songerein | open 🌻 a not so welcome return

Entry tags:

open 🌻 a not so welcome return

Who: Zelda and OPEN
Which: Open log
Where: Around town
What: Zelda returns to Song after disappearing for a canon update two weeks ago.
Warnings: Major Tears of the Kingdom spoilers in the first prompt. (opt out of TOTK spoilers here.) Also minor descriptions of choking and vomiting.

1. choking hazard

This isn't how it was supposed to happen.

They had it all planned out, Zelda and Mineru. They knew everything that needed to be prepared in advance, every task to plan or delegate so that all the necessary tools would be available to Link in the distant future. It was just a matter of getting it all in order before the end. They had only this once chance to get everything right. There would be no going back, no correcting mistakes, once Zelda swallowed her secret stone.

They had tried to plan for contingencies as well. What if Ganondorf broke free too early? What if the Temple of Time were damaged? What if Mineru's spirit faded before she could meet Link?

'What if the Princess is suddenly spirited away to a strange dream world before she could transform?'—was not among those contingencies.

Hidden away in a quiet alleyway not far from the Plaza, Zelda sits on the cobbled stone and tries to take stock of her situation. The Master Sword—more a stump than a sword at this point, its brilliant blade almost entirely corroded away—lays beside her on the ground. The princess's right hand rests protectively over its hilt, ready to grab the blade at a moment's notice, should anyone intrude on her.

'Songerein.' She knows that name. It stirs recognition somewhere deep, deep in the back of Zelda's mind. She had a dream like this once, during the long century she spent sealed away with Calamity Ganon. To think it was not (quite) a dream after all...

But that doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that matters is getting back to Hyrule, protecting the Master Sword, and--

Zelda tries to swallow a lump in her throat.

--giving up her life for the sake of the future.

For the sake of Link.

Her brows furrow. She already tried (and failed) to use her power over time to return herself to the moment before she woke up here in Songerein. But she isn't willing to give up that easily. Zelda absently rubs the stone attached to her choker with her thumb. A mortal might be beholden to the rules of this realm, but what about a dragon? Mineru said that a dragon is unbound from the shackles of time, becoming ageless—deathless—an immortal shell of one's former self. Surely such a being could not be bound by the rules of dreams either. Perhaps the transformation will be enough to wake her and free her from this purgatory so that she can do her duty.

She'll do anything if it's for Link.

Clenching her jaw, Zelda yanks the stone from her choker and cups it in her palms. Such a little thing, and yet it's capable of such great—and terrible—things. It can draw out the greatest strength in anyone, allow them to build a kingdom of prosperity and paradise. But it can also draw out terrible evil, the cruelest of ambitions, the downfall of any goodness in the world. It is capable of allowing someone to live forever—at the cost of everything that they are.

She'll do anything if it's for Link.

Zelda clasps her hands over the stone and presses her forehead against them. "You must find me, Link. I may not know it's you... You may not know it's me... But you must come for me. You must protect everyone."

She raises her hands to her lips and swallows the stone whole.

The lump sticks in the back of her throat. Zelda swallows again and again, trying to push the stone down, but it holds fast. She tilts her chin up and strokes her throat, trying to coax it to relax. Come on, go down. Zelda tries to take a breath in order to swallow again, but only manages to suck in the tiniest hiss of air. The stone won't move.

The edges of her vision start getting dark. Growing frantic, she slaps at her throat with both hands. Please, just go down...

All of the sudden, Zelda lurches forward, falling onto her hands and knees. Against her will, she heaves. Up comes the stone, along with the contents of her stomach, splattering over the cobblestones.

It takes a minute for her to stop retching and catch her breath. When Zelda opens her eyes and spots the stone, her gut clenches up again and she lets out a wrenching sob.

"Why?! Why won't you let me go?"

What a horrible scene to come across, should anyone be so unlucky.

2. about town

It's the next day.

