fleets: I COULDN'T HANDLE THE CLIFFIE AUGH. Erm, so yeah I decided to update at this ungodly hour instead. -_-;;

Chapter 6: Set Loose the Storm

It was impossible to tell what the Sheikah guardian was thinking as she considered the sorcerer in his cell. After a few seconds, she pushed herself off of the wall, walking away from the shadows for the first time since she'd let her presence known to Vaati. She cautiously approached the bars of his cell, and spoke softly. "Before I tell you what I know, I have a question to ask," she began. "What did you first see when you entered Zelda's chambers two days ago?"

Vaati frowned at her question, and disappointment and irritation flashed across his face when she didn't immediately tell him about the information she'd promised him. He wondered what this had to do with anything, but decided to play along with it for now. "She was… lying on the floor. There was some water around her from the vase that had fallen on her head. I went over to make sure she was okay and-"

Impa raised a hand, interrupting him abruptly. "Stop. Go back to the part where you found her. What did you see? Tell me, with the most specific details you can recall, especially about the princess."

"I don't understand." Vaati growled, his fingers twitching. When Impa looked back stonily, he sighed and complied reluctantly. "Fine," he threw his hand absentmindedly in exasperation, the chains around his wrists clanging loudly against the stone floor, "She was lying there. Her left hands were holding onto those blue flowers, I think," he said slowly, trying to recall everything he'd seen when he'd first found Zelda on the floor. It was hard to remember clearly, especially since his thoughts had been addled by confusion and shock at the time, and it still made him uncomfortable to recall that ordeal. "Her hair and shoulders were wet from the vase that had fallen on her head, and… there were pieces of porcelain and violets in her hair." Just like a doll that had fallen off the nightstand, he thought. He stopped when he noticed Impa had once again put up a hand to stop him. "If you already know what you want to say I don't understand why I have to play detective with you," he snapped, just about running out of whatever little patience he had.

"No, I wasn't sure, which is why I needed to ask you." Impa lowered her chin, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the floor thoughtfully. It looked like she was trying to solve some kind of difficult problem. She eventually noticed Vaati looking like he was going to break something. "Now that I know, I want to clarify: are you sure that the vase actually fell on her head?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Vaati seethed.

"Is it?" Impa's words stopped Vaati for an instant. It was just two simple words, but they had the weight of heavy steel that instantly chilled the room. Vaati's expression froze, and then confusion bloomed on his face, and he quickly fell quiet. Impa huffed, and then began to explain, bit by bit. "Pieces from the cracked vase were found in her hair. The vase had been sitting on top of a shelf slightly higher up from the princess's head," she put her right hand just above her head, indicating roughly the height where the shelf was in Zelda's room, "From the height of the vase to her head, there shouldn't be enough distance to cause significant damage that would lead to something like memory loss. But that's not all," she paused, and gave a slow nod to Vaati whose eyes were swimming around the room as her words began to have some meaning in what they meant, "if the vase really did fall on her head, there shouldn't be any pieces of it scattered in her hair. It might fall around her, but not on her."

Vaati finally looked up, and took a small step back towards the bars of his cell. He didn't understand what Impa was getting at. Or rather, he suspected what she was getting at, but he needed to hear her say it. There was a dangerous edge in his voice when he asked, "What are you saying…?"

Impa shrugged nonchalantly. "So far, nothing. I would have been suspicious, but it wouldn't have been enough for me to tell you anything. However, I also found this." She uncrossed her arms, and revealed a small envelope she'd been holding all this time. When she opened it, she took out a piece of burnt paper that was preserved between to sheets of thin glass. Vaati took it tentatively when she passed it between the bars. "Do you recognize this?" she asked.

Vaati peered through the glass at the paper trapped between it. Most of it had burnt away, and whatever was left was about the size of his palm. Faint lines of ink were barely legible on the paper, but enough was left for him to make out the message. "What do these flowers smell like?" Vaati read aloud, "signed… Vaati?"

What?

