AN: Finally I forced myself to continue this. I'm going to have to make more time to actually work on it in the coming months. I will eventually finish it, just not sure how soon that will be. Enjoy!
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Love of the Daughter
Chapter 6
Midna stared at the glowing turquoise sphere, turning it over in her palm as Rykan dug through the pockets of the saddle bag. The fire was slowly dying, and there was the distinct chorus of bullfrogs echoing up the cliffs over Lake Hylia. Midna felt her stomach tense as she stared into the sphere. There was a strange, lively swirl of green that shot from one side to the other. The object twitched in her palm. Midna instinctively dropped it quickly back into it's bag, feeling the warmth stay with her for an unnaturally long time. She stuffed into back into her pants pocket, feeling a cold, dreadful chill down her spine.
She turned to look at Rykan.
"Here we go..." Rykan murmured. Midna watched him come and sit next to her, carefully opening the journal. He flipping through it while murmuring to himself. He stopped and flipped back a page. "Right there." Rykan said blandly. Midna stared at the ink drawing. It was clearly a human form, something that their father had clipped out of an anatomy book of some sort and pasted in the middle of the page. Over the anatomical clipping were swatches of black ink that covered everything but the eyes, hands and feet; which were a harder grayer color, with slight claws. To one side was a paragraph written legibly in cursive:
"I snuck into the castle library despite Zelda's orders to keep me out. I found the information about the Fused Shadows hidden powers something I may be able to use to my advantage if times become desperate enough. Knowing that the Royal Family and the Light Spirits both knew so much about these objects and never used them... it's such a waste that they didn't try harder to manipulate there potencial."
Rykan looked at Midna. His left eyes was bruising pretty badly and Midna suddenly noticed that he had a wheeze in his breath. Midna gently took the journal from her brother, who just sat there and stared at her.
"I think that the thing Telma gave us is dangerous," Rykan said.
Midna frowned. "Yeah."
Rykan turned to stare into the fire. "I... I got a bad feeling... don't touch that thing anymore until we know what it is."
"Good idea." Midna hunched forward over her knees. "Let's get some sleep." Midna said, patting Rykan on the shoulder. Rykan turned to look at the shredded remained of their canvas tent.
Midna listened to the chorus of frogs and the night sounds as they prepared to sleep on the ground near the fire. The moon was a half full beacon against the stars. Midna swiveled in her sleeping roll, staring upwards and feeling the warmth of the turquoise sphere against her hip. The fire was a pit of dim glowing embers that occasionally crackled or spat ash.
Midna shifted onto her side, hearing Rykan's rhythmic breathing as he drifted into sleep. She stared at the moon. The fire crackled again. Soon, she had hard time keeping her eyes open. Vague images moved into and out of consciousness. Then something strange. The fire popped.
The room was a washed out tone, wooden colors. In front of her were two individuals. Link stared down at the book laid out before him on the library table. The woman Midna didn't immediately recognize. But then it struck her, Queen Zelda stood across from him, staring down at him with a look of pure sympathy. She was dressed in an elegant gown, her hair long and beautiful. Their voices were a far off whisper, it was hard for Midna to hear them clearly.
"I feel uncomfortable letting you pursue this Link, the Light Spirits warned you against attempting..."
"Just because they couldn't control the powers of the Twili's ancestors doesn't mean that the Fused Shadows can't be used to defend us in the future. Do you want another disaster on your hands like the one that happened ten years ago? Come on Zelda!"
Midna watched her father, dressed in the clothes of a strange rogue, which something foreign to her. He was garbed in green, a strange long cap on over his hair. He looked so young.
"You're being so brash lately... please, I don't want to argue with you about this anymore..." Zelda said, sitting down in a chair. Her hands were crossed neatly over her lap. "How... your family?" The words were starting to break up. Midna strained to hear them.
"Illia's... pre... excepting in late... ber."