Zelda is still playing over the events of the previous day in her mind—she went to sleep in Hyrule, assured of her plans and ready to enact them. But when she woke, she was in this strange world, Songerein. A dream from long ago, a lifetime past, when the princess held back an ancient evil all by herself for one hundred years. Sometimes she was awake, watching over the land of Hyrule, watching over her knight as he slumbered. Other times, she slept, dreaming strange dreams about people from strange worlds and magic powered by the combination of dreams and emotions.

So it wasn't a dream after all.

Throughout the day, Zelda can be found wandering around town, looking lost and hesitant. She clutches the hilt of the corroded Master Sword with both hands, never once setting it down. She walks streets she used to know by heart, trying to stir memories that have been long dormant.

So lost in her thoughts, Zelda isn't entirely paying attention to where she's going, so it's very likely that she'll bump right into someone.

But even if she doesn't, she might stop you to ask for directions. Do you know the way to the library?—no, it was an archive. There's supposed to be a smithy around here, isn't there? Do you know of a place where they teach music?

Or maybe Zelda will make it to her destination—the smithy, the archives, dreambucks, the Plaza, or any such place. She'll linger outside, hesitant. Does she remember this place? Did she know someone here? Maybe she'll even step inside, milling around with the uncertainty of someone who knows they are looking for something but has forgotten what it is.

3. the wildcard option

Want a different prompt to meet or reunite with Zelda? Plot with me on plurk (

knighted), discord (triforce1960) or DM.

Also, feel free to reply in brackets instead of prose if you prefer.

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[Sheik isn't sure what brings him to the Plaza today.

It's not as though he misses being surrounded by people. If anything, he's been debating if he shouldn't have pulled away sooner, kept to the rules he'd had for himself in Hyrule and minimized how much he interacted with others. If he had run from the start, if he had never been brought to that masquerade, maybe that would have been better. At the very least, he wouldn't feel like this, wondering what he should have done instead while nursing a strange itch in the back of his mind that just will not cease.

Then he hears it, a horrid retching sound from an alleyway nearby. He turns the corner, some part of him hoping that the poor soul already has an escort to the clinic... and freezes. The singular word that follows is barely above a whisper; she might not even hear it in her distressed state.]

Princess...?

[It doesn't look like her - her hair is too short, her clothes are too strange, she's too hunched over for him to see her face - but he knows it's her, sobbing and apparently in pain, and suddenly everything else he had been thinking about doesn't matter anymore. An instant later, he's crouching at her side, reaching an arm around her shoulders and gently urging her to lift herself upright. His voice is soft in its urgency as he tries to calm her, and if it's an octave or so higher than she might recall in some distant memory, well. He's worried.]

Princess-- Princess, breathe. It's all right, just breathe, please.

Zelda looked...different.

Something was off. And it wasn't just her hair and new outfit. No, she looked upset. Definitely in a daze.

Well, perhaps he could offer some assistance as only he could.

"Why, Miss Zelda! Good to see you, my dear! The last time I saw you, you were a bit stiff! Ha!"

And without so much as a "by your leave", he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and started guiding her towards his home.

"Have you had lunch yet? I was planning to make po boys again, but this time with crawdads! Can you believe we actually have some around here? Why, I was giddy with excitement the moment I saw their holes!"

Kratos had been on his way back home when passing through the plaza. He had a few things to do and finished them up well enough. The only thing presently on his mind was whether or not he wanted to indulge in dinner tonight or save that for another time. On the one hand, food remains unnecessary for him even here; on the other hand, he has some fish just waiting to be cooked up and properly savored.

While weighing those options, an unpleasant sort of noise reaches his ears. The sound of retching? Judging from the direction, the origin of the noise is likely an alleyway a distance away. Kratos almost leaves whoever that is to their business, but then comes that agonized shout. Even if it hadn't been familiar, Kratos wouldn't have been able to ignore it. The fact it IS familiar ends up making him not hesitate in heading over.