He stared at the parchment for several long seconds, reading and rereading to make sure he'd read it right. Still, no matter how many times he passed over those words, it undeniably had his name on it. He turned to Impa for some kind of explanation. "No, I never wrote anything like this." It wasn't often that he resorted to cheesy displays of affection where he'd send flowers with little notes, so he was sure he'd know if he'd sent something like this. Images of the blue flowers in Zelda's hand came to mind, and he began to understand that she must have received them from someone that morning.

"I found it in the coals," Impa said, and from the way she said it, it was apparent that her suspicions had been confirmed. "Someone had been in a hurry to burn this, but in their haste to leave, they never bothered to check if it had been destroyed properly. My guess is that an unexpected visitor had startled them, making them panic," she let the words sink in. "Whoever did this wanted to make it look like an accident. The vase never fell on her head; they broke the vase later and scattered some pieces in her hair in a crude attempt to make it look like the cause of her fainting."

The vase that had fallen. The inexplicable broken pieces of porcelain in her hair. The piece of paper addressed from him that he'd never written. The forget-me-nots. What do these smell like?

"They were there. They were there before me," Vaati breathed. His fingers clenched the glass with the parchment paper inside. If he'd been there just a few minutes earlier, if he'd kept a sentry to watch over her that night…

"The paper had landed in the cooler part of the coals and I found it before it disappeared."

"This means someone-" Vaati looked up abruptly, finally finding some focus after the overwhelming information he'd just heard.

Impa nodded. "You could say someone really wanted Zelda to lose her memories. Specifically of you." Impa watched the sorcerer who was absolutely livid now. "Didn't you find it curious that Zelda's memory ends at the time you kidnapped her? It could be a coincidence, but it's unlikely. For her to have her last memory as the time you did something horrible to her, it's a perfect set up for you to lose her favor. It would only fuel the rumors that were circulating about the curse you put on her."

"They set me up," Vaati snarled, and his palms smashed against the bars of his cell angrily. Fury had replaced his earlier shock, and he wanted to destroy something. Someone. They were going to pay. For someone to have the gall to do something like this, to fight him so indirectly like a coward, he harbored even more hate for them than to all of the heroes of the past who fought him straight on. Instead of stealing his princess away by defeating him in battle, they had taken her away from him by attacking her. "How did they do it? You must know something. Tell me!" he demanded.

"Take this." Impa handed him a tiny bottle. Inside it was a small stalk of tiny blue flowers, the same ones that he'd seen with Zelda when he'd found her lying on the floor. Vaati turned it over in his hand while the Sheikah explained, "It's one of the flowers she was holding in her hand, ironically it was a forget-me-not. Whoever did this had some ill sense of humor."

Recalling the message, one thing came to the sorcerer's mind on what the flower really entailed. "Poison?"

Impa nodded in confirmation. "I know a few things about poison, given my work as a Sheikah. This one is familiar to me – it's a type of poison that, paired with a charm, can selectively erase memories. You can cause targets to lose memories of the past few minutes, or as in this case, an entire year."

"What's the cure?"

Behind the glower of fury there was a brief glimmer of hope behind Vaati's eyes. If there was a cure, then they could resolve this quickly, and Zelda might remember him again before the day was over. His hopeful expression dissolved, however, when he saw Impa shaking her head. "I'm afraid that's where I can no longer help you, sorcerer," she said, and Vaati was again hit with heavy disappointment, "I know more than the average man about poisons, but I am no expert. Although I might be able to devise a cure, I will not risk giving the princess incorrect treatment and have her condition worsen." Impa smiled bitterly, "It's not in my line of work to undo the effects of poison I inflict on Hyrule's enemies."

"It's better than nothing!" Vaati spat, resentful of the Sheikah again.

"I cannot give her the cure, sorcerer. Neither will I go and seek one." Impa remained resolute behind her words.

