Hey Listen! Or, y'know, read but whatever. Shit son, we're 55,000+ words in and you're still here you glorious example of humanity you. Thank you so unbearably much, you're wonderful and if anyone says otherwise, so help me, I will fight them. Anyways, have a super weekend,
cheers, Freckles
They were in a tent. Although calling it a tent felt like a bit of a disservice. It was huge, almost occupying the same floor space as the ground floor of their cottage, and sectioned off by thick, sea blue curtains into the suggestion of rooms. Still unpacked things are propped in the corners and against the carved wooden poles holding the canopy aloft. A fold away table stands slightly off centre in the largest, central area of the tent-house. Equally portable chairs cluster around it and maps and sheaves of paper pile up and slide off of the top. The odd sheet or two flutter to the ground largely unnoticed. Their attention instead pulled to the group of people between them and the table.
It's little wonder the tent is so big, given that three royals, one field marshal, an ambassador and a champion are all standing in it. Sheik drops back a pace or two behind Link, suddenly feeling awkward at the lack of his own title. The soldier who had been guiding them stops a respectful distance away from the assembled great and good, sweeping a hand across to indicate that they should carry on. Link takes a few more purposeful steps before clearing his throat and making their presence known,
`Your majesties, Lord Innes-Ker, Ambassador Behzadi.' He bends his head, inclining it deeply enough to be polite but not so low as to dip into a bow.
All five of them turn, gracefully but far from in synch, a few of them cup earthen wear mugs between ringed fingers. Sheik recognise three of the faces and can make a pretty solid guess about which of the remaining two is the ambassador. It's not hard to see why various scholars posit that the Gerudo are descended from a group of settlers from the southern lands. Both races share the same statuesque build, with the top of the ambassador's head tickling the tent roof, and dark skin tone much more suited to the southern sun than the pale pastiness of the Hylians. The bright red hair seems to be exclusively a Gerudo trait though. The ambassador's long, curly hair and beard are about as black as Sheik's own hair is pale. Honestly, he's a bit jealous of the beard. All of his attempts at facial hair have been disastrous, sparse, wispy patches that are better not thought about. Link can grow a beard because of course he can, it's not fair.
Zelda gasps, one hand clutching at her chest the other blindly trying to find some table to put her mug down on. The man Sheik doesn't recognise takes it from her when she tries to balance it half off the table edge. She glides towards them faster than is probably proper but no one looks like they care. She moves past Link and grips both of Sheik's shoulders,
`You're alive?'
`Ah-oh. . .well, I hope so. . . it raises some questions if I'm not.' His mouth pulls into an awkward, sheepish smile and he rests a hand on top of one of hers.
Link chuckles, `we found him raising hell and saving orphans behind enemy lines along with Oxholm company, Roucy and the Gerudo warriors.'
`Saving orphans?' Zelda ratchets her gaze between them as if they made a joke she didn't get.
Sheik flails his free hand around dismissively, `orphan singular, there's only one of her.'
`That's beside the point,' Link rolls an exaggerated shrug, `anyway, Zelda, you should probably know you're an aunt now.'
`I'm sorry wha-'
Link smiles at her plaintiff outburst of confusion before drawing them all back to the actual matters at hand, `How. . .how do things look?'
`Currently passable but possibly set to improve,' Innes-Ker nods at Ambassador Behzadi, `depending on what the Ambassador has to say.'
Behzadi makes a wide, open gesture encompassing the all of the space in the tent, `I think you are unlikely to be disappointed Lord Field Marshal.'
`Excellent,' Decebal's smile is a wide as the man himself, and at odds with the dark, puffy bags resting under his eyes. `Sir Link, Sheik, please join us. Sit everyone, then we can discuss things in earnest.'
