Chapter Text
It is during his wanderings that Link first realises the necessity of learning to use life on others. He is heading to Mido Town, in desperate need of a resupply. He has no potions left, and the fairies have all returned home to recharge.
The day is young, the sun is bright, and it almost seems that the world might heal despite everything it has suffered; he is no longer the only traveller he sees, sometimes passing brave merchants and farmers inching back out towards other towns, and the guardsmen protecting them as they journey.
Of course, fate is not so kind to any hero in this land.
A little way beyond town, just far enough to be beyond notice by the townsfolk, Link finds a trail of blood. Immediately he pulls his sword, and follows into the sand. Somehow, despite the wind and the dunes, the track is obvious; someone was dragged this way, and not very long ago.
Link picks up his pace to a run, swapping his sword for his bow and notching an arrow with years-worth of ease.
Around another few dunes he finds the source of the blood - an acheman dragging an elderly woman away, its claws burrow deep into her shoulders.
Before he is noticed Link shoots once, twice, three times; the creature drops its prisoner just in time to be killed by the sword. Once it begins to fade Link ignores it - hands immediately seeking the old lady on the floor.
With the claws no longer in the wounds, her blood spills everywhere. A potion would save her, but Link has none. She bleeds too fast for bandages, and the damage is too extensive for Link’s mediocre stitches to hold.
“Ma’am?” he asks, pressing against the wounds as he tries to think of something. He does not know how to continue, so he just repeats the word.
Ancient, terrified eyes turn to him, and the fear only grows when she realises who has come to her aid.
Link swallows the cruelty of that action - it's not her fault he is a harbinger of doom - and presses harder.
It’s too far for him to carry her to town, or to run and get help; she’ll have bled out before he gets there. No fairies live nearby, his first aid is not up to this…
Maybe…
He has never used healing magic on another, but he has heard legends of it being done in the past.
Link pulls his magic together, and casts the spell. He tries to weave it outwards. He tries and tries and tries, but it just… Will… Not… Go!
The scabs on Link’s arms and small burns on his feet heal up, but the old lady is still bleeding, her consciousness growing dim.
Link does not try again; he gathers her into his arms and, despite knowing it is too late, sprints towards Mido Town.
He arrives corpse in hand, and is thrown out before he can buy the potions that would have saved her.
The next time a starving wolf attacks him, Link does not kill it outright; he lames the beast, then tries again to twist his magic outward, using the less intense situation to keep his hands steady and mind calm.
It takes a few attempts but somehow, somehow it works.
And so Link cuts the beast again - just a little cut - and practices again. Then he repeats, and repeats, and repeats until his magic drains dry. He then thanks the wolf for its service, and puts the creature out of its misery.
Then Link finds another animal, and repeats the process all over again, until he can reliably heal the small cuts and burns and bruises on another being, and without wasting any power on himself.
Next time… Next time, he thinks, he will be ready.