Prologue: Stirrings

Lightning flashed jagged streaks through the pouring rain, and thunder rolled across the plain of Hyrule Field to rattle against the windows of the castle. Queen Zelda Sophia Shanareli never rested well on nights like tonight. At times like this when it seemed as if the very weather was raging against the people of Hyrule, she felt almost as if the legendary Ganondorf's anger was being poured out from his prison on the world he had so often sought to conquer. After rising from her bed and pulling on a gauzy robe, she looked down thoughtfully at the three triangles that formed a golden mark on her right hand. Maybe she felt that way because she held this distant connection to that notorious figure: they both bore pieces of the Triforce. She lit a candle and exited her bedchamber, walking to stand by the large window in the sitting room of the royal suite. Her fingers wrapped around the soft blue velvet of the drapes and pulled them back so that she could gaze outside. However, the pouring rain blurred her vision by beating a staccato rhythm on the window. She set her single candle on a nearby table. It gave off a soft illumination that combated the darkness between flashes of lightning. The Queen rubbed the back of her hand thoughtfully. Somewhere among the people of Hyrule, perhaps another not so different from herself would be feeling the exact same way right now.

"Mommy!" The Queen's reflections were interrupted by a tense voice, and the door to her suite crashed open as the young princess Zelda Orianne ran into the room to be wrapped in her mother's waiting arms.

"Did the storm wake you, dear?" Zelda Sophia asked gently while stroking her daughter's golden hair soothingly.

"I had a bad dream…th-there were all these scary… c-creatures trying to get me…a-and a big scary man… t-tried to lock me away in a c-crystal." The nine-year-old sobbed into her mother.

The Queen's breath caught in her chest at the familiarity of the scene her daughter described, but she forced her voice to be even and soothing. "There, there. It was just a dream dear…nothing will hurt you. I will not let anything happen to you." She clutched the young princess close and let her cry. It was times like this when she most missed her husband. It was such a tragedy that the accident at the old hidden village had claimed the King's life so early in their reign. And it was even more frustrating that in spite of everything the search for a trace of what had happened to the Sheikah had borne no fruit. History was important, but the present was what mattered most to Queen Zelda and she would spend no more of her time looking backward. The present and the future for the young lady in her arms – these were truly central in her mind.

"Come, why don't you sleep with me tonight?" The child nodded her agreement after rubbing her eyes. The Queen took her by the hand, led her into the bedchamber, and wrapped the young princess in silken coverings. She then settled beside her daughter, cradling the girl against her side.

"Mommy, tell me a story about the Hero." The intense sapphire eyes of the younger Zelda met the blue-gray eyes of her mother pleadingly.

The elder Zelda laughed softly, a soothing sound that was in stark contrast to the thundering of the storm outside. "I would think you would have all the stories about the Hero memorized by now! You must have heard them from me a thousand times!"

"But I wanna hear again!" A smile played at the corners of the young girl's mouth now that she felt safe in the arms of her mother. Her eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief.

"All right then." The Queen smiled lovingly down at her little princess. "Let me think… the adventure of the Hero once began on a night very much like this one. A great storm had come upon Hyrule, but it was different from this storm, for it foreshadowed dangerous happenings in the realm. The Hero was awakened by the thunder and by his uncle leaving for a very important mission at Hyrule castle. He was told to stay inside on such a night, but the Hero knew deep in his heart that he would be needed, and his courage never wavered as he stepped out into the wind and rain…"

There was probably no one in Hyrule who loved to hear about the Hero more than Princess Zelda Orianne. Even though she knew the story her mother told by heart, she listened with wide eyes as if she were hearing it for the very first time. Even the Queen was caught by her enthusiasm and did not pause for hardly a moment in telling the story of the Hero's venture into the Dark World to save the trapped maidens and the Princess Zelda. It was as if the tale just flowed out of her, and both she and her daughter were caught in the current and swept along until the calm after Ganon's defeat by the Hero wielding the Master Sword with the blessing of the Sages. It was well into the dark hours before dawn by the time the two Zeldas were released from the telling of the legend.

"Mommy, why doesn't Princess Zelda ever marry the Hero?" Bright blue eyes gaze intently at her mother's face for a hint of the answer to her question. "Doesn't she love him?"

Queen Zelda Sophia's eyes were distant, not looking directly at her daughter as she spoke thoughtfully. "I think that the Princess can hardly help loving the Hero, darling."

"Then why doesn't she marry him?"

The elder Zelda closed her eyes. "She cannot."

"But why? Does he not love her?"

"Perhaps sometimes he loves another. But I do not think that is usually the case either. Or even if he does care for another, he will still care for the Princess. The Princess and the Hero are always connected, a part of their hearts is always reserved for the other."

"Then why don't they ever live happily ever after? All the other stories' princesses live happily ever after."

"Unfortunately things are not always so simple. The Hero is not meant to be weighed down by his love for the Princess, but motivated by it. If that were so he could not protect Hyrule. He would have trouble being both King of Hyrule and Hero." The Queen shook her head when she saw that her daughter simply was not budging on her belief that the two figures should be together. "You will understand when you are older."

The little princess made a face and settled against the pillows with annoyance. "If I were the Princess in the legends, I would marry the Hero."

Her mother smiled, "If you were the Princess in the legends you would also have to face much evil. So I, as your mother, hope you never find out what you would be as the Princess of Legend." She settled down and wrapped arms around her daughter. "Time for both of us to sleep. We have gotten far too little rest as it is."

"But I'm not sleepy." The young girl protested around a yawn.

"Yes you are. Sleep and dream of your Hero, my dear one" The Queen softly sang the Royal Family's lullaby, relaxing them both and soothing them into contented rest.

Author's Notes:

Okay so, surprisingly (for me at least) I'm trying my hand at writing again, and I'm using a concept that has been going around in my head for a bit. I've always said that if I could combine aspects of Ocarina of Time, A Link to the Past, and Twilight Princess, that would be my favorite Legend of Zelda game. So I'm trying to achieve that Zelda world in this story. So a lot of this is going to be original characters that are based in my version of the Zelda Universe. I don't intend to restrict myself to the above games, however, but will simply include my favorite, story-appropriate elements from the Zelda games I've played. Of course characters from the actual games will appear (eventually.) That will be part of the time travel aspect of this fic. This segment is, of course, merely a teaser, the main part of the story will follow the older Zelda Orianne's adventures.

On Names: I know I gave the Royal family a different name; (I just didn't feel like calling them 'Hyrule' or 'Harkinian' which were the only last names I could find for the King or Zelda.) But thought was put in to choosing it! It's a combination of two Hebrew names that mean "red" and "lion;" I stole it from the King of Hyrule's title in Wind Waker "King of the Red Lions." I think it's snazzy, you can think whatever you want. I gave the Zeldas middle names because I thought there must be some way to distinguish the two when a mother and daughter are actually alive at the same time. 'Sohpia' means 'wisdom' and 'Orianne' means 'gold.' I thought it was appropriate.