A Day in the Life of Link, a Hyrule Academy Student
Chapter 4
Link, Midna, and Zelda weaved through the maze of Sixth Years gathering in the hall, which turned out to be quite amusing as Zelda noticed that groups of Sixth Years would split up and then meet up with each other again at the other side as they walked around Link's group.
The three finally reached the great hall of the academy, the place where all of the students gathered for meals and the morning break. Midna spotted a table to sit at, and the friends rushed over to the spot.
"All right, who wants tea?" Midna announced. "It's my day to order tea, so tell me what you want, give me the rupees, and I'll go get it."
Link and Zelda put in their orders and handed Midna three rupees each from their pouches. Midna grinned, flashing her slightly pointed teeth, and added her own three rupees to the pile. She then walked off to join the line for tea.
Link looked in his school bag for the snack that he had made after breakfast. It was a delicious-looking sandwich, consisting of rice and some red Chu Jelly to restore energy. Zelda, noting that Link had unpacked his snack, took out hers. Zelda had made herself a set of gyazan, delicious Hylian dumplings.
Midna soon returned with the teas. "Here you go, hero boy. Jasmine tea for you. And for the princess, milk tea. Of course, I've got white pearl," she told them.
"Thank you, Midna," Zelda said. "They look great!"
Link thanked Midna as the Twili unrolled some sweet white chocolate wafers from her meal pouch.
He soon noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Skyron?" Link asked.
Midna had a quick remark to that. "Probably off with some of those Calatian friends of his," she said.
That was correct, as Skyron was known to be from a family of high-ranking Calatians. They were in a close relationship with the Royal Family of Calatia-kingdom. Link suspected that there was one other Calatian in the academy that he was unaware of, as Skyron always seemed to be dwelling on something with his hand at his side, right where a sword would be on a traditional Calatian belt.
As the bell for fourth period rang, Link cast away his thoughts and rushed to his biology class. Fourth period biology with Professor Landhol was always an interesting class. Though the students usually worked on group projects (which Link hated), he usually found something to enjoy.
Stepping into Professor Landhol's classroom, Link saw that they were working in partners today. At least it wasn't as bad as groups of four, and maybe he would get an intelligent partner. Just then, the bell rang to signal the start of class. Professor Landhol walked on up to the podium, where she debriefed the day's assignment.
"All right! Welcome to Friday, Mai 22!" she announced. "Today, we will be working on a poster to determine the evolutionary tree of the Hylian Cucco." The class groaned, but Professor Landhol continued. "I will assign the groups now. Group one is Anton and Yassen. Group two, working at the back table, will be Rose and Riwah." The professor talked for a little longer until Link heard his name. "Group twelve, working in the back corner, will be Link and Ruth."
Ruth Stradivaria. That was who he was assigned to work with. Slightly stunned by Professor Landhol's choice of the eloquent girl as his partner, he walked slowly to the back corner. As he arrived, he saw that a long, stretched-out sheet of parchment and colored ink trays settled themselves on the table. Ruth stepped placidly towards the table to begin working.
As soon as Professor Landhol gave the signal to begin working, Ruth waved a hand and two fine quills appeared on the table. Link thanked her and dipped one of them into an ink tray and began to write a title in formal letters on the top of the parchment. Ruth looked at him quizzically, placing an elegant-looking (but strong from many years of playing violtan) finger next to the letters. They disappeared, but soon rewrote themselves in scrolling lettering.
"How did you do that?" he asked Ruth. Link had not known that she was a powerful musician.
Ruth spoke to him then. "It is a gift passed down through the Ca – I mean Stradivaria family. My mother has it, as well as my grandmother, and most of the females in my line."
Link nodded in appreciation of the magic, thinking that Zelda and Ruth might enjoy practicing magic together. They resumed working.
For the most part, Link and Ruth worked in silence, except for the occasional question from one of them. Link was thinking upon what family besides the Royal Family, the Eldin Family, the Lanayru Family, the Faronene Family, and of course the Triforce-bearers had an exceptionally strong gift of magic when he heard a light clattering on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, and saw that it was a silver medallion. Ruth looked down, horrified.
She panicked. "Gavay- I mean, give me that!" she cried. Link quickly handed her the medallion and saw, for one single second, that her irises were a startling black. Then they returned to the normal grayish-blue color that Link was accustomed to.
