Crepuscular Tempest
Chapter One: Personal and Professional
The next morning the nightmare was all but forgotten as a whirlwind of activity pulled Link and I apart for the day. My most trusted advisor on the new council—newest council, actually. The group of advisors I had prior to discovering I had suddenly obtained—Maybe I should start from the beginning.
Exactly one year after I left Link's world, shattering the mirror on my way out, we got a bit of a surprise. As we celebrated the anniversary of Ganondorf and Zant's fall, through some cosmic joke, I acquired the Triforce of Power (and if you really want to know about all this Triforce business, you can ask Zelda).
Fortunately this allowed me to make my way back to the Light World where Link was—I had realized only after I shattered the mirror that there were things I still needed to tell him. Unfortunately, though, the Triforce was like a piece of raw meat thrown into a pen of rabid dogs—and the biggest, meanest, ugliest one of all won that tasty tidbit.
The recently resurrected Ganondorf managed to steal back his Triforce from me, and we—Zelda, Link, and myself… maybe Zant even helped a little—came to the realization that desperate times call for desperate measures. After a whole lot of speed bumps, we finally managed to chase down our ultimate goal:
To find and kill the goddess Din.
To say we took things to an extreme would be a bit of an understatement, but it had to be done, as impossible as it seemed at the time. Ganondorf, the Gerudo, or even some other servant, would always be there to serve her—she could always cause strife so long as there were people with hate in their hearts.
And if Link and I had learned anything on our journeys together, it was that you go for the point that'll bring the whole system down—in this case, the goddess herself.
But don't worry, this was totally fine with the other two goddesses—well, maybe not fine, but they recognized that it needed to be done. They even went so far as to forgive the Twili as thanks for our assistance in her downfall—a tribe that started out as dark magic users who tried to steal the powers of the Triforce for our own selfish gain.
And that was just one way we had come full circle, but that was a long time ago; a lot more had changed since then.
Regardless, at the end of the day, the good guys won, we found a way for the Twili to stay solid in the Light World, and the goddesses gave us a new mirror to make the trick useful.
There were also some undead monsters, time-traveling heroes, and imposter rape involved, but that's for another story to tell.
Now, several months after defeating the corrupt goddess, we all lived in what could be called a limited peace. The Twili and Hylians were still mistrusting of each other (neither Zelda nor I could blame them), but as our scholars caught up with each other we could see a bond forming.
No, we weren't all friends yet, but at least we could step into the other's cities without being attacked.
And that leads me back to my advisors. I had a one group during the short time I was originally on my throne—basically my predecessor's group—but then Zant made his move. When I got back I formed a new group of advisors—a group more thoughtful towards defending the base of operations, so to speak. Then the unexpected craziness that occurred on the one-year anniversary of the mirror shattering led me to a new council.
This time it was one with Twili who could not only accept some cross-culture shocks, but also accept and support having a Hylian for a king.
That was the problem I worried about more than our civilizations getting along. Don't get me wrong, I will always be the ruler of my people before anything else (I think I've proven that much in leagues already), but keeping Link safe in a world he still wasn't a hundred percent comfortable in was still a major priority.
I guess you could say old habits die hard—you don't take care of a dog for so long without growing attached.
"Your Majesty?" I shook my head slightly, breaking away from my reminiscing to look up at the man who had just spoken—he would be the newest, most-trusted advisor I mentioned earlier. We were currently seated at the familiar, long stone table that belonged to the Royal Advisors' Waiting Room. Yes, RAWR for short.
What? It was where they waited for me whenever we had a meeting.
"Sorry," I answered. "I've just had a lot on my mind recently as you can imagine."
"Of course," he answered, bowing slightly. Pretty respectful guy—I should probably take the time to learn his name at some point in the future. "Is there any burden I can assist you with?"
It struck me—not for the first time—that Twili in general were far more submissive and respectful to those above them. The Hylians tended to lean more towards the side of equality—I mean, even Link was bad about it up and to a certain point. He was always far more casual with Zelda than I thought appropriate (or really cared for).