"You…" Vaati hissed. He was considering threatening to take her life if she didn't at least try to devise a cure. Magic crackled where his chains bound him, and in an instant they broke with a loud snap. The chains dropped to the ground with a thud, and Vaati stared down the Sheikah menacingly.

Impa, however, didn't show fear even if she were nervous. She took a few steps towards the stairs leading out of the dungeon, but she stood her ground admirably. "I told you earlier that what you choose to do with this information is for you to decide. To be quite honest, I am not in the least worried about the fact that you may have been framed. It might even do this kingdom good if we went back to calling you an enemy."

"Then why bother telling me at all?" Vaati glared.

"Why indeed?" Impa wondered, and for the first time there was a faint hint of sympathy. "Perhaps I, too, seek the truth. Someone attacked the princess, and it is my job to track them down. Neither I nor the princess will gain anything by finding the truth, while you," she nodded her head towards the sorcerer, "You gain everything. You're desperate for the truth. You are better suited and better motivated for the task than I."

"So you're just using me," Vaati said bluntly. He eyed her for a few more seconds, wondering if his anger should still be directed at her, and then he visibly relaxed. He released his hold on the bars of his cell, and he brushed aside his hair away from his face. "Ha," he laughed, "For a minute I was disturbed by your eagerness to help."

He walked back to the walls of his cell and leaned against the stone casually. There was still a heavy tension around the sorcerer, like a snake just ready to strike at the tiniest movement, but he seemed to have reached the conclusion that Impa wasn't an enemy for the time being. For the first time since the two of them met, they had come to some sort of mutual understanding that they weren't on opposing sides.

"As much as I disagree with your presence in Hyrule," Impa moved towards the stairs, indicating that she was done with the discussion. "I hope you have some success in finding answers, sorcerer. In light of this incident and the plague, my suspicions run high and I'm worried for the princess."

Vaati sneered. "I'll find whoever did this, and they will regret it." There was no uncertainty behind his words. He knew how this was going to end. There was no other ending he would accept aside from finding the perpetrator and showing them pain worse than death.

Impa took a final, curious glance at the sorcerer in the cell. As much as she despised him, his confidence in finding the truth was refreshing. "I suggest you start with finding someone knowledgeable in poisons. They may help you find a cure," she advised, and then added enigmatically, "Leave quickly if you plan to find the truth. Your success depends on it." Before Vaati could ask what she meant by that, Impa vanished without another word.

Minutes after she'd left, the dungeon cell became empty, with no trace of the sorcerer who'd been there save for the broken chain that had once been around Vaati's wrist. The storm had been subdued by the princess, but now that Impa had given it direction, it was going to rain down its wrath on the one foolish enough to anger it.

XXXXXXXXXX

Who am I?

Zelda had been sitting at the edge of her bed, looking at the mirror on the other side of the room. The question had been lingering in her mind since Link had told her everything that had happened this past year. She didn't recognize anything Link said as something she would do; why had she ever thought that letting monsters freely roam the kingdom was a good idea? From what Link had said, it sounded like she'd even communicated with the great dungeon keepers, the boss monsters. When she'd tried to find some kind of reason that would justify her actions, when she'd searched Link's face for anything encouraging, she'd found nothing but uncomfortable fidgeting and sideways glances. Link, too, hadn't been able to understand her newfound relations with the monsters.

Zelda sighed. Everything was falling apart all around her, and she felt completely helpless. While she was still trying to piece together her past year, she had to figure out what to do with the wind mage in the castle dungeons and also deal with the plague that was spreading across her kingdom. The plague had already incapacitated dozens, no hundreds, of businesses and services, and hundreds of people were now trapped in a wakeless sleep. A good percentage of the kingdom's best healers had succumbed to the plague as well, and the ones left still hadn't been able to find a cure to wake those affected. The ones who had collapsed had been moved to empty classrooms in the kingdom's largest school as a temporary measure, but eventually she knew that they would be forced to trap them in stasis crystals to keep them from dying until they found a true cure.

