Journey's End - Prologue

The fire crackles wearily before you, casting a warm glow on your belongings that sit next to you. Your sword; an old battered leather satchel with your ocarina, wallet, stationary, tools and food inside it; your very much worn and battled shield, adorned with scratches from all kinds of opponents. The red bird on it looks rather tired; her feathers are scratched and greying and she has lost her glossy lustre. You hear a low, lazy snort behind you. Epona has had a rough day, what with the rain and cold wind that had followed you both across the land. Thank goodness that the weather had brightened up in the evening.

You lean forward and grab the skewer of sizzling meat that had been cooking. It was a bit dry, but it wasn’t as if it needed oil. Wild boar was a fatty meat on its own anyway, and you appreciated the chewy rind as you took a careful bite. In fact, the taste of this seared flesh reminds you of how Talon used to prepare it. He had always slightly overcooked meats because he enjoyed them a little on the charred side. You smile to yourself and take another bite, Epona snoozing and twitching her ear at your back. Those days at the ranch must have been the best you’ve had. Of course, your adventures have also been second to none and taught you many of life’s difficult lessons. But something adventure had never given you was the sensation of being home. Home was where she was. Or rather, home was her.

Nostalgia hits you like an arrow to the heart, painful and true. You grab your satchel and find a parchment, quill and ink pot. You frown, realizing that you should have purchased more ink at the previous town, but this will have to do. The parchment keeps rolling together in defiance, and in a fluster, you weight it down with a couple of rocks, ready your pen, and take a pause.

When was the last time you wrote to her? Months ago, in fact almost a year, just after the first snow. You hadn’t heard from her either, which was only logical since you hadn’t stayed at an inn at all recently.

Dear Malon,

How have you been?

No, no, no. You crumple up the paper in frustration and feed it to the fire. How could you begin like that? That would just annoy her more, seeing as you hadn’t reached out to her in so long, and maybe make you seem a bit oblivious. Another parchment.

Dear Malon,

I’m so sorry that you hear from me only now. I know you must have worried. It’s been an intense few months and I have been taking more and more local work to keep afloat. I’ve been unsuccessful in finding Navi. I thought I was on the right path for a time, but it turned out to be a local legend that only concerned a Great Fairy. She also had no distinct wisdom to share with me. I am disheartened, homesick, and tired. In the past many weeks, I keep travelling back to Hyrule in my mind and sleep. 15 years have passed since I have walked upon the grass of Hyrule Field. I think I’ll come back for a time, visit you, your father and Ingo, see what has changed. Do I still have a place at the ranch, as when before I left? I would very much like to spend some time with you all again, like we used to. I will be travelling to a town three days away from the border soon and will remain with the blacksmith there for a time, for work. I will write the address down below, so please write me and let me know what you all think. Give my regards to the others, and I hope you read this in good health.

Warmest regards,

Link
 

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Art by R3dFiVe

Story by Redeemer and R3dFiVe

Writing by Redeemer