Then again, that sense of duty both groups had—it was the same, if not presented in a different manner.
"Yes, actually," I responded, folding my hands on the table before me. "Have you been keeping track of… Zant?" I caught the quickest flash of anger in the young advisor's eyes, before he responded gruffly.
"Of course. We wouldn't let him out of our sights for a moment." And that's why I like this council more than the previous one. Even though they didn't care for the fact that Zant was still alive—news of his death and subsequent resurrection were kept secret by a few select people—they accepted that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. With that in mind they were always very careful about watching him.
"Very good," I answered, continuing on as neutrally as possible—Zant was really a sore spot for us all. "I need you to fetch him for me, and bring him back here."
"To this room?"
"Not this room precisely," I explained, grimacing. New council bonuses: flexible, obeyed me. Negatives: too literal. "Actually I want to meet and talk with him personally—and privately."
"We could never allow that, Your Majesty!" he exclaimed, jolting to his feet. The fear in his eyes made me a bit uncomfortable. Something about fanatical looks did that to me.
"I know it's hard to believe, Councilman, but Zant won't try anything funny," I soothed, mentally banging my head on the table. "I'll be perfectly safe—it'll only be a brief meeting, and I'll even have guards posted outside the room."
"That won't be enough if he's truly determined!" he continued, pushing the subject. So much for "obeyed me."
"Watch your tone, Councilman," I warned evenly. "Now calmly tell me what you would suggest—what would put the minds of the council at ease?" He slowly returned to his seat, a thoughtful look overcoming him as he considered this. Finally he looked up at me with a promising smile.
"Just have His Majesty attend the meeting with you!" he proposed. "Then we can know without doubt that you will be safe." I let out an annoyed sigh and leaned back in my seat—not slouching, of course, that would look bad, even in a casual meeting such as this.
"I don't know about that," I muttered. Normally having Link tag along to anything would be a great idea—I would even be the first to suggest it. But the reason I wanted to meet with Zant… well, it might peeve off Link, just a bit. Not to mention he'd already been acting strange lately—the last thing I needed was for him to stab Zant in a fit of rage.
"Please, Your Majesty," he begged; it surprised me that he didn't drop to the floor on his knees. "Why would you be opposed to this?" And with that—hitting the nail on the head—I ran out of options. I would much rather talk Link into a meeting with Zant than explain the details to an advisor.
"Very well then," I agreed with a sigh. "I'll speak with him tonight—Zant better be here first thing in the morning, though."
"As you wish, Your Highness," he answered, standing and bowing. I dismissed him with a wave of my hand, and as soon as I heard the door shut I slouched in my seat. Link wasn't going to like this. And it went a lot deeper than just his dislike for Zant (dislike is putting it kindly).
Link was the type to be very forgiving and understanding—if he weren't then he certainly wouldn't be with me today—but Zant brought so much pain, suffering, and fear to the people he loved that he just couldn't find it within himself to forgive the ex-maniac. Even after I explained repeatedly that we all had our issues with Zant, and that the once-upon-a-time usurper really was reformed.
I think on some level Link understood Zant's importance and meaning to the Twilight Realm at large, but on the same token it worried him that, even knowing this, he was unable to forgive him. We'd had a little too much experience with hatful hearts to think lightly of his relationship with Zant, which is why I dreaded every step I took to where I knew Link would be.
As much as I love Link, I have to admit he didn't exactly catch onto the political elements of ruling a kingdom right away. In fact, he still hated the general "paperwork" the job entailed, however he'd found his strength in something I, admittedly, lacked: military prowess. Part of it was his history of fighting and rescuing kingdoms, but when I first introduced him to the generals of the military, something extraordinary seemed to spark in his eyes.
When he started talking to them and studying military strategies it almost seemed like he'd done it all before—even the weatherworn officers of the military had to confess he was an exceptionally fast learner. And that was before they even had the chance to fight him one-on-one.
Needless to say, Link has obtained a god-like status among the military. The younger recruits had some serious hero worship going on—it almost made me jealous, the way they'd follow him like little puppies.
