Hey, been a while since my last update. Sorry. Exams, projects, and mobs of adoring supermodels have all been distracting me lately. In any case, here's a little update, and major thanks go out to the reviewers who reminded me that this thing was languishing out here.
It was known throughout the land that the Princess loved to read. The King would boast to all the nobles that his daughter was perhaps the most advanced reader for her age in the history of Hyrule, and dared them to refute the claim. Even if one had been compelled to attempt such insolence, it would be a difficult feat. It was common knowledge to those who regularly wore lots of silk that the young Zelda had recently read all the Royal Library's Tomes on the History of the World, even the dry bits describing what the Goddesses did after creating everything. Not only that, but she understood it all perfectly, as evidenced by her creating a delightful abridged version with lots of colorful pictures that her tutor had to admit told the story accurately.
And because she was such an accomplished reader, it was never a surprise for the morning patrol to find her bedroom door ajar at the crack of dawn with the princess in bed, midway through a book she had just left to fetch. If the guards had been familiar with the latest serials, or even cared enough to read the title, they might have wondered at what the young girl was doing with a copy of the latest Zoras in Love novel, but the men who made up the bulk of the Hylian armed forces weren't exactly known for their interest in literature.
What they were known for was discipline, respect, and a love of getting an extra break. Therefore, it was without hesitation that they saluted Impa and quickly left her alone with the Princess when the Sheikah thanked and dismissed them.
When Zelda turned her gaze to Impa, her eyes were a far cry from the soft blue orbs that had been indulging in the carefree perusal of the worthless work of fiction before her. They were clearer, sharper, a bit harder, and much more intelligent.
"What have you to report?" The voice was different as well. It was still a child's voice, but it now held a deeper quality of confidence, competence, and authority. In contrast to that, however, it also carried with it the comforting sense of grace and empathy that Princess Zelda had always exuded. It was the voice of a leader, the voice of the one who knew what it felt like to hold the Triforce of Wisdom.
"Princess..." The Sheikah respectfully fell to one knee, something that would have been expected of her in front of the King, but if anybody saw her doing this in front of her supposed student and ward it would be seen as odd. Not unreasonable, but certainly odd. Zelda herself was not fond of the practice and took the time to make this known to her nursemaid and dear friend once again, but Impa would have none of it.
"It would be one thing if you truly were just the King's daughter, but you and I both know that you are at least the equal to His Majesty after everything that has happened."
The young girl scoffed at this, dismissing the notion. "It will still be some time until I am the ruler my Father is."
A knowing smile was visible on the Sheikah's face when she rose to her full, impressive height again. "You may say so, but you are quick to take action when you believe that the 'King's Advisers' are needed."
Keeping her tone perfectly neutral, Zelda replied,"I merely have some reliable information as to the general direction our Kingdom will be heading in the next few years. It would be folly not to make use of the knowledge for the improvement of our citizens' quality of life. I'm merely making such knowledge available to the King." Finally smiling and dropping her formal tone, she added, "Also, Daddy wouldn't know optimal taxation rates if he sat in them, but that's quite beside the point."
Chuckling at the Princess's words almost made Impa forget the importance of what she had come to say, but the levity was short lived. The memory of Morpha's terrifying form dragging an innocent citizen of Hyrule into the depths caused the Sheikah's face to harden immediately.
"Princess, I am afraid that I have dire news." Once it was clear that Zelda was listening intently, she continued. "A beast has emerged that bodes ill for the peace we have only briefly enjoyed."
"I know you wouldn't indulge in melodramatics if it wasn't serious," Zelda stated, the slight tinge of dark humor in her voice not quite fitting the innocent face that produced it. "I have braced myself, Impa. Please, tell me everything."
The explanation was detailed, but succinct. The rescue of the victim was noted, but there was no trace of pride in the telling of the tale. Simple statements of facts, nothing more or less. A professional's report.
When it was done, the Princess took a moment to collect her thoughts before replying. "We should see to it that the Lake is isolated, then."
"My exact thoughts, Princess. But you know how tempting it is to find out what's behind the guarded door. It will only be a matter of time before it kills again. Unless it is destroyed."
At the introduction of violence into the conversation, the young girl sighed. Even negotiations on trade agreements with the Gerudo were more pleasant a prospect than talk of military action. "Of course. I have no doubt from your description that it is indeed Morpha, and in such a case there can be no diplomatic solution." Laughing mirthlessly at this, Zelda turned to look at herself in her ornate mirror. This job was going to kill her. She was going to be the only child to ever have worry lines on her forehead and frown wrinkles down her face. "We must make contact with the Zoras as soon as possible, they stand to lose the most in this mess. You know how to handle that. Have you told Father about this situation yet?"
