the goddess smiled slightly.

"Rise," Farore instructed her, and as Zelda obeyed, she continued, "The one who exemplifies my courage stands with you with unquestioning devotion."

"Does that mean you'll help me?" Zelda asked, carefully trying to bury her hope, but it seeped into her tone.

Farore raised one eyebrow and stepped forward. "Not necessarily. What courage have you shown in return?"

Zelda blinked. "I- what?"

"If your knight appealed to me," Farore said, "he would lay before me his feats as proof of his courage. What do you offer me?"