Episode 11

My first bath in a giant wooden tub was an interesting experience. But getting ten maids not to stay and bathe me like a helpless toddler didn't fly though, and I ended up for the first time in my remembered life being scrubbed head to foot completely naked by strangers. I was wondering who it sucked for more: the maids, or me. Afterwards they dressed me all up in petticoats, bloomers, and a simple blue, cotton dress that fit me all right. They had also been able to coaxed the thick matt of my dark hair into a long braid with a tip like a scorpion's tail.

"Uh…thanks." was all I could say. They bowed and left with the tub and brushes, leaving me curled up near the porch, looking out to the sun that sat on the castle's top. The sky had grown into hazy reds and blues. Not a cloud in sight. Was I really to be the one to herald the drowning of Hyrule?

I shuddered at the thought. No no no, I had no need for this sense of dread. Life in Hyrule was starting to get good! I had a full stomach, clean clothes, a bed to sleep in—and in a castle!—princess Zelda hadn't killed me, and Link was nowhere to be seen. However, nearly the moment I thought that I spotted something strange in a tree outside in the courtyard. As I peered closer I thought I saw the tall tell sign of a windsock hat. It was hard to tell, however, because if it were Link, his green clothes nearly camouflaged him in the greenery of tree's leaves. As I watched however, the green shifted and moved up a branch.

"Yep," I said to myself, "he's up there."

My conscience gave a twinge, though I wasn't sure why. I had done nothing wrong. Link had just wrongfully accused me and got offended for no reason. I wasn't in the wrong… was I?

A knock came to the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and Zelda entered, glimmering all the same in the setting sunlight as she did at noon. I flinched into a curtsy, trying my best to be somewhat courtly. She greeted me and sat down on a sofa.

"I have been meaning to ask you, Lady Kara, about some things. In fact I have been so excited to talk to you I could hardly pay attention in court. Are you all right with that?"

"Sure. Shoot."

"Shoot?"

"Go ahead, I mean."

"I am eager to know, Lady Kara, what is your world like?"

"Huh?" I blinked. I hadn't been expecting that. Then it hit me what she might be thinking.

"And how do you know our language? If you are from a different world, how do you speak Hylian? Did you learn it in these…games of yours?" she sat clutching her skirts, looking eager. I blanched. I hadn't thought of that either. How do I know Hylian?

"Wait… you're not speaking English?"

"English?"

"Take that as a no." how do I respond then? If I couldn't explain, would she cease to believe me? Than what would happen next? I decided to take a shot at the truth.

"I…honestly don't know." I watched her for a response. "Maybe I did learn it from the games…do you not believe that I'm from a different world now?"

"Nope, I still believe so." She smiled. I was confounded.

"Why? I mean, I wouldn't believe it."

"Simple. Link told me that you were. And Link never lies, nor is he often wrong."

The moment was strange when I had to give credit to Link for something other than saving my life. After the initial shock washed over, I smiled weakly and gratefully.

"So, tell me," she nestled down and leaned closer. "What are your people like? In comparison to mine, that is. You may start however you like. I am extremely curious."

And that's how I spent the next hour or so of my evening. It fascinated me to no end to be telling a princess of a foreign land, let alone Hyrule, about how I lived. We talked about everything from buildings, to cars, to electricity, to music, and even to food. Hamburgers amused her to no end. There wasn't any ham in hamburgers! As we talked she compared her culture along whatever I said, and I found out that not much was different from Hyrule in regards to plants and animals. The names may be a bit different, but they were basically the same animal, and the Princess's sharp intelligence made up for my lame explanations. A servant came in not long after the sun fell below the roof to start a fire in the fireplace, then left quietly.

It finally came down to video games. Never before in my life were they treated with such seriousness in a conversation as they did now. Had I been anywhere else at the moment I would've laughed myself silly.

"So, video games are essential games using this…electricity of yours, am I correct?" she asked.

"Yeah. We watch them on planes of glass that are inside of these boxes."

"And what sort of games do you play? What sort of one was this one?"

"That's…hard to explain. Video games can be anything, pretty much. Some are puzzles, some are word games, but the majority of games were story based or adventure based."

"What are those liked?"

"Well, they tell a story in the game and you take part in it. It's like telling stories here, except instead of just hearing it, we see it as well and take part in it as a character on the screen. The Legend of Zelda, which was the one about Hyrule, was one of these story-adventure based games. We played as Link and went through the story to save Hyrule."

