Author's Note: So I said it'd be a couple weeks, and it turned out to be *checks notes* three months. Oh dear. Hope this makes up for it?

Chapter 6: Queen's Gambit

(I._Opening)

-Lake Hylia-

Link retraced his steps from the Gerudo Fortress to Lake Hylia, once again refilling his stores of food and water at the Postmen's rest stops. The road out of the desert was as empty as it had been when he'd been heading for the fortress, and because of that he could identify Raynie's tracks.

Once he reached the bottom of the scaffolding, however, their paths diverged. Raynie had headed to the north, where her footprints mixed in with the normal traffic that the Bridge of Hylia boasted normally.

On the other hand, Link would travel across the Great Bridge of Hylia for the third time in as many days, cut through Faron Province to the south, and finally reach Kakariko Village in the eastern, Eldin Province. This time, he didn't have a horse, so the distance that he, Ernest, and Raynie had traveled in a few days could take him a week or more.

"Good thing we have two months." he remarked. His initial discomfort with the new voice in his head had mostly dissipated; storming a fortress had turned out to be a great team-building exercise.

"Only if the Regent procrastinates. We should definitely prioritize finding a faster mode of transportation…"

"Hopefully, we'll be able to buy a horse at Kakariko."

"You're gonna need more than a few rupees pilfered from an empty fortress for that."

Link groaned.

Traversing the Great Bridge was a much more difficult task this time around, given the large number of travellers there were. Merchants carrying goods from Faron made up the bulk of northbound traffic, making their way to the Gerudo Valley via the cargo elevator with a goal of trading with cities such as Madinat Dina and Al-Nabooru. Southbound traffic was mostly comprised of carriages adorned with the distinctive shimmery fabric of the Zora. Gaudy Castle Town carriages were fairly rare, as they would usually approach the cargo elevator from the north and avoid the bridge entirely.

As for pedestrians, the mass of blues and browns that crossed the bridge would occasionally be livened up by the red clothing that marked its wearer as a mail-carrier, but traffic would open, the Postman or Postwoman would pass through, and the crowd would dull once more.

Link blended into the throng, looking for all purposes like a run-of-the-mill mercenary, which caused others to avoid eye contact. That suited him just fine, as he could continue his mental conversation without drawing undue attention.

As he passed a scorch mark near the center of the bridge, he paused slightly, but before he could put words to his thoughts, the press of people forced him to move on.

/_\

-Hyrule Castle-

A woman dressed in servant's garb knocked at the plain wooden door.

"Milady? You were not present at breakfast, would you like me to bring you a meal?"

"No, I'm-" a voice snapped from inside, before stopping. The servant heard an intake of breath, and then- "Pardon my rudeness. I do not need meals delivered to my room if I miss them; I am perfectly capable of seeing to my own needs. Further, please inform your colleagues that they are not to enter this room without permission. Is that clear?"

"Yes, milady. I also bring a message from the Lord Regent. He requests your presence at tonight's meeting regarding arrangements for the coronation. Goddesses keep you."

"Thank you; that will be all." At the curt dismissal, the servant walked away, thus missing the next words of its inhabitant.

"Goddesses keep me, eh? Let them." The blessing of the servant left the occupant's mouth as a curse, a challenge. The dark tone of her words matched the darkness of the room, which was rather spacious. A solitary candle near the center provided nowhere near enough light to see anything other than the objects on the table next to it: a bowl of water, parchment, and a quill.

The woman locked the door before carefully making her way from the door to the central table, weaving around stacks of books and parchment in the dim light without once even touching her papers . She smoothly lifted one book from the top of a pile as she passed before finally taking a seat at the solitary table, glancing at the bowl as one would look at a letter that contained unpleasant news.

The water rippled slightly in response to her movement, but was otherwise inscrutable.

With a grimace, she settled in and turned to the book. The Insect Kingdom was hardly light reading, with its esoteric subject matter and the whimsical style of the author, who was only known as A. Mushihime. Regardless, she devoured the pages voraciously, taking notes sporadically in neat, flowing script.

Conflicting reports. This one looks genuine. 'Invitation deliverer' is most likely subject.

Her reading was interrupted when the water began to bubble, as if it had been placed atop a hot stove. The woman sat up ramrod straight upon noticing, but with a forced patience, she set the book down and shifted her notes to the side. She moved the bowl carefully until it was right in front of her before placing her right hand, palm-down, above the surface.

A whisper: "Be still, make contact!"

And the water calmed, glowing with a pale blue light.

The candle went out.

Another whisper: "Be still, let me hear!"

A person spoke. "My lady?" The speaker was in pain; that much was evident. His form came into view, hunched over..

The lady replied as if she were face-to-face with the speaker. "I've told you that you may use my name-" She took a sharp breath as she registered his condition. "What's happened, Vire?"

Through gritted teeth, Vire said, "Most of the Sheikah posted to the fortress were recalled a week ago, as you know. Yesterday morning, they left. Yesterday evening...we were attacked."

"Attacked? Who would dare?"

His voice filled with even more tension and apprehension."I don't...I don't know, ma'am. One of my traps went off, and when Ghini and me went to investigate, we were ambushed. She's dead - sword to the gut. I got punched in the stomach with a fireball. I think. My stomach looks like a bomb blasted it, but I got off easy, by the look of things."

"...what do you mean?"