"Wha-?" Link asked, but was silenced by Ruth.
She sighed and lowered her eyes. "I guess I have to tell you, now that you've seen all that."
Link silently questioned her with his eyes.
"I'm the Princess of Calatia," she explained. Link's eyes widened, but she went on. "You probably know that Calatians are always seeking more knowledge. I was sent to study at the Hyrule Academy in Heian for two years to acquire knowledge of your country. When those two years are up, I will return to Calatia and have my Ceremony of Acceptance, which means that I will have the right to take over the throne when my parents resign or pass away."
Link was flooded with all this information, and had a million and one questions, but one glance from those piercing black eyes and he was silenced. "You know of Skyron Chevalian, right?" she asked. Link nodded. "He has been my compagnon since we were three years old and bonded by the Moment of Mind as we were playing in the castle guardians. Ever since then, we've always been within mind-distance from each other and watching over together. So when he spaces out, I am informing him of anything he needs to know via mental magic."
Link nodded and decided it would be best not to ask any questions. They finished the poster together, now with much more enjoyment.
As Link left Professor Landhol's classroom, he knew that he now shared a Bond of Knowledge with Ruth as she sent him a telepathic message: See you later, Link.
Fifth period started off very eventfully. Reaching the Swordsmanship class he and Zelda had enrolled in for their second elective class, Link saw that the wide Swordplay Arena was in chaos due to a team of two, the two in Swordsmanship class that made Mistress Fi as close as one without emotions could get to being mad. Those two were Sartak and Fiera. They were absolutely insane, running in circles around the Arena and then stopping to whisper and snicker together, most likely telling some strange joke. Mistress Fi was speaking to them, asking them to stop, though it was not likely they would.
"Sir Sartak, Lady Fiera, there is a 99 percent chance that you will both be receiving detentions when this class is over if you do not stop that!" Mistress Fi said to them.
Two figures over in the corner were already prepared, with their swords and shields lying next to them on the ground. They were Yosaff and Jannas Dark, Link's two rivals in the Swordplay class. While Yosaff was a fairly normal young Hylian, Jannas was different. His skin was so pale it was almost gray, and he always wore the head-to-toe black version of the school uniform. His teeth seemed sharp and pointed at the ends, and his eyes had a red glimmer when he was grinning, which usually was not a very good thing. Now Link saw that Jannas was grinning, and tried to avoid his gaze as he hurried into the changing rooms.
Link donned the required Swordplay attire: a light chain mail tunic with the emblem of the Hyrule Royal Crest stitched on a gray-blue covering. He took his training sword (as it would be unfair to use the Goddess Sword or Master Sword against the students in the class) and a standard wooden shield. Heading out, he closed the door of his cabinet and remembered to strap on his shin and arm guards.
Link arrived in the Swordplay Arena and saw Zelda standing off to the corner, waiting for him.
"Hey, Link!" she called. "Guess what? We're having a Tournament today!"
Link was overjoyed at this prospect. It was always fun to see who had improved upon their sword skills since the last Tournament, and of course he liked the friendly competition with the other students. The one drawback was that Jannas was in the competition, either smirking at the others or looking generally evil.
"Sounds awesome!" Link told Zelda. "What stage is today's Tournament set in?"
In the Advanced Swordplay class, each Tournament was set in a different stage. Sometimes it would be the Platform Switch, a stage where the platforms that the students were fighting on would suddenly drop out and switch to a different one. This meant that students would have to use all of their athletic skills to compete in the Tournament. Another stage was Environment, where students would battle in a certain environment such as Volcano, Ice, or Forest. The last (and most difficult) stage was Magic Contest, a stage combining Platform Switch, Environment, and magic laws that prevented and backfired certain combat spells depending on how long the battle had gone on. This stage was never predictable and some students had been injured in it, although most falls were stopped by Mistress Fi.
Zelda looked nervous. "Magic Contest," she said to Link.
The students began to gather on the bleachers of the Swordplay Arena. Link saw that many of them were looking anxious, having heard about the Magic Contest stage of the Tournament. Mistress Fi soon glided to the center of the arena, which silenced the class.
