The quarters that Chlaudian showed the group to turned out to be dingy, dank, and quite small. It was a little lean-to that had been constructed as an addition to the main cabin in the settlement. It had two cots haphazardly thrown on each side of the room, with a wilting screen separating the room in half.
"They are certainly humble," Chlaudian smiled. "But I am afraid that it is all we have to offer you."
"It's no problem," Link assured her. He heard Ghirahim hiss behind him.
Still sulking, Midna thought, walking to a torch stand on one of the walls and, with a snap of her fingers, lighting a dim blue flame. She turned to Chlaudian, as if suddenly remembering her presence, and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, uh, right. It's a...magic trick. So the fire doesn't catch these rotting walls..."
Chlaudian waved a hand. "I care not." She looked to address Link. "I must tend to my nightly rounds, as well as checking on Alia and Charlise. Please, travellers, make yourselves at home. There is stew on the boiling pot in the first room of the cabin. Conservatively help yourselves."
"That's fine," Link smiled. "Thank you very much, Chlaudian. I suppose we'll see you in the morning."
She smiled and edged her way out of the room.
Midna plopped down on the rickety frame of one of the cots and immediately winced, her long legs dangling off the bed from mid-thigh down. "Great. A little people cabin. And one of us is bunking on the floor." When nobody responded, she raised an eyebrow. "Hint, hint, boys, it ain't gonna be me."
Vaati rolled his eyes and Ghirahim sneered at his nails. Zant sat, long limbs skeletally hanging off the edge of the cot he was sitting on in a daze. Link sighed. "I'll take the floor."
"Rightfully so," Ghirahim muttered under his breath. Midna flung a handful of sparks at him, at which he frowned.
"That reminds me. Everybody out. I have business with him."
Vaati smiled. "Mommy and Daddy fighting? Shocking."
Zant stood, and Midna put a hand up. "Tall & Creepy, don't go wandering off into the woods. And...stay in the shadows. Or something." She laughed. "Wouldn't want to freak out our poorly cultured country folk, now would we?"
Zant nodded, apparently not finding humor in her joke, and shuffled out of the cabin. Link followed, and shut the door behind him, walking out through the main cabin into the fading twilight outside.
Vaati zipped to his side, blowing off his hat and picking it back up. With a flourish, he tossed it back to Link, who caught it and put it back on his head. "Nice catch, Advisor," Vaati smirked, looking off into the distance. Zant melted into the shadows, just a blackness walking the perimeter of the camp, exploring in the unseen. "He's an odd one."
Link ignored that and said, "thanks."
"What do you think they're arguing about?" Vaati asked, baiting Link, who didn't take it.
"She never did say that they were arguing," he pointed out. The wind mage rolled his eyes.
"Please. They're arguing. Our Fair Princess isn't always in popular vote. Though Ghirahim does follow her around like a pet." He retched, though the irony of him letting Zelda live was heavy in his voice. "I can't see why anybody would follow that hot head around by choice."
Link considered it for a moment, and, biting back a smile, laughed. "I can."
Vaati, who had meandered a few feet away, whooshed back to his side with a wicked force, laughing. "I'd keep that to yourself, Advisor. Ghirahim isn't friendly. Consider him a puppy that follows her around...with overgrown jaws and a meat-eating complex."
The man in green held up his hands as a sign of peace. "I didn't mean it like that."
"I know that," the wind mage smirked. "But don't expect Ghirahim to buy it. Watch your back. He's a psychopath."
/
Midna looked at Ghirahim, expression devoid of any emotion. "I'd say it's time you fess up about what we're actually doing here, Ghirahim." Her voice was calm, measured, and very unlike herself as she crossed her legs underneath her, propping herself up on her cot.
"Please, dearest," he smirked, taking his eyes momentarily off of his nails to examine her face, and then, in a condescending mock, "we're here to help our good friends of the Light Realm now. To save the honorable and demure Princess high up in her spires, locked away from the peril her land faces...or, to face off with common street thugs? You are in charge here, and that is merely your decision."
"You're acting insane," she commented. "Getting really defensive around the Hylians. Creeping on them. Acting sadistic."
