Chapter Three
The early morning sunlight filtered through the sides of the drawn curtains, dimly illuminating the room as Tuli performed her morning ritual. Three fist-sized spheres of flame orbited her head as she concentrated on them, feeding magical energy into maintaining them and manipulating their movements. In nothing but a light silk shift, she sat cross-legged on the oval rug in the centre of her room, facing away from the door and towards her writing desk, her eyes staring straight ahead and her face set in a mask of concentration.
This exercise was one she had been using since she first started practicing magic, and had been taught to her by her original mentor. Early on, she could only control one small sphere with any amount of skill, but eventually she had built up her ability until she could handle multiple larger fireballs at once. Tuli didn't imagine that her magical ability would grow too much greater than its current level, but the exercise was theoretically infinitely scalable and she would likely continue to use it as long as she was an active practitioner of the art. It kept her mind sharp and her magical aptitude precise, better than any other regular training she had tried.
Who did Link think he was, not even coming to see her when he returned to the castle? The globes flew faster as Tuli's indignation grew. He was the only reason she was even here, after all, him and his ridiculous obsession with finding this Midna character. Tuli's rooms or the library had always been his first priority as soon as he returned to the castle in the past, in case she had made some progress while he was away or to supply her with discoveries he had made in the field. What had changed?
The fiery spheres spun through the air at a dizzying pace, bobbing and weaving around her head in a complex pattern. To be fair, from what she had determined he did come back pretty late yesterday afternoon and had been waylaid by Princess Zelda as soon as he had. He had probably just decided it was too late to see her and wanted to avoid a repeat of his last visit.
The burning orbs froze in midair, hanging suspended around her. Not that she wanted to have him barging in at all hours of the night, but she had gone to all the trouble of getting everything ready for him – the least he could have done was to actually show up.
Her eyes flicked over to where her pointed hat lay crumpled in the far corner of the room, where she had tossed it last night. It was her best wizzrobe hat, made of soft black panne velvet with a wide brim and a black ribbon fastened around the base of the cone with a thin, polished silver buckle. Her best robes lay tossed over the back of the wooden chair in front of her writing desk, sky blue linen worked with mystical embellishments along the edgings, along with her best black shawl.
She held up her right palm, and one of the fireballs floated down gently and rested a finger's-width above her skin. She hadn't been trying to impress him by dressing up or anything, she told herself – she just believed in looking her best when presenting herself as a professional scholar and wizzrobe. Mostly.
Although, if Link hadn't come last night, then that would mean he would likely come to see her this morning. Cursing mentally, Tuli quenched the remaining spheres of fire and pulled herself to her feet, gathering up her clothes and examining them to ensure they had not been creased too badly by her rough treatment. After a moment she nodded to herself, satisfied that they were still wearable.
Her gaze flicked briefly to the leftmost drawer of her writing desk, where she had ferreted away her notes regarding the Ocarina of Time last night after Princess Zelda's unexpected visit to her room; the small key to the drawer was tucked behind the ribbon on her wizzrobe hat. She was disappointed that she wasn't able to present her findings to Link, and uncomfortable with hiding them from him. Tuli understood the princess's concerns, but she didn't think Zelda was going about things the right way. Of course, the scholar didn't have any better suggestions, but still. It wasn't right to be hiding things from Link.
Sighing, she started getting herself ready – she still needed to get dressed, brush her hair, wash her face, scrub her teeth and make herself smell nice, among other things. She wasn't sure when Link would decide to turn up, but she would be ready for him when he did.
- - - - - -
Sweat gleamed on Link's bare chest as he deftly manipulated the training sword, moving from form to form with flowing precision. This morning routine was something he had drilled into himself to keep his skills sharp in the mostly peaceful times since Ganon's defeat. Morning sunlight bathed the hard-packed earth of the training yard, tucked away in one of the back corners of the castle – it was used mainly by the Royal Knights for training, but while he stayed in the castle Link liked to come here of a morning before anyone else showed up and train in solitude.
