To Link’s surprise, the forested area looked not too different from what she’d been used to in Hyrule. Dim light (even after a good thirty minutes of walking, it still seemed to be dusk above the leaves), thick foliage (although the Dark World foliage looked considerably more dead) and, most importantly, Link had no idea where she was going. Without geographical landmarks to aid her, she had a pretty bad sense of direction. And forests were known for their lack of landmarks. Just trees after trees after trees. Thankfully, Link didn’t really need to go anywhere specific. She just needed to eventually wander across something that might help her with healing her wound. And if there was one thing Link was good at—now more than ever—it was running around.

She was going at a light jog, something she hadn’t even noticed initially. She’d planned to just walk at a leisurely pace, not having wanted to exert herself at the moment, but some part of her body had just deemed that pace to be too slow and so she’d sped up. Not that she minded; this speed felt natural to her and she didn’t feel the slightest bit tired or exhausted, even after all the time she’d spent scouring the forest floor. Unfortunately, said floor was just as barren as the ground outside, barring thick leaves scattered throughout.

After she’d spent a total of what must have been an hour running around aimlessly, the pain from her wound pushed itself from the back of her head to the middle of her head. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the pangs in her abdomen that told her to just stop running and rest. Naturally, doing that would spell certain death to her. If left untreated, the wound would only get worse and worse until she’d be unable to move again, like she’d been back when she first popped up on top of the pyramid. And she was out of potions now, so she’d be stuck like that. As such, she kept on going. And going. And going.

It’d been ninety minutes of fruitless searching when she noticed a blue hue near the roots of one of the thousands of trees she’d run past that day. She slowed her pace, retraced her steps and took a closer look. It was a duller blue, but Link knew what a chillshroom looked like, and that blue cap and white stem was unmistakable. At the very least, it had been back in Hyrule. For all Link knew, this could actually be a killshroom that’d only make her approaching death come more quickly. Link swallowed those thoughts down and kneeled down. With shaking hands—those soft hands were hers, she thought with the slightest hint of a smile on her face—she touched the mushroom’s cap for just the tiniest hint of a second before pulling back. She inspected the index finger she’d touched the supposed chillshroom with. Didn’t seem like there was any immediate toxic reaction, so that was good. That didn’t rule out any other number of worst-case scenarios, of course, but it was a start.

Next, she carefully dug into the earth around one of the mushrooms and dug it out. The earth seemed drier than she was used to, which likely explained the tree’s dead look. She dusted off the dirt from the stem and held it up. Even looking at it from every angle, there didn’t seem to be any noticeable differences from the chillshrooms she’d been used to. But, of course, that didn’t mean it was the same in every aspect.

There was one thing Link could try to ascertain whether this was, indeed, a chillshroom. Taste it. As such, Link took out her knife from her bag and cut off a tiny slice from the cap. She hoped that even if this was poisonous, this dose would be low enough to not hurt her. Both her eyes were focusing on this one little piece of mushroom. This would either save her or potentially kill her. But she couldn’t afford to run around for much longer. Throwing caution to the wind, she threw the slice into her mouth and chewed it carefully. Her tension loosened when she tasted a familiar minty flavor. That was a chillshroom, although it tasted pretty awful, being raw and whatnot. She spat out the pieces onto the forest floor, not wanting to swallow them, just in case it did turn out to be a poisonous chillshroom variety.

So, she gathered a handful of mushrooms, sat down and carefully diced the caps into small pieces. Then she used her pestle to grind them into something approaching a thick paste. Ideally, she’d have added some other medical herbs to it, but at this moment she really couldn’t afford to waste any more time looking for potential plants that might not even exist in this realm. As such, she’d have to make the most of what she had. Chillshrooms or cool safflina were the most important ingredient in such a paste; the other parts would only help with decreasing the pain and making it heal faster. Of course, less pain would be an absolutely amazing thing right now, as Link began clutching her side more and more, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

The resulting cyan paste was still rather thick. Link wished she’d thought to fill up her one remaining bottle with water from the stream—not only would that thin the paste, but she was also feeling incredibly thirsty. The only things she’d drunk recently were the two potions, and those weren’t really meant for sating one’s thirst. But right now, she had a wound to treat. She put some of the paste onto her fingers and carefully applied it to the red area. In that moment, she was grateful that the ball of energy had burned an appropriately-shaped hole through her tunic in exactly the right spot. As soon as her fingers touched the wound, she flinched in pain. This was the first time she’d touched her wound, and she was glad she hadn’t done it before. This hurt like crazy and brought back the pain she’d felt when she’d first gotten this wound. Even so, she had to persevere. Through clenched teeth, she continued applying the paste all over the burned areas, both on her stomach and her back. The latter proved to be a lot more challenging, as the only way she had to locate her wound was the amount of pain she felt upon touching her skin.

