dreamcrystals | sixth dream 🌻 the well-worn hair band

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sixth dream 🌻 the well-worn hair band

Sender: Zelda
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive dream recording

This dream is a simple one, focused not on some grand event or terrible disaster, but on a single blue hairband lying innocuously on top of a wooden desk.

Some dreamers might recognize the hair tie as the same type Link wears, but others will think nothing of it. It's just a ratty old hair tie, its fabric worn and discolored with age, its elastic completely stretched out. It's nothing special.

And yet, you gaze upon it with such deep fondness that a wistful sigh slips from your lips.

It's actually very special, this hair tie. It's your own little treasure, rescued from the waste paper bin one afternoon when you spotted it there and then ordered him out of the house. You claimed you needed silence to concentrate on your work, but that was only half true. (But you still made certain to fill the basket with enough crumpled up paper to look like you worked hard in his absence.)

You sit at your desk, resting your chin against one hand, as you idly roll the worn out hair tie between your fingers. For some reason, fidgeting with it helps you think.

But it also helps you to daydream (especially when you hold it up to your nose, because it still smells like his hair).

You loop it around your wrist and lift your hand, watching it dangle loosely like a bracelet. Could you get away with wearing it like this? You've seen other girls wear hair ties around their wrists; surely you wouldn't look so out of place doing that too.

...Except that you've cropped your hair and it's too short to be pulled back into a ponytail, so why would you need a hair tie readily available? Someone is bound to notice that flaw in logic sooner or later.

You shake your wrist vigorously until the hair tie falls off. Then you pick it up again. You flip it back and forth between your fingers. A silly idea intrudes in your mind... No, don't be ridiculous, you're a princess, a woman grown...

And yet...

You loop and twist the hair tie around your ring finger on your left hand, your heartbeat quickening with each loop and twist, until it fits more-or-less snug around your finger. You hold out your hand and spread your fingers, examining the way it looks on your finger...

Goddess, this is silly. You're being silly.

And yet—

A noise overhead startles you, making you jump in your seat. You hear the dull thumping of footsteps above your head, the sounds of someone walking over your subterranean secret place. Quick as a flash, you yank the hair band off your finger and shove it into a box beside your desk. Your heart is racing as you slam down the lid. Silly, foolish, ridiculous! It's just an old hair tie, nothing special. Nothing to get so worked up over.

And yet, you can't calm the flutter in your heart.

A voice—his voice—calls your name from above and it echoes down the well, the entrance to your secret place.

You flatten your hands on the table and take in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to compose yourself. Enough of these fancies. There's no place in your life for them. You have work to do. A kingdom won't rebuild itself!

The dream abruptly ends as you push away from the desk and get to your feet.

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[This is her favorite romcom now, thanks.

She hasn't met Link in person, but she has heard about him from Zelda, so it's not too hard to put the pieces together. This has her so curious, she just has to know more! Since she's communicating via writing, though, she should probably try to think over her words first.]

What a lovely dream, princess! Or was that a memory?

It's so interesting to see which items become precious to us and why. I don't think there's anything wrong with finding different ways of carrying them with us, or that you need to be ashamed of anything.

[ Catch new episodes weekly. Same dream time, same dream channel.

It's hard for Zelda to say which is harder to take: being teased about her secret and all the tender emotions tied up in it, or being validated for treasuring something that is, frankly, garbage.

It's tempting to lie and say it was just a dream, but no, the cat's already out of the bag on this one.]

It's a memory, I'm afraid. [ But at least Martel is being kind about it. ] But you needn't be so kind, really. It is a silly thing to treasure.

[She was entirely sincere, so the comment about being so kind is a little baffling. Martel finds nothing remotely humiliating about any of this. She just wants to know more about this ship!]

It matters to you, so that means it not silly! You really have nothing to be embarrassed about. Those are all very normal feelings to have, too.

[ Zelda lets out a heavy sigh. She is being too hard on herself, isn't she? ]

I shall make an effort to keep that in mind.

This is all still very new to me.

Is it? I guess it is rather confusing when you're dealing with feelings you've never had before. But that's actually perfectly normal too.

