Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda, Link, Midna, and that other canon stuff
N: Vegeta! What does the scouter say about the hit count?
V: It's over one-half of NINE-THOUSAAAAAND!
N: WHAT ONE-HALF OF NINE-THOUSAND? (At the time I wrote this, it was roughly ~4720)
Chapter 11: Back in Action
Zelda anxiously paced about her lavish bedroom. Thankfully, it was on a lower level of the castle, and was therefore spared from the aftermath of Ganon and Midna's battle.
The princess was under a whole lot of stress. Following Link's lupine sprint through the town, the common citizenry was easily placated, but on the other hand, it was a thing of debate amongst the higher classed nobles, a sign of weakness in their new monarch.
Plenty of them were displeased with Zelda's sudden reappearance following the Twili Crisis. Some of them had hoped that in the total absence of the royal family, that they would have been able to seize more control from the resultant power vacuum. Her resurfacing and subsequent coronation had thrown their plans in the dirt.
She had to put up with plenty of accusations, mostly about how she apparently went into hiding, and someone else did all the work for her. Like any of them would believe that she passed her life essence to another, let alone this person being the true ruler of the race that ravaged their land; that was the biggest area of concern to them: she had surrendered to an enemy force.
Most of them conveniently ignored the point about no matter who would have been in charge; the end result would have always been the same.
Surrender or die.
On a different note, outside of the court, things were going well.
The reconstruction of the castle was going on schedule. Scaffolding was springing up all around the castle, and the towers were slowly rising again. The town had ultimately been cleared up from debris from the upper levels of the castle exploding; other than a couple of larger-than-normal pebbles lying about, it was gone. No more risk of tripping over a large piece of rubble anymore.
There was cause for alarm, as plenty of farmland was damaged in the war, which could have meant a food shortage. Thankfully, to balance this out, the Zoras to the north have been thriving since they had gotten a new ruler and since peace has been restored. The Zora primarily lived off of fish, and what surplus they had was traded with other races. Zelda secretly hoped that the people of Castle Town liked fish.
But there was another problem springing up. In north Eldin field, the place where Link had defeated Ganondorf, rumors of something troubling was growing there. At night, people reported seeing dark shapes in the distance, heard strange unsettling noises, and worst of all, disappearances. Last but not least, strange fog had supposedly been seen creeping up day and night and completely erratic intervals. Those who had gotten lost in it had been rendered to near unintelligible wrecks who have barely able to weave together comprehensible stories.
Ever since these reports had grown, most people had been too scared to pass through that area, and resorted to taking the long way south, cutting across Faron Province instead. Thank the goddesses that Link had cleared the south road to Castle Town as well, or Zelda would be in quite a fix. Mostly all the ore in the country comes from the Kakariko/Death Mountain region, along with most of the powder to make explosives.
Zelda considered sending word to Link, but kept her promise; following his reckless behavior at the celebratory festival, it was clear that he needed some time alone. He asked for a month, it had only been a little over two weeks, but it seemed like it was forever ago that the miserable hero had walked out of her throne room. His gaze had conveyed just how hopeless he felt.
She was roused from her musing by a strong knock on her bedroom door.
"The door is unlocked," said Zelda. The door swung open to reveal Cecil the butler, who hobbled into the room. He had served the royal family for over half a century. He had served her grandfather, her father, and now her. He was one of her most trusted servants. Thankfully, he wasn't in the castle when Zant attacked it a year ago.
"Message for you, your majesty," the old man said in a gravelly voice, offering her an envelope. "Whoever sent this must have wanted to talk to you, given how much they paid for it to be sent to you."
Zelda repressed a laugh as she took it. Sure, a lot of people wanted to talk to the queen, but thanks to the way the world worked, most of the messages she received were from bickering nobles, seeing as how they would attach several hundred rupees to it to ensure that it would be sent. Zelda was surprised to see that the envelope lacked the fancy seal that messages from nobles usual had, and the fact that the envelope had an Ordona stamp on it.
There was only one person from Ordon that she was familiar with.
