scene 64- nearly

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Zelda couldn't find Link anywhere, and she didn't want to wander too far without notifying anyone. She went back into the city and told Bolson that she'd be leaving for Hateno, so he'd be in charge for a while again.

Then, she went to a stable and got her horse, then set off.

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When she reached Hateno, she left her horse outside and went to Link's house. He wasn't there, so she went to Purah. Maybe she could find where his Sheikah slate was.

She didn't even know why she was so intent on finding him. Something just felt... wrong. Like something bad either already happened to him or would happen soon.

She knocked on the door and was answered by a young girl. Purah. They had visited her when they first came to Hateno.

"Hello, Purah. Could you do me a favor?"
"Sure! C'mon in!"
She stepped inside, and Purah shut the door behind her before running to the table and climbing onto the bench.
"What is it?"
"Well, first I have a question."
"Ask away."
"Um, would it be possible to see where the Sheikah slate is? I can't find Link anywhere, and I'm afraid that something might have happened to him."
"Actually, yes! We didn't want it to be stolen from the Shrine of Resurrection without us knowing. Also, we wanted to be able to know when Link woke up."

Purah was being more serious than she had been when Link was here. Not by much, but there was still a difference. Maybe because she was talking about the Sheikah slate. Or because the princess was here.

Purah hopped off the bench and walked over to a pedestal. She tapped it, and a screen thing appeared above it. She tapped the screen a few times, then a map similar to the one on Link's Sheikah slate came up. Purah zoomed in on a yellow dot.

"It says he's in Hebra. Or the slate is there, and he's somewhere else."
"Thank you so much, Purah."
"No problem!"
Purah did a little pose, and Zelda smiled before hurrying outside and to her horse.

She left Hateno and headed for Hebra and Tabantha. Maybe a Rito saw him.

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A little later, Purah looked at the map again, wondering if Zelda had found Link yet. The slate was still in Hebra, but now it was in a river. A freezing cold one.

"Shit."

Symin turned to her, surprised.
"I'm aloud to curse, Symin. I'm not actually six."

●●●

Zelda stopped at the Rito Stable, leaving her horse there. She asked a few people if they had seen Link, and all of them said no. She went into Rito Village and asked some Rito, and they also said no.

She bought a coat and left the village. Well, the coat was given to her, but she insisted on giving the shopkeeper at least some money. Just because she was the princess didn't mean she was exempt from paying money.

She followed the path around the village. No sign of Link. She went farther into the mountains. Still no sign of Link. She saw a river with a shrine nearby. It seemed like it matched up with the area he had been near.

Zelda started looking around in the area, but she wasn't seeing him anywhere. She decided that he might be by the river, so she headed over to it. She walked along the shore for a few minutes before she caught sight of something relatively small lying on the ground a few meters in front of her, right by the water. She walked up to it and picked it up out of the snow.

The Sheikah slate. How did it get here? Maybe Link dropped it. Then he must be near here.

She started running, and not long after she found the slate, she saw a second object lying in the snow, also practically in the water. She slowed down and walked over to it. It was a bag. A soaking wet bag. She opened it up, curious as to what was in it. Weapons. And a pocket knife.

She rummaged through the contents if the bag, wondering if it was Link's bag. Her suspicions were confirmed when she found a weapon that she knew he liked. She picked the bag up and continued walking.

After a while, she saw a sword on the other side of the river. Even from that distance, she saw that it was the Master sword. Something terrible must have happened for Link to drop all of his things. This was a lot for him to just accidentally drop. And how would he accidentally drop the Master sword on the opposite side of the river?

She started running again, but this time, it wasn't because she was happy about possibly fnding him. No, she was scared. Then, she spotted something much larger than the other things. This thing was mostly in the water, too. More than half way.

She ran faster. She stopped when she reached it. When she saw what- or, rather, who- it was, she quickly got down on her knees.
"Link! Oh, no, no, no. What happened?"

She looked up and saw a piece of fabric on the ground nearby. His paraglider. He must have fallen.

She looked back down and put her hand on his. He was freezing cold. She put a hand on his chest. There was definitely a heartbeat. She sighed in relief. He was still alive. But his heartbeat was faint, and his breaths were slow and shallow.

She had to get him out of the water. She put her arms under his and dragged him out of the water. Although, being in the snow wasn't much better.

Zelda looked around and saw that there was nothing around that she could use to warm him up. So, she took off her coat and wrapped it around his shoulders. She cleared the snow off of a patch of ground and sat down. She pulled him onto her legs, rubbing his arms.

Then, she picked up the Sheikah slate and teleported them out of the cold. Well, she tried to. It didn't work.

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[A/N: the setting of the previous chapter, this one, and the next are not actually on the map. Hebra doesn't really have a good place. The best place isn't even a river, it's a lake, which Link could easily go around. Although, you probably just say that he's being stupid, cuz that's basically one of the effects if hypothermia. So yeah. I made up a general spot. Just wanted to say that for clarity reasons.]

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