She played with a beautiful silver ring in her hands, and the diamond glittered brightly as she turned it over absentmindedly. She'd been wearing it on her left hand, on her ring finger, and she was sure it wasn't something she'd had before a year ago. It had confused her, when she'd first found it: did it mean that she'd promised herself to someone this past year? She didn't think that she would wear such a ring on her ring finger on a whim, since whenever she did wear rings she often wore them on her right hand. However, no one would tell her that she'd ever married someone in the past year, and no one ever stepped forward, claiming himself to be her suitor. She placed the ring back in her nightstand drawer; it didn't feel right to wear something like it when she didn't know what was going on, or the story behind it.

Everyone else she'd spoken with had all said the same thing: it had been a curse. That she hadn't been herself this past year, and that Vaati had manipulated her to lead the country under his wishes.

Maybe she would have believed it if she hadn't seen the way the sorcerer had looked at her when she asked him who he was. She'd almost felt guilty when she demanded that he wait in the dungeons until this was all sorted – he'd accepted his fate so willingly, and the look of betrayal on his face… that wasn't an emotion that had been faked. He'd truly believed that she'd let him down, but she couldn't begin to fathom why.

She'd also been surprised by what the infamous Wind Mage actually looked like. All of the stories spoke of a fearsome one-eyed demon who could flatten villages with a swoop of his pitch black wings. Instead, he'd ended up being a somewhat short, almost frail-looking fellow with a youthful and sly gleam in his eye. Proud and arrogant, perhaps, but not exactly what she would call outright evil. Maybe amoral, but from her brief interaction with him she had the sense that she could at least get him to listen, and that was a start.

Maybe I'll visit him this afternoon, Zelda thought as she clenched the bed sheets tightly. For the past two days, he'd waited in the dungeons patiently without incident. If he truly did have ill intentions, she would have expected him to have left by now – the old legends always painted him as an impatient demon who didn't hesitate to do the most horrid things in order to get his way. The fact that he was still there, waiting, must mean that there was another side to this mystery that she didn't know about yet? She needed to hear his side of the story… maybe then she could be enlightened as to what had really happened.

He might manipulate her, he might attack her, he might even curse her again, but somehow a part of her thought that she could risk talking to him. Not even the best actor could sound as sincere as he did when he'd told her that he wasn't going to hurt her. It was the least she could do…

"I'll…" Zelda gulped, and then shook her head vehemently, trying to will away her nerves, "I'll go see him today!" she said aloud as a promise to herself. She stared blankly at the reflection of the nervous, addled girl in the mirror. Then, she sighed and put her face in her hands. In all honesty she was in no condition to face a potentially dangerous individual. "No, I can't put this off! I have to go today," she muttered into her hands. "I wish someone would tell me everything is going to be okay…"

Suddenly, Zelda noticed a faint glow from the corner of her room. She whirled around and came face to face with a ghostly creature with its face covered by a grey cowl. Maribel floated over, her lantern swaying and casting tall shadows as she approached. "Everything is goi- EEK!"

Zelda had been quick on her feet, and just as the poe said something she'd blasted a powerful shot of magic towards the monster. Crouched on the floor now, Zelda prepared another blast at the monster that had intruded her room unannounced.

"I apologize my Lady!" Maribel shrieked as she flew back into the wall, her screams fading rapidly away.

The princess remained tense for a few more seconds, and then after a while she realized what had happened. Her head tilted in confusion, she stared at the wall where the poe had run off to, the blue glow of the lantern still lingering. She'd been shocked that a monster would be wandering so freely in Hyrule that they were now floating around Hyrule castle itself that her first instinct had been to attack it. It was only after she replayed the scene slowly in her head that it occurred to her that the poe had been trying to tell her something. More importantly, it had actually apologized to her as it flew away. "Wait, come back!" she called, "What did you want to tell me? Poe, come back!"

"Is everything all right?"

Zelda turned around and saw that Impa had walked into her room. The princess's shoulders slouched disappointedly. "Yes. I was… I was startled by a poe in my room."