"The officer on prison duty, Hartman, lost a lot of blood. The Labrynnan sellsword's vanished, but there were signs of a fight - scorch marks and a bunch more blood. And...the vault…" He stopped, trepidation briefly overriding pain as the dominant emotion on his face. Hard to blame him, really; the Regent was notorious among the Sheikah for not taking bad news well. A low-ranking agent, even one with the abilities of Vire, would be lucky to get off with a flogging for this kind of report.

For all his bluster about the "noble blood flowing through his veins", the Lord Regent liked to throw tantrums.

"I'm not the Regent. Whatever you have to say, you can rest assured that you will not be punished merely for telling me."

Vire took a breath. "The vault…" Another shuddering breath.

"Tell me, Vire." He could sense the fury behind her words, but he took a final breath and bit the bolt.

"The attacker took the Clawshot and the Ocarina, ma'am."

The woman leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, her face a mask of calm belied by slight, sharp twitches.

"Thank you for telling me, Vire. Bad news is regrettable, but not having information is worse."

"Ma'am?" His tense form relaxed slightly as a note of hope entered his voice. At this point, the Regent would already be yelling...

"I'm not the Regent, Vire. Please return to the capital at your earliest convenience. Bring Ghini."

"But how are they going to control the Helmasaurs without me? And Ghini's…"

"With the Ocarina gone and the prisoners transferred, the Fortress loses strategic importance. As for Ghini...her gift may yet be useful, as will yours once you arrive."

"Understood, my lady." The relief in his voice and posture was palpable.

"I told you, Vire, you may use my name."

"Yes, ma'am - sorry. I will return to the capital once I am healed...Veran."

The water stilled, and Veran with it, until her rage boiled over and could not be contained merely by sitting. It did not affect her ability to effortlessly avoid the stacks of literature that were strewn about, though; her focus was on the whirling maelstrom of thoughts in her head, some of which were escaping in the form of hurried mutters.

"Keijo, you paranoid, selfish..." Such was her rage that she was unable to think of any other words to describe the Regent, and so she settled on the rather repetitive "...foolish fool!"

Three items are all she needed; they have one. Had, now. He was well within his rights to recall the Sheikah, but why leave the Ocarina unguarded?! All this… "all this work, this sacrifice, set back again, and not even by the goddesses this time!"

Setbacks. That's all it was, a setback. His Majesty had to wait 7 years to first obtain the Triforce, and then a few centuries more to reclaim it. It had been decades for Veran, at least for a certain definition of "decade".

She could wait.

"But what happens when the princess takes power? I lose the pawn I spent years cultivating and bringing to the throne with nothing to show for it…"

Nothing? The Ocarina was lost for now, but the Compass appeared, and with it the Triforce of Courage. The situation was not unsalvageable.

"Besides, I was always playing the long game."

Having concluded her conversation with herself, she sat back at the table and snapped her fingers. With a whoosh, the solitary candle blazed back to life, and by its flickering flame she began to write.

Shift in priorities. The Ocarina can wait.

Of some importance: Find who took the Ocarina.

First priority: Obtain the Compass.

After a pause, she underlined the last line thrice, and then pulled out a blank sheet of parchment.

This paper, unlike her usual note pages, was to be a letter.

A short time later, she blew on the ink to dry it, folded the parchment, and sealed it with some wax from the candle. She snapped her fingers, traced a design in the air, and the wax gained the imprint of a stylized 'V'. Then she flipped it over and wrote the name of the intended recipient - Onox - and flicked the letter at the bowl of water that was currently off to the side.

"Deliver to thee."

The letter sank beneath the water's still surface and vanished.

/_\

-Hyrule Castle, Royal Chambers-

It was nearly time for the meeting with the Lord Regent. The Oracle of Ages and her retinue would arrive the next night, and the Labrynnan royal procession the day after that, so the preparations needed to be checked and double-checked to avoid an international incident. Since the two parties would be attending her own coronation, soon-to-be Queen Zelda was of course expected to attend.

She didn't much feel up to it, though; she knew it would be boring as all hell.

There were no big decisions coming up, just logistical issues and diplomatic briefings. Even if there were, her input would be listened to then summarily dismissed, given that she had no actual power. Odds are that she wouldn't even learn anything new, either - coronation preparations weren't exactly fraught topics.

All in all, it would probably be a monumental waste of time. Even so, she had to be there, and there was a low chance that it might not be a complete waste, and she needed all the help - and goodwill - that she could get.

Her decade spent in the nebulous state of being a powerless princess was coming to an end, and she was well aware that the Regent was eyeing the clock. With about two months left, the Regent had already consolidated his base, and Zelda had spent the last two years studying and formulating a plan to counter him. She had the obvious handicap of being a teenage girl who had just been getting her feet wet, but the stakes were too high for her not to try at all.

She was only now starting to make her first moves, right when the Regent was working on some shadowy plan of his own. And those weird dreams weren't helping…

All of her instincts told her that events would come to a head soon, and she vowed to be ready when it did.

Boring, tedious meetings or not.

-NE Conference Room-

The conference room was relatively small, with the bulk of its space filled by a rectangular table of genuine Kokiri ash. Sixteen matching chairs were arranged around it such that 2 were side-by-side at the head of the table with the other 7 pairs facing each other along the sides.

When Zelda entered, the 14 members of the Advisory Council stood, heads bowed, as a guard announced her arrival. She took the right-hand seat at the head of the table, and once she was seated, the nobles followed suit.

