A Newfound Power

A Newfound Power is the sixteenth chapter of My Inner Life. In this chapter, Jenna describes her experience in the Water Temple to Ruto and Zelda, with the latter helping Jenna train her powers and letting Jenna know that she might be (read: definitely is) descended from an ancient race of magic-users called Silverlites.

Summary
Link and Jenna emerge from the Water Temple to find that the snow storm had stopped after Dark Link's defeat. They cling to each other as they make their way over to their horses that miraculously didn't freeze to death in the however-long period of time Link and Jenna have been inside the temple. The horses are 'gnaw[ing]' on grass (as if they are rodents) that pushed up through the snow. Link helps Jenna onto her horse. Link then reveals that LQ lobotomized him as it seems the entire time they were in the temple, he didn't remove his iron boots at all. As you likely know, the iron boots make Link clomp around quite slowly unless he is underwater, which massively inhibits him in combat, so it makes no sense that he didn't remove them. He rebuckles his sword on his back, mounts his horse, and then gives Jenna back her weapons (which he was holding onto). They boot their poor horses in the legs once more and finally head home.

When they head home and have 'ushered' their horses to the stable, they find Ruto sitting by the fire with Link Jr. She spots them and is in shock at their beat-up state. When Ruto asks what happened, Jenna 'darkly' replies "We got the shit beat out of us." LQ then has Ruto question who beat them up (despite it being incredibly obvious) by repeating the statement, "shit" included, and thus destroying the readers' innocence once more by having a prim-and-proper character swear. Jenna warns Ruto that it's a long story, but she is more than eager to listen.

Once Jenna has told the story (which isn't recapped in-text, unlike when Link did that in the Water Temple and bored the readers to tears), Ruto is surprised at Jenna's control over the elements. Jenna states that she has no memory of the incidents, but according to Link, she destroyed Dark Link 'inside a Hugh energy ball.' Ruto theorizes that the powers could have been 'dormant until now', and Link '[takes] a sip of his honey tea' and guesses that it could have been activated by anger. Ruto then agrees with Jenna's suggestion that the latter and Link visit Zelda the next day, Link's eyes seeming to 'glow with anticipation' which somehow allows Jenna to briefly read his mind. Jenna then eyes Link over (come on, Ruto's right there!) and expresses her wish to clean up. She shows minimal hospitality and allows Ruto to sleep there for the night instead of turning her out into the cold. Ruto, as a Sue groupie, treats this act of basic decency as a great and wonderful kindness, as if she was worried that she'd be sent out to freeze to death. Jenna reassures Ruto that the fairies will be at the latter's beck and call, even though the OoT fairies aren't seen to be able to manipulate physical objects. After Jenna hands Ruto pillows and a blanket, Jenna and Link go upstairs to bathe, with Jenna literally saying "Yawn" instead of yawning. While the water 'swells', Jenna becomes pensive and worries about being able to control her powers to create fake tension. Once the water is ready, they get in and Jenna goes over to her Big Strong Man to feel ~secure and protected~ as they bathe. Jenna then notes that the events haunted her dreams and she lost sleep over it.

When Jenna wakes up, she goes over to Link Jr.'s crib and gets all emotional over the possibility that she could have died in the Water Temple and coos over the fact that she loves the spawn. She then goes over to Link and wakes him up by kissing him, and then kissing again when she suggests they go to the castle soon. Link gets out of bed and dresses his bandages, even though we never hear about him actually fighting Dark Link or about Dark Link injuring him, only Jenna. Meanwhile, Jenna goes downstairs to prepare breakfast like the housewife she is, and to check on Ruto. She notices Ruto's 'sleeping form' in front of the fire, and then wakes the fairies up, who verify that Ruto slept fine other than needing water to wet her body. Ruto then wakes up by opening her sky blue (no, LQ, they're purple) eyes. She asks about how Jenna is doing and then suggests that they head to the castle soon. Jenna worries about Ruto still being 'weak' but Ruto states she can manage just fine, and the two then hug.

After breakfast, Jenna and Link saddle up and head to the castle, with Ruto using the underwater tunnel to make her way back home. Jenna secures Link Jr. in his 'portable carrier' instead of using a pouch to carry him on her back like what actually happens when babies are on horses. She and Link head off, and she notes "wow, there's still snow everywhere!" She gets nervous and urges her horse to move faster. The drawbridge lowers and they cross it, while rather redundantly, the sound of their horses' hooves '[makes] a clopping sound'.