"Not yet, Princess, I came to you first. I will, however, take my leave now so as to inform him. He will do all that is necessary to contain the beast, but I am afraid that he will require assistance on the ultimate solution from his 'Advisers.' A simple assault with the militia would end in disaster."
Nodding in agreement, the Princess didn't even seem to notice the Sheikah before her bowing before her once more. "Yes. Go to Father then. Thank you, Impa."
When Impa vanished in her cloud of smoke, as she was wont to do, Zelda's eyes lost much of their strength and her expression lost much of its confidence. Alone, she felt very scared; scared like the child she was.
She allowed her mind to stay blissfully blank for a few moments before even attempting to wrap her head around the issue. She took that time to gather the books she had taken from the library into a neat pile for one of the maids to return. The sun was beginning to rise. She'd have to get ready for her dresser soon.
"Morpha..." It didn't make any sense! "Why...?" Where had it come from? What could be done? And what did it mean?
"Why me...?"
And just like that, the wave of fear and self-pity was gone. Scolding herself for allowing it, but knowing deep down that giving in just a little bit once in a while was what kept her head from blowing up, Zelda turned her thoughts to practical solutions for the problem at hand.
And she thought of the one easy cure-all that had taken care of all her problems in the past.
But if being involved in ruling Hyrule taught one anything it was that you can't put all your eggs in one hero's basket. To succeed, one must branch out and diversify. And he hadn't been heard from in months.
So she didn't think about the Hero of Time. She thought about how it was he had killed so many beasts. Then thought about the Master Sword he had wielded, which was never going to be an option. And the unique tools he still carried. And that cute hat. And the way he had looked sweating in the heat of Death Mountain, following her lead as she taught him the Bolero of Fire under the guise of Sheik.
Gah. Sheik the Sheikah. Probably the least convincing name possible, but that's the only thing she had been able to come up with at the time. He had probably had a good laugh about that one. She thought about him laughing. She had seen him laughing at one point, hadn't she? She couldn't remember anything specific though...
Sheik the Sheikah.
Asinine!
Wait, what was she doing? There was no time to worry about such trivial things when the very safety of her people was at stake! Shaking her head to clear it, the young princess focused back on the problem at hand, and didn't think anymore about the Hero who might not ever come back.
Didn't think about his cute hat anymore, either.
The hat in question was, for once, actually not on the Hero's head. It was carefully placed in a corner of Malon's dark and quiet bedroom, along with everything else that didn't make for optimal sleep-wear.
The room wouldn't stay dark and quiet for very much longer, however.
As usual, Malon rose with sun. Like the sun, she started off each day feeling somewhat faint and gray, but would within a matter of minutes be gaining power until around Noon. That's when her gleaming smile would be blinding if you looked right at it. Today was special though, and the usual slow warming up routine was dropped in favor of an immediate shift to maximum energy the moment the girl's eyes fluttered open.
Link was here, and that meant no shuffling towards the dresser and leaning against the strangely comfortable wall for five minutes before finally wiggling into her work clothes. Nope, she had planned ahead. Last night, before even being tucked in, she had hidden tomorrow's clothes under her blankets to shave valuable seconds off of the bothersome business of getting ready. There were games to play, skills to teach and learn, too many important things to do to waste time walking anywhere to change out of pajamas, that was for sure. Pulling her covers over her head was all she had to do to make a perfectly serviceable changing room. In a matter of seconds she emerged from her cocoon of blankets transformed into a warrior ready to attack the day ahead with vigor.
All that was left was awakening the boy who was hopelessly tangled up in the sheets on her floor. His sprawled position and the current condition of his bedding looked like violent thrashing must have gone on during the night, but he looked very comfortable despite that. He was still in his green tunic, he had brought no other clothes with him and there was nothing on the ranch that could fit him that was appropriate for boys, but without the belt, it was basically a sort of nightgown anyway. His breathing was soft, just barely audible and steady enough to set a clock by. Tangled hair bent at all the wrong angles combined with a smooth, worry-free face gave him the appearance of an angelic infant Sasquatch.
He looked so peaceful... It gave Malon pause. Perhaps it wouldn't be right to wake him. Perhaps it would be best to let him rest and to go about the morning chores by herself as usual. Yes, that was probably the right thing to do.