"Won...erful!" Midna felt a chill overcome her, and she was swallowed by a strange, inky blackness. Then a hot sensation took her, running up her neck like a sickness. She stood before the vastness of a strange valley. Sand dunes surrounded it. She examined the ground, and saw a rock dais, a patterned mandala was trenched into the stone. Out of the middle rose a strange granite pillar, cylindrical and ominous. Carvings were etched deeply into it's crust. There was a hissing voice out of the darkness, Midna felt like it was whispering into her left ear. She felt like she could also feel the breath on her hair.
"Come... come... come to me..."
Midna's eyes snapped open. She felt herself staring out into the still dark night. She was trembling. It felt like the voice was right in her ear, and she covered it with her hand to calm herself. Midna turned on her back and stared up at the moon again. The cold sweat made her shake. She could see her breath. Rykan was still sleeping, but it was many hours until Midna was able to coax herself back to sleep.
--
Midna was awoken by Rykan's shuffling around the camp site. It was early morning. The smell of smoke made her wrinkle her nose as Rykan patted down the ashes and then put dirt over the camp fire. He turned to look at her. Some of the ashes had drifted onto her bedroll. Midna stared at them, blinked.
"Hey, we should go soon." Rykan said.
"Okay."
Rykan turned to look at the Lake Hylia bridge. "The army down there is breaking camp too, and I think they're going to be crossing the bridge."
Midna sat up in her sleep roll, realizing that her joints hurt and that she desperately needed a bath. Midna stood up and looked around them. There were a few areas were there was blood splatter. Rykan was hurriedly covering up the bloody ground with dirt and leaves. Midna watched him. His left eye was a deep shade of purple and there was a ring of bruising along both of his wrists. Midna walked over and touched his arm where he was bruised.
"Rykan, you should put something over your eye. Mom gave us some herbs for bruising, remember?"
"They took them..."
Midna sighed. She watched Rykan continue to pack and then her gaze wandered. She noticed a small pool of water near the bridge under the limb of a large tree. Midna walked over to her bag and removed a linen cloth, then quietly moved over to the pool and dipped it in the clear water. Tadpoles swam desperately out of her way and into the shady parts of the secluded lilies. "Rykan, come here."
Rykan stopped shoveling dirt and packing and walked over to join her. He stared down into the pool. He seemed weak on his feet, and his face was twisted in pain. Midna touched his arm and Rykan sat down and faced her. Midna squeezed out the cloth and then began to lightly pat his bruised eye. Rykan's other eye watched the tadpoles in the pool swim around. It was still cold.
Rykan squinted in pain as she dabbed a little closer to his lid, his eye glazed over as he held back tears. "I'm sorry they hurt you..."
Rykan looked back at Midna with a confused expression.
"When we find dad... we'll tell him about Thanial, and those other goons, I think he'll take care of them."
Rykan smiled a little, then looked back into the pool. His smile faded. Midna stood out and rung out the cloth, and the two walked back to camp and continued to pack up.
--
Midna clothed herself with chain mail and a long tunic that one of the soldiers had left behind, as well as a long knife and a leather hat. Rykan had done similarly with supplies from a different soldier, though they were longer and baggier on him. Midna took the reigns again as they strapped there supplies to Sai. As she sat in the saddle, staring at the bridge that lead to the other side of Lake Hylia, Midna felt herself tense.
"We have to go over the bridge," Midna said.
"Midna, we can't go that way, the soldiers are marching up here right now."
Midna continued to stare. "No, we do have to go over it."
"Why do you keep saying that!?" Rykan said, irritated.
There was a breeze, and Midna blinked, watching a cascade of leaves fall over them. Sai snorted. "Midna, we should go back home, we need to protect mom! She might know what that thing is!" Rykan said. He was pushing annoyingly at her shoulder. Midna shrugged him off.
"Rykan... I have a very strong feeling that we need to go over the bridge in order to find dad." Midna looked at her brother. "Just run with me okay... I don't know why I have the feeling, but it's there."
Rykan squinted at her into the rising sun, he looked mad. "You're acting really weird! Stop dicking round Midna!" Rykan said, pushing her.
"We're going over the bridge Rykan... unless you want to walk back home."
Midna jumped as a sharp kick hit her in the pit of her left knee. Midna held in the urge to elbow her brother. She swallowed the anger. "If we're careful and quick, we can make it over the bridge."