I snorted out loud, and then groaned when I realized I'd reached my destination. The palace's barracks. It wasn't actually the largest military base we had—that was towards the edge of the city surrounding the palace. After Zant turned a large amount of military forces against me, we all decided it might be better to relax the concentration of soldiers within the actual palace, while keeping enough forces close by to protect the grounds.
It was a bit of a tenuous balance.
Fortunately, most of the military had been under a magical influence while obeying Zant, so that eased our fear of lingering malice somewhat. The Twili were mellower than the Hylians, but that didn't mean we all agreed and got along perfectly.
The barracks always made me feel awkward for other reasons though. No, I didn't so much fear that someone was going to stab me in the back, as—.
"Midna!" Link called out happily, jogging over having spotted me. A very shirtless, sweaty Hero of Twilight.
"You guys might as well be wrestling in loincloths," I muttered darkly, trying to keep my eyes from wandering down his smooth, muscled torso.
"What was that?" he asked, leaning his head to the side. I shook my head.
"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that you have to come with me to a meeting tomorrow morning," I explained, hoping he would just agree without asking too many questions.
"What's the meeting for?" Of course.
"Well, it's just that I, uh," I paused and looked behind him, noticing the young recruits he'd been talking to staring in wide-eyed wonder. "Don't cause a scene," I warned. His eyes narrowed at this. Yeah, this was about to end well.
"Why do I suddenly have the feeling that I'm not going to enjoy this?" he asked, his voice notably lower and quieter. I leaned closer to him to avoid any sharp-eared personnel.
"Those dreams don't just disturb you," I whispered.
"Is that what this is about?" he groaned. "Look, I can handle them—they're just dreams."
"Zelda and I discussed dreams at one point—they're not just dreams," I hissed back. "At the very least they mean something, and I want to be ready for whatever's coming."
"It's not like we have any major enemies to worry about," he growled, running his hand through his hair in irritation. "They'll go away on their own when the time's right."
"But what if they don't?" I demanded. "What if you have to deal with them every night for the rest of your life?"
"It's not like there's anything we can do," he pointed out, crossing his arms and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "No one really knows about dreams. Not even Zelda had any idea what we could actually do about them."
"What if I said I knew someone who could help?" I asked, careful to keep my eyes locked with his. "Would you meet with him?"
"Who's him?" he asked with that certain, little tone in his voice that he only had when feeling slightly cornered. It was an almost inaudible animalistic growl to certain sounds. At least he doesn't lift his leg when he pees—well there was that one time…
"Someone you know," I answered off-handedly, hoping he would leave it at that.
"A Twili I know?" Darn it, why can't anyone just "leave it at that" today?
"Yes," I answered tersely, growing more aware of the encroaching recruits and the sound of our voices getting louder.
"No," he deadpanned, turning away.
"Hey!" I growled in outrage, grabbing him by the shoulder. "Come on Link, you have to get over this at some point otherwise—!"
"Otherwise what?" he spat, turning to glare at me with such ferocity that I dropped my hand automatically. Now the recruits were all muttering amongst each other. Great.
"Link," I plead quietly. "You can't keep ignoring the fact that he can help us—we can't simply turn a blind eye to potential assistance; that's not how things work."
"Then we can change the way things work," he snapped. "I'm done talking about it." He walked off, not giving me the option of stopping him. Chasing after him and yelling at him would look bad, and that mangy mutt knew it too. I crossed my arms and glared at the young recruits still staring.
"Get back to work!" I snapped. They yelped and took off along the same path Link had just stomped down. I stood still for a long moment, not sure what to do next. Link needed to make amends with Zant—no, that's not right. He needed to learn to accept that Zant owed a debt to the royal family, and because of that he was at our disposal.
Yes, he was formerly crazy, but he was also an insanely genius Twili. When people thought of the best and brightest they thought of him—that's part of why it was so easy for him to usurp me. Like I said, not all Twili agreed with how things were done. Even now there were those that disliked the fact that we'd returned, to a certain extent, to the Light World.
That was a problem for another time, though. All I had to do for now was get Link to agree to come with me to the stupid meeting.
