My Ugly Duckling

Part Four

By GreatAngemon

"Then what?" Zelda asks, looking at our papers strewn over the table top.

"Then what, what?" I ask back.

"The hearing. After the hearing, then what?"

I smile. "After the hearing, if you play your cards right, there'll be a trial. I'll call character witnesses who'll say you'll make a great mother. Then we also have our secret weapons.

"Our secret weapons?"

"One of them is a secret that I can't tell you. The other is that we have witnesses that'll say he's an unfit parent. A fair defense, seeing as I'm sure that's his own case." I stare at her intently, and say, "We do have witnesses who'll say he's an unfit parent, right?"

She looks down at her lap. "I've been looking, like you said, but nobody wants to go against him. He's a pretty important character in Castle Town. He scares them." She sighs.

"Aren't there any people who knew about your relationship?" I ask. She nods.

"Plenty. Anju, his personal assistant, but she won't testify against him. She's in love with him. Telma was the secretary at the firm we worked at, but she thinks he's the best lawyer ever, and wouldn't say anything to ruin his reputation.

"Our boss, Abe, was the owner of the firm. He didn't like that we were seeing each other, but he promised he wouldn't tell anyone, and he won't say anything that'd hurt me or my reputation. I was his protégé, or something." She smiles, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"The only other I can think of is my mother. She never liked him, and… I haven't exactly told her that we had a kid together."

"That could be problematic," I say. "She needs to know beforehand, or else she'll be guilty of perjury when she says she knew."

"I'll call her later." She looks thoughtfully at her sandwich, then says, "Can you tell me what'll happen at the Masters Conference?"

"The court appointed master will ask you and Ganondorf questions, assessing whether either of you are less fit to be a parent. If he determines one of you superior as a fit parent, he'll list the trial as a non-emergency, and your case will be put on the back burner, and you won't go to court for about another month. You need to make it seem like you're both fit parents when you're at the hearing. I can't win you full custody there, but I can at court.

"He'll ask questions about living conditions and what type of food you serve her. Then he'll ask you about your work habits, and what you do with her while you're at work. He'll also ask for things like her favorite food and color."

"What?" Zelda asks incredulously.

"That way he can gauge how well each of you knows her. He can't make a case based on that, but it'll help."

"How do you know all this?"

"That's my secret." I grab a sandwich off the tray she'd brought out of the kitchen and take a bite. "Now, you and I will need to practice running through a cross-examination."

"I know how it works-"

"I know you do. You've been on my side plenty of times, I know, but have you ever been on the other side? Have you ever been cross-exmined?" She shakes her head. "I didn't think so. It's a completely different process from where you'll be sitting. Your mind will freeze up. You'll be terrified of losing Elisa. But you can't be scared. You need to show that you're in control. Make it seem like you expected anything that happens, to have happened. Better, make it seem like you wanted it to happen.

"Make them know you can win." I grab my briefcase off the floor next to my chair. "I'll see you in three days, after your hearing. Call me as soon as it's over."

"I will." She walks with me to the door, then says, as I leave, "Link, can you promise me that we'll win?'

I shake my head. "I can't promise we'll win. I do promise that I'll do my best to get Elisa back. I promise that I'll do my best to make sure we win." She smiles, and I add, "I need to go. I have some witnesses of my own I need to find."

I ring the buzzer of a small apartment complex. A moment later, a voice asks from the speaker, "Hello? Who's there?"

"My name's Link. I called you earlier, about the upcoming trial." The lock clicks.

"Come on up. Floor three, room four." I open the door and head up the stairs. When I reach the third floor, I see a young woman standing outside a door. When I walk up to her, she smiles. "Hi, Link. I'm Anju, Ganondorf's assistant at the firm."

"Hello Anju," I say, shaking her hand. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, please do." She leads me into the apartment, and sits down in a chair. "How can I help you, Link?" she asks.

"I don't know if you've heard," I say, "but your boss, Ganondorf, is going to court against your old colleague, Zelda Royale."

