The faint luminescence of dawn was glowing at each of the arched castle windows, casting long, hazy shadows across still, silent rooms. The fact that destruction had occurred was evident- the slain and the injured lay in clusters around the edges of the rooms, and those that had survived were milling about in a zombie-like manner, faces blank, mouths dry, minds and souls parched for understanding.
The ballroom had been lain to waste, and it felt like a ghost town; those that roamed around it felt eerily like ghosts themselves, even though they knew that the true ghosts had been beyond this world for hours.
Shad padded slowly across it, the worn down soles of his leather boots silent against the cracked tiles. He navigated around overturned furniture, splintered wood and shattered glass that twinkled in the rays of morning light. He stopped when he had reached a fallen body, and he kneeled down beside it absently, finding the wrist and wrapping his own fingers around it.
The fallen man was without a pulse, as Shad had expected him to be, but it still felt very odd because this man had been very much alive twelve hours ago. Shad wondered for the thousandth time whether any of these men had had families, whether they had had ambitions…
"Are you going to be all right?"
He glanced over his shoulder, taking in the sight of the princess through weary eyes. She had been at his side, combing the ballroom for possible survivors, but they had realized at this point that the only men and women in this room had come to pass- whoever had survived had doubtless fled or had already been escorted to the infirmary.
He cleared his throat. "I- I'll be fine. Thank you, Your Highness." With a small grunt, he got to his feet and gazed around. Only a few others roamed the room, checking each fallen body for a pulse- and finding none.
"Perhaps we should return to the infirmary," Zelda suggested after a long moment. Shad turned to face her. Her eyes were bloodshot and exhausted, her face pale and bruised, hair astray, smelling of sweat and blood and exhaustion. He felt a great amount of pride swell within him at that moment- not for himself, but for his country its leader. The princess held a great amount of bravery, and where some would have seen weakness Shad saw limits that Zelda would someday soar beyond. He had never felt this patriotic, had never been so moved until now.
"We should raise a flag," he found himself saying. Zelda smiled slightly.
"It was not an act of war, you know," she said.
"I know that, Your Highness, but we have still won a great battle-"
"There is nothing 'great' about battles, Shad, but I understand what you're suggesting. I'll have a word with one of my soldiers once they've been reinstated. I never knew they had it in them to fight so bravely…"
They did not speak of the other soldiers- of Crevan's soldiers. Their corpses lined the castle halls, each of them taken out as per Crevan's requests. The mystery of why he had ordered such an attack still hung heavy in the air, but neither Shad nor Zelda uttered a word of it, both knowing that the appropriate time to discuss such a matter would come eventually.
The pair began the slow trek back to the infirmary, which had been in use for several hours now. Some parts of the halls had been reduced to rubble; others remained untouched. Scenes of destruction- broken windows or dented walls- were rather sporadic, and Shad was made uncomfortable by the discontinuity of it all. Their pace was steady and labored, and once they'd reached the infirmary and the doors had swung inward, Shad was slightly out of breath. The cavernous room was large and airy, with a ceiling that met in a pointed arch. He entered the crowded hall- many of the injured were leaning up against walls, being attended to by nurses or those otherwise versed in medicine.
At the end of the hall, one of the only patients to have received a bed, was Link, who was fast asleep and still as stone. Ashei was at his bedside, her hands cupping his, the fingers tracing the lines in his palms absently. She did not seem very emotional; on the contrary, her expression was very blank, and Shad approached her automatically.
"I don't want to hear it," she said dryly as soon as Shad was within earshot.
"Hear what?"
"Your diagnosis."
Shad sighed. "Ashei-"
"I know. I'm tired. I need sleep. Now leave me alone."
The scholar groaned and his face fell into his palm. "Ashei, don't do this to yourself-"
"Shad."
He glanced back at her. She'd finally decided to make eye contact.
"I'm fine. Trust me for once."
A long moment passed, and finally Shad exhaled stiffly and nodded. "Very well." He turned on his heel and paced away, passing several lounging bodies and kneeling beside each one, taking their temperatures, checking their bandages, and conducting a general diagnosis based on his own knowledge of science and medicine. Each patient was anonymous to him, but he took his time with each, using whatever antidotes he had available to treat each wound with care. Most things seemed minor, and his practice was methodic, spanning over the course of about half an hour until he'd reached a patient he recognized.
"Hey, you," Ilia said faintly when Shad kneeled beside her. Rusl was sitting across from him, and had been talking to Ilia for awhile now, who was drifting in and out of sleep from pure exhaustion.
"How are you feeling?" asked Shad gently.
"Fine. Okay. Tired."
He reached for her cool wrist and took her pulse; it was fine. Slowly, his fingers drifted upwards from her wrist and closed around her palm. She squeezed his hand faintly and smiled. As if on cue, Rusl gave a grunt and got to his feet, stalking away and giving Shad and Ilia some privacy.
"I'm glad you're okay," Shad said, knowing that the statement was simple and blunt and not really caring.
"It's not me you have to care about," Ilia said, but Shad was already shaking his head.
"You're all I really care about," he said. "Don't try to talk me out of it."
They stared at each other for a brief moment, and then Ilia reached up and wound her arms around Shad, who returned the gesture with all of the emotion that his weathered form still housed. He pressed his face into her shoulder and curled his fingers around the fabric of her shirt, pulling her closer, heart thudding as honest relief washed through him.
"I'm so happy you're here with me, Shad," she said, and even though she was smiling, tears had welled up in her eyes. She let her lids fall shut as she and Shad rocked back and forth, and she wondered for a moment whether he might ever let her go, and then decided that if he didn't, then she'd be perfectly okay with that.
"Ilia?"
"Yes, Shad?"
"I love you, Ilia."
She smiled and buried her face into his neck. "I know you do, Shad, and I love you right back."
Heels approached; clicking, they swept past the couple and continued on in their march. Dirty, ragged skirts swirled around the princess' sore legs as she made her way through the infirmary. Finally, she hiked up her skirt and reached for the buckles on her shoes, undoing them, sliding her feet out, and continuing along in her stockings. She tossed the shoes listlessly to the side and padded along in her quiet way until she'd reached the cot of another patient- Auru.