I glanced up at the roiling black clouds of the Twilight Realm and let out a soft sigh.
I didn't have another chance to talk with Link until that evening, during dinner. The odd concept of having a scheduled eating time—not to mention sleeping time—amused me for the most part. When Link had showed up with a growling stomach, asking when dinner would be served, I had looked at him like he had sprouted an extra head.
After some (strenuous) explaining to the royal chefs, we had worked out a schedule; something for Link to ground himself in. Since the Twili had lived with eternal twilight for so long, we had forgotten what it felt like initially—a surreal feeling that, if you thought too much about it, might make the world feel slightly tipsy.
Eating wasn't really that big of deal, especially not for me since I had unknowingly adjusted to this type of thing over the course of traveling with Link, but it was just one of many little things that reminded Link and I how different our people had become.
We dealt with everything in stride, though, so I was determined to reconcile on the subject of Zant—even if it meant ruining dinner.
"So Link…"
"Please don't say what I think you're about to say," he answered with a sigh, looking up from gorging himself—he burned a lot of calories, apparently.
"Look, you don't even have to talk to him," I bargained. "You just need to be there because the council insisted that I not meet him alone."
"You were going to go alone?" he asked darkly, and I realized, too late, the big mistake I'd just made.
"There were going to be guards," I quickly tacked on. "Just not in the room with me."
"Why would you even put yourself in danger like that?" he demanded, slamming his fists on the table.
"I wouldn't willingly put myself in danger," I disagreed as calmly as possible. "If I really felt I was going to be in danger, then I wouldn't even consider it. I would figure out something else."
"Oh please," he huffed. "You're practically the queen of putting something in danger."
"Hey, I never put anything needlessly in danger," I protested.
"Right, because encouraging me to sled with a yeti was never dangerous," he deadpanned. We both sat there glaring at each other for a long moment before his lips twitched up in a smirk and we burst into laughter.
"It was the only way over some of those gaps," I said, still giggling.
"Right, sure," he answered breathlessly.
We lapsed into silence, simply sitting there and staring at each other like idiots. After a moment I saw his eyes soften and he stood up, making his way over to me. I looked up at him in surprise when his fingers brushed along my jaw and drew my chin up towards him.
"I love you," he whispered. "As much as I hate Zant, I love you more. I'll come along, but only because I want to make sure you're safe."
"Link—." He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine, silencing any protest before I could make it. I stretched my arms up and around his neck and felt him grin against my lips. The sound of a door being flung open caused us to jump apart. We both glanced behind where Link stood to see the same councilman I had spoken with earlier standing in the doorway, bowing respectfully.
"Sorry to interrupt you, Your Highnesses," he said solemnly, earning a blush from Link.
"What do you need?" I asked, standing and leaning casually against Link, feeling his arm snake around my waist.
"I just wanted to inform you that the preparations have been arranged—he will be here in the morning," he explained. Link stiffened next to me at his words, but I simply nodded. After the councilman left again we both let out a habitual sigh and laughed again.
A lot of things had changed; we were both responsible for the entire Twilight Realm now. We both had some scars to talk about, but that we were afraid to mention. Not that we could really hide anything from each other. That was one thing that hadn't changed. The way we looked at each other when we thought the other wasn't looking hadn't changed either. And maybe the one thing that hadn't changed at all and kept us sane…
I smacked Link on the back of the head and grinned when he yelped in surprise. I sauntered out of the room, hiding my own grin as I heard him chuckle behind me.
Yeah, we still had enough perspective to take the time to tease each other. I mean really, I'd seen him run around scratching fleas and he'd seen me tame a giant Twilight bird as a little imp. Even though we'd been through a lot of serious stuff too, we can never take each other too seriously.
And that helped us keep things together in our own little world.
Because I wouldn't know what to do if I had to handle everything without him now.
There was a fire.
Something was burning.
I coughed, feeling the air that rushed out of my throat sting my eyes. Black blood splattered on the ground before me, and I stared at it for long moment before feeling the pain. I clenched my abdomen in pain and fell over, squeezing my eyes shut.
