Hello beautiful people…I am trash. I have left all of this story writing abandoned for a while. My life has been kind of hectic (graduation, change of pace, jobs and going crazy) since I last posted for this story. I hope to finish this as soon as I can. Without further ado…let us begin. Any comment and critic is welcome, be it good or bad. :D
Link let the stack of "books" (Carlotta had called these peculiar things books) fall heavily upon the wooden table of his room. He had decided, intelligently so if he had to say so himself, to explore the castle while the time for lunch came about. You see our poor mer…young man came to this course of action when, after breakfast, he found himself in his room sitting impatiently for lunch to arrive. And so, having nothing else to do…he waited. And wait he did (if you can call a few minutes a wait), until he could no more and started pacing this way and that. He was quite an impatient fellow you see. And seeing he had nothing else to do out of his morning, he concluded that the best next thing to waiting would be to take a stroll around the palace grounds or explore the multiple areas the castle itself had to offer. After all, if he had to linger another moment in his room he would likely combust from excitement. And he didn't fancy very much the idea of turning into a pile of ash. Added to that, he had yet to know this wonderful place he had been invited to stay in. Being it so, Link in his adventurous mood, and finding it rude not to familiarize himself with the magnificent place, left his room and went about to his new adventure.
The castle itself was quite a thing to behold. It held enormous halls and dancing rooms decorated whose walls were decorated with various flower carvings and leaves, paintings both big and small adorned the walls of every hall and of every room, depicting from intense battles and beautiful landscapes to gardens where graceful people danced or sat together. Giant windows and arches that allowed light to pass through could be found almost everywhere and the floors were so perfectly cleaned that they reflected even the tiniest detail. Link was truly amazed by each new area he visited. Why hadn't he done this before? He could have had the pleasure of rediscovering it today and be equally amazed. And to him, amazed plus amazed meant double the amazement. He was quite a simple man our young merman. MAN! Our young man. All in all, he thought Cloud truly had impeccable taste and that made him even more attractive and wonderful to Link. He was in the midst of his stroll by a corridor that had a wonderful view to a gigantic garden filled with all the types of trees and flowers one could imagine when he bumped into Carlotta. The poor lady's laundry basket was sent sailing up above them, dropping all of the recently cleaned sheets all over them.
"Uff!" She exclaimed as she ungracefully landed on her bottom. "What in the…Oh my!" She giggled. "Quite a mess aren't we? Here let me help you." And how couldn't she let herself giggle more. Poor Link was a mess of tangled sheets…and the more he struggled the more entangled he got. He huffed in exasperation and that made her laugh just a little bit more.
"Don't you worry dear. Let me just pull a bit here and…There we go! I am terribly sorry." She said and cackled just a tiny bit. "I think I might have piled this laundry basket far too much that I didn't see you there. But if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing strolling down here? You could have gone out with Lord Zack to his afternoon walk downtown. God knows he needs someone to restrain him. " She dared ask as she piled inside the basket the various sheets and comforters. Link being the gentleman he was, helped her do so.
"Thank you dear." Carlotta said as the last sheet was perfectly folded and placed. "So? What is a young man like you strolling about in this lonely castle?" Link shrugged. He didn't mind being by himself every once in a while. Besides, he was having the time of his life exploring all the castle had to offer. He wouldn't have minded Cloud's company if he was being honest. But, he left in such a hurry after breakfast and he had yet to catch glimpse of him ever since. Zack on the other hand…he could do so without his company for the time being. He tended to be a bit too honest with Link, and his kind of advances, although flattering, were not that much to his liking. He was a wonderful man, that was irrefutable, and Link found him to be quite a nice friend to have. But…he was sometimes too much for his poor heart to handle. And he didn't fancy to be seen always walking about with a cherry red face. In any case, his late morning had been quite wonderful, exploring the castle grounds and such, so he didn't find Carlotta's inquiry offensive nor it evoked in him any feelings of being left out. He just hoped the old nana could understand what he was trying to convey.
"Perhaps…you are more of a sitting around kind." Well…she certainly didn't but Link decided to let it be. "Have you been to the library dear?" Library? What was that? Link thought perking up.
"Oh! What have we here? You are quite the scholar." She exclaimed, mistaking Link's enthusiasm with thirst for knowledge. "And it seems to me you have yet to be there." She said proudly and hefting up the laundry basket a bit more, she marched along. "Just let me set these things in their place and I will be more than happy to lead you dear. In fact, why don't you join me? I might be old but I am certainly quite a youthful company to have." Link smiled brightly at the prospect of being shown around with a guide and followed the nice old nana in her late morning chores.
The library was by far the room Link liked the most. It was a splendid hall with off-white walls with golden linings and flowers, filled with two story tall dark-wood shelves from end to end and top to bottom that brimmed with books and parchments. Tall windows allowed natural light to filter in, bathing the dark wooden desks and purple sofas and armchairs that were scattered all over the room with a warmth and welcoming light. From the tall painted cupule of the ceiling, that depicted angels and cherubs floating in a vast clouded sky to the tiniest carving of a leaf in a wall, Link was aghast with all that surrounded him. He couldn't keep still. He went from here and there to this and that, trying to absorb all that his eyes landed on. He grabbed a book and then another and then another, skimming through their pages, ravaging the images they held, trying to decipher what they had written. Books were an uncommon treasure that he could locate in the depths of the blue and seeing so many gathered in one place had him delighted.
Carlotta couldn't stop giggling and chuckling at seeing their unusual guest going crazy with excitement. If only Princes Cloud and Zack could see this, she thought. They would surely find their guests antics to be quite hilarious as well. But it was rude to laugh at someone else's expense. And admonishing herself for such unruly behavior, she tidied her apron and her bonnet and strolled into the library to follow our young man's around as he tried to read all and every book there was.
Back at his room, where we began this anecdote, Link took one of the many books that had caught his attention. It had a lot of strange creatures drawn inside, but also some he recognized. There was even a drawing of Impa and Navi. He had snickered a bit at that. What would they say if they knew the humans had drawings of them? Impa was sure to snap angryily at such an outrageous act, while Navi probably wouldn't care but question if they had caught all her grace and beauty. She was quite vain for fish. In any case, the book was too interesting and Link had to wonder if he could take it back to his room. Carlotta did understand this time what his intentions were and had promptly stated that he could take whatever he wanted as long as he took great care of them.
"Some are of Prince Cloud's private collection you see." She had said with a warm smile. "He was quite a book fanatic on his younger years. You could see him with three or four books sprawled in a library sofa after breakfast, lunch and dinner." At such revelations, Link's heart skipped a bit. He was going to have a peek at what Cloud's younger self had liked. This will probably bring them closer together. And probably, Cloud would cherish him too as he had cherished these books. And daydreaming with his beloved's childhood, he tumbled upon the bed and began to look at such a fascinating book, waiting with a deep fondness for lunch to arrive and to see once more those sky blue eyes he had longed for these last months.