After struggling with this whole procedure for her few minutes, her skin and her hands and her tunic were all sticky with chillshroom paste. Thankfully, the wound was already starting to hurt less. At least she hoped that this was the case, and this wasn’t just something her mind had conjured up because she’d thought things were going to be better now. She could only pray to the Goddesses that what she’d done would actually help her. Did the Goddesses even have any influence over the Dark World?

With a sigh, she sat down against a tree. No use worrying now. Either she was going to die, or she was going to live another day. With tired eyes, she looked up at the sky—or at least what she could see of it through the trees. Still dusk. Did the sun ever set in this place? She yawned. Even if it would’ve actually been midday right now, Link was still feeling incredibly tired, and leaning against the tree like this was actually rather comfortable. Maybe it was due to finally feeling comfortable in her own skin, maybe it was just the fact that she’d finally found a place to rest after this eventful day. In either case, sleep was looking like a really attractive option for her at the moment. She pulled her bag and sword close, used the bag as a makeshift pillow and soon dozed away.

* * *

Footsteps. Where was she? What time was it? After a few seconds, the memories returned. And all the while, the footsteps went on, each step crisp and clear to Link. She could feel her ears twitching in order to pick up the sounds. Step. Step. They were to her right. And they were getting closer. She got up as slowly as she could, trying not to make any noises. If Hyrule had taught her anything, it was that people you met out in the wilds could rarely be trusted. Step. Step. Still getting closer, although the person hadn’t picked up or slowed down their pace yet—hopefully that meant they hadn’t noticed her yet. Or maybe they’d noticed her long ago and were just heading towards her. She gulped as silently as she could. If this did come to a confrontation, her chances weren’t looking too good. After all, she’d lost some valuable equipment, and while she felt a lot more comfortable in her body, she didn’t know how well her muscle memory from her previous fighting style would carry over. Plus, the whole injury business. Step. Step. In the worst case, it might be possible for her to simply run away. But then again, maybe this foe was even faster than her.

Either way, Link was certain that she didn’t want to initiate any encounters in her current state. She snuck over to a huge tree and crouched down behind it, hoping to be able to get a decent look at this mystery person. Step. Step. They didn’t slow their approach, coming ever closer. Link couldn’t take the suspense anymore. Carefully, she stuck out part of her head over the edge in order to get a peek at them.

The first thing Link noticed when looking at this person was the huge horn atop their head—they looked to be roughly two heads taller than Link, and that was without considering the horn. It was dark blue, growing upwards before splitting into two ends, reminding her of beetles she used to watch with excitement back when she’d been a small child. All of the skin they had seemed to have that blue, shiny color. From their face to the four arms—huh—to their exposed midriff to their legs. They had quite the serious look to them, and Link felt like they should have had bags under their eyes, considering how tired they looked. They were wearing a white top that merely covered their chest (or chests? Link had no idea how four-arm anatomy worked) and red, puffy pants. Their legs and arms looked very defined, although Link couldn’t help but feel that her own legs were more impressive. But, then again, hers weren’t shiny, so who was really the winner there? It was a good thing they looked so strong, considering they were carrying a gigantic backpack that looked to be about as tall as Link herself. She was surprised it was even humanly possible to even stand while having that thing strapped to one’s back. Though perhaps carrying it on four shoulders had some effect in reducing the strain? Most importantly, however, they didn’t seem to be armed at the moment—all four of their hands were free. But there was a chance they had weapons at the ready in their backpack, and Link really didn’t want to find out how well she’d do against a four-armed opponent. That’d mean double the swords, and Link wanted anything but that.

While Link was pondering her possible strategy, the beetle person’s eyes wandered towards hers, and soon after the rest of their body followed, the backpack making this simple movement appear a lot grander than it really was. Instinctively, Link pulled her head back and retreated to the safety of having her back against the cool bark of the tree. She’d been careless. Her heart pounded against her chest and the muscles in her legs immediately tensed up; she was ready to bolt at the first sign of a threat.