"You think it's amusing," he stated, lips pulled in a smile.
"I understand your psychosis. Doesn't mean I think it's amusing," she asserted, a flash of rage crossing her face. She quickly composed herself. "Look. You need to cut it out. We have a reputation here, and we can't afford to lose it. It's your head on the line. Don't forget that."
"Forgive me," he muttered, flashing. She jumped and landed on her feet, while he appeared in front of her, sneering. "But, dearest Princess, I don't think you would win out in a duel."
The markings on her arms glowed, as if to prove him wrong, and she smirked. "Lay off, Ghirahim. Get rid of the bizarre antics." She turned to the door, as if to leave, but shot him a look. "Oh. And stop looking at Advisor Short Stuff like you're going to slice and dice him."
"I just might," he muttered.
"He's a good kid," she responded, narrowing her fiery eyes. "Don't hurt him. It might annoy me enough to kill you. Save the citizens the trouble of putting up a fair trial."
The Demon laughed. "Nobody, Princess, is good, regardless of the innocence they might portray. Don't forget that."
She took a step out the door, ignoring him. "You get the floor tonight, Ghirahim. I don't want to hear any bitching about it."
/
Link begrudgingly admitted to himself that Vaati had been right: Midna and Ghirahim had certainly argued. When the sky went dark and he went back to the cabin, villagers of the settlement all tucked away into their houses-scared, perhaps-with Vaati and Zant, Ghirahim was nowhere to be seen, though Midna was sulking in her bed.
As the light of Midna's artificial torch flickered, Link slouched down into the corner, eyeing the empty cot as Zant and Vaati disappeared into their respective mounds of blankets.
Midna looked at him in the dim air. "Short Stuff. Ghirahim decided he wanted fresh air. He's not coming back tonight, so stop looking pathetic and take the spare cot."
Taking in mind Vaati's comment, he wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of sleeping on Midna's side of the room, but being exhausted from the day's journey and encounter with beasts, he couldn't refuse the call of a rickety mattress. "Sure." He stood, stretched, and flopped down into the cot, facing the screen. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it, kid."
Outside, sitting cross legged in the canopy of a tree just outside of the perimeters of the fort, Ghirahim sulked, demonic eyes uncaring of the need for sleep. All he really dreamed of was Midna, power, and now, strangling the life out of the pesky Advisor.
/
Zelda woke up with a chill dancing over her skin, the flashes of a burning nightmare skidding around her vision. With a start, she flung the blankets off of herself and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her body still intact. The nightmares really never did stop for her, and they've been there for years, certainly as long as she has been alone.
Though her body was still whole, she felt as though there were gaping holes in her soul, missing pieces from where there were once warm beings. A mother, a father, a cousin, a friend, a lover, all gone, plucked from the face of the earth. And for some reason, though the loss wasn't always there, Zelda felt so acquainted with the feeling of something being gone that she was sure, through time and space and souls, that she had felt it before.
Outside her window, a virgin pink blushed the sky, with dawn on the horizon in just moments. With the dawn, Zelda knew that her day would begin, and that a much-dreaded Council Meeting would take place.
The agenda would be delivered to her moments before the meeting, to allow her to compose herself, though it was never much of a help. The meetings were full of arguments and lip service, and with the conspiracy against her, she had no desire to go to them.
But, it was her duty.
Throwing a silk robe on, she opened her door and gestured to one of the night attendants-Rose, she recognized her name. "Good morning, Rose."
"Good morning, Princess Zelda! Are you alright? You're up quite early."
"Fine, thanks." She smiled warmly. "I'd just like to start my day a bit early. Would it be trouble to have my bath water drawn?"
"No trouble at all, Princess. It'll be ready in the beauty room across the hall momentarily."
"Thank you, Rose," Zelda smiled, retreating back into her room and half-heartedly leaning over her desk, flipping her fingers over the pages, looking for an answer to the whispers in her mind and the holes in her soul. She did not find one, however, before the a soft knock came at the door.
"Your bath is ready, Princess."
Zelda nodded and stood. "Thank you very much."