The Lord Regent, of course, was at her side, with two more unoccupied seats behind him, while the pairs of seats facing each other represented the two heads of each department. Closest to the head were the pair who represented State, then Justice, Law, Military, Treasury, Commerce, and finally Foreign Affairs. Following the Principle of Triads, major decisions were made in each department with the input of three people: the Minister of the department, the Secretary of the department, and the Lord Regent.

For Zelda's purposes, this meant that if she could swing just one head of each department, she could push through the changes she wanted to make while only giving up minimal concessions. She was getting a bit ahead of herself, however; currently she only enjoyed the support of the Treasury Secretary, and only in secret.

This particular meeting, however, only concerned the two Labrynnan delegations that were to arrive, and so Zelda prepared for a rather boring meeting that would have few ramifications on her wider plans. She hoped.

Lord Hekien, Foreign Minister, rose and began speaking.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness, Lord Regent, and my colleagues of the Advisory Council. As you all know, the first of two Labrynnan delegations shall arrive tonight, with the second following tomorrow afternoon. Today, we shall receive the Oracle of Ages. Tomorrow, the retinue of King Anders Lynna will arrive. Labrynna, being one of our sister nations, has many customs that are similar to ours, and so there is little worry that an...incident…should occur." At this, his gaze swept over the table. A few of the Advisors looked at the Military Affairs Secretary as if expecting her to comment, but she kept a firm gaze on Hekien, who sighed. "In any case, there is one thing that I think is necessary to review with regards to Labrynna: the, shall I say, separation between church and state.

"Unlike our fair kingdom, whose monarchs share the blood of the goddess, Labrynna's royal line is explicitly independent of the will of either the Triad or whichever other lesser gods they pray to. However, the majority religion revolves around the worship of the goddess Mara, whom we know as Nayru. The goddess picks a young woman, seemingly at random, to be the Oracle of Ages whenever the previous Oracle dies. Since any ruler would obviously love to get their hands on the power the oracle possesses, the decision was made long ago to separate the Oracle, and by extension the Church of Mara, from royal influence. Thus, the Oracle is protected by a band of mercenaries known as 'Outrealm'. King Lynna maintains his own Royal Guard, of course."

Lady Mashuson, Secretary of State, interrupted. "That is all well and good, Hekien, but does this history lesson have a point?" Across from him, Lord Musuko stifled a yawn.

An affronted look passed across Hekien's face, but he smoothed it out and said, "The point, as my colleague puts it, is this: Do not ask the King his opinion of the Oracle. Do not ask the Oracle to discuss her opinion of King Lynna. If you are talking to one of them and the topic of conversation changes to anything of a political nature that concerns the other, change the subject. At best, you'll be thought a fool, which reflects badly upon us. At worst, you'll be accused of attempting to meddle in the affairs of a sovereign nation and/or church. They take appearances of propriety extremely seriously when it comes to the Oracle."

"And if we screw it up, say goodbye to favorable negotiations for a couple centuries…" muttered the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Hekien pretended not to notice.

Zelda, hiding her amusement behind her normal impassive mask, added a personal corollary: If something big happens, make sure to go to both King Lynna and the Oracle, preferably at the same time.

Impa always said that preparing for the worst meant that one could be only pleasantly surprised.

Following Hekien's "history lesson", the next item on the agenda was presented by the Treasury Secretary, Alexander Bergstadt: a breakdown of the costs of the coronation. This was followed by an argument between him and his co-department head and rival, Erina Iga, over how best to raise funds. Specifically, whether or not an increase in taxes of a half of a percent would increase or decrease revenue. At least that's what Zelda made of it; she could follow most of the discussion but as the argument spiraled out of control (as arguments between Bergstadt and Iga tended to) they started using more and more complicated terms. Several of the advisors shot looks at the Regent, expecting him to head off the confrontation, but he was uncharacteristically silent.

When the first insult was thrown (this time it was Bergstadt saying Iga's brain was off 'flying with the Rocs', whatever that meant) the Regent finally brought them to order. Shame, really; Bergstadt's tongue-lashing skills were legendary, and a full-blown argument would have livened up the dour proceedings.

The rest of the meeting consisted of more logistical considerations and other minutia involved with running a country and organizing a coronation. Finally, the Regent dismissed the Advisory Council, who got up, bowed to the Regent and the princess, and dispersed. Zelda caught Alexander Bergstadt's eye as he exited, receiving a nod in return.

She turned to exchange pleasantries with the Regent, reaffirming as she did so the air of nervousness around him. Was that why he'd waited so long to moderate the argument earlier…?

But she had other matters to tend to, so she took her leave.

-Castle Halls-

As Zelda made her way to her next destination, most of the people she passed bowed their heads and pointed their gazes downward in deference as they came close.

The sole exception was a woman in a simple black dress, who bowed her head but kept Zelda's gaze with her piercing red eyes.

In the meeting room, the Lord Regent had had two unoccupied seats behind him. One was reserved for the head of the Sheikah Squad, who was currently away from the castle. This woman usually sat in the other chair, writing the meeting's minutes.

Zelda began, "Veran, tonight's meeting concluded five minutes ago. Lord Keijo is going to be rather angry with you, I fear."

The other woman giggled. "My dear cousin hasn't mellowed out any, even after 10 years of being the Lord Regent. I know how to deal with him. Besides, I was cleaning up one of his messes."