He was laying down, and since he had been positioned next to a window, he had taken to staring out of it. His skin was pulled back very tightly along his angled face, all weathered and callused, the eyes very pale and very gray and old and wise…
"Auru."
He did not glance over at the princess. Instead, he merely sighed quietly and let his gaze wander over the grounds outside. It was becoming steadily lighter, now; it looked like it was going to be a sunlit day.
"Princess," he responded coolly, sunlight stretching in bands across his aged face. Zelda found his silence disconcerting, and she gulped instinctually.
"How are you feeling?" she asked suddenly. Her mentor gave no reply. "...I see." She took a deep breath. "I blame myself-"
"-Don't," the old man cut in. "You blamed yourself for the last war, too, and it wrecked you."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." Auru turned to face her, and his face and voice were stern. "It is more worthwhile to understand your faults than to dwell on them. To magnify error is to increase vulnerability." His voice drew quiet, and he turned to the window once more.
They remained in such silence for a minute or so, Zelda unsure of how exactly to respond to Auru's cold nature. So he does blame me, she realized inwardly, and bit her lip.
"I know you are unhappy with me. You have every right to be. So does the kingdom. And I will make it up to you- to all of you."
"How?" Auru answered sharply.
Again, Zelda was quiet for a moment. When she spoke up, she was firm with her words. "I will secure my position. I'll be decisive. I'll stop flirting with stability."
"How?" her mentor repeated.
"I'll get angry," Zelda replied, and her words were beginning to have an edge to them. "I won't let the untrustworthy argue with me. I'll call upon my own good judgement for help, and come to you when I need advice."
Auru remained serene for a long moment. Then, finally, his composure broke, and he smiled a little. They locked eyes, and his seemed to sparkle with age.
"Come along, then, Your Highness," he said with a smirk. "Come help an old man sit up."
The princess smiled in relief, the tension disappearing from her frame, and she wrapped her arms around Auru to help prop him up on some pillows. When he was sitting comfortably, he looked her over.
"You are still so very young," he said. "You do not realize what a child you still are in the eyes of the aged. And yet… I can sense a change in you. In all of you," he added thoughtfully, and he gestured outwards. Zelda glanced over her shoulder, and she could see Link, Ashei, Shad, and Ilia from where she stood.
"Indeed," she responded, but was drawn from her thoughts when Auru erupted into a sudden fit of coughing. She whipped her head back around, but the spasm ended in a few short seconds, and Auru was left to catch his breath.
"Don't worry about me, Your Highness," he said, but Zelda could already sense a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Auru-"
"Shh- it will be all right. Go now to your subjects; there are youth in this room that are ailing. Give them aid. You will be their queen someday."
Zelda realized after a moment that her jaw had fallen open, and now she clamped it shut firmly.
"Yes, Auru," she said, and turned to go.
…
"You know, nobody's mad at you. We're all quite confused, yeah, but… we understand. So you don't have to worry about any of that. You can wake up. You can."
"Ashei?"
The warrior woman glanced up as she saw the princess stalking in her direction.
"Yeah?"
"Are you speaking with Link?"
"To him, not with him," Ashei corrected, and turned back to the man deep in sleep before her. "Any time, now," she added, and prodded him gently.
"Let him rest," the princess commanded, and Ashei's hands fell to her side.
"I know. I get it. But he's the only person I really want to talk to right now… no offense."
Zelda smiled sadly. "Of course, Ashei. I understand."
It was nearing noon, now, and Ashei had been sitting wide-awake at Link's bedside for nearly twelve hours. Deep bags encircled her bloodshot eyes, but still she refused to sleep, her mind slightly fogged over as she watched Link in desperation. She knew that he would wake up eventually, and yet she didn't understand why the hours without him seemed to pass by so slowly.
A shadow fell over her as Shad and Ilia materialized beside the princess. Ilia seemed rather tired still, one of her shoulders bandaged heavily where she'd been wounded. She leaned on Shad for support, who was still alarmingly disheveled from what he'd described merely as, "A highly unwanted journey through the sewers."
Now Shad took a slow step forward, examining Link. The ex-hero had been stripped from his tunic and garbed instead in a simple dressing gown that was characteristic of the infirmary, allowing Shad and other physicians to check each of the bandaged wounds routinely and easily.
"He seems fine," Shad explained, placing a hand on Link's forehead to take his temperature. After a moment, he nodded curtly and took a step back. "He's definitely in stable condition…" he grasped his wrist with two fingers. "...And his pulse is fine- a little on the slow side, but it'll speed up when he awakens." Now he took a step back.
The princess seemed impressed. "Master Shad," she said after a moment, "I must say, I've been wonderfully impressed with how you've helped all of the injured today."
Shad blushed slightly. "You're too kind, Your Highness."
"I mean it," she said. "In fact, I've been meaning to make an offer to you. How would you feel about taking up a position as the Royal Physician? You are certainly a scientist ahead of your time."
Ilia's jaw dropped and she grasped Shad's arm eagerly. "Oh, you must take it!" she insisted. "You've always wanted to be a doctor- this is the opportunity you've been waiting for!"
But Shad, who was smiling politely, merely shook his head. "I'm afraid I must decline, Your Highness."
"What- no-" Ilia protested, and Ashei bowed her head, secretly agreeing with Shad.
"Ilia- Your Highness- forgive me," Shad began, "but while I admit that medicine has always been a passion of mine, I do not believe that my place is here, in Hyrule Castle."
"No…" Ilia whispered, but the princess was merely shaking her head.
"It's quite all right, Master Shad," the princess said. "I see how you feel, and I respect your decision. However, I hope it won't be too much to ask you to remain for just a few more days to attend to our injured soldiers."
Shad shook his head quickly. "That would be fine- I accept that duty with eagerness, Princess."
Their agreement reached, Zelda and Shad bid farewell to Ilia and Ashei and set off across the infirmary, continuing in their routine checkup of the injured.
