Chapter Seven:
The duties she had a servant of the Royal Family kept her busy day-to-day but Impa found time for a brief moment of silence when she could. These moments were usually few and far between; when she could spare the moments to herself, she caught up on reading or a relaxing bath. As of late she had not been able to keep her mind on the words of a book for very long, her thoughts drifting towards the plans she had for the upcoming weeks and the promises she had kept to many inside and outside the castle walls. And those promising plans would eventually come to be, as soon as she could work around the last kinks of the road.
At the present moment, she found herself standing in the middle of the room that she called her own, her eyes transfixed on the window in front of her. It overlooked the gate to the castle and allowed her to see who came and went through the castle road before anyone in the castle did. It was another small advantage she had in a place as confining as the castle. The room itself exactly wasn't something exotic as the rest of the castle and that was the way she wanted it to be. The dark gray walls held nothing on them and the few items she had in the room were hidden in compartments she had created herself inside the walls and out of prying eyes. Her bed sat on the other side of the room, facing the window and the outside world that was beyond the castle and reach of the Royal Family.
She hadn't forgotten her promise to Kaya and she wouldn't, not even when Kaya left this World, and her life, behind. There were too many things to do in order to prepare for after the queen's departure that she couldn't forget; how wasn't she was thinking about but rather when. Although Kaya seemed desperate enough to leave, she wouldn't do it hastily - not even with Zelda there watching. When she would be able to fulfill that promise was something she would have to do on her own terms and without any harm to the princess-heir. The girl had more importance then taking the throne to this kingdom or any others that bordered Hyrule.
It wouldn't be an easy task, preparing for an uncertain future; she had known that prior to Zelda's birth. Had the heir to Hyrule's throne been a male, then the future of the land would have been thrown into chaos. What would she have done then? Have the babe killed in secret so that fate would have a chance? No, she wasn't that cold-hearted. She would have begged Kaya to have another child, one that would take the right place in history and the queen most likely would have done it regardless of how she felt about her husband. Attendant and queen both had their gifts and had high hopes for fate, even if they had to bend it in order for that fate to work.
The pendant currently resided in its container and stowed away in a hidden compartment in the wall, out of sight and reach from anyone but herself. There were seals on the compartment to keep any straying hands from taking it; it was a precaution she had to take because this pendant was the only other one she knew of that was still in Hyrule. Only Sheikah and high-ranking Hylian mages could break the seals she had placed. No mage would be stupid enough to attempt to break or toy with a Sheikah-made seal without Sheikah permission and most Sheikah would tell the king not to meddle in the affairs of a Sheikah, regardless of their position and duties to the Royal Family. She was more than confident to leave the pendant where it was until such time it could be taken out of its hiding place.
Impa sighed, turning her eyes from the window to the piece of parchment in her hand. On the parchment contained what she and Kaya would do and say when the time came to bring up the ruse of the picnic. Kaya had to sound convincing enough to allow the king to believe that they were only going on a small trip to the Hylia and nothing more. If worse came, they would have to sneak out of the castle and to somewhere safe so that the pendant's secret would stay that way. Like the castle, there were few places in the Market where secrets would be told and the Temple wasn't sacred enough to hold them either. Still, chances had to be made and they would have to be, in the worst possible case.
"Damn," she muttered, folding the parchment in half and placing it into a small pocket. By the way the sunlight drifted into the room, she could tell it was getting late in the morning and afternoon would soon be upon them. Kaya would be starting her duties as queen shortly and Impa had the feeling the rest of the castle would be too busy for her to get to the queen later in the day. There would be too many things to do in preparation for another suitor that was being sent to Hyrule for Zelda's hand in marriage, giving the Sheikah precious little time to talk to Kaya. Turning to face the open door of her room, Impa walked quickly through the doorway and into the hallway; she was not worried about her room being left unattended and wide open. The only important thing inside the room was the pendant and it was closely guarded; any of her true possessions had been placed throughout the castle and were not of value to anyone but Sheikah.
From there she took a left and headed through several more passages, intent on taking short cuts and winding passages to confuse guards. Avoiding them would be for the best, even if they went to the king about her meeting with Kaya. It wasn't a secret that she wanted desperately to keep and it would do her case good if she was open about it with the guards beforehand. What the underlying intention was, the king would not have to know until it was too late.
And he never would.
