Closed to [miphasgrace]
Apr. 3rd, 2017 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gluttonforpunishmentThe Champions are alive. Their souls freed from the Divine Beasts, their bodies from the Calamity. Link's injured, bleeding freely from a gouge along his ribs - and several of those are broken besides, but he's still on his feet, sword in his hand still alight with energy. He looks them over: Revali, Urbossa, Zelda, Daruk... Mipha.
He's exhausted. Even with their help, Ganon had not gone down easy. It had been hours of fighting and then so long on horseback with broken ribs, every draw of the Bow of Light excruciating. He's exhausted physically, and mentally, and he's not sure what's keeping him on his feet. Maybe just the stubborn refusal to collapse.
He's shed his helmet already, and he wants to sheathe his sword, but just the idea of lifting his arm makes him more tired - his arm feels like lead, he might have broken his arm as well...
Link smiles weakly. His voice is gone - dry and hoarse, so instead he just smiles and bobs his head. He's glad they're alright, he's glad Ganon is gone, but if they'll excuse him, he needs to sit down. Or maybe collapse.
His legs start to go, and it's Daruk who gets to him first, lowering him gently to the thick grass, trampled and scorched and muddy. "Easy, buddy," he says, bracing Link semi-upright.
"Are you alright, Link?" That's Zelda, hurrying to him. He's glad to see she's unhurt after her ordeal. Her dress is clean, though her sandals and feet are muddied. He nods, though he really definitely isn't alright. But he's alive, and they're alive, and Ganon is dead - or at least gone.
He looks up, past Daruk and Zelda, to Mipha. She's fine as well. He finally takes his hand off the hilt of his sword and signs - his arms are jelly, but they're stronger than his voice, "I'm really tired." He sags against Daruk. The Goron is warm even if he's a bit too hard to be comfortable to lean against. His hands fall into his lap and he blinks tiredly. He's not sure even Mipha - if she's even strong enough yet - will be able to heal all this, but he doesn't care. He has time to recover.
He's exhausted. Even with their help, Ganon had not gone down easy. It had been hours of fighting and then so long on horseback with broken ribs, every draw of the Bow of Light excruciating. He's exhausted physically, and mentally, and he's not sure what's keeping him on his feet. Maybe just the stubborn refusal to collapse.
He's shed his helmet already, and he wants to sheathe his sword, but just the idea of lifting his arm makes him more tired - his arm feels like lead, he might have broken his arm as well...
Link smiles weakly. His voice is gone - dry and hoarse, so instead he just smiles and bobs his head. He's glad they're alright, he's glad Ganon is gone, but if they'll excuse him, he needs to sit down. Or maybe collapse.
His legs start to go, and it's Daruk who gets to him first, lowering him gently to the thick grass, trampled and scorched and muddy. "Easy, buddy," he says, bracing Link semi-upright.
"Are you alright, Link?" That's Zelda, hurrying to him. He's glad to see she's unhurt after her ordeal. Her dress is clean, though her sandals and feet are muddied. He nods, though he really definitely isn't alright. But he's alive, and they're alive, and Ganon is dead - or at least gone.
He looks up, past Daruk and Zelda, to Mipha. She's fine as well. He finally takes his hand off the hilt of his sword and signs - his arms are jelly, but they're stronger than his voice, "I'm really tired." He sags against Daruk. The Goron is warm even if he's a bit too hard to be comfortable to lean against. His hands fall into his lap and he blinks tiredly. He's not sure even Mipha - if she's even strong enough yet - will be able to heal all this, but he doesn't care. He has time to recover.
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Date: 2017-05-04 06:52 pm (UTC)"I've been assured that messenger birds have already been sent out to the villages and towns, letting the people know that Ganon is defeated, and the Champions are alive and well. No doubt we'll be seeing visitors of all races soon, but... if you want to return home, I will not stop you. Our mission is complete, all we have left to do now is try to pick up the pieces."
She watches over Mipha's shoulder as Otoh clambers out of the wagon and pulls the curtain shut again, but doesn't go far, instead standing with her head turned towards the slightest gap in the fabric. "Once we get back to Kakariko village, with Impa's help, I can come up with a plan for Hyrule's recovery. First and foremost, accessing the treasuries and putting and end to the blight of Ganon's remaining monsters."
Repairing the castle was the last thought on her mind - her people came first. They'd been without aid for a hundred years, without the assistance of soldiers to keep the peace and guard the roads from bandits. There was a lot of rebuilding to do.
"One thing at a time, Princess. First, we need to get to the village."
