Chapter Text
Purah stared down at her notes, then at the Champion of Hyrule, then over at Symin. Then back at the notes.
Link huffs his bangs out of his face and continued to wait.
It’s not like he was getting any younger.
“Just as I thought,” Purah began, eyes finally sliding up to address the Champion, “your aging has slowed significantly.”
Link furrowed his brow, hands moving. By how much?
Touching her pen to her lips Purah said, “Since you spent a hundred years asleep we can presume it’s by that much. I don’t know when it will start back up, or if it ever will; you’re aging slower than me.”
His brows knit together even further at that.
What about Zelda?
Immediately, he didn’t want to know the answer. He wanted to stand up and bolt out of there, never to return.
Symin frowned and looked away.
“Hers was magical, not ancient Sheikah technology like us.” Purah’s voice retained its scientific edge, speaking only facts born from objective reasoning and research. A tinge of remorse bled into her next sentence, a soft whisper. “She’ll be twenty two this spring.”
Link remembers when she had turned seventeen, literally a lifetime ago, intent on climbing the mountain to demand her birthright. Now she was turning twenty two and Queen of Hyrule.
Meanwhile, he was still physically twenty.
Right now he felt ready to crumble and blow away into dust, head turning down, unable to comprehend what he was looking at. He saw his own hands, calloused from climbing mountains, holding onto reigns, and wielding whatever he could grab to defend himself.
In his mind’s eye he could see Zelda’s hands clasping around his, small yet by no means dainty. She had to fight for her birthright, willing to go tooth and nail not solely because it was her duty but because it was owed to her. She had used her very own hands to pry it out of Goddess Hylia herself.
How many years before those hands grow weaker? Soft skin fading from wrinkles, barely able to hold his own – and then never again?
What point was being a knight if he outlives his princess? By how long? Decades? Centuries?
Forever?
Link wondered if Mipha’s Grace still worked. If not, perhaps he could throw himself off Shatterback Point.
Purah brought him back by snapping her fingers in his face.
“Hey! Stop looking like a kicked puppy!” She pouted, hands on her hips, every bit a little girl. “Who do you think you’re dealing with again? I’ll go over every single factor there is to find a cause. This isn’t my first run-in with Sheikah aging effects.”
She adjusted her glasses to aid her point, that analytic glint in her large brown eyes returning. It made her look a lot older. Symin heaved a tired sigh from his spot organizing the files.
“For now just continue what you’re doing! Go kick a bokoblin or two, or shield surf into Molduga’s mouth like you did that one time.”
Link blanched. Who told you that?
Purah puffed out her chest. “Word of you travels to even out here.” Then, offhandedly, “Plus, Symin’s girlfriend is Gerudo.”
The hero turned to the research assistant, who was already turned away and giving a light cough. “As it stands,” Purah continued loudly, “I don’t need you moping around my study!”
She was pushing Link out of his chair and out the building, telling him to come back in a month for another check-up. After that, all he saw was the front door of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab.
Link heaved a sigh, pulled out his slate, and warped away.
-
The average lifespan of a Hylian was around fifty years during the reign of Calamity Ganon. Travelling wasn’t safe, so living to old age was becoming less and less common if one were to travel. The ones that stayed safely tucked away in villages could go to seventy years before they pass away in sleep.
In contrast the Sheikah could easily double that lifespan, if Impa and Purah were any indicators. They matured at the same rate, simply stretching adulthood further. The Gerudo were more similar in life expectancy, if only due to their heavily militaristic lifestyle. If they don’t die fighting they live much longer. But then, what was a Gerudo without a blade in her hands?
The Rito were interesting. Being more non-mammalian their maturation was distinctly different. Children were born out of their eggs already two to three years old, and matured into full adults by eighteen. Their lifespans were similar to a Hylian but they spent old age much quicker. It was as if the moment a Rito stops being able to fly their life would soon follow.
