A/N: Like I said. I'm going for shorter chapters and more frequent updates. I just wrote this 1.5k word chapter in the last few hours, so enjoy the new reading material! :D Not much happens, but the next update should be fairly quick too!

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Link startled awake in the late afternoon. At some point of resting beneath the sunlight, she must've fallen asleep. With a wide yawn and a tentative stretch—she still half-expected her scars to hurt, but they were only unpleasantly tight—she hauled herself to her feet and glanced about. That old man was still sitting by the fire pit. Was he... waiting for someone?

With a somewhat self conscious motion, she ran her fingers through her hair. It was longer than it'd been before—something she had every intention of rectifying the moment she found a knife—and quite hopelessly tangled. She eyed the frayed edges of her scavenged shirt and carefully broke off a strand, using the material to tie back her hair. It wasn't perfect, but it'd do for now.

Feeling still quite shabby but deciding it was enough considering the fact that she'd been asleep for a hundred years, she made her way down the dirt path towards the man and his fire. He didn't acknowledge her presence until she sat on the log across from him.

"Baked Apple?" He held it out towards her, finally lifting his gaze. Both of them froze when they saw the other. "It... cannot be... Zelda?"

"Father?" Her voice was hardly a whisper. Her mind whirred with thousands of questions. It'd been a century! How could her father possibly be alive?! And why was he dressed like...

The apple fell to the ground with a heavy thump. "Is it... truly you, my daughter?" His hands trembled as he reached out towards her, only to pull his hand away. She didn't want to admit how much that action hurt her.

"I... I'm sorry." She looked down, the shoddy tie finally coming undone causing her hair to fall around her like a curtain and hide her face from his sight. "I failed you. Our kingdom. Everything. It's... all my fault. Because I couldn't awaken my power..." Something wet hit her hand and it was only then that she realized she was crying. "I'm sorry."

"No. I am sorry." Rhoam let his hood fall. He looked just as she remembered him, but she hadn't seen him make such a heartbroken expression since her mother died. "I was afraid. I pushed you because I was scared. But I was wrong to do so. My daughter, I do not care about the kingdom. I care about you. But I was blinded by my fear, and because of that I not only ruined your childhood, but I stole your life. This is not your fault. It is mine."

She slowly raised her gaze, eyes widening as she ascertained the honesty in his words. "But..."

"You were always enough. And no matter what, I was so proud of you. You... are just like your mother." He gave a soft, nostalgic chuckle. "Always questioning things, researching ancient technology... why, I recall that the day we met she was covered in oil and grease. Took me months before I realized she was the princess..." He gave a heavy sigh. "But I digress... I have gotten off-task."

Zeld—Link, she was Link now—would admit that she was sorely disappointed that he cut himself off. He'd been very tight-lipped about her mother since her death. Most of the stories she'd heard of her mother had come from the maids and knights rather than her own father. He'd taken her death rather hard. But he was right, now was not the time for such topics.

"When we realized that reaching the castle was hopeless, Link and I... he tried to get me to Hateno. But there were far too many Guardians on the way. He was getting badly injured and I ordered him to return to the castle without me—to fight Calamity Ganon while I held the Guardians off." She ignored the sharp intake of breath from her father. "I died. I believe Impa and Purah brought me to the Shrine of Resurrection."

"You have been asleep for a century." Rhoam confirmed softly.

"I know. Link told me as such." She took a deep breath. "He... spoke to me briefly. Said that he could only hold the Calamity back and asked me to become the hero in his place. To take his name and all that came with it."

"But... you are—"

"Link." She cut him off at once with a hard tone—daring him to refute her. "My name is Link."

"But the sealing power..." Rhoam winced at his own words.

"Is no longer necessary." She felt something hot run through her veins. A determination that she'd never held before. Link tucked her hair behind her left ear, showing off her new scars in the firelight. "For thousands of years, the princess has been a bystander in this mess. A damsel for the hero to protect or save. That is not me. I no longer care what the will of the goddess is, I will make a destiny for myself. And if Hylia has a problem with that then she can kiss my royal arse because I no longer give a damn."

Her father stared at her as if he'd never seen her before. There was a hush that fell between them as he reanalyzed everything he thought he knew about her. "If that is the case, then I will aid you where I can." He decided.

"You aren't going to try to force me to unlock this power?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"My mistake a hundred years ago was losing faith in my daughter." He gave a heavy sigh. "I cannot make that right, but at least let this old man become a better person. If you choose to walk the hero's path, then I will do all I can to aid you. Though I fear my time is short."

Link felt her brows pull together. "Time... speaking of, how are you...?"

"You cannot tell?" Rhoam gave a somewhat hollow laugh as he held a hand out towards her. Link went to grasp it only for her hand to pass through. "I have been a ghost for a hundred years. I assumed Link—your knight, that is—was the one who was placed in the shrine. I was going to guide him when he awakened should he need it. Now I will instead guide you."

Something ugly stirred in her chest. A hot pain sharper than a blade that bit into her very soul, leaving her breathless with the same grief that she felt in the wake of her mother's passing. She may have been angry with her father for all he had done, but she had never stopped loving him. She'd never forgotten the man that'd played with her in mudpits when she was little, hiding gears and bones in the sands of the Gerudo Desert for her to excitedly find while her mother worked. The man who once had gone Rito Gliding with her despite his fear of heights. He had always loved her.

But once the signs of Calamity Ganon's awakening became irrevocably clear, he had changed. He had become so afraid of what might happen that he had pushed her past her breaking point and never even noticed.

But the smile... this smile he was giving her right now was one she remembered quite clearly. It was the man that she hadn't called father, but dad.

"I..." Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Come now, my daughter." He made a motion as if to wipe her tears from her eyes, but halted himself when he recalled that he could no longer touch her. "I think you will find my first task rather enjoyable." He pointed towards an outcropping of stones, and Link turned to stare in his indicated direction. "Why don't you explore a bit? You may yet find a use for that Sheikah Slate of yours. However you should exercise great caution—the monsters have grown stronger during your slumber. I'll be around if you need me."

When she turned around, he was gone. Though she knew he was still around, she couldn't help but feel terribly lonely. She grabbed one of the baked apples and stared at it for a long moment.

"I suppose I should have a bite." She mused. "I haven't eaten in a hundred years." A wry smile formed on her lips.

It was sweet. Incredibly so. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she'd finished her third baked apple. She leaned back against the stone behind her for a moment, and a flash of blue drew her eye towards the Slate.

"What on earth...?" She pulled it from her belt and stared at it. There, on the screen, was a little picture of a baked apple. "No way... you must be joking!"

She quickly tapped the image, causing tendrils of blue to burst forth from the Slate and reform into the shape of a baked apple. She barely caught it before it smacked back on the screen.

The Slate could store things?! How did that work?! Where did the mass go?! It hadn't felt heavier than before!

She turned towards the apple tree behind her. "I think it's time for a little experiment." It was the first grin she'd given since she'd awoken, and she had the distinct feeling it wasn't going to be her last.