No, it was burning, I had to move.
I rolled over and clambered to my hands and knees, looking around frantically. My vision was blurry with tears of pain that I tried to repress. The pain radiating throughout my body didn't make sense. I couldn't tell where I was hurt. Something's wrong…
Wrong…
What went wrong?
Where was I?
I looked up to see a massive pillar of smoke rising from the place I knew I had to go to. I gritted my teeth and moved towards it, unable to feel my muscles bunching and releasing, but knowing I was running as fast as I could.
The town I raced pass was in ruins. Shops burned to ash, all the people slaughtered on the ground—the few unlucky ones still alive and squirming on the ground called out for help.
I'm sorry.
Gods I'm so sorry.
I can't help you.
I have to get to her.
Down the long path; I was brought up short as I saw the ruins of the castle. Entire chunks of stone spires simply gone. Rocks fell like an avalanche—dangerously, unpredictably.
But I had to go in. I had to find her—the burning.
I had to go to the place that was burning.
I had to stop this.
I had to stop her.
My legs pushed me forward again and the sound of destruction around me faded into a white noise. I saw men being attacked, ruthlessly murdered by shifting shadows. Every single one that looked at me, pleading for me to help them, I ignored.
Every single soul that escaped its home that day I took upon my shoulders like an endless burden. I would pay my debt to them—all of them later—but now… now…
Please, stop. Don't do this. They don't want this.
They don't want to die.
The smoke started billowing out from a certain direction, the wind carrying it towards me. I pushed on; ignoring the burning in my eyes, knowing it would feel worse when my skin was exposed to the open flame. This pain was nothing—it could be nothing or I would never make it.
I had to make it.
Downstairs. The burning was downstairs—the—!
The smoke engulfed me, choking off my air supply. I squinted my eyes and plunged into the smoky, red-hot darkness. I wanted to yell out, knowing my voice would reach her first, but unable to force a sound out between my lips.
I tripped, felt my jaw slam against the last step. Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I ran to the door and flung it open. Smoke and fire spit at me from within, determined not to let me inside.
"—!"
I looked around the room, felt my skin tingle and burn, smelled myself cooking alive. Then I saw her, I saw her sitting there in the middle, flames surrounding her, but she didn't seem to even notice them. She didn't notice me. She stared sadly at the—.
"Stop!" I screamed, my throat straining and breaking.
"—Shouldn't be here," her answer came so quietly I could barely hear her. I collapsed next to her and grabbed her hands.
"Please stop! Please stop!" I screamed. "Please don't!"
"—"
"They—!"
"—Can't!"
"But I—!"
"—Never—!"
"—Loved—!"
"—You—!"
I opened my mouth to scream again but suddenly the fire reached an extra dose of fuel and it expanded rapidly, throwing me back and slamming me against the wall. I fell to the ground with a low thud and struggled to lift my head up.
My vision blurred and I latched onto my consciousness fiercely, but it was a futile struggle. The fire sparked again, another explosion rocking me back against the wall, and when I hit the ground this time I didn't get up again.
The dream that woke him up this time was different, I could tell. Mainly because he didn't wake up screaming and the expression on his face was one I'd never seen before. I struggled to really recognize it—it was a strange mix of emotions.
Some cross between pain and fear, but there was also something that went much deeper than just fear.
No, it was closer to an utter, hopeless terror.
"What is it?" I whispered worriedly. He slowly turned to look at me and the force of the look in his eyes shook me, even without knowing what the dream had been about.
"Midna," he breathed, wrapping his arms around me and catching me off-guard. I didn't resist though, instead I just wrapped my arms around his trembling body and waited for him to mentally organize whatever it was he had just dreamed about.
After what felt like hours he finally, slowly, started to relax his grip on me and lean back. One of his hands kept a firm grip on mine, even after he fully sat up and leaned against the headboard. I waited, worriedly, for him to say something—anything, even if it didn't pertain to his dream.
"Link, you're scaring me, please say something," I whispered earnestly.