Then again, that wouldn't be any fun. Laughing and wooping, Malon yanked one end of the sheet Link was wrapped in as hard as she could, but it had no discernible effect other than causing her seemingly oblivious target to mutter softly. Another couple of tugs succeeded in actually rolling the boy onto his face, but he seemed not to mind that in the least. Frustrated that her supposed helper was acting exactly like a log, Malon elected to take more extreme measures.
Without warning, she took the pillow right out from under him. While the clonking sound of Link's forehead meeting the wooden floor was enough to make Malon wince in momentary regret, there was no noticeable change in Link, so she continued on to phase two: merciless bludgeoning.
"Come on! Wake up! You said you'd help me this morning!" Each syllable was accompanied by a soft THWUMP as she brutally attacked him, fueled by the righteous fury of a girl given a promise.
This continued on for a little while, with no obvious effect. No effect that is, until Link's steady breathing started wavering, speeding up, and finally shattering into the laughter that had been held back for so long. This did not put an end to Malon's assault, however – on the contrary; she started hitting him harder and faster until he reluctantly rose to his feet, giggling all the while.
"How long have you been awake?" Malon asked grumpily before throwing the pillow forcefully at a retreating yellow bedhead, a little upset that she had been fooled so completely.
"I woke up when I heard you rolling around under your covers," he admitted, finally calming down.
"So you've been pretending the entire time?" Annoyance quickly gave way to admiration. "How did you do that? You really seemed like you were asleep!"
A puzzled expression briefly replaced the amused one Link had been wearing as he pondered that. "I've been doing that for just about forever. Don't you pretend to be asleep when somebody tries to wake you up? I mean, when you're really tired?"
"I'm always the one waking Dad up," Malon lamented, then added, "It wasn't always that way, though. Mom used to wake me up but I don't remember ever pretending to be asleep with her." Even at her own casual mention of her Mother, countless memories, some completely unrelated started trickling back. They made Malon feel both happy and sad. She didn't dwell on any of them. "It wouldn't have worked on her anyway."
"Yeah, I didn't usually fool Navi," Link said, his own memories bringing a small smile to his face."Not at first, anyway. She didn't like letting me sleep very much. She always said, um... something like, 'You've been asleep for seven years, you don't need to sleep anymore now...'"
"Asleep for seven years? What's that supposed to mean?" Somehow asking that prompted the realization that she had forgotten to put her shoes in her bed with her last night. Malon to started looking for them, leaving Link to sweat over his slip of the tongue.
"Oh, ah..." Link fumbled to recover from his error, but luckily the rancher's daughter wound up picking up the slack for him.
"Oh, I get it! You must have been seven years old. So you've always been kind of a sleepyhead, huh?" She put a shoe on her left foot, stopped, took it back off, and started rifling through her dresser for some socks.
Well, it wasn't lying to agree to the last part. "Yeah, I guess..." Eager to get his friend's mind off of what he had just said, Link quickly started talking again. "I had to pretend to be asleep to get any sleep! She would always wake me up, by mistake I think, flying around and watching guard. But if I ever opened my eyes she would say, 'Okay, you're awake! Let's Go!' and it didn't matter how short a time I had been lying down. It seemed like she didn't get how important sleep was! Do you know what I think...?" Leaning conspiratorially forward, he motioned for Malon to move closer so he could whisper it to her.
Excited, the girl immediately complied, all the while holding one of yesterday's socks in each of her hands. "What? What?"
"I'm not sure she even ever needed to sleep - I think fairies never sleep!"
"Wow! Really?" To the Hero of Time, it seemed like Malon's eyes were growing to be as large as all those strange targets that had been scattered throughout the old Forest Temple. Resisting an urge to find his bow, Link just nodded. He really did have his suspicions. Navi had never even seemed sleepy, although she could have been sneaking naps under his hat, he supposed. Tatl had mentioned not being able to sleep at all during the three days it took to do everything in Clocktown, but it had been unclear whether she was talking about just Link or both of them. And the fairies in the fountains that he sometimes visited were always up and about, day or night.
"When we find your friend, we'll have to ask her!"
Having been absorbed in his own thoughts, all Link could manage was a, "Wha-?"
"Navi. When you and me find her, you'll have to ask her if Fairies sleep." Finally finished with her shoes, Malon strode towards Link, his belt and hat in one hand, boots in the other. "That's the best way to find out!"
Link had to agree with that. Nodding, he took what was offered to him and prepared to begin his first day as a rancher.
A New Challenger Has Appeared!
What do we think? Did I miss a cut scene midway through Majora's Mask that shows every fairy ever fast asleep?How's Zelda's character read? I had a lot of fun writing that part, but fun doesn't always equal in-character. Anyway, review it, critique it, etc. Thanks for reading.