Zelda smiled blandly. "Good luck with him, then. May the Goddesses keep you." Her keen eyes noted the strained quality of Veran's smile that always showed whenever someone uttered the traditional farewell in her presence.

The two women continued on their way, Zelda thinking and Veran muttering under her breath. When the distance between them had opened to a few feet, Veran looked back, but the princess had vanished.

/_\

-NE Conference Room-

Veran swept into the meeting room where Keijo was waiting in front of two plates. The servants were still in the process of delivering supper as she sat down, and Keijo visibly restrained himself until the door had shut behind the departing servants before starting to speak.

"Where were you, Veran?"

"Good evening to you too, Noboru." Her casual use of his first name only annoyed him further, but she continued, ignoring her food for the moment. "If you must know, I was trying to figure out how to salvage the rather precarious situation that you have put us in."

"What situation?" he asked, temper giving way to guarded curiosity for the moment.

Veran declined to answer, pointedly turning to the fish and potatoes on her plate - an unusual diet for Hylians. Keijo began to eat his own steak after a few moments, only for his head to snap back up when she asked "Why, pray tell, did you see fit to recall the Sheikah to the palace?"

He swallowed, turning a baleful glare on the woman. "With the coronation coming up, I deemed it necessary to increase security in the castle and the town."

"Which led to decreased security in places such as, say, the Gerudo Fortress."

Keijo paled. "What? I've heard nothing about the fortress…"

"I have my sources. The night after your Sheikah set out, someone infiltrated the Fortress and made off with the Ocarina of Time."

Keijo grew paler, setting his cutlery down.

"I've tolerated your inept rule thus far -"

"Inept?" Keijo seized the opportunity to fire back, indignance written all over his face. "I helped this kingdom recover from the plague and started reversing the damage that our former monarchs did to the nobility-"

"-while inciting your royal guard to rebellion and enjoying the disapproval, if not outright hatred, of the commoners due to the abusive tendencies of your little 'Squad'."

Keijo snorted. "Lions do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep, my dear. Our late King and Queen gave the peasants...ideas, and I'm simply restoring the natural order of things."

It took a monumental effort for Veran to refrain from rolling her eyes, although her body language made it clear what she thought of that oft-repeated line of the Regent's.

"Class concerns aside, we agreed that our greater ambitions would adhere to my plans, my schedule. And I definitely do not remember part of my plan being to allow a lone actor to waltz in and steal the only divine artifact we have-had in our possession!"

Keijo dropped his gaze, gears turning in his head as Veran's eyes attempted to reveal said gears through the sheer force of her stare.

"So? Anything to say for yourself?"

An awkward pause stretched longer and longer until Keijo finally spoke. "I've another reason for recalling the Sheikah. At the least, it should buy us more time, and we'll most likely be in a far better position for it."

Veran sneered at him, turning back to her food. "I sincerely hope so, my dear."

The woman's curt dismissal only served to abash the Regent still further, but he was only able to take out his frustration on his steak.

/_\

-Zelda's Quarters-

On the way back to her quarters, Zelda requested that a maid bring supper for three to her parlor. There, she found the Treasury Secretary, Alexander Bergstadt, whom she'd regularly met for dinner and strategy meetings. He was the first person she'd swayed to her side, an easy task given their mutual dislike of the Regent's rule.

"Good evening, Princess," Alexander said, simultaneously bowing and pulling out Zelda's chair, waiting for her to sit before taking his own. "Thoughts on the meeting earlier? I definitely could have argued Iga down that half a percent…"

"Not when you say that her brain is Roc food, Alexander."

He flushed. "Okay, so it got a little heated, but in my defense, it should be obvious to anyone studied in economics, like she is, that we're on the far side of the Wara curve, and - "

Zelda held up a hand. "I'll stop you there, partially because this is supposed to be dinner, not an economics lesson, and partially because your fights don't usually get that far in front of the Regent."

Alexander stopped mid-gesture, a contemplative look on his face. "You know, that is kind of strange, especially after the State of the Kingdom meeting…"

The shared memory made both of them wince, although Zelda's twitch was belied by a slight smirk.

After a pause, Zelda continued. "In any case, it's rather unusual for him to be so quiet during Council meetings, and he seemed fairly nervous afterwards. I'll need to keep an eye on him-"

A loud rap at the door interrupted the conversation.

Zelda and Alexander rose at the same time, but she waved him down. "You're a guest; sit down. I'll answer it." So saying, she opened the door to reveal a stern-faced woman who was an inch or two taller than the already-tall Zelda. The five stars on her shoulder marked her as a Hylian General of the Army, while the insignia above her heart of a sword and wand crossed in front of a breastplate denoted her position as the Military Minister.

Zelda smiled. "Thank you for joining us, Lady Keikaina. Please, come in."

The woman bowed, saying "Frederica is fine, your Highness."

"Then Zelda is fine as well." They walked over to the table, where Alexander leapt up to pull out Frederica's seat, saluting as he did so.

Frederica smirked, saying "At ease, soldier, you stopped serving under me years ago."

"Old habits die hard, ma'am," said Alexander as he retook his seat.

The next few minutes were consumed by small talk as they waited for the servants to deliver food, after which the three dug in with gusto.

Once they'd started nursing their after-dinner drinks, Zelda turned to Frederica. "Now that we're all full, let's get to business." Alexander sat up straighter, setting down his goblet of wine. "What did Alexander tell you about why I invited you here tonight?"