Left alone, Ilia moved closer to Ashei. She stared fondly down at Link, reaching down a hand and gingerly brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"You know," Ilia said quietly, "back in Ordon, when those soldiers wounded you and you nearly died, Link sat at your bedside until you woke up. He just kept talking and talking to you… and right when we all thought you weren't going to make it, he took up a sword and threatened to go kill Crevan right then and there. Something changed in him then. I don't know what it was."
Ashei considered Ilia's words for a moment. "Crevan said that Link became a villain when he lost his focus on saving people and instead focused on revenge," she recounted reluctantly.
"...That's true," Ilia said quietly. "Do you think that's why he started fighting all of a sudden? Because he wouldn't do it for the longest time, but then when they went after you, he just… went insane," she admitted.
Ashei shrugged softly. "I don't know. And I don't care. Not right now, anyway. Right now, I just want him to come back to life."
He's not dead, Ilia thought, but said nothing. Instead, she just bit her lip and smiled at Link's sleeping form.
"I can't believe this is the same boy that used to wrangle goats and chase monkeys around the forest with a slingshot," was all she said. "It's funny, how war changes people."
Ashei glanced up, meeting Ilia's eyes. "It changed you."
"It changed you, too," Ilia said, for she had just realized exactly how tired Ashei looked. "Please get some sleep, Ashei. You're exhausted."
"No," the girl answered firmly. "I can't leave Link alone. What if he wakes up?"
"Then I'll rouse you," Ilia answered. "Don't worry. I'll watch over him."
"...Fine," Ashei said quietly. "What I mean is… thank you, yeah?" She stood up on wobbly legs and made for the side of the room, finding a nice quiet corner and curling up on the floor there. Her body was sore and her eyelids were heavy. In a matter of moments, the world around her slipped away, and she fell into a weighted, murky slumber.
…
When her eyes opened again, the infirmary was lit with the amber glow of evening. She rose to her feet automatically, pulling herself across the room. She ignored the mixed moans and snores of the injured, and dragged herself to Link's bedside. He'd been left alone, which irritated Ashei mildly, as Ilia had promised to stay with him, but she pushed the thoughts aside. No doubt Ilia had her own worries to attend to. Better not to get angry with her. That would be energy wasted at this point.
She looked at Link again. He seemed very at rest, which pleased her. He wasn't tossing and turning, but was merely sleeping, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. Ashei gave half a smile and sat down next to him, finding his hand, and caressing it in her own.
"Any time, now," she reminded him. "But there's no rush, yeah?"
She sat in silence for awhile, glancing around the steadily dimming infirmary. A servant came through to light the candelabras on the wall, and as time began to pass, Ashei noticed a hollow, gurgling sensation in the pit of her stomach. Hunger.
As if on cue, Telma's form turned the corner and approached her. Ashei had not seen Telma since the incident on the rooftop, but she had to admit that Telma was looking quite well, almost as if nothing had happened at all. She was an incredibly resilient woman.
"Hi, Telma," she said.
"You look better," Telma said immediately. "Last I saw you, you were fast asleep in a corner." She gave her a curious look. "You must be starving, honey. Let me get you something to eat."
"You don't need-"
"I insist," Telma cut in, and gave a slight smile. Ashei found herself smiling back. Telma vanished at the other end of the hall; several minutes later, she had returned with a tray of steaming stew, which she passed over to Ashei. The girl ate greedily, filling the pit within her stomach until she felt entirely rejuvenated, and then she thanked Telma heartily and returned to watching Link.
Telma held the empty tray aloft and glanced at Link sadly.
"What an insane, passionate man," were the only words she could muster. She still could not shake the image of him, so beaten and yet still fighting, upon that castle rooftop. "The oaths he has taken… we'll never really understand them, will we, honey?"
"Maybe someday," Ashei answered, and there was some truth to her words. She might, but people like Telma never would. That was what had always set Ashei apart.
With a final sigh, Telma turned to leave. "You take care of him, Ashei," she said, and with a small wink, took off across the infirmary. She followed the next passageway down towards the kitchens, balancing the empty tray in her arms. Her thoughts were whirring as she went- about Link, about Ashei, and about Auru, who had lapsed into a terrible fit of coughing not twenty minutes ago. But she was hoisted from her thoughts suddenly when she heard voices.
She was in a darkened corridor at the time, with no light to go by save a few torches. There was a small alcove nestled just off of the hallway; it was a private place, where stacks of crates and bags of flour blocked most visibility, but there was definitely a conversation going on there. Telma pressed herself up against the wall and listened in shamelessly.
"...I just can't believe you turned that offer down, Shad!" the first voice sounded, and Telma recognized Ilia instantly.
"It was my choice!" Shad answered in aggravation. "Ilia, you're always doing this- always trying to tell me what it is that I want. You have no idea what I want!"
"You've always wanted to be a doctor. You said it yourself. And you're good at it!"
"Ilia, you don't get it," Shad was grumbling, and Telma sensed immense exasperation in his tone. "You don't get it at all. It's not that I don't want to be a doctor. I do. I just don't want to be a doctor here!"
"Why?!"
"Why do you think?!" Shad finally cried. He'd raised his voice enough that it rebounded around the room.
Ilia's voice was stiff. "I don't know," she lied.
"Fine. What do you want, Ilia? What do you want to do? You're an adult. Don't you have a dream?"
"I want to take care of horses," Ilia said. "And I want to live in the country. I want to have children, someday."
"Well- well you can't do that in the city, Ilia," Shad insisted, stumbling over his words. "You know I like it here. The princess is a wonderful woman, and I would gladly take the job offer- it's spectacular, really, it is. Unbelievable. But here's the thing- I'm not turning it down, Ilia. I'm giving it up. For you. To be with you."
Silence…
"But- but you're giving up your dream-"
"-You're my dream," Shad said quickly. "I want to move to Ordon. With you. I want to stay with you- I can be a country doctor, Ilia. And you can take care of horses. And- and someday, if you want- have children-"
"-Are you saying you want to marry me, Shad?"
