Chapter Text
Lossa spent two days searching the nearby area for his boy. Link didn’t return home to announce his prank either night, and each time he checked in Narei was getting tenser and tender until she moved around like a footsore soldier waiting the chance to fall into bed and rest his aching joints.
He bid her farewell the third morning, this time with the information that he would have to go further. Link wasn’t here anymore, and as much as it pained him to think it, the boy must have really run away.
He kissed her goodbye and she looked ready to cry, but she packed him a bag of supplies and a pouch of rupees, and then he was off.
He passed a mailman on his way, tipping his head in greeting. Despite his exhaustion, he waved to him. “You have any mail for me, sir?”
The mailman paused, blinked at him twice, then backtracked still in running stance so he was in front of Lossa again. “Lossa! I do in fact!”
He offered an envelope which Lossa tore into on a futile hope. When he saw the name signed, that hope seemed a little less futile. “Where did this note come from!?”
The mailman raised his eyebrows, but he pointed over his shoulder down the road, still running in place. “Kakariko.”
Lossa resisted the urge to run, though he did stumble a step before he yanked the unwary man into a bear hug. “Kakariko!”
The mailman was clearly stunned when Lossa stepped away, and even more so when he offered the letter back to him.
“My wife Narei is still at home. Please make sure this gets to her.” She’d need to know where he went. Kakariko! Link was still close!
“Of course!” The mailman took the note and without another word he sprinted down the path past Lossa.
Kakariko. Lossa’s chest loosened just at the idea. Of course Link wouldn’t know anywhere else to go to. He’s only been to so many places.
He ran a hand through his hair, grateful for the luck that he ran into the mailman first. Knowing the exact location of his son at least a day ago was something he wouldn’t pass up for anything. He will certainly have some explaining to do when I find him.
Lossa grunted, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he started down the path once more.
3 Years Ago
“Rift!”
His spine snapped straight and his heels clicked together in recognition to the command in the captain’s voice. “Sir!”
The soldier stopped in front of the ranks, just before Rift’s column and set his hands on his hips. “Come with me, recruit.”
The soldiers around him shifted as Rift dropped his salute and slipped between them. This… wasn’t normal. Did he do something wrong? Was he in trouble?
His heart pounded in his ears as he remembered two of the other recruits playing cards in the bunk room when they were supposed to be sleeping. He knew he should’ve reported the incident. What would he do if they cast him out?
“Follow me, soldier,” the captain said and he gestured for the drill sergeant to continue as they walked away from the training yard.
Questions boiled in his stomach and up his throat. It was a conscious effort to swallow down each and every one, snapping his teeth over his tongue and keeping his silence. Speaking out of turn would only make things worse for him.
The captain didn’t seem to mind the silence—couldn’t feel the burning anxiety eating away at Rift’s insides—and so they walked without a word all the way through the main doors of the palace and up a flight of expansive stairs.
Rift caught his breath at the polished marble and the intricate portraits of kings and queens of old. They walked down a hall with a long mural depicting the creation of Hyrule and the gift of the Triforce in stunning detail stretching on either side of them.
At the end of the hall stood two double doors. Suddenly Rift didn’t think he was being called in for a simple infraction.
This was the throne room. He couldn’t have done anything bad enough of the royals to take notice of him, had he? But he certainly hadn’t done anything good enough either. He was just doing his chores and drills and trying to get by. Even in all the wracking of his brain he couldn’t find a single reason that he should be summoned to stand before royalty.
The captain stood straight a couple paces ahead of him. “The recruit, Rift, here for an audience with Princess Zelda.”
A page to the side nodded twice and slipped into the room.
Rift’s mind stopped and the air seemed to suck out of the room with the opening of that door and the speaking of those words.
Suddenly it was all too real and Rift’s pounding heart doubled its pace.
Princess Zelda?? But I’ve never even seen royalty before! What am I supposed to do?
He should bow, of course. Genuflect, likely. Right? He shouldn’t salute a princess—at least not off duty—he was fairly certain, but beyond that…
He dared to break his attentive stance just enough to bite his lip and peek around the captain’s broad shoulders. He wasn’t sure what sort of clue he’d find in the older man’s face.
Maybe he hoped his uncertainty would show and the man would tell him what was expected of him. Being a soldier was easy. You were given orders and you completed them to the letter.
Rift didn’t know what he was supposed to do here.
If the captain noticed his turmoil, he didn’t have the chance to do anything about it before the page returned and gestured Rift toward the open doorway.
The captain raised his eyebrows expectantly and Rift swallowed. Excitement buzzed from his fingers to his toes as he stepped alone past the page and into the massive throne room.
Silent sentries stood between each towering pillar that stretched up to a glass roof letting in fractured sunlight to dance over the tile floor. The path in front of him led straight to a raised dais where a throne sat empty, and at the foot of those steps another simpler chair was set.