Upon turning down the alley, he immediately catches sight of the owner of that voice: Zelda. Her appearance differs a little from when he'd last seen her, but that hardly matters now. What does matter is the state she's in. That position, the vomiting, the agonized scream: those make it obvious she's not okay. Kratos wastes no time in quickly walking over. He kneels down next to her and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. The concern on his face matches the concern in his voice when he speaks. "Are you alright?"

[ Zelda isn't aware of Sheik's presence at all until he suddenly kneels down at her side, and even then, only distantly. She feels an arm around her shoulders, a familiar voice telling her to breathe, calling her—

—Princess?

Her frantic mind immediately latches onto the title she hasn't heard in months, not since before she was transported to ancient Hyrule.

Zelda jerks her head up and the first thing she sees is Sheik's mantle emblazoned with the Eye of Truth. An irrational thought leaps unbidden into her mind: did she somehow make it home after all?

One hand darts out and grabs a fistful of his mantle as she lifts her head high enough to see his face (partially obscured by a cowl, just like the ninjas of the Sheikah clan) and distinctive red eyes. There's a sense of recognition in the back of Zelda's mind, but no name surfaces. ]

Is this—? Am I—?

[ "—back in Hyrule?" Zelda's eyes flick away from Sheik's face and over their surroundings. It's the same alleyway from a minute ago.

She's still not home.

Tears well up in Zelda's eyes as her gaze returns to Sheik. ]

One minute, Zelda was staring into a shop window, trying to figure out why the name 'Madame Blackbird' sounded familiar to her. Then the next, there was an arm around her shoulders and a strange man dressed all in red sweeping her away as though she was his dear friend who was tardy for lunch and not a complete stranger. Excuse me, sir, but whomst??

The abruptness of the whole interaction played right to Alastor's advantage though (probably by design), and Zelda could do nothing but allow herself to be steered to some unknown location while her brain hurried to catch up. Normally, this would have been cause for alarm— (The Imprisoning War had taught the princess to be much more cautious than she ever was in her Hyrule.) —but Zelda didn't get a sense of ill intent from this person.

Actually, she had the strangest sense of déja vu.

"Ex-Excuse me, but I think you may have mistaken me for someone else."

Even though he called her 'Miss Zelda.' Has to be a coincidence.

Oh, it was absolutely by design: Hit your target fast before they knew what was happening, and they would be easier to control.

"Oh dear. You must've been awake for quite some time in your world to have forgotten me!" Alastor released her shoulders to circle around in front of her and dramatically place a hand to his chest. Then he leaned forward. "Though apparently some part of you remembered this little dream world we currently and previously shared." He flicked the edge of her hair with a claw. "I do say that the hairstyle suits you, my dear!

"But considering the circumstances, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to reintroduce myself." He bowed and took her hand to shake it. "Alastor! Pleasure to meet you, sweetheart! Quite a pleasure!"

[ It is quite the horrible scene, from the emesis upon a smooth, alien stone, to someone sobbing and retching upon on the ground. The artifact is unfamiliar. The girl, though... ]

Hail, Daughter of Hyrule.

[ His voice is steady, the greeting given with the same deep candance as always. She'll see the edge of his dark cloak as he approaches from the side, still partially transparent from the phantom form he adopts, and then feel something tangible, soft, and solid draped over her shoulders. As the indigo fabric solidifies over her shoulders, crystalline blue magic falls like dust from its golden hem, twinkling to the ground before winking out of space and time. It is the chlamys she had embroidered for him long ago- never worn by him, but also never forgotten, always held within his armory.

The sound of leather and the coarser fabric he wears accompanies his shift to a half-crouch beside her. With a palm placed upon her shoulder, he utters: ]

Breathe.

[Once upon a time, there was a Sheikah warrior who had not yet awakened as a Sage, who clutched her dear princess close as she sobbed, her cries echoing within the tiny cranny they had tucked themselves away in, far from prying eyes.