Frederica finished a sip from her goblet (which held ale) before responding. "Well, Your High-Zelda, I don't think he told me anything about this meeting having a purpose. He was too busy choosing his words as if I were still liable to assign him a hundred pushups or latrine duty."

The two women smirked at Alexander, who sheepishly muttered "Like I said, old habits. And it was usually both."

The general turned back to Zelda. "So, while I have ideas, I've not enough evidence to reach a conclusion yet."

"Then I'll explain. You are, no doubt, aware of the...shift in direction that policy has taken since Lord Keijo ascended to the Regency?"

Frederica snickered. "Sure, if by 'shift in direction' you mean 'about-face'."

"That's another way to put it, yes," Zelda said with a smile. "So I imagine it would not be a surprise to you that I intend to turn the country around once again."

"I don't doubt that, but won't it be difficult for you to accomplish anything given the fact that Keijo has alliances with most of the Advisory Council?"

"Hence this meeting. I'm hoping to persuade you to my point of view, or at least to support my policies during negotiations with the Council."

Frederica sat back, goblet in hand. "You're welcome to try, princess, but I will say that the Lord Regent's rule has definitely been kind to the Hylian military."

"In what ways, if I may ask?"

"Well, his little squad does a lot of research and development of new arms and techniques that make their way into the military. Those whatsits...I don't remember the name, but….those long-range crossbows fitted with Hawkeyes -"

"Sogeki, ma'am," Alexander interjected.

"Yeah, the Sogeki crossbows. Once we got our hands on those, they pretty much doubled our sharpshooters' effective range, and it's not really something that the military would research normally."

Alexander interrupted again. "Well, the military isn't usually in the business of spying on its own people. All the Sogekis I've seen are pointed at private houses, through the windows of those who are more vocal in their mistrust of the Regent."

Frederica shrugged. "Not my problem, the whys and wherefores. I leave that to the intellectuals like you, Alexander. Moralizing about who I'm pointing my sword at wouldn't make me a good soldier. Honestly, if the Suppression hadn't ended so quickly, I'd put even odds on you being court-martialed by now."

Zelda cut off Alexander's response with a gesture. "That's not what I'm talking about, but let's use the Suppression as a starting point. Ignoring the moral problems of the Suppression-" (Frederica muttered "Din knows I'm no bleeding heart") "-the effects of stirring up the resentments between ourselves, the Gorons, and the Zora do negatively impact us all."

"What do you mean?"

"The Gorons, living around Death Mountain, naturally have a near-monopoly on the sale of bombs. How much have prices increased since the Suppression?"

Frederica thought for a moment before replying. "I see your point. Especially since the Sheikah budget eats into ours."

"Alexander can further inform you of the economic costs of the Regents' policies, but let's not get bogged down in details at the moment. As well as the economic costs, the Regents' policies incur costs in military effectiveness as well."

"Really? How do you figure that?"

"Well, take Alexander, for example. Being a ward of the Igas, he was naturally pushed towards the military and not the Sheikah. Other similarly intelligent and talented soldiers-" (Alexander started preening) "-who once would have entered the Army or Royal Guard are instead funneled into the Sheikah. How well would you have fared without Alexander and Erina, or putting it another way, how many soldiers like Alexander are Shiekah now? Never mind all the Royal Guardsmen who aren't here because of the Regent - have you spoken to the Hawk lately?"

Frederica raised a hand. "Okay, I get it. No need to lay it on that thick." Zelda blushed and looked aside sheepishly. "So what do you plan to do, then? I assume you'd like to gain my support to have a majority in the Military Triad."

"That's tonight's goal, yes," said Zelda.

"Points for honesty."

"It is, after all, the best policy."

The discussion continued in a similar vein for the better part of an hour. Frederica seemed content to let Zelda lay out her reasoning, only speaking to clarify statements or poke fun at Alexander. This fit with what Zelda knew of the general - she was hardly the type to reach conclusions quickly, rather taking the time to process information. When she reached a conclusion, she was unshakable.

Zelda hoped that the conclusion reached after this would place the general in her camp.

Finally, Frederica drained her forgotten ale and stood, bowing to the princess.

"Thank you for having me. You've given me much to think about. Good night, Your Highness, Alexander." She left the room as Alexander saluted.

Once the door closed, Alexander dropped his salute, turning to the princess. "I think that went well. Next time, though, don't present so much so quickly. They're rhetorical arguments, not stampeding horses. It's bad form in a debate, worse when you're actually trying to convince someone."

"You're one to talk," she said good-naturedly, but the look in her eyes told Alexander that she had accepted his criticism.

"Planning anything for tomorrow, princess?"

"Have you already forgotten that the Oracle is arriving?"

"Uh...no, of course not. Well, I'll continue talking to Advisory Council members. We'll get our majority yet."

Zelda smiled as he left, mind already speeding ahead to her next moves. Before long, however, she'd wrenched her racing thoughts to a standstill, breathing slowly and deeply and entering a state of intense focus.

She had one more thing to do today.

/_\

-Hyrule Castle Dungeon-

As imprisonments went, Ernest mused, this one wasn't too bad. His cell wasn't huge but it wasn't cramped, either. He had no cellmates besides the scurrying rats, and the occupants of the neighboring cells were fairly quiet. The guards were polite, they were fed twice daily, and as far as he could tell, prisoners weren't pulled from their cells for regular beatings. At least not at the moment.