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The secrets of a Sheikah weren't the only things that were being kept inside the castle and were the least of any king that would rule in the years to come. There were eyes inside the castle that could see better than a Sheikah, ears that knew more than the guards, and ways of bending the laws without being caught. They were well hidden in the shadows that danced along the hallways and rooms, keeping to the darkness that crept inside the very walls that protected the Royal Family. If the king knew more than he did, even he would not feel as safe inside Hyrule as he did now. If he allowed the secrets to continue, that is.
Several days had passed since Impa had shown her the pendant and Kaya was starting to grow impatient. She had yet to bring the topic of a lakeside picnic to the king, her voice quietly fading every time he came into the same room or corridor as she, the words fading before she had been able to speak them. Oh, Impa had not forgotten the promise she had given to Kaya but there was no right time to ask for a day away from the castle just yet. The king had kept both of them at bay for any requests, his threat still fresh in Kaya's mind. When and if the day came, Kaya would be the first to know and the first to smile inward.
At the present moment, Kaya stood on the platform that overlooked the garden Zelda often played in, her back turned towards the archway that lead into the rest of the castle. With her arms clasped behind her, she stared through the window that overlooked the throne room and watched as an ambassador from another land stood up in front of the king. There were so many treaties that had been signed in the last two months that all were jumbled together; so many faces to so many kings, queens, and ambassadors that she would never had been able to put names to faces. Even this man inside the throne room would not be but a fraction of a memory that she would not remember nor try to. If she ever saw him again, she would only smile and nod her head as though she knew him when she never gave a thought to him. It was not her duty to remember these faces and names, only to smile and act as though she had known these strangers all her life.
Her husband had his trademark smirk upon his face and the ambassador didn't look too happy about something; his gestures gave away what his words could not. He was not happy about something and the king pleasantly took the discomfort and joy in seeing another person squirm in front of him. The joy wouldn't last long and she knew it - even if she did not remember who the ambassador was a week from now, she would remember the kingdom he came from. It was a small country to the south, a place where a good portion of grains and melons came in weekly for merchants to buy. That gave the lower classes food to eat and rupees in their pockets, enough to live off of and to make breads and pies. If her husband did not watch his tongue, their main grain supplier would cease to come to Hyrule and that would not bode well for the population.
Kaya frowned, watching as the king spoke something to the ambassador, who stood where he was and crossed his arms over his chest. A white aura engulfed the ambassador, a small hint of silver snaking its way around the very bottom of the aura itself. The white aura meant a long life was ahead for this man and his family, a sign that would have made her smile instead of frown. However, the silver around the bottom of the aura meant that a big change would occur sometime during his lifetime and that change might just be today. There was no telling what would happen between these two kingdoms and she had a deep feeling that it wouldn't turn out as one would hope.
"What's going on in there, mama?" A small voice said from next to her. Kaya felt something grasp and tug on her skirts, her eyes drifting downward to see Zelda standing on her toes and trying to look inside the throne room. She held her gaze on the child for several minutes, her frown lifting slightly; there was no aura around the princess that day. She could see aura's in everyone that she met and quite often they disappeared after a short while, sometimes coming back up only when there was a major change in her Foretelling. However, Zelda seemed to have her path already set in stone and there were no dancing auras around her this day.
"Your father is just..." Kaya started before she stopped, her head jerking towards the throne room quickly. Two guards had grabbed the ambassador by the upper arms and were forcibly taking him out of the room. In the span of only a few minutes, her husband's rage had finally turned sour and the ambassador had enough of it. That must have prompted something to go wrong and now someone would be spending time in the dungeons while the treaty between two kingdoms would be torn up. "He is just doing what he thinks is best for Hyrule."
"Did he send someone to the dungeons again?" Zelda asked quietly, letting go of her mother's dress. Kaya looked down at her daughter and watched her walk to the stairs of the platform and sit down upon the top step. It was not the words of the child that scared her the most, it was the tone in which she had used; it was not normal for the girl to have gone from a wondering voice to an almost desperate tone. Then again, Kaya could almost see herself in Zelda and that gave her another pang of fear. She will not go through the same hell as I did.
"Zelda?" Kaya walked over to the princess-child and sat next to her, her eyes watching Zelda closely with a hand hovering over her shoulder. Zelda sat perfectly still as though she was just a statue in the garden, her arms wrapped around her legs and chin resting upon her knees. Her face was pale, eyes looking distant, and the overall look of someone that had seen something beyond their years. That look alone told Kaya more than simple words could possibly say. "Zelda, have you..."