To her surprise, instead of the metallic sound of a sword being drawn or the tense noise of a bowstring being pulled back, Link heard a hearty sigh. “Listen, if you wanna mug me, just show yourself and we can get this over with, alright? I’ve seen you now, y’know, no use playing stealth, little rabbit.” To Link, that did not sound like something that someone out for blood would say. In fact, it seemed like they were afraid of the very same things that Link was scared of. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Link decided that she might as well come out. Just in case things went south, she stayed on edge so she could get out of the situation if she needed to. She moved out from behind the tree, keeping her eyes focused on the backpack person. They still hadn’t drawn any weapons, so that was good. She just had to seem nonthreatening. She could do this. The beetle person crossed both pairs of arms. “So.” They looked intently at Link. “Are you after my stuff, or..?”

Link raised her arms in front of herself. “Oh, no, I was just sleeping here and I heard you approaching, and I got wary because I was scared I’d get attacked or something.”

The person made an expression that could’ve been described as “raising an eyebrow” if they had any eyebrows. “You slept out here? At this time?” Their gaze wandered to the hole in Link’s tunic and the wound behind it, dried mushroom paste over scarred skin. “In that condition?” They steadily approached Link and she seriously considered just getting out of this place right then and there, but thankfully they didn’t do anything but observe the circular wound. “Ouch, that looks nasty. What’s that weird stuff on it?” they asked as if talking down to a young child that had gotten dirt all over their finest clothes. Ouch. That felt quite judgmental, and Link could feel her ears lowering until they were resting on top of her head. 

“I… well… chillshrooms… th-the blue-capped mushrooms growing here, I—I heard that they helped with burns, and they were the only things I could find to treat this injury.” Link was feeling incredibly self-conscious in front of this being. It was almost comedic, she thought, how only yesterday or so she was talking down a megalomaniacal villain with all the confidence in the world, yet here she was growing anxious in a situation like this. That was probably because, unlike with Agahnim, Link actually felt like she should care what this person would think of them. They seemed like they had their stuff together, and the last thing Link wanted was for them to think she was an incompetent fool.

The beetle person skillfully ignored the rollercoaster of emotions that was plainly written on Link’s face and simply nodded as if that was an answer to anything Link was experiencing at the moment. “Yeah, makes sense; they’re a common application for surface-level burns. However…” They crouched down to get a better look at the injury. “…this seems to be on a level above most burns. This wasn’t from a Ku, right?” Link had never heard that word before, so she simply shook her head. For all she knew, Ku could be common knowledge in the dark world, and asking “What’s a Ku?” might be as ridiculous of a question as “What’s a tree?” would’ve been to her. She could only hope that “Ku” wasn’t actually the Dark World term for “energy ball summoned by an evil wizard”. The person sighed in relief. “Good, good, that would’ve been a mess to clean up.”

Without Link even getting the opportunity to say anything, they set down their big backpack, walked over to its other side and started rummaging through it. What in the world were they doing? “Hey, what’re you doing?” Link asked, hoping they could hear her through the noises they were making digging through their supplies.

“Just gimme a second… here we go!” They stepped out from behind their backpack, holding a glass bottle filled with some white substance. “You were on the right track,” they explained. “Chillshrooms do help with burns, but from what it looks like, yours go deeper than just the surface of your body.”

Link nodded anxiously. “Yeah, I, erm, the fireball actually passed through my whole abdomen.” She turned around, pointing a finger at the part of her back that was hurting the most. “It came out somewhere around here. It hurt a lot; if I hadn’t drunk a potion right afterwards, I probably would’ve passed out from the pain alone.”

The bug person gasped. “Goddess, that sounds horrible.” They looked down at the bottle. “I can only hope that this will do enough… it’s reinforced with oil so it should stick to the skin better and get absorbed more easily. Plus, there’s some general pain-reducing herbs in there, too.”

Link, naturally, was thankful for the offer, but was nonetheless suspicious that someone would offer them help so readily. Anyone she’d met on Hyrule Field or in a town would’ve no doubt taken advantage of her wounded state and slain her. And the Dark World was meant to be corrupted, so surely it’d be even worse? But then again, they did seem to know what they were talking about… “Erm, sorry if that’s rude, but… why are you doing this, Miss… Mister… sorry, I don’t think I got your name?”

The person seemed lost in thoughts for a few seconds before answering. “Oh yeah, sorry, it’s Bee. No Miss, especially no Mister, just Bee. And you?”

