This Burden of Exhaustion
/Twilight, he found, was disconcertingly lovely.

Word Count: 532
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Kanthia wishes she could make a Link Mii.
Pairing: None.

Kanthia notes: Had this one sitting on the computer for ages. Well, what can you do.

Mild spoilers for early Twilight Princess.

x x x

He was…so tired.

He wasn't even sure if tired was the right word. He was long past being tired- he had stopped yawning and tearing in the corners of his eyes ages ago. This wasn't so much something he felt in his neck but an exhaustion- that's it, exhaustion- that he felt in his shoulders and chest.

Truth be told, he still couldn't fully comprehend why he was here. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was still Link the Ranch Hand who didn't understand how to connect with his lovely maiden Epona. Link the Farm Boy who let others speak for him and didn't know how to use a sword.

"You know," Midna once whispered, "Your people have a legend about a silly little fairy boy and your princess." He had been searching for Fused Shadows back then, a lifetime ago- "I've heard talk of it, anyways. 'When the King of Darkness comes, courage rises in the form of a still tongue'. Sounds like you, doesn't it?"

He had replied by wearily sipping the weak carrot and leek stew he had managed to concoct. His mouth longed for something more solid but all the meat he could afford was the fowl he had caught earlier- stringy and tough, hardly inviting at all. He found himself yearning for the odd stew he had shared in the Snowpeak Ruins. It was a rather strange combination of fish, cheese and pumpkin but a horribly sweet culling of home.

It showed on his body. He had grown ashamed of his naked chest; crisscrossed with scars punctuated by the occasional burn mark from fire and ice, bronzed by the sun but hollow and drawn across his tormented ribs. He had definitely lost too much weight since the day any semblance of a normal life was taken from him and he was given a legacy to uphold.

At the same time, not all of him had evaporated. He had lost the shaded bulk of a rancher and grown into the tunic given to him by blessed Faron- when he had first opened his eyes with it on, it had been tight around his arms and chest. Now that he had grown precious inches and lost half his weight it was loose everywhere but it felt more like a second skin than anything.

The Mayor had barbells in the shed out behind his house. Back when he was still Link the Goat Herder, he used to train with them every morning at sunrise- squats for stability, press-ups for power- he was longer, leaner all over with a swordsman's chest and arms.

Nothing without a price; he had spent the last eternity searching for letters born in the sky. He felt so exhausted that it bordered on feeling terminally ill, like the next time he went to sleep he would never wake up. There was a terrible pain in his chest from the crest of twilight and a weight on his shoulders from the burden of destiny.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle it.

"It was felt by all those who came before you," the wind whispered. "When you're born as courage…it brands you forever."