Unchained, but Zeldas

"Royal? Royal stay with me!" Someone called out, causing Royal to awake into darkness. Where was she? Everything felt fuzzy except her shoulder, which screamed in pain, but even that felt... dull? She could faintly hear other voices calling out, something about stitches, and blood. Were they talking about her? Royal fought hard to keep her eyes open, to try and see past the darkness that was suffocating her, but eventually she couldn't fight it any longer, and she drifted back to sleep.

"Oh Goddesses what are we gonna do? She's bleeding through the cloth!" Past was completely freaking out at this point, hands covered in blood as she continued to press the cloth against Royal's wound. She had shown signs of waking up for a bit, but that had been a while ago.

"Breathe, breathe. It won't do us any good if you pass out from panicking. Fall, how far are we from the nearest town?" Legend put her hand on Past's back, trying to calm the younger woman down. Past sucked in a deep breath, before slowly letting her breath out. She furrowed her brow and kept pressing.

"Its through the forest here, around the other side of the water. But there's no garuntee they'd have a doctor. We may have to stitch her up here and now anyways, she's losing a lot of blood." Fall was frantically looking over the map, before looking over at Fae, who was halfway to falling into the carriage compartment with how deep he was searching for sewing supplies. He had said he had sewn his own injuries up in the past, but he had run out of thread before being dumped here. Past could only pray that Royal had been smart enough to buy some in Katsuto Town.

"Here! I found some!" With a grunt, Fae pulled himself out of the carriage compartment and hurried over to Past. He knelt down, pulling a needle out of his bag and swiftly threading it. "Alright, I need you to lift up the cloth while I work, ok Past?"

Past nodded, waiting for Fae's cue before lifting the cloth. Great Hylia, she felt her stomach roil as she looked at the wound. It was deep, fat just barely peeking out from the blood that quickly flooded the area, thankfully the bone wasn't exposed, or she may have vomited then and there.

"Can I have you hold the area steady?" Fae asked, rolling his sleeves up, and getting ready to suture the area. Past could only nod, gulping as Fae placed her hands where they were needed before he began sewing. She could only clench her eyes shut as he worked, trying to ignore the feeling of blood seeping through her fingers.

Soon enough, Fae leaned back with a sigh of relief. Past cracked an eye open, she almost wished she hadn't. There was still blood everywhere, but the wound had been, albeit a bit sloppily, sewn shut. She looked over to Fae, who was starting to stand.

"Alright, now we just need some relatively clean water to wash away the remaining blood." He said, looking over at the others. "And bandages." He paused for a moment, looking back over at the unconscious form of Royal. "And probably a new shirt."

"We have the first two, but a new shirt is out of the question until we get to..." Fall glanced at the map. "Rauru or Ruto town. I think Rauru is a little closer though. And hopefully they'll have a doctor there as well. It's a detour from our main path, but it's better than Royal dying of an infection."

Past tensed up at the mention of an infection. She hadn't even considered that possibility. Oh Hylia what if Royal got sick? As Legend and Fall carefully loaded Royal into the carriage, Past paced a little. She only stopped when Rise put a hand on her shoulder.

"Royal is going to be ok, I swear it. So calm down, alright?" Past could only look in Rise's general direction, trying so hard to not break down. She gave a stiff nod, and let Rise guide her into the carriage, latching it behind them as they headed off, at a much faster pace than usual. Seemed like even Ol Betsy knew they were in a rush.

Past tried her hardest to not look at Royal, instead focusing on keeping Celestial distracted. This must be hard on the young girl, was all she could think. She was barely older than Past had been when... when... She didn't want to think about it.

"I coulda... I shoulda been faster, if I had cast that spell sooner, Royal wouldn't be hurt..." Celestial mumbled, curling in on herself. Past pulled her close, stroking her hair like her brother used to do for her

"No, no dear, you couldn't have known. None of us were ready for it. And besides, if you hadn't cast the spell when you did, it could've been so much worse. You saved us a lot of fighting we weren't prepared for." Past tried her best to comfort Celestial, ignoring her own welling tears. She hadn't managed to do any fighting herself, being completely useless in the carriage. At least Fae had had the excuse of a broken nose and a small dagger.

The young girl let out a stifled sob as she buried her head in Past's shirt. Rise looked as if she wanted to say something, but bit her lip and seemed to reconsider it. Instead they rode in silence, all of them trying to ignore how limp Royal was in her seat.

"Guys, she's waking up!" Royal slowly blinked awake, vision blurry as she barely made out the figure of Legend leaning over her. She then heard the approaching footsteps of the rest of the group, and several faces began appearing around her. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a strained groan.

"Easy, easy. We got you stitched up and to a doctor but your injury is still pretty bad." Fae's face came into clear view as she managed to turn her head ever so slightly to the right. The stench of some kind of alcohol made her nose crinkle. It seemed to be coming from her shoulder.

... Her Shoulder! She almost shot up, had Legend not been hovering a hand over her, almost like the older woman had expected it. What movement she did make made her shoulder Scream in pain, and she quickly flopped back down.

"Relax, it's ok. The doc had to pour some alcohol on your shoulder to clean it better than we did, but it's still pretty messed up. You've uh... been out for a day or so now too, so getting up too fast may make you pass out again." Legend's voice was calm.

"Is... is everyone else ok?" Royal's own voice was hoarse, her throat dry as a desert. "No one's injured?"

"Nothing more than a scrape or stray ember burn. You, my friend, are both extremely lucky and unlucky." Came a strange voice. A man came into her field of view, as the others stepped back. "Name's Duln, but you can just call me Doc. Let's get you sat up a little."

Duln grabbed a few pillows and used them to prop Royal up and now she could see the rest of the group. Past looked especially harrowed, wringing her hands. Celestial stuck close to her, clinging to the fabric of the older girls dress. They both looked like they hadn't slept yet, dark circles just barely starting to form under Past's eyes. In fact, it looked like none of them had slept yet. Were they all that worried about her? She supposed she would be just as worried about them...

"Alright now, let's have a look at your wound here, this might hurt a bit." There was a gentle peeling sound, and a Burning pain in her shoulder, which nearly elicited a yell, but she bite it back, by literally biting into her lip. She clenched the sheets she was on with her left hand, barely peeking over to see if she could make out her injury, with no luck. It felt just out of her vision, but certainly felt Bad. Duln let out a low whistle.

"Well the stitches are holding, and there doesn't seem to be any signs of infection yet, but I Am worried about the mobility of that arm once it heals." He hummed for a moment, gently patting the wound with a clean cloth. Suddenly he shot up. "Ah! There's a regular patient of mine, old as time itself he'd say, with some shoulder issues too, I'll see if he has any advice."

"Thank you so much Doc, I don't know how we can ever repay you." Legend looked up from Royal's wound, facing the doctor.

"You can repay me by staying long enough that she starts healing, and that I can tell she won't immediately get an infection by another Bokoblin attack." Legend simply nodded, turning to face the group.

"You hear that? We'll be sleeping here for a while, so why don't you guys go out and find us a good spot to set up camp." Fae nodded and started out, quickly followed by Rise and Fall. Past hesitated, before guiding Celestial out as well. Future waited until they were all gone, before sighing and visibly deflating.

"So you don't think you'll have to amputate, right?" Royal looked over with mild alarm at the question. Was the wound That bad?

"No, no, as long as it heals properly, there's not even a chance." Duln nodded his head, before turning to Royal. "Now, did You want to see the wound? I have to say, that friend of yours did a decent job on the stitching, all things considered." She could only nod as he brought out a small mirror.

Holding it up with her good arm, Royal turned it this way and that to get a good look. The wound was deep, she could tell by how far it had gone down the front, and the stitching was, haphazard to say the least, with smaller stitches holding the wound more closed and following the path of the larger, and obviously frantic stitching. Royal simply shook her head a little as she looked at it, and muttered.

"Thank you Hylia once again for making me left handed."

"What?" Legend raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing just, talking to myself. How long do you think it'll take to start healing?" Duln clicked his tongue.

"Oh I'd say a few days for it to start healing, but it's gonna be at least a fortnight before I can safely let you go. By then it should be mostly healed over and you'll be out of the infection danger zone. Now you two rest while I go ask that one patient if he's got any tips he uses for mobility." With that, the doctor walked out of the room, leaving just Legend and Royal.

There was a moment of silence, a tense, awkward silence, before Legend gently took the mirror from Royal.