"It was the worst one," he answered after a long pause. "And…"
"And?"
"I don't… know exactly," he explained uncertainly. "Something about it… something about it…"
"Maybe you shouldn't think too much about it right now," I suggested, giving his hand a squeeze. "I don't need you snapping on me today and killing someone." I was hoping to at least get him to relax, if not smile, but he continued to stare blankly at our hands.
"I'll be okay," he reassured me, although it sounded far from confident. "And you're right. Thinking about it now won't… change anything."
"Change?"
"It's nothing." He let out a slow, unsteady breath and held up our hands to his lips, softly kissing my knuckles. "Do you think Zant's here yet?"
"Probably, but you shouldn't—."
"It's okay," he said, sounding more like his old self. "It'll be a good distraction." I looked at him uncertainly for a moment before nodding. He spared one last glance at our intertwined hands before slowly releasing his grip and rolling out of bed to get dressed for the meeting. I followed suit, but I found my eyes continuously drifting towards him, as if looking away for too long might cause him to vanish.
After we deemed ourselves appropriately dressed we made our way down the long corridors of the palace to the room I had designated for the meeting. The guards saluted crisply and explained that Zant had just arrived an hour before, and he was currently waiting patiently for our arrival. I thanked them for their services and we entered the room, a slight air of trepidation about us.
The room was just big enough to comfortably fit a small table, big enough for six, plus the chairs. The furniture and walls were fairly plain and unremarkable, the only object of distinction in the room being Zant himself, seated at the far end of the table, hands crossed and resting on the surface.
"Your Highnesses," he greeted, standing up and bowing. Link openly glared at him, clearly focusing on not thinking about the dream and channeling as much contempt towards Zant as he could manage.
"Take a seat, Zant," I commanded as we did the same. "How've you been?" He shrugged, rocking back in his chair, keeping his hands on the table to keep his balance.
"Still not crazy again," he answered dutifully, clearly uncomfortable. "May I ask why you summoned me?"
"I'm glad you haven't lost your sanity," I answered formally. "And I have another little research project for you." He suddenly stopped rocking and leaned forward, intensely interested now that research had been mentioned.
"Oh is that all?" he said happily. "I was worried you'd finally decided to execute me again." I scowled at him and Link echoed my distaste.
"We won't be executing anyone unless they've earned it," I said icily. He held up his hands in defense.
"You can never be sure in this world," he explained. "One of these days the whole game could just flip itself like a turtle and never roll back over!"
"How sure are you about your sanity?" Link asked stoically, no joking tone to be found in his voice.
"Ah, come on," Zant defended, going back to rocking in his chair. "Would I really snap here in front of the woman who killed me and the wolf that made it possible?"
"You will not speak so lightly of us," Link said, standing up and slamming his hands on the table, his chair squealing loudly at the motion.
"A-apologies," Zant stuttered, quickly falling still. Link glared at him for a long moment, and for a second I had to wonder if I could really stop him if he was truly determined to kill Zant. I'd agreed to him being armed for this meeting, so realistically my chances were pretty slim.
"Just keep your place in mind," I said, hoping to dissolve the uneasiness before anyone could do anything to snap the tension.
"Of course, Your Highness," Zant responded quietly, casting his eyes down. Link stiffly returned to his seat, crossing his arms and leaning back—eyes locked on the reformed Twili.
"About that research project," I continued as if nothing had happened. "We need you to find out all you can about dreams. We've discussed dreams with knowledgeable Hylians, but we haven't had the chance to fully investigate either side. And as you can imagine we're a bit busy to be going through a bunch of musty tomes."
"Naturally," Zant agreed respectfully. "Are there—," he paused to glance at Link, who was still glaring at him, "—any specifics I should know?" This was the tricky part. Letting Zant know what he had to look for, without further antagonizing Link.
"Uh, well."
"Prophetic dreams," Link answered, surprising both Zant and myself. "Especially dreams that pertain to symbolic fire—and…" He frowned a bit, scrunching his eyebrows together in thought. "Grudges against Hylians."
