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Link wouldn’t say that he would ever be much of a historian.
Sure he liked learning, but he also had a terrible memory for a few things in particular. History just so happened to be one of them. After around eighteen to twenty or so versions of the same legendary hero that may or may not have existed accompanied by the same sealing power wielded by a princess who may or may not be the mortal reincarnation of a goddess, recorded throughout history with a level of detail that made referring to it with any level of uncertainty somewhat uncomfortable, you kind of lose track of which hero did what, which Ganon took over what era of Hyrule, and how many times he showed up as a giant pig monster versus showing up as a Gerudo.
Link liked to imagine that for a couple of cycles Ganon was a common beetle and the Hero defeated him by smacking him with a shoe.
Still, he found that the one somewhat myth/historical event that he always enjoyed reading about were the origins of Hyrule.
Outside of the Three Golden Goddesses, one of whom he seemed to have an indirect connection to, and Hylia’s battle against the Demon King Demise, his favorite part was the first hero and the first of Hylia’s mortal incarnations, who was apparently the namesake of every single Zelda throughout history, and their race across the Hyrule before Hyrule to finally seal away Demise permanently, before managing to finally kill him when the sealing was thwarted by time travel.
Of course, reading the story to Veraad, he just looked confused.
Mipha and Veraad had independently made the decision for Veraad to attempt to learn some Common as well as Mipha learning Lynel. It was an interesting back and forth, but Mipha learned very quickly that efforts to translate were surprisingly easy when both of them could understand each other. And it typically went along the lines of pointing at an object, saying the word in their respective languages, switching, correcting each other, and there we go. Of course, age played a part, Veraad was still a young Lynel (which may or may not have terrified Link, given that their best guess for his age was fifty, which certainly made some implications about Link’s own lifespan), but he was certainly fully grown, which meant that words sometimes didn’t stick as easily, due to being past the learning age.
Their solution was supplemental classes in the form of reading books.
It was almost too perfect a way to learn. It taught him the Hylian alphabet, how to write and spell words, and how to translate them. Link was even more efficient than Mipha, because he knew both the language Veraad knew, and the language he was learning. At Veraad’s insistence, they dove into the deep end, and so they began with the first and longest chapter of Hyrule History, the Era of the Goddess Hylia and the Era of Sky, given they went hand in hand.
When Link finished reading the book, Veraad seemed like the mound of questions that he’d built up was close to overflowing. After the linguistics questions, which probably made up the bulk of the questions asked, he made a single remark on the contents of the book itself.
“Hylian history is… very complex.”
“It gets worse.” Link said, solemnly.
“Lovely.”
On Link’s end of training, he was learning to breathe fire.
Veraad had assumed this would be the easiest magical training for Link, given that teleportation took years for Lynels to cultivate and master, and the boy had really only just begun to learn any of what he could really do.
Veraad had assumed incorrectly.
For some reason or another, the boy was struggling to produce large fireballs. Granted, he was a beginner still, but while he was consistently managing puffballs of fire around the size of an arrowhead, if he went any larger than that, the most he’d manage was a large puff of smoke.
Not to mention dry lips.
“Perhaps it has something to do with you only being part Lynel.” Mipha said, handing Link a refilled canteen. “Our bodies create limitations to prevent us from harming ourselves. Perhaps you can’t handle a large fireball just yet.”
“I’d agree with Mipha. Your skin may be fireproof at this point, but the interior of your body has had no reason to cultivate that resistance.”
Link hummed angrily, before swallowing the mouthful of water and actually speaking. “But I can feel it. It’s right there at the back of my mouth, I just need to try harder.”
“Link…” Mipha warned, dangerously.
After four days, Veraad had learned that Mipha manifested a bizarre strength of both body and will whenever the cub started acting dangerously. For the most part, it ended up that she would simply join him and make an attempt to get him out of danger as fast as possible so she could work her healing magic.
He’d also learned that she was more than capable of dragging the cub away if she thought it was too dangerous, and that her words alone were a good enough deterrent to keep it from reaching that point nine times out of ten.
Pouting slightly, Link sighed. “One more try.”
“If you hurt yourself you’re staying down in Zora’s domain for a full week, so choose carefully if you want to take that last try.” Mipha warned. Considering the cub only had four weeks here, that was a dangerous chance to take. Still, Link stood up, downed the last of the water, and took a deep breath.
Veraad barely had time to yank Mipha away as Link’s horns flashed yellow, and his mane turned storm cloud gray, the smell of ozone filling the air as rather than a plume of fire, a ball of concentrated electricity shot from his mouth, shooting off the edge and into the reservoir lakes below.
Link was silent for a moment as the glow of his horns dimmed and his mane slowly faded back into its normal gold-streaked red, before coughing roughly, shaking his head.
“I don’t like the taste of electricity much.”
Mipha heaved a sigh of relief, before charging to hug him without even considering if there would be residual electricity or not. Luckily, there wasn’t any, she was quite fine, and apparently so was Link, judging by how his speech was neither slowed nor hoarse.
And yet, Veraad suddenly became very, very worried.
Two separate blessings meant that this cub likely would have far too much on his plate.
Din, Farore, Nayru, and apparently Hylia willing, he’d be there to help throughout the whole of it.
He also instructed Link to leave the book. Unlike what Link was doing, reading was neither strenuous nor dangerous.
Veraad’s explanation of why exactly Link could shoot electricity and fire from his mouth was slightly disconcerting to Mipha.
Not just because it was electricity, although that may have been part of it, it had more to do with conversations she’d had with Zelda.
The talk of Hyrule’s rulers was primarily of Ganon’s return. She’d heard it among her Father and Muzu, and from Zelda herself. The issue with that was, Zelda was absolutely going to be at the center of it if Ganon did rise again. She was the princess, which meant that she was supposed to have the sacred sealing power that was meant to keep Ganon locked away and unfortunately, she hadn’t yet developed that power yet.
Now, their situations were diametrically opposite. Link was developing more than enough powers with divine origins, while Zelda wasn’t developing hers when she probably should’ve been. The issue lies in the fact that they both pointed in the same direction. Her two best friends being thrown into fights that she desperately did not want them to be a part of. And so, she made her decision. Hero and Princess be damned. This time it would be a hero and two princesses, because if they were fighting, she was fighting.
It was the least she could do.
After all, what are friends for if it isn’t having someone to destroy endlessly reincarnating evils with?