If you want to ask questions or just talk, I'm always available. And I'm here right now!

[ If everything she's feeling is perfectly normal, then why does it all feel so intense and terrifying and wonderful? It's not as though Zelda has never seen or spoken to other people in love. They never look like they're being assailed by an avalanche of overwhelming feelings.

She reads Martel's offer and fights the urge to insist that she needn't go to the trouble. But that would be a lie, because Zelda is so full of questions she could burst. ]

I would genuinely appreciate that, thank you.

But I admit, I don't know where to start. I feel as though I have a hundred questions, but I cannot figure out how to put them into words.

[ Feelings are so difficult... ]

I understand that it's difficult. Some people always have trouble putting their feelings into words, especially the very strong and complex ones. But it's always possible to get things across when you're ready!

Maybe you could start with how you met, or what you went through before you started to have an idea of how you felt?

[Conveniently this would also cover her questions because nosy lady is nosy.]

[ The Princess of Hyrule is fluent in multiple languages, versed in several others, a passionate scholar of multiple fields, and the acting sovereign of her kingdom. Complex subjects are her everyday life. How ironic that something so common, so widely experienced as love, should give her such trouble, as though she is just beginning to learn a brand new language.

Nosy lady is welcome to the whole story but, ] It's a long one, but if you're sure.

[ She trusts that Martel will interrupt the tl;dr if it gets to be too much. ]

Link and I have known each other for quite a long time. We first met as children, actually. He was formally introduced to me after he drew the Master Sword— only one chosen by the blade itself may wield it, so it is an incredible accomplishment and a sign of a great destiny. [ A brief pause. ] I do not recall how old we were. I believe I was eleven? No, perhaps twelve. And Link is only ten months older than me. But we may have known each other earlier than that. His father was a knight in service of the Royal Family, so it is possible our paths crossed before he drew the sword.

[ She pauses to give Martel a chance to read. Don't want to completely overwhelm her. ]

[Oh she is just eating this up. She's looking at her journal like someone who just got the latest chapter of their current manga obsession.]

I see. So is this a story of childhood friends? Or am I making assumptions?

[People don't always like each other at first. She has first-hand experience watching that change.]

[ That makes Zelda chuckle. How ironic, considering that Zelda of Skyloft and her Link grew up as friends. The princess is a little envious of them. ]

The latter, I'm afraid. I disliked Link most strongly when we were young. In fact, I could hardly stand to be in the same room with him if I could help it. But, as we both had important duties to perform in the service of our kingdom, I was forced to suffer his company quite frequently.

Link was always quiet as child, you see. Well, I suppose he is still rather reticent, but back then, he was more like a statue than a boy. He never spoke. He never smiled. He never got angry. He never anything. He simply did whatever he was told and he always did everything perfectly.

Meanwhile, I was quite the opposite. I was not capable of doing anything correctly, it seemed. Link was a natural swordsman from the moment he first held a blade, whereas I could not harness a single sliver of my own hereditary powers. He was always praised for his feats while I was scolded for my failures. It was not his fault, but I hated him for it all the same. It used to be that I could not even look upon the Master Sword when he carried it without thinking about what a terrible princess I was. Every time I caught Link looking at me, I was sure that he was thinking those same things. I was sure that he loathed me.

[ Zelda looks back on what she wrote and... oh dear, that got a little heavy there. Better move on. ]

In any case, ours was a tense relationship when we were young. It was not until my father assigned Link to be my personal knight that I made even the slightest attempt to get to know him as a person. And even that did not happen overnight. I cannot count the number of times I simply left the castle without telling Link where I was going, just in the hopes that I could sneak away from him. I hated how he followed me everywhere I went. [ She shakes her head at the page. She was so young back then, so immature. ] I used to yell at him for that, even though he was simply following Father's orders. Truly, I was terrible to him. He had every reason to hate me and I cannot understand why he didn't.

[Do they have popcorn in the house? She should make Kratos get popcorn.

The bumpy build up is just making her love this more. The whole knight and princess aspect stands out as possibly problematic, but that should be irrelevant here. She knew that didn't go well for Kratos back when they first met him, though.]

I suppose only he could answer that.

