Links Champions: Breath of the Wild

Part 3: Zelda

Zelda was concerned about Link. On there way back to Hyrule, he'd almost fallen asleep once or twice on Epona and she'd have to backtrack on her own horse and gently nudge him awake lest she startle him.

There journey back so far had been relatively uneventful, only having to deal with wolves once and a while. 

They where on a road, when she noticed Link was starting to fall asleep again, but jerked his head up as if realizing he'd almost fallen asleep.

Zelda backtracked fo fall into step with him. "Let's take a break, shall we?" She said  and halted her horse. Link shook his head and pointed, telling her to keep going. Zelda sighed, irritated.

"You look exhausted. We should rest." She said and took hold of Eponas reigns, forcing Link to stop. She lead the both of them off the road under a tree and told him she wanted to let the horses graze.

"Let's sit for a little while. We can both use a rest." She said and sat on the grass, taking out the Sheika slate she always carried. Link wasn't even sure how she used it.

Link sat down on the grass, back against the tree, wondering why they stopped, despite his eyes his eyes feeling heavy as soon as he sat down. He felt his chin droop and Zelda looked in his direction.

"Are you alright, Link?" She asked. He nodded, jerking his head up and not wanting her to worry. She sighed, not sure how to deal with her Champion at the moment.

"We should be back in Hyrule in a week if we keep this pace. Father will be-." Zelda paused. Link was sound asleep against the tree she'd picked out, his chin resting on his chest.

Zelda sighed. What was she going to do with him? Then she noticed his face was contorted into a scowl.

Is he having a nightmare? She wondered as his face scrunched up. Zelda pursed her lips. Should she wake him? She got up from her spot and hovered over him wondering whether to wake him when his breathing started to get ragged.

Then she made up her mind.

"Link?" She inquired and gently touched his shoulder. Links eyes snapped open and he jumped out of his skin.

She noticed sweat had started to form on his brow.

"I...um..." Zelda said, seeing the panicked look in his eyes. She cleared her throat.

"Let's get moving." She decided to say and unhooked her horses reigns from the tree she'd tied to.

She noticed Link took a second to stand, his legs seeming to be a little wobbly. He went to unhook Epona and they where off once again.

Zelda decided to keep pace with Link, despite wanting to get it Hyrule as fast as possible. But Link seems to be tiring every ten minutes.

She wonders if he'd noticed she'd kept her pace to match his. He probably did. She thought, not sure what to say about the incident at the tree. Link seemed to ignore her, not wanting to confront it either.

So the two rode in silence for what Zelda felt like was an hour at least. Zelda wished Link would say something. That he wasn't feeling well, or he was exhausted...or anything for that matter.

When she noticed he'd fallen behind the third time that late afternoon, Zelda decided to speak her mind.

She backtracked again to meet up with him. He gave her an apologetic look. She sighed. "I think we should stop here for the night." She said as an order, grabbing hold of Eponas reigns as if daring Link to disobey her.

He nodded sheepishly and they went off the side of the rode into a little wooded area. Not a forest exactly, just a small clump of trees. Zelda watched with concern as Link clumsily got off of his saddle.

Her Champion seemed on the verge of passing out from exhaustion. She looked up at the sky. "What do I do with him, goddess?" Zelda muttered. Her eyes widened as Link almost fell out of his saddle trying to get out and she ran to catch his back, stabling him.

She sighed. "You need to rest." Zelda commanded, helping the hero of the Wild readjust himself. He turned to face her, but didn't look her in the eye. She crossed her arms.

"No arguments. I'm setting up camp and you're going to sleep." She said, getting his roll up bed from Epona and giving it to him.

She noticed a bead of sweat form on his brow and his face pale, but he didn't say anything and made to lie down.

Zelda pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. I wish you'd help me understand what's wrong. She thought.

She started working on the camp sight. She'd wanted to get to the nearest inn, but that would have to wait. Link had looked like he hadn't slept in days and had had bags under his eyes.

Zelda wondered if it had anything to do with what happened in the Gerudo Kingdom. Every once and a while, she'd take a peak at Link, but he still had his eyes open as if trying his best not to sleep.

She figured she was going to have to talk to him about this. How could her champion function on only thirty minutes of sleep?

After an hour, she was done setting up camp and went to check on him. Zelda visibly relaxed when she saw he'd finally drifted off into a fitful sleep as if his body had forced him to.

She just didn't like the painful look he had on his face as she got a fire going. She watched the sunset and kept her eye on Link as well.

This time though, she decided she wasn't going to wake him.