"Vaati's spies," Impa sniffed, "I don't think they intend to hurt you, but they serve as his eyes and ears."

"I see…" Zelda said quietly. She could tell that Impa didn't like poes very much from the way she spoke about them; she could imagine how something unpredictable that could move through walls would frustrate a diligent guardian like Impa. Had that poe been spying on her? But then why did it apologize like that? "Impa I decided," Zelda brushed away the wrinkles in her dress, and straightened her shoulders, "I'm going to see Vaati this afternoon. I'd like to hear what he has to say about my memory loss. I want answers."

"I wanted to speak with you on that matter as well," Impa agreed, and the way she said it made Zelda nervous. Impa's ears always twitched a certain way whenever she had bad news to tell her, and over the years Zelda had become very good at catching it. Impa also noticed Zelda's fingers had curled into fists, and that she was already looking at her knees in dread. The Sheikah guardian sighed and spoke as gently as she could. "Vaati is no longer in his dungeon cell. A guard notified me only minutes ago."

A knot formed in Zelda's stomach, and she looked up slowly in shock. Vaati… gone? "But," she said hoarsely, "but that changes everything."

"I'll organize a group to find him right away."

"No, you don't understand. I…" she trailed off and bit down on her lip.

I believed in him.

She'd been proved a fool to have given such a dangerous person a chance to escape. Had she been tricked by that look of sincerity? She'd truly believed that he might prove to her that he intended no harm on Hyrule by staying in the dungeons until she decided he wasn't a threat. It had only been two days, and already he'd fled. One night, and a few hours later he was gone. The one person who could give her the other perspective on her missing memory was now gone. And now there was a very powerful, infamous wind mage running around her kingdom doing who knows what. And it was all her fault.

"It's not your fault, princess," Impa reassured, "and we'll find him."

Something was off about the way Impa spoke her last words, and Zelda didn't fail to catch it. She searched her guardian's face, and she frowned. "Impa, there's something else you're not telling me, isn't there?"

The Sheikah gave a small smile. "You have a keen perception, princess. I didn't want to bring up more unpleasant news until you were in a better state of mind, but I suppose I don't have a choice now."

"I can handle it," Zelda replied firmly, but a part of her wavered. She wasn't at all sure if she could handle it, considering all of the confusing surprises that had been thrown at her the past few days. She'd also just learned that she potentially released a highly dangerous person, and she was still shaken with the weight of the responsibility of what she'd done. What had she been thinking?! I can't believe I trusted him.

"It's about the plague," Impa sat down next to her on the bed, "I have a message from Labrynna. They indicate they have a cure."

"That's wonderful news!" Zelda cried, but then she shrunk back when she remembered this was supposed to be bad news. Putting on a brave face, Zelda asked Impa to go on. "It's conditional, isn't it?"

Impa nodded slowly. "King Roland says he would like to speak with you again. Labrynna offers a cure, but… you should talk to him, princess."

Impa's earlier comment clicked, and Zelda could guess what this was going to be about. "It has to do with Vaati, doesn't it." Her question came as a statement. She already knew the answer.

Impa returned a tired smile. "We'll find him," she repeated.

fleets: ahhh this was so fun to write. So? Do you think Impa's a 'good guy?' 'bad guy?' What's her motive, huh? :P Is she sending Vaati on a false trail, or is she being truthful? She clearly wanted him gone quickly (ending up with Zelda to having doubts, unfortunately) - intentional or accidental? So many possibilities :D
ALSO I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT - some of you were wondering who that renegade wizzrobe was that was mentioned by Maribel the last chapter, and I'm going to say this right now: no, he's not Thistle. As much as I love Thistle, he's had his time to shine in Rend and OA. Also he was officially labeled as renegade in Rend, and considering this story came before Rend he would not be labeled as one at this time (yes, he did appear in WIR, but he was still a law-abiding guild member).
That leaves us with the only possible conclusion that it's a different wizzrobe entirely. You'll meet him, don't worry ;) and I intend to avoid similarities between him and Thistle, because it would be boring if I just retold the Rend/OA story again, wouldn't it?

