As Link sliced the straw dummy placed in front of him, Alvar couldn't help but admire his son's exceptional skill. Even though Link was only six, he was extremely talented. He could make a fair match with almost any Hylian soldier when it came to swordplay. He could shoot arrows with younger Rito archers, swim with the Zora children and even beat many of Alvar's soldiers in sword sparring matches. Even though he loved eating and could come off as lazy at times, especially around spring cleaning time, he was very agile and fast.

When Link finished unleashing his combination of attacks with his wooden sword to the chest of the straw dummy, he smiled and turned around to his father hoping for his approval. Alvar proudly nodded. Everyday Alvar trained with Link, and it was a part of the day they both always looked forward to.

"How was that dad? Did I do better?" Link asked excitedly.

"Much better Link! You're improving with each passing day!" Alvar praised. He then got into a fighting stance and continued, "Now this time here is the combination you will execute. Lunge for the chest, Right Side Slash, Left Side Slash, Parry, then finish with a backflip. "

Link nodded then stepped toward the dummy, his blue eyes sparkled with determination. Link completed the combination with his small sword almost perfectly. Within a few seconds and with a few 'hyas' he stepped back and turned around to look at his father, once again hoping for affirmation of his success, "Ok, how did I do that time?"

"Almost perfect. If you keep this up, you'll steal my job in a matter of weeks."

Link giggled at the thought of having his father's job. An amusing thought, to say in the least. Alvar smiled back.

"Your mother sure is taking forever to finish making that soup. We've been practicing for 40 minutes. I knew she wasn't capable," Alvar teased.

"You know I can hear you right?"

Link and Alvar's chuckling came to a halt as they spun around to face the window. There they saw Zarya's grinning face peeking through the window.

"The window is open, genius. And speaking of, the soup is ready, so come inside when you find a good stopping place and wash up," she removed her head from the window and continued to finish setting the table.

Alvar was just about to tell Link to get ready for dinner, but as soon as he turned around, Link was already excitedly running to the door of the house. Alvar sighed and proceeded to pick up the training dummy and put it back next to the stable where it belonged. After he leaned the dummy against the stable wall, he decided he might as well take care of the horses for the night while he was there. 

Walking back to the house after finishing with the horses, he heard Zarya exclaim exaggeratedly in that tone one uses when 'they clearly want to be heard by someone specific but doesn't want to say it to their face' voice, "Din's fire Link, your father is sure taking forever to finish putting away that training dummy. We've been waiting for 15 minutes. I Just knew he wasn't capable."

As Alvar listened to the giggling from the kitchen he rolled his eyes playfully, and as he walked into the kitchen he tried to defend himself, " Well excuse me, I was taking care of Shadow and Milkshake for the night. That's why I took longer."

Zarya tried to suppress her giggle as she said mindlessly, "Well quit horsing around, it's time for dinner." 

No sooner had the words left her mouth she quickly covered it and her face held the expression of a child caught accidentally swearing.

Alvar spun around and pointed at Zarya, "Ha! You said a pun! After 14 years I've known you! Finally!" 

His proud smile turned into helpless laughter. Zarya's face was redder than the tomatoes she put in her soup.

"The expression 'horsing around' is such a common expression! It's just a coincidence!" Zarya insisted, but she knew she already lost and defending herself was a hopeless cause.

"Coincidence? I think not!" Alvar managed to say through his hearty laughter. Link simply sat there at the table watching the whole scene playing out. He chuckled at his parents, who even though they were so high in rank at the Hyrule Castle, they still acted like children at times.

Zarya fake pouted and slouched in her chair, "You're just a bad influence," she muttered, but she failed miserably in trying to hide her soft laughter.

Alvar composed himself and sat down with his bowl of soup so finally the small family could eat. The rest of dinner mostly consisted of small talk, asking each other of their day, Link making a different vegetable pun every time he found a different vegetable in his soup, Alvar joining him, Zarya wanting to slam her head against the table, the way things usually went at their dinner table. 

The most memorable was probably when Alvar suddenly exclaimed, "There's a leek in my bowl!"

 Zarya actually got up to inspect the bowl already holding a napkin to help clean up, but when she realized her mistake it was too late. This time she punched Alvar harder on the shoulder then before.

"That's what you get for making me stand up and having to walk all the way to your chair."