Quickly, she opened the letter and read it. It was short, and would be vague to anyone unfamiliar with the hero.
-Zelda
I am going to be in town, and I would like to talk to you.
Meet me at Telma's.
-L
PS: Try to keep a low profile
All of the ink writing was scrawled on one half of the page, the other half was dominated by a large paw print that looked like it was made of dirt. The queen quickly read through the letter a few more times. Without a doubt, this message was from Link. Zelda was surprised, to say the least. It seemed…rather abrupt for him to suddenly pull himself from his self-imposed exile.
"Cecil, I have some private business to attend to," said Zelda.
The old butler bowed and left the room, but not before uttering "M'lady."
Once he was gone, Zelda crossed her room to her wardrobe and opened it. Behind the row of fancy royalty clothing was a few sets of much simpler, common clothing. She retrieved a set and retreated behind a dressing curtain. Soon, the princess had changed out of her dress into a simple blouse and skirt. Her long hair was tied back into a ponytail. Even without the pretty dress, she still looked beautiful.
Now, the last thing to do would be to get out of the castle without being hassled by guards. Thankfully, ever since the days of the Hero of Time, every princess since then had been trained in some of the Sheikah arts, namely how to get around unseen, and she was no exception.
Unfortunately, she barely reached the end of the hall before a snide voice spoke up behind her.
"So, you have taken it upon yourself to dress like a commoner," the voice spat, injecting as much venom as he could into the word. "Guess it shows just what kind of person you really are…" he spat.
Zelda gritted her teeth and turned towards the source of the voice to find one of her less than favorite people sauntering towards her.
"Where do you think you're going?" the leering man said to her.
"None of your concern, Lord Sastah," Zelda said in a flat voice. Lord Renold Sastah, he was one of the worst sorts of nobles imaginable. He was the type that viewed any and all in the class lower than him to be little more than dirt, or tools. Corruption shone out of his rear end, and he constantly bullied his underlings.
"Going to mingle with the…peasants…are we?" he drawled, "Why don't you do us all a favor and join them while you're at it…"
Zelda glared at him. Most people would be appalled at just how rude he was being to a high queen, "Need I remind you who you are speaking to?" she seethed. Hating people was usually something that Zelda did not do, but this man was an exception. If Zelda was a woman of lesser principles, she would likely have that man executed on the spot. "Why are you even in here, anyway? This wing is off limits to guests."
The man merely sneered at her.
Zelda huffed, "Get out of here. Now," she snapped with a commanding tone that she rarely used.
The man put his hands up in a gesture of surrender, "As you wish…your majesty…" and he retreated around the corner.
Zelda glared at where he was a moment ago, and then went on her way.
From his hiding place, Lord Sastah snorted, "Bitch…"
"Now now, is there any need for language like that?" said someone nearby, causing him to jump.
"Gah! Who's there?" he demanded. The speaker stepped out into where he could be seen. "Oh…it's you…"
The hooded and masked figure laughed, "Yes, me."
Sastah rolled his eyes, "What you want, Mr. Dark?" Pah, what a stupid name… he thought to himself. Although he was an egotistical, elitist jerk, Lord Sastah did not mind having others work for him. With him, was another story, however.
From beneath his hood he may have been smiling, "Something…urgent may have come up, you see…"
"Like what?"
Mr. Dark laughed, "I believe I know who the queen is going out to meet, and I happen to know that he would be a threat to our…" the figure hesitated briefly, "…your plans. It would be in your best interest if he was…taken care of."
Sastah cupped his hand to his chin, "I see…if that is the case, then why are you telling me this, and not doing your job?"
The figure may have been glaring at him from under his hood, "Because I felt compelled to inform you first…my lord."
"Well, get it done!"
"…as you wish…" he said quietly, and almost as abruptly as he appeared, he was gone.
"…Freak," Sastah spat, certain that Mr. Dark was out of earshot.
After his conversation with Ilia, Link realized some things. First, he realized that sitting around brooding would have fixed nothing, and secondly, and most importantly, he realized that Midna wouldn't have wanted him to be like this.