They all dutifully amble into the chairs. Decebal sits at the head of the table as monarch of the country they're in with Behzadi at his left, in the place of honour for a guest. The man who caught Zelda's mug takes the chair to Decebal's right. Between that and his looks Sheik's fairly certain he must the Crown Prince. He looks nervous, fingers twining together and apart again too quickly for it to be idle fidgeting. Innes-Ker sits opposite Zelda who has placed herself between the Prince and Link. Sheik takes the only remaining seat, happy enough to cede the status bearing seats to the others. Most of the table is covered with a map, marked and remarked with the front line as it's changed over time. He scans over it looking for Ioana's village, now safely behind the red ink line of the front. They left Viorica there when the scout came cantering into the village to bring Link his summons to the King's outpost and, unless he has orders otherwise, Sheik's going back there as soon as they're done.
`Well, I feel that everything that needs be said about our current state has been, even with Sir Link and his companies' rigorous push forward we're still at a deadlock. Ambassador Behzadi, I think it might be best if we start with the news you bring, if you would be so kind.' Decebal leans back into his chair, making the polite request into more of an order.
`Thank you King Decebal, it would be my pleasure. Even as they try to lay claim to land here in the north the Empire dares to stray close to our borders once more. My Queen has little taste for the Emperor and his greedy fingers. It was his hubris that brought him into the great basin of the world only to be sent running like a whipped dog and it is his hubris that brings him back sniffing around. In fact, even as we speak the Shining Army stirs.'
`But will it move?' Everyone looks to Decebal's right. Judging by his face not even the Prince expected himself to say anything. `Straying near your border is no act of aggression, is Queen Pantae really planning on starting a war?'
Behzadi shrugs, `if it is a war we can win, and history puts the odds in our favour, then yes. The Empire is distracted, most of the legions are here and even if we do not fight directly our navy can easily blockade the Empire's southern ports. Equally, the nations of the steppes are as behoven unto us as they are the Empire, we can pressure them into ceasing trade if we need to.'
`You sound very confident of that.' Zelda smooths a sheet of paper on the table in front of her. `Make no mistake Ambassador, we need you, but,'
`You do not want to be left in the lurch, I quite understand. The steppe nations are small countries with few people, they can be persuaded. We may be large and dangerous but we can be kind as well, the lesser of two evils I suppose. The Empire is teetering, everyone sees it but them, siding with us is the logical choice. Whether or not my Queen choses to go to war we can make life difficult for the Empire, easily, which in turn makes life easier for you.'
`So you stand with us, and I am thankful for that, but what do you want from doing so?'
The Prince's knuckles are white from how tightly he's clasped his hands. Decebal's fingers slide towards his son's but stop short before they're actually able to provide any comfort. Zelda's teeth worry her bottom lip and she flicks her eyes sideways trying to catch the Prince's gaze. Maybe he's braver than Sheik thought he was going to be. Clearly saying something like that has less pushed him out of his comfort zone and more hurled him from it but he still said it. Link makes an appreciative face, courage respecting courage.
` Ah ha, young man, that is, of course, the real matter at hand. Our support is not offered to be one-sided, if we stand beside your nations we expect that in turn you stand beside ours. If the Shining Army marches, then it is the hope of my Queen to see your armies marching as it's mirror. We all know that pressing the Empire into a war on two fronts is the greatest opportunity we can give ourselves.'
The tent slides into silence. What Behzadi and his queen want isn't anything that they couldn't have guessed beforehand and he's not wrong about how to pressurise the Empire either. The only problem is that it means more war. More weeks and months and lives bogged down in mud and blood and death. More scraping together food and supplies especially as winter sets in. Decebal and Sorina have already been forced into imposing rationing on their people while it's a topic debated daily in the Hylian parliament. But, it's the nature of armies to be expensive and hungry and their only hope is that between the three of them they can outlast the exorbitant drains longer than the Empire can.
`I-I fear that you ask more than my people can take Ambassador.' Decebal swallows thickly, his jaw pressed tight, a man between a rock and a hard place.
Sheik glances over to Link. It's true, they've ridden through so many villages and towns holding on by the skin of their teeth. If things keep going the way they are then a quick victory isn't beyond the realms of possibility but they all know it'd only be sticking plaster over a knife wound. To end this properly, to put it to bed for good, would mean prolonging the conflict, and that might just be more than this country can bear.