"That could take a while," Zant chuckled lightly. My hand darted out in time to stop Link from getting a hand on his sword, although I had the feeling that it wasn't my great physical strength that stopped him. Zant blinked and looked over at us, me watching Link carefully as he fumed silently. Then he realized what he had said.
"Ah, apologies!" he quickly yelped. "I just meant that the Hylians have a very long and distinguished history. But I can do that. Prophetic dreams, fire, Hylian history. Easy."
"Very good," I said, lowering my hand away from Link as he slowly relaxed again. "If you need any special materials or extra hands just inform me."
"I'll definitely need at least five other scholars," Zant answered, quickly calculating in his head. "And access to all the materials in the royal library of course. Maybe a couple of couriers to run material between other notable libraries."
"And how much time?" Link asked, still watching him carefully.
"I'll certainly work as fast as possible to obtain answers without errors," he answered quickly, confidently. "Give me a few months." I glanced over at Link to see if this would be satisfactory for him. He nodded after a careful moment of consideration.
"You'll have three months to produce solid results," he agreed. "If you don't have something worthwhile in that time…"
"Say no more," Zant responded. "You'll have your answers."
"I hope for your sake you're not mistaken," Link said quietly, standing and walking towards the door. "I believe we're done here."
"Yes," I consented. "Zant, I'll have the guards escort you to your temporary room and the library." He nodded in understanding—even knowing he didn't actually need anyone to guide him. He likely knew the palace grounds better than Link, maybe even me.
Link and I exited the room, and I rattled off a few quick commands before following him back to our chambers. As soon as he stepped into the room he made his way over to the large, open balcony. I walked over to see him leaning against the railing with clenched fists.
"Good job not killing Zant," I commented lightly, leaning against the edge next to him. The open training grounds of the barracks were strategically placed on the ground far below. Recruits both young and old practiced, swords clanging loudly, but by time the sound echoed up to us it was a dull twang.
"I worry about it sometimes," he said, speaking softly, looking out over the vast lands he now ruled over. "Maybe that's part of why I can't stop the nightmares."
"Because you worry about the kingdom?" I asked uncertainly. Could that really have that much of a negative effect? And if it did, then what would that mean for the two of us? I couldn't very well let him stay here if it was hurting him—I couldn't let him stay in a position where he would need to worry about such things.
"Not just your—our—kingdom, but what would happen if the peace fell apart between this world and Hyrule," he explained, fully leaning against the balcony rail.
"What brought this up all of sudden?" I asked worriedly. "Is this about the dream? Or about you and Zant?" Our relations with Hyrule had only been positive up and to this point, as far as I knew. Why would he suddenly worry about things falling apart—he ought to know Zelda and I would never fight each other.
"I'm sorry, we've been keeping something from you," he answered quietly, staring intensely at the ground below him. "They didn't want to keep it from you—it's not their faults—but I told them that me knowing was enough—not treasonous."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, feeling a sudden dead weight in the pit of my stomach.
"There have been some attacks on travelers near the mirror portal… they're small, but significant, and I think whoever is causing them knows that," he explained.
"Attacks?" I demanded angrily. "Why did you think it would be okay not to tell me?"
"Because!" he growled in frustration. "I know you do most of the work, so I wanted to handle something—take it off your hands. I thought it wasn't anything serious, but Hylians are reporting being attacked by Twili, and Twili are saying that Hylians are attacking them. It's been a small disagreement so far—no one was critically harmed, just some stolen goods—but the more I think about it the more I can't help but wonder…
"What if someone is trying to stir up trouble—cause something?" I failed to stay angry as he explained the situation. Mostly because he was more militarily adept than me, but also because he was right—a small scuffle should have been nothing big. Not something to trouble me over in the first place.
But clearly someone in the military thought it could be big enough to get Link involved, and that worried me more than anything else.
"Who do you think instigated the aggressions?" I asked solemnly.
"That's the thing that worries me," he explained. "Because from a military-political perspective that's what we need to know first—who started it, so we can justify retaliation. But that just feels like…"
"Like…?"