Dia Newman: Elise is shocked that you wish so much harm on her and she is now convinced that a demon has influenced your soul. XD

GamerxOtaku: We're not done quite yet with the drama train. I hope I can surprise readers a few times over the course of this story hehe :)

Spartan Yoshi 90: Eek thank you! We're not quite out of intenseville yet!

Reily96: Haha yeah, well I had an issue with Zelink because... well I guess it always kind of bored me? Like, "hey, hero meets princess. Bam. Fate." I know it CAN be interesting, but it just never appealed to me... Feel free to guess away ;) I used to be totally crazy about people guessing the plot, but I'm pretty confident I can continue to surprise readers for this story even if they do manage to catch on.

Lord Siravant: I totally cannot wait to get to DesPonte. I have a thing for quirky characters like him :D
I knew from the start that Elise wasn't going to be popular, and I have a feeling it's going to get worse when she shows up even more in the story. Religious zealots are always, erm, tricky I suppose, especially when they try to shove their beliefs down everyone's throats...

Patchworkcrows: I'M SORRY PLEASE TREAT YOURSELF TO WARM COCOA AND uh... yeah that totally doesn't help does it
It's not a tragedy though, so I promise it won't be too terribly painful. Um. Well we might have to endure a few soul-cuts along the way but uhhh they say no rainbows unless you have rain amirite?! illshutupnow
Hahahaha I can totally see him doing that, that big baby nerd XD

thebeautifulvaati: Impa gave him some hints, but did they help or hurt? We'll find out I guess!

MasterShortPantsx3: I kind of feel bad for giving people updates at really bad hours, like 1 in the morning. But my fingers are already typing and I can't stop them. They're unstoppable! The premise is pretty sad I suppose... if only he knew that we were all rooting for him!

Ki: Haha thanks, I'm glad you like the story! The sad thing is, Link couldn't have told her because he can't believe that she actually does/did care about Vaati (a case of being in denial...). Impa's definitely going to play a role in this story, yup! What role, though, is up in the air at this point ;)

Flufux: And although she knows he's telling the truth, we don't know for sure if she's really on his side or not with what happened in this chapter... ;)

SweetestChick: And another fast update! I'm not sure how I'm doing it, I haven't updated this fast since Beyond Centuries... o_o
Suspcions suspicions! Who could have possibly done it? :D

LovelyKiridia: You got it right! It looks like someone knocked Zelda out (poison!) and broke the vase to make it look like an accident. Unfortunately no one would really believe that since the easier explanation is that Vaati had cursed Zelda for a year and she fell unconscious when the curse broke. Vaati needed to make more friends over the past year because now he's really alone :O
Ohhh yes he's angry. One furious sorcerer is running around Hyrule right now!

eureka93: Yup, it's super easy to blame Vaati now, unfortunately. And of course Link won't tell her because he's still in denial about what happened at the Palace of Winds ("there's no way she could like him...?"). Yeah...
What oh what is Impa up to? XD

LoZMadLover: I COULDN'T HANDLE THE CLIFFIE EITHER. So here's an update haha.
And I hope I have more questions for you guys to think about before this is over :D
Ahhh thank you! I'm so happy to hear you like it so far, and thank you for being such a loyal reader! I'm truly blessed :D

Hawkmask: Nope, Roland isn't Ganondorf! He's the ancestor to Ralf and Queen Ambi from Oracle of Ages, which is why he has red hair (nintendo really seems to love red headed characters...) He's a Labrynna royal ;)
Ohhhh and no that wasn't a Thistle reference! He's a different wizzrobe, and he'll play a decent role in this story so you can be that I didn't just mention that on a whim ;)
This story probably has the most complicated character relations I've ever written in any of my stories to date! It's been a lot of fun these past 6 chapters so far :D

salmaawesome: Yep :( Too bad he doesn't know he has fans rooting for him, huh?