A Letter From Her Faithful Servant
A The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Fanfiction
Hilda groaned stressfully as she rushed around the office. Books were tossed haphazardly everywhere, along with all sorts of paper. Some of the papers were blank, but most were official documents or letters from representatives around the kingdom. It was a miserable sight, hardly what one would expect anywhere in Lorule Castle.
Truthfully, Hilda had no one to blame for this mess but herself. Last night when preparing for her latest Lorule reconstruction meeting, Hilda had asked the entire castle staff to leave her in solitude unless an emergency came up. Too used to having others cleaning up after her more intense study sessions, she had allowed her materials to become increasingly disorganized over the night. This resulted in her current predicament: she couldn't remember where, exactly, she had put the materials she actually intended to bring. With the meeting an hour and a half away, Hilda was rather frazzled.
"SQUAAAWWWK!"
Startled, Hilda tore her eyes from the documents she'd been hastily organizing and looked at the window. There she saw a tiny white bird bobbing up and down in the air, carrying a rolled-up piece of paper. She started at the sight and opened the window. The bird zoomed inside and dropped the paper directly into Hilda's waiting hand before settling down upon the windowsill. Hilda felt a thread of guilt run through her; Sheerow could flutter around Ravio for quite a long time comfortably, after all. The bird must have been trying to get her attention for quite some time if he needed to rest.
"I'm sorry, Sheerow," Hilda said as she removed the ribbon around the paper. "I should have noticed you sooner. Would a bit of birdseed before you go make up for it?"
Sheerow hopped up and down excitedly. Hilda allowed herself to smile softly before she turned her attention to the paper. This letter, at least, would surely be more pleasant than the others she'd been reading lately.
Princess Hilda,
Hi there! It's Ravio here. Is that being too familiar? Is it okay to say hi like that? Should I call myself something like "faithful servant" or… you know, something? I mean, I know you said I shouldn't worry so much about this stuff, but we should probably stay somewhat professional, right? I don't want all those snobby nobles to think I'm not good enough for you. Not that I need to be good enough for you! That makes it sound like we're, well, you know. Goodness knows they would probably have a point if we were like that. But even so, we sure spend a lot of time together. It would be awful of those guys kept bugging you about it. Especially if maybe someday something did happen, since I'm pretty sure they're barely tolerating me being around as it is. Not that I'm pushing you into anything, no ma'am! I am not asking you to do that. I'm plenty happy with life as it is. Lorule is finally recovering, you actually smile, what more can I want? But yeah, it would be good to have the whole "formality" thing dealt with.
Anyway, the reason I wrote…
I found some really pretty flowers starting to grow right by the Sanctuary. I thought you might like to go see them next time you had some spare time. I could go with you! You know, to make sure you're seeing the right ones. There are flowers popping up all over now, but these particular ones are really, really great! I'd hate for you to be looking at the wrong ones. Though I guess the priest could point you in the right direction. I just want to make sure you see them, is all. I thought about picking them and bringing them over to the castle to show you, but it seemed such a shame to take out something so nice-looking. They should all stay where they are and keep growing and spreading until no one can imagine a time when Lorule didn't have flowers. Doesn't that sound nice?
Anyway. Yeah. I need to show you the flowers, and I think we'll need a little time to really appreciate them. Let me know when you have enough spare time and we can set a date. Oh, oh no, I didn't mean it like that! I meant, like, a scheduled meeting, not a date-date!
Your FAITHFUL SERVANT,
Ravio
Hilda looked toward Sheerow with her eyebrow raised. "He does mean a 'date-date,' doesn't he?" Sheerow responded with an affirmative chirp. Well, Hilda thought, this moment had probably been a long time coming. Not that she was complaining; she'd been hoping for something like this for a while now. It was far, far different from what she had been fantasizing, yet somehow far better. Shaking her head fondly, Hilda reached for a blank piece of paper on her desk, thought for a moment, and wrote her reply.
Dearest Ravio,
Of course. I would love an opportunity to appreciate Lorule's growing beauty by your side. Would tomorrow at noon suit you?
Hilda, Princess of Lorule
A bit short, Hilda thought, but she couldn't think of anything else to say that wouldn't be better said when she saw him in person. Hopefully Ravio would think her delay in responding meant she was busy, and he wasn't currently panicking over whether he'd completely driven her away with his letter.
… Who was she kidding? He was probably doing just that at this exact moment. Hilda put her pen back to the paper and added:
P.S. I was rather absorbed in my work when Sheerow arrived and it took me a while to notice him. I'm not sure how long he was there, but I know he had managed to quite exhaust himself by the time I realized. I suggest you let him have a bit of rest before you reply to confirm the time.
"There, that ought to take care of it," Hilda told Sheerow. "Will you have enough energy to take this back after I give you your bird seed?" Sheerow perked up and chirped excitedly. Hilda chuckled. "All right, all right, I'll get that to you right away. Wait a moment, will you?"
Sheerow settled down again as Hilda turned to leave the room. She fought the urge to grin goofily as the realization that she and Ravio were going on an actual date sank in. It would not do, after all, for Lorule's princess to be seen acting like a lovestruck schoolgirl. There were rules of decorum she was expected to follow.
Hilda hoped none of this distracted her during her meeting.