Telma had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from audibly squeaking. She awaited reply…
"Yes," Shad voiced. "Yes. I do. That's all I want."
"Good," Ilia breathed. "I want to marry you, too."
Telma didn't care what happened next. She let the tray in her arms clatter to the ground and she turned her face towards the ceiling, throwing up her hands and shouting, "PRAISE THE GODS! HALLELUJAH!" She went barreling into the alcove and found a very flustered Shad and Ilia hand-in-hand, throwing her arms around both of them and pulling them into bone-crushing hugs. "I THOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE THE DAY!" she cried, and ignored the muffled whimpers of thanks mixed with laugher mixed with squeaks of, "Please let us go." For a short moment, she was blinded by bliss, grinning at the blushes on Shad and Ilia's faces.
But the moment ended, as all moments do, and once the laughing and blushing had subsided, Telma had to depart. She returned the tray to the kitchens, and was on her way back up towards the main hall when she took notice of something.
There was a small servant's door that had been cast open to let in the night air. The path outside led out to the stables, and she recognized a very familiar form out there, even if it was merely a silhouette against the moonlight. Telma decided to approach him, and it was only once she was a few steps away that he acknowledged her.
"It's an oddly beautiful night."
"It sure is, Rusl," Telma answered. The brisk September air encapsulated her, and she pulled her coat tighter against a bitter wind. Rusl was only a few paces away near the stable doors, attaching a knapsack to the saddle of his horse. She had not seen him since this morning, but there was something terminal about his actions. And then she understood. He's leaving.
"You're returning to Ordon, then?" Telma surmised. She could hear Rusl chuckle lightly.
"You know me all too well, Telma."
"I've known you since you were a kid," Telma answered. "You were, what, twenty? Twenty five?"
"Twenty five, yes," Rusl answered. "I came here following the death of two very dear friends. They were killed in a hunting accident- a terrible thing. But they left behind a boy that would be a son to me…"
Telma smirked. "You knew Link's parents well, then?"
"We were very close," Rusl answered, adjusting something on the saddle before turning to face Telma. "Link never knew them. He was not yet a year old when they passed. But I cared for him the best that I could."
"Is Link like his parents?" Telma asked, more out of genuine curiosity than out of anything else.
"Yes… and no," Rusl answered. "He's more like Uli and I in personality. But in spirit, he is his mother through and through. She was bold in spirit and adventurous at heart. And she knew who she trusted, though she never entirely trusted herself. In her later years, she would become ill… She lost her sense of the world. She could not help it. She grieved for years gone by- a doctor may have been able to treat her problems, but she never sought aid. Finally, she fell off of a terrace while hunting and was killed… though some say she threw herself off on purpose, and dragged her husband down with her."
Telma was very quiet. "I'm sorry to hear it."
"I was pained for a time. But I had a responsibility to care for Link. Uli helped me. And seeing how Link has turned out has… confused me." He chewed on his lip thoughtfully. "Sometimes, I wonder whether I did something wrong. Whether his unhappiness is my fault."
A long silence followed, and they were surrounded by only the howling of the wind. The horse snorted lazily and stamped several times, but Rusl only raised a hand absently to its head to calm it. Finally, Telma spoke.
"There's nothing you could have done to sway him either way, honey," Telma said. "Link's a grown man. He's chosen his own path in life, and it's all we can do to lend him encouragement."
Rusl gave a curt nod. "You have a way of always being right, Telma," he finally said, and turned to her. "I will miss you greatly when I leave."
Telma gave a short sigh. "You're not coming back… are you?"
Rusl smirked sadly and shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I have a duty to my son and daughter. These days… are behind me. They belong to the youth, I have no doubt of it."
Telma could feel tears beginning to sting at the corners of her eyes. Rusl, leaving for good… how many years had she known him? Fifteen, at least. And with a sigh, she enveloped him into one of her trademark hugs.
"Oh, you old geezer," was all she said, fighting back a lump in her throat. How could she have transitioned from such blinding happiness to this throbbing sadness in only a matter of a few minutes? The world was a strange place indeed.
"Goodbye, my dear Telma."
"So long, honey."
…
Ashei's eyes jolted open, and she felt panic run through her. She hadn't even remembered falling asleep. She sat up suddenly and glanced around.
It was the dead of night, and the infirmary was impossibly quiet. The only sounds were the crackling of the torches and the slumbrous breathing of the injured. Then, she realized suddenly what it was that had awoken her. Movement. Link? She grasped his hand and gave it a hopeful squeeze. For a second, there was no reply. And then- miraculously- he squeezed back.
Her heart sped up, flooding her entire body with warmth. Her face cracked into a smile as she squeezed his hand again. There was another pulse as he tightened his grip once more, and this time, he didn't loosen it.
His eyes drifted open then. They were bleary, but behind the wetness was the same pale blue that Ashei recalled. He smiled sloppily, and then he spoke, his words slurred due to a weak jaw.
"I… I'm glad… it's you…"
"What?" Ashei asked dumbly.
"You… here. Waking me up. I'm just glad… that it's you," he answered, his eyes roaming over her face, drinking in the sight of her, of her bewildered grin, and then he spoke once more. "Come here."
"What? What is it?" Ashei asked, bending down.
"Closer."
"What?"
"I said closer…"
"Okay. Now what?"
"Not close enough."
"How close?"
"Kiss me?"
She pulled back suddenly and rolled her eyes. Unbelievable. Link had not just undergone a deeply traumatizing and emotional battlefield experience to turn back into a bumbling, lovestruck idiot.
"No," she said firmly. "You need to rest."
"I've been resting," Link whispered, coming more to his senses with each passing second. "I've been out forever. And I've realized that I just really want to kiss you."
"I said no."
"Please?"
"Not right now, yeah?"
"I love you," he added hopefully. Ashei peered at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Soon," she promised him. After a moment, he sighed in resignation.
"Fine," he said, and his mouth fell shut. Ashei pulled her chair closer to him.
