The Legend of Zelda: TriSpirit, Episode 2: The Day of Duty
Chapter 4
New Arrivals
The hour of Hyrule Castle's opening to the public has arrived, and guests of every kind fill the castle's grounds and halls. Link's grandmother has yet to arrive, but considering she will likely get a ride with Talon and Malon, and Talon usually does tend to run late for everything, it could be anywhere from five minutes to another two hours before she will show.
Link stands guard near the gates. His position has done well in helping him avoid Volker. A commanding voice soon calls out to announce the arrival of some of Princess Zelda's expected guests;
"MAKE WAY! ROYALTY COMING THROUGH! MA-A-AKE WAYYYYY!"
Link looks on from the sidelines as the newest visitors make their entrance. It is the Zora tribe; an aquatic race resembling a cross between a human and a fish. Talk about their arrival has been going around a lot these past days. Zoras are seldom seen around Castle Town, and Link has only ever seen one from afar...and never so many at once. He cannot help but take a closer look at them as they come by. They look cool!
Their royal attendant walks in front of the party. He wears a monocle on his left eye and appears to be growing advanced in his years. Nonetheless, he is able to call out quite audibly (perhaps even a tad louder than necessary) as he leads the others through the crowd.
"EVERYONE TO THE SI-I-I-I-DE! CLEAR A PATH FOR THE ROYAL ZORA-A-A-A!"
Actually, Link almost wishes the old Zora WOULD lose his voice... That is ridiculously loud..!
They arrive carrying their own princess seated atop her transportable throne, with a servant to support each of the four corners. She appears to be about the same age as Princess Zelda, and has been acquainted with her for some time. Although Zora normally wear little to no clothing due to living in water and already being clad in scales, but the princess, likely as a sign of her nobility, is dressed in a pearl-white, waterproof toga designed to leave plenty of fin-room so that it remains easy to swim in.
She is adorned in much jewelry, including a tiara specially designed to fit her large head with a steady grip, elegant cuffs on her upper-arms, a pearl-bracelet on her left-wrist and another on her right-ankle, golden earrings that resemble seaweed, a metallic buckler around her waist decorated with many rubies and sapphires, and a gold necklace bearing more rubies and sapphires as well as the tribal symbol of her people, and a similarly designed bracelet on her right-wrist.
But the most interesting thing about her is the mysterious-looking staff that she carries in her hand;
Link cannot make out what sort of material it is made from, as it partially resembles coral but also looks like it could be made from some sort of seashell_or possibly even carved from something else entirely. But whatever the material may be, it seems radiant. Almost as if illuminated from within. The top of the staff is shaped like a split fin, with one side larger than the other and sharpened to function like a melee weapon if needed. Between the bladed split is a ruby sphere that appears to hold magical properties of some sort, and there is a ring of red jewels encircling the rod's center.
Behind her, four more Zoras carry the throne of the young prince, who appears to be in his preadolescent years at the very oldest. He is dressed much more lightly than his older sister, wears some jewelry -mostly made from seashells, a few gemstones, and of rustproof metals- as well as some sort of strange amulet, but he is not nearly as adorned as the princess is.
Right behind the prince, the Zora carry their ruler; King Zora De Bon VII, who is so large and heavy that his throne requires not merely four but twelve strong Zoras -three on each corner- to carry it. And they still appear to do so only with difficulty.
The poles used to carry it even seem to be slightly bending from all the weight...
Despite his current obesity, this King Zora was once a mighty warrior whose skills on the battlefield were quite formidable back in the day. Of course, that was all a long time ago, and he has now grown so large and nonathletic that he can no longer even walk on his own.
The servants in the front pass Link with their princess seated upon the throne carried over their shoulders. The young Hylian happens to turn his gaze in her direction as she passes.
Only to be met with her own.
Awkward, awkward, awkward!
Blue and violet eyes lock unintentionally. She looks down at him coldly from her throne with a countenance full of both boredom and contempt. "(What's with the green getup?)" she thinks disdainfully to herself at the sight of him. "(As if humans didn't look ridiculous enough already! Wait_ Is that runt supposed to be one of the GUARDS?! How pathetic! Ugh... I just wish this stupid ceremony was already over with. Zelda's taste in guests makes me sick...)"
Link hastily averts his gaze from hers and stares only at the ground to avoid making further eye-contact. He dares not to raise his eyes again until he is certain all of the Zoras have passed him by, lest he risk another uncomfortable moment of accidentally locking eyes again. How embarrassing!
It seems like these awkward encounters with royalty have been inevitable lately...
As the passing Zora enter the castle, Link hears another voice call out. This time addressing him from behind; "Hey, you there! You're a recruit, right?" The young Hylian turns to see who addresses him. He is fairly surprised when his eyes meet the person in question;
A Goron!
"I've got a load of fireworks here that need to be set up for the evening-finale!" the Goron continues. "Would you help me unload 'em?"
Link nods silently and follows the Goron to his cart. Upon it are twelve heavy crates full of firecrackers.
