I wish I was better with chapter names.

Anyways, here's chapter 11.

The rest of the trainees weren't informed about the incident last night. When asking the gorons, Zelda found out that no one had entered or left the city aside from Link and Zelda herself. The cut on the knight's throat wasn't a hassle to fix, and he was allowed to train with the others. She gave the five hylians a quick rundown of what they'll do for the time there.

"It'll be a bit different compared to Zora's Domain. You'0ll be doing more patrols and dealing with extreme temperatures. There are no veteran knights here, as you can see. A few times a day, Daruk will pull a few of you guys aside to teach about claymores." The queen glanced over at Damian with a faint smile. "I'm sure you'll be fine, however, Damian. If you guys need me, I'll stay in the city."

They all took a few minutes to get ready and left to get their assigned patrol routes. Once alone, Zelda sighed and slumped into a chair. The heat was uncomfortable, last night had put her on edge, and she was beginning to be worried about the castle. The inn keeper glanced over at her a few times, but never said anything.

Midna wasn't her only personal guard, Impa was the one who looked out for her at the castle. She was one of the last sheikah members left, and was known for that, and being a for midible woman. They were both rather protective but trusted her fully. When the attacks on her life began, Impa was the one charged with protecting her. The sheikah woman asked for Zelda s opinion, then called for the skilled mage to help. The queen remembered saying that she was scared and worried but didn t want to show people that. Midna and Impa had been supporting her since the attacks, helping her keep calm.

Zelda had always remembered Impa looking out for her and saw her like a second mother. When she met Midna, the mage was less stern, more playful, and Zelda admittedly found it easier to be more playful with her. Not that Impa was against those things. Recently, Zelda had left Impa in loose charge of things at the castle, trusting her fully. But she couldn't help but worry about how things were going.

So deep in her worried thinking, the queen never noticed when Midna sat down next to her and was a fair bit surprised when she spoke. "You doing alright? Like, mentally and emotionally? I understand that last night was a bit of a shock. And with everything else..."

The tall mage was close to Zelda, and the queen took a chance to look her over. Grayish-blue skin with the blackish markings, trademark of the twili, and a fairly thin robe-like garment. The queen always thought that her long, orange hair was beautiful. Meeting her yellow and red eyes with her own blue, Zelda mumbled weakly, "I am feeling much less confident. I'm tired from keeping up a lively and strong act around the others, and I know I m normally like that, but these attacks are really getting to me. I..." She glanced aside for a moment. "I'm grateful that you're here for me. I guess I haven't really thanked you for those few times where you pulled me aside and allowed me to just... Talk."

A few moments of silence passed, and Midna gentle laid her hand on top of Zelda's head. "I can see that you've still been struggling with being queen. You were shoved into the spot rather quickly, and the way your parents were killed did affect your outlook and emotions. And the way you reacted had a negative effect as well." She began to softly play with Zelda's hair. "Let's talk about some more... positive things that have happened recently, eh?" Midna's over-the-top smile made Zelda giggle. "Sounds good, Midna."

The mage removed her hand from Zelda's head. "The knights have been doing well, especially Link, or as I call him now, Wolf. He took down a lynel, saved your life a few times, and has helped you in a few other ways! He's an exceptional young man. Let's not forget about the others! Rowan and Damian are showing to be excellent fighters, and I've heard that they've fought a number of monsters as well. Jan is compassionate and is like an emotional support to the others when needed, and Everen has a valuable sense of loyalty and duty. We've got a great group this year, huh?"

Zelda beamed proudly. "Yeah, I'm happy to be helping them along. Perhaps one or two of them might want to join the royal guard when done...?" She moved her chair closer to Midna. "I'm also curious about their reactions to the other guilds. We're doing the scholar s guild next, so I wonder what they'll do in the time there." Placing the sheikah slate on the table, the two of them checked the map. "Yeah, they're in Hateno town. I'll give them more time, it's a big town." While Zelda fiddled with the map, Midna glanced over her shoulder. "What s your opinion on that scruffy thief Linebeck that we picked up? I've voiced that I'm not too fond of him, but all I've got from you is that he piques your curiosity."

Zelda followed her gaze and saw the odd thief simply laying on the ground, his feet propped up on one of the beds. "He's... strange, yeah. Skilled with a bow and sneaky, defiantly well-known, but full of himself and... cold, I guess.' Across the room, he pulled his feet off the bed and stood up, glancing over at them. He must have heard them talking about him. "You guys said my name? Mind if I join in your conversation?"

