Act 2: The Once and Future Queen

"It was like Hyrule was in labour with me." That was Deidre's very first comment after the birth of her and Gengo's first child, a girl. Hyrule was still using the male preference when it came to the throne, so if the princess had a younger brother, even if she was much older, the brother would be king. There had been a lot of debate about this law over the years, a lot of people said that some of the best monarchs were women, which was true.

So what did the king and queen name their princess? Well, Gengo insisted on the royal tradition and that she be named Zelda, like many princesses before her. Deidre actually hated the name at first, and suggested they try something like Odette or Odile, but she warmed to the name as time went by. So, Zelda it was. Zelda, Crown Princess of Hyrule.

People from across the known world came to Castle Town to welcome the future queen. The heralds shouted out in glee about new developments concerning the new baby. Town gossips whispered, giggled and smiled about the newest edition to the family. When the king, queen and princess emerged on the castle balcony, the screams and shouts could be heard for miles. Finally, after years of waiting, the line had been secured. And it was all thanks to the king's magician.

With the kingdom celebrating the birth of the heir, Mihari began to click his plain into place. As the people below worshipped the royal family, Mihari hid behind the curtain and scowled. In his mind, Deidre had served her purpose, he couldn't stand the woman and he didn't care if she supplied another heir, Mihari only wanted the royal couple to have one child anyway. It was much more sufficient to his plan. The fact that the child was female and was named Zelda was even more perfect.

What was Mihari's plan you ask? Well, to kill the queen of course, and a year after the birth of Zelda, Queen Deidre was walking down the stairs in the west tower when she ran into Mihari. Mihari of course, saw this as a prime opportunity. As he passed the queen on the stairs of the west tower he turned around and grinned.

"Your majesty, it appears that you have something on the back of your dress. Allow me." Mihari bowed.

"Oh, thank you Mihari?" Deidre gave the magician a disgusted glance as he eyed up her backside.

Let's take that scowl off your face. Mihari smiled evilly as he placed his right hand firmly on Deidre's back. He let it rest there for a moment, knowing how much this would bother her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she finally snapped. But before she could turn around and slap him, Mihari gently pushed on the queen's back, causing her to lose her balance and fall down the stairs.

He watched the queen hit every single stone step on the spiral staircase until she was out of sight. It was like watching a ragdoll rolling down the stairs instead of a person. He then heard a loud 'bang', and knew she had hit the bottom.

Like a child on Christmas morning, Mihari giggled and jumped up in excitement and rushed down the stairs to see what he had done to the beloved queen. When he reached the bottom, there she was lying face down in a slump. Mihari knew she was dead just by looking at her. And at this knowledge he grinned and laughed a bit. "Oh, help, help. Somebody help." He said sarcastically, not nearly loud enough for anyone to hear. He then messed up his snow white hair and practiced making a shocked and afraid face before opening the wooden door in front of the corpse and running down the halls shouting about the queen's fall.

"Help! Help! Her majesty has taken an awful fall!" he cried out as he sprinted down the long and winding castle hallways. "I-in the tower! The west tower! Oh someone please help!"

When a group of servants arrived at the scene, they only confirmed what Mihari already knew. Queen Deidre was dead. The servants cried and cried over their deceased queen. Mihari stood in the doorway with an evil smirk on his face.

The servants did wonder if Mihari had something to do with it, even though he insisted that he discovered the dead queen. It was odd that he just happened to be going to the west tower, even though he never went there on any normal day. None of the servants were brave enough to question the magician, because quite frankly, they were afraid of him. In all honestly, they were afraid to end up like their queen.

Mourning over the queen's death lasted for a year and a day. And no one mourned her loss more than her husband, the king. From the day she died up until his own death, the king mourned her demise. Gengo fell back into his depression, grew a long and grey beard and regained all of his lost weight, if not more. It did not help that doctors had found out the queen was pregnant at the time of her death, with a baby boy. Gengo would name is unborn son, Darius.