Sheik can't begin to guess what has distressed this princess so. His heart breaks as he watches her search his face for answers to the questions she cannot bring herself to voice, and though he wishes for nothing more than to speak them to her, to tell her how to solve all her problems and then some... Wisdom offers him nothing. It's just him, here with her, and a memory of the words spoken to a frightened child who just wanted to save the world all those years ago.

So, he passes them along. She looks to him with watery eyes, and he lifts a hand to lightly hold her chin, scarlet eyes steadily holding her gaze.]

... Right now, you are safe.

[This is important - the thing that must be recognized above all else - and so he allows that fact to hang silent in the air between them for a moment before the hand at her chin moves to the back of her head and pulls her in, burying her face in his cowl, tucking her under his chin and holding her tight. It likely isn't entirely comfortable (he can't remember the last time he's held someone like this, if he ever has), but that seems like such a minor concern in the grand scheme of things. Impa's words echo through him as he continues, his voice dropping back into its typical register.]

Everything else... will come with time. For right now, Princess, you are safe. You may cry, if you want. Scream, if it will help. But, please... do not become lost to despair.

[ Bump into somebody she does.

Trahearne, specifically. Who, in all his 6'2", absentminded glory, doesn't realize he's walking into the path of another much shorter than him when he's so lost in thought himself. Unlike her, his mind is on trivial things--feeding his pets, making sure his brother is settled, what work needs to be done--but it consumes him nonetheless, and he staggers when he physically runs into her. Instinctively, he reaches out to grasp her shoulders, to steady her. ]

Oh, I apologise, I wasn't-- Zelda?

[ He had noticed her absence, as brief as it was--despite how busy Trahearne himself has been, such a regular visitor to his own establishment suddenly breaking routine (and one, personally, he is somewhat fond of) and disappearing is something that does not escape his mental note. ]

You're back. [ He tries to smile, but it comes out a little lopsided--something is clearly off. ] Are you all right?

[Zelda may not be paying attention to where she's going, but that doesn't mean other people aren't. She looks different than he remembers, from even just a short while ago, but it's not as if she's completely unrecognizable. And even if he somehow hadn't recognized her, the hilt she's carrying is something he's more than familiar with. Just, you know, with someone else who isn't Zelda.

Rather than calling out to get her attention, Revali reaches out, firmly placing a wing on Zelda's shoulder to hold her back before she collides with some random passerby. There's probably a more polite way that falls back on actual royal etiquette to do this, but to him, this seems easier. And also saves Zelda any embarrassment from having to apologize for running into a stranger.]

Don't get so lost in your thoughts that you forget to watch where you're going.

[sure it's safer here than Hyrule, but it's still good advice.]

Zelda doesn't notice Kratos's approach until she suddenly feels his hand on her shoulder. Before she can even comprehend his words, the princess is gripped by the instinctive panic that has become her constant companion since the start of the Imprisoning War. Someone is here! Don't let them get the stone!

Quick as a flash, one hand darts out and grabs the bright yellow stone. As soon as she has it, Zelda shakes off the hand on her shoulder and scrambles out of arm's reach. Turning, she raises her free hand, ready to use her time magic—

—but it isn't a monster or a Gerudo warrior or Ganondorf that had grabbed her, but a stranger...

The moment of confusion gives Zelda's mind a chance to catch up with her. Ah, that's right, she's not in Hyrule Castle anymore. Her gaze darts from Kratos to her surroundings and then back again. Right, Songerein. And this stranger... no, there's something familiar about him.

"I... I'm sorry." Zelda lowers her outstretched hand (but keeps the hand holding the stone clenched tight).

"I am..." (overwhelmed.)

"This is..." (a lot to take in.)

How quickly Zelda recoils and scrambles away only serves to emphasize how bad her present state is. She's fueled purely by a fight or flight instinct right now, the former seeming to be prevalent given that intent to attack. What attack, Kratos neither knows nor cares. If it had come, then he would've reacted accordingly.

