Author's Notes: I don't generally like to include these at the beginning, but this is so far from what I feel like I would normally do that I wanted to give it an explanation. This was inspired by WishIWould's poking to enter a contest held over on DeviantArt that the fanclub for CallistoHime's Legend of Zelda and Fire Emblem crossover fanfics Time Cannot Erase and Among the Ashes was holding. The premise was to design the future child of her Link and Zelda (the Link and Zelda from Ocarina of Time.) Now, I did not plan on entering the contest at all, because I'm generally not a contest-type-person. But apparently my creative side responds to WishIWould's prodding, and I couldn't get the silly idea out of my head until I wrote it out. (And drew a companion picture...) I'm still not sure if I really want to enter the contest, but here's the result of this idea that refused to leave me alone. Just to warn you it's a bit meta-fictional in parts, so if you don't like that, sorry. I was amused, so hopefully that means this isn't just awful. I'd especially love to hear feedback on this, since that'll probably determine whether or not I should actually enter the contest, or just hide this under a rock and forget about it.
Edit: I fixed some wordings and changed to a better title - yay!
Sticks and Stones
Large sapphire eyes gazed forward in extreme concentration. The occasional fluttering of eyelashes and wisps of golden hair blown in the gentle breeze were the only movement from the ten-year-old girl standing in a copse of trees not far from Hyrule Castle. Her delicate hands held the rough wood of a deku stick, which she watched intently while butterflies flitted around her like floating jewels.
"I still can't believe you've been standing there for an hour because one of those silly Gossip Stones told you 'something good' would appear if a butterfly landed on a deku stick!" A tawny-haired boy the same age as the girl looked up from his book to comment.
"Shhh, Aidan. You'll scare the butterflies away. They like soft, kind words." The girl murmured with hardly a break in her concentration. "Besides," she continued speaking softly but firmly, "it was your idea to talk to the stones in the first place. And I thought it was fun."
"That was before I realized that the Mask of Truth doesn't reveal truth at all, just useless gossip from stupid stones that don't have anything better to do than sit around and listen to people talk. I'm sorry we wasted all our allowance on that ugly mask now. That Happy Mask guy is a crook." He muttered, resettling against the trunk of a tree a little ways from the girl.
"Well, what did you expect to learn from the stones?" she giggled quietly.
"I dunno, just something better than rumors. They're so old, you'd think they'd know interesting things about history or the legends or something…" Aidan frowned at his book.
"Maybe they were telling the truth though."
"Yeah, Sis, sure, and I bet soon Gorons will learn to swim."
"Hmmf. Well you don't have to be mean about it just because I enjoyed the mask that I helped you pay for more than you did."
With that Aerie returned to her butterfly watching, and Aidan went back to his book.
After about thirty minutes more of waiting, Aerie was just about to give up and admit that Aidan was right about the Gossip Stones and it was useless to be standing here near the butterflies with a branch in her hands, when one of the colorful creatures floated over and rested delicately on the end of her deku stick. The girl's sapphire eyes widened as the butterfly transformed in a shower of sparkles to reveal a glowing pink fairy. The musical chimes of the healing creature's laughter sounded in Aerie's ears, and she let the deku stick fall forgotten on the ground.
"Look Aidan! The stone was right!" his sister giggled as the fairy danced around her on glittering translucent wings.
Her twin brother certainly couldn't deny the presence of a pink glowing fairy lighting his sister's features where there had been none before. And it wasn't like Aerie could lie. She was a terrible liar. He could see through her even more easily than he could tell when Uncle Roy had a secret. And Uncle Roy was terrible at keeping secrets, because he got excited and couldn't stay quiet. But he was better at keeping a straight face under pressure than Aerie was.
"Cool!" Aidan's emerald eyes grew wide as he watched his sister dance around the trees with the fairy. His book still rested open on his lap, but it was as far from his mind as tomorrow's lunch. "So the stones do tell the truth…" he murmured thoughtfully.
"Hey Aerie!" the boy closed his book and stood decisively as his sister flitted back over to him with her new friend trailing. "Do you remember what else the stones told you?"
"Hmm…" she tilted her head to the side and placed a finger on her lips in her characteristic thinking gesture. "They told me that Miss Malon used to wish for a knight in shining armor to come sweep her off her feet, and that Daddy set the record for the obstacle course at Lon Lon Ranch with Epona! And they said that Mommy is actually a tomboy."
"That's cool, but was there anything else?" Aidan brushed some of his tawny hair out of his eyes absentmindedly as he concentrated on his sister.
"They said that Uncle Marth is secretly afraid of fairies. Isn't that silly? And that Uncle Roy is actually a dragon!"
"Really? That's weird…" the boy looked thoughtful as he indicated for Aerie to go on.
"And they say that the adventures of every Princess and Hero of Hyrule have to be written down in 'The Legends of Zelda.' The stories are supposed to be somewhere inside the castle. And they say that the Court Historian known as Callisto-Hime has a unique insight into people's hearts. She's rumored to be part Shiekah. And…"
Aidan latched on to the part about a chronicle of all of Hyrule's greatest adventures and stopped listening as Aerie continued to rattle off the gossip she had learned. She had really talked to quite a few of those stones hadn't she? But back to the Legends – it was those stories that he wanted to find and read.
"…and there's apparently some sort of secret by some tree somewhere in Kakariko Village. And – "
"Aerie!" her brother interrupted her by grabbing her hand and starting toward the castle. "We've gotta find the Legends of Zelda. I bet they've got some of the best adventure stories ever!"
"But, I wanted to play with the fairy and go talk to some more rocks!" she protested, digging in her heels and looking back toward the trees.