King Gengo would go on to have portraits painted of his son throughout the years. Of course, these were all just fantasy, for the prince was just a fetus when he died. Yet his father had paintings of him as a handsome, grown man slaying dragons and riding on horseback into the sunset. It was a disturbing obsession.

Gengo then buried himself in his duties. This of course meant that he neglected his daughter, his only living child, the only heir to the throne, Zelda. And goddess knows that if anyone needed guidance from the king, it would be the first in line to the throne. That was the problem that plagued Gengo, no one showed him how to do his job, and it was expected that he knew what to do. Zelda was more fortunate in at least she was born into the role and would grow into it, instead of being forced into it.


There was a mysterious spike in birth rates in Hyrule shortly after Zelda's birth. Usually it was just some doting parents wanting their child to be friends with the princess or for a son of theirs to eventually marry her. It was not something Hyrule hadn't seen before. In fact with almost every royal birth, there was a sudden rise in pregnancies and births.

One of these many births would bring us our leading man for this story, Link. Link was not conceived to be a suitor for the princess, no, not even a fair weathered friend. He was conceived to work for her. That's right, Link's family were nothing but mere servants for the royals. A father who worked in the gardens and a mother who was a chambermaid, they made honest money, but all the same, they were servants. They lived in the servant quarters under the castle with many other individuals in that line of work.

Though I cannot tell you much else about Link's parents and family, because this is really all that was known about them. Link was only 3 when they disappeared. Names were never of importance among slaves and servants, they were assigned numbers and that was all. They worked for the royals, and then one day, they disappeared. Just like the royals that I mentioned earlier, they went missing as well. They were not the first servants to go missing either, and they certainly weren't the last. But they were not missed in the slightest. For every one servant that left, there was another five coming off the wagon to take their place.

As you can already tell there isn't much to Link's world. He was born a servant, he would live as a servant, and he would probably die a servant. Of course, that's not exactly how his life would run its course because he is the leading man of an adventure story.

Link was raised in the servants' quarters in the basement of the castle. The servants' quarters were separated into three sectors; Din House, Naryu House and Farore House. This was more so for organizational purposes. Depending on your house, that was where your bed was. To make it run smoother and even out how many servants were in each sector, the new servants were sorted into houses that could take more members and had more open space at the time. Link was in Farore house.

When Link was around 10 years old he was assigned a number, and a job. Link's number was 307 and he was assigned to the kitchen staff as a kitchen boy. Basically, he cleaned plates, helped clear the royal table and did dishes. It was through this job that Link first set eyes on what was supposed to be the royal family.

He ran in to clear the table and prepare for the next course and that when he saw them. It was a fat old bald man with a long grey beard sitting at the end of a long rectangular table and a young girl with medium length ash blonde hair sitting at the opposite end. Link knew the girl couldn't have been any older than him; her legs hung over the chair and barely touched the floor.

Link came out wearing his bagging green long sleeved shirt, black pants, brown boots and a dirty white apron. He also carried a grey bucket to put dishes in. He and other kitchen boys ran to either end of the table and tried to clean up a quickly and quietly as possible without disturbing the royals.

The boys were supervised by one of the grown up kitchen staff, who stood at the kitchen door patiently while the boys cleaned up. It was this man's duty to shout at the boys later if he saw they did something wrong or to reason with a royal or a guest if the boys upset them. And on this day, the boys were supervised by one of the strictest supervisors the kitchen had, Mr. Langoo.

As Link approached Zelda's end he got quite nervous, he'd never been this close to royalty before. But all the same, he tried to pick up the dirty dishes, one of which had some scraps of meat and vegetables left on it. The princess clearly wasn't a big eater, unlike her father who consumed everything on this plate like he hadn't eaten in a month.

Link lifted the plate and shook nervously. He could sense the princess staring at him. The fork and knife on the plate chattered and clicked violently. Mr. Langoo fixated his gaze on the young boy.