Instead, Kratos holds his former kneeling position, resting the outstretched arm on his knee which isn't touching the ground. He watches silently as her panicked gaze takes in him and then her surroundings. Giving Zelda a moment to process things also allows him to observe her in turn. The appearance is different (irrelevant), the reaction to him is extreme (concerning), and requiring to look around indicates not realizing where she is (also concerning). What had happened to her to cause this??

Only once Zelda tries and then fails to form sentences does Kratos speak, his voice soft and his gaze gentle. "You're safe here. No harm will come to you." There lies an underlying implication of him making sure of that.

The unspoken message is received and Zelda allows herself to lower her guard. Heightened breathing slows and some of the tension fades from her shoulders.

"You are...." ~~Complete sentences are hard right now.~~

Zelda carefully studies Kratos's face, her brows knitting together in that familiar look she gets whenever she's concentrating. Though only four years have passed for Link, it has been more than sixty for Zelda since she was last in Songerein. The memories that have been long buried from what feels like two lifetimes ago are surfacing in her mind and she rifles through them looking for a name to match this face. "...Kratos?"

There's that spark of recognition in her eyes.

[ Zelda doesn't hear Somnus's approach (which would probably be the norm even if she wasn't distraught), but that familiar greeting immediately sparks recognition in her frantic mind.

She jerks her head up at the same time that he drapes the chlamys over her shoulders, flinching just slightly at the suddenness of its weight upon her. It's not heavy, but it's solid, steadying, something palpable to ground her against the fear and anguish and adrenaline racing through her all at once. It's not just her failure to swallow the stone and return to Hyrule, but the onslaught of memories that have been buried in her mind for well over sixty years. It's all rushing to the surface at once and overwhelming the young woman who has once again lost everyone she loves and once again stands on the precipice of the ultimate sacrifice.

A familiar figure crouches down beside her and places a hand on her shoulder, the coldness radiating from his touch mitigated by the fabric of the chlamys. A name doesn't surface immediately, but recognition is clear in her gaze. And with it, the innate certainty that she is safe in this stranger's presence.

As instructed, she tries to focus solely on her breathing for a minute, drawing in slow deep breaths and then exhaling them. ]

[ Safe... As Sheik pulls Zelda in close, she begins to feel the message he is trying to convey. Fear, conditioned by the Imprisoning War, screams for her to grab the secret stone before anyone can see it, to take up the Master Sword and defend herself. But that feeling of familiarity is ringing louder and louder, punctuating her racing thoughts—the fear, frustration, and heartbreak of the recent days leading up to this tumultuous arrival.

Zelda squeezes her eyes closed and buries her face against him as Sheik envelopes the princess in his arms. Slender shoulders shake with quiet sobs as she listens to him. She grips his mantle with white knuckles, unaware of how hard she is pulling on it.

At offer to scream... Zelda actually does that. Muffling her mouth with the white cloth, the princess screams aloud into it. Everything they tried to do! Every plan they carefully constructed! Gone! Nothing has gone right, not a single thing, since the day Sonia died and Ganondorf became the Demon King. Isn't everything—everything—they sacrificed enough? And if not, why reject Zelda's sacrifice now? Why prevent her from giving up the only things she has left for the sake of the future of Hyrule, for the sake of Link?

Zelda keeps Sheik in this position for several long minutes, wailing into his mantle. Ever since Sonia's death, there's hardly been any time to grieve. Even her funeral was a hurried, quiet affair. After that it was war without end, skirmishes with the Demon King's army that Hyrule lost time and time again. The fleeting peace and happiness Zelda had known when she first arrived in the ancient era was gone. The prospect of returning home to her time was gone. The chance to see Link again was gone.

