Author's Note: This is the first story I've written in a while, and I'm a bit rusty. It's likely to start slow in the first few chapters, but if you have comments, suggestions, or questions, feel free to comment or PM me. This is pretty obviously AU, but if its not clear, I make no profit nor claim any official characters or places (Link, Zelda, Gannondorf, Hyrule, etc), just my OCs.
Chapter One
A muffled yelp escaped from the closed door, having followed closely a surely painful crack of the sergeant's cane.
Link sighed. He had hoped that they would all get away with extra guard duty, and not a caning, but he couldn't convince himself that they didn't deserve it. Especially when Sergeant had caught them in the act of fighting, and they had ignored her order to stop. Well, he had ignored her order to stop. This was going to be bad, and not even the satisfaction of having blackened Kalmar's eye outweighed that.
His sense of unease settled even lower as the strokes passed the half-dozen mark, signaling that they were all headed for a full dozen.
"I was hoping she wouldn't be that angry..."
Link looked up at the other solider and shrugged.
"At least Sgt Ruggart wasn't the one who stumbled across us,' Julian continued, standing to pace, "Can you imagine having to face her after he'd worked us over and she had to hear it second-hand?"
"I'm not so sure that that circumstance is factoring into her think-"
Another yelp had escaped, followed by two sharp, quick stokes of the cane, another, more panicked yelp, and then silence. There had been a dozen, and Link felt very grateful that they had ended.
Link's stomach dropped another notch, and Julian stopped pacing, both staring at the heavy oaken door in dreaded anticipation. A few minutes of muffled talking passed, before the sorry-looking boy they were expecting opened the door and slowly stepped through, his eyes turned downward.
He was followed by Sergeant, who stood glaring at both Link and Julian until the doorway was cleared. Link quickly downward, not wanting to meet her remonstration yet. Or ever.
"Julian." She stated, gesturing inward.
Link glanced up as Julian straightened and marched to the door, passing the angry woman with reluctant haste.
"Good luck, mate." He said, as the door began to close.
"Luck will not avail any of you today." The stern voice rang out as the door slammed.
A chortle turned Link's ears a further red as he burned in shame. He turned to the man who had silently appeared from further down the castle hall.
"Uncle!" he said plaintively, before remembering his place and standing to attention, "I'm sorry, sir, I should not have been so informal!"
Goddesses! He was in so much trouble today!
"Don't worry about it, lad." the man waved Link's words aside, and sat across from him, nodding for him to do the same, "I've been your uncle much longer than I've been a superior. Besides, you appear to be in enough trouble at the moment."
Link nodded, staring uncomfortably at the floor, suspecting that his ears were still burning.
"It's just that you've been in Kakariko since before I joined the castle guard, and I haven't have a chance to adjust to calling you by your rank." He shuffled his feet against the stone floor.
"So, what's your grave misdeed?"
Link further lowered his head.
"You can't expect me to believe that you're about to get a caning for no reason," said the man, his voice tinged with humor, "I wager that the black eyes from the other boys and your split lip have something to do with it."
Link sighed, tensing as the first crack landed. No yelp, Julian was made of stern stuff, for all his nervous pacing.
"Kalmar, the guard who left a few minutes ago, is one of another section's guards, the Northern Wall, had been harassing one of our new trainees with some of the others. Julian and I tried to confront him while he was alone, and it..." Link shrugged, "It didn't end peacefully."
He'd argue that Kalmar had started it, but that simply wasn't true.
The half-dozen mark had passed, and Link listened in dread for the end. He both wished that he had but was grateful he hadn't gone first.
"Well," his uncle said, gazing up at the ceiling, hands laced behind his head, "I can't condone fighting, you and your fellow guards need to be able to work together and settle your differences calmly, regardless of your good intentions."
"Yes, sir." Link said, softly. He knew that, he truly did.
"It'll be over soon, and I expect that it'll do you some good."
"Yes, sir." He wasn't so sure that he agreed.
The strokes had stopped. They waited, Link in tense silence, his uncle staring at the ceiling.
"You won't tell my father?" Link asked.
"You know he's bound to find out."
"Yes."
"It won't be from me."
"Thank you."
The door opened, Link stood hastily, his stomach lurching from both the nerves and the sudden movement. Julian's eyes were reddened, but he kept his gaze steady, looking past Link as he slowly walked away.
"Commander, is there something you need?" Sergeant's stern voice didn't soften, but the tone was professional, as if the woman weren't angry at all. She was good at adapting to any situation, Link greatly admired that.
"I do, but I believe it can wait until your business with this young man is concluded."
Neither gratefulness nor annoyance at the lack of further delay gripped Link, but rather the leaps of his stomach.
"Very well, sir." She turned to Link, her glare returning, "Get in."
"Yes, ma'am." Link said, his words thick. He slid past Sergeant, making very sure not to brush her as he entered the room.
He stood at attention before her desk, trying very hard to ignore the cane that lay upon its surface.
Sergeant spoke to Link's uncle for a few minutes, no doubt assuring herself that she wasn't delaying anything important, but Link didn't hear her words, only the pounding of his heart.
He did, however, hear the heavy oak door close, and swallowed anxiously.