Zelda tilted her head to the side and smiled sweetly at Link. "You do know that I'm just like any other kid, right? You don't have to be so jumpy."

At this comment Link jumped up a bit and dropped the plate on the floor. It shattered into several pieces, and the scrap food went flying across the cold stone floor.

"Oh no!" Link gasped. He could feel Mr. Langoo footsteps shaking the floor behind him.

Zelda just giggled, she found the boy quite amusing and intriguing. There was something about him that drew her to him. "It's okay. We'll just get new plates."

The king at the other end of the table who was getting pieces of corn wiped out of his beard by another kitchen boy, watched diligently as his daughter interacted with the servant boy. He watched her mannerism and how she controlled herself in such an embarrassing situation. Incredible. If that was me, I would have had the boy thrown into the dungeon.

"My apologies, your highness, and your majesty. It is 307's first day on the job, he's just a little nervous. Aren't you, 307?" Mr. Langoo squeezed Link's shoulder and forced a smile.

"Uhm.. uh.. yes." Link looked down at the smashed plate on the floor.

"Now be a good boy and go and get the broom and dustpan and clean this mess up. We don't want the princess walking through filth."

"It's okay. I understand." Zelda smiled again as Mr. Langoo walked back into his corner and Link scurried back into the kitchen to get a broom.

Gengo was ready to blast the kitchen boy for dropping the plate, but his daughter's innocent acceptance made him change his mind.

When Link emerged from the kitchen again he was holding a small broom and a beat up dustpan. He hurried back to the princess's side and tried to sweep up the mess. If anything, he was more nervous this time because he had to face the royals again after an embarrassing incident.

He kneeled down beside the princess's chair and quickly tried to clean up the mess without making eye contact. It was difficult for him to carry out his job when Zelda was just staring at him. He was shocked when she spoke to him again.

"Thank you for cleaning that up." She smiled down at him and watched Link's messy, dark blond hair bounce around on his head. He didn't dare to look up and meet her eye.

"Uhm... y-you're quite welcome your highness." Link cleared his throat and blushed at the embarrassing attention the princess was giving him.

"What's your name?" Zelda asked abruptly.

Link froze, he was told to never give his name to royalty because it was 'unimportant'. "Uhm... 307."

"No, not your number. I know you have a name. What is it?"

"Zelda, that's enough!" Gengo's voice boomed from the other end of the table. "What did I say about talking to the servants?"

"You didn't say anything about that daddy." Zelda shook her head. "To be honest this is the first time we've dined together in over a year. I barely see you so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I don't know your rules."

Gengo sat up straight in his chair, now surprised that his own daughter had stated a very true fact. It was also surprising that she was so well articulated at such a young age. It was clear that her tutors had been doing their job.

It was true that the king and his daughter didn't see much of each other. Their rooms were in separate wings of the castle. Gengo often dined in his room or his office, Zelda usually ate in the dining room. Zelda didn't like being alone so she often invited her tutors to join her for dinner before they went home. If the tutors didn't come in that day or rejected the invitation, Zelda would ask one of her maids or one of the castle guards. Who could say no to a cute little girl who was also the future queen?

"Well, I am telling you now my dear. Do not speak to the help unless you have to!" Gengo ordered.

"I will do whatever I please." Zelda frowned. "Besides, this is the first time you've ever taken an interest in what I do."

"Oh, don't give me that!"

"No, father, I am going to. You're never around when I need you!"

"I'm sorry. I'm busy keeping this kingdom in order so when you ascend the throne, things will be easier for you!"

"Who says I even want ascend the throne?"

"Your birthright, that's who!"

"Well, what if I abdicate my position?"

"You can't, there's no one to pass the crown off to!" Gengo was fuming in anger. Instead of a 10 year old, Zelda was acting like a 16 year old. Perhaps her tutors were educating her a little too well. "Oh, if your brother was alive..."