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Date: 2017-05-06 04:34 am (UTC)The thought of seeing her father and brother again, assuaging their century-long grief and share in their happy tears...she feels almost giddy thinking about it. Yet she's torn. Revali may want to turn wing and leave for home (though she can't help but notice he didn't immediately after Zelda's suggestion), but Mipha's desire to stay with Link is just as strong.
Mipha glances back to the wagon briefly. It's like Urbosa said. First things first, and then they can start worrying about the bigger picture.
"Yeah! And so will my brothers! You can count on us, Princess!" Daruk's proclamation makes Mipha smile and nod toward Zelda again. She finds his words just as comforting as Urbosa's; the two older presences in the group of Champions giving them peace of mind and heartwarming assurance.
"We'll get there soon..." she adds, "...just after some well-deserved sleep."
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Date: 2017-05-09 04:01 am (UTC)Zelda nods. "We could all use some rest." Shed actually dozed a little on the journey here, but not much: she's still too - thrilled? - to be ready for sleep
The Sheikah cooks, just then, lift their heads from their work. "Dinner is ready." They has a small mountain of bowls at the ready, but of course Zelda would get the first bowl, then the rest of the champions.
"Could Princess Mipha and myself get a bowl extra? For Link and and Otoh."
The man nodded, passing two bowls to Zelda, but the second one he offered to Mipha want the same as what everybody else was getting. For Link, it was a rice mash with well-shredded bits of meat and tiny bits of vegetables. A perfect meal for an invalid, while also working hard to restore some of Link's vitality.
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Date: 2017-05-10 05:32 am (UTC)As they're handed out, Daruk laughs and gives a hearty pat on the back to one of the cooks before explaining he'd scavenged for some choice rocks to eat for himself. The Sheikah, to their credit, stood ground remarkably well.
Mipha graciously takes the bowls, looking to the one meant for Link and nodding. Even as a primary raw fish-eater, she knows good food when she smells it. It's probably going to be a challenge to restrain him from wolfing it down, no matter its consistency. She turns to the cooks and tilts her head down in a slight bow, saying, "Thank you very much," with a smile that reached her eyes to convey sincere gratitude for their work.
Steaming bowls in hand, she then turns to both Zelda and takes only a step or two in the direction of the wagon serving as the makeshift medical bay. "I think they should be ready by now..." There's a little hesitancy in her voice, though, as she checks from afar to see a sign of their...progress being complete, just in case they add a second princess to the line of Link's mortification.
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Date: 2017-05-11 03:46 am (UTC)She finishes what she's doing and straightens, waving to them as soon as she sees them.
She waits at the back of the wagon for them. "That smells good," she says, pushing the curtain open and stepping up. She rinses her hands briefly with a bit of water from a jar, then reaches to take the bowl Zelda offers.
Link's been propped up a bit better with more bean sacks and pillows, and his stomach grumbles loud enough time be heard almost outside the wagon. The flush to his cheeks is mostly gone, and there's a blanket around his legs and chest since he'd lost most all of his clothing to having his wounds treated.
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Date: 2017-05-13 04:19 am (UTC)Link looks much more at ease in his new position, which brightens her smile before she even meets his eyes. With the blanket, he looks snug enough for bed, but with the ever-familiar sounds of his stomach growling, Mipha knows he's in the prime mood for stuffing his face.
He'll probably have to settle for a second-hand helping, but one step at a time.
Her own bowl is set to the side as she returns to her place next to Link. This time, at least, she's not hovering over him and he's propped a little, and when she settles down Link's bowl is tilted toward him so he can put a sight to the smell. "I know this is what you've been waiting for," she says with a laugh in her voice, though she won't torture him with teasing but for a second or two.
do you ever write a tag in your head but forget to type it? that's me.........................
Date: 2017-05-19 11:14 pm (UTC)"We can tell," Zelda says with a quiet laugh, passing Otoh's bowl to her. "It's good that you're hungry, though, right?" She looks to Otoh for confirmation, then starts a little. "Oh, I should have introduced myself sooner. Zelda." She offers out her hand to Otoh, and the healer hesitates for a second, a flash of disbelief on her face that Zelda would think she had to introduce herself, then reached out to shake the Princess's hand.
"Otoh. I've patched your knight up many a time, princess."
"Really? Maybe while he eats, you can tell me some of his story?" Link may have been quiet and reserved, but with somebody he trusted, and a story to tell, he could really get going. Not that she had ever experienced Link like that herself, he'd always been so quiet.
it's like a nice surprise. gives it time to marinate
Date: 2017-05-22 04:49 am (UTC)"I'd like to second that," she says after a pause. Though granted her ability of Grace, it had been for the utmost dire of circumstances and each reunion was hasty and brief; a broken promise only partially mended after one hundred years. Meeting one of the most important people responsible for Link's continued well-being is beyond the scope of any words she could put toward gratitude. She'll have to find a way to personally and truly thank her.