After dinner they cleared the table and settled in the living room of the house for the evening. They actually had two houses. The one they were in now, and one in Hateno Village. They had to purchase a house near Hyrule Castle for Alvar and Zarya's jobs. If the family ever had any breaks or vacation time they would spend it at their house in Hateno or even with their dear friends in Kakariko Village. But with constant talk of the possible return of Calamity Ganon, and the ever present threat of the Yiga Clan, who had been growing more and more active as the months passed, they hardly had any time to do so.

The Yiga Clan terrorized all races alike, but especially the Hylians and Sheikah, under the command of Master Kogha. Alvar was one of their biggest targets, next to the royal family of Hyrule themselves. Some even debated that Alvar was the main reason that the royal family of Hyrule wasn't dead yet. Many Yiga footmen had fallen under Alvar's steel blade, and many attempts at the lives of the King, Queen, and even their daughter Zelda made by Master Kogha himself were stopped due to Alvar's heroics.

Now with all of this service to Hyrule, one would think that Alvar and his family would be loved by all, but one would think wrong. With fame, talent, and position, also comes jealousy and unreasonable hatred. Some of the soldiers, captains, trainers, and nobles of the Hylian force did not like Alvar either. Their jealousy for the handsome, talented beyond compare, and dear friend to King Rhoam Bosphoramus himself turned to hate. And to make things even worse, he was a knight with no banner, no noble family, as he was a peasant, a commoner. There was not a drop of royal blood in him. Everything him and his wife gained, they earned through their hard work and dedication.

But it was not all bad, they had made many dear friends as well. Alvar and Zarya had made many friends through their jobs, other than Rhoam and Zara. Zarya was very close to many of the other maids of the Queen and her daughter. Alvar was also great friends with many of his soldiers and captains. All of them also knew and loved Link. Some of the men would even spar with him, give him advice of the art of swordplay, and were kind sports while sparing, and even take the loss from the talented six year old kindly.

But their best friends were by far the Sheikah Couple Cato and Akilah. They were Sheikah inventors and researchers who had met through their work. They were both even put in charge of a few excavations of the old Sheikah technology being unearthed throughout Hyrule. Alvar and Cato knew each other through fighting. They met at a coliseum one night when Alvar was younger. He used to compete at the coliseum for money, and they actually faced each other in a competition, which Alvar won; very easily. But they still became great friends and it remained that way even after Cato left fighting for his position in Kakariko Village. 

Akilah and Zarya met each other through their travels. Zarya passed through Kakariko village on her way to Hyrule Castle trying to get a job there. When she passed through the village the first person she met was Akilah. And the two young girls wished each other luck as they went their separate ways, but they stayed in touch. And eventually the two pairs of best friends and lovers took turns being the Best Man and Maid of Honor at each other's weddings. Akilah and Cato had two little girls, the older one was ten, whom they named Impa and her younger sister of two years, Purah.

As Link continued to sharpen his wooden sword, his eyes started to get heavier and heavier. He started to nod off but when his head tilted too far he'd snap awake and try to shake the sleep out of his eyes. It did not go unnoticed however. After Link yawned one too many times he finally gave in and started to snore softly, still clutching his makeshift weapon.

"Hey Alvar, he's finally asleep," Zarya smiled and remarked quietly so she wouldn't wake him up.

Alvar stood up and gently picked up Link and walked upstairs from the living room, and slowly placed his son's small body on the bed. He covered him with his blankets and made sure his head was on the pillow just right. When he was sure that his son was comfortable, he tiptoed back down the stairs to find that Zarya had resumed reading her book. He sat down right next to her so that their shoulders were right up against each other. She looked at him, smiled and placed her book down. She placed her tired head against his shoulder and Alvar softly moved the brown hair that fell in her face behind her Hylian pointed ears. Zarya placed her hands in his and sighed.

"I hate to ruin the moment but I just wanted to let you know that next weekend the Royal Family is traveling to Zora's Domain for three days and three nights. All of us will have to go," Alvar said softly, "Just wanted to give you the heads up."

"You completely ruined the moment. Could it not have waited for tomorrow?" Zarya playfully whined.

"I just wanted to tell you before I forgot, that's all."

"Mental note taken, thanks," Zarya yawned and slowly started to close her eyes. As her breathing got slower Alvar gently shook her back to being fully awake. Alvar found himself yawing as well, for they both were exhausted after a long week.

"Are you ready to go to bed Zarya?" Alvar asked.

"I woke up this morning ready to go to bed," she promptly replied.

Alvar chuckled softly and stood up and offered her his hand, "This way, milady."

Zarya took his hand as she playfully rolled her soft brown eyes. Then the two stumbled together over to their bed where they fell asleep with the intentions to prolong waking up as much as they could.