DISCLAIMER I do not own the Legend of Zelda, or any of the characters.
There are many legends in Hyrule, both old and new. Some of them are true, some of them are not, and some are prophecies that might happen, one day. Most of them, however, involve a certain young princess, a hero in green, and a dark man from the desert. These three have the power of the goddesses granted to them. But, how did this power come to be?
This is an old legend that I'm about to tell you. One that has been forgotten by time. It is the legend of a Queen named Zelda, the first queen to have that name.
It was a time of great sorrow for Hyrule . . .
"This is an epidemic, my queen." The castle's physician said in a rather calm voice, considering the circumstance. Then again, he had been up for nearly three days now with no sleep. Zelda shifted her weight on the throne, her golden hair falling over her shoulder, her worst fears were now realized. "The disease that has swept over the land started as a fever, but soon people started to die. Once that happened, it seemed the number of dead jumped. People are being infected from the corpses of their loved ones." Now the physician seemed slightly hopeless, his red eyes becoming moist with tears.
"Is there nothing we can do to stop this?" Zelda pleaded, her own vision starting to be blurred by tears. "Is there any way to stop the sickness from spreading? Any remedy whatsoever?"
"I'm afraid there is no cure. Nor is there any way to protect yourself other than staying away from anyone that has passed away. Such a thing is hard to do for our people, my Queen. Our own customs revolve around the treatment of our loved one's bodies. They are carefully taken care of, in most cases they are kept within the home for a day, at the least." The physician sighed, nervously running his fingers through his thinning gray hair. "Some people may listen to our words, and stop the custom. But, there is still the issue of finding where to put these corpses. Digging holes in the ground for each one would take to much effort from the few people who haven't been slightly effected by this illness. Burning them is so disrespectful to the dead that most families would refuse, even if it meant they themselves would fall ill and meet the same fate."
"So, Hyrule's love of family might end up destroying her." Zelda sighed, this situation was becoming more and more hopeless.
"Will the voice of reason be able to reach our poor citizens?" The King asked, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. A habit he had whenever he was in deep thought, or hopeless as he was now.
"I'm afraid not. All we can do now is hope for some outside force to interfere and end this disease." The old physician bowed, and walked out the great doors of the throne room.
"Is there no hope for us, for our country?" King Link sighed, taking off the green hat he was so fond of. His "forest garb" as he called it, one should never forget that all came from the earth, and forever is tied to it.
"My King, there is always hope. There must always be hope, because once hope has been lost, logic and wisdom are soon followed." Zelda started tracing a line of gold pattern on her dress. Anything to keep her mind off the suffering of her people.
"We must have the courage to face this illness, but how do we face something we do not see, something we can not grab?"
"This is Hyrule!" Zelda whispered, the tears now running down her face. "We are a land of vast size! Of vast races! If we humans can not figure out how to fight this, maybe the forest children can! The fairies! The people of the water, or the people of the rock! Someone has to know how to fight this, someone must know how to end the suffering." She felt defeated now, and glad that it was only her husband in this room with her. Only her husband that saw the Queen breaking down like this.
"Are you saying we should travel in your current condition?" He asked, worried about his wife.
"If the Queen and the King do not lead their people, how can they expect anyone to follow?" Zelda's voice was steadier now, determined. "At whatever danger it is to us, our people must see that we are doing something, however small, to help them." Zelda looked into her husbands eyes, and he knew there was no talking his wife out of it. The Queen of Hyrule was far to stubborn.
"We'll leave as soon as I get some of our knights together."
"No. We will leave in one hour, no knights. I will take my most trusted handmaiden along with me, but no other soldiers. They have to stay here and start digging graves. We have my skill as an archer, and your skill with a sword. My handmaiden, Impa, is also quite skilled with a knife." Zelda seemed to be growing more and more determined, "Get the three strongest and fastest horses in the stable, I will get the provisions and inform Impa of our plan. We will set out to the children of the forest in an hour." With that, Queen Zelda left the throne room to seek out her silver-haired handmaiden.