The atmosphere under the cloth canopy feels grey, Behzadi lays a sympathetic hand on the king's shoulder, `Arrangements can be made, the waterways to the southern Hylian cost are still clear, my Queen is more than willing to send aid to our allies.'
Decebal chuckles emptily, `I am neither proud enough nor fool enough to say no to that.'
Behzadi turns to look at Zelda, `and what of Hyrule Queen Zelda? We have plenty enough to bolster your stores as well.'
She shrugs, `at present we are coping, though I may have to take you up on that offer later.'
`So,' Behzadi clasps his hands, `can I return home with good news? Will you join us in finally ridding the world of this scourge? History is ready to made, in fact our navy is waiting, ready to begin the blockade, all they need is the word. The end can begin as soon as quickly as my messenger bird can fly.'
Zelda and Decebal share a look, in a perfect world they would retire somewhere and talk between themselves about how to answer but empty grain stores, a slowly starving population and soldiers stranded without swords means there's no time for that. They agree, not unconditionally and not without further talks but they agree. After the idea of an alliance is established Decebal stands, excusing himself to go and write a letter to Sorina detailing the goings on in the tent. Behzadi takes his leave for similar reasons whereas Innes-Ker simply says he's an old man and wants to sleep.
The Prince eases himself out of his chair, stretching long legs in the process. He's probably about as tall as Link but somehow broader and sort of cat-ish of the face. He makes towards Sheik, moving like he doesn't quite know what to do with his limbs. He sticks out a hand when he's still slightly too far away which makes his face twist through some interesting gymnastics while he has to leave it hanging there before they can shake.
`I-ah, umm, I don't believe we've had the opportunity to make any introductions.'
Nayru's blessing it's no wonder he looked so pale earlier when he was talking to the Ambassador, he can barely get a sentence out whole. Sheik takes his hand, which is a bit damp, and squeezes firmly.
`No, I don't think we have, I'm Sheik of the Sheikah,'
`Matei, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.' They smile at each other and then Matei repeats the entire process with Link, albeit with a more timely extension of his hand this time. Zelda glides in, scaring off an awkward silence that had been trying to muscle its way in.
`Well, that could have been much worse.'
Link frowns at her, `what were you expecting? That he'd have come all this way just to laugh at us or something?'
`Well he might have.' She manages to shrug with her whole body somehow, everything following her shoulders up and off to the left.
Matei sighs, `I sort of wish he had, at least that way I wouldn't have been the least diplomatically capable in the room.'
Zelda pats him on the arm and breaks out her mother hen tone, `you did a wonderful job. You were very to the point; it was quite refreshing.'
`Like lemonade. . .' Matei stares blankly at the tent's entrance.
`What?'
His eyes go wide and then his hands come up to his face covering it so that only a very pink pair of ears are left visible, `that . . . that wasn't meant to be an out loud thing. . .'
`Eh, happens to the best of us, at least no one's asking you to explain the word buggery.' Sheik leans against a tent pole and smiles when Matei's eyes appear again over the top of his fingers.
Link snorts, laughing breathlessly, `when did that happen?'
`When we were making plans to re-acquire Petrescu, I said it and then Ioana wanted to know what it meant so she could translate for the other villagers.'
`What did you say?' the tips of Zelda's lips keep tweaking upwards, royal decorum keeping the giggles at bay for the time being.
`Oh, nothing useful, Roucy saved me.' Sheik rubs his eyes, grinning at the memory, `I'm not sure I ever want to hear the phrase anal coitus again.'
`Well, call a spade a spade I suppose. . . ' Matei's face in entirely uncovered now, he's still red but smiling along with them all nonetheless. `It doesn't sound any better when you translate it either I'm afraid.'
`Do I want to know what else you've been doing while unsupervised?' Zelda slides some sheets of paper out of the way and perches on the table.
Sheik wiggles his eyebrows, `Probably not.'
`Good, tell me anyway.'
FYI I am about as capable at international diplomacy as a small footstool so my unending apologies if this all just utter rubbish.