Anxiously, she scratched the back of her head. “Link. I think.” She was getting less and less sure of that fact as the hours went on, as she got more and more familiar with her body and how right it felt, as Hyrule turned from her reality into just another memory. It became hard to figure out which parts of who she was she actually wanted and which had been forced upon her. “Sorry, just, I’m going through some stuff right now,” she explained.

Thankfully, Bee just nodded at that. “Sure, just tell me if that ever changes. Should I refer to you with ‘she’, or?”

That was a no-brainer to Link. Being referred to as a guy again… it made her shudder in agony. “Yeah, she, please. If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that.”

They gave her two thumbs-ups with their left hands. An unusual sight for Link, but charming nonetheless. “But yeah, back to your question. I’m a traveling salesperson.” They saw Link’s suspicious glare and immediately waved their hands in front of them in a disarming manner. “Oh no, no, don’t worry, I’m not gonna extort you over this. The way I see it, helping you with this ointment is the right thing to do, especially considering it’s not very expensive. But, of course, if you do wanna buy something, I am right here. Better to maybe make some sales like this and spread goodwill rather than let you die, isn’t it?”

Link still couldn’t shake some inherent suspicion. She hadn’t had any decent experiences with shopkeepers back in Hyrule. They’d extort the last rupee out of someone in need whenever they could. In turn, this led to poverty in many parts of Hyrule, specifically the more remote regions, which then led to fewer sales for everyone involved because people couldn’t afford anything. As such, Link couldn’t really say that Bee’s approach was flawed, assuming they’d been honest with her. Link gave an uneasy smile. “Sure, sounds good. I’ll be sure to take a look at what you’ve got on offer once you’re done. Thank you so much, I’m not used to this much kindness.” During that statement, her smile slowly turned wider and wider until Link began feeling a little silly doing something like this out in the wilderness for just one person. She’d never been one to smile too much.

Bee deflected the compliment. “Really, it’s nothing, just doing what I can to make this world more bearable, one injured bunny at a time, y’know?” That being said, Link felt like she could almost make out the slightest hint of a blush when they said that. Them blushing was impossible, of course, given their shiny, almost metallic skin, but everything about their expression made Link think that there should be a blush somewhere on their cheeks.

After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence, Bee finally made a move. “So I’m gonna go ahead and apply the ointment, alright? Could you clean off the old paste first?” Link nodded wordlessly and went to work scratching off the dried paste. It was as painful as ever, and she felt her wounds complain as soon as there was no cooling paste applied to them.

“Ungh, still hurts like crazy,” Link complained through clenched teeth. Normally, she would’ve likely downplayed the pain so as to keep up some image of being “manly” or whatever. Because expressing your pain was a bad thing to her former teachers, for whatever reason. “Should be mostly clean now, though, so you can go ahead. Thanks again, by the way.” She smiled up at them again. Goddesses, they were tall. Or maybe she’d gotten smaller? Likely a mix of both, she figured. Her clothes weren’t uncomfortably large, at the very least.

Bee nodded, rubbing the back of their head. “It’s nothing, really. But, er, I’m glad I can be of help.” As they opened the bottle of ointment, the uncomfortable silence returned once again. There were so many things Link would like to know, and Bee probably had the answers to most of these questions, but she really didn’t want to brand herself as an outsider. Plus, she really didn’t want Bee to think of her as ignorant or something. For once in her life, there was someone she genuinely wanted to impress, not someone she had to impress. “Alright, so, erm, I’m gonna start now,” Bee warned from behind her. She hadn’t even noticed that they had moved at all, much less into her blind spot. As a result of that surprise, she involuntarily jumped up, turning around in mid-air, now being face-to-face with Bee. Or, well, more like face-to-the-area-between-two-chests with them. In either case, it turned the awkward silence into an awkward silence.

To the surprise of herself and everyone who’d known her back on Hyrule, Link was the one to break the ice. “Sorry, erm, you just kinda scared me a lot?” she mumbled before even realizing what it was that she’d said. “Not that you’re scary; it’s just, I didn’t even notice you move, and then when I heard your voice from behind me, I got just a little bit spooked? And I’ve gotten quite jumpy; must be instincts or something. I’m sorry for making this awkward.”