"Listen I... I just wanted to say sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"For not being fast enough. None of us were, but if I had just been... if I had just gotten off Ol Betsy a little faster, you might not have gotten hit with that cleaver, and we'd still be on our way to the castle, and you wouldn't have possibly lost an arm and-"

"Enough." Legend's head shot up at the firm voice of Royal. "It is No One's fault, at most it would be my own because I was distracted. So there's no use in moping and self deprecation, understand?" Legend slowly nodded her head, taking a deep breath and wiping one eye with the hand not holding the mirror.

"Right, of course... I've been saying that to Celestial the whole time but I guess I couldn't get it into my own head." She laughed weakly. Royal patted her on the shoulder and shifted, letting out a hiss of pain as her shoulder moved. Legend looked over quickly, a thought clearly forming in her head.

"By the way, you can still feel your arm, right? Aside from the pain? Doc was worried you might lose feeling in your fingers especially because of how deep it was. Like, can you feel this?" Legend hurried to the other side of Royal, and gently pressed her finger to the back of Royal's hand. The feeling was fuzzy, but certainly there.

"Yes, I can feel my arm and fingers. Though I'll be feeling it better once I heal, I assume." She wiggled her fingers as just a test, wanting to make sure there wasn't any lost movement. Nothing seemed amiss, so she gave what she hoped was a comforting smile to Legend. The other woman smiled back, worry still etched across her face. "Here, help me sit up more, I need to be upright to properly discuss where we're going to be sleeping."

"Well the townsfolk said there was an old abandoned house on the outskirts of town, I think we saw it on our way in, and I was thinking we could get permission to rest there. They said it was in fine condition, just no one wanted to move here, and no one wanted to tear the place down." Legend rambled a bit more, before the door to the room opened.

"They said we can use the house." Fall walked in, followed by the rest of the group, and Duln. "It might be a bit of a tight squeeze sleeping arrangement wise, but better than the inn in Katsuto Town. We got a little cleaning of it done too, so there's no worry of Royal getting sick from it."

"And I have some notes from my patient on what helps him best with shoulder mobility, for when your wound begins to heal that is." Duln waved a small bundle of papers in his hand, setting it on the desk nearby. "For now, I want you to put as little strain on that shoulder and arm as possible. And if the stitches start to itch, which they will, do Not scratch them. You'll also want to avoid too much water on them, so there's even less of a chance for infection."

Royal nodded slightly, as Legend finally helped her sit up all the way. She certainly ached all over to say the least, but it was better than being dead. Resisting the urge to stretch, she looked back over at the doctor, who was gathering some bandages from a set of drawers.

"How often should I clean the area?" She asked, cautiously waiting for an answer as Duln bandaged over her stitches tightly, but not Too tightly. He hummed a moment, clearly thinking.

"I'd say once every few days once the bandages come off, which should only be a day or two, though it may be longer depending on how well you start healing. Oh! Don't get these bandages wet either, that's a wonderful way to get an infection. Gotta keep a nice balance of wet and dry to heal." He held up the remaining bandages once he was done. "Now I'm going to have you take these with you, so you can have someone change your bandages once a day, sooner if they get wet or dirty, alright?"

Royal nodded, looking over to the group. "You all paid attention when he was wrapping right? Who's willing to change the bandages when it needs to be done?" The others looked between each other, before Fae raised his hand.

"I'll do it, I've wrapped wounds before... usually my own but still." He took the bandages from Duln, who gave him a look.

"I still haven't gotten my chance to examine you for further injury you know."

"OkIGottaGoCleanTheHouseABitMoreBye!" Fae stammered, racing out of the room. The doctor simply sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't know why the boy won't let me check him over. Is he embarrassed about his old wounds or something?" Legend bit her lip slightly and shrugged.

"Something like that you could say. Anyways, is there anything else we should know before we head out and get Royal situated?" She asked, starting to stand.

"Mmmmm, no I believe that's about it, just follow those instructions, come back if there are any issues, and don't forget to take those notes with you." Duln gestured to the small stack of papers from before. Legend simply nodded and helped Royal get off the cot, being careful to not jostle her shoulder.

"Thank you again Doc, we'll be sure to come back before we plan on leaving too, just to make sure it's all alright."

The group said their goodbyes, as they huddled around Legend and Royal, leaving just enough room to move out of the building. Royal squinted in the light as they left, the bright sunlight being a stark contrast to the dim, window lit room they had been in. The sun was right overhead, and as she took in more of her surroundings, Royal noted a lack of people. She recalled the mention of people not wanting to move there, and assumed that whatever people Were still living here, aside from the doctor and his known patient, were inside, away from the heat.

"This way." Legend said, gesturing to the west. "The house is down this way, on the edge of town like I said earlier. It's got it's own well too, so we won't have to go far for clean water."

Rather slowly, Royal was still uneasy on her feet as of yet after all, the group made their way west, where they eventually came upon a larger house than most of the others, it's exterior worn and colors faded. Out front stood their carriage and Ol Betsy, who was standing in the shade of a tree, calmly grazing. The horse looked up at the sound of their approach, and hurried over, nearly knocking Rise over as she investigated Legend and Royal.

"Easy girl, easy, don't touch the bandages you'll get them wet." Legend soothed Ol Betsy, who eventually determined everything was alright as it could be and wandered back to her grazing spot. Royal couldn't help but laugh a little, both at the horse and Rise's face as Ol Betsy nearly knocked her over again.

"So this is where we're going to be living for a while hm? Guess we better go inside so you can give me the tour." Royal looked over at Legend, who grinned and started walking up the short stairs up to the porch.

In front of her stood two figures, barely recognizable in the shadow. The one in front was a young woman, who couldn't have been older than Past, in some kind of mourning clothes, and behind her... was a massive figure who's outline kept shifting but looked to be a woman as well.

For some unknown reason, Royal couldn't shake the feeling that there was danger to be had here, and she tried to take a step back, only to find her legs wouldn't move. She was about to yell for help when-

"Royal? Royal wake up, it's time for your shift." Legends voice broke Royal out of her slumber, and her eyes shot open. "Woah, didn't mean to startle you that much, sorry."

"Ah, no, no I.... was having a bad dream. I hope..." She muttered the last part to herself. Legend simply shrugged and patted her on the shoulder.

"Cant blame you, all the stress of being in a new time caused all of us to sleep uneasy those first few nights, remember? But we're on our way to fix that, so don't you worry anymore, alright?"

"Yeah... yeah." Royal was quiet, before getting out of the blankets. "Anyways, you get some rest yourself, it's my shift anyways." Legend nodded, gave her one last pat on the shoulder, and ambled off to her own pile of bedding, where she curled up in the same way she did at the inn, and covered herself in the blanket.

Royal sighed, quietly and carefully standing up to stand watch. She couldn't quite shake that awful feeling of danger, but it ever so slowly began to fade as she watched over the road. The fire quietly crackled behind her, giving off just enough light to see to both the road and the body of water behind them. Everything was surprisingly peaceful, and Royal took that time to look over everyone sleeping.

Legend was of course still curled up, having fallen asleep startlingly quickly, Celestial was sprawled out, though still covered by her blanket. Past looked to also be curled up, the blanket drawn tight around her. Rise was slightly sprawled out, her arm reaching towards Fall, who was neatly sleeping, only one arm being laid out on the ground, also reaching to Rise. Otherwise, Royal could've easily mistaken Fall for a corpse.

There was a soft whinnying noise, which brought Royal's attention to where she had last seen Ol Betsy. The older mare was fast asleep, curled in on herself much like her rider was, and 'talking' in her sleep. Had she not been so prone to biting people, Royal would even say it was cute.

Pulling her attention back to the road, Royal wondered if their journey to the castle would even be worth it. What if they were turned away at the gates? What if the Zelda of this time didn't believe them? Oh goddesses she hoped they would be believed, because as much as she was enjoying the company of the others, she sorely missed home.

She tried to not think too hard about it, but there was also that inkling of worry, that the Zelda of this time couldn't, or Wouldn't help them get back home. Royal aggressively shook her head, trying to rid herself of the thought. They Would get home, no matter what. If not for herself, then for Celestial, and their Links.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of... something opening in the sky, and as she looked up, there was a strange blue tear, and the sound of someone screaming getting closer and closer, before suddenly, a figure passed through the tear and landed, face first, onto the road with a loud Thump.

Unsurprisingly, this woke everyone, well, Nearly everyone, Celestial was still quietly snoring away in her makeshift bed.