"Young sirs, ladies, it is time for the class to call attention," Mistress Fi said. "Today you will all participate in the Tournament. There will be assigned battle pairs and your partner will be considered your opponent." She continued in her strange, flat voice. " Today's stage, as many of you have heard, is a Magic Tournament stage of Platform Switch and Ice." The students looked around nervously. "Battles will be observed by the rest of the class. You may now have a warm-up time of exactly three minutes." Mistress Fi stopped and waved a glass-like, blue hand towards the rest of the arena and the students scattered.
Link and Zelda partnered together for the warm-up. They practiced forward slashes, parries, and worked on combat spells for the Magic Contest stage. Finally the three minutes were up and the class headed back to the bleachers.
Mistress Fi magicked the floor of the arena open. Platforms rose up out of the storage pit and settled themselves high in the air. The roof doors closed and an icy atmosphere came into the arena. It was time for the Magic Contest Tournament.
"The first Tournament pair will be Sir Groose versus Sir Zart," Mistress Fi announced. The two boys stepped up to the platform with much bravado and the battle started.
Neither Groose nor Zart were particularly skilled in combat spells, so their whole round was quite amusing for the rest of the class. Time after time Groose or Zart would cast a spell and it would either only give half of the intended effects or it would randomly explode and shower ChuChus everywhere. This annoyed the swordsmen and eventually they collapsed in a heap on one end of the platform. Slow clapping ensued, with Mistress Fi asking them to attend a training session during their Magic Skills period. They stood up, embarrassed, and left the center arena.
The next battle pair was Zelda against Fiera. With this pair it was clear who would win. Zelda, being a Triforce-bearer (especially that of Wisdom), had far superior magic skills, while Fiera had a technical advantage of being the daughter of a master swordsman, Orca Outset. The battle was quick and decisive. Zelda immediately cast a high-level combat spell, The Hero's Cry. Fiera, with her uncanny instincts, immediately tried to block the spell. However, the spell broke through her shield and raised her in the air, magic sparks pinning her body like lightning. Zelda's spell set Fiera softly on the platform, all of the swordswoman's energy vaporized. Fiera let out a little cry and then slumped on the ground. The class applauded.
Many of the other battles were inconsequential, with a few notable exceptions: Yosaff and Perseus's battle (who would have thought that Perseus could pull off a Hero's Lament spell?!) and Faruin and Tetra's battle (Faruin had a mean Vampire Hex).
Mistress Fi announced that the last Tournament battle would be Link Yoshirou versus Jannas Dark. Since the boys both had magical swords and shields, they were allowed to use them in the battle. Link grabbed his Goddess Sword and Hylian Shield as Jannas armed himself with the Demon Sword and Lorulian Shield. The two leaped up to the platforms and the battle begun.
Jannas leaped at Link, startling him out of his strategizing. Quickly blocking, Link realized that there was no time for strategy. It was to be short, fast, and intense. Leaping back, Link saw that Jannas had no visible weak points. Jannas slashed again. Link parried and rolled behind him, but Jannas was surprisingly agile.
Maybe his weakness is combat spells, Link thought. He hurriedly cast a Hero's Shade spell and disappeared into the shadows. Link moved in Jannas's shadow and leapt out to attack. Jannas was startled, but quickly blocked the attack.
"Time for a step up," Jannas snarled and leapt at Link. A fierce duel ensued. The air in the arena was heavy with tension and the sound of clashing blades. Finally Link saw an opening.
Link raised his sword diagonally and attacked. Jannas blocked fiercely. The two boys' swords clanged together and met in an "X" position. Both put huge pressure on the blade. Standing there, each realized that they were unable to defeat the other. Their skills were evenly matched. But neither would admit defeat, and thus kept pressing on the blade.
"ENOUGH!" came the cry of Mistress Fi. "The Tournament is over. Sir Link and Sir Jannas, you're done. Come down."
Link and Jannas lowered their swords and looked at each other. Jannas smirked. Link grinned back at him.
"Next time, Link."
"Next time, Jannas."
The lunch bell rang.
Hey there! I finally finished it! Although it took me a month… sorry about that. Writing it was fun though! I'd already had an idea of how the sword battle would finish, I just needed to create a way for it to happen. Anyways, now for announcements.
The Triforce Awakens may be postponed until I finish this story, maybe not.
I got an Instagram account! See it at thatsymphonygirl. Many Zelda pictures will be there :3
I'm on summer vacation now! Yaaaaaaayyyy!
Love, Sinfonie 3