Work Text:
Little Hero
Link panted as he impaled the ground with the White Sword, using it as a crutch for support. Ezlo, for once, was silent. At the boy's current level, the two moblins Vaati had forced him to fight had been a tough battle. It had been made only more difficult by the small area in which they had been confined. Even if Ezlo did feel a glimmer of pride in the child's improvement and victories thus far, the former sage couldn't shake one sobering fact: Vaati could have easily killed them both if he had so wished. They were becoming pressed for time, and the only one who could do anything about it was this small, young boy. A child.
"That foul Vaati!" Ezlo finally exclaimed, breaking the silence. He could feel Link looking up at him the best he could, given that Ezlo was seated on the boy's head. The sage’s confidence once again wavered. Might as well get it over with. "Link… I feel I owe you an explanation of what has happened."
Ezlo had never felt so grateful for silence as he recounted that horrible day; the day when the apprentice he had thought of as his own blood had turned the sage's most prized creation against him. As he spoke, Link began the walk towards town, by then having sheathed the White Sword once more upon his small back. The tale paused as they neared the northern archway.
"I'm sorry," the sage continued, after the realization and resignation that the curse upon him might never be broken. "All that has happened has been due to my own pride and joy. My folly." He bowed his bird-like head in shame as he finished. It was then he noticed they had stopped moving. When he glanced around to find them just within the town walls, two hands plucked him from the owner's head, and the boy carefully held the hat imposter in his arms.
They continued that way, neither saying a word. Even as they continued out through the south gate, snuck past any monsters on the road, and eventually reached the home of Link and his grandfather, there was silence. Ezlo peered up questioningly as they paused outside of the door, but Link only mumbled, "Tired," in response. Smith caught them as they entered the house, calling for Link to join him in the backroom. Ezlo jumped from the boy's arms and started for the stairs, muttering in his usual unconcerned fashion that Link should go see what the old man wanted. Making his way one step at a time to the second floor, the sage hopped onto the first bed he came to and nestled down under the covers.
It wasn't until Link clumsily climbed into the same bed that he was stirred awake again. He had half a mind to peck at the boy for not letting an old sage rest. But before he could make it known that he was conscious, Link had already curled up in an exhausted, pillow-clutching ball. Ezlo watched the sleeping boy for a moment, and a fond smile soon found its way to his beak when a light snore escaped the child.
Everything rested on the shoulders of this one little kid, huh? He really was just a small thing. Vaati had once been small and innocent. That is until, like an idiot, Ezlo had created that accursed cap, and—
No! He wouldn't compare Link to his former student. Unlike Vaati, Link had something worth fighting for. He would not be so easily tempted by the inner evils of man as Vaati had been.
His musings were interrupted by Link rolling over in his sleep, causing the blankets to slip down and leave the boy unprotected from the cool, evening air. Well, they couldn't allow that to happen, now, could they? What use would the child be to Hyrule if he got himself sick? The kid even looked two shakes of a Zeffa feather from shivering.
Grumbling to himself, but barely meaning a word of it, Ezlo picked himself up, and used his beak to carefully tug the blankets up to just under Link's chin. As an afterthought, he made sure to properly and completely tuck the snoozing kid in. "Sleep well," the sage whispered, settling back down with a yawn, "little hero."
Little Hero
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