"What in Hylia's name was that?" Rise spoke everyone's thoughts, as Royal hurried over to the figure. Said figure was groaning, moving his scarred hands to push himself up.

"Holy Shit dude, are you ok?" Legend asked, having followed Royal over. The figure finally pried himself off the road, honey brown hair falling in front of their eyes as a metric fuck ton of blood poured from his nose.

"Oh Goddesses above..." Past said, quickly hurrying over after grabbing some spare cloth from the side of the carriage. "Here, lean forward, and use this to deal with the bleeding." She gently coached the unknown person on how to deal with his nose, which upon closer inspection, was crooked.

"Ow...." Was all the person said as they followed her instructions, wincing as he placed the cloth up to his nose.

"Yikes, ok buddy, bear with me here, but your nose is.... well it's pretty badly broken, so this is gonna hurt. A lot." Legend reached her hand over carefully, as the other person looked up.

"Wuh's gonna hur- YEOW!" Was all they got out before Legend took his nose in her fingers and Twisted. There was a sickening crunch, and an additional torrent of blood, but the nose was straight again.

"Ok, now that that's... mostly fixed, you mind telling us your name? If you got one that is." Legend wiped her hand clean on her pants, leaving a long smear of red on them. The other person whimpered for a moment, wiping tears from his eyes with his free hand.

"'M Link." He mumbled something else, but Royal couldn't make it out over both the muffling of the cloth and Link's bloody nose.

"Link huh? Hey does anyone recognize him?" Legend yelled out to the group, only to get a chorus of no's. "Well then, you're not one of ours then. Wonder what time period you're from."

"Time period? Wha?" Link looked confused, looking between the women who came over. "Who are you people anyways?"

"Oh right, he wouldn't know what's going on either. Let me explain," Royal began, "We're all, with the exception of Hilda there," She pointed to Fall, "Zeldas, just from different time periods it would seem. We all woke up in the same place a while ago, and we're trying to get back home." At the puzzled look Link gave her, she sighed a little. "No, we don't really understand it either."

"So.... if you're all Zeldas.... how do you tell who's who when you're talking?" Link spoke slowly, clearly trying to not sniffle any blood.

"Oh, we gave each other nicknames of sorts to differentiate. I'm Legend, this is Royal, Past is the one who gave you the cloth. Fall is the Hilda of the group, and Rise is the one next to her. Celestial is the kid who's still fast asleep back there." Legend gave him a quick rundown, looking over at Celestial for a moment, before perking up. "Hey, since we all have Links, do you want a nickname too? So we can differentiate you?"

"O-Oh um.... I mean... I already picked my name once, so sure? It's not like I deserve the title of the hero after I fucked up so badly..." The last sentence was once again mumbled, but Royal actually caught it this time.

"What do you mean by...." She hesitated a moment, "'fucked up'?" Legend made a strange face, but quickly cleared her throat and let Link speak.

"I.... I um.... my dad was The Hero, but he kind of.... died before beating Ganon, so I tried and kept failing and everything was getting so bad but I couldn't just give up, so I went to a strange temple and then the floor opened and now I'm here..." His eyes welled up with tears. "I just wanted to help and I think I made everything worse for everyone."

"Hey, hey, I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong kid. Things happen, and hey, we're already on our way to find a way back to our own times, so maybe we can help you get back to yours, and then you can go kick Ganon's ass!" Legend patted him on the back, "Before then, let's get you a nickname, yeah?"

"How about... Fayle?" He said quietly.

"Dude, I'm not calling you Fail, that just seems mean. How about.... Fae? That sounds close enough, without, yknow. Degrading you."

"Fae.... yeah, that sounds nice. Thank you." Li- Fae smiled softly. Legend grinned back at him, patting him once more on the back before standing up and offering him a hand. "Now let's get you a bed all set up so you can get some sleep, I can see bags under your eyes."

Royal quickly stood as well, helping Past up as they both got out what spare blankets they had to make a bed. It wasn't much, but it would be better than laying on the hard ground alone.

"Here you are, has your nose stopped bleeding? And is the pain going away?" Past asked quietly, looking over at Fae.

"I think so.... to uh, both questions." He said, gingerly removing the cloth from his nose to check. The poor rag was drenched in blood, as was his hand, but there was no more coming from his nose.

"That's good, let's get you washed off before you get some rest." Past guided him over to the water they were near, smiling softly.

Everyone slowly went back to their own beds, getting ready to go back to bed. Royal went back to her post by the carriage, trying to ignore the new splotch of red on the road. Slowly her thoughts began drifting back to where they had been before their new companion fell. What Would they do if the Zelda of this time couldn't help them? She hummed quietly, thinking. They could try getting to the Sacred Realm and use the triforce to send them all back, but who knows how long that would take. Besides, there could easily be a seal on it.

What else could they do though? Try to appeal to any of the goddesses? Try and find a portal like the one that sent Fae here? Royal shook her head, the portal idea was too risky, what if it seperated them into the wrong times? The best option, If the Zelda of this time couldn't help them, would be to find what sent them there, and either find out Why it did so, or defeat it, hopefully the former.

Before she knew it, the sun was beginning to rise, the light barely peeking over the forest in the distance. She squinted a little in the light, quickly turning to the others and starting to put out the fire. As the embers began to die down, the others began to wake up, albeit slowly. First up was surprisingly Celestial, who sat up, yawned, then noticed the stranger nearby sleeping.

"Whozzat?" She mumbled, rubbing an eye with her hand, pointing at Fae with the other. She seemed surprisingly unconcerned.

"That's Fae, he's a Link who... well, he fell from the sky last night and broke his nose. He's not from this time either." Royal responded, stifling a yawn. She would certainly be napping in the carriage today. Celestial just nodded, yawning herself.

"Hokay." Was all she said as she got up and started packing away her bedding. When she couldn't quite reach the opening for the carriage compartment, Royal carefully lifted her up to help. After setting the young girl down, Royal turned to look at the others, where Rise was washing her face in the water, and Fall was cleaning up both their beddings. Everyone else was doing much the same, except for Fae, who was just barely getting up now. He looked miserable to be quite frank.

"Fae, you gonna be alright? You look well... real bad. Nose bothering you?" Legend looked over, eyebrow raised in concern.

"I think I'm fine, just some cramping... probably just stress..." He smiled weakly and waved his hand as if to wave away the concern. Legend sighed, and walked over to help him up.

"Here, let's get you washed up again, and you can tell me a little more about these stress cramps." Royal watched for a moment as Legend guided Fae over to the water, talking quietly all the way. She smiled softly, before turning her attention back to the dying embers. She gathered up some dirt and dumped it on top of what little embers were left to smother them. Quietly, she thanked her Link for having taught her basic fire safety.

Soon enough, everyone was piling in the carriage, Legend being careful to help Fae in, before going to Ol Betsy and clambering on. Fall closed the gate to the carriage and they were off. Royal once again stifled a yawn, wanting sleep but dreading another bad dream. Or well, she certainly Hoped it was just a bad dream. She had never been one for prophetic dreams, but this one had felt.... different, to say the least.

"Everything alright there Royal? You've been making faces every now and then." Fall asked, head tilted ever so slightly, voice filled with concern.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird." Rise chimed in, earning a light elbow from Fall. "What? It's true."

"I'm fine, it's just... I'm worried about a bad dream if I go to sleep is all." Royal put on a forced smile to try and ease their worries. She was good at those. "Nothing you have to worry about."

"That's it? Just a bad drea- ow!" Rise was elbowed harshly. "What was That for? Bad dreams are nothing!"

"It's rude because clearly it's distressing Royal! Maybe you ought to consider other people's feelings for once." Fall said rather angrily, turning her head away.

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry Royal, I just don't understand what's so bad about a silly dream." Rise rolled her eyes a little, crossing her arms. Fall gave her a look before turning away again. Royal sighed slightly, looking behind the carriage.

"It felt so real is the problem. Too real to just be a dream, but I can only pray that it was." She spoke slowly, mind slowly drifting back to the shadowy figure she had seen in said dream. "The malice I got from that figure was intense. If my dream Was prophetic, then we may be in more trouble than we thought."

Fae looked over quickly. "What was the figure like? Looks wise I mean. It wasn't... It wasn't pig shaped was it? Well, more like boar shaped."

"No, no, nothing like that. It was hylian in shape, though much larger than the average person. It towered over the other person in my dream. She looked so calm though, as if she couldn't feel the evil in the figure." Royal suppressed a shudder at the thought. If that was a prophetic dream, then she worried for the woman in it. "I doubt it was an incarnation of Ganon, it was too feminine in nature."