"How do you feel?" she asked, fully aware that she was changing the subject.
Link's demeanor didn't seem to shift all too much. "I'm all right," he answered slowly. Ashei's mouth contorted to the side as she tried to phrase her next question. "You're… not still- I mean, you sort of…"
"I'm guilty, if that's what you're hinting at," Link said, but he didn't go rigid when he said it like Ashei had expected him to. He was shockingly calm- she had not foreseen this. She decided to express this to him.
"But you're all right," was all she said. "I mean, honestly- you seem all right. Why?"
He bit his lip. "Something- I don't know- something has settled within me. I feel calm. I'm not content. I'm not satisfied. But I'm… conditioned. It's like the guilt makes sense. I can place it. And I've kind of accepted that it's there. So, yes, I'm all right," he repeated.
What he did not disclose to her was the dream he'd had during his long rest. It was still very vivid in his mind, for at the time it had felt very real. He'd been following the Golden Wolf in his dream, close on its trail as they walked through Hyrule together, and it was only once they'd reached a long dirt road that actually led out of Hyrule that the Wolf transformed. Link had found himself face-to-face with the Hero's Shade- a figure he'd not been expecting to see again.
The Shade had spoken of the true trials of what it meant to be the Hero of Hyrule. He explained that Link would carry a mental burden that many would never come to understand. The Shade did not hesitate to add that he had suffered the same pains during his lifetime. And there had been some comfort in knowing that Link was not unique in his pains- that at some point, there had been someone else who had walked this same path.
But even now that he was awake, Link kept quiet about the vision.
"Link," Ashei said, staring down at their entwined fingers, "I want to ask you something. You don't have to answer if you don't want to." "What is it?"
"When we were on that rooftop, you knew that you had a way out of Crevan's game. But you killed him anyway. Why?"
He struggled with an answer for a minute. Because I couldn't leave that burden on your shoulders, he answered mentally. I couldn't allow you to live with the guilt of killing all of those men. In all honesty, he had realized in those final moments the exact gravity of his situation. He had realized that either he would have to shoulder the consequences of this task, or they would be somebody else's to bear, and that was when he made his decision.
"Before I ascended to the balcony," Link explained, "Crevan sent a legion of men to attack me, and I killed them all. I knew at that moment that I'd reached a point of no return. My conscience was... tainted... once and for all. I… know what it's like to live with guilt. And I knew that endorsing the slaughter of Crevan's men would be enough to weigh anyone down. But I'm the ex-hero. In the end, it's my duty to protect Hyrule at any cost- even if it results in my own downfall." His voice had dropped down very low towards the end, but he felt instantly reassured when Ashei squeezed his hand once more.
"That's the honest truth, yeah?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Well, in that case, then so is this."
And then she leaned over and kissed him, her long hair spilling across his neck and shoulders. They were both filled with contentment for a fraction of a second, and then earnest happiness spread throughout both of them for the first time in weeks. When she pulled away, Link smiled in spite of himself and wordlessly tucked a dark strand of fallen hair behind her ear. He did not mention that he'd been wanting to do that for awhile. He didn't need to.
…
Ashei was found fast asleep the next morning with her head resting on Link's chest. He was wide awake, stroking her hair absentmindedly, when he heard footsteps approaching and glanced over. Shad was approaching from the other end of the crowded hall, and his eyes widened when he noticed that Link had awoken.
"You're up!" he cried.
"Everyone's up," Link answered unflappably. It was true- most of Shad's patients had come to their senses, and some were even milling about the infirmary. The airy chattering of their voices rebounded around the hall.
"But especially you," Shad answered, and approached Link suddenly, pushing back his hair and resting his palm on Link's forehead.
"What the hell-"
"I'm taking your temperature."
"What-"
"Any pain? Injuries?"
"Duh."
"Weak muscles? Can you feel everything."
"Yes, but what the hell-"
"Shut up, I'm taking your pulse," Shad interrupted, grabbing Link's wrist and pinching it tightly. Link winced.
"What are you, my doctor?"
"Yes," Shad answered coolly, and peered at Link suddenly. "You're well- incredibly well. I'm surprised."
"I'm fine, Shad," Link grumbled, and pulled his hand away. The weight on his chest shifted as Ashei lifted her head with a yawn.
"What on earth- oh. It's you," she said, taking in the sight of Shad. "Glad you could join the party." With this, her head fell back onto Link's chest and she closed her eyes once more. "Go away, Shad," she added glibly. "I don't gawk at you and Ilia."
"I'm not gawking. I'm observing. By the by, how are you feeling this morning, Ashei?"
"Disgruntled," she answered firmly.
Shad laughed. "Same as usual, then. Good to see you're back to normal. Ah, hello, there," Shad said as Ilia approached from behind. He placed a kiss on her temple, but Ilia wasn't paying any attention to him. Instead, she was staring at Link.
"You're awake," she said, her eyes wide. "You're awake- finally- are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Ilia," Link answered. By now he'd pushed himself into a sitting position, and was smiling at his friends as they crowded even closer.
Ilia seemed concerned. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"I don't believe you," she insisted. "I'm sorry, but I just don't."
Link fell quiet for a minute. Ilia spoke truly; rightfully, she had no reason to believe Link. He'd lied to her many times before.
"You don't have to," he finally said, "but I'm telling you that it's the truth. I'm okay. I feel… different."
There were no smiles or sighs of relief on her end of the conversation. Instead, she continued staring at him almost coldly, and then she drew close to Shad and entwined her arm with his. She never took her eyes off of Link, though, and Link was hurt by the distrust that she conveyed.
Everyone gave a sudden jolt as a voice cried out from the doorway.
"MASTER LINK! MASTER LINK!"
And then Mildred came sprinting down the aisle, not bothering to slow to a halt even as she neared Link's cot. In a flash, she threw her entire weight up onto the mattress, landing right on Link's lap and throwing her arms around his neck. "You are okay!" she whimpered, and Link tried very hard not to be put off by the fact that a bulblin was embracing him.