Returning her focus to Link, though, she's pleased he's perked up - both at the food, and the suggestion. Silently and aside from Zelda and Otoh, she holds the bowl and utensil (already scooped with the precious cuisine Link's stomach is seconds away from gaining a mind of its own for) in an inquisitive sort of way to indicate that Link can choose and dictate the action of his own accord. Her smile goes from teasing to empathetic in the process. He's been embarrassed enough for one day, honestly, and being hand-fed like a child regardless of current injuries would be putting salt in the wound if handled condescendingly or incorrectly.
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Date: 2017-05-27 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-05-27 05:04 am (UTC)"Oh, that truly would be disastrous, wouldn't it?" It's as soft as the look she's giving him in return; loud enough for him to hear but not to interrupt the story in the background. She passes the spoon to his good arm, deeming it well enough to not strain eating if he's signing. But she keeps the bowl, held out for him, is ready to take over if even the little actions prove to be still too much.
Watching him eat gets her lost in a few memories of her own before she realizes she's just as fondly staring at him.
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Date: 2017-05-29 02:36 am (UTC)He might not have broken his right arm in the fight, but his muscles were overextended and strained.
Link gets a half dozen spoonfuls of the food - it could be spicier, but it's good anyways - before he simply can't pull the spoon and its meager weight back out.
He blinks at Mipha, then sighs and lets his head fall back against the support Otoh had put together to keep his head from aching too much more.
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Date: 2017-06-01 05:51 am (UTC)Mipha looks into the bowl and finds that despite his trouble, he ate more than she did. Though she could admit that her own worries were eating away at her, instead.
"I'm sorry. I know this is difficult..." she says, quieter even than usual. With his spoon, she slowly mixes around what he has left and scoops as many morsels of the meat as she can fit on the spoon. "I know how much you hate being laid up like this."
GDI.
Date: 2017-06-02 01:15 am (UTC)"Once I'm feeling better, you should go home. Your little brother is absurdly tall, even for a Zora. And they all miss you."
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Date: 2017-06-04 02:35 am (UTC)The expression does break when when he mentions Sidon, her head dipping with a humor-filled breath as she looks at the bowl again to continue to aid him with eating. Still, it's another pause before she musters up a reply, worries of a different nature going around in her mind.
"You have seen our father, haven't you?" It's rhetorical and joking, tilting her head to him knowing full well he's making light on purpose. Even so, it's part of something that's been bothering her as well. "...I know, though. To even be able to think of...of actually being able to return to everyone is......" She trails off, looking at him with glistening eyes that should tell him what she means.
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Date: 2017-06-04 03:29 am (UTC)He leans forward a little to take the bite of food Mipha offers, and spends the time while she speaks chewing. "They love you so much... They have a festival every year about the champions, and you..." Maybe he would not mention the statue, though. Let her find out about that one herself.
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Date: 2017-06-05 04:30 am (UTC)"As I readied Vah Ruta...I looked out over the Domain and wished so badly to be able to see them again...one last time." Holding up the spoon again once he's ready, she very briefly looks toward the wagon's curtains, then to Zelda, and back to him. Zora being so long-lived, reuniting with her loved ones, though older, is something some of the other Champions won't get to share.
Aloud, though, she doesn't say so. "And now it will be neither just once, nor my last. Thanks to you...you and Princess Zelda." Link might have to prepare for that festival to change to include him, no matter how much he tries to downplay it...
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Date: 2017-06-09 01:25 am (UTC)But these past few months spent traveling Hyrule, meeting people, camping with them, saving them from monsters... That's all the recognition he needs. Let his place in history be a footnote, like all the others who had driven back Ganon in the past.
"You all and she did the real work. I just swung my sword around after sleeping for a hundred years. I couldn't protect you, or Zelda, or the kingdom. I'm just a vessel for the Goddess." He focuses his attention on his lap, hands curled in his lap, anxiety rising up from his gut into his chest and throat.
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Date: 2017-06-11 10:40 pm (UTC)"...We Champions fell against the Blights despite everything we gave. Princess Zelda saved you from a fate to match ours, all those years ago... And when you awoke, despite losing everything you had...you set out to help Hyrule again. To help our people, to help us...who you did not even remember.