"Darius is dead! I realize you wanted a son instead of a daughter, but you're just going to have to deal with it!" Zelda barked back. "I may be female, but I promise my reign will be that of a king's!"

"Not with an attitude like that!" Gengo shouted as he stood up.

Link awkwardly swept the remaining scraps and broken porcelain into the dustpan. He could feel Langoo almost breathing down his neck, wanting him to get out of there. He quickly bowed and ran for the kitchen. The last thing he wanted to witness was the rumoured rift between the king and the princess getting wider and wider by the second.

When Link arrived in the kitchen with Langoo, there was a deafening silence among the kitchen staff. They all stared at each other as a shouting match that was muffled through the wall ensued in the dining room between a father and his daughter.

"What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" Mr. Langoo ordered and then turned his attention to Link. "Never do that again!"

Link wasn't sure what Langoo was referring to; speaking to the princess, dropping the plate or causing a quarrel between a father and his daughter. Pick your poison my dear reader, because it's anyone's guess as to which one Langoo was actually speaking of.

For the next seven years, Link did his duties as part of the kitchen staff. He eventually became a server for the royals and a supervisor for the younger boys. And every night for those seven years the princess would stare at him intently. And every night she asked him his name. Even on the nights when she wasn't dining alone (though and most nights she was) she still held interest in the boy from the kitchen, 307.


As Link and Zelda grew older they took on more interests. Link, who had natural horsemanship skills, was asked to join the polo team for his servant house. He accepted with some hesitation. Farore House had never won the King's Plate before, nor had they ever been the champions of the servant tournament. Usually Din House and Nayru House battled it out to be the servant champions. Servants in general had never won the King's Plate. The nobles usually squashed them. So when Link was not working, he was practicing or playing polo in the courtyard.

Zelda also had new interests along with some new duties. One of these interests was watching the servants play polo, since the servant pitch was outside of her bedroom window. So imagine her surprise when she saw the boy from the kitchen on horseback smashing the ball up the dirt field. She still couldn't define her interest in the kitchen boy. Maybe it was the fact that he would not tell her his name? Maybe it was that he had grown handsome in the last seven years? Maybe it was that Triforce mark he had on his left hand that looked exactly like the one she had? Whatever it was, Zelda was drawn to the kitchen boy and wanted to know more about him.

One of Zelda's new duties was finding a man who was husband material. This was something Zelda often rolled her eyes at, because in her mind, 17 was too young to get married and she wasn't really interested in courting all that much. Her father had her meeting with suitors every two weeks it seemed. She didn't like any of them, even as friends. They were all snobby noble boys who just wanted her for her beauty and status. She realized her father's intentions were good and that he just didn't want her to end up like him, but finding the right man to marry was going to be her own problem. She didn't want to marry because she had to as part of her duty. She wanted to marry for love and because she wanted to.


One night when the princess was dining alone, Link brought in her bowl of soup. Zelda stared at him more intently than she ever had before. "Would you care to join me?"

Link had heard about the princess asking staff to dine with her when she was alone, be he had never been invited himself. "No thank you, your highness." Link bowed and turned around.

"I still would like to know your name, kitchen boy. For seven years you've catered to me. I don't feel comfortable calling you 307." Zelda called after him. "Please, at least have a seat."

"No thank you, your highness. I am on duty." Link shook his head, still not turning to face Zelda.

"Well, I order you to have a break." Zelda sighed trying to find a topic to create a conversation. "Does the kitchen boy play polo?"

"Yes, your highness I do." Link stood taller, shocked that the princess knew about his favourite pastime.

"You know, they say my grandfather helped invent polo. I don't believe it though, just another royal trying to take credit for something. They say it was invented by the now extinct Gerudo tribe." Zelda didn't look up from her soup. "Can I expect to see you at the tournament tomorrow?"

Royals and nobles alike have never watched the servant tournament before. That fact was odd to Link. He assumed she meant to say that he would hopefully be in the finals. "Your highness, yes, I will be playing but I don't know if you'll see us in the finals against the winning noble team."

