Before the Wild

Vale Rex Hyrule

Rhoam

"Oh Tetra... Forgive me for what I have done to our child."

Seventeen years ago, Zelda Nohansen Hyrule was born. He remembered every detail of Zelda's birth; the moment Queen Tetra went into labor, the many hours he had to bear her screams, the final pushes she made to expel their child, and the first moment he laid eyes on their heir. He also remembered the first words he said, and now that he reminiscent that moment, it reminded him of another king in Hyrulean history, one who divorced one wife and beheaded another due to his lack of a son, but were given daughters instead.

"I always wanted a son."

An hour later, he knew just why Zelda was born. For the last decade, he did his best to prepare her and Hyrule for Ganon. The Divine Beasts, the Guardians, the Champions, all to prevent his kingdom's destruction. But in his duty as king to protect his world, at the same time he had neglected his duty as a father to protect his daughter. Hard days were all she had known growing up ever since her mother died, but Rhoam didn't know what to do. Tetra was supposed to teach Zelda, guide her, but the damned Yiga... Curse them traitors.

He doesn't remember once where he was anything but commanding of Zelda. She truly had done everything he had asked for her for ten years, slaving for the divine power that was her birthright, yet it evades her all the same. He had put Link at her side, hoping the Hero of Hyrule would inspire and assist, yet that had not only backfired in the beginning, not even their current friendship had any effect. Now, as she made the journey on this day up Mount Lanayru (unaware of Link's previous plan), Rhoam sat in his study alone, praying to every god, goddess, and his wife for forgiveness as he wrote in his journal.

"I have been told my Zelda went to the Spring of Wisdom... This will likely be her last chance. If she is unable to awaken her power at Lanayru, all hope is truly lost. If she comes back without success, then I shall speak kindly with her. Scolding is pointless now. I forced 10 years of training on her... and after all that, it seems her power will stubbornly awaken some other way. Perhaps I should encourage her to keep researching her beloved relics. They may just lead her to answers I can't provide. For now, I sit anxiously, more a father than a king in this moment. I sit and await my daughter's return."

As soon as pen lifted from paper, Rhoam's world was broken.

.........

Rusl

The young recruits assembled around and within the Akkala Citadel, enjoying the freedom of the afternoon before they are to knighted. At the citadel's top, Rusl stood alone, his eyes on the men and women who in less in a day will join the defense of Hyrule. Next year, had the king not called him up, would have been Link's knighting ceremony. Instead, his son was at home in Hateno with his family and the Princess, while he was here in the shadow of Death Mountain. Rusl didn't think heroes got time off, but when your boss is just as willing to slack off...

"Sir." Rusl turned around, finding himself joined by Lady Ashei, the former personal knight of Queen Tetra, now the leader of the king's special forces. He nodded his head in greeting as she walked up to join him. "You know, I think without the king you're a lonely bastard. Your son left you. You don't visit your family as much. You just...look out to the castle."

"My life has always been at the king's side, ever since he married the then-Princess Tetra and succeeded her father. It would be hard to imagine it without Rhoam. Sure you thought the same with Tetra."

"Yes, Hylia bless her soul."

"If only she was with us now, maybe Zelda would have her power."

"You think the mountain will give us a final answer."