Of course, given his lack of interaction with the Sheikah guarding him, he was alone with his thoughts most of the time, and that was a decidedly negative experience.

Weighing heaviest on his mind was the fates of his teammates. Raynie had confirmed that Link was dead - sacrificed himself protecting Raynie, in fact. Leave it to a mute teenager to go out more nobly than half the people he knew. Kid was well on his way to being a great soldier, but death takes the finest warriors as easily as it does anyone else. He was used to it by now, and so he let the grief flow through him as it always did. He didn't beat himself up thinking of ways he could have saved Link, things he could have, should have, would have done differently, didn't rage at the divines for taking yet another of his friends from him.

He just let Link go.

And focused on his other teammate.

The thing about death, in Ernest's experience, was that it tended to hit in waves. When someone dies, odds are that the shinigami are studying your group, eyeing their next target. Letting grief for the first weigh you down impedes your ability to help yourself or others avoid joining them. And both he and Raynie looked like they were in pretty bad positions.

As his thoughts shifted to Raynie, he sighed internally. For whatever reason, thinking about her opened a knot in his stomach. Well, that wasn't quite accurate. He knew the reason, he just didn't want to think about it too hard. Fear, as usual.

Well, he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't heed his own sayings. 'Fear kills the mind.' And Din knew he had time to process...

Breathe. In, out, let the stomach settle, let the calm set in. And begin.

Start with Raynie: how does she interact with him, how does - did - she interact with Link, and how were those different?

Simple. She's attracted to him but not to Link, so she flirts - flirted - with the latter and and gets more serious around him while dropping hints.

And how does he respond to that?

By acting oblivious to her feelings and treating her like anyone else.

Why? Leaving aside whether he reciprocates, not giving an answer one way or the other isn't really fair to her. Also, everyone who sees her dropping hints probably thinks his brain is Roc food.

Why, indeed.

Let the fear flow through…

Yep. Terrified.

She'd expressed interest in him fairly early in their working relationship, but he'd had no idea how to respond, so he reacted the way he always did when accosted by admirers: he ignored all of her subtle advances while he sorted out his own feelings. Normally, that would be it, but as he and Raynie fought, trained, and camped together, he felt something new developing. She didn't see him as the untouchable Vermillion Swordsman, and he saw her as closer to an equal - maybe something more.

And that scared him.

Link joining their little squadron didn't help matters; taking the boy under their wings had facilitated their growing closer as well, and so after a while he'd come to the conclusion that he did return her feelings.

Which opened up a new bottle of stinkbugs.

Because now he didn't actually want to rebuff her, but accepting her advances held a terrifying prospect. It was simply easier to leave their dynamic as it was, despite his acute awareness that Link thinks - thought - him an idiot for it.

So with that emotional knot untangled, what about the current situation?

He was locked in Hyrule Castle, she in the Gerudo Fortress. If they'd wanted her dead, they wouldn't have been retrieved alive after their battle on the bridge. Granted, now that he was here, they might decide that she'd outlived her usefulness and just kill her.

Well if they did, their blood would paint him a new jacket - he blinked, startled at the sheer anger that awakened within him at the thought that Raynie might die at Sheikah hands. Was that because Link had died already, a result of his newly accepted feelings for her, or some combination?

Focus.

Either way, he needed to get out of here first, and while this meditation session hadn't really helped that, his mind was clearer. He'd processed Link's death, and he knew what he'd say to Raynie if - when - they next met.

As for the mission, their target had to take care of herself until he could get his immediate situation sorted out.

/_\

Dinner, delivered by a silent guard, consisted of thin, watery gruel and stale bread, which he quickly polished off.

And a humanoid mass of shifting shadows appeared exactly thirty minutes after the guard left.

Ernest shot to his feet, adrenaline racing through his body as he reached for a sword that wasn't there. Not that a sword would likely do much good against...whatever this was.

The Shadow (as good a name as any) extended two tendrils from its sides - arms? - and swiped at the air. A nonverbal threat? It was moving too slowly to be at all intimidating, though. Something in its demeanor seemed off…

Unbidden, he flashed back to an all-too-common occurrence between his subordinates. By virtue of being the closest colleague that Raynie spent most of her time with, Link would often run afoul of her mercurial temper. Whenever that happened, he would raise his hands and pat the air softly, a gesture which they interpreted as "calm down!"

A gesture that looked very similar to what the Shadow was doing right now.

He relaxed his tensed muscles, opening up his posture. Did the Shadow just...nod its "head"?

It made its way around to each cell, conversing softly with the prisoners. He couldn't hear what was being said, but the reactions of his fellow prisoners told him that the Shadow was a regular visitor. Sometimes, the Shadow's tendrils - arms - extended, delivering small items through the bars. Bits of food, papers, and the like. Things that could be hidden, destroyed, or otherwise leave no evidence that they were ever there.

This Shadow was looking ever more virtuous by the second. Of course, that could simply be a ruse. Gain a prisoner's trust and you can get far more information than you could via torture, with the added benefit of not accidentally killing the prisoner.

So Ernest kept his posture open while marshalling his thoughts to ensure that he didn't let anything too important slip - he knew a lot about the Bannerless, after all.

Finally, the Shadow moved up to his cell, and he faced it through the bars.

A soft voice. "Ernest Siegerkind?" It was intelligible, but he couldn't discern anything about who might be under the Shadow - neither age nor gender. Which was probably the intent.