"A servant of Ganon perhaps? Or it really was just a dream." Fall offered her opinion. The group looked between each other, all clearly hoping it was the latter. There was silence, except for the sound of Ol Betsy's hooves against the road, and the wheels of the carriage turning. Soon the silence was interrupted by squealing noises and Ol Betsy letting out a sudden noise of surprise.

"GIRLS, AND FAE, GET ARMED, WE HAVE COMPANY!" Legend yelled, rearing the mare back as she pulled out her glaive. The others scrambled to get their weapons out, Celestial having to be held back as she tried to scramble over the front of the carriage. Looking over to where the noises were coming from, Royal could see a small group of Bokoblins racing in to attack. She quickly unlatched the gate to the carriage and hopped out, ignoring how the landing hurt, and started rushing towards the group. She wouldn't let them get close to Ol Betsy and hurt her.

She was quickly followed by Rise and Fall, Celestial taking the rear with her staff, with Past and Fae still in the carriage, seemingly guarding it in case any of the Bokoblins tried to get sneaky.

There was a sickening squelch as Royal stabbed the first Bokoblin, the monster quickly dissolving into a disgusting oil like substance, and as she turned to find another foe to fight, she noted Fall sending a wave of fire down on the Bokoblins in front of her, and Rise cleaning up whichever ones didn't succumb to the fire. They worked surprisingly well together.

Unfortunately, Royal was so distracted with checking on the others, she didn't see the cleaver coming down on her, until Legend yelled out a warning, causing her to jump back, the cleaver still hitting her shoulder but missing any vital spots. She bit back a howl of pain and quickly dispatched the Bokoblin that had attacked her, leaving behind the cleaver embedded in her right shoulder. Silently thanking Hylia that she was a lefty, Royal yanked the cleaver out with her good arm, throwing it into the face of another monster.

"Everyone back up! Imma blow them up!" Celestial called out, causing the group to quickly retreat to a safe distance as she began to glow. The Bokoblins paused for a moment, clearly confused as to the reasoning for the retreat, before one of them exploded. And then another, and another, and soon enough, the remaining Bokoblins were nothing but a fine red mist.

That second morning, Royal and Legend had gone out to see what the potential price for a horse would be, being met with a stern stable keeper, and only one horse for sale. An older, apparently rowdy horse with a tendency to bite people.

Legend had fallen in love at first sight, cooing and fawning over the pale horse, practically begging Royal to let that horse be the one they bought. Royal had reminded her that the mare was the Only option they had in terms of horses.

Now, several days later, they had finally scrounged up the money to afford not only "Ol Betsy" as the stable owner had called the horse, but also a carriage and some weapons for the journey.

That is where they stood now, in front of the weapons shop, talking amongst each other. Royal entered first, followed soon after by Legend and Celestial, who they had begrudgingly allowed to come along and pick out a weapon in case she was ever seperated from the group and needed to defend herself. The other three came in shortly after, Rise and Fall seemingly having a small argument beforehand that Past had to break up.

"Alright, pick out one or two weapons that call out to you, but try to avoid anything too expensive." Royal said, finding herself pulled towards the glaives. Comparing prices, she soon found herself drawn to one in particular. It looked quite old, but something about it called out to her. It wasn't badly priced either. She barely noticed Legend and Past nearby, each picking out their own glaives, as she gingerly picked up the one that caught her eye.

It was light, easy to turn in the hand, but still held a slight heft to it. It was perfect. She gingerly took it to the counter, where the shopkeep was standing, watching the gaggle of women in her shop, clearly amused. Royal glanced back at the group, watching them pick out their weapon, or weapons seemingly in the case of Past and Celestial, of choice. One by one they came up to the counter.

Legend had also picked a glaive, less old and ornate than the one Royal had picked out, but looked quite sturdy. Past came up with a glaive and a pair of brass knuckles, not something anyone would have guessed the timid girl to pick. Fall and Rise butted past each other to place their weapons, an ornate staff and a rapier respectively, on the counter. Finally Celestial came up, having to stand on her tiptoes to reach the counter easily, where she placed a simple staff and dagger down.

"This all ladies?" The shopkeep asked, looking over the weapons and writing down their prices on a small pad next to her.

"Yes I think so. I have to admit, I'm impressed by the variety of weapons you have here, especially in such a small town."

"Eh, we get plenty of metal from the mines and the local blacksmith likes to make em. Plus sometimes we find some near the edges of the road, or people trade in their old weapons for new ones. Here's your total." The shopkeep slid over a piece of paper, and Royal got out the appropriate amount of Rupees from her wallet. She paused for a moment.

"This is less than I expected, are you sure you added the prices correctly?"

The shopkeep simply winked at her. "Consider it a parting gift for a pretty girl."

Royal flushed a deep red, and stammered as she paid, trying to ignore the nudges and grin from Legend. The other 4 took their weapons and left the store, with Legend lagging behind to tease Royal some more, before she finally also left, leaving Royal to finish paying.

"I.... thank you for the compliment. You're very pretty too." She mumbled, still a bright red. The shopkeep simply laughed and leaned forwards.

"Thank you very kindly, not many people tell me that when they're not trying to get a discount." She smiled softly, before sitting back up. "Now off you go, sounds like you lot are busy. That and well, let's just say I got an inkling that you've got an important job to do elsewhere, so I best not keep ya."

Royal gently nodded, whispering another thanks as she took her glaive and left the store, her face slowly returning to its normal color. Upon leaving the store, she took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

"So, Pretty Girl, how about you lead us to the stables so we can go get Ol Betsy?" Legend teased, nudging Royal in the side again, causing her to flush once more. Rise lightly smacked Legend upside the head, shaking her own in mild disappointment. Royal simply started off, clearing her throat a couple of times as they walked.

Soon enough, the stable came into view, and Legend sped up to be just in front of Royal, visibly holding back her coos for the horses until they reached Ol Betsy, and the dam burst.

"Oh aren't you just the most precious thing, oh so beautiful! I told you I'd be back for you!" Legend then started baby talking the horse, who was uncharacteristically calm and seemed to even enjoy being pet by Legend. She snorted once, before nudging Legend with her head.

Royal simply shook her own head slightly, and called out to the stable owner. He ambled over slowly, clearly in no rush. "I see you've finally got the funds to take Ol Betsy off my hands then. It'll be strange not having her bite potential customers anymore, but she'll be in good hands with your friend there, I can tell." He gestured to where Legend was practically snuggling the horses head in her arms. "As for the carriage, you can have it for free, consider it a gift. Besides, it was just gonna rot away here anyways."

"Wait, really? Surely you need to take Something for it, it wouldn't be fair." Royal asked, concern flaring in her stomach.

"Really. Like I said, it's a gift for you all, and it's not like it'll get sold to anyone else here anyways." The stable owner moved over to the covered carriage, beckoning Royal over. "So this is where you can store your supplies on the trip to the castle, including yer weapons, should still be easy enough to access in case yer attacked by Moblins again." He said, patting a large box on the side of the carriage, one that was certainly large enough to carry everything they needed, as it stretched the entire length of the carriage.

"Thank you so much, I don't know how we can ever repay you." Royal said, looking back at the stable owner, who simply shrugged.

"Repay me by getting to where yer goin safely. I'll let you in on a little secret too, everyone in town has this gut feeling that yer all destined for greatness one way or another. Maybe you'll even clear up some of the danger that's been gathering around recently." He put a hand on Royal's shoulder, nodding at her.

"I hope we can do you all proud then." She said, nodding back at him. He removed his hand from her shoulder, and turned to Legend.

"You ready to let her outta the stall lass?" He called, to which Ol Betsy whinnied and Legend looked over.

"Sir yes sir!" She joked, moving her hands to unlatch the stall. As she opened the door, Ol Betsy carefully made her way out, looking at her now ex-stablemates with disdain. She was a beautiful dappled grey, with her pale face and dark hooves. Royal could make out the faint gleam of horseshoes as well. The horse looked over the group suspiciously, before looking back to Legend, who simply nodded. With a begrudging huff, Ol Betsy approached the girls carefully, investigating further.

Celestial let out a giggle as the horse sniffed her, snorting once before moving onto Past, doing the same. Then Fall was given a sniff or two, and a strange look, before Ol Betsy finally landed on Rise. She didn't even sniff her, just gave her a look and turned back to look at Legend once more.

