The Legend of Zelda: TriSpirit, Episode 2: The Day of Duty

Chapter 3
The Princess...Again

The four recruits are shocked and rather alarmed to see Princess Zelda approaching.

What will she think of them fighting like this..?!

She has not yet noticed the commotion. She is currently still at a distance away and has her head turned in a different direction from them as she eyes the castle's garden. Volker quickly sheathes his sword and steps back from his victim before getting caught. Link takes this opportunity to get up and recollect his hat and sword while Volker is momentarily off his back.

The four recruits immediately fall silent as the princess approaches. They quickly stand to the side and bow in respect as she walks by, just as any guard is supposed to do in the presence of royalty.

She walks right by them...

Then, much to everyone's surprise, she greets them warmly;

"Good day, boys," she says with a smile. "I hope you are all doing your best as recruits."

Shocked that the princess has acknowledged them, the four recruits all nod politely, unsure if they are permitted to speak or not.

Much to Link's horror, she then takes notice...of him.

"Oh, so we meet again," remarks she. "Say, if you don't mind my asking; is there a reason why you were given a hat with your uniform? I haven't noticed any other recruits wearing one."

Link is overwhelmed with awkwardness and embarrassment to be singled out by the princess in front of his peers once again. Even worse; she just took notice of his hat_right after he had just denied the accusation of wearing it for the sake of being noticed by her!

What miserable timing...

"(She's speaking to him again?!)" the other recruits think to themselves as they witness Zelda address Link. "(Why does Link always end up with the best luck?!)"

Link's own thoughts are quite similar...

Albeit with a contradicting perspective from theirs;

(She's speaking to me again?!)" he thinks to himself. "(Why do I always end up with the worst luck?!)"

The shy recruit stands stammering for a moment before finally replying; "Uh, w-well... I-it's not really...part of the uniform..." he explains awkwardly while avoiding eye-contact. "M-my grandmother just happened to have it lying around a-and liked the way the color matched my uniform..."

If only running away was an acceptable option right now...

"Oh, I see," says the princess with a smile. "Well then, she sure was right about it matching your uniform; I would have thought they were part of a set! It looks very nice on you."

Oh no! A compliment! This spells disaster!

"Um, thanks..." says Link, feeling somewhat reluctant to have to reply to the princess in front of the others but wishing to remain polite.

"You're welcome," says Zelda kindly.

The other recruits stare daggers into Link. The looks on their faces would almost seem comical if not for being directed at him.

Seeing the princess speak to Link, Volker hastily (and rather abruptly) attempts to butt in to get her attention himself; "Uh, a-and this helmet I'm wearing isn't really part of my uniform either..! It's just something I had custom-made for me awhile back!" Clearing his throat and putting on a casual act, he then crosses his arm while subtly pressing his knuckles against his muscles to make them look bigger so Princess Zelda will notice. "It was pretty expensive_but nothing I can't afford, of course."

Volker is putting on such an obvious (and not-so-smooth) display to try and impress Zelda that Link is now beginning to feel more embarrassed for Volker's sake than for his own...

"_Oh. I see," says Zelda after an awkward pause, excusing the abruptness. "Now if you boys will excuse me, I need to be on my way. I hope you will all keep up the good work on your guard duties!"

The four recruits stand in awkward silence as Princess Zelda continues on her way. Once she is out of sight, three pairs of eyes turn to stare at Link, who only stares at the ground. No one has spoken yet, but Link already knows what sort of accusations his fellow recruits are eager to make against him now that the princess has acknowledged him a second time...

Especially since she has even given him a compliment now.

"Whoa..." says Bruce at last, breaking the silence. "I should've worn a hat with my uniform..!"

"'No personal relationship with the princess', eh, Link?" says Sven, giving the evil eye.

"I knew it!" shouts Volker, enraged with jealousy. "I knew you wore that hat just to get the Princess to notice you again, Link! You dirty rat! You think you're so clever, don't ya?! You always gotta try and steal the show and be the center of attention! You just can't learn your place, can ya?!"

Link only stands in silence as Volker continues to give him an extensive earful of undeserved belittlement while Bruce and Sven enjoy the leisure of watching. The awful stench of Volker's breath in his face forces the young farmboy to try arduously to fight the urge to vomit.

He appears to have had onions recently...

(Then again, given how seldom Volker brushes his teeth, that stench could easily be from more than a week ago...)

Link understands not why everyone seems so obsessed with the idea of being acknowledged by the princess. He finds the fuss Volker is making over this rather juvenile...

"...You're a lying little scumball!" continues Volker with his belittlement; "A moron! A worthless twerp! You're always stepping out of line! You only think you're better than the rest of us, but you're not! You're just a stupid farmboy whose lowly family doesn't even have it's own surname! I'm the one who's born of a living legend! You're a nobody! And I could whip your butt any old day, you stupid piece of trash! When are you ever going to learn your place?!"

Yes, quite juvenile indeed.

Princess Zelda just has a warm and friendly personality and treats everyone as an equal. Link understands and respects this about her. But his peers unfortunately have a rivalry issue over being noticed by her that leads them to be envious of anyone whom she would happen to speak to.

And Link has somehow received the (mis)fortune of being acknowledged by her in front of them.

Twice.

And without even trying either time.

