[EDITING] The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Overworld Chapter 1 - Stable Boy

...in a town called Eveningale Village. Eveningale was small, a farming village, nestled on the outskirts of the Deku Forest. Normally, people would pass by a village like Eveningale. What spared it this fate was because it housed the Knights' Academy, the training grounds for the Royal Knights of Hyrule.

Young would-be's would flock to Eveningale in the summer months, when traveling was easiest. The railroad and the roads were clear snow and spring melt, and the Field itself was filled with bright summer rays and cool moonlit nights. Cadets would arrive on foot and horse and rail and any other means that would bring them.

Now, in the late months of spring, Eveningale was preparing itself for this rush. Shopkeepers ordered extra stock from Castle Town. Farmers harvested their spring crops, and prepared to take their animal produces in for the market. The Rustle Creek Inn cleaned its bed and board, ready for the tired young cadets, and many of their wealthier accompaniment to fill during the first weeks and trials it would bring.

Not to mention the Academy itself. The Academy hired stable hands and farm boys from throughout the local farmhands, preparing for the new arrivals. Knights began to polish their armor daily again, practice in the field. Masters reviewed their notes and lessons, debating on how to improve since last year.

There was, of course, the problem of Link.

This wasn't to say Link was considered a problem to anyone in Eveningale. He was by far the best help anyone could hire. Nearly all the children looked up to him, and envied him (having a hollowed-out tree as a home did gather some attention). And as a pupil, Link learned quickly from anyone who would teach him, particularly when it came to work with his hands, fieldwork and swordcraft in particular.

But Link was nameless, bearing no family name, and according to the customs of Hyrule, Link could never be a knight, and could not train at the Academy. Which was a genuine shame, because the orphaned young man was a master with the blade. No one understood why combat came so easily to him, or ever considered that it could be because he shared the namesake of every hero in the history of their country. A lot of people shared the same name, though few also had a natural skill for combat.

The people of Eveningale were, after all, a simple kind of people. They weren't eager to stick their heads into the troubles that plagued their country, and they locked their doors at night to keep the creatures out. Most of the villagers didn't know how to fight at all, despite the Academy being so central to many of their lives. Which made it an even more frustrating shame that Link was not allowed to train at the Academy.

Link was allowed to work on the Academy grounds though. Some people thought this was so he could train in secrecy, and that Head Master Kaepora, the Old Owl as he was nicknamed, trained with Link at night. No body mention this though, and certainly not to the Head Master. It was probably because no one had an argument with Link learning to fight. As monsters became more common these days, available fighters, even nameless ones, were welcome.

Now, on the eve of the summer rush, Link groomed Sir Duwan's battle horse. It was a pretty, light gray charger, a little larger for the extra weight the knight had put on since his position at the Academy. The horse snorted, and Link chuckled under his breath, before hiding a pair of apples beneath the hay in the horse's trough, as if to say, "My condolences."

The horse followed with something that sounded like laughter, but only Link would have imagined something like that. He had figured that sooner or later he would travel to Lon Lon Ranch, northwest of Eveningale, to work horses. He had a way with animals, a simple gift that let him settle even the unruliest of creatures. And if there was no road to pursue here, there was becoming less of a reason to stay.