Out of the races it is the Zora and Gorons that live the longest. King Dorephan appeared as old as he had a hundred years ago, and even then he was still capable of reducing a guardian to bolts and bits. Link was sure it had more to do with Dorephan’s royal lineage, but even then the council of elders were far older.
The Gorons… Well, Link wasn’t even sure how they had children, and he hasn’t known a single one besides Daruk to pass in his memories from before the Calamity to after it. Perhaps it was erosion?
Giving a soft chuckle Link climbs the steps out of the Ne’ez Yohma shrine.
He finds the Prince of the Zora easily enough; he’s a nine foot tall red shark built like a brick shithouse. And even if Link couldn’t see him, he could definitely hear him, talking to someone about this or that in that enthusiastic voice of his.
Sidon is talking to Kodah at the inn, the two having never heard the words ‘be quiet’ in their lives.
“I will make sure the Seabed Inn is taken care of, you can count on me!” says Sidon, performing his usual pose. Kodah squeals, smiling with every tooth in her mouth and bowing so rapidly her jewelry clangs out a song.
“Thank you so much Prince Sidon, it really lets my gills breathe easy knowing the inn will be well taken care of!” Kodah’s eyes open, glancing past the prince to spot Link approaching them. She gasps excitedly, waving his way. “It’s Linny!”
Sido turns on his heel at the mention of Link’s nickname. Upon seeing the hero he gives his own blinding smile, surging forth in two quick strides to pick the Hylian up and hug him tightly to his broad chest.
Link felt his back crack.
“Sorry! I keep forgetting how fragile Hylians are,” Sidon says, setting Link down. “Oh, but do not think I believe you to be incapable, my most treasured friend!”
In return Link only gave a thumbs up. Why spend rupees getting a massage when he can just hug Sidon for free?
“Linny!” Kodah pranced over, as if she wasn’t too old to be prancing, “It’s been some time! Too busy to say hello to your old friend anymore?”
Link grinned. Not when I need a place to sleep.
That earned him a pout, Kodah’s gills flaring out every which way. Sticking out her tongue she spat, “Too bad because me and Kayden are going on our anniversary, so the inn’s closed!” She gave a suddenly coy look. “Though, I’m sure Prince Sidon will have a bed for you...”
“Kodah!” Sidon squawked, gills puffing out in what Link was sure was a wheeze. “What are you insinuating?”
That I think I just got upgraded to the princely suite , Link gave a wag of his eyebrows. Chuckling, he signed to Kodah, Congrats on the anniversary. How many does this make?
“Eight!”
Link blinked, stealing a glance to Kodah’s daughter standing nearby. I thought you and Kayden were married a lot longer than just eight years?
It was the Zoras turn to blink. Kodah got it first and broke into laughter, her gills producing this hissing sound that Link remembers elders has called ‘unladylike’ more than once.
She shook her head, waving her hand as if to dispel the assumption. “Oh no, no, not at all Linny! We Zora don’t do anniversaries by year, that’s too many! We count them by the decade.”
“And it’ll be eighty wonderful years by tomorrow,” spoke Kayden, having finished up packing and taken his place by his wife. “I heard your snorting from here. Music to my earholes.”
Now it was Kodah’s turn to squeak, giving Kayden a rough smack on the shoulder as she began to go off about their trip to Lurelin.
Link found it nice to see Kodah so in love. It must be a wonderful feeling.
Once the family had all departed (Finley was only willing to go if Sasan was invited as well. Sasan for his part looked appropriately devastated at all the running he’d have to do) it left just Link and the Zora he had set out to find in the first place.
I’m glad she’s happy , he signed after a bit.
Sidon nodded, looking as if his mind was elsewhere. “Eighty years together, it sure is something.” Shaking it off he focused his attentions back to Link. “Aside from that, what have you come to Zora’s Domain for, my friend?”
Link grinned wickedly, hands beginning to weave a tale.