He responded, "You have me at a disadvantage."

The Shadow nodded. "Call me Kage, for the moment. I hope to introduce myself properly soon."

"So do you come here often, Kage?" The expected chuckle was expressed as a huff. Still no distinguishing vocal features. Maybe vocabulary, word choice? But that's not really exact, and it's not like he knew all the dialects of Hyrule -

"Every few days, yes. I bring tidings from the outside world and fulfill those requests that are within my power."

Extremely formal, kind of antiquated word choice? Odd.

"Why? Isn't this the cell block for prisoners of special importance to the Regent? And aren't you a Sheikah?"

That huff again, definitely laughter. "Not all in this castle agree with Lord Keijo. Suffice it to say that the Regent's support base does not reach as high as he would like."

'Not as high?' Who would rank higher than the Regent -

His eyebrows shot into his hair as his thoughts reached their logical conclusion. The princess?!

Kage huff-laughed again.

Or Kage just wanted him to think that the Princess had taken an interest.

Maybe he could test that. "In that case, Kage, can you bring me the gift that a hawk brought your patron?"

Kage's head tilted. "The gift that a hawk…"

"Brought your patron. Ask them what it means."

The shadows around Kage's head returned to their normal position. "Ah. Understood." That reaction struck him as slightly off, but before he could figure out why exactly that was, Kage bowed and left him with an "Until next time, then." before turning to the exit and disappearing around a corner.

As imprisonments went, Ernest mused, this one was shaping up to be interesting.

/_\

-Hyrule Field (Faron), 6 days later-

Link let out a groan of equal parts boredom and fatigue.

The Faron Province's portion of Hyrule Field was a crossroads of sorts. Traffic from Lake Hylia to Kakariko Village and vice-versa occupied the east-west roads - this was the path Link followed. A few days on foot had led Link to the north-south road, which connected Ordon Province with Hyrule Castle Town. Both roads were well-traveled, but the crowd had thinned once the fork towards Castle Town had been passed. Word was that the reduced Sheikah presence had emboldened bandits, and the direct path to Kakariko was especially dangerous now. Upon hearing this news, most who wanted to go to Kakariko decided to take a detour through Castle Town and Upper Eldin Province rather than risk bandits.

Furthermore, since the Sheikah had also been in the business of thinning out the numbers of monsters in the field, few dared to step off the beaten path for fear of provoking the newly burgeoning monster populations. The only exceptions were Postmen, who could be easily spotted taking shortcuts that sent them dashing past the arrows of Bulblins and the diving attacks of Guays.

Link had flagged one down, given him a short verbal message courtesy of Val, and sent him on his way. There was no guarantee that Heinrich would hear it in time to help, though, especially with the Bannerless spread as thin as they were. For the foreseeable future, Link was on his own.

"We've reached the passage to Lower Eldin, and wooooow, this place is huge!"

Of course, "on his own" had a slightly different meaning than it used to.

"I thought you had a map of Hyrule. Shouldn't you know how big this kingdom is?"

"Knowing it and seeing it for yourself are two different things. Anyway, you're almost to Kakariko! Well, three-quarters of the way there? Which is more than half, so I think I'm justified in saying 'most of the way', if not 'almost'."

Val's rambling had become white noise at this point, but Link welcomed the company, odd as it was.

"Uh, let's skip that for now. For now, why don't we try to piece together what we know so we can go into Kakariko prepared?" prompted Link. He'd found that one of the easier ways to guide Val away from one of her tangents was to go over information with her.

"Sorry, sorry! Okay, so here's what we've got. The Lord Regent wants three items, one of which we have: the Ocarina of Time. The other two are in unknown locations, but we're chasing down a lead on the compass. Hopefully the girl's necklace is the real thing and not a family heirloom or something."

"On the subject of the Ocarina-" Link pulled it out, feeling safe in doing so due to the relative lack of people in the area - "what exactly does it do? The legends didn't really go into specifics."

"I'm afraid I don't know much either," fretted Val. "All I've heard is that playing certain songs on it can have magical effects. There's a problem, though."

"Problem?"

"There's no record of it being used more recently than 600 years ago. People have played it, even playing the songs that they knew to be magical, but it just hasn't worked. I have no clue why."

"...that's really weird. Well, I know a bunch of songs; might as well give it a try."

A few practice puffs of air helped Link determine the notes the ocarina could reach, and after a few minutes, he had puzzled out the melodies of a few songs he knew. "The Cucco Song" was first. Aside from the rueful smile that spread across Link's face at the memories it brought back, nothing happened.

Next was the Hylian national anthem, then a series of ballads, and finally a couple of the love songs he had picked up from the orphanage's caretakers and his fellow Bannerless. Nothing.

Frustrated, he rifled through his mental repertoire, discarding the songs he only half-remembered and trying to find something he could piece together. Finally, he picked a waltz that he'd played for the infrequently-held Bannerless celebrations. It was Zora in origin, if he remembered correctly, with a soothing melody.

The first phrase of the song ended on a held note before repeating once and then segueing smoothly into the end of the first verse, and as Link shifted his finger to hit the last note…

Nothing happ-

-his body was underwater-

"Too bad, that last one sounded good…"

-a voice, garbled as if speaking from above the waterline-

Val continued to prattle on, listing off possibilities for figuring out how to use the Ocarina.