A girl, not much older than him if any, sat in the chair and watched him with a knowledge and certainty behind her gaze that made him pause.
Her hair fell over her shoulders in well-maintained waterfalls of mahogany and the sparkling tiara on her head spoke clearly enough of her identity.
Rift fumbled for a moment with where to put his hands, finally slapping one on his chest and bowing at the waist before he remembered his decision to fall on one knee.
His face and ears burned as he dropped down and lowered his head further, hoping his uncertainty in this regard wouldn’t get him into any further trouble. He didn’t dare speak.
The sound of his heavy armor clattering with his clumsy movements echoed through the halls until it faded into stiff silence, and still no one spoke. No one moved.
“Your name is Rift?” The voice was musical at the same time as threatening. As if she were asking more for her own amusement than anything, which she must be since the page had to have told her.
Rift licked his lips and swallowed down the lump in his throat so that his voice would be steady when he spoke. “Yes, your highness.” He didn’t lift his head, so she couldn’t see his cringe after the words. Was highness right? Or was it majesty? Lady? Was he supposed to add anything on afterward at all? The captain insisted on being called sir, at least, so maybe some formality wouldn’t hurt his situation.
“I’ve seen you training,” she spoke in that same tone, as though she were dancing around her real meaning. It put him on edge.
More so when he thought about the implications of such a statement. Seen me? How could she have…-
“What do you want, Rift? Why have you joined the Hyrulean army?”
Why?? Rift stared at the tiles before his face. Polished clean without even a trace of dust. What kind of question was why? Why did it matter? He was here to fight for his kingdom and his king. Wasn’t that enough?
But he couldn’t very well say that to Princess Zelda herself, no matter how the question pried into matters he didn’t necessarily want to bear to royalty.
“My father served in the army before he took a bad injury,” he said, voice level despite his hammering heart. “He was unable to return to active duty, and I showed promise with the sword, so I came in his stead.”
It was an honest answer and should be enough of the Princess to deduce the rest without him having to air it out in front of everyone in this room.
The soldiers’ eyes burned into his skin no matter how silent and still they were.
“Why come to this line of work? Why not anywhere else?”
She wasn’t going to let it drop. Rift’s ears burned and he felt them droop down to brush against his hair. “My family needs a stable income,” he said steadily, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt, or that the way he was still bowed would keep it from her notice. “With my skills already in this area and connections in the army, it seemed the obvious choice, ma’am.”
He actually flinched when the final word left his mouth. He may not know a lot, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t the right way to address a princess.
She didn’t mention it, however. “Your family struggles to make end’s meat?”
He pressed his lips together in a thin line. She really was going to make him spell it out for her? His shoulders stiffened. “We get along fine.” He didn’t mean his tone to be so harsh. He quickly lowered his head further. “Your majesty.”
Great. Now he was just throwing every title he knew into the void. There wasn’t a chance all of them were right. He should have chosen one and stuck with it.
But again, the princess didn’t mention the address—which was making it very difficult to determine which ones were the correct ones—but instead let out a quiet hum.
“You will do.”
Rift furrowed his brow, but still didn’t dare to look up at her again. His face was still flaming and he didn’t want to make more a fool of himself than he already had.
When this was over he was going straight to the library to learn everything he could about the proper etiquette when dealing with royalty.
“I am in need of a bodyguard,” the princess continued. “If you will have the job, you will start directly after your leave.”
This time Rift did raise his head, just a little, eyes wide and catching the hem of her dress only. “Pardon?”
“The pay will be double what you would earn as an officer in the Hyrulean army. Substantially more than you would ever earn as a new recruit.”
The floor seemed to be rocking beneath him. He leaned heavily against his one hand on the ground.
“The job shouldn’t be especially dangerous, perhaps boring most of the time, but I assure you there will be a large share of threat to life and limb to come, and I expect you to take that into consideration in your final decision.”
Her words were washing over him like a wave trying to throw him off his balance. Splay him across the tiles and sweep him from the room. He didn’t understand what was happening. It didn’t make any sense.
“I’m impressed by the potential I see in you,” she continued as if this were an every day matter. “And if you will accept it, you may consider this a promotion.”
Accept it? How could he not!? This would mean so much for his family! And in all his years he’d never even dared to dream it might be a reality that he of all people would be a bodyguard to the princess!
It was an honor beyond fathoming for a boy his age. It was unheard of. It was generous and suspicious and he wasn’t even sure where he was supposed to start!
“Rift?” Her voice held a hint of amusement. “Do you accept?”
“Oh!” His head snapped up and he met her eyes before he even thought about it. Then he dropped his face to the floor again and lowered even further. “This is a great honor. I did not expect it and I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you will do as I ask.”The words were spoken with such authority and confidence, almost like the captain, but quiet and soft.
Rift’s hands tightened until his knuckles were white. “How could I do otherwise, my lady?”