Before Link could continue making a total fool of herself, Bee interrupted her with a giggle that on the one hand seemed uncharacteristic for someone their size, yet on the other hand fit them perfectly. Link felt like she’d uncovered a whole new side of them. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just, that was really cute, y’know? It’s all good, no need to worry.” With a smirk, they added, “Just to warn you, I’m gonna go around to your back again, alright?” Link nodded. On the one hand, she was a little sad that Bee had been treating her so… softly? She’d been the strongest in her class; she was supposed to be stalwart and not get freaked out by someone merely walking behind her back. On the other hand, it felt like Bee, who almost certainly would’ve been branded a monster back in Hyrule, was treating her like a human. Something she hadn’t been used to for most of her life, yet something that felt incredibly refreshing now that someone had shown her that level of… respect? Something like that. Link had been taught that respect could only be gotten by fear, and yet this situation went against all that she’d learned. It was probably for the best to throw away all of that “wisdom” that had been drummed into her head.

“Hey,” Bee whispered suddenly from behind her, and it took all of Link’s willpower to not repeat what she’d done a few seconds ago. She did stay grounded this time, although she still froze up in shock nonetheless. A small giggle from behind her. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll get started now, alright?” When Bee’s fingers touched the wound, a jolt went through Link’s body. Of course, part of it was a zap of pain from the injury. However, Link also couldn’t deny that the sensation of Bee’s fingers on her skin contributed to that feeling. They were slightly cool, and they felt firm, yet also incredibly smooth on her skin. She chose to ignore that feeling. This was purely something Bee was doing because they were a good person, she reasoned, blissfully ignoring the fact that she’d been shown to be perfectly capable of applying the paste on herself and as such didn’t really need their help.

After Bee had finished Link’s back, she immediately relaxed, the built-up tension leaving her body. Of course, that didn’t last long, because right afterwards they asked Link to raise her arms so they could apply the ointment to the impact wound. The same sensation rushed through Link’s body, and once again she had to remind herself that this meant nothing. After what had frankly been way too little time, Bee finished applying the ointment, recorked the bottle and left Link to her own thoughts while they sorted it back into their backpack.

With the pain once again quelled, Link finally realized all the smaller things she’d failed to notice before. For instance, her chest felt incredibly sore. The culprit for that was likely all the running she’d been doing—she’d felt some aches there occasionally, but had swiftly phased them out in favor of the pain in her abdomen. Also, she was, in fact, still extremely tired. She must not have slept for too long before Bee’s footsteps had woken her up, and after some time of being awake purely from tension and pain, the drowsiness now returned in full force.

“Hey, Bee,” she addressed the salesperson who was currently rummaging through their backpack. “Thank you so much for your support, but I think I gotta head to sleep now. I…” She yawned. “I feel like I’m about to fall over in the next two minutes or something, so I’m really in no state to do any responsible business. I’d probably buy a year’s supplies of pillows or something in a heartbeat as I am right now. Actually, Goddesses, that is sounding rather tempting right now.” She shook her head. “You see what I mean? I’m a danger to myself.” She could hear that wonderful giggle from behind the backpack again, and this time Link couldn’t help but join in.

“Y’know, I was thinking of resting soon, too, so I might as well join you,” Bee explained, smiling down at Link, who was having trouble keeping her eyelids from falling down and sending her away to the sweet oblivion of dreams. Link once again set her bag against a tree and sat against it, looking up at the still-dusky sky. She wondered if the sun was going to set anytime soon. She heard some rustling closeby, and there she saw Bee, currently trying to somehow prop their gigantic backpack up against a nearby tree in a way that’d make a halfway decent pillow. They eventually settled for just resting their head against the very edge of their backpack, pulling out a thick piece of fur from it and covering their body with it. “You want one, too?” they asked, and after Link nodded affirmatively, they grabbed another one, bunched it up into a ball and threw it at Link with pinpoint precision. So precise, in fact, that Link, drunk from tiredness, didn’t manage to catch it, leading to the soft projectile landing right in her face. While Link grumbled a bit about it initially (largely being peeved at her own incompetence), she soon joined in with Bee’s harmonious laughter.

So there she was, falling asleep in a foreign forest, in a foreign realm. In a body that should by all means be foreign, yet felt familiar. With a person that should by all means be a stranger, yet felt like a friend. While she drifted off to sleep, she realized that that day was likely the most she’d talked in… months. A year, even. For just a second, she wondered what had happened to the “silent boy” of her youth, the “man of few words” she’d become known as later. But she quickly discarded those thoughts. For all she cared, neither had ever existed. They’d been personas projected onto her by others. Now that she could actually stand her voice, it was obvious that she’d also talk more. Plus, having talked to Bee had only helped with that. She was glad they were the first person she’d met here. With a smile on her lips, Link fell asleep.