"Yes," he answered weakly as Mildred withdrew. Her beady eyes were wide with fear.
"I am sorry-"
"-Don't be-"
"-But I am," she insisted. "I am sorry that I spied on you. We bulblins were threatened by Chancellor Crevan- I was not given any choice- I tried everything that I could to keep you safe- did not tell him what he did not ask to know- and I did everything I could to put our plan in place, but he caught me anyway."
"What plan?" asked Shad, brow furrowed. Link paused and turned to Mildred.
"Should I tell them?"
"Oh, yes," Mildred said, and Link gave half a smile.
"Mildred and I came up with a plan, you see," Link explained. "Mildred talked Crevan into holding you all hostage on that balcony because she knew that we could plan an escape route. Before she was kidnapped, Mildred filled the fountain in the courtyard with a healing tonic- the same one that you concocted in Ordon, Shad," Link finished. "I was originally going to escape Crevan's game by faking a suicide and jumping into a pit of healing water."
"Why didn't you?" Shad pressed.
"I- I realized that running wasn't the right thing to do."
Ilia was peering out at Link from behind Shad's shoulder. Link caught her eye, but she tore her gaze away immediately. He felt another pang in his chest, this one worse than the last. But the sinking feeling was one he could not place. He'd never doubted Ilia before, and there was something akin to panic in his gut.
…
"The Royal Council is now in session," Princess Zelda announced, and her mallet clacked against the mahogany tabletop. She had summoned a small council to meet in an airy conference hall, and she stood poised but relaxed at one end of the table. Not far down the line, Link was watching her with a faint smile. He did not withhold the admiration in his expression. Ashei sat close beside him, their shoulders touching from the proximity.
"Attendance will now be taken," the princess explained. "Councilman Raris."
"Present."
"Councilman Sarus."
"Present."
"Councilwoman Nabaria."
"Present."
"Councilwoman Darunise."
"Present."
She paused as her eyes scanned another name. With a sigh, she decided to follow proper council proceedings.
"Chancellor Crevan."
Silence.
"Chancellor Crevan," she repeated, even though she knew full well that he was dead and gone and would not be attending any more council meetings. When silence ensued, she scratched a name off of her list.
"Representative Ralis." There was further silence; again, as she had expected. Scanning the room, she did not pick his face out in the crowd. She had not seen the young prince since he had appeared in front of her several weeks ago, but he had been a royal advisor, and this was proper council procedure, after all.
"Advisor Auru."
Silence. Now the princess' brow knit together. She glanced up. "Advisor Auru?"
"He's not here, honey," a voice broke out. Telma. Zelda caught the woman's eye, and noticed a certain sternness to her gaze.
"I- I see," Zelda said, but even she was unnerved. It was not like Auru to miss council meetings- especially one of this importance.
"Citizen Link," she continued, her voice shaking slightly.
"Present."
"Citizen Ashei."
"Present."
"Citizen Shad."
"Present."
"Citizen Ilia."
"Present."
"Citizen Telma."
"Present."
"Very well," Zelda said stiffly, straightening her shoulders. "Let's begin."
…
The council meeting began with Zelda officially reinstating herself as the monarch of Hyrule. They mocked a vote- nobody voted against her, as Hyrulean leadership was based off of divinity and not democracy anyway- and then she reinstated each of her soldiers. It was a lengthy process, one that lasted nearly an hour and had Link and Ashei falling asleep in their seats. A councilman brought up the issue of repairs to the castle, which led to a long discussion about who would fund what. Then the issue of burials arose, which of course was a gruesome discussion. Medical bills were brought into the equation. Autopsies- as if they were necessary. Medicine? What of medicine? And what was to be done with the soldiers that had fought against them? A mass-cremation would be cheap.
Such talk of money wore everybody thin until the conversation seemed to have died completely. Link was sitting quietly, hands folded in front of him, and Ashei was leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling. It wasn't until the conversation took a sudden turn that either of them became totally alert.
"It is time, I think, to discuss Chancellor Crevan," Zelda explained, and the entire council seemed to murmur in agreement.
"What of him?" a councilman that Link didn't recognize broke in. "He was killed. Link killed him!"
Link did not react. Instead, he just nodded curtly, a rather stony expression blocking his face.
"Something must be done with his body," Zelda explained. "Shall we bury him? Cremate him?"
"A man like that doesn't deserve a proper burial," Telma was muttering to himself.
"Throw him in the river," Ashei grumbled.
"You'll contaminate the water," Shad broke in.
"It'd be worth it," the girl countered.
Ilia remained relatively quiet. "I say we burn it."
The councilmen were arguing at the other end of the hall, but Zelda cut them off suddenly. Once silence had ensued, she turned to Link.
"Link, you are the one that ended Crevan's life. Since he left no instructions arranging any sort of funeral, perhaps you would like to offer a suggestion?"
Link was staring at the table furiously, deep in thought. "It's difficult," he said after awhile, "to get into Crevan's head. That man was insane. Who knows what he would have wanted?" He paused. "I say this because if I knew what he had wanted, then I could do precisely the opposite. But if I'm being honest, in the end, I think he chose not to arrange funeral plans because he didn't care. He never cared about dying. His body… it's just a… a thing. He never cared what happened to it. Whatever his quest was about, the objective obviously didn't end with death."
A hush fell over the room, and Zelda bowed her head. She cleared her throat quietly, and once she had found her voice, spoke curtly. "I see. Very well."
"Where is his body now?" Ashei asked bluntly.
"It's been taken to a temporary morgue, along with the corpses of most of his soldiers," Zelda answered, noticing Link's mouth as it tightened into a grim line. "I suggest that we arrange a cremation for all of Crevan's army, including Crevan himself. We can create a funeral pyre. It will not be too costly, and Crevan will not have any special treatment."
"He wouldn't care if we paraded his body through the streets," Link said, glancing up. "If it was glory he had wanted, then he would have gotten it. Likewise, if he'd feared humiliation, he would have known how to avoid it. It's like I said. The only thing Crevan ever wanted was to be effective. Now that he's a shell, there's no sense in letting him linger. Burn his body with all the rest."