- "The clear water's surface reflects growth."-

-and he was back, holding the Ocarina and walking forward as if nothing had happened.

"Uh, Val?"

"Hmm? Yes, Link?"

Before he could say anything, however, they rounded a bend and stumbled upon a grisly scene.

/_\

-Hyrule Field (Faron), ?-

Link let out a groan of equal parts boredom and fatigue.

The desert had been huge, but Hyrule Field could definitely give it a run for its money. This part - Faron, was it called? - took a couple days to cross on foot, and then there was a whole 'nother section before Kakariko Village. That postwoman had said that it would be a relatively straight path with signs everywhere, so wrong turns would be difficult to make. Definitely a good thing, Link mused - wouldn't want to get lost, after all. As it was, Link's brown boots were definitely wearing out at the pace that was generally associated with a stressful day of Wolfos chasing or herding an especially large cucco flock.

At that thought, Link glanced down at the offending footwear, assessed the damage, and groaned again.

"Didn't you hear me, fool? I said, on your knees!"

Link's eyes snapped up, locking on to the speaker: a tall, muscular woman with a club resting on her shoulder.

...how many times was this now? Link really needed to pay more attention.

While absorbed in thought, Link had apparently wandered into a bandit raid. A carriage was stopped a few yards away, nervous horses watching several people with weapons searching it for goods and money. The woman with the club had apparently been overseeing the carriage's occupants: a tall woman in ornate, priestlike robes, a Zora, and three children no older than 12. They were lined up on the ground next to the wall - wait, wall?

Without Link noticing, the grassy Hyrule Field had given way to the thin, rocky pass separating Faron province from Eldin province.

...lost, again. Time to focus, and sort out the geography later.

Link glanced around; there was no one behind the club-wielding bandit and the three at the carriage weren't paying attention.

Alright. Link could do this - situations like these were part and parcel for a hero, after all.

Link said, "Sorry, just a moment. Let me set this little guy down softly…"

She slowly lowered herself into a semi-kneeling position, placing the cucco that she had been carrying down to the side. It would definitely be out of the way, but better to take the fight to them just to be sure.

Her slow crouch didn't satisfy the club-wielder, who was reaching the limits of her patience. "Knees. Ground. Now."

While sinking down, Link completed her pre-fight ritual. Scan the skyline - the walls of the passage blocked most of her field of view. Touch her compass - even though it didn't point north, she felt it gave her luck anyway.

And her crouch became a forward roll in which the crossbows strapped to her boots leapt into her hands.

The bandit began to let out a sharp "Hey!" but only got halfway through it before the bolt from Link's left-hand crossbow pierced her throat.

The children cowered in fear, seeing the burly woman collapse for seemingly no reason. Link's heart went out to them, but she had other priorities right now -

As the club bandit fell, her gurgling shout drew the attention of one of the looters, a bald man who turned to see Link vault over the still-falling body and fire her right-hand crossbow. His reflexes were fast enough to dodge it, but the woman behind him was still in the line of fire, and she went down with a bolt in her back, long hair fluttering down as a shroud.

Link brought her just-fired crossbow back, in the process bringing it close enough to her other crossbow that on passing each other, they made contact with a click.

The bald bandit took in the scene at a glance, coming to the conclusion that since she'd fired two bolts, she couldn't fire again until she'd reloaded. Thus he took the obvious best course of action and charged, drawing his sword on the way -

Link finished the maneuver, bringing her left-hand crossbow up to fire once more, lodging a bolt in the bald man's eye.

"How…?"

The man collapsed, and Link leapt over him in turn, aiming at the last bandit. Her right-hand crossbow fired, landing her next bolt in the final bandit's -

Shield.

Link slowed to a stop as her opponent drew a sword. She'd lost the element of surprise and this one had probably seen what her crossbows could do. To the onlookers, she was definitely at a disadvantage.

If they thought this was a disadvantage, watching her fight a Wolfos would probably give them a heart attack.

As they looked at each other, Link brought her arms down alongside her legs, doing a short hop in place that brought her knees to her chest. The bandit started at the movement, then tilted his head in confusion at her strange antics - a Wolfos would have charged already! - which allowed her to complete the maneuver by pulling the crossbows up past the harnesses on her boots. Levers on the back of the crossbows met handles on her boots and in the process cocked her weapons -

And Link fired her left bolt at the bandit's face. His shocked eyes disappeared behind the shield just in time, but when he brought it down, she was charging straight at him -

He swiped at her horizontally, but Link simply dropped into a low profile and swept his legs with a powerful kick. The ground knocked the air from his lungs, but the fear that swept over him when he registered the crossbow pointing at his young face caused him to refill them very quickly.

At the stricken look on the fallen man's - no, more accurately boy's - face, Link ground her teeth.

Definitely not a Wolfos.

In a low, dangerous voice, she said, "If you hurt or rob anyone else...I beat you once. I can do it again."

The boy nodded, a sudden hope entering his expression.

"And if I have to take you down again, I won't be nearly this merciful. Understood?"

More frantic nods. She pointed the crossbows towards the sky, and motioned with her head. "Go."

He didn't need to hear that twice.

As the children pulled the human and Zora towards her with smiles on their faces, Link tried to reflect their bright smiles with one of her own.

Being a hero was great precisely because of moments like these...

Her eyes drifted unbidden to the three bodies strewn across the path.

...but killing people stung a lot more than killing Wolfos.