-1Leaf, wave, fish and stone
Disclaimer: What can I say? I disclaim everything. EVERYTHING!
Zelda stared into the cool blue and let her mind wander.
The still water of the large white fountain in the palace courtyard reflected the evening twilight; blue fading into violet. Zelda sighed, gazing absently past the surface of the water, letting her regard rest somewhere between the calm, glassy plane on top and the cracked stone of the bottom. So seldom was she allowed time alone, let alone time to sit outside and think – more and more, she found herself spending these summer sunsets sitting on the wide, cool stone, watching the stars appear one by one in the fountain's mirrored surface.
"My friends," she thought, then smiled. "How is it that I feel so alone when people surround me, yet such peace when you come to join me?"
A soft breeze rustled through the trees, causing a single gingko leaf to fall from the tree above. Zelda paused in her thoughts, taking in the motion of the thin, flat leaf's twirling descent and watching it land on the water's surface, causing circular ripples to emanate from the familiar shape.
She studied the scene carefully, taking in the detail of the four scenes at once: the points of light from the sky reflected on the water's surface, the floating leaf, haloed by tiny, precise ripples of light, a single koi swimming lazily below, and the smooth stone base, its tiny cracks forming a mosaic pattern, like branches of an ancient tree. Her mind worked to remember every detail of the scene; color, depth, light, and motion – a memory in four dimensions. As the leaf finally settled to the bottom, her thoughts drifted back – a vision that had recently been coming to mind more and more.
The boy was riding his chestnut pony, her hooves a blur, leaving only a shadow behind them in the breeze. The sun shone not off but through his fair hair, which rippled behind him like the wheat of the fields he was riding by. In her vision, she could see herself, standing on top of a green hill, glowing with sunshine herself, watching the long shadows fly behind him and his mare as they galloped towards the castle. The sunlight seemed to soak all the way through her, but felt soft and gentle on her face, the last wisps of clouds from a rainy afternoon melting away in the golden sky.
"And where is he now?" she murmured to herself, a long finger idly trailing over the water's surface. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the horse and the rider. Was he sleeping alone in the bottom of some cold, dark dungeon, with only a thin, dirty tunic for comfort? Was he on a lonely boat, rocked by stormy seas, wet and ragged, winds tearing at his slight elven frame? Was he... was he even still... she shook her head, a light lock of hair tickling her neck as she tried to find his face in the mirrored pool. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, dropping into the water below, each causing concentric circles to ripple and cross, forming diamonds in the still water. There was no face reflected there, only stars.
"Link..." she called, her voice little more than a whisper. The leaves of the gingko tree began to quiver in the air, and so did Zelda's lower lip. "I promise, next time, I'll make it different. I... they wouldn't tell me, not until it was so late... I'd send an .. an army of men to their deaths before I'd let... I let them...let them send –" She stopped abruptly.
She had started to speak aloud what she was afraid to even let herself think during the daylight.
Realizing herself, she regained her composure quickly. She watched the ripples in the pool calm before thinking again. "The problem," she thought, "is this." Not daring even to speak its name, she deftly traced the Hylian character for "love" in the water's clear surface, her swiftness allowing the character to shine for a moment in the light of the slowly rising moon before settling back into the depth of the blue. She stayed silent for a moment, then smiled in the warmth of the summer air, gazing into her own reflection. Her own eyes looked back at her, surprising her with a glow of wisdom that she hardly felt. She flushed slightly in the growing moonlight, ashamed by their penetrating gaze.
"What's past is done," they seemed to say. "If.. no, when he returns, you can tell him then."
"Rest assured that I will," she thought back, and stood up to go, taking one last look at the full complement of stars visible on the fountain's surface.
"There seem to be more tonight," she mused softly, then turned to bid them farewell.
As she walked back to her room, her figure almost ethereal in the moonlight, the leaves of the gingko tree trembled slightly, and two extra points of light would have been clearly visible in the water's surface (had anyone but the koi been looking): two blue eyes, framed by a handsome, elvish face, blond hair turned silver by the moonlight, and just the slightest glint of gold.
Link sat up on his branch, leaning back against the trunk of the tree, put his ocarina to his lips, and played a lullaby into the empty darkness.