"Like whoever's behind this knows what he's doing," he said, standing up straight. I turned towards him, frowning
"You think it's one person?"
"It's just too convenient that both sides would start trouble so suddenly, without any warning, and so close together," he said, glancing over at me. "Remember what I said about instigators?"
"To justify retaliation," I echoed, crossing my arms in irritation. "So either side could justify an attack on the other. But that doesn't explain why anyone would even want to do something like this."
"He knows that if war broke out between the two kingdoms he wouldn't just be pitting monarchs against each other—he would be forcing good friends to fight needlessly. And he would force me to show definite loyalty to one side or another." He let out a slow sigh and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "He knows there would be scars that would never heal if war broke out."
"That's an awfully specific guess. There's no way of knowing if that's really the ultimate goal here. Besides, Zelda and I aren't so stupid as to fight each other, especially over a minor scuffle that's no more than housewife gossip; we both know that fighting would break the world apart," I reminded him. "And—and if it does come to that, then no one would make you choose."
"I would have to," he growled. "If I didn't show loyalty one way or another, then what am I? Unreliable, a possible weakness. I—I would have to—!"
"Disappear," I finished solemnly. "Even if Zelda and I have our hands forced, we both would understand if you took a vacation somewhere no one would find you. Maybe not Ordon—that would be too obvious—but there are other places."
He leaned back against the rail and turned to look at me, perhaps searching for some sign that I wouldn't support this, or maybe he just needed to look at me to know if he could actually go through with something like that—actually abandon both kingdoms he had fought for, and hide like a coward while good men died.
"Anyway, don't worry about something like that—there's no way of telling if the attacks are actually aimed at prodding you," I said. "For all we know it's just an isolated problem."
"You don't hear or see some of the hate that I do," he muttered thoughtfully, casting his gaze back over the railing. I blinked once then frowned.
"So that's where you go on your little walks."
"I have to get to know this place better somehow," he responded with a shrug. "And I know that somewhere buried deep down there's still a lot of resentment. I don't think I could ever really understand the depth of it."
"That's why you asked Zant to look up old grudges as well," I said, the thought suddenly occurring to me—and now it made sense.
"Yeah, that's part of it," he agreed. "And you may be right—maybe these attacks are just stupid kids messing around. But I want to make sure, so please, let me handle this."
"That's fine," I sighed, stretching. "I have plenty of other work to do anyway. Just don't keep things from me—if it gets worse tell me, especially if you find a solid link between the attacks and your position in the Twilight Realm. Because then it's my turn to go out and kick some butt." He grinned over at me and I smirked back.
"Will do, although I'd be worried if it turned out I was right," he answered with a certain false sadness. "Just think if I had to run away… How would I survive isolated from the rest of the world?"
"Don't give me that, Wolf-boy," I answered, rolling my eyes. "If anyone could survive on nothing, it would be you." His lips quirked up into a grin and he bobbed his head appreciatively, grabbing me and pulling me into his strong embrace.
"Yeah, you're probably right," he whispered, his warm breath tickling my ears. "But let's hope it doesn't come to that—and if it does, don't be surprised if I try to kidnap you on my way out." I smacked him on the back of the head, but my grin never faltered.
"Don't be stupid," I answered. He pulled away from me, flashed another of his infamous wolfish grins and turned to leave the room; off to either wander around somewhere and get himself in trouble, or work out down in the barracks. He could probably stand to release some aggression. I shook my head and turned back towards the balcony's edge and peered over it, at the ground far below.
If a war broke out… the damages might be irreparable. Even knowing that Zelda and I clashed almost unavoidably on certain matters, it didn't seem like enough to send our kingdoms into ruin. We agreed more than we disagreed—sometimes it was just a matter of having a different style, a different way of going about things.
A war like that would simply never happen.
It was just an impossible notion.
A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the wait, but I just want to make this as good as I'm capable of. So please, I'm literally begging you: if you see any kind of mistakes, out-of-character-ness, or something just doesn't make sense, tell me! Songs for this chapter: I Love You by Avril Lavigne and Pretty Baby by Vanessa Carlton.