Zelda

Zelda dug through the pile of rags, looking for a suitable one to clean the ballroom floor with. She finally settled on the one that had the fewest stains and was made of the nicest material. She dropped it in a bucket, which she picked up and left the supply room with. She went outside to the side courtyard, which was overrun with weeds and tall grass that reached her knees. She stopped by the well and pulled the rope, bringing up a bucket of water. She filled her own bucket and reentered the castle. In the supply room, she added some soap to her water before she left for the ballroom.

She pushed open one of the large doors and stepped in. Her battered shoes made almost no sound on the polished floor. There was a ball tonight, and she had all day to clean the floor. That was her main duty. She cleaned floors and the occasional window. She closed the door behind her and walked across the room to the large staircase on the other side. There were two main entrances to the castle. One led directly into the ballroom, which was the room that guests would use on nights like tonight. The other led almost directly into the throne room for audiences. Then there were many other insignificant entrances that the servants used and one entrance that only the royal family could use, but no one had used it in years. The royal family never left the palace; not anymore.

Once upon a time, the royal family had loved to go out into the city and socialize with their people. Now, they were only seen when the people had audiences with the king, and even that was rare. Even Zelda, who had lived her whole life in the castle, had never set eyes on him.

When she reached the staircase, she stepped up two steps and cleaned the first. Then she moved up another step and cleaned the second. She continued to do this until she reached the platform. She cleaned one side of the platform up to the door, then cleaned around the door and the hallway leading back to the platform. She cleaned the other half of the platform and started down the second set of stairs. Already, it had been a couple hours.

When she finished the platform and the two staircases, she began cleaning under the platform and the staircases. She moved back and forth across the ballroom, cleaning the entire floor. She was about halfway done when she heard footsteps behind her. She brushed the hairs that had fallen out of her ponytail out of her eyes and turned around. It was the head of the cleaning servants, Telma. She was carrying a bucket in one hand. She walked over to where Zelda was sitting and set the bucket down, "I thought you might want some clean water to continue."

Zelda smiled sweetly, "thanks, Telma." She stood and took a moment to stretch. Then she knelt on her knees again to continue her work.

Telma whistled, "you sure can work, girl. I haven't seen the ballroom this clean since last time you cleaned it! And you work so fast! It took Ilia all morning just to finish the platform. Good work." She turned and walked out.

Telma was nice. She was never mean to anyone, never raised her voice, and always spoke with that sweet accent that sounded like honey. Ilia was a different matter. Ilia was nice enough to others, but she was the meanest person Zelda had ever known. She was just glad she didn't have to room with her anymore. When Ilia had turned seventeen, she had moved into another wing. Now, Zelda was rooming with a girl her same age who also happened to be her best friend, Malon.

The two girls had met one day back when Malon was still working in laundry. Zelda had been running late, as was Malon, and they rounded a corner and collided. Malon's laundry had scattered and the kind-hearted Zelda couldn't just turn a blind eye and helped her pick it up and fold it. Malon had uttered a quick "thank you" before rushing off again. Both girls had been late and earned a scolding, but something had clicked between them. Their second encounter was exactly the same a year later, but rather than start picking things up right away, the two girls had laughed as they recognized each other.

"Small world, huh?" Malon had asked.

"Yeah," Zelda replied, wiping tears from her eye.

They had slowly picked up and folded the laundry again while getting to know each other. Then Malon had been switched to kitchen duty and they saw each other more often. They had been best friends for two years before they turned ten and Zelda met Ilia. Ilia was two years older than her, and they had been forced to room together for seven years before Ilia was moved as well as Malon's roommate and they had been put together. Neither girl had slept that night since they were up talking and both had gotten in trouble the next day for sleeping on the job. They had been rooming together since then. Now, they were sixteen and Ilia was eighteen, and Zelda rarely saw her anymore.

Zelda finished the ballroom a couple hours after lunch. Normally, she would have stopped for lunch, but since cleaning the ballroom floor was her only job today, she had worked straight through so she could have the rest of the day off. She left the room and went out to the overgrown courtyard with the well. She dumped her water out in the grass, replaced the bucket in the supply room, and went to laundry to put her rag somewhere where it would be cleaned. When she was done, she went to the kitchen to see Malon.

When she got there, Malon was pulling a large loaf of bread out of the stone oven, humming. She was always humming or singing. "Mm…smells good!" Zelda remarked.

"Hey, Zellie!" Malon replied, placing the bread on a counter, "thanks. Hey! Have you heard the news?"

Zelda rolled her eyes, "yes, Malon. I've been locked in the ballroom all day hearing nothing but the swishing of water. I know exactly what you're talking about."

Malon giggled, "okay. I'll tell you."

"Could you give me something to eat first? I skipped lunch today."

Malon picked up an apple and tossed it to her friend. Then she began speaking, putting a second loaf of bread into the stone oven, "so, apparently, there are going to be some really important people at the ball tonight. Like, sages, or something."

"Wow. Cool. How do you know?" Zelda asked, biting into her apple.