Zelda was giving him a keen stare. "You speak as if you understand him."
"That's because I do," Link answered. He was glancing around, his nerves building up as he realized that every eye in the conference hall was turned on him. "I mean," he added defensively, "I understand him as well as we can ever expect to. I'm confused, too, you know. But I'm not going to pretend like I don't get what was going on. Crevan came to Hyrule because of me. Not because of you, Your Highness, and not because of your throne. He didn't care about power. He just wanted to destroy me."
"But why?" Ashei pressed, and it was clear that she was growing angry. "Why would he only care about you?"
"Where's the proof?!" another councilman interrupted. "There must be some!"
"There's no proof," Link answered. "Only the words he said on the balcony a few nights ago."
"Which were?"
Link shut his mouth. There was no true answer to that question; he could not explain why Crevan's motives made sense to him, only that they did. Why would Crevan have sent Mildred after Link if it hadn't been out of some twisted obsession? Why did the chancellor risk his life just to prove a point? These were questions wrapped in mysteries, and it left Link with a sense of aggravation that he couldn't quite place. He wanted answers. He wanted satisfaction. It felt like revenge, and it unnerved him.
"But… he said he wanted you to join him, yeah?" Ashei now said, pulling Link from his thoughts. He shook his head.
"No he didn't."
"Yes, he did," Ashei pressed. "Everything he said- that you entranced him, that you'd make a great ally- he even tried to lure you to his quarters using Zelda as bait! He had a setup there- a sort of, I don't know, contraption that allowed him to spy into other castle rooms. It was how he knew everything about everybody. That was his weapon- his ability to understand people's secrets, and to use them against them. It's how he-" her eyes wandered over to Zelda, and her sentence stopped short.
"It's how he frightened people into thinking he was something greater than he actually was," Shad now said, speaking up for the first time in what felt like ages. Every eye turned on the scholar, who cleared his throat and fixed his glasses upon his nose. "Well, it's the truth," he added. "Crevan was nothing special. All that he had were his words. Did he ever take up arms against Link? Without hired hands, Crevan would never have posed any physical threat to anyone."
"He was a politician," Zelda explained. "Words were his most powerful weapon."
"Words are always the most powerful weapons… in the end," Shad philosophized, and fell silent.
"Because they're true," Ilia said in a voice that would hardly have qualified as a whisper. She glanced up nervously. "Crevan never lied. At least, I don't think he did. Did he?"
Zelda thought about it. "No," she finally said. "Deceit… was not one of his tactics. Not one that I remember, anyway. He never told outright lies, but he always made sure to censor the truth. He burned anything that was mailed to him," she recalled. "He wanted to keep his origins a secret. Secrecy kept him in place. There was no room to foil him or his plans."
"He did his homework, yeah?" Ashei scoffed. Her expression in particular was incredibly rigid, as if she were filled with rage. "All I want are answers, and there's no way we'll ever get them. Crevan didn't leave a trail. It's no use. If he didn't want Link to join him, then what did he want?! Why did he tell him he'd make a powerful ally?! Why did he try and expose Link to his greatest weapon? Why did he explicitly tell Link to kill Zelda outright?!"
She had launched to her feet, beginning to go red in the face.
Now Link stood up. "Don't you get it?!" he cried. "Crevan was a psychopath! All that he ever wanted to do was to see me fall. He didn't want me to die- no, he wanted to ruin me, he wanted to watch me shatter into a thousand pieces. He was obsessed with me, Ashei- obsessed with the things I had done, obsessed with the potential I had. You said it yourself out on the balcony. You asked him why he was trying to break me, and do you remember how he answered?"
Ashei bowed her head. "He said… that he was fueled by my confusion. That he adored my anger. Like- like he thrived off of being ambiguous or something." Slowly, she sat down, and Link followed.
"Crevan was a madman, no doubt about it," Telma said, "but we might never figure out what he was after."
The conversation ended there as the door burst open suddenly. The entire council rumbled with confusion and excitement as a servant entered the room. To everyone's surprise, he ran straight up to Link.
"C-Citizen Link-" he said, panting for breath- "Citizen Link, come quickly- we've found something- someone- that I think you need to see."
He didn't know what to expect. A thousand possibilities skirted through his mind, stupid possibilities- Crevan was back, or someone important had died- what could it be? He hurtled after the guard, noticing that his friends and the princess were not far behind. They spiraled down the stairway into the ballroom, which was still littered with a number of fallen soldiers, and only stopped once they'd neared a particular corpse that had been hidden off to the side. At first, Link didn't recognize the man; he'd been dead for over a day, and was already beginning to deteriorate. But then he looked closer, and something squirmed in the pit of his stomach.
He glanced at his friends, who were all wearing similar expressions of recognition.
"That's the body of Commander Rasire," Shad said, even though everybody in the party already knew it. Link took a few steps forward, glancing over the body. Rasire's body had been badly mangled during the fighting, and that was before he'd been taken out by one of Crevan's hired arrows. He kneeled down slowly, gazing up and down the body of the man who he'd so despised.
"Why did you call me here?" Link asked suddenly, turning to face the rather nervous servant. The man cleared his throat and held something out for Link to take.
"He had this on his person when the medics discovered him," the servant explained. It was a thick, crumpled piece of parchment, and Link snatched it out of the servant's hand and spread it open, examining its contents almost greedily. As he read, his face went rather white.
Commander Rasire-
In an unfortunate turn of events, it appears that I will probably have to kill you after all. This is quite a shame, as I really was hoping to continue our alliance. It has been quite… oh, how shall I say, interesting. You have got a certain strength of spirit, Rasire. I do hope that you lose it in the future, though, as it is a banal quality that I rather despise. On a side note, if by some chance the boy does NOT kill me and instead opts for the princess, then we should make good use of our time and crown him king before leaving. I've grown bored of this place. It is time to return to the place from whence we came.