She walked to a door just away from her room, stripping of her nightclothes and sinking into the warm bathwater, scented and lovely. Her mind briefly wandered to Link and the rest of the Twilit group, who most definitely were not going to be enjoying a warm bath in Farorica Settlement-Zelda knew enough about its rural location to know that it wasn't ripe with amenities.
The Princess would have given anything to sink under the water and not have to face her day ahead, but, alas, duty called. She plunged her head under the water, submerging, a countdown already starting.
/
Link got the strange feeling that somebody was staring at him, hovering between sleep and consciousness, eyes thick like wet cloth. The feeling, however, of being watched would not shake off and he reached under his pillow, where he had stashed a dagger, and sat up.
Ghirahim was leaning against the wall by Midna's empty bed, examining his fingernails. "Good morning, Advisor," he said, tone icy, eyes startling. "The other three are already awake." When Link did not respond, Ghirahim grinned and inquired, "Did you have a pleasant sleep?"
"Uh..." Link resheathed his dagger. "Yeah." He looked out the rickety window, where it still looked dark outside. He took into factor how rested he felt and that the canopy of trees likely blocked the dim early morning light, and swung out of bed. "So where are they?"
"In the main cabin. Talking with the two charming damsels we so nobly rescued, and the old woman, Chlaudian." Ghirahim's pleasantries were false to Link, who strongly suspected that he was going to wake up with a knife in his chest someday soon.
"I guess we'd better go join them then, right?" Link asked.
Ghirahim nodded.
"You first," Link said, gesturing to the door. Ghirahim obliged. Just to be safe, he thought.
In the main cabin, Charlise sat next to Alia, who had a long bandage running up her leg, and Chlaudian sat behind the two of them. Midna opted to stand stiffly, arms crossed over her chest, with Vaati levitating in the corner next to Zant. "Morning, gentlemen," Charlise greeted.
"Good morning," Link smiled. "Glad to see your leg is looking better, Alia. Sorry about that."
"Do not be worried, Advisor," Chlaudian interrupted. "In the woods, where you never know whether the shadows are friend or foe-"
Midna laughed, rattling Link's bones, and Chlaudian continued, "you can never be too careful."
"We want to get rid of the infestation, for safety's sake," Link informed her. "It may have a connection to something being investigated in Castle Town, and we want to find out."
Vaati, in the corner, ducked as Zant discarded a book from a shelf. Link frowned at their odd behavior, but looked back to Chlaudian with a smile. Ghirahim materialized at Midna's side and she didn't bother to swat him away.
Link was sufficiently puzzled.
"The infestation is near impossible to clear," Charlise chimed in. "That's what we've been trying to do."
"Yeah, but we come equipped with shiny spells," Midna quipped, snapping her fingers and extinguishing the following cyan sparks.
"So do some of the beasts," Chlaudian cautioned.
Link sighed. "Let me put it this way: it's in my job description. I won't go home to the Princess empty-handed."
The Hylian rogue women smiled. "It may be noble of you to try," Chlaudian allowed. "And you may go into the woods with our blessing. You will not run into any of our villagers out there-Charlise and Alia patrol, sure enough, but they are the only ones. Many of our people are very distrusting and reclusive. They do not leave town."
Ghirahim was silent as Midna spoke. "Ight, so are there are there any leads on where to find the infestation?"
Alia spoke up. "We think it is in the darkest grove to the south of us-whenever we get close to there, the number of monsters becomes overwhelming."
Midna cracked her knuckles. "Nothing too hard."
"Not as hard as travelling with you," Vaati chirped.
Midna ignored him and continued, "we could find those two 'dark garbed' fellas and bring their heads back on spits-"
Link cut her off. "No. We capture them and take them back for Princess Zelda and the Courts to decide."
The Twilight Princess shrugged, uncaring. "Whatever you say, Short Stuff." She looked back at Chlaudian, Alia, and Charlise. "Sound cool?"
Slowly, Chlaudian looked into Link's eyes, a cautious smile resting upon her lips. "We do not have money with which to repay you, should you be able to vanquish the evil."
He waved his hands, a little horrified that she would expect him to be paid over something like this. "It's no problem. We're not asking payment."