"Oh I don't care about that. I just wanted to know if you would be playing in the servant tournament. I find the servant games much more entertaining."

"You're going to watch the servant matches?" Link turned around and looked at the princess he had come to barely know. "Doesn't your father, the king want you to watch the noblemen games?"

"Well, yes, he does. But he probably just wants me to watch them so I can meet with the suitors he's picked out for me." Zelda rolled her eyes. "I don't want to be wooed. I just want to enjoy the day in peace. I know none of my servants would pull anything on me, so I'd prefer to watch them. Besides, all the nobles that show up are just a bunch of boring stuffed shirts who spend money they don't have and tell the same dry jokes over and over again."

"Sounds like you're trapped." Link cleared his throat and gave the young royal a sentimental look.

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it. I'm sick and tired of every man I meet wanting to make a move on me because they want my power! I can't leave the castle grounds! I have no idea what it's like outside of these stone walls. I can only see a bit of Castle Town from the tower and that's it. I don't have any real friends. I don't even want to be queen." Zelda took a breath from her rant and continued on. "I mean, if my father is trying to groom me for the role, why isn't he teaching me anything? I think a good ruler would have an ability to relate to their people. I can't even look at my people because I'm locked up here all the time."

Link wasn't sure how he should feel about having someone as powerful and prestigious as the Crown Princess of Hyrule pouring their soul out to him. Link was just a lowly servant boy, and here he was, having the girl who would be queen venting to him about her life and he wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was that Link was the only 'friend' Zelda had. Link actually felt sorry for her. She was a prisoner of the firm that she was born into, sort of like him... but his case wasn't as extreme.

"So..." Zelda sighed and stirred her soup. "What's your story kitchen boy?"

"Eh?" Link was speechless. This whole moment went against everything he had been taught. But the princess had engaged him in conversation. It would have been rude to ignore her. He couldn't believe that Princess Zelda was actually asking about his life, as if she was interested.

"Well, kitchen boy? What about yourself? You're a servant, so you're just as trapped in this castle as I am." Zelda smiled to herself in irony. "Do you have any family, kitchen boy?"

"I'm allowed to leave the grounds once a week." Link stated before he went on. "Family? Well, I did... but..."

"But what?"

"They went missing when I was very small."

Zelda sat back in her wooden chair and stared at the wall. "There have been a lot of disappearances, my kitchen boy."

My kitchen boy? What does she mean by my kitchen boy? Link questioned himself for a moment. "Your highness?"

"I get bored you see. So I look into these things. Mihari doesn't like me meddling around with these kinds of things. It really makes me wonder if he has something to do with it and doesn't want me finding out. When I'm queen, he'll be one of the first things to go!"

Mihari, the pale grey face of the king's mysterious magician flashed in Link's mind. The servants spoke of their dislike of the man often in the safety of the servants' quarters. They particularly didn't like how he just seemed to pop up out of nowhere, breath down their necks and threaten them. He gave everyone the creeps, and it appeared that the princess wasn't a fan of the magician either.

"Well, since I have disclosed so much about my life to you. Could you at least tell me your name, kitchen boy?" Zelda shifted to the side of her her chair and extended a hand to Link.

Link stared down at her nimble fair skinned hand for a moment and looked down at his own. His hands were covered in calluses from manual labour and full of splinters from cheap polo mallets.

"Well, kitchen boy? It's rude to decline a royal handshake." Zelda smiled sweetly as Link raised his right hand and gripped hers.

"Link." He muttered.

"What was that?"

"My name. My name is Link."

"And I'm Zelda." Zelda gave him a thoughtful stare as she took back her hand. "Hm... Link. It's different. I like it!"

And so, a friendship that took seven years to form was finally completed. A friendship between a princess and the man she came to know as her kitchen boy. Little did they know, there was one other witness to this event, and his dark shadow loomed outside of the door. Mihari smiled knowing that he could carry out his plan with even more ease and evil than before.