"Yeah, we mind. This is sort of private though, so we'd both appreciate if you didn't listen in. Thanks." Zelda smiled apologetically and watched his reaction. Or, more rather, looked more at his appearance. "Isn't that an old sheikah stealth armor set? How'd you get that? Those are really rare nowadays."

It seemed to take Linebeck a moment to process the question. "I stole it from a place, as an assignment. I edited it, hence the missing sheikah symbols and crap. The cloak I made by hand, from scratch, same with the scarf. If you have any need of me when you're done talking, I'll be exploring this city a bit more." The lanky thief strode out the door, and Zelda heard him mutter in an undertone, "Damn... why is this place so bloody hot?"

The two women were quiet for a moment, and Zelda said, "I wonder how long he's had insomnia. I mean, the circles under his eyes are practically black."

Midna leaned back, crossing her arms. "Yeah, he's had it for a few years. Leading off that, while in Hebra, he mentioned nightmares and sleep paralysis. He's got a few sleep disorders but is really good at hiding things like that. Adding on, he's just about skeletal, but is stronger than he looks. Want me to go on a rundown of what I ve learned about him from the time in those stupid mountains?"

Zelda nodded more eagerly than she intended. Midna sighed. "You already know that he's arrogant, a coward, and doesn't exactly take things seriously. He's a loner, explores a lot, likes the ocean and I suspect even considers about being a sailor, maybe when people actually consider making a port." She paused. "I mean, he already cusses like a sailor, so he's on his way." The two of them laughed. "Continuing on... He s paranoid, a bit on the lazy side, and greedy to the point of scary."

"Wait, really? Give me an example? I know he mentioned treasure before, but right now I've seen no evidence."

The mage leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "He left me for dead at one point in the mountains, deciding that a rumored cavern with gold was more important than that of my safety. He almost died trying to get to a chest, and I left that place with less than half of the money I came in with. It's bad."

Feeling a burn, Zelda asked for Midna to pause, and dug through her bag for a fire-proof elixir. Finding it, she drank it and let Midna to continue. "That's about the gist of it, along with he's insensitive. I don't like him. Though, if you can gain his trust, he's pretty loyal. He is loyal to his guild, I know that, good with a bow, too, and patient. A surprisingly good leader, if rather selfish. Those are his only visible good traits." The mage yawned, stretching exaggeratedly. "I need a nap, I was up until dawn since you and Link came back."

Standing up with another, more suppressed yawn, the older mage left Zelda alone with her thoughts again. Slight confliction floated around in her mind. Midna seemed to want to discourage her about wanting to know more about Linebeck, subtly telling her that it simply wasn't worth it.

And yet she still wanted to know more, to know about why he traveled and why he acted the way he did. The others in the group were more open that he was; Midna was not afraid to be vocal about her motives, and Link was straightforward, but Linebeck mostly gave out basic information about himself, at least not to Link. She'd noticed that Linebeck was more willing to stay around Link, even if it had only been about two days since he joined the group.

Standing up herself, Zelda shuffled out of the inn, her sword and shield equipped. It took a few minutes, but she located an open spot in the city to practice. Two bridges were on opposite sides, while the other two led to lava. If she wanted to leave, there was an open bit in one of the bridges to climb up. Zelda unsheathed her sword and sighed.

Recalling Link's grace when he fought at Zora's Domain, she studied her own blade. His fighting was exceptional. Before meeting him, she had actually heard rumors of a skilled swordsman in the town he was from but paid it no heed. Thinking back to his moves, she began to imitate it. His style was more of a freestyle, whereas Zelda was always trained under the wings of Impa and the older royal guards.

A few swings in, she felt herself reverting to her own style. Putting more effort into recreating Link's style, Zelda soon became absorbed in her own imaginative battles. She found herself imagining similar enemies, commonly switching between blocking imagined Yiga attacks and lynel blows. Stopping a few minutes in, panting, she almost chastised herself for sweating so early in before remembering the heat of the area.

After a moment of rest, Zelda sprang back into fighting, this time with her shield. Her mock swordfights were more for getting muscle memory down as opposed to getting ready for real battles. Minutes flew by in instants, and she felt herself melting into the forms and movements she d been taught for years. Stopping eventually, she noticed that a few of the gorons had started watching. Zelda waved at one of them.

She put her weapons away and left the area, the gorons moving out of the way and murmuring amongst each other. One of them smiled and said, "That was impressive!"

Zelda smiled sheepishly and reached the inn again. None of the knights had returned yet, but she caught a glimpse of Daruk simultaneously encouraging and intimidating Everen and Link whilst teaching them to use claymores. The others were probably still out on patrols. The whole city was laid out in a way that was easy to traverse, but the heat was always a problem. The inn was at least one degree colder.