"She's fine, I promise. Maybe a bit snooty but she's not gonna hurt ya." She walked over and gently stroked the side of the horse. Royal raised an eyebrow slightly, but turned her attention back to the stable owner, who had left and returned with a strange saddle, as well as some reigns.

"Alright old girl, let's get you fitted up to carry the carriage." He said, walking over to the blonde horse. She whinnied, but begrudgingly walking over, dipping her head down. As he worked on getting Ol Betsy saddled up, Royal gestured Legend over.

"I'm going to go get the supplies now, I'll meet you at the entrance of town alright?" As she spoke, Legend nodded and gave her the thumbs up. At that, Royal paid the stable owner quickly, and headed off to the market. She planned on mainly getting foods that wouldn't require much cooking, if any, so they wouldn't have to stop frequently for meals.

As she shopped, she made note of how much she was spending, worried that their earnings would dwindle fast if she wasn't careful. Soon enough, she had purchased a few days worth of fruits and bread, as well as firewood and blankets for the nights they couldn't find an inn along the way.

Slowly she made her way to the towns entrance, almost feeling guilty for leaving. They had to, to get back to their own homes, but in only a few days, she had become rather friendly with the townspeople, and she wanted nothing more than to ease their pains with the world. Silently, Royal made a promise to herself to convince the Zelda of this time to send aid here.

As the towns entrance came into view, so did her group, Celestial noticing her first and running to help carry all the bags. The young girl admittedly struggled to carry even one bag of firewood, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless. Legend was atop Ol Betsy, presumably still baby talking the horse, as the duo got closer. Past also hurried over to help carry things, taking two bags of fruit from Royal and making her way to the carriage.

The carriage itself wasn't shabby, with a wooden roof held up by the occasional wooden post along the side, and wooden benches on both sides, which should fit the five of them not riding the horse. Carefully, Royal opened the side compartment and started loading in the purchases, firewood in first. She held up Celestial so she could put some in as well, before setting her back down and ushering her towards the back of the carriage.

"Right, that should be everything. Anyone missing anything?" She looked around at the group once she finished loading the supplies in. Everyone shook their heads. "Good, let's all get in and then we can start out." Royal headed to the back of the carriage as well, where she pulled down a small set of stairs to let everyone up. From there, she helped Celestial up, as well as Past, before Rise and Fall entered next. Finally, Royal herself climbed the steps, pulling them up behind her. She carefully sat across from Past and Celestial, closing a small gate that held the steps in place.

"All ready?" Legend called back, looking over her shoulder.

"Ready." Royal said, after a moment of hesitation. At her answer, Legend spurred Ol Betsy on and they were off. At a moderate pace of course. As the town started to fade into the distance, Royal felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She tried to shake it off, the town had survived plenty well without them, but at the same time, she knew they would be missed. She wondered briefly if they should have told at least some of the truth to the townsfolk, so they wouldn't keep waiting for them to possibly return, but... well, that would seem crazy, right?

As they traveled, Royal and Fall kept an eye out for any potential danger lurking behind them, especially wary whenever they passed some woods, unwilling to lose Anything to Moblins. Past was busy entertaining Celestial, who kept asking questions about everyone's time period. Past had been hesitant to answer, only giving vague responses, and Fall was much the same. Royal suspected they had different reasons for their similar answers though.

Rise had been much too eager to share the supposed splendor of her periods Hyrule, going on and on about how Her hero already had the blade of evils bane, and would surely defeat Ganon before he even arrived, at which point Legend chimed in with a reminder that she herself had been part of defeating her Gannon, or at least the attempt to summon him. That shut Rise up pretty quickly and she stewed in her frustration for a while.

Legend spoke a lot about her people, particularly about how she tried to get to know the people around her better after coming of age for the crown, and how her hero had simply been a librarians assistant at first. Now he ran the whole library and had an assistant of his own, along with all the hero stuff. She seemed particularly proud of the library for some reason.

"And what about you Royal? What's your Hyrule like?" Celestial turned towards her, eyes big with excitement. Royal couldn't help but crack a small smile at the expression.

"Well, for one, instead of using horses to get everywhere, we use these things called trains."

"Trains?"

"Ah, so you don't have them. Well let's see, how to explain it in a way you'd understand... they're like large metal carriages lined up together, and all pulled by one big furnace on wheels." Royal explained, staring wistfully into the distance. "They're very convenient, not needing to rest often like people and horses, and they can go much faster too."

"Oooooooh! They sound cool!" Celestial exclaimed, before turning to look at Ol Betsy, "but I think you're cool too Betsy!" The horse simply snorted. Royal stifled a chuckle, as did Fall.

"So what about you? What's your Hyrule like?" Past asked, looking at Celestial quizzically.

"Oh, um.... I don't really know. Daddy doesn't let me leave the castle yet. Oh! But one time we had the moon and sun get stolen! But my friends fixed it all up!" She said cheerily, grinning at the mention of her friends. "They're so cool yknow!"

"They certainly sound cool." Past said, ruffling Celestial's hair gently.

"We're gonna hit dirt soon, so hold on for any jostling!" Legend called out, and sure enough, the carriage was rocked slightly as it went from stone down to dirt.

From there, the rest of the day was filled with small talk and whinnies. As the sun began to set, they slowed down a bit more, now on the lookout for a good place to spend the night. After a bit, they found a nice flat area, with one side covered by water, so hopefully nothing could attack from that direction.

Coming to a stop, Legend soothed Ol Betsy before getting off, and Royal opened the gate, lowering the stairs. She went down first, helping the others get out of the carriage after her. Once everyone was on solid ground, she turned to get out the bedding supplies, only to be surprised by Legend already carrying several blankets over to the clearing.

"Right about here, right? Nice and flat, plus there isn't a strong wind that might put out any fire we light." Legend asked, surveying the area quickly before turning back to Royal.

"Oh! Yes, this spot will do fine. I'll get the firewood, and then we can discuss watch duties." Royal gave a short nod, turning back to the side compartment and pulling out a good amount of firewood, some to light the initial fire, some to keep it going late into the night if needed. She hurried over to where the rest of the group was laying out bedding in a circle, leaving enough room in the center for a fire.

Royal set the firewood down in the center, crouching down to start setting up the fire, only to realize at the last second they had to way to Start the actual fire. Unless...

"Celestial, do you know any fire magic?" She turned to look at the child, who perked up.

"Oh um..." She hesitated for a moment, thinking. "Yeah! I dunno how good it'll go though..."

"Might as well give it a shot." Royal said, beckoning her over. Celestial hurried over, crouching by the firewood pile as well. She scrunched up her brows in concentration, her finger sparking as she pointed it at the logs. Soon enough, a small blast of fire sprung from her fingertip and engulfed the firewood, causing both her and Royal to jolt back in surprise.

"It worked! And my arm didn't catch on fire like last time!" Celestial cheered, unintentionally closing her still sparking finger into a fist, to which she yelped in pain. Past came rushing over, gently kneeling in front of her, looking over her palm. There was a small burn mark where her finger had hit it, but other than that, no damage.

"You're alright, nothing that won't heal." Past said, sighing in relief. "Please do be careful though, I'd hate for you to get even more hurt next time."

"Ok, sorry..." Celestial looked down at her feet in a combination of shame and embarrassment.

Now with a burning fire, and one slightly burnt child, the group settled into their beddings, before Royal spoke up.

"Alright, who wants to take first watch?" She asked, looking at the others in turn.

"I will." Legend spoke up first. She was the only one not under the blankets, instead sitting cross legged on top of them. "I doubt I'll be able to get any sleep for a while anyways."

Royal nodded, before turning to the rest of the group again. "Then I'll take second shift when Legend gets tired, and hopefully that should get us through the night, but if it doesn't, anyone volunteer for third shift?"

Past slowly raised a hand. "I will."

"Careful, or you'll fall! I can't keep you on my shoulders while you're wiggling like that!" Legend let out a laugh as she struggled to keep Celestial on her shoulders. Past was hovering behind them, occasionally making nervous noises.

The group had been walking for quite a while by now, and Royal was also starting to see the tell tale shapes of a town, with sloping roofs, and tall towers dotting the edges of it. To the left, they could see the bottom of a smaller mountain range, presumably one that cradled the entire town.

The stones were also getting closer together and much smoother as they approached, making the walking much easier on them. Boots or not, there was only so many near miss slips one could handle before it began to ache.

As they got closer to the town, the group could begin to hear the sounds of people chattering and work being done. There was the faint sound of whinnying in the distance, presumably from a stable. With any luck, they'd have horses for sale.