He was just finishing up when Bain and Talis entered the yard, both clad in the snug brown tunics that most Knights wore when training. They walked over to a rough, long wooden bench sitting against one wall of the training yard as they watched him complete his exercises. Sticking the wooden weapon point-first in the dirt of the training yard, Link adjusted the way his leather breeches were sitting and approached them casually. "Did you two know about that the Princess was arranging a tour of the kingdom?"
Bain nodded. "Everyone in the castle knows about it." He unfastened a bulging waterskin from his belt and held it out towards the sweating youth.
"Is something wrong?" From the way Talis regarded him with a cautious eye, it was apparent that the older man had noticed Link's mood.
Stretching out a hand to take the offered waterskin, Link filled them in on the events of last night in between mouthfuls of the cool liquid. When he had finished quenching his thirst, he tossed the emptied skin onto the rough wooden bench then plonked down next to it, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back against the cool masoned stone of the castle wall.
"It did seem odd that Commander Roam had not begun making arrangements yet. I'm sorry. I should have realised." Talis folded his arms and furrowed his brow as he spoke.
Link made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "It doesn't matter." Straightening up, he focused a careful gaze on his companions. "I can count on you guys, right?"
Both of the other knights nodded simultaneously, without any signs of hesitation. "What do you need us to do?"
The golden-haired youth paused for a second before nodding slightly himself. "Alright. We have one day to arrange everything, so you'll need to move fast. Bain – pick out a dozen more of the newly risen knights, and say thirty of the regular soldiery, twenty or so archers and a handful of scouts. We shouldn't need more than that, I don't think. There isn't much in the way of threats around any more, and the knights on their own will be more than enough to handle anything we might come across. The rest is for show.
Talis, you're in charge of logistics. I know you've had a heap of experience in moving soldiers around, so I'll trust your judgement as to how much of what we'll need, and how we're going to transport it all. I don't know exactly how long this 'tour' is going to take us, but to be safe it might be an idea to prepare as if we're going to be on the road for about a month. It should be no problem for you to arrange everything for a small group like this. If either of you have any problems let me know, but otherwise we'll coordinate tonight to make sure nothing is missed."
There was a brief murmur of agreement from the two knights before each brought their fist up to their chest in salute. Link mirrored the gesture firmly. "Alright. In the meantime, I'm going to go see Tuli. I didn't have a chance to last night after the Princess ambushed me." With that, Link turned and strode out of the training yard and into the twisting corridors of the castle.
A quick visit to his chambers was required for him to wash his arms and face and change into one of his clean green tunics, and it gave him a chance to gather his thoughts regarding the princess's wishes. As an afterthought, he flagged down one of the many servants who were going about their morning duties and asked that she let Tuli know that he would be coming to see her shortly.
With less than a hundred in Princess Zelda's escort, it was likely that Commander Roam and some of the other knights would think Link was being careless in his duty. Perhaps he was. The main reason he had restricted the size of the group so heavily was because he knew it was far easier to move swiftly in a smaller group, and he wanted this 'tour' of the Princess's to be over as quickly as possible so that he would be able to return to other pursuits.
Quickly, Link made his way through the castle to the guest quarters and rapped his knuckles smartly on Tuli's door. At least he had the good sense to knock this time.
"Come in."
Link opened the door, closing it behind him once he stepped inside the room. Tuli was standing beside her writing desk, wearing a sky-blue robe with a black shawl tossed over her shoulders, and tall, pointed black wizzrobe hat. Dressed as she was, she looked more like a royal wizard or sage than a scholar-for-hire. Link smiled at her warmly as he approached. "Hi Tuli."
The young scholar inclined her head coolly, a wintery tone in her voice. "Link."
For a moment, Link was caught off balance. Tuli wasn't usually this icy with him – had he done something to offend her without meaning to? He couldn't think of anything that would have angered her. "Uh. How has everything been? Have you made much progress in your research?"
"Some. Nothing too promising yet, though."
"Okay…" The icy gaze that Tuli had fixed on Link left him mystified. Usually the scholar was bubbly and friendly, her sentences punctuated with 'um'ing and 'ah'ing. "What have you found, then?" Link felt his shoulders relax as Tuli's hard gaze slid from him to the desk she stood beside. She took a single step towards it and reached down, plucking a black and orange crystalline object from the tabletop. Once, Tuli would have handled the Shadow Crystal far more gingerly, but since she had managed to confirm it was completely inert she was far more casual about touching it.