Soon after Ilia spoke with him, he had returned home, packed his gear, and left the following morning, but not before apologizing to his fellow villagers. He promised to the kids that he would show them 'cool sword stuff' when he came back again. He also finally got to meet Rusl's infant child, Siri. Just one look from those eyes was able to nudge his mood to places it hadn't been for weeks. As for his explanation as to why he was leaving, he just said he felt like a caged beast staying in one place, and he was feeling the wanderlust in his heart; that he felt like a sword being used to slice butter.
Actually, that statement was mostly true. Over the course of his self-imposed journey, he planned to revisit the locations he had been to, to bask in the memories and whatnot. But first, he hoped to speak to the queen, to see if he could help with anything in any way. He promptly flung a message her way via the implacable postman. He was absolutely sure that it would get to her. Link guessed if he wanted to send a message to the moon, the postman would be able to get it done.
Now, Link was sitting at a table in Telma's bar, sipping at a bottle of milk, and patiently waiting for the queen.
The bartender had greeted him warmly when he stepped through the door, and Link had a brief moment of amusement when she told him that about a beast, how it made a mess on her floor, and how it dropped 400 rupees. He waved it off with feigned disbelief.
However, as he waited, something caught his eye; although the bar was located in a back alley out of the public eye, the interior certainly didn't feel like a seedy, run down bar. One of the patrons looked strangely out of place out of the rest of the people currently in the bar. He looked like the type that you would find in a questionable establishment with dirtied clothes, greasy hair, and an unkempt beard. He didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious, though Link wasn't certain.
The sound of the door opening drew Link from his train of thought as a pretty young woman stepped inside. She traded a few words with Telma, who then gestured in Link's general direction. She walked over to Link's table and sat across from him.
It wasn't until she was close that Link recognized her.
"Zelda?" he said quietly.
"Yes, it's me," she glanced around slightly, "So I heard a wolf was causing trouble, you know anything about that?"
Link had a sheepish look on his face, "Eh…sorry about that…"
"It's alright," said Zelda. She frowned briefly, "You look a little pale, are you ill?"
Link shook his head, "No, I'm fine."
"So, what do I owe the honor of this meeting, hero? I thought you wanted a month."
"Okay, okay," said Link, "After some thought, I figured its far better that I remained active, rather than just atrophy in my living room, that's what Midna would have wanted me to do…" his voice trailed off.
"So…why are you here?"
"I'm checking in with you to see if you needed…heroic assistance with anything," he leaned back in his chair, "If I'm doing something...preferably something dangerous, that should help me get my mind off of…certain things."
Zelda cupped her hand to her chin, "Well…there is one thing…"
"Yes?"
"There have been problems involving North Eldin Field, you know, the place where you fought Ganon?"
Link cocked his head, "What kind of problems?"
Zelda cleared her throat, "At night, people have been seeing what looks like monsters roaming the fields, or at least I think they were monsters."
"That…might be possible. Remember how Ganondorf summoned an army of spirits to attack us?" said Link, "If this is some remnant of his influence, then I better check this out."
"Wait, there is something else," said Zelda as Link was rising to his feet. Link gazed at her quizzicallty. There have also been reports of some sort of strange…fog. People that were unfortunate enough to get caught in it were spouting stories about some unknown figure stalking them. Something about a tall man with glowing white eyes…"
"Wait, what?" Link interrupted, his attention peaked. The only tall man with glowing white eyes he was familiar with was the one who haunted his dreams now and then. He hadn't appeared for awhile, but if what he was hearing was true…no, it has to be something similar.
"Yes, tall with glowing white eyes, that is what I said. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this…person, would you?" said Zelda.
"I…no," said Link.
Zelda nodded, "I'd like this to be done quickly, already there have been disappearances, and people have been too scared to go through that area of the field. Ore shipments and traffic between here and Kakariko have been delayed."
Link smiled, "All right, I'll get right on it."
Little did they know, a nearby suspicious, greasy haired man had just drunk in their entire conversation. Without the two of them noticing, he sprang to his feet and bolted out the door.