"Alright kiddo, down ya go!" Legend picked Celestial off her shoulders and swung her down to the ground, eliciting a giggle fron the girl, followed by a gentle whine.

"But I was so tall! I could see everything from up there!" She mock complained, gently bumping into Legend with her elbow out, hitting her in the thigh.

"Oh, I have been mortally wounded, whatever shall I do!" Legend put an arm up to her forehead, swooning back jokingly, earning more giggles from the young girl.

Royal gently shook her head in amusement. "Alright now, we're almost there. Admittedly we probably should have done this earlier, but would any of you happen to have any rupees on you?"

There was a moment of silence as the women shook their heads, though Legend was the last, patting her pockets first.

"I figured, none of us were outside the castle before we were taken here so why would we have had our wallets with us. Looks like we'll have to take some jobs before we can get horses." There was a collective groan as they all realized they'd have to take even more time before getting to the castle. Stupid money system.

"So what's our cover story then? For why we're Dead Broke that is."

"Simple, we were robbed by the Moblins that we encountered when we first woke up here." Royal said, taking a deep breath. "And if we're not close to the castle, we can just say we took a wrong turn somewhere."

Soon enough, the group resumed walking and quickly found themselves in the town, having passed the towers around the edge. They seemed to be old outlooks, judging by the wear on them. The rest of the town looked to be cobbled together bits of old and new stonework, like they had been repaired from ruins instead of demolished and rebuilt from the ground up.

The people around them looked a bit skeptical at their presence, but didn't say anything as they passed. The townspeople wore simple outfits, meaning the group stood out like a sore thumb.

Legend was the first to start asking around about the castle and potential work, discovering that the town was a mining town, with the occasional farming and fishing going on. Thankfully, there was an open room in a nearby inn, as well as a few open jobs in the mines, and inn itself.

Legend, Fall, and Royal broke off from the group to see if they could get jobs at the mine, while the rest went to the inn to do the same there. The trek to the mine was a bit of a steep one, the entrance at the very top of the town. Royal could already feel an ache settling into her legs from the amount of walking they had done when they finally got there.

There was a gruff-looking woman at the entrance, sitting on a box as she chewed on... something, and read a book. She barely looked up at the three of them as they approached.

"You here for the jobs? If so, we'll have to get the two of you outta those prissy clothes and into some work gear, but the pay will cover that." She said eventually, closing her book and standing.

"No, we just hiked up all this way just to say hello." Legend joked. "Yes we're here for the jobs, we need the money to get outta here."

"Who doesn't these days." The woman grumbled, looking them over again. "I'll have you three start with loading the goods from the mining spots to the horse carriages, it's good, simple work to start off with. But first, let's get you some proper clothing."

Legend flopped face first onto one of the two beds in the room, groaning. She, like Royal and Fall, was sticky with sweat and grime. The trio had been hard at work for the daylight they had left when they arrived at the town, which they now knew was named Katsuto Town.

Royal hummed in thought as Past and Rise explained to her what jobs they had been given, as well as where they were in relation to the castle, as the innkeeper had been kind enough to give them a map.

"So we'll certainly need some form of transportation to get there in reasonable time." She said, absentmindedly tracing a path along the roads marked between the town and Castle town. It looked to be a few days worth of travel by horse, maybe a bit longer if they used a carriage but that would likely cost less than several seperate horses.

And walking... well that would take much too long, so it was out of the question. So their next goal would be to find some way to purchase at least a horse and carriage, if not multiple horses. Royal made the decision to ask around tomorrow about any for sale.

"If we're using horses, I should go with you, make sure you pick out good ones." Legend said, pulling her face up from the bedsheets. "I mean, not to dismiss your horse picking ability, but I think I know horses a good deal more than anyone else here."

Royal suppressed a huff, choosing to instead just roll her eyes. The older woman had spent the entire time they were working gushing about the horses they used at the mine, so her 'horse expertise' wasn't to be doubted. Admittedly, she couldn't blame Legend for fawning over the horses, Royal herself had never seen horses so strong.

"So what Do you look for in a good horse?" She asked, looking over at Legend, who shot up excitedly.

"Well really it depends on what you need them for, but if we're doing one horse and a carriage, we'll want a nice sturdy, but still light draft horse with an even temperament. Something strong enough to pull the carriage with everyone, and some supplies I would assume, in it." The older woman hummed in thought for a moment. "For riding you also want a nice even temperament, but I doubt we could get that many horses bought here, so the carriage is probably the smarter, and cheaper, idea."

"I see. Good to know I was on the right track with that idea. Older horses should be cheaper than younger ones, are they still good to pull carriages when they get older?"

"I mean, it depends on the horse, but if they're still keeping any around, that must mean they're dependable enough for it. Might even be better than a younger horse, won't spook as easily."

"For Hylia's sake, enough about the horses, the bigger problem here is getting the rupees to buy it! I mean what, you three got a total of 300 rupees? A horse plus a carriage has to be at least 2,000 rupees, if not more! And Past and I have are working solely for room and board!" Rise yelled, though she seemed flustered about... something.

"No need to yell, they were just discussing our options." Fall snapped at her, having finished cleaning herself off in the other room. She glared at Rise from the doorway, tucking the shirt she had been given by the mine worker down. Legend hopped up from the bed, and hurried over, seemingly unfazed by the yelling.

"Oh sweet is it my turn to clean off now? I feel so gross." As Fall stepped out to let her in, Legend squeezed past, taking a rag off the wall as she went.

After Legend had cleaned herself, Royal swapped places with her to do the same, keeping a close ear out for any arguing that may happen. She was still trying to figure out their sleeping situation, what with there being only two beds. She'd likely sleep on the floor, so at the very least Celestial could sleep in one of the beds.

As she walked out of the room, tugging her shirt down, she suppressed a shiver. Hylia, these clothes were cold compared to her normal outfit. She looked up to ask everyone about the sleeping situation, only to see Celestial and Past already tucked into one bed, with Legend sitting on the edge of it.

"So you wanna hear more stories huh? Yeah I can think of a few, read plenty of them at home! Ooooor, I could tell you more about my friend Lynk. He's a great guy really, though honestly he spends too much time stressed out." Legend said, ruffling Celestial's hair. "Now where do I begin.... oh, I know! It was a dark and stormy night..."

The group ended up listening intently to the stories Legend had to tell until she eventually stopped, once Celestial had succumbed to sleep. The girl was clinging to Past's arm as she dozed, her breathing slow and even. Past herself looked like she was also on the verge of falling asleep.

Quietly, Legend got up from the bed and looked over to the others. "Guess I'll sleep on the floor tonight, and you three can fight over the other bed."

"Oh, no, they can have the bed, I was already willing to sleep on the floor." Royal said in a whisper, looking over at Rise and Fall. The two flushed for the faintest of moments before grumbling some excuse about 'not wanting to share a bed' but eventually both of them got in the same bed. Legend had already curled up on a spare blanket like she was some kind of dog, as Royal went and blew the lantern out.

Feeling her way along the wall, Royal eventually made it to a corner of the room, where she sat. Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes, letting sleep slowly wash over her.

It felt like barely a minute had passed when the sun began to rise, it's rays spilling through the two windows in the room. The light landed on Royal's face, causing her to stir. As she blearily opened her eyes, she could hear the faint snores coming from either Rise or Fall.

"Morning sunshine." Came the voice of Legend, as she came through the door, carrying a tray of food in each hand. "Figured you would wake up before me to be honest, but hey, that just means I get to be the one to get everyone breakfast."

Royal quickly got to her feet, taking a tray from Legend. "Careful, don't drop those." The older woman simply huffed slightly, before taking the remaining tray in both hands.

"'S not that far to the table, I would have been fine." She grumbled, before clearing her throat and looking at the beds. Royal followed suit and had to suppress a chuckle at the sight of Rise and Fall practically being a tangled mess of limbs. So much for not wanting to be in a bed together.

As for the other bed, Celestial had sprawled out like a starfish, taking up most of the bed despite her small size, while Past was curled up in one corner, still sound asleep. It felt a shame to wake them up while they were all so comfortable looking, but breakfast would get cold otherwise. Moving to the first bed, Royal gently shook Rise's.... Fall's, no Rise's? Someone's shoulder, causing them to snort awake suddenly. It was Fall, though Rise woke soon after due to the movement.

"Wha- whaz goin on...." Fall mumbled blearily, managing to smoothly untangle herself despite her half-awake status. She slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes with a hand as she propped herself up with the other. "Issit morning already?"