Ta-ta, Rasire. It really has been nice knowing you, but it appears that you and I both know too much. If I am going to die, then I would much rather die an enigma than another of Hyrule's wretched malefactors. Let the lawyers sort this one out. They'll drive themselves wild.
Be a good boy and remember the rule about memos, Rasire.
-The Chancellor
Link read Crevan's portion silently, trying to wrap his head around the words that had danced so elegantly across the page. What did it all mean?
"Flip it over, though," the servant pressed. Slowly, Link obliged. On the other side of the paper, in a panicked scrawl, the handwriting impossibly minuscule and crammed from one edge of the paper to the other. After a minute, Link recognized the signature at the end of Rasire's, and he struggled to make out the words that had been addressed directly to him. His knuckles shook as he began to read Rasire's final testimony.
Link of Ordon-
If you are reading this, then that means that I am dead- that Crevan is dead- that he is dead by your hand, and we, by his. We never saw it coming- there was no forewarning- there is an odd hatred within him, and a fear- he is nervous, just as you are nervous- and I am low on time and on light, so I must tell you all that I can. For if all is as I fear, and I am dead and you have murdered Crevan, then you must know everything as it truly is.
Crevan is a man of great evil and great envy. He does not want you to know- never wanted you to know- that you are his obsession. He has spent hours speaking of you, thinking of you… researching you, spying, interrogating others- he would pace his quarters for hours as he mulled things over. I don't think you ever left his mind- even when there were other matters to deal with, you were there, in the crags of his mind. He climbed a political ladder, not for himself, but for YOU.
This is a man I would have been loyal to until my dying day. He promised us great things- fame, money, power, glory- and we believed him. His words captivated us. But now, I realize where our fault lay- it lay in our blind belief of a man who did nothing but manipulate both his followers and his enemies. He will kill us, each of us, because he knows now that we will let out his secrets once he is gone- but it is impossible for a dead man to let out secrets once he has been killed, and since it appears I will meet such a fate very soon, I must do it while I am still alive.
Crevan envied you to a degree because of the mystery that shrouded you. He understood you, but did not understand how you functioned- it was jealously that spurred his obsession, but a jealousy that I did not quite understand. What I do know is that I have followed Crevan since his beginnings. In the country he hailed from, he was once a great hero of the people. In his youth, he led a revolution against an all-powerful emperor, much like your own triumphs against Ganondorf. This he did as part of a personal quest to save two friends, a boy and a girl whom he adored- but the details are all fuzzy to me, now. After his victory, Crevan was crowned the new ruler of our country, and I, being one of his knights, followed him. But as he grew older, he grew darker- he had been overtaken by a personal sort of grudge; it was a grudge against himself, for he seemed to have realized at one point that his sense of morality had been distorted. As time passed, he came to see himself as a villain… after awhile, he embraced it.
We grew older, and Crevan, being of a brilliant mind, captivated his people. I was no exception. He taught me to be relentless, dragged me into his villainous ways… his words enticed us. Then, only a few months ago, he announced that he wanted to conquer a nearby kingdom known as Hyrule. Deluded into believing that he was some sort of god, we followed him here, and we were too foolish to recognize that there was more to his quest than just power. We did not realize that Crevan had come to Hyrule for YOU, not for its wealth, throne, princess, or land. We did as he commanded, swallowing up the kingdom one piece at a time until Crevan was in true control of everything. And now he has come to the end of his game- and it IS a game, Link of Ordon, this I know to be certain.
I did not realize until recently that this- all of this- is not a conquest at all. It is a madman's game, a last desperate attempt to ruin you, and that is because you are in every way what he believes himself to have been. You are the hero, fallen from grace- believe me, your actions in Ordon were enough to convince me of this. Crevan was once a great hero, but he, too, felt that he had become villainous- a wild jealousy captivated him, and an envious nature ensnared him… you, Link of Ordon, in your glory, have the potential to become ruined just as he was once ruined, and it is his quest to see it through. By the time you read this, you will have already met his game- already, you will have killed us, and I know that he has thrown his life on the line as a desperate attempt to prove this point:
That any great hero can succumb to evil, NOT just Crevan himself. It is a personal quest- he will use every trick that he possibly can to convince you of his apathy, but believe me, it is not apathy at all. He has never cared so much about anything- he is a madman. He has betrayed his own soldiers, and I realize that I have wasted my years as a servant to a man with a terrible cause.
And so I beg of you, Link of Ordon, do NOT be a servant to Crevan- do not subject yourself to the guilt he wants you to feel. Do not give into rage as he has, and do not see yourself for a villain, because I know a villain when I see one- I AM a villain, Crevan is a villain, but you are a hero… whether or not you want to believe it, you were a hero in Ordon as well.
This final testimony is an apology- not to you, but to myself. I was a fool to believe that Crevan would ever lead us to glory or to power. He means to kill us… only a few hours from writing this, I am nearly certain that I will be dead. None of the riches Crevan promised can save me from death, nor can they save my comrades. But you still have time to heed my words carefully and know that you have one advantage Crevan never had- you have people who admire you not because they think you are without fault, but because they care for you in spite of where your soul suffers error.
I do not expect you to forgive me for the times I have wronged you and your friends. But I do expect you to trust me in these final words, for they are all I have to offer, and here, at the end of my life, I have no reason left to lie.
With great sincerity,
Commander Rasire
First Commander of the Chancellor's Legion
For a long time afterwards, Link stared blankly at the letter, reading it over and over until his eyes were sore. He realized that Ashei had been reading over his shoulder, and now she merely kneeled next to him, her hands curled around each of Link's shoulders. He was stony-faced, because answers to previous questions seemed suddenly to be taking shape.
The revelation that Crevan's ambiguity had been rooted in his own shame struck something deep within Ashei, and she could not help but reread the final line of Rasire's letter.
I have no reason left to lie.
So Rasire had been sincere in all of his words… His letter offered some of the answers that they had been craving, and yet there was still a part of her that was simmering with indignation.
All of that pain that Rasire had caused to them- all of the fear and emotional upheaval he had put them through- had been in the pursuit of glory. And Crevan, driven