The only thing keeping Link from walking away from this pathetic scenario right now is the fear of Volker physically attacking him for turning his back on him. He is more than vicious enough to do so, and Link would be powerless against him in a fight. Enduring Volker's childish belittlement (and horrid breath) is trivial compared to the strong possibility of broken bones he faces.

Fortunately, an opportunity to escape arrives at last as duty calls the recruits apart...

As Link continues to be berated by Volker, a mysterious stranger approaches. He carries an odd staff in one hand and a frame in the other arm. He is garbed in a cloak as green as the forest.

With a composure calm and formal, he addresses Volker; "Excuse me, but are you Volker Pent?" asks the man. "I have come to deliver a donation of new paintings for the castle halls as a gift for the royal family. I was told by the captain that you would help me unload them."

Volker at last seizes his belittlement towards Link (albeit reluctantly) as the cloaked man addresses him. "Alright. Bring 'em this way..." he responds as he begrudgingly takes a stack of paintings in his arms and prepares to lead the cloaked man into the castle to display them.

He whispers threateningly to Link as he passes him by;

"Don't think you're off the hook yet, wimp... I'll put you in your place once I'm done with this..."

Link remains silent. He gives no reaction.

Volker turns his attention towards Bruce and Sven. He sternly whispers instructions to them before heading off; "Keep an eye on the twerp while I'm gone..! The guests are going to start coming in soon, so make sure he doesn't go anywhere before I get the chance to give him what he's got coming to him while there are no witnesses around yet..."

"No problem, man." agrees Bruce.

"He'll be here for ya," promises Sven.

Once Volker heads into the castle with the new paintings in hand, a confused Bruce turns to Sven with a question;

"So, uh... What's he got coming to him again..?"

"Probably a beating," answers Sven. "He earned it for making us look bad in front of the Princess again!"

"Wait_ What..?!" says Bruce in shock. "We looked bad?! How'd we look bad?! I wasn't even picking my nose this time!"

"I don't mean we really looked bad! I just mean that Mr. Fancy-Hat here had to go and upstage us so that we didn't look as good as we should've!"

"Oh, I get it! So now Volker's going to kick his butt for us so we don't have to, right?"

"That's right. He's an elite recruit, and his dad is Sir Pent, so he can get away with that stuff better than we could."

"Ha ha! Someone's gonna get it!"

"Someone sure is..." Sven concludes as he slowly turns back towards Link. "So we're just going to make sure that you don't try and slip away before_ Uh..."

Upon turning to face Link, the two soon realize that he is nowhere to be seen. They stand in awkward silence as the reality that he has already given them the slip slowly begins to dawn on them.

A cricket chirps.

"Where'd he go..?" asks a dumbfounded Bruce.

Having easily escaped the watch of Brice and Sven, Link sighs in relief to himself to finally have his overbearing peers behind him. Although normally one to avoid crowds, he decides it would be best to keep his patrol closer to the front gates for the rest of the day where there will be more witnesses around in case Volker should come after him again.

Hurrying to increase the distance between himself and his fellow recruits behind him before they realize he slipped away, Link looks back to make sure they have not followed.

_Nearly causing himself to crash into a bearded man coming in.

"Hey! Watch where you are going, brat!" scolds the man angrily as he narrowly dodges Link with surprisingly fluid movements for his age.

"S-sorry..!" apologizes Link sheepishly, though quite startled himself.

"Hm. Well, never mind that," scoffs the man. "Tell me, boy; have you perhaps seen a man in a green cloak around here?"

"Yes. Right over there, sir..." answers Link politely as he points back behind him. "I don't know if he's the one you're looking for, but there was a man delivering a load of paintings who matched that description just back there... You'll find his cart parked near the side door..."

"Very well. That'll be all." The man continues on his way without another word. Link knows not who he is, but can only assume he must be working with that green-cloaked man in some form.

With Link far behind him, the new visitor quickly finds the cloaked man who delivered the donation of paintings as he unloads them from his cart. The two mysterious men begin to speak in private.

"So," the new visitor whispers. "Is everything going according to plan?"

"Yes, Master Kazama," replies the green-cloaked man. "They accepted the paintings without suspicion and are placing them around the castle halls as we speak..."

"Excellent," says the man, who apparently goes by the name Kazama. "We shall execute the plan at the climax of my performance. Just take extra care not to draw attention to yourself... You must let no one find out that you are a Wizzrobe."

"Yes Master..." replies the cloaked figure.

"That foolish Princess Zelda..." snickers Kazama. "Welcoming people of every kind to openly attend her ceremony... Gathering all of Hyrule's swordsmen into one convenient place for elimination... It's as if she was begging the Devastati to strike today! Did she really believe that no one would take advantage of this glorious opportunity that she so graciously granted us? I suppose it is only proper that we repay her generosity with a performance so grand as to make her final birthday an unforgettable day in Hyrule's history..."

Thanks for reading! So now the head villain enters the scene and has something sinister in store... I know things have been a little slow up till now, as I've been more focused on introducing the characters while only very subtly foreshadowing some things that are to come, but following the next chapter is where the excitement starts.

Now, for those of you who have already read the original edition; I apologize for the lack of new content so far, but I assure you; that will change soon enough in the chapters to come. The next chapter will mostly be the same, but its ending moment may interest you...