She nodded, as if having somehow knowing that he would say that. "Very well, Advisor and adventurers. I assume you have armed yourself reasonably, with...magic tricks and, of course, your sword. Our armory is humble, but open to you should you need it."
"I believe we'll fare splendidly without use of your humble weapons," Ghirahim smiled coldly.
"Remember that should it come that we fight a battle," Zant chimed in, flashing to Ghirahim's side.
Chlaudian nodded. "Then may the Goddesses shine blessings upon you five."
/
Zelda sat and fidgeted with the edge of her shirt. It gave her a bit of glee. She was wearing a long, golden tunic-style top with the Hylian crest on it, and long, graceful black trousers paired with laced up archer's boots. The outfit itself, she realized, was going to cause controversy to the nitpicking ways of the Councilmen-a woman not wearing a dress would certainly be an upset, and for all the shadows that they had sent after her, Zelda couldn't help herself but to push their buttons.
Sitting in the waiting room that winged the left side of the Grand Council Room, the center of Hyrule Castle, she wondered what the Councilmen she was about to face were thinking. She knew that Paul Bablin was a slug who was trying to sway her fake Advisor away from her. She hadn't heard from the other Bachest Councilman since the last meeting-Eric Salendon was more reclusive and spent his days in a villa in northeast Castle Town, giving financial consultations to his heirs, or electrocuting himself with whatever witchcraft he was attempting. The two Bachests, though greedy and exceptionally slimy, didn't come close to annoying her as much as the two Karkesets-Peter Zoten, a former Hyrule Castle City Guard peace officer; and Samuel Mastes, some sort of cultish fanatic that used to preach radical sentiments about the Goddesses and managed ranches in the countryside. They made her skin crawl. They twisted every single thing that came out of her mouth, tied the hands of the police officers, and most of all, lied to her face.
And, most importantly, she knew that at least one of them was working against her-and, maybe more.
A servant walked through the door and handed a regal envelope to the Princess. "The Agenda for the meeting today, your Highness. You have...ten minutes until the Council begins."
"Thank you," she muttered. The servant left her in silence and she ripped open the envelope.
The Agenda was simple: three bullet points, each relating to a current issue. One: the economic policy of mining with the Gorons needed to be renewed. Two: Tighter security measures for public figures-Zelda snorted on that one-needed to be enacted. Three: the Rosulyla.
She ran her fingers through her hair, hanging down her shoulders, and exhaled through her teeth somewhat nervously. Fairly simple agenda. Nothing more than the usual. But, somehow, with Link moonlighting as her Advisor and actively knowing threats against her Kingdom, Zelda could not help but shake a little bit.
The clock hanging above the double doors to the Grand Council Room chimed, and Zelda stood, placing her hands against the doors and counting to three before pushing them open.
/
The woods were...alive.
Midna couldn't describe it exactly, but the trees around them moved as if puppets on a clown's fingers and the sun spiraled down, down through the canopies, rather diluted from its daylight glory by the time it reached the group of five. They had departed from the Settlement about an hour ago, though they couldn't have progressed more than a couple of miles.
The woods had become a maze, shrubs growing so thick and mangled in some places that they would have to turn around and go a different way. Strange birds, like crows, but somehow not flew overhead and then soared away, cawing in the distance. They had encountered two of the dark beasts they had seen the day before, and Link still jumped a little from seeing them. Ghirahim had dispersed them with a mere flick of his hand.
Link suddenly regretted getting on his bad side.
"They are watching us," Zant remarked, pointing up to the dark black birds.
Vaati blew a gust of wind at one, sending it flying. "I think he's right."
Midna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Duh." She looked at Link. "There probably is some home base up ahead and they're reporting back. Should be exciting."
Link frowned. "I don't think we have similar definitions of exciting, Midna."
Interrupting them, Ghirahim flashed ahead, to where the the forest limbs branched down and curled into a dark mangrove, like a house. Inside its entrance, it was blacker than any sort of natural night, and creeped out in charcoal miasma. Growls resounded from deep inside. "It appears that we have discovered our source."
/
A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, folks.