Somewhere in the midst of her tears, her memories of Sheik and the time they shared together in Songerein will return. Said memories slip into place like a book onto a shelf. But Zelda doesn't mention them. Even after her crying finally slows (which it eventually does), the princess remains silent in Sheik's arms. ]

[ You would think that a very tall plant man would be difficult not to notice (and, thereby, avoid bumping into), but you would be underestimating how deeply Zelda is absorbed in her thoughts. It's a good thing Trahearne manages to catch her by the shoulders or she probably would've fallen right onto her backside.

As she collects herself, she opens her mouth to offer an apology of her own (no, really, it's her fault for not looking where she's going) but the words die on her tongue when he says her name.

Another person who recognizes her? Zelda's memories of her past time in Songerein are still unfurling and sorting themselves out in her mind. Over sixty years have passed for her since she disappeared, but apparently only a fraction of that time has passed here.

So instead of greeting Trahearne like a normal person, Zelda is caught staring up at him, searching his (very familiar) face for a name that goes with it. ]

Forgive me, I am... still reacquainting myself with this place. [ Then she realizes- ] You knew that I was gone?

[ Who are you, mysterious plant man?? ]

...Of course I did.

[ Trahearne tilts his head, eyes searching hers for recognition. He falls silent for a moment when all he can see is its smouldering embers, no spark. "Still reacquainting..." What strange wording.

His smile fades as his brows knit slightly. He blinks, a tiny, indescribable pinprick in his chest. ...Huh. ]

You are one of my regulars. Two weeks is a long time for me not to see you.

[ Realizing his hands still rest on her shoulders, he flinches and pulls them back. He takes a little step back, giving her space now that she seems suitably stabilized. ]

Where have you been?

[ The last time he had seen her, she had been encased in crystal while the malice from her world took her exact form. The current Zelda hunched over on the ground looks like neither. Her hair is cropped. Her garb is different. She bears no crest of her royal house upon her raiments, at least not from what he can see as he crouches beside her.

Perhaps the worst had occurred, and her kingdom fell to calamity.

While his hand remains upon her upper back, feeling the steady rise and fall of breaths, his eyes lift to the stone upon the ground, then back to her.

Perhaps she's brought something else dangerous to this world, much like how the blight of Hyrule had consumed so much of this dream-realm only a few weeks ago.

If there are any questions, he remains unwilling to speak them until he feels her breathing become more rhythmic, slower, as his palm keeps a steady, secure (if cold) anchor upon her shoulder, letting her know that he is still here. And so, he waits.

And waits.

And waits.

When it seems she's calmed, at least somewhat, he offers a gentle observation, keeping his tone open-- she need not reply if she is not ready. ]

Time has passed for you.

[The seams of his mantle, worn and tattered as it is, strain and pop under the force of her desperate grip, and yet the sound is so small, so distant compared to the wailing of the girl in his arms. He's no closer to truly understanding what has brought her to this state, but... her grief paints a vivid picture in its familiarity. Loss, anguish, frustration-- he hears them all in her cries, feels them resonate with the child he locked away within himself so long ago, and he holds her all the tighter for it, as though he might be able to extend the shadows that protect him to blanket her as well, if only for a moment.

A song helped to comfort that child back then, so he hums it now as he holds her, the slow, sweet notes of that lullaby stuttering only once, when his eyes trail from the tiny, glowing stone nestled among the cobbles to the corroded, broken blade nearby.

That... is horrifying in its implication, but he cannot allow himself to falter now. Everything else will come with time, and if there's any virtue the past seven years have taught him, it's patience. Even when her sobs finally subside and he lifts the ragged edge of his tabard to dab at the edges of her face not buried in his cowl, he makes no mention about the state of the sword or what's made her so upset. Instead:]

... We should get you some water.

[Her throat can't be feeling good after all that.]

Ah—!

[ Zelda jerks her head up as she feels herself brought to an unexpected stop just shy of walking into a complete stranger. Whew, that was close! She didn't even see them there.

She offers an apologetic wave to the stranger as they go about their way, then turns with the intent to thank the kind soul that saved her from the collision. Her eyes go wide at the sight of a familiar face. ]

R-Revali!