"They're stones, Gossip Stones. And we can talk to more of them later. Don't you want to hear all the best stories about the Hero and the Princess? After all the next book will be about you since you're the new Princess Zelda." Aidan placed a hand on her back and coaxed her slowly forward as he spoke.
"I hadn't thought of that. Sure! I guess that does sound like fun!" she agreed after a moment of thought.
"Great! I bet those books are somewhere in the library! C'mon, Aerie, let's find them!" The two children headed for the castle in a blur of blue tunic and lavender skirts mixed with a dash of umber and gold hair. The glowing pink light of the floating fairy was left forgotten among the trees and butterflies.
Aidan hadn't remembered how big Hyrule Castle's library really was. He and his twin sister stood gazing at two stories of a huge room filled to the brim with books. Even adults had to climb ladders to reach some of the volumes! More ladders led up to a balcony area that held even more books at the very top of the room. There were so many tomes that he wondered how he and Aerie would ever find the ones they were looking for. The two children climbed into a cushioned reading nook where they could still view most of the library to try and come up with a plan.
"Where would they put a story as important as the Legends of Zelda?" Aidan wondered in hushed tones.
"Probably somewhere kids like us wouldn't accidentally find it and break it." Aerie suggested in a whisper.
"Let's check out the very top floor then," her brother decided.
The twins did their best to quietly and inconspicuously climb ladders and search shelves throughout the highest parts of the library. After a couple hours of searching Aerie's enthusiasm had worn thin and she had curled in a velvet-cushioned window seat for a nap in the afternoon sun. Aidan, however, was still determined to find the Legends. He relentlessly browsed the highest points of each shelf looking for something that might be the books he sought. Another hour passed before he heard a thump behind him and turned to find Aerie sprawled on the floor beside her window seat instead of on it.
"Did you fall and wake yourself?" He couldn't help but chuckle at her as he climbed down from the ladder he was on and walked over to offer his sister a hand up.
"Yeah…" Aerie grinned up at him sheepishly, but then her eyes caught a hint of gold and she turned with puzzlement to the oak paneling beneath the seat she had been sleeping on. "Look, Aidan. It's the Triforce." She brushed her small fingers over the golden insignia that was about the size of her palm.
Her brother knelt to get a closer look. "Hmm…we're seeking wisdom," he pushed on the lower left hand triangle and felt the metal press into the wood. The twins heard the click of a lock opening, but nothing else happened. "That's odd." Aidan frowned.
"It's a chest!" Aerie spoke up after a moment of thought. She moved to lift the seat up to reveal a compartment beneath the cushion.
"Aerie, you're amazing." Aidan grinned at his sister before reaching in to pull out the oldest tome. A quick glance at the cover and he knew they had found the Legends. He immediately opened the book and became engrossed in the story of the very first Hero to wear green and Princess to bear the name Zelda.
Aerie, on the other hand, was drawn to the newest volume with its cover elegantly worked in gold. "The Legend of Zelda: Time Cannot Erase," she murmured the title aloud. "Look, Aidan! This one is written by the Shiekah-historian!"
Her brother glanced over at her. "Oh, Callisto-Hime? We don't know if she's actually a Shiekah. I guess she has a strange enough name. Regardless she is supposed to be a good writer. I think our tutor said she's currently traveling around Diem with her best friend compiling more of the histories. I think he wanted her job instead of teaching us, since he's always muttering things like that when he thinks I can't hear him."
"The Gossip Stones said she was a Shiekah!" Aerie clutched her book defensively. "And they were right about everything else!"
Aidan sighed. "No, they said she had insight like a Shiekah. Now if you don't mind I'd like to read this."
Aerie stuck her tongue out at her brother when he looked back to his book. "I bet she's a super-awesome-ninja-writer and Aidan's just too thick to realize it!" she muttered as she turned back to her book. Aidan chose to ignore her and continue reading.
After she had read few pages into the story Aerie tugged on Aidan's sleeve to get his attention. He looked up, slightly disgruntled. "What Aerie?"
"Aidan, this one's about Mom and Dad, and I've never heard this story." Her sapphire eyes held wonder as she pointed to the pages.
"Really?" Aidan closed the history he had been reading and moved over to sit beside Aerie. Side by side they sat surrounded by books and engrossed in the story of their parents' struggles after they sealed away Ganon and before they were able to marry. The two children were so caught in the story that they hardly noticed heavier adult steps climbing a ladder near them.
"There are my two little doves." Queen Zelda stepped carefully up to the second floor balcony of the library, making sure her long skirts didn't get caught on the ladder. "I expect to find Aidan with his nose in a book but Aerie too! You must have found something very interesting to keep this little sprite's attention for so long." She smiled at the children. "Don't you two know it's almost time for dinner?"
"Mommy!" Aerie slipped away from her brother and the book and ran to grasp her mother's skirts. "Mommy, we talked to the Gossip Stones, and a fairy appeared on my deku stick even though Aidan didn't believe anything would happen, and then we came and found the special legend-books, and I read the one that was by the Shiekah-historian, and Aidan doesn't think she's a Shiekah but I do, and it's all about you and Daddy, and did you really kiss Uncle Marth?" Aerie asked loudly.
Aidan didn't have time to catch his mother's expression because he was distracted by a loud thump and several surprised voices from below. He peered over the railing to find a couple familiar adults sprawled inelegantly at the foot of the ladder. "Oh hi, Dad, Uncle Marth, Aunt Elice. Uncle Roy and Aunt Manasa are with you too huh?" All the major characters of Aerie's book and then some were here. It seemed the two of them would have some explaining to do