Okay, so turns out Symin got himself a Gerudo girlfriend…
-
“I still do not understand how wearing clothing allowed you entry,” Sidon mused. The talk about Gerudos had obviously led to Gerudo Town, of which Link divulged how exactly he managed to slip inside. It wasn’t his proudest moment, in a long list on disgraceful ones. Sidon seemed more hung up on the clothing aspect. “We Zora wear the exact same accessories, both male and female. The only distinctions are who produces the eggs and who lays them.”
Link, about to take a bite of his egg sandwich, refrained. Setting it down he signed, Mammals are way more complicated. It must be nice though, to not presume based on appearances . He shrugged.
Chief Riju told me I had to still dress in my vai outfit if I wanted to visit again. I fought a lightning camel, Sidon, a fucking lightning camel. It shot lightning. And it was a camel.
Sidon gave a reassuring pat to Link’s back.
“Traditions can be suffocating, I would know. No matter what you wear or how you’re referred to, know you will always be given the utmost respect from me, my dearest friend.”
A smile easily found its way on Link’s face. What Sidon said was true, so breathtakingly true, and he’s proven the statement time and time again with every simple, earnest gesture of his.
When Link had first woken up, given his name and a mission, he could admit to himself now that he was terrified when he first met Vah Ruta. She was his first Divine Beast, guided there by a princess’ voice that seemed to grow fainter each passing blood moon.
Her size was imposing, not to mention her vast power; roars striking fear into the Zora every time she crashed into the dam like a crack of lightning.
It was Sidon who found him first, calling from above and landing with ease before him. Pleaded for his help, to go up the ever-dangerous trails and then to even gather shock arrows from a lynel.
Link felt he should have resented Sidon for that. But every task he completed, Sidon would heap praise onto him, and suddenly doing these things didn’t feel as arduous. Someone believed in him, more than just a voice, but a real person who he could feel and see and hear.
And when he rode on Sidon’s back to fight Vah Ruta, he felt he truly could win this fight.
And he did.
Smile growing even larger, Link beamed up at Sidon with silent, endless gratitude. Not only in battle did the prince assist him, but he’d helped teach Link a form of communication to finally speak with others. Had divulged his sister’s love of him without a tinge of bitterness, presenting her marriage proposal to him himself, and heaved no disappointed sigh when he couldn’t remember her.
Link felt Sidon should resent him for that. The dredges of torn memories reminded him that Sidon, as a mere toddler, was very attached to his sister, and had been very jealous of Link for stealing her time away.
Sidon , Link began slowly, unsure of how to phrase this. Sidon in turn gave his undivided attentions, waiting patiently as he always did. It gave Link the courage to continue signing, a question forming that he wanted answered, how old are you?
“My age?” Sidon turned to consider this, the two of them leaning against a railing on one of the winding watery highways that made up the domain. “I believe my birthday this year will mark my hundred and thirtieth year. Why do you ask?”
Link squinted, doing all the calculations in his head. In Hylian years, how old would that make you?
After some silent thinking, Sidon replied, “Roughly twenty, I believe.”
And how old is your father?
“He’s still got his wits about him, so likely over four hundred years,” answered Sidon good-naturedly. If anything he seemed more amused by Link’s questions. “Why do you ask?”
You’re old , he snickered.
“I’m still very boyish, thank you very much!” Sidon exclaimed, causing Link’s eyes to widen. Did that mean, somehow, Sidon was going to get even more jacked? Sidon’s warm grin waned a bit then, gaze looking down to the waters below. “I suppose to a Hylian I have well surpassed their age expectancy. In the next half-century you will be an elder and I… I will remain the same.”
His tone cradled heartbreak, and Link thought back to Purah’s words this morning.
Waving to get Sidon’s attentions back, Link signed, I’ll likely live past most Hylians too. Purah said the Sheikah technology used to put me to sleep actually halted everything – including age. She doesn’t think I’ll start aging again for another hundred years. So I’ll remain the same too.
