Chapter Text
The sun was just rising over the hills when the eight heroes stood up, observing the land. This Hyrule was new, if it even was Hyrule. Out of all eight of them, none of them recognized where they were. Each and everyone of the heroes were used to smaller fields with every key landmark on the horizon and accessible by walking or by horse. So far the largest Hyrule they’ve heard about or have been to was Wind’s. It was so big that everytime Wind talked about his home, he always mentioned that it was just a big ocean and how he had to take a boat everywhere to get from island to island. Whoever’s Hyrule this was, it easily trumped the youngest of the eight.
It was also far too silent for anyone's liking. They were all used to the noisy villages and if they were ever on the road, they were used to the merchants calling them over to buy their wares. But all they could hear was the occasional bird call in the distance.
Thankfully they had arrived in this new place on a beaten down dirt path that cut through the tall grass, leaving them with an easy decision to make. Either go left or right and hope to find a village to find out where they are.
“Which way should we go?” Time asked after observing the land for himself, taking note of the large castle looming in the distance to the right of the path and strange rock formations dotting the fields around them.
“I say we go left,” Wind piped up, giving Time the answer to his previous question. “You always go left when you’re in a maze!”
Warrior lightly hit Wind in the back of his head. Only hard enough to make the boy stumble “That’s only for mazes. The wilderness isn’t a maze.”
“This place might as well be a maze, this place looks huge!” Sky said who was also turning his head around to look at the scenery.
Not wanting a fight to break out between the group, Time quickly jumped into the conversation. “We can go left. It doesn’t seem like it’ll matter which way we go, it all looks the same.”
Wind perked up with a wide smile plastered on his face, obviously happy that Time took his side on the decision on which way to go as he began to walk down the path with the others following him.
When the group started to walk down the path, the sun was just rising but now, hours later, the sun was high in the sky and beating down on everyone's necks and backs. Even worse they were still stuck in the blasted field and Time was too wary of this place to go off the path to find water and shade so they could rest.
“Are we there yet?” Wind whined as he dragged his feet, kicking up dirt from the path making Four who was walking next to him cough and cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve. The youngest was obviously tired much like everyone else was.
“You don’t even know where there is Wind, stop complaining.” Four grumbled, also tired but instead of voicing it, he took his irritation out on the group.
“But we’ve been walking for hours!”
Four looked ready to throttle Wind so Time quickly jumped into the conversation. “We can stop soon to take a rest. Look,” Time pointed to a small forest about a mile away. “we can stop there and rest for a while before walking again.”
“Do you think there’s any water nearby? It’s been half a day since we’ve refilled our water skins.” Twilight fell into step next to his mentor who sighed as he watched the others walk towards the small cluster of trees with more energy than what they had for the majority of the day.
“I can only hope pup. There has to be some sort of water nearby.”
“Hey Time!” Hyrule waved his hand to get the oldests attention. “There’s a horse tied up over here!”
Giving his protege a look, the two of them ran over to where Hyrule was calling them over to. “Her owner must be close by, she looks well fed.” Time said. “We can rest here, just stay on guard we have no clue who’s out here.”
Everyone gave their own version of agreement as they all settled down to rest in the shade before Time made them start walking again. Time even noticed Twilight giving the horse an apple from an apple tree a few paces away.
A few minutes passed in silence before Legend noticed someone watching them a few paces away from the trees. Slowly one by one of the group noticed the stranger watching them, despite the heat, the stranger had a hood on, covering their face. Time noticed that Warriors reached for his sword that was still strapped to his side.
“What should we do? Should we fight them?” Sky asked, his eyes never leaving the stranger.
“No,” Time held out his hand to show that everyone needed to calm down but still remain on guard. “We should ask them where the nearest village is.”
The stranger never said a word as they walked closer to the trees but stopping when they noticed the eight of them taking a step back when they got closer. The stranger quickly hopped up on their horse, grabbing the reins and beginning to walk away before Time spoke up, determined to get the answers they needed.
“Excuse me, do you know where the nearest village is?” Time asked before the stranger could walk away.
The stranger sat there for a moment without saying a word before they removed their hands from the reins and then quickly moving them.
“What is he doing?” Time heard Legend ask Twilight, not exactly whispering and if Time could hear what Legend was saying, the stranger could probably also hear it.
“Be nice, they’re signing” Twilight elbowed Legend in the side as he gage the other a glare, actually whispering so the stranger couldn’t hear them. Then in a louder voice, Twilight translated to the rest of them, “They’re asking what we need,”
Legend looked between Twilight and the strangers hands before looking back at Twilight, obviously confused on how the other knew sign but Twilight asked another question. “Do you know where the nearest village is?”
The stranger signed something as Twilight translated. “They say there’s a village two days from here.”
“Two days?” Hyrule squawked, eyes bulging at the thought of walking two more days. “Is there anything closer?
The stranger’s hands were still as they gave the question a few moments of thought before their hands were moving at rapid speed, grabbing Twilight’s attention.
“There’s a stable a couple of hours away from here he says. He also says that we can stock up on supplies.” Twilight translated as the stranger moved his hands. “He can also show us the way if we want.”
Time looked around at the group to see if they were okay if allowing a stranger lead them somewhere totally unknown in hopes of finding shelter for the night. “Please do show us the way.”
The stranger nodded as they got of their horse and wrapped their hands in the reins as they started to walk down the path the way the group was already walking before they took a break.
“It’s not often that I see other travelers on the road, what brings you to the Great Plateau anyway?” The stranger signed to Twilight who of course translated it to everyone else.
“We’re looking for someone but we don’t know who!” Wind said cheerfully as he gave the stranger a smile. The two of them had caught on like a wildfire, of course most of the conversations were one sided but the stranger allowed the younger to ramble on about his adventures and when Twilight was paying attention to see the other sign, the stranger talked about some of his own.
“I hope that you find this person, Hyrule is a big place.”
“Do you know anywhere were we can find information on this person?” Time asked, the first time he spoke to the stranger since he first joined the group.
“I know someone who goes by Impa in Kakariko Village. She’ll probably know where your friend is.”
“And how far away is Kakariko Village?”
“Another two days. I’m heading the same way so I can show you the way if you’d like.”
Time gave the others a look, silently asking if he should say yes, taking the stranger up on his offer of showing them the way to Kakariko Village. Wind looked over the moon to spend another two days with the man, Twilight had seemed to warm up to the stranger as well despite him not contributing to the conversation all that much. The others didn’t seem so keen to be lead to the village without knowing who the stranger really was but they all nodded considering they had no clue how to get there in the first place.
“Please do, can you tell us your name first?”
“I’m Link,” The stranger signed and everyone’s eyes went wide, was this truly the hero they were looking for or was this just the coincidence of having the same name? “We’re at the stables now so we can stop for tonight and get some supplies before leaving tomorrow morning.”