Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve

Chapter 1- Piddle and Twiddle

The sun was in the middle of the sky, amidst a sea of deep, ocean blue. The residents of Castle Town were bustling about the square that day. In the center of the town fountain stood a tall statue, emblazoned with the image of the Triforce, and above it, a swordsman of such stature and courage, that his name alone sent ripples of awe and excitement through a crowd. The Master Sword gripped in his raised fist, and a shield of Hyrule strapped to his other arm.

Yes indeed, Link was a hero known for his tremendous deeds and worshipped because of them. Link knew that the townspeople were obnoxiously grateful to him for saving them from the terror Ganondorf had wrought upon their souls. Link didn't consider himself a hero; he claimed to have only done what was necessary, seeing as he, being the Chosen Hero of Time, was the only one who could.

But, that hadn't stopped the townspeople from doing him a "favor" by placing him in Zelda's Royal Advisory Board. Zelda had assured him that he would only be called in the most important cases, where his expertise in the art of war, travel, and other cultures would be needed. And an expert he was, after all, he'd been all over Hyrule multiple times cleansing Ganon's filth from the land.

It was considered one of the highest honors to be on Zelda's board of advisors.

"Goddesses, if this is an HONOR, then I tremble to think of what you would do to me when you're mad… why must you mock me?"

If there was one thing Link had learned during his past six months in the castle, it was that as long as you could act as if you were paying attention to some of the older advisors, then you could think about something completely irrelevant without them getting suspicious.

It was a relatively simple arrangement. Link had been called in to aid the Princess in finally settling a final peace agreement with the Gerudos of the eastern desert. Having dealt with them personally, the princess considered Link most worthy of being able to judge the terms fairly, apart from herself of course.

It was a simple task; at least he thought so at first…


"I thank you for coming, Link. I know it's a terrible inconvenience calling you away, especially so soon after your wedding… how if your wife, by the way?"

"A regrettable but necessary measure, I'm sure, your highness. She's doing fine; she was just a little miffed that I had to leave so soon."

Zelda chuckled and said, "I can't rightly blame her. I normally would've tried to spare you but the younger; more enthusiastic of my advisors insisted that we needed your input." Link nodded and they continued on in comfortable silence.

Before entering the main chambers for the conference, Zelda cast him a warm smile and said, "I promise you this will only take a week at the most. After that you are free to return home and never come back, if I have any say." Link laughed and together they pushed through the doors…


That, of course, was six months ago, to the day. Between the older, more worn torn veterans constantly getting into arguments with the Gerudo representatives, the younger advisors, and even themselves at times, and the fact that neither Zelda nor Link could seem to get a word in edgewise, progress had almost come to a screeching halt. Link looked at Zelda, who acknowledged himwith a side smile and a roll of the eyes. Link responded by chuckling angrily. His head snapped up when one of the elders said, "I knew this was an ill born idea! To be able to create peace with these people is impossible, your highness!"

Nabooru merely sighed and shook her head, being the only one keeping the Gerudos from shouting back. Zelda sternly glanced at the elder and growled, "You shall address your superiors by their proper names and titles, Yaro. Now sit or I shall have Sir Link remove you… in pieces, if necessary." Yaro scowled and sat.

Zelda sighed, "It is clear to me that perhaps a rethinking in peace terms is in order… again." She once again made ready to appoint another team to the task of writing up new terms. But she soon remembered that it never helped. Every team they had put together ended up divided in a rift of narrow minded idiocy.

"I didn't want this to be necessary, but it appears I have no choice…"

"The team for writing up the new treaty shall be comprised of myself, Nabooru, and Sir Link. We shall have it written by the end of this week, at which point this council WILL agree to a compromise, lest Nabooru and I need to assert more… authority. Is this satisfactory, Nabooru?"

The Gerudo laughed and said, "Your highness, that is the best idea I've heard this month. I agree to the terms." Link cleared his throat and tried to hide his weary frustration as he said, "I too agree…" With much grumbling from the elders and excited mutterings from the younger councilmen, the group disbanded, only Link and the two leaders staying behind. Link finally took the silence that came and said, "In all due respect, your highness, I cannot stay one minute longer. Even if my own knowledge could help, the council will not listen to me!"

Nabooru calmly said, "Link, we understand your frustration, we're feeling it too. All we can do know is plan out the wisest terms and quickly resolve whatever problems the elder councilmen would try to bring up."

"Nabooru, I have not seen my wife in six months! We were only married a month before I was called out to this travesty! I know it sounds selfish but I have done all I can so far to try and help these foolish old goats reach a compromise! I think maybe now of all times a little selfishness on my part could be excused."

Zelda nodded and said, "Well, perhaps we could ask you to do one more task for us. Link, I imagine that you, Nabooru, and I are all agreed on what we think the terms should be, correct?" Link and Nabooru nodded. "Then it is you who shall write the treaty."

Link suddenly grew very pale. "W-write the treaty!? There's no way I can write on the same level as…" Nabooru cleared her throat and recited clearly, "And so the peoples of this desert province are hereby resolved to fight with our last dying breaths, resigned to die free individuals instead of living as slaves to a maniacal tyrant of a chief. Link's address of the necessity of the Gerudo Resistance to fight Ganon. I have never heard a more inspiring speech in my life, good sir knight. You write ten times better than any of us here, second only to the princess."

"Then why doesn't Zelda write it?"

"Because you need to do something before this travesty of a conference drives you mad. I know it is a difficult task, and it is a lot to ask of you to do, having done so much for Hyrule already. But it is necessary to get the council to listen to sense. You know what our terms are; you merely have to write them in a way so as to appease as many people as possible without changing our goals. It's like sparring with swords Link, give a little ground, but not so much as to lose your footing."

And with that, Zelda and Nabooru both bowed to him and left for their quarters.

Link grumbled, silently cursing everything he could think of as he slammed the door to his quarters shut, flopping into the chair at his desk. He took the pen from his inkwell and after a moment of thought, began scribbling down a few lines. He paused in the middle of the fourth line, scowled, then crumpled up the paper into a ball and threw it aside. He got a fresh piece and scribbled another two lines before he crumpled it up and threw it away as well.

He sat staring at the next piece of paper for a second, and out of anger, crumpled it up and tossed it without even writing anything. He sat stewing in his anger for a second, then took his ocarina out from his desk drawer, playing a few notes before going into Epona's Song…