"We're servants, Zel. We know everything, remember?"

"Huh. Not if you're locked in the ballroom. You don't hear much of anything in there."

"True. But that's not all. The captain of the guard is also coming."

"The captain of the guard always comes."

"Yes, but this time he's bringing his wife and his son. From what I've heard, his son is about our age. And really handsome."

"So why is his father bringing him?"

"He just turned sixteen this year. I think his birthday is a couple months before yours, so this is the first ball there's been since he came of age to attend."

"Oh."

The two girls continued chatting while Malon worked, and when they were done, they ate supper together and headed back towards the servants quarters. On the way there, they passed the door to the ballroom. Malon stopped and tried to peer in through the frosted glass on either side of the door.

"Malon, what are you doing?" Zelda asked.

"I'm trying to see the captain's son."

"Malon, the ball only just started. He might not even be-"

"I see him!"

"What?" Zelda rushed over to the glass and looked in.

"See him? The blond one coming down the stairs."

"Malon, you can barely see anything through this glass. He might be a brunette for all we know. You're imagination's probably getting the better of you."

"Yeah, you're probably-"

"What are you brats doing?" a voice behind them asked.

They both turned suddenly to see the very person they had been trying to avoid or eight years: Ilia.

"None of your business!" Malon snapped.

"Really? You know that if you're caught spying, you could get thrown out."

"Right. And who's going to throw us out? You?" Zelda asked.

"No. But I have the power to tell someone that you were spying," Ilia retorted, "unless you were willing to do a few…errands for me." She casually looked at her nails.

"Forget it! We're not doing anything for you, you ugly slug!" Malon said.

"Ooh. I'm burnt. Harsh words there, shrimp," Ilia said, "you know, I'm being nice. I don't have to offer you a chance to redeem yourselves in my eyes. But I am. You should be-"

Suddenly, the door burst open and a woman came out. "This is a disgrace! I can't believe…"

A second woman was rushing after her, trying to calm her, "Impa, Impa! Just come back inside. It's not worth it! Impa!"

The first woman turned to face the second. She had short, white hair and red eyes. She wore a long grey sleeveless dress with blue stripes on the sides of her torso, which had a kind of metallic look to it. She wore grey gloves that stopped halfway between her wrists and her elbows. She wore a necklace that had the Sheikah Eye as a pendant, "how could she just not come? She promised-"

The second woman put her hands on the shoulders of the first, "look, just calm down. I'm sure she'll be here. She's probably just running late." She wore a green dress that had short, slightly puffy sleeves as well as elbow-length green gloves. Her eyes were blue and her hair was green, shoulder length, and held in place by a dark green hairband. The ends of her hair flipped out. She was much younger than the first woman. She could barely even be called a woman. Physically, she might have been younger than Zelda, but by the way she spoke, she appeared to be much older and wiser than anyone Zelda had ever met.

"She better just be running late."

"Impa, the ball's barely started. No one said we had to arrive together. You know her, she likes being fashionably late."

The first woman nodded slowly. Suddenly, a Goron appeared. He had spiky grey hair all around his body and he was very muscular, even for a Goron. But despite his serious appearance, he sounded carefree and young when he said, "is everything alright out here?"

Impa put her elbow in her hand and rubbed her forehead for a moment with her eyes closed. Then she crossed her arms, "yes. Everything is fine."

"We'll be returning shortly, Darunia. Go back inside," the younger woman said.

Darunia disappeared back through the door.

"I just hope she doesn't make too big of an entrance," Impa said.

"Of course she will. You know her. But rather than hoping she doesn't, just hope for the best, because you know it's going to happen."

"Right. Thank you, Saria."

"Let's go back in," Saria said. She turned and reentered the ballroom. Impa started toward the room too, but as she did, she glanced at the three teens standing off to one side, watching the scene. Her eyes widened as she fixed them on Zelda, but she said nothing and continued walking, closing the door behind her.

"What do you think that was about?" Malon asked.

"I have no idea. Hey, where's Ilia?" Zelda replied.

Both girls looked around, but Ilia seemed to have vanished. They shrugged it off and continued on their way. As they approached their quarters, they met up with Telma. "Oh, girls. Maybe you'll accept! The six sages of Hyrule have asked to be shown around the castle. I asked Ilia if she would be willing, but she said no. I want to get one of the servants to do it because they know the castle better than anyone. Even better than the royal family. Would you girls want to?"

"Well, we have our duties…" Malon began.

"Oh, forget about them for one day. Just to show around the sages. Will you do it?"

The girls exchanged a glance and immediately knew what the other wanted. "Sure. Sounds like fun!" Zelda said.

"Great. I'll see you two tomorrow morning!" Telma said before she rushed off.

"Sweet! We get to slack off for a day, and we're showing around some of Hyrule's most important people!" Malon said as soon as Telma was out of range.

"I know, right?" Zelda said. Her tone changed as she continued, "but dahling, whatever shall I wear?"

The girls laughed as they entered their room and prepared for bed.