Zelda smiled back and rose to her feet, but she turned around once more, "Oh and one last thing…" and from somewhere…Link wasn't sure where, she pulled out a very familiar sword: The Ordon Sword. "As much as I appreciated the gift, I think you would have more use for this than me; especially since you are currently lacking a sword."
Link looked at the weapon, then back at her, "Zelda, are you sure? I mean, that was made for you…I have other weapons."
Zelda giggled, "It's all right Link, I have my own sword. Besides, you should be very familiar with this blade."
Link smirked as he gingerly took the weapon, "That I am." She did have a point, he did retrieve the Fused Shadows for Midna using this sword. Admittedly, it felt awkward for him to be carrying around his heavy metal shield, but no sword beneath it.
Suddenly, a new voice spoke up.
"Link?"
Link glanced around to make eye contact with a familiar swordswoman, who was currently dressed in her armor, as usual. "Ashei?"
She smiled, "It is you! How've you been, yeah? You sorta just vanished during the celebration two weeks ago, yeah? You'd never believe it, but there was this huge wolf in here, yeah! Me and Rusl scared the brute off, yeah!"
Link had to contain his amusement, "Oh really? Are you sure that it didn't scare you, and then just walked off on its own?"
Ashei blushed slightly, "Shut up, yeah," she stared at his face briefly, "You look a little pale, are you all right, yeah?"
"I'm fine," Link grunted.
Ashei glanced at Link's companion, her eyes widening in recognition, "Q-queen Zelda?" she stammered.
Zelda smirked slightly, "Guess I failed to keep a low profile. Keep it down okay?"
"U-uh…yes your majes-…uh…yeah."
Zelda leaned back in her chair, "So what are you doing here? I thought you went with Shad and Auru on an expedition to the Sacred Grove?"
Link's attention was drawn, "Sacred Grove?"
Ashei smirked, "Yeah! It's all these old ruins…and stuff, yeah!"
Link feigned ignorance on the subject, "Oh? Sounds interesting…but…if you were on an expedition, why are you here…and not…you know…there?"
Ashei scratched her head, "Oh, let eggheads like Shad handle that stuff, yeah," she went silent for a moment, "Uh…I couldn't help but overhear you conversation and um…"
"Wait, were we talking that loud?" Link thought out loud. He glanced around briefly, and only then did he notice the absence of the shady man from earlier. Hopefully, he had nothing to be worried about.
"What are you so worried about, yeah?" Ashei questioned.
"I…uh…nothing," Link stammered, "So you heard our conversation, and…?"
"Well…you see…" she said slowly, carefully forming her words, "I heard that you were…investigating something…and I was wondering if…you had room for some extra help?"
Link raised an eyebrow, "You want to come with me?"
"That is basically what I said, yeah."
Link was silent for a moment. It would be nice to have somebody to talk to talk to, but secretly, Link hoped that she didn't have a certain ulterior motive to coming along.
"I mean, I understand if you have the whole loner thing going but…"
"Yes."
"…sometimes you need to…pardon?"
"Yeah, you can tag along."
Ashei grinned ear to ear, "Alright! When can we get going, yeah?"
"Well, this character here," he gestured at Zelda with his thumb, "Said that most of the problem happens at night, so probably at sunset."
"Great! I'll go get my stuff!" she said happily.
"I'll meet you at the east gate, at sunset, okay?" said Link.
"Gotcha!" she acknowledged and she quickly made her way out.
A brief moment of silence settled over Link and Zelda, "She seems…exponentially giddier than I recall her ever being," Link said flatly. He glanced at Zelda, "I'll meet you here, same time, most likely tomorrow."
"I understand, good luck Link," said Zelda.
(A/N) Review please!
Sorry, this one took a bit longer to get out. I've been playing Fallout: New Vegas a lot recently, which caused this to get written more slowly, but its sooo fuuuun!
Hope I did a better job with the antagonists of this story arc this time! (Random note: Sastah is an anagram, a cookie to whoever unscrambles it :P)
Random writing gripe: Do NOT write in script format!
