The Legend of Zelda: Cursebreaker

The Lost Companion

Zelda woke before the dawn and started the day with a few rudimentary exercises to keep herself from getting stiff. Link still slept, and she figured that he likely wouldn't wake until the sun rose in a little over an hour. The woods were still within sight, and she figured that if she took Epona she could make it there, gather firewood and edible tubers, and be back in fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops, and setting up a fire and cooking something would give her something to do while she waited for Link to wake up.

Though, she rather disliked the idea of leaving him here alone and completely vulnerable. But then, she'd figured them close enough to the woods and far enough away from the nearest settlement that she hadn't felt the need to take turns on watch, so it wasn't like he was any less safe than he had been all night... That, and if she foraged food now rather than taking it from their supplies it might save them trouble later in the event they needed extra rations.

Her course of action decided, she found a surprising obstacle in the form of Epona. The mare had seemed gentle enough with Link at the reins, but now...! Zelda tried to approach the mare with her bridle only for the horse to snort and turn away, ears turned back and pressed flat against her head. When she followed Epona's movement, thinking the creature was just being shy, it was only sharp reflexes that saved her from being bitten as the beast lashed out.

Her eyes narrowed, unsure of what to do. Was it just that this horse was touchy, or were all horses vicious? Was it how she'd approached Epona, had she done something wrong? She knew in theory how to tack a horse but she'd never done so herself, and had no idea if there was a right or wrong way to approach the creatures. Regardless, she decided that she probably had about half an hour to figure it out if she wanted to be back and have a fire going by the time her companion woke up.

But it seemed that fate had decided that she would have no chance to redeem herself with Epona, as she heard the shifting and rustling of fabric from Link's bedroll before he spoke up. His voice rough with sleep but alert, and tinged with suspicion. "... Sheik? What are you doing with Epona?"

Zelda turned to face him, bridle in her hands and embarrassment in her eyes. Though it had made it a tad difficult to go to sleep, she was grateful she'd left her cowl on in case her face went red. "... I was hoping to have breakfast ready before you woke." The suspicion faded, a tenseness leaving his shoulders, and it was belatedly that she realized he probably thought she'd been trying to steal his horse. She very deliberately set the bridle down and crossed to the other side of camp to begin packing her bedroll, putting herself as far from Epona as she could.

"Oh, ok." And with that he got out of his bedroll and started getting ready for the day's journey himself, just like that. The one time he'd showed reasonable suspicion, and he'd dropped it just like that. But then, when she thought about it, she was being unfair to him: Her bedroll hadn't been packed yet, and if she'd intended to leave for anything other than a short trip it would've been. Then there was also the likelihood that she would have left earlier, probably in the middle of the night... And that if she really wanted to harm him, she'd had plenty of chances to do so already. So either he was a fool, or he was very smart. For both their sakes, Zelda decided to continue operating under the assumption of the former.

Since Link was now awake, she decided it would be better for them to hit the road rather than spend an hour or so making a breakfast of more than trail fare. "Now that you're awake, we should try to cover as much ground as possible." Her companion nodded in agreement, now working to re-tack his horse. Though she could remember very little of life outside the woods, she did know that it could take a few weeks on foot to travel from the Sacred Grove to Castle Town.