"Careful with that," warns the Goron as he hands Link a crate. "It's fragile stuff."
Although the Goron makes lifting it look easy, it proves to be quite heavy once Link receives it into his arms. But not so much that the young Hylian would be incapable of carrying it.
_Until the Goron adds a second one to his load. "...And here's another."
The weight now unbearable, Link immediately falls over.
*Thud!*
The Goron notices not. He effortlessly takes stacks of two crates in each arm. "Now where's the stairs to the rooftops?"
Setting one of the crates down for later, Link gets back to his feet. "This way..." he says with a strained grunt. "Follow me."
The Goron gives him a judgmental look. "Wait_ You're only going to carry one crate at a time..?"
"I'm afraid that's all I can carry..." Link replies sheepishly, trying not to let his struggle to carry his single crate show too much.
"Humph. Whatever..."
As Link leads the Goron through the castle as requested, he cannot help but feel incompetent in the mighty stone-man's presence. This Goron is HUGE. Even Sir Pent would seem small in comparison. And the way he is able to carry four heavy crates at once with no sign of effort whereas Link struggles to carry even just one is somewhat intimidating.
Still, it is also somewhat of a treat to get to see a real live Goron up close like this, as their tribe has been very seclusive as of late. They typically live in mountains and volcanic environments and are seldom seen around Castle Town except for on occasional business at the market, but even that has been scarce in recent years. This is the first time Link has ever seen one.
This one wears a dusty sumo-loincloth around his waist, similar looking wrappings around his wrists, and red pads on his shoulders that bear the crest of Din: Hyrule's golden goddess of power. The symbol of his own tribe is permanently painted on his upper-arms. He has long, white hair and a thick beard. Upon his head is a protective mask that can be worn over his face to shield it from potential harm while working with explosives, or folded over the top of his head to double as a helmet. He looks like he may be growing a little advanced in his years, but is obviously still very strong and fit for his age. This Goron likely will not be looking into retirement anytime soon.
He does seem like the grumpy sort, though...
The Goron takes a look around upon reaching the rooftops. "So this is the place?" he asks with a tone of disapproval. "Isn't there any shade around here? I can't just leave my fireworks laying out here in the sun all day until nightfall! Didn't anyone think to prepare a tent or something if they expect me to set up fireworks around here?!"
"I can go ask one of the castle's officials about it if you'd like, sir..." Link offers, still struggling to carry the heavy crate in his arms.
The Goron responds not. He stands in place with his back to the Hylian.
Conspicuously silent.
"Uh. Sir..?" Link asks, unsure if the Goron heard him.
Still no reaction. The confused Hylian is left looking at the stone shell of the Goron's backside blocking him from the doorway and keeping him from advancing to where he needs to put the weighty crate he is still struggling to carry.
Why the sudden cold shoulder..?
His backside still turned to the Hylian behind him and keeping his face from view, the Goron's eyes twitch as they seem to roll towards the back of his head. He is starting to froth at the mouth just slightly.
"S-sir..?!" Link repeats, unaware of the Goron's condition and eager for a response so he can finally set down this heavy load.
The Goron snaps to. "Wha_?! What'd ya say..?"
"I said I can ask one of the castle's officials about setting up some shade for your firecrackers..!" Link says more audibly.
"Alright," says the Goron as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened. "You do that while I go back to the cart and get the rest of the haul myself."
Link nods and sets down the crate, more than happy to relieve his aching muscles from the burden. The Goron, seeing his weariness, rolls his eyes at the small Hylian's incompetence.
"Humph! Humans sure are pathetic!" he mumbles to himself while setting down his own load. "How do they even survive on such puny strength anyway? Even with that kid's help, this would still take me three trips either way! Ah, well... At Least I'm the one getting paid for this."
Feeling a sudden surge of pain, he quickly places a hand on his own forehead once the Hylian has left his presence. He briefly lets out a crazed growl before snapping back to his senses again.
"Ugh... It's getting worse everyday..." he pants wearily to himself. "I can't...keep fighting it much longer..."
Thanks for reading! Some very significant characters have now made their first appearance (and yes, this King Zora De Bon VII is the ancestor of Ocarina of Time's King Zora De Bon XVI, as this story is set some 300 years or so before OoT). More will be shown about these characters later, but the next chapter is where Link will make his first encounter with danger! Stay tuned!
Now for those who've read the original story: there are two small but significant tweaks here... First up, the Zora King and Prince have both been renamed from "Ralis" to just plain "Zora". I always found it odd how King Zora De Bon XVI was only named "Zora" in OoT, and so I originally tried to pass that off as his mere title instead of his actual name by giving his bloodline the name of the Zora prince from Twilight Princess. But this time I decided to do things a little differently. Rather than trying to work around and deny King Zora's odd name, I realized that I could instead embrace it and make it play a role in the Zora's story. (You'll see what I mean later on)
The second and more eye-catching change is the Goron's strange condition... What could be going on with him now? Only time will tell...