[ Unlike with everyone else Zelda has run into since returning, there's no moment of confusion trying to remember his name from her long-dormant memories of Songerein. Recognition is immediate. ]

[ One of his regulars... The slideshow of memories rushing through her mind comes to an abrupt halt on an image of her usual workspace in the Archives.

It feels like opening a box that has been stored away for a long time. Memories flood the forefront of her mind—long hours of reading and study, poring over books and maps and essays authored by fellow dreamwalkers, and the regular presence of the chief archivist. ]

Trahearne.... [ It's said more to herself than to him, but he'll probably hear it all the same.

Her forehead throbs, protesting the mental exertion of unearthing so many buried memories all at once. Zelda detaches one of her hands from the Master Sword's hilt and touches her temple.

Amidst all the mental effort, she didn't catch everything Trahearne head. But she's pretty sure she heard him say: ]

Two weeks?

[ Headache or not, the gears are still turning at full speed. ]

Zelda could only stare, her mind racing to keep up with Alastor as he spoke, taking in everything he said and checking it against the myriad memories that have begun surfacing since yesterday. 'Some time' was quite the understatement—over sixty years had passed since the princess woke from Songerein.

She flinched as he flicked a claw against her hair. One hand left the hilt of the Master Sword and went up to absently touch the offended strand. His remark, while heard, was quickly swept away in the rush of unfolding memories.

Despite the vast gulf in time, memories bubbled up with startling clarity, particularly those of an eccentric, ever-grinning demon—and they all clicked into place the moment he introduced himself.

"Alastor!" she repeated with a tone of sudden clarity.

[ As it does for all who share its name, the hummed song helps lull Zelda into a state of calm. It stirs memories too—more gently than the way returning to Songerein stirred those ones—her mother's hands, always fiddling with some new machine; Urbosa's bedtime stories of ancient Gerudo heroines; her father's fuzzy beard, white even in her earliest memories. Even though all three of them are long gone, remembering them no longer brings anguish like it did when Zelda was a teenager. They live on in her heart, carried everywhere she journeys, and she plants their love with every new seed in the new Hyrule that she has the honor of helping to grow.

Zelda lets Sheik clean the ruddy edges of her face before sitting back on her heels. If he noticed the way she didn't seem to recognize him at first, he might now notice that that look has changed. Though her expression remains sombre, her face blotchy and tearstained, all the frantic confusion has faded.

Water. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Zelda nods, grabbing the hilt of the Master Sword like she's about to get up. But then— ]

Wait. [ Her voice comes out raspy.

Zelda reaches for the stone, its glassy surface somehow still bright and shining despite what it's been through. She touches two fingertips to it.

A small -thunk- sounds. The stone and the air around it fade to monochrome, and then it suddenly lifts itself up. The ticking sound of a clock's second hand can be heard as the stone floats up a few feet off the cobblestone, dithers around in the air for a few seconds (at one point brushing up against Zelda's neck), before settling back to its original place on her choker. Zelda makes a motion with her free hand and the enchantment vanishes, leaving the yellow stone secured upon her choker as if she had never torn it off. ]

"At your service!" Alastor gave a gallant bow. His grin widened though he closed his lips so he didn't startle her with his fangs. "Dare I hope that that's a flicker of recognition in your voice?"

His words seem to have the intended effect of putting Zelda at ease. Her body language goes from someone posed to strike at a moment's notice to significantly more relaxed. Kratos patiently waits as she studies him, though with a note of how long it appears to take for that recognition to occur. They hadn't seen each other that long ago, after all. Questioning that can come later, however. The first priority now remains making certain Zelda is alright.

Kratos nods at his name. "That's right." He pauses briefly, weighing what to ask next. If she had difficulty placing his face, then determining what she knows might be a good starting point, "Do you know where you are?"

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open 🌻 a not so welcome return

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About Town

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this thread will have totk spoilers, just fyi to everyone

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about town!

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