"What if they find us and decide to kill us, like all those soldiers did to the people in Castle Town, huh?"
Midna shrugged. Rykan growled and punched her in the back. "Fine, be stubborn!" Rykan shouted, then he was silent. Midna snapped the reigns and brought Sai into a steady walk, and then a canter. The massive overgrowth over the tunneled bridge was making her nervous as they crossed. Rykan was hanging on to her around the waist, his face against her back.
There were shadows moving over them from the spotted daylight broken by the vines and vegetation. Midna heard the distinct sounds of a war horn and could hear what sounded like clinking armor in the far distance as Sai ran. Midna urged Sai to go faster. Soon she was clinging to the reigns as he bolted like lightning over the bridge. His hooves ringing across the rock and echoing around the enclosed areas of the bridge. Midna felt her heart beating against her rib cage. She was starting to feel dizzy. The riding was getting to her, she breathed in a deep breath. Sai's hooves hit solid earth and Midna guided him down the path that ran opposite of the direction of the clinking armor. The ground felt like it was shaking, but Midna realized it was just herself who was shaking.
"Idiot," Rykan said. "We're alive... thank the gods." Rykan planted his face against her back and clutched her.
"Do you trust me now?"
Rykan tapped her shoulder and Midna looked over at him. Rykan made a loud boo and shoved her, causing Midna to jump and squeal. Rykan laughed, muffling himself so he wouldn't alert anyone to their whereabouts.
"Rykan!" Midna hissed in a low voice, giving him a dirty look.
"Yeah, whatever, get us down to the lake, I need a bath," Rykan said, smirking.
"Me too."
--
Midna walked along the shore of the huge lake, gazing up at the small path they had come down to get here. Rykan had wandered off to bathe in private. The sky was clear and Midna nibbled at a fresh bush of berries she'd found by the lake side. She sat down, waiting for Rykan to finish and come back to get her. Midna stared into the still waters of the lake and watched herself eat.
The ripples of the lake shined with the bright light of the sun. It was peaceful here. Midna felt strangely on edge. The rush of the distant waterfall and the abrupt quietness was a nice breather from what they had been experiencing. Midna stretched and then curiously went to touch the sphere in her pocket. She watched as a raven flew over her head, cawing. Midna touched the sphere and looked back at her reflection in the pool. Nothing had changed.
Midna sighed and released it, feeling that same strange zap like before. Her fingers felt a little tingly. Midna picked another berry and stared back at her reflection. The water lapped at the shore and Midna sighed, swallowing.
"Maybe I'm just wrong, I don't know where dad is..." Midna whispered to herself. There was a distinct splash. Midna looked over to See Rykan's head bobbing a little above water far down shore. Midna watched him splash around. There was that strange wiggling of the sphere against her hip. Midna felt a vague spell of dizziness overcome her. She picked the sphere from her pocket and examined it in the light. It sparkled a little. The surface was a smooth reflective shine, and there were not imperfections anywhere. Midna turned it over in her hand.
The symbols were a mish mash of strange characterized lines. Midna suddenly recognized it, it was ancient Hylian. Midna's eyes widened and she cradled it in both hands, staring at it. "Dad... what were you trying to tell me?" Midna said to no one. She rubbed the sphere with her thumbs. They grazed over a few of the letters and Midna gasped as a strange light emanated faintly from the deep holes. Midna looked to see if Rykan was watching her, but he was now farther down and splashing in the water.
Midna turned back to the sphere and rubbed another nervous thumb over a line of lettering. A stronger light this time, white and strange. It faded. The sphere twitched and Midna felt a zap through her body. Her vision snapped to a black mass, and Midna dropped the sphere as she stared into the dais again, the black cylinder rising out of the desert. There was a strange hissing. Midna covered her ears, forcing herself to blink back. Midna's eyes snapped open. She looked down at the sphere in the sand.
"I... think I know where we're supposed to go..." Midna whispered. "I think dad wanted us to go to that place." Midna continued to stare. Her gaze shifted to the lake and she looked back at her reflection. It was unchanged.