[Also note to self: get properly acquainted with this Link because she doesn't think they've properly spoken yet. Anon capabilities have her mistaken.]

I understand why you felt like that, though. I'm sure all the pressures of being a member of royalty didn't make things easy for you. And I know exactly what you mean about sometimes wishing you could just do something without being followed.

Honestly, I think that going through those types of feelings only leads to stronger ones if they change! No wonder it's so overwhelming for you!

[You can't see how much she's smiling excitedly about those last few things she wrote.]

Obviously something happened to start changing things, right? Even the passage of time can be enough.

[ Martel's comment about wishing to be able to do something without being followed sticks out at Zelda. She's clearly speaking from experience-- What was her life like? Did she grow up in a noble house? Was she also always accompanied by servants or soldiers or an entire entourage? The princess makes a mental note to come back to this at a later time. ]

It was a bit more dramatic than the passage of time. I was sixteen at the time and it had been- [ She pauses as she tries to recall. ] -a few weeks? —No, perhaps a month or two— since Link had been assigned to me. We were traveling in Gerudo and I had once again snuck off on my own without telling him or anyone else in my retinue.

As should come as no surprise, I was ambushed by enemy soldiers while I was alone. I thought myself so clever for outsmarting Link, but I was the fool for walking straight into danger like that.

[ Zelda shakes her head at the memory of her younger self before continuing. What a stupid child she used to be. ]

I tried to run from them, but naturally, a princess is no match for trained soldiers. They were upon me before I was even close enough to Kara Kara to scream for help. I still remember how frightened I was, how I cursed myself for being so selfish and childish in running away from Link, how I prayed he would simply appear out of nowhere as he always does.

And he did, actually. All of the sudden, he was there, standing between me and the Yiga. It's a little silly to admit now, but back then, I felt like it was surely a miracle, like he had somehow been delivered to me by the Goddess in my moment of need. [ Even after all these years, it's hard to admit to that without feeling embarrassment rush over her. She self-consciously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear before continuing. ] Despite all my cruelty toward him, he was there, protecting me, without a thought to the danger, even though I surely did not deserve it.

In any case, that attack was what finally spurred me to try to bridge the gap between us and actually talk to Link and apologize for the way I had treated him. All the years I knew him, I never properly took the time to actually get to know him.

[There sure are some proper nouns that are completely foreign to Martel in there. She's pretty sure that the details on those won't have much bearing on the things she really wants to know, so she'll leave those alone for now.

Seeing "the Goddess" mentioned bothers her for just an instant before she remembers this is not the twisted world Mithos has created, and there very well may be actual deities where Zelda is from.]

Oh my! It's amazing what you're able to realize from a brush with death, isn't it? I don't think there's any shame in not figuring it out before that, though. You did eventually. Please don't be so hard on yourself!

He's the only one who could tell us how he got there. And it sounds like protecting y people is very important to him. In that case, it's never a bother to help anyone, no matter what that person thinks of you.

What did you do after that to start getting to know him?

[ Martel's words make Zelda smile. Yes, Link is the sort who is always protecting people, always helping people, whoever needs him. He has always been so good like that, so much better than Zelda-- prickly and self absorbed as she was back then. ]

I simply started talking to him. [ A pause. ] Rather, I took the initiative to strike up conversations with him. Link never attempted to start a conversation with me, and for the longest time, I assumed it was because he despised me. But when I finally made an attempt to bridge the gap between us, I learned-

[ Zelda stops herself mid sentence. She learned, back then, that Link's silence and stoicism were how he coped with his duties as the wielder of the Master Sword, upon whom Hyrule depended for salvation against the impending Calamity. But those were things confided in confidence, ones that are not for her to freely share with anyone else. ]

Well, some of the things I learned about him are private. It is not my place to share them. But I can say that, over time, I came to understand him much better and we grew close. Link and I both had our roles to play in the protection of our kingdom, and we came to share those burdens with each other instead of shouldering them all alone. Those last months before the Calamity were the hardest, most hopeless times in my life, but Link gave me the strength to continue each day.

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sixth dream 🌻 the well-worn hair band

sender: Martel Yggdrasill

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