"Don't tell Impa that I had another dream again, okay?" Zelda's voice trembled, just as Kaya started to move a soothing hand over her daughters back to calm her. Kaya could not begin to understand the visions Zelda had but in essence the two of them were in the same boat as each other. The Foretelling of her own had begun when she had been a young girl but had been a few years older when the first auras started to appear. If there had not been any Sheikah present when she had been growing up in Kakariko, then the auras would have driven her to the brink of insanity if not worse.
"Dreams have a way of telling us the future, even if it is a puzzle that doesn't make any sense," Kaya said softly, running her fingers through Zelda's hair. "Those dreams may not be pleasant and you may not like them, but you mustn't allow them to scare you. You'll find that you can block them with ease so that the nights won't be as dreadful."
Zelda lifted her head up from her knees, her eyes looking up at her mother questionably. Kaya smiled at the girl, her face softening and caring as much as she showed the child. Despite feeling the most relaxed when she was with Zelda, she still was on edge as if she expected something to happen at any moment. Her guard could not be let down for a moment, not even when she was with her own flesh and blood; when she was out of Hyrule and out of danger, then she would be safe. Zelda would join her eventually, even if it meant going against the threads of Time to do so.
"Zelda, one day you will be able to control your visions and not allow them to take over your dreams. However," Kaya paused, glancing at the archway for a moment before returning her gaze to her daughter. She had thought she had seen something move there but it was just a trick of the light, "the visions will still be there, but they won't haunt you so. You must have the courage to face them, the power to control what you see, and the wisdom to use the visions well."
"And those visions will become your greatest ally," Impa said. Kaya jumped up quickly, turning to face forward only to see the Sheikah standing several feet away from them and arms crossed lightly over her chest. The movement she had seen at the archway had been the Sheikah herself, the queen taking in and letting out a deep breath. She was glad that it had not been a guard that could get past her eyes and had started to act more like a Sheikah.
"Impa, when did you..." Kaya started, her voice drifting away as she glanced down at Zelda. The princess-heir hadn't changed her demeanor since Impa had come in, her face still innocent and wondering as it had been when it had just been mother and daughter together. Impa smiled lightly, seeing the tenseness on the queen's face and taking that as a sign the woman had not want the conversation to be heard by anyone else.
"I've only just gotten to the garden and didn't hear anything but what you said about courage, power, and wisdom," Impa assured her, uncrossing her arms. "I had to get here as soon as possible, before our duties take over for the day."
Kaya stared at her, her face scrunching up in confusion; she had no idea what Impa was talking about, not even when she reached into a hidden pocket of her clothing and pulled out a piece of parchment. Something triggered her memory of what she had been absently thinking about before she and Zelda had briefly talked, a fleeting smile coming upon her lips. That smile soon faded when Zelda stood up and grasped her mother's robes, holding on tight to her as though she expected something to happen. Kaya glanced down at her daughter then at Impa, her eyes moving quickly to the entrance and then back down to Zelda. The Sheikah frowned, her eyes falling upon the princess-child quickly.
"Zelda, your mother and I have some business to discuss with each other. Maybe the cook could make you some lunch before we start your lessons," Impa said in a stern voice. Zelda looked up at her mother, who smiled and nudged her towards the archway.
"Don't worry, it won't take long," Kaya said quietly, to ease the child's mind a bit. Zelda didn't move for a moment before she let go of her mother and started for the archway; unwillingness to go was a sign that she wanted to know what the two older women would be talking about. Impa gave the girl's shoulder a squeeze when she walked by as she moved towards the platform and started to unfold the parchment she had taken out. There were few instructions on the paper and in code in case a guard happened to have his curiosity get the better of him.
"When are we going to do it?" Kaya asked more than eagerly when Impa motioned for her to sit down where she had been sitting before. Both women sat down on the platform in the same manner that Zelda and Kaya had been in before they had been interrupted. Impa gave her a sideways glance and a short frown, not at the question but at the eagerness in which it was asked. Eagerness to do something or get it done wasn't something one should have when going about old magic and fate itself.
"Tomorrow we will tell him of the picnic during breakfast, but this is what I need you to do."
Beyond Book series and all original characters © Ameera Mae Laramie
Legend of Zelda games, characters, and places © Nintendo and their original creator