They note all the activity in Hyrule Marketplace as they slow their horses, whose hooves again redundantly have the sound making a sound. They find Perrino from The Beginning on duty and exchange a couple of lines with him. They are let through, where they head to the castle's main gate. The guards summon Zelda instead of having them inform her of the couple's arrival and then Zelda doing the summoning like an actual royal figure would, and she is in shock about them having travelled all the way to Hyrule Castle in the cold. Jenna informs Zelda that they have something important to tell her. Zelda summons some stable hands to lead the horses to the stable and then invites Link and Jenna inside.

Once they reach the study, Zelda orders refreshments and warm blankets for them, and then questions what event was important enough for them to bring their kid with them. Link explains that they had a 'very….ummm….disturbing encounter in the Water Temple yesterday'. Zelda, uncharacteristically, yells "WHAT" and then asks what they were doing there. Jenna does the "it's a long story" schtick, but Zelda agrees to listen.

Once they tell her, she becomes shocked and, just like a lady of good breeding such as a princess wouldn't, says "what the hell". Jenna assures Zelda she doesn't understand either, and then drops the infamous and disgustingly misogynistic (and inaccurate) line "That is why we are here, you being a sage, almost as powerful as Rauru, we thought you could help." (Other than turning into Kaepora Gaebora and giving Link the Light Medallion, Rauru does pretty much nothing for the entire game. Meanwhile, Zelda, as well as being the damn leader of the sages and a powerful magic user, does numerous things such as starting the plot against Ganondorf because she doesn't trust him like the King does; giving Link the Ocarina of Time; hiding as a Sheikah for seven years, and she even joins Link in the final battle to hold Ganon in place with her magic, while Link deals the finishing blow with the Master Sword.) Jenna expresses worry about being able to control her powers but a simple hand on the shoulder from Zelda makes her feel better (at least it's not Link this time). She and Link then talk telepathically, with Link assuring Jenna that he has full confidence in Zelda's abilities. They get all mushy out of nowhere and then break their connection. Zelda and the couple get up, wrap themselves in cloaks, and head to the garden and then have Impa care for the kid because apparently, Impa has nothing better to do.

Once they reach the garden, Zelda begins training Jenna by starting on the fire element (although no others are used in the story) and states that Jenna must establish a connection with the power. Jenna closes her eyes, clears her mind of all thoughts (can't have taken long, then) and enters the 'void'. She sees a flame in the void, and touches it, getting burned in the process. Zelda inquires about this and Jenna explains. Zelda states that Jenna felt something physically but didn't concentrate hard enough. Jenna tries again and concentrates even harder, this time managing not to get burned. She opens her eyes and realises that she is controlling her fire powers. She belts out "I did it!" like the tearful twit she is, and she giggles like a schoolgirl and plays with the fire. The flame flickers out and a smaller one appears in her palm. Zelda expresses concern for some reason, her eyes inexplicably 'graying'. Jenna then states she merely thought of a flame to do this. They chat about how amazing it is that Jenna has powers, and they wonder if she was born with the abilities but it just took something drastic to surface them. Zelda asks if any strange events (pre-dating the Dark Link fight) have happened to Jenna, who decides to bring up her dead parents. She mentions that her mother sang to make it rain and her father grew the best crops, though that doesn't make it sound like he was anything other than just a really good farmer. They theorise that the parents passed their abilities onto her and that she was born with her own powers.

Zelda brings up that there was once a race of magic users called "Silverlites" that were nearly wiped out by the Great War but were believed to be the "saviours", and thinks that Jenna may be descended from them. Zelda states that they should continue training, and then expresses amazement over Jenna being an elemental user, even though both she and Link are able to use fire magic in various games and thus she shouldn't be nearly as amazed or surprised by this. Zelda then states that Link truly has a special wife (in a line of dialogue that was probably written one-handed). Link makes out with Jenna as if Zelda isn't still there and then after the brief distraction, she becomes a giggly schoolgirl again and plays with the fire in her hands, stating she was now 'more then [she] had become' and that she was someone of great power and legend. The chapter ends on this absolutely Sue-ish paragraph:

It was later determined that I was a descended of the great Silverlite race. My powers were of the great elements. I was trained under Zelda and I became someone of great power. Now I'm one of Hyrule's most powerful protectors, here to help the "Hero of Time" my love, protect the land from evil. Under the training of the Sages, I became one of the Sacred Realm, the one chosen by the Goddesses to protect the Legendary Triforce