"Well, as you know, I've been doing some experimentation with the Shadow Crystal. I think I am fairly close to finding a way to mimic the Crystal's connection to the Twilight. Once I can do that, I should be able to study the connection in-depth, and in time I might even be able to re-create the Twilight Mirror, or something very much like it." She started to study the crystal intently, tracing its orange ridges with her index finger.
"Oh… Good work. Keep me posted on your progress with that." Link paused, waiting for a response. After it became apparent none was forthcoming, he made an attempt to move the conversation forward. "Is there anything else?"
Tuli looked up at him, a startled expression on her face, and almost dropped the Shadow Crystal. "Um. No. There's nothing else." She dropped her gaze from his face again and placed the crystal carefully back on the tabletop, then unconsciously began to smooth the front of her robe with her hands.
"Is… everything ok?"
"Everything's fine! Why wouldn't everything be fine?"
"I don't know! Are you sure?" By the Goddesses, the girl was confusing him. First she acted like he had done something wrong, and now she was acting like she was the one who had something to hide.
"Link, I…" For a second, Tuli looked back up at him and seemed to be on the brink of saying something before she bit her lip. "Ugh. Never mind."
"What?" The knight's tone was cautious.
"I said never mind!" Tuli folded her arms beneath her breasts and glared at him. "Look, I have a lot of research to do if I'm going to decipher the magic inside the Shadow Crystal."
Link put up his hands defensively. "Okay… I'll just leave you to it, then."
Sighing, the scholar dropped her arms to her side and gave a somewhat apologetic smile. "I'll let you know as soon as I learn something more."
Realising that he wasn't going to get any further with her, Link changed tack slightly. "Thank you. I assume you know about the little excursion that Princess Zelda has planned?"
Tuli nodded. "Yes, why?"
"I'm going to be in charge of her entourage, so I won't be in the castle for a few weeks. If you discover anything while I'm gone, just send me a letter. That one postman manages to get around fast, and he'll carry word to me quickly."
"Alright. I will see you when you return, then." She gave another tight smile.
"When I return." Putting a fist to his chest, Link gave a slight bow and made for the door. He had no idea what had gotten into Tuli, but really at this point he didn't have time to find out and getting to the bottom of it would have to wait until another time. He had far too much to do to get ready to leave tomorrow to be worrying about what was going on with her.
Link turned down into a long hallway with a high, vaulted roof and a series of marble pillars lining it on either side. It was frustrating that Tuli hadn't made much progress since he last saw her – her last line of inquiry, regarding the extinct race known as the Sheikah, hadn't turned anything up either. She was smart, but Link was beginning to think that it was beyond her ability to help him to reach the Twilight Realm.
Turning again, Link froze and ducked back into the hall he had come from when he saw Princess Zelda and an escort rounding the corner up ahead. He really didn't want to deal with Zelda again so soon, especially not right after Tuli's queer behaviour. His eyes darted around as he looked for a door close enough for him to duck through. Failing to see one, an alternative occurred to him.
Reaching behind his back, Link took out one of his clawshots from its holster. He raised the metal device over his head, taking careful aim before squeezing the handle and causing the claw-like head to shoot out and latch firmly onto a weak spot on the vaulted roof. Quickly rappelling to the ceiling with a flick of his wrist, Link hung suspended from the clawshot's strong chain, relying on his impressive upper body strength to keep himself aloft while he kept an eye on the hall below.
Sure enough, a minute or two later the Princess and her escort passed directly beneath him. Link held his breath and held himself still, attempting to make as little noise as possible. The roof was a good twenty feet high in this particular hall, and they passed him by without looking up. After they were out of sight, he gave it until the count of a hundred before lowering himself gently to the ground and replacing the clawshot into its holster.
He gave a slight chuckle when he thought about what he had just done before setting off again. He would need to pack a few things if he was going to be on the road for a couple of weeks. On the other hand, this was a nice opportunity to clear his head and focus on something else for a while before getting back into his search for Midna, and he could use it to show Zelda that he wasn't neglecting his duties as a Royal Knight. Humming softly to himself, he strode towards his quarters.