New Home - BotW Link x Reader (Undergoing Revisions)

Chapter 19 - Introspection

There was something incredibly isolating about those first few moments being on your own after being alongside someone for so long. To go from constant companionship and the revelry, comfort, and joy that being with someone you trusted, to being alone was such a drastic, harsh change that it was jarring, so much so that it shook me down to my very core, or nearly.

Truth was, I was used to being alone. I was. It was something I was used to. Living by myself, I spent a lot of time alone - on most days, it was just me and my chickens, my chores, and the dormant house left to me by my family.

...The dormant house that had been the only thing keeping me there.

That loneliness was different from the loneliness I was feeling right now, though. This was an isolating one, one where I nearly leapt at every shadow, stiffened at every noise, and one where my heart rate was elevated damn near constantly.

But then I remembered who I was.

I was (Y/n), she who had left the only home she had ever known to go on an adventure, to see the world she was born into, to enjoy her life while she was young and had the capacity to. I was (Y/n), she who had picked up a weapon to defend her village and who had vowed to repay the debt to he who had saved her. I was (Y/n), she who had remained in Hateno for my family's sake but not for my own but was now living for herself, and herself alone. I was (Y/n), she who now held a spear in hand, proudly seated atop a horse well-trained and well-couraged; (Y/n), who would not startle at every noise because she was not scared; (Y/n), who would not run away. Not anymore.

Selfless, though not defenseless.

Now more selfish, but not unkind.

Strong and... and brave, with both attributes surely growing by the day.

When Link was out of sight, I was left with nothing to do but wait. I did not have a slate like he did, something that would lead me back to Epona if I wandered. I did not have a map on me - mine was tucked safely in the saddlebags of my charge, who was nestled away in that canyon with a pile of food and a bucket of water before her and probably didn't even notice our departure.

I figured a good first step to take for now was to take in my surroundings. Everything here was dusty, as though this place was somehow suspended in time and had remained untouched for a long, long time. I couldn't dispute it, not really. There was a strange sense of otherness here, of distinct strangeness and something larger than myself.

It was the same feeling that I had felt around Link when we first crossed paths, back when he saved me from those monsters on the beach. He had a soothing sort of aura to be around, but he was altogether rather enigmatic. I got glimpses of a bubbly, bright, enthusiastic adventurer who traveled for the love of Hyrule and what it had to offer. But I also got glimpses of something darker, something haunted but he kept that part of himself well-hidden.

He was a hard boy to read. But the air here felt like Link felt like: unassuming but weird, old but young, plain but enigmatic.

I wondered, for a moment, if I would ever know him as he truly is, and if I would know all sides of him. The mischievous boy I was getting to know, but also the man so clearly hiding so much of himself for whatever reason...

It seemed selfish, but I wanted to know. I wanted to learn who he was. I wanted to know what haunted him. I wanted to know why he was so reluctant to indulge in any information about himself. I wanted to... Well.

At any rate, this rocky bluff left little room for something to surprise me, so I was able to let my guard down, even slightly, and just for now.

Still, there was nothing left to do but wait.