Midna was still asleep in one of the corners, having clearly ignored the beds and just leaned against the wall. Zelda sighed to herself and put her equipment away. There wasn t too much to do here when the trainees were out training. At this point, they still had about three hours until they returned to the inn. At least in Zora's Domain, she could talk to Mipha more often. Daruk was usually out of the city most of the time, she had learned a few years ago.

She almost resigned to boredom when Linebeck walked back into the inn. "Oh! Hey! Can I talk to you?"

He glanced over at her and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I've got nothing better to do."

Zelda settled into the same chair as earlier and waited until the thief sat across from her. "What's your opinion on Midna?"

There was a quiet moment, Linebeck removing his hood. "Well, she's okay. I respect her since she s pretty damn strong, but I'd prefer to avoid her overall. I... don't have much to say."

Zelda nodded, satisfied with his answer, and blurted out her other question. "Ok, not to be rude, but why's your hair like that? I mean, not the whole greenish-brown color but more... how it sticks out. Like, why do you keep it a little longer than shoulder-length, and why does it, like, stick straight out a little at the bottom? And what's with the weird little tuft on hair on the top of it all, I mean-" She cut herself off, feeling her cheeks grow warmer.

Thankfully, Linebeck didn t look to be offended in any way, if anything he looked amused, running a hand through his hair. "I don't really know, either. It's always been like that, and there's nothing I can do. It can, for example, get wet, and then dry exactly like this. Any other questions? I like to talk about myself."

If he enjoyed talking about himself, that would definitely make a few things easier for the queen. A long list of questions flew through her head, and she chose one that she wasn't alone in being curious about. "So, I've noticed in these, uh, three days, you've mostly avoided everyone except Link. Why is that?"

Zelda leaned forward, hoping that would indicate how eager she was to have the question answered and that she wanted a detailed response. Linebeck clearly didn't notice, or just ignored it and smiled smugly before answering. "I guess since he was one of the first of you I met, I'd prefer his company, just not very often. He s a bit more... how should I put this? Trusting? ...Respectful of people who are clearly better than he is?"

...Better? Was he serious? Have you ever seen Link fight? He s very skilled with a sword and shield, and recently fought a red lynel! "How could you possibly claim to be better?"

The two of them regarded each other, a few moments of silence before Linebeck responded to Zelda s second outburst. "He's good with his own weapons, yes. I doubt he's better than I am with a bow. I'm sure I m better than you. Honestly, I could probably beat him in a fight."

Zelda placed her hands on the table and leaned forward a bit. "Prove it then. Both of them. Prove that you re a better bow-user than I am, and that you're a better fighter than Link."

She glared directly at him, not daring to blink too often. He averted his eyes but maintained his arrogant smirk. "I've had more practice with a bow. Sure, you've had more time, but you've also been dealing with swords and shields, which, from what I've seen, seems to be your dominant fighting style. I focus on marksmanship. Besides, I have the superior bow."

Midna stirred in a corner but didn't wake up. Linebeck continued, meeting Zelda's blue eyes with his own green. "And concerning Link, he can't do long-range attacks. I get some distance, he's dead. And even if distance isn't available, I've put some time into using a single arrow like a melee weapon." He leaned back in his chair, more relaxed. "I think my point has been proven. Other questions, or are you done?"

The words floated around in Zelda s mind for a moment. He was correct about his bow skilled compared to hers. She was good with a bow but didn't focus on it all too much. However, with his skill compared to Link's... everyone had yet to properly see how he'd react to ranged attacks, and there was a good chance that Linebeck was lying about using an arrow in close quarters. Sighing in defeat, Zelda relaxed and asked the next question in her mind. "What's your opinion of me?"

Linebeck tilted his head. "Do you want the nice version or the honest version?"

She was expecting this, or something similar. Zelda glanced away and took a deep breath. "Ah... honest...?" From the way he put it, the honest opinion would be pretty harsh.

"Right then. Basically, I'm not a fan of being around you. I've forgiven you mostly for what you did about six years ago, but the rest of my guild still has trust issues. A few of us trust you completely now, but the rest of us don t like you. My thought process is questioning why you're trusted to be queen, when one of your first actions in the position was to declared war on a faction of your citizens based on a vague suspicion. Let's make a list of what happened during that time, huh?