"And you succeeded. To boil all of that down to a few swings of your sword, or yourself down to such a shell, is..." She trails off for a minute, eyes downcast. "I am not saying these things as hollow flattery or praise... I saw what such a horrible burden did to you. I only want you to know how proud you've made us, Link. Neither you, nor Princess Zelda, are defined by what fate or the Goddess decided to lay out for you."
After years of holding back her true feelings even before the Calamity took her away, she felt an unfamiliar push to be forthcoming for once instead of dancing around her feelings. Though their earlier mutual admissions of love certainly helped, too...
But it's more than she usually can ever say on such matters, and she knows it, and doesn't want to over-push an issue he struggles with. Mipha sheepishly hangs her head with a visible tint to her cheeks, letting the silence stretch as she scrapes the spoon against the bowl to gather up the last of the food he'd left. "I am proud of you, Link, not what ties you to the legends."
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Date: 2017-06-13 05:05 am (UTC)If he lifted his head, he would be able to see both Zelda and Otoh watching him, but he couldn't even being to think about them. All he could think about was himself, and Mipha, and her words.
He stared down at his trembling hands, then bit his bottom lip, hard, until the pain was enough to make his hands go calm. "I don't wnat to be famous... I just want to be with you.... Knowing that the people I met and helped along the wya are safe now from Calamity is all the fame I need..."
He was fine being another nameless hero of Hyrule. He honestly preferred it that way anyways. He had a house on the outskirts of hateno village, which was a safe, warm place to be, without any worry about an innkeeper, or waking other people up in the middle of the night with his nightmares.
"Ater we get everything setted... I have a house in Hateno Village. A river runs right by it. Maybe you could... come live with me?" Not that he wanted to keep her from her friends and family she'd lost a hundred years ago, but there was so much history for him as well in Zora's Domain.
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Date: 2017-06-18 08:15 pm (UTC)The decision of what to do once things settled down was weighing on the forefront of her mind, even before Link had suggested she make her return after he was sufficiently healed. She knew how her family and her people would react to her return and she knew her own emotional calling just as well. Yet being united with Link...had been her heart's calling long since before they were both chosen for their roles in the Calamity.
She supposed being granted these possibilities after so long is what has her torn in the first place.
But...it was as Link said. After everything's settled. After they, their people, Hyrule has had time to process and Link and the Champions could come to their own conclusions without this jumbled mess being so fresh. And it's when her subconscious acts before she can even think; her expression trembling and eyes glossy and hand reaching for his own as the surprise melts away to reveal her gentle smile again - that's when she knew that the answer had already been decided despite the contrary thoughts running through her mind.
Her voice is low and soft and nearly a whisper, and it's all but written on her face before she can even muster the brief but heavy words. "...I'd love that."
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Date: 2017-06-19 03:26 am (UTC)He almost looks away, unable to bear the rejection, when her face changes, smile going softer and wider, eyes warming, entire face crinkling into pleasure. He relaxes, manages to swallow down the anxiety, then nods, just a little.
He smiles back, sighs in relief, then leans forward a little, head bowed. He can't find the words in his throat or his hands, so he just nods again and smiles at her.
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Date: 2017-06-22 04:41 am (UTC)"As though I would ever say no..." She brushes part of his side-bangs out of the way as she slowly pulls away, face still conspicuously clouded with emotion. Though trying to make light after the apparent scare she'd given him, the laugh her recollection summons gets likewise trapped in her throat. "After all...you had accepted the armor...hadn't you?"
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Date: 2017-06-23 03:32 am (UTC)Yes, he had accepted the armor, hadn't he? And he'd known before accepting it what it meant - at least vaguely again, anyways. "I have your trident," he says, quietly, face still leaned in close to hers. "At home, on my wall. I couldn't stand to use it... It's yours, not mine." He smiles at her quietly.
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Date: 2017-06-26 02:45 am (UTC)"I knew you had it... They--" The fact that her family parted with it after so long, after she'd communicated to them when they sent it adrift down the river and they created the festival in turn, warmed her heart tenfold. And no matter how badly she wanted it to be of real use to Link, she can hardly fault him for keeping it in the way that he did. "Though I am glad they gave it to you. I am glad you could keep it somewhere you cherish."
Omg I really forgot for weeks to tag in this /hides face
Date: 2017-07-17 04:05 am (UTC)Otoh was watching them, carefully, making sure Link wasn't straining himself too heavily after his ordeal. "Let me walk you back to your tent, Princess," she said, and she and Zelda exited, leaving the cart devoid of extra, prying eyes
ahaa no it's all good, we both took a thread vacation
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From:sorry! it was my turn to reread our thread
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