There was sleepy grumbling from the other side of the room as well, as Legend woke Celestial and Past, who nearly fell off the bed as she got up.

"Good morning sleepyheads!" Legend said cheerfully, as though she hadn't just spent the night in a strange land, sleeping on the floor of an inn. "I already got breakfast so there's no need to worry about that. Wasn't much on offer though, mostly just seafood. Hope noone's allergic or anything..."

Celestial stopped her grumbling almost instantly at the mention of food, and scrambled out of bed to look her options over. There looked to be some fish, as well as a few shellfish, and a small plate of rice. There were also several handmade looking plates, and utensils.

The group gathered around the table, passing plates and utensils around, before each of them got a bit of either fish or shellfish, and some rice. Thankfully there was just enough for all of them. As they ate in silence, Royal began to think of a plan. They'd need supplies for the trip alongside the horse and carriage, and likely some weapons, as well as extra money for any stops along the way. At a total of 300 rupees a day that would likely take... around 7 days, maybe more, maybe less. It would all depend on the price of the horse and carriage.

"You gonna eat or not Royal?" Rise asked, nudging her slightly. This snapped her back to attention, where the others were about halfway through their meals, and she hadn't even touched hers.

"O-oh, I was just thinking of how long we were going to have to work to afford everything." She stammered, flushing slightly in embarassment. "An..." She paused a moment to clear her throat, "I estimate we'll be here for about 7 days, assuming the horse isn't extremely expensive, and we can get supplies easily."

The group nodded along as she talked, before Legend sighed. "So back to the mines with us then. We'd best get a decent amount of funds first before looking for a horse, so we have a better chance at buying a cheaper one easily."

Royal nodded once, before beginning to eat her fish. It was extremely salty, almost unbearably so, but it was the first meal she'd had since arriving here, so for now, it was the best thing she had ever tasted. It was definitely not fresh caught, likely having been preserved in the salt that overwhelmed most of the other flavors, but as Royal ate, she couldn't bring herself to care.

The rice was much better, a soothingly plain flavor, with a lovely fluffy texture. There was a hint of some kind of herbs in there, along with a bit of saltiness seeping down from the fish. All in all, while nothing compared to the lavish meals she would've had at home, the meal was home cooked with care, and that's all that mattered.

Soon enough, everyone had finished eating, with Past gently stacking the now empty plates onto one of the trays.

"I'll take these back to the kitchen and start working." She said quietly, getting up and carefully taking the trays with her as she left the room. Rise let out a small huff, before getting up as well.

"I outta get working too. Someone's gotta work for the room after all." Not even sparing a glance back at the others, she left the room quickly.

"Awwww, I'm gonna be alone again. Do you Really gotta go to the mines today?" Celestial asked Legend, gripping her sleeve. "Im gonna be so bored here!"

"Well you could always help with working at the inn, I'm sure people would just Love having a cutie like you serve them food." Legend teased, gently pinching and shaking the kids cheek. Celestial let out a little squeak, pulling her face away. "Or you could just hold down the fort for us, I'm sure they have something for you to read at least."

As Celestial let out a little huff at that, Legend simply chuckled. "Aw come on kiddo, it's not gonna be that bad, I'm sure at least Past will be in regularly to check up on you so you won't be alone the whole time."

With that, she stood, scooping up the girl and plopping her on the bed, eliciting a squeal of joy from Celestial as she bounced slightly.

Zelda had been going through various piles of important government paperwork. Keyword, Had. Now she found herself stirring in the middle of a screaming match between another woman and a..... a Moblin? What? She quickly blinked fully awake, looking around in complete confusion. Around her were 3 more women of varying ages, and a girl who couldn't be more than 12 at most, and of course, the woman in the screaming match with the Moblin.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Was what the woman was screaming repeatedly, as if the Moblin could answer her, as she was smacking it with a branch she must have grabbed from nearby. The other women (and girl) practically jumped up from their spots, Zelda soon following their lead as it finally clicked that they were in the middle of a Moblin camp. Looking around for Anything to defend herself with, the young woman simply followed suit with what the screaming woman had done, and grabbed a sturdy looking branch from the ground and began swinging.

The Moblins seemed just as confused as she was, hesitant to get any closer to the group that was now collectively swinging sticks at them. One brave, or perhaps particularly stupid, one approached the girl, reaching out a hand to snatch the stick from her. The young girl proceeded to scream and a bright light enveloped the stick, and soon enough the Moblin. Only a few seconds later, there was a sickening sound and an explosion of viscera, and as the light faded, it was clear what had happened. The Moblin has simply Exploded. The rest of them, horrified at what had happened to their comrade, quickly turned tail and ran as fast as they could, dropping weapons to go faster.

"Sweet Hilia, what the Hell was that?" The one who had been in a screaming match said, mirroring Zelda's own thoughts, though she could've Sworn the woman had said Hylia weirdly. The girl looked between her stick, the viscera on the ground in front of her (miraculously none had landed on her or any of the others), and the women around her.

"Um... oops?" She said quietly, setting the stick down, her hair falling in her face as she leaned down.

Zelda took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to process what exactly had just transpired in the last, oh, two minutes? She had been in her office working on paperwork one moment, and then waking up in a Moblin camp the next. Then a... what, 11? 10? Probably 10 judging by the voice, year old girl Exploded A Moblin by screaming. Dear Hylia grant her strength.

She opened her eyes again, clearing her throat and gathering the attention of the others. "Alright, now that that.... predicament, is over, how about we all take a moment, breathe, and figure out who we all are and how we got here."

"And how we get home?" The voice came from a very nervous looking and sounding woman, her hair covering one eye.

"Yes, of course. I'll start. My name is Zelda, and the last thing I remember is working on paperwork in the palace office." Several faces screwed into a look of confusion at her statement.

"Uh.... My name is Also Zelda, and the last thing I remember is I was watching the royal guards doing training drills." The one with pinkish hair spoke next, before shooting a pointed look at the purple haired woman next to her.

"Well my name is Hilda and frankly I would like to just go home already."

"My names also Zelda!" The young girl spoke quickly, waving a hand in the air. "And the last thing I remember is I was playing with my daddy in the castle courtyard!"

"Im... um... my name is Zelda, and the last thing I remember was going to bed in my room..." The nervous one spoke next, shifting on her feet, voice barely a whisper.

The woman who had been in a screaming match earlier raised a hand slowly and finally spoke. "My name is Zelledah, and the last thing I remember is being in the royal library. And I think I know what's going on."

Zelda looked at her with mild suspicion. "You do? How?"

With a shrug, Zelledah looked up at the sky. "I think we've all been taken from different points in time. Would explain why we're all named Zelda, and why we were all in the castle at 'the same time' despite having never met each other before."

It was... well it was a strange idea but it Did have some merit.

"So how do we get back? To our own times that is." Zelda spoke, trying to keep her tone even and calm. Zelledah simply shrugged.

"Fu-" She glanced at the child Zelda, and quickly course corrected, "Heck if I know. Our best bet is probably make our way to the castle, if that exists in this time period, and see who's time we're all in."

The child Zelda looked at Zelledah, puffed her chest out and spoke with pride. "You don't gotta change your words, I Already know the fuck word!"

"A young lady such as yourself shouldn't use such vulgar words!" Zelda said, crossing her arms as she gave a sharp glare at Zelledah, who simply shrugged.

"Sorry Royal." Her voice was nonchalant as she then put her hands in her pockets.

"R-Royal?" Zelda blinked in confusion. "I already said my name is Zelda why would you-"

"Yeah I know but everyone's named the same thing so like... we gotta have Nicknames, right? Not only to differentiate each other, but also because we need to be less conspicuous. Zelda's a real specific name for the royal family after all, it would look Real strange for a bunch of random women-" the child Zelda cleared her throat. "And a kid, all named after the princess, or queen or whatever the Zelda in this time period is, are wandering around."

Zelda paused, humming in thought. "I suppose you're right, but why Royal?"

"Cuz you're so Hoity Toity about stuff already. Really reminds me of some of my royal advisors, and my mom." Zelledah looked around at the other Zeldas. "Anyone want to name themselves?"

"Oh! Oh! I wanna be called Celes.... Celestital... no.... Celestial! That was the word!" The young Zel- Celestial said, waving her arm in the air again.

"Any reason?"

"Cuz my friends are my sun and moon!" She said cheerily. "My friends are twins too, like the sun and moon are!"