Just admitting that caused his throat to clench.
It’s a long moment before Link felt a large hand on his shoulder, bringing him closer to the Prince’s side. “Oh, Link…,” Sidon sighed from somewhere above him. Everything Link said and didn’t say was pieced together by him, wrapped together with empathetic reassurance.
Leaning into Sidon, Link simply closed his eyes.
-
Link left soon after. To the Gorons, the Rito, and the Gerudo.
He didn’t tell them what he had implied to Sidon. He had inquired to Yunobo of the Goron aging process, only to be told that Gorons literally do not have lifespans. They come into existence, stones forming legs and hands, mouths and eyes. Then after whatever margin of time, if they are not struck down by an outside force, simply lie down and return to the rock they once were, their bodies splitting apart and forming new Gorons.
Gorons were weird, Link deduced.
In Rito Village all Link got was a congratulations from Teba.
“I won’t be able to wish Queen Zelda a proper birthday,” he explained, “It falls in time with both my anniversary and son’s birthday, and with the defeat of Calamity Ganon we wish to spend it as a family.”
Link nodded, buying up all the arrows from the shopkeeper, and bid the Rito farewell. He made his way to Gerudo town.
-
Riju I need a favor.
“Good day to you too, Champion.”
I need someone to buy me a bottle of Noble Pursuit.
Riju groaned, leaning to the side of her glorified booster seat. “Pray tell, why do you need a bottle of Hyrule’s most potent alcoholic beverage? The thing’s only legal purpose outside of Gerudo town is to burn the warts off of mules.”
It’s Zelda’s birthday present.
Another sigh. “I should send word that you plan on poisoning the queen. But, as it stands, I have only one stipulation.”
Link nodded vigorously, already pulling out a bag of rupees for Buliara to take.
Riju smiled, the same grin Link always got when he was about to punch a Yiga in the face with a bomb arrow, or when he jumps off Shatterback Point, or anytime he tries to get a scale from a dragon, the type of grin that bad choices are born from:
“Make sure you record what happens.”
-
The birthday was still a couple days off, but Link found himself scaling the castle walls anyways. He was in his stealth outfit, and if he got caught this would surely look like an assassination attempt.
In a sense it was.
But that just meant he shouldn’t get caught.
Slipping into a room proved easy enough, since it had been his old room when he lived in the castle. The one that didn’t face the front of the castle, but the one that allowed him to see the emerald plains stretch farther than he could see.
It was empty, as he figured she’d leave it. The sheets and bed were done, empty dressers and drawers for his use, and even a personal bathroom with its own water source.
She didn’t ask him to stay, but he could return whenever he wished, and that in itself was home.
Link shucked off most of his gear, forgoing the bodysuit for the cotton robes of a simple butler. How he got such a clothes was its own adventure.
He slipped into it, bottle of Noble Pursuit tucked into a messenger bag. A simple hat covered his hair but it wouldn’t hide his eyes, and so he made sure no one passed his door before he exited.
Down the hall. Right, right. Left. Down another hall, passing Zelda’s bedroom. She wouldn’t be there at this time of night.
Link raps his knuckles against the study door, a series of them in precise order that let Zelda know who exactly was there.
“Enter.”
With permission he strides into the room, taking his hat off as he swiftly closes the door behind him.
There is the Queen of Hyrule, face disheveled as she is bent over reading something about Molduga. Even in her free time she was studying this or that, the absolute pinnacle of nerd.
“Happy birthday,” spoke Link, striding over and brandishing the Noble Pursuit. With his free hand he elaborated. Missed your drinking age but figured better late than never. Found the good stuff. Apparently it could kill a mule or something.
Zelda blinked, a bemused smile already tugging at her lips. “Your sense of timing has never been your forte. My birthday’s not for another three days. And the last time I was eighteen was a good hundred and four years ago.”
