New Horizons - A Skyward Sword Aftermath Story

2 - The Big Move

By the early hours of the following morning, masses of people were waiting eagerly at the main plaza. It was unusual for everyone to up so early, but Gaepora insisted they do so that they could set up camp before nightfall. As they waited for everyone to arrive, the crowd admired the beautiful dawn sky. As if it was a painting, every cloud was detailed with an array of warm pinks and oranges. Quiet murmurs among the excited bunch soon grew into one large chorus. The plaza was filled with colourful loftwings that sat alongside their owners, who strapped their belongings to them.

Zelda woke to the sound of the distant chatter, as well as the golden sunlight that slipped into her room through the cracks in her window shutter. Today was the day.

After the girl had slipped on her clothes and soft leather boots, she took one last look around her bedroom, almost unable to comprehend that it was going to be the last time she was here for a long time. Since she packed earlier yesterday, her room was already bare, sparing the large wooden desk, wardrobe and bed. Moving home was an odd feeling. Before everything happened, her life was so small, and she always had a consistent routine. Having never been anywhere new in her life, she had gotten so used to her own little world.

Seeing her room without her personal touch to it brought on a sinking feeling, and a lot of reminiscing. She remembered all the times Karane would climb over the partition to sneakily deliver her some midnight snacks, or that one time her and Link stayed up all night working on a science project due for Instructor Horwell's class in 8th grade. Once she was done taking a last look at her room, she swiftly left in order to meet up with the others at the plaza.

"Zelda!" she heard a familiar soft voice call out from behind her. Link came out of his room, and sped up to catch up to the girl.
"Oh, good morning, Link! Are you all ready to go?" The girl replied cheerily. The hero smiled and nodded.
"H-how are you feeling this morning?" He asked. There was a hint of hesitancy in his voice, for she was quite visibly upset and didn't want to remind her of whatever was bothering her.

Unfortunately, he did remind her. The move in itself was already quite an emotionally challenging task, but this fateful task made her full of dread.
Eventually, she remembered that her friend was waiting for a reply, and forced her thoughts aside.
"Y-yeah!" She chuckled nervously. "Yeah, everything's fine, I suppose my social battery was drained by the end of it all."
The other gave her a warm smile.
"That's understandable, I'm just glad you're feeling better now."

Seeing him smile always created this unexplainable feeling. It was like a rush, but also paralysing nervousness. It was a strange feeling, but it felt so good.

While returning the smile, she noticed the dark circles under his eyes. Her smile faded into a slight frown.
"... Did you sleep well last night?"
The latter raised his eyebrows, almost as if he seemed surprised by the question.
"How come?"
"You just seem... Tired."
Her tone grew more playful.
"And we both know it's never been like you to lose sleep."

Zelda noticed how his gaze quickly shifted away from hers as he scratched the back of his head.
"O-oh! Uhm... Yeah." He shrugged.
"Last night just went on until late, is all."

They carried on walking in silence momentarily.

"So, how did the rest of the night go?" The girl asked.
Link let out a small laugh.
"Well, Groose somehow ended up passing out after an oddly intense "One-Legged Loftwing Fight" competition. We had to drag him back to his room, and when I mean we, I mean me and Fledge, since the others couldn't even roll him onto his side."

Zelda slowly turned to him with the most confused expression, before laughing at the mental image of it in her head. It was relieving to hear they all still had a good time after she left. Though, she still felt awful for doing so.