Her face fell and went rather blank. I panicked, thinking I had done something wrong.

"You were in it too. You helped Link out."

"Did I now, huh?"

"Yep."

"And…what were the other one's like? Did they have lands and heroes as well?" her voice didn't match her expression, which I couldn't read that well. As far as I could see, she was wary.

"Yeah. There were a lot. Different worlds with different creatures and people. Some adventure games were rather pointless, though, 'cause they didn't really have a story. They were more life based and had to do with our world's history as well as others.'

"You're world's history? Really? How so? And how were these games without stories?"

Having been put on auto-pilot by her lines of questions, I answered without thinking.

"Now a days back home, war games are getting pretty popular. You pretty much act out a soldier and shoot down the enemy. Game creators try to make them as realistic as possible, but I doubt they are. I think they are lame. Then there are other games were you just go through killing…things…" I stopped at the horrified expression she had fallen into. I felt my insides shrivel up. Her eyes had fallen dark, no longer glimmering. I scrambled to say something, but was only able to make a few incoherent mumbles.

"You…your people…find this as entertainment? And as realistic as possible? I've seen children play war, but not like that…"

"Princess, it's not like that. See…how to I explain this…please, it's really not as bad as it sounds…" but it was, no matter how I wanted to say it. However, Zelda didn't sound accusing or angry. Whatever it was I couldn't make out what she was thinking beneath that glimmer of hers.

"Look, we…it's not the reality we enjoy. I'm sure those that have been in real wars or had to kill real things despise that they make video games of that, because it's nothing like it, it's more that we…"

"You like to play reality rather than live it." She said quietly. I paused in shame as she stood to stretch and draw nearer to the fire.

"I guess…"

"And those who know reality for what it is despise the fantasy. It is a mockery of it." She looked up at me, her eyes sad. "But don't they realize what they are doing? They are joying in violence and all that makes nations unhappy."

I sighed. "If it helps you feel any better, Princess, I never enjoyed those games or appreciated them."

She looked away from me to the flames. "No wonder Link hated you so much…"

"He hates me?" I knew he surely didn't like me, but hate was a strong word.

"It's more he hates what you represent, not you as a person, Kara."

"Still, not a very comforting thought. But why does he hate me so? I know you told me before because it was sort of a mockery of how hard he worked, but that can't be the only thing."

"It is, and more. You who have played fantastic reality wouldn't understand, really. I will try to explain though. See, he has had to live through horrific, terrible things just to risk his life time and time again in order to keep this land safe. He has had to kill in order to defend himself and his people. Even if you have followed him through your games, you cannot possible imagine what he had been through. The fact that his sacrifice and what he has seen and lived through is considered a game to not only you, but whole nations is…" she fell quiet, but she needn't have explained. My conscience had returned with a loud scream. My eyes fell down to my knees as I remembered his face and words when he had scolded me for endangering the Kokiri village. Though I hadn't intended to, nor had I any control over it, I felt guilty.

"But…they were just stories to us."

"I realize that." She said. "I understand that much. I wasn't expecting you to see it through Link's eyes from the beginning. It takes a rare character to be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes."

With that, she bid me a solemn good night, saying that anymore knowledge of my world can be reserved for tomorrow and left. But I knew it was because she had had enough. I realized then she had gone through a lot to save her people as well, and the game had used her too.

I had never felt so ashamed in my life.

A maid visited me an hour or so later with a tray of dinner, but I couldn't bring myself to eat it and it stayed untouched on the coffee table. Feeling tired I found nightgowns in the wardrobe, but didn't feel like going to bed, so left them there. My thoughts turned to the little Japanese man in the cell. His cheeks had been happy balls under his eyes from his smile. Had he thought of the games we played? Had he thought of the realism there? Or had he known something I didn't? Or had he been just oblivious as I had been?

From outside came the music of a beautiful flute, interrupting my thoughts. I didn't recognize the song, but it instantly caught me in a snare of notes. Who played with such forlorn melancholy? What kind of thing could make such a beautiful sound? As I listened, I could feel my heart ache all the more as it rung with me. I stood, drifting towards the music and onto the porch. As I stared out into the darkness of early night, I knew it could only be an ocarina. Peering out for a sign of the player, I was able to instead make out an old ladder succumbed to many years worth of ivy hanging off the side of my balcony. With a romantic sense of guilt I climbed onto the banister and down onto the ladder.