Zeld- Royal couldn't bring herself to correct the child about her assumption. Next came the nervous Zelda.

"I'd.... I'd like to be called Past. Because I always feel like I'm stuck in the past. Compared to my big brother at least... oh Hylia I hope he's safe..." Zelledah nodded in acknowledgement, patting her on the back with a quiet word of encouragement.

"Well I'd like to be called Rise, because My version of Hyrule is on the rise, especially with a talented Hero on our side!" The pink haired Zelda spoke next, puffing out her chest slightly in pride. Probably a subconscious action, Royal noted.

Hilda spoke next, "I guess I should be called Fall then, since... well things aren't going great where I'm from."

"You don't Need a nickname, your name is different as is."

"Well I would feel strange being the only one going by her real name." Fall said, seemingly a little irritated.

Zelledah, being the only one left without a nickname, hummed in thought. She was quiet for a moment after the hum, before suddenly shouting. "I GOT IT! You can call me Legend, cuz I helped beat Gannon!"

"You? You Beat Ganon. I don't believe it." Royal mumbled, shaking her head, earning a slight glare from Legend.

"I totally did! Admittedly Lynk did most of the work but it was my first time fighting for real!"

Ok for the love of Hylia, Royal was Convinced Legend was saying some of these words differently but she couldn't tell How. Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, she took a deep breath and clapped her hands together, gaining the attention of everyone.

"So, I think we should all get moving in case those Moblins finally come back with reinforcements. Hopefully we're not too far from the castle, I doubt any of us happened to bring enough rupees for a carriage ride there."

A chorus of quiet agreement met her statements.

"So we're in agreement then, good. Now, let's follow a river, I can hear one nearby. It should take us to a beach of some sort, or at least out of this forest." Royal spoke with assertiveness, planning on taking charge and keeping hold of it.

"You can hear the river from here?" Fall said, sounding both skeptical And impressed.

"Just barely, but yes. It's that way." Royal gestured with a hand, noting that the trees seemed to thin in that direction as well. Perhaps they were closer to the edge of the forest than they thought. She took a deep breath and started forward, not even looking back to see if anyone was following her. Judging from the varying footstep sounds behind her though, they all were.

After a minute, maybe two, the group came upon the river, which looked to be about twice as wide as Royal was tall at its narrowest, and too deep to cross. Hopefully they were on the correct side...

"Alright, now we follow the river down to its mouth-"

"Rivers have mouths? Do they eat with them?" Celestial asked, poking her head past the others.

"I- no, it's where the river meets a lake or an ocean. With any luck there will be a town or city of some sort we can get our bearings at." Royal was annoyed, but couldn't help but feel a tinge of amusement at the question. "From there we find our way to the castle and ask when we are. Sound good?"

Seeing them all nod, Royal started following the river, keeping a good distance away to make sure she didn't fall in, hoping the rest would follow her lead. Admittedly she couldn't swim, and wasn't sure the others could either. Especially in the clothes they were in. Well, maybe Legend, as the only one in the group wearing trousers, could.

It took a while, and a Very near miss with a Wolfos that had them scurrying into a bush for a good amount of time, but eventually they managed to follow the river out of the forest. They all immediately held their hands above their eyes as the tree line thinned, allowing brighter and brighter light to hit the ground below. Fall seemed to have an even harder time adjusting to the sunlight, squinting long after the others had stopped doing the same.

Looking around, Royal struggled to spot anything helpful, except a faint blip on the horizon. That would have to do.

"Alright Royal, where to next? Assuming your sight is as good as your hearing that is." Legend commented, making an effort to peer around, before kicking a small rock. "Because I don't know about you but I'm seeing Jack Squat around here."

"Well I don't see much, but I believe our best bet is that way, I can see something faint." Royal pointed towards the blip she had seen earlier, causing everyone to squint and lean in that direction to try and see it for themselves.

"Oh! I see it!" Celestial cried. "You think it's a town? Or maybe the castle? No wait, I think I remember my daddy teaching me that um... you don't build castles so close to the ocean cuz then bad guys can sail right up to it!"

"Well, it depends on if the castle is right by the water or on a cliff, but the advice Is relatively sound." Royal mumbled, half to herself. She'd never had to worry about castle placement, Hyrule wasn't quite large enough to validate having more than one of them. Still, the girl's optimism was contagious and everyone began to chatter as they started walking.

"I hope it's the castle, I'd hate to have to go all the way there just to find out we'd have to ride horses to get to the castle...." Rise said, blowing a stray strand of hair from her face. Gasping in mock horror, Legend faced her.

"You don't like horse riding? But it's so fun!" The older woman said, grinning. "Having the wind blow through your hair, trusting your horse to take you wherever you're going safely, the joy of knowing what every whinny means."

Rise gave her a skeptical look. "And risk falling off and getting trampled to death? No thank you." She shook her head and crossed her hands in an x shape before flinging her arms to the sides, continuing the shape in what Royal could only assume was an addition to her disapproval of the idea.

Legend simply huffed, turning her attention back to where they were headed. It was still a long ways away... Blessedly, they eventually came across an old dirt road, the edges of it being consumed by grass and other plants.

Royal noted that while the road was old, it was quite well worn, like people still came this was often, though obviously not often enough to pave it with stones. As they traveled along the road, she couldn't help but wonder how they paved roads in this time period. She supposed she'd see soon enough, if the direction they were headed was indeed towards a town or city.

The group continued to chatter amongst themselves, mostly about why they thought they were all there. Most of them agreed that it was likely either the golden goddesses, or Hylia herself that brought them there, but Celestial was Convinced that it was, "A mean ol Great Fairy." Apparently she had been the victim of a mean fairy prank when she was much younger and thought all fairies were like that.

As they tried to convince the child it wasn't like that, Legend stumbled and face planted directly onto a stone paved road. She had clearly tripped on the edge of it, where they hadn't feathered out the edge of it onto the dirt road that connected to it.

"'M good!" Legend said, albeit muffled, as she peeled her face from the stones. Royal winced at the other woman ran her tongue along her teeth, pressing on each one. "Yup, all good!" She said when not a one budged from their spot.

"Didn't that... um.... didn't that Hurt?" Past asked, helping Legend up.

"Oh for sure but I've dealt with worse." The older woman looked back towards their goal with a mildly distant look. "Definitely worse. Say, why don't I tell yall about how my Lynk and I beat Gannon! It was quite the fight."

As Legend began talking and walking again, with the others listening intently, Royal allowed herself to hang back a bit, solely to investigate how the road was paved. It seemed that they had paved it with smooth stones and mortar, leaving a slightly bumpy road, but not noticeable enough for a horse or carriage to be jostled about.

She eventually managed to tear her eyes away from the road, looking up to see how close they were to their destination. They had been following the meandering road towards a sandy area, perhaps a beach, judging by the faint sound of water nearby. Not that Royal was at all interested in going on that beach right now, given that her dress was already dirty enough at the bottom.

"We're going to need changes of clothes..." She hadn't realized she had spoken aloud until noticing the attention of everyone on her. Flushing, she quickly stammered out a reason. "Well most of us aren't in any outfit fit for riding, or even just walking along dirt roads. And the closer we get to that spot, the more I can tell it's not the castle."

"Not to mention, Celestial, Rise, and Fall all have some uh... pretty royal looking clothing, it would be pretty suspicious huh." Legend said, spinning around as she walked backwards. "Not to mention the giant triforce symbol, Royal crest, and... upside down triforce. Why is that upside down anyways?"

Fall blinked, eyes widening in mild surprise before she cleared her throat and spoke. "Oh, its the Lorulian triforce."

"Lo.... rulian?" Past asked, tilting her head slightly to the side in confusion. "Whats Lorulian?"

Fall was about to speak when Rise shoved her slightly and spoke first. "Lorule is the Dark counterpart to Hyrule, obviously. After all, their triforce is inverted."

"Just because you don't understand Lorule doesn't mean you can just call it an evil version of Hyrule!" Fall yelled, shoving back.

The two proceeded to get into a physical fight, slapping and clawing at each other until Royal and Legend managed to pull them apart.

"Ladies! Ladies! Calm down! We do Not need to be fighting each other right now!"

"This is not appropriate behavior for two of the royal family!" Royal huffed, easily holding back Fall, who soon gave up on trying to squirm out of her grasp. Legend had a bit more trouble with Rise, probably because they looked to be roughly the same height.

Once both women had tired out, though still giving glares to each other, they were released from Legend and Royal's arms.