"Starting with not giving us an option. You gave us a day of warning, and then attacked. No one was ready, and a lot of people died on that first day. We fought back and were noticeably losing. I was about seventeen at the time, and it's not too great to have the guild you want to join be attacked. Around the time it ended, when you came to your senses, you managed to wipe out about half the guild."

Everything he said was true, Zelda was painfully aware of that. It was one of her most profound regrets, losing control and attacking the guild with no real evidence. She went to stand up, but Linebeck clearly wanted the conversation to end on a different note. "So, uh, isn t there a hinox just off the perimeter of this volcano?"

"A hinox? Oh, I think there is. Has it been bothering people? I know those can be very dangerous when awake. Depends on the kind, too."

"The word going around is that it s a black one. I could take a look later, if you want... and if you pay me. I'd rather not be attacked by some monsters for nothing."

In one swift movement, Zelda stood up and shoved her chair in. "You don't need payment to go scouting. Besides, aren't you stealthy enough not to get caught?"

The thief glanced away from her nonchalantly, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table. "The money will provide a bit more motivation, and I might put some actual effort in. I'm not really a part of this group like Midna is, I'm in this for myself. I therefore want something in return for helping." A moment passed, and he stood up as well, but left the chair out. "I'll just wait around here until you decide. Shouldn't those crappy wannabe knights be done with today's patrols soon?"

Almost on as if on cue, the group of trainees stumbled in, panting. Damian looked to be the least exhausted of them all, but the heat clearly took a toll on them. Link shuffled into the inn after all of them, taking a turn and stopping in front of Zelda. "You guys got any sort of thing to cool us all down...?"

Zelda shook her head, then pursed her lips before voicing her main reason. "The main reason for training here is to get you ready for extreme temperatures, correct? That's why it s all patrols. Zora's Domain was to let you get used to a schedule."

Link pouted, and shuffled over to one of the beds, collapsing on the hard rock. Most of the other trainees were rather tired as well, but Damian seemed to be fine overall. Leaving Linebeck alone at the table, she walked over to him. The dark-haired trainee noticed her before she reached him. "Oh, hi. Did you want something?"

"Yeah. I can tell that you dealt with the conditions better than the others. Have you had experience with this kind of heat before?"

Damian shook his head. "No, I've never visited the volcano before. I did grow up in Lurelin, so I've dealt with some warm temperatures before. You don't look all too bothered by the heat, either. Does the potion cool you down a bit or something?"

"A little bit, but not too much. I've been here a few times, so I've been able to adapt slightly, and I'm pretty sure the other two have visited a few times in the past."

They regarded each other for a moment longer before ending the conversation. A few minutes passed, and things were like normal, the trainees all talking together over food. Zelda only took a small amount, and sat on her bed across from Midna, who was still asleep.

Hours had passed since the trainees returned, and the sky had darkened significantly. The queen sat outside the inn, watching the twinkling stars far above the land. She recognized a few of the constellations, named after people and events in legends in the distant past. One of her tutors at the castle had taught her the names of many of them, but she had forgotten. Zelda never really wrote them down.

"I think I know the names of a few of those. I'm pretty sure one or two are good when sailing, I'll need to do more research on them."

Zelda flinched, unaware of when Linebeck sat next to her. He watched her, clearly expecting her to say something, but she just ignored him. Sighing, the thief leaned back with his arms behind his head. "I'd assume you know at least a few of these, don't the royals have a bunch of private tutors or something like that?"

"I learned their names, I just never wrote them down or anything."

Linebeck turned to face her, mock surprise etched on his gaunt face. "Really? So, you forgot because you never took notes. Thought yourself above notes, or did you just forget to put pen to paper?"

Zelda opened her mouth for an indignant response, but he faced the sky with a faint smile. "Honestly, I'd be pretty gutted if I went to find those notes only to remember that I never took them. I guess with libraries around Hyrule you can just do a bit of research and there they are."

Abandoning the urge to respond, the queen relaxed with a sigh. A few faint, dark clouds drifted across the sky, but were barely visible.

"Soooo... payment? Or am I not gonna scout for ya?"

Zelda scowled at him. "Fine. I can offer you a topaz that you can sell. That is my only offer. Take it or leave it."

"Yeah, I'll take it, but do you have it with you now?"

Continuing to keep scowling at him, she reached into her pack and took out the gem. "Yeah, I've got it. You're going to scout out only where the hinox is. Return before sunrise, alright? And report anything suspicious you see. No objections. You might as well go now."

The thief grabbed the gem from her hands and without any words, stood and ran out of the city. The queen leaned back with an exasperated sigh, watching him turn and wave before leaving the city itself.

"Jerk..."