Link rattled the bottle in her face, voice raspy as he hissed out, “Muuuuuuuule.”
She rolled her eyes. Link hadn’t been around for her previous birthdays, and likely wouldn’t be around for this one either. When he was out travelling the world the date and seasons were lost on him, not to mention he’d probably detest all the fanfare the Queen’s actual birthday will entail.
It’ll go the same, he’ll be blowing up a bunch of bokoblin as Zelda saves him a slice of delicious cake, Link half-remembering to slide some interesting relic he found against Zelda’s door some days or more later.
For now they sat together at Zelda’s desk, two shots of Noble Pursuit between them.
“Alright, on three,” Zelda took a deep breath to steel herself, “one, two, three!”
They drank at the same time, tossing the drinks back and feeling it strip the topmost layer of skin off their throats. Both gagged and coughed violently, then poured another round of shots to do it again.
After the second round Zelda pushed her glass away. “This was a mistake.”
Link just wordlessly poured himself his third shot.
A birthday to remember , he grinned, though it held a bitter edge to it. How many more birthdays will we even get together?
Immediately a hand came to place itself over his, smaller yet no less courageous. “Many, many more,” promised Zelda. “No matter this life or the many other reincarnations, we’ll be together, bound by fate.”
Link exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding at that. “Do you think,” he began, his voice cracking at disuse and the alcohol he’d poured down it, “do you think we’ll love each other like this? Not lovers… no, but like – this?” He looked down at their hands.
Perhaps in another life they might be in love with each other, romantically, but in this one he loved her just as strongly in a platonic manner. He’ll defend her and she’ll be the sun that brightens the world. That, to him, was a form of love just as powerful. He was her knight, and she was his princess – his queen.
They got their happy ending, fought for it, died for it, but the nagging question seated at the bottom of his heart asked insistently: why doesn’t it feel like enough?
“I can only imagine so,” began Zelda, still holding his hand.
They sat in comfortable silence, allowing the alcohol into their system properly. Zelda, the wise woman she was, capped the bottle and placed it out of view. They’d had plenty for tonight.
It was Link to break the silence, face surprisingly thoughtful despite how shitfaced he feels. “Did you know Symin got a Gerudo girlfriend?”
“The, the guy working under Purah?” Zelda squinted, finding it hard to just focus. Link nodded, perhaps more than necessary. Zelda let out a loud groan and sunk her forehead into her palm. “Goddess, I’d kill for a Gerudo girlfriend.”
“Girls,” said Link, nodding sagely.
“Girls,” Zelda agreed. “How about you? Making any headway with that fish of yours?”
“Fish?”
“Sisco was it?”
“Sidon.”
“Yes, yes. So how’s that going?”
“Going good.” It was not going good.
Zelda merely nodded. “So does that mean you’ll give him that sapphire you found?”
“Yes,” lied Link, like a liar.
Asking about Zora courting was difficult, aside from the whole courting another species aspect already. He couldn’t ask anyone for assistance or else they’d start asking questions, and sooner or later Sidon will find out and then he’ll know .
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem,” Zelda hiccuped.
Link grinned, curling around a cushion he’d found. “Did you know Zora can live over four hundred years?”
She nodded sleepily. “Those of noble blood can.”
Timidly, Link added, “Sidon’s a noble.”
She nodded again. “And you’re not going to get any younger.”
Another peaceful moment until Zelda’s stomach grumbled. She looked at the door to her study. “The alcohol’s set in, so if we leave we’re going to make fools of ourselves.”
“But food,” said Link, putting a hand on the desk to help him stand. He didn’t even realize how drunk he was until he stood, feeling all the blood in his head shoot down to his feet and cause his vision to swim then slam against the side of his head. He had no doubt Zelda felt the same.
They both stood up, and already Link knew he wasn’t going to remember what happened next.
-
Tumbo grumbled as he woke up, feeling someone push him. He tried to push back, figuring it was his brother being clingy. There was plenty of room in the sleeping pools.