"Yes, I did hear something about that."

"Do you know what it's about?"

"I assumed it was just another case they had to fight against each other," she says. "Was I wrong?"

"A little bit. This case is being taken to family court."

"Ganondorf's trying to split up a family?" she asks, looking worried. "I can't believe he'd do anything that would hurt a family."

"Zelda told me that you're in love with Ganondorf. Is that true?"

She looks nervous, but nods. "I'm really sorry to have to say this, but Ganondorf's not just trying to split up a family. He's trying to take a child away from her mother. His own child, away from Zelda, in fact."

"What? Ganondorf and Zelda had a child together? I knew they had been seeing each other a few years ago, but I didn't know they had a kid." Her face is pale, and she seems disoriented at the news.

"Can I get you anything?" I ask, worried about her. "A glass of water?"

"Water-water would be nice," she whispers. I hurry into the kitchen and search the cupboards for a glass. When I find it, I fill it with water and hand it to Anju.

As she sips the water, I say, "So, Ganondorf's never brought Elisa in? Not even once?"

"No. He doesn't act like a father either. He's always yelling. I… I can only imagine what he's like at home." She seems startled, and adds, "Actually, now that I think about it, he did bring in a little girl, once. But he told me that he was watching her for his sister, Nabooru."

"His sister, huh?" I say, taking a notebook out of my pocket. "Can you give me her address?" Then I glance at my watch. "I'm sorry. I've taken too much of your time. I'll leave now." She hands me a business card with the name, Nabooru Wildern.

At the door, I say, "Can I ask you to please be a character witness for Zelda's side?"

"What will I have to do?"

"Just tell the court that you think she'd be a good mother I won't ask you to testify against Ganondorf, if you don't want to."

"I will, if you need me to." Her face is solemn. "Ganondorf has been lying to me, and everyone, for how long now? Seven years? Eight? He betrayed me. I'll do anything to help you. I promise."

I put my car into park in Nabooru Wildern's driveway, and step out. Just then, a deep olive skinned woman walks out of the house. She's carrying a baby in her arms. "Oh, hello," she says. "Are you here to see Carpetto?"

"No, I'm actually here to see you. You are Nabooru Wildern, right?"

"Yeah, I'm Nabooru." She peers down at me. It suddenly strikes me just how tall she is. She stands a foot taller than me. "What do you need? I'm kind of in a hurry."

"It's about Ganondorf."

She looks stunned. Then, pulling a phone out of her pocket, she says, "Come inside." As we walk, she punches a few numbers in. "Hello… yeah, I won't be coming in today… it's about my brother."

We head into the living room, where we sit down. "How can I help you?"

"Did you know that your brother is going to court for the custody of a child?"

"Yes, I do know that."

"Did you know it was his child?"

"Yeah. He has me babysit for him sometimes."

"Every day, while he's at work?" I ask.

"Hardly. I have to work too. My husband, Carpetto, is a merchant, but, well, he's not that great. His shop is kind of secluded, and he doesn't have a lot of business."

"What does he do with Elisa when you don't babysit?"

"I don't know. I've never asked. But she seems kind of lonely, like she stays home a lot. She doesn't really talk. She just sits there."

"Hmmm…" Then her phone rings. She looks helplessly over at the phone, so I say, "I can hold your son, if you want." She gives me a grateful glance before handing me the baby and hurrying to the phone.

When she returns, I hand her the baby, and she says, "That was Ganondorf. He just asked me to help him at court."

"Well, are you going to?"

"I don't know."

"Can you at least tell me one thing before I leave? I have other people I need to meet." She nods. "What is Ganondorf's house like?"

She looks confused for a moment, then stands again. She walks over to a small table, picks up a small framed photograph, and hands it to me. "That was taken a month ago."

I spare the photo a glance, and say, "Can I take this? I'll use it as evidence." She nods.

"Thank you very much, Miss Wildern. I appreciate this."

End of Chapter Four.