Chapter Three

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"There, Pepper has her apple!" You said proudly. Link was waiting outside as he and Epona watched you indeed give Pepper her apple, "Great! Now we go to Kakariko," He said. Your stomach dropped, but in happiness or fear? You didn't know. You hadn't been to Kakariko since you left, you looked kind of different, but no doubt would they recognize you. Right?

"Do you have your own horse?" Link asked, you shook your head.

"Despite being around horses for a while, I still don't have one," You said, Link pondered for a moment, then he smiled brightly, "Then I guess you can ride with me, princess." You blinked then flushed a deep red as he put your small bag on Epona, "Link, I-I'm not a princess!" He pouted, "Accept my compliment, Y/N!" 

You looked at him, feeling a weird feeling in your stomach, one you've never had before, but shook it off. You smiled at his child-like behavior, "I have to tell the stable manager I'm leaving, I'll be right back!" You said, he watched you jog off. Epona leaned her head down, "We'll leave soon, don't worry girl," Link patted her neck and fed her an apple, which she gladly took.

Link looked over to see you walking to him, "All done! I got my month's pay, too!" you smiled.

"Great!" He said, he jumped on Epona and held his hand out, "Mi'lady?"

You blushed and shyly took his hand, he pulled you up on Epona behind him. It's been a while since you've ridden a horse, so you'd have to get used to it again.

"Hold on tight, Y/N," said Link, which snapped you from your thoughts, "To wha--" You let out a not-so-ladylike scream as Epona suddenly took off down the dirt road. Nearly falling off, you grabbed what was closest to you (which was Link) and held on for dear life. Link adjusted your arms to where they were wrapped around his waist, "Better, Y/N?" He looked back at you and smiled, you nodded with a blush on your face, "Y-Yeah... better!" You choked out. And with that, you were both on your way to Kakariko Village, your home.

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Impa was really happy to see you again, as well as Paya. They both wanted to know about your "adventure" at the stable, which deemed disappointing to the both of them, but you didn't mind. You'd be traveling with the Hero of Hyrule right after Impa talked with him, privately. 

Meanwhile, you and Impa went around the market to see if there was anything good out. You bought some goat butter and carrots from an old lady at the shop and some arrows (and fire arrows as a surprise but SHH) for Link. Paya led you to a new clothing shop called "Enchanted" and walked inside. There, you saw a Stealth set and the Hylian Traveler's set. 

"My Hylia, what on earth are you wearing, girl?!" Said a voice behind the counter. You looked down at your stable tunic and cringed, "This is--was my work clothes..." You said, embarrassed. There was no one selling clothes between Dueling Peaks and Kakariko unless you went a day's travel to Hateno Village, so you had to stick with your old work clothes. 

"Well, I can trade you about... 50 rupees for those clothes." the lady said. You looked in your rupee pouch, "How much is the whole set together?" You asked.

"270 rupees," she said after a long pause of doing the math in her head. You had about 300 rupees left over, and with the extra rupees from your old clothes it shouldn't be a problem. Where else would you get clothes?

"Okay, I'll take them," You said. The lady took the set off the mannequin and handed them to you, "Alrighty, go try them on!"

After fumbling around with the tunic, you stepped out of the changing room. Paya clapped her hands together happily, "You look like a real traveler, Y/N!"

"Thanks, Paya. It feels really comfortable, too," you said, "It's been a couple of hours, Link and Impa should be done talking by now." Paya nodded. You two head back to the elders house, and there he was. Link was sitting on the steps in a new blue tunic. He looked ... conflicted. 

"Hi, Link," You said, Paya hid behind you and peeked over your shoulder, "H-Hi Master L-Link!" she sputtered out, immediately hiding her face behind her hands. He looked up and smiled, "Hey, you're back."

"I hope we didn't make you wait long," you said, he shook his head, "I just came back out," His eyes dropped down to the bag at your side, "OOOH is that dinner?!" He asked excitedly, you smiled, "Mmmaybe~" He only got more excited, and his stomach growled, "W-when is dinner?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Soon, Link. Is there anything else we need to do?" He shook his head, "Just get a room a the inn," Paya jumped up, "R-Room?! A-Aren't you t-two a l-little young t-to..." You and Link screamed out in protest, telling her it wasn't like that AT ALL. She seemed to have calmed down, almost relieved, "O-oh, my a-apologies..." she stuttered, you hugged your best friend and bid her farewell, promising to say goodbye before you left tomorrow.

Before booking a room at the Inn, Link stopped by the goddess statue to pray, you tilted your head, "Link? What are you doing?" He turned and looked at you, "Praying," he said simply, you nodded your head once, he continued, "You don't?" You shook your head. 

You had prayed every day to the goddesses when you were young to give you a normal life, maybe someone to look up to, but no one came. Your life only got harder and the days grew longer. So you stopped praying and gave up hope.

"I guess I never got back into it," You excused yourself, Link got up and looked at you, "I guess it's not for everyone," He said, and you made you way to the inn. 

After settling your items next to the bed, you made your way out to the cooking pot and made meat and rice balls, to which Link obviously enjoyed. You both then went to the room and got ready for bed, "Where to tomorrow, Link?" you asked, "Hateno village, Impa told me to seek out Hateno Ancient tech lab."

Your face ran cold, last time you tried to go to Hateno, it didn't end well. You gripped your fathers necklace under your tunic and your other hand over your left eye, reminiscing of the horrors from that day. You weren't looking forward to this, but you had to get over your fears if you wanted to go out into the world...

And so you'd go.

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After bidding farewell to Paya and Impa a second time, you and Link set off. You felt horrible. You didn't sleep well, you had tossed and turned all night not looking forward to today. Your skin was pale and you felt uneasy. Link took notice and tried to get you to eat, but you gently refused. You had left him concerned. 

He helped you onto Epona and headed down the road with you. He turned to check on you every so often. You looked worse and worse. 

"Y/N, you're concerning me--" He turned his head to see your face pale with tears raining from your beautiful eyes. Link stopped Epona and got down, he carried you off and held you, "Y/N, what happened? Are you alright??" He asked worriedly, and you shook your head, "My parents... they died... here... eleven years ago..."

Link's stomach dropped. Had he known about your parents, he would have left you at Kakariko and came back for you.

But he didn't know.

All he could do is comfort and hold the delicate flower closely as she was was weeping in his arms.

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A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait, I had a long weekend with finishing up my drive times and hanging out with my dad on fathers day. I know some of this chapter was pretty boring but I promise it'll get better!

And I just want to say I got over 30 reads! I'm so happy you all enjoy this story so far! Thank you all for reading

Until next chapter

-Sabyr

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