I Live to Serve

Chapter #12: I'm a Fisherman

Link's extended daytime nap didn't prevent him from falling asleep quickly. Whatever ailment plagued his body knew no logic or reason. He could sleep for half a day and then return to a slumber without any recent labor giving him reason to be so tired.

For the first time in over 100 years, Link had a dream.

He sometimes caught snippets of useless imaginary images during the night, but for the past months on end he had slept so lightly and briefly that he hadn't really experienced anything concrete when he closed his eyes. That wasn't the case this evening. When Link's eyes closed, a vivid scene flooded into the crevices of his mind.

He was sitting in a boat. The waters that surrounded him were so vast that he couldn't see land in any direction. The wind blew into the sail that cut up through the watercolor blue sky. Beside him in the boat was a little Hylian child holding a fishing rod. A grumpy scowl rested on her face.

"I can't catch nothin'!" the little blonde girl huffed. She wagged the fishing rod indignantly.

"We've only been out here an hour," Link said. He spoke freely, as if he knew already what to say. The breeze was gentle, and the sun was generous. He leaned back in the boat against a wooden crate.

"Well, we don't got all day!" the little girl retorted annoyedly. She peered up at Link with furrowed eyebrows.

"We do, actually," Link mused. His eyes traced the fluffy white shapes in the sky. A cow, a flower... "We've got all day."

Link woke up much earlier than Paya. Once the first of the birds started to sing at 5 in the morning, he was wrestled out of his dream. He looked around incoherently for a moment before rising quietly. He slipped on his shoes and glanced over at his companion. Curled up and sleeping, as was to be expected. It was still dark out.

The remnants of the dream floated through his mind. He knew full well that dreams were full of nonsense. Nothing in that dream resembled any hint of reality. He couldn't even imagine it having taken place in the distant-dream part of his lifetime. Who was that little child? When would he have ever had nothing to do all day except look for shapes in the clouds? Foolish. Impossible.

And yet it nagged on him like a piece of cloth caught on a hook.

He crept out of the stable quietly. He wouldn't go far, of course, but he could collect the ingredients for a halfway decent breakfast. Link fancied himself to be a better cook than anyone at any stable... though that wasn't a hard bar to reach.

After some investigating of the local landscape, he was able to collect a few eggs and mushrooms. Nothing too fancy, but he felt satisfied at the idea of serving fried eggs on rice with steamed mushrooms.

The sun hadn't yet risen above the horizon when he finished, and so Link set to preoccupying himself while Paya had the chance to rest. After another hour of collecting mushrooms, he found himself bored over the endeavor. It was almost amusing to be bored, in an ironic sort of way. He never really had had the privilege of being bored before. Not that he could remember.

As the sun slowly crept up into the sky, Link returned to the stable and sat on his rented bed. After briefly checking on his companion, he retrieved his Sheikah Slate and opened up his log.

One Zora wanted frogs. Another, assistance delivering a letter. Luminous stones. Various deliveries and chores. He couldn't help but smile at the simplicity of it all. It was work fit for a young delivery boy being paid for odd jobs, and yet the familiar course of anxiety that had grown comfortable in his body didn't stir thinking about it. They could make it to Zora's Domain by the afternoon, and he could get set on his tasks.