He was given a brief respite before the body pushed into him again, pressing into his gills.
“Keye, go sleep on your side,” grumbled Tumbo. It was far too early to wake up.
To his opposite side he heard Keye’s voice. “What are you talking about, Tumbo? I’m over here.”
Tumbo opened both his eyes, seeing his brother bobbing several feet away. He then looked over to what had actually swam into him.
It was a young blond-haired Hylian, wearing only shorts, floating face-down in the water.
His scream shook the entire Domain.
-
Link thought back to Kodah’s words, and how he’s finally found his way into Sidon’s bed.
But instead of losing his v-card it was nursing a hangover so terrible he considered hoping back into the shrine of resurrection.
“You really have no one to blame but yourself,” whispered Sidon, tucking the Champion of Hyrule into bed. He’d removed most of the lamps so Link could bask in blissful darkness, several elixirs for headaches placed at the table beside it.
I told Zelda I was so thirsty I could drink all the water of Zora’s Domain, explained Link, hands moving slowly to not irritate his hangover. Thankfully, Zora could see in the dark.
Sidon only shook his head. “And how’d that go for you?”
Link took a minute to think about it. The Domain has more water than I remembered.
A snort. Sidon stepped closer, sitting at the edge of the bed to brush the bangs out of Link’s face. “I suggest you rest for now, dear friend.”
An idea sparked in Link’s headache-riddled brain, of his conversation with Zelda, or what he could remember. He wasn’t getting any younger.
Biting his lower lip he signed, Only if you keep petting my head .
Sidon’s large dark silhouette paused, staying so still Link wondered if he had actually been left alone and didn’t notice. But then those large clawed fingers fell back into his messy hair, being extremely careful not to scratch his scalp.
Immediately Link knew he was going to blame this on his hangover, but for now he gave a content sigh and closed his eyes.
“Anything for you, my most treasured friend,” he heard Sidon whisper before falling asleep.
-
Link spent his time fishing for Hyrule bass on the day of Zelda’s birthday. No doubt she needed the three days before to recover. From what snippets of memory coming back, they had raided the royal pantry like a pack of rabid moblins. Link had gotten the bright idea of trying to bake Zelda a cake right there and then, and Zelda had assisted by handing him whatever her little fingers could grab.
He also decided that cooking it in the oven was, as he recalled saying, “Horsehit!” and lit a fire right there in the kitchen. The two of them squatted there like cavemen, wondering belatedly why the cake was turning a charred black and not a delicious mouth-watering vanilla.
“You should take a bite,” urged the Queen of Hyrule. Zelda was the smart one, so Link had followed her command and ate a forkful. It must have been because the Noble Pursuit stripped off his taste buds, but Link actually ate two forkfuls before realizing cake shouldn’t be crunchy.
He gagged and rushed for some water, which Zelda took as a good enough signal to try it for herself.
It was then that some guards, woken up by the noise and smell of smoke, found their esteemed Queen of Hyrule and Champion fighting over the same water spigot.
Zelda won in the end, pushing Link clean across the kitchen. Link in turn proclaimed he’ll get his own water and promptly teleported without any of his proper gear to Zora’s Domain.
Which resulted in him running around trying to find some water, failing to look down at his own feet. He’d found the sleeping pools though, and apparently had the manners to take off his clothes as if to go diving.
Instead he simply tossed himself straight into the pools and promptly passed out because he forgot to bring his head above the surface.
Link wished he could say he was ashamed of what happened, but there were so many more embarrassing moments it wouldn’t reached his top twenty.
Instead of going back he stayed in Zora’s Domain, fishing and working on his battle plans.
Zelda’s drunken reminder that he wasn’t going to get any younger resonated in him, and she was right. He shouldn’t see his inability to age as a hindrance, if anything it was a boon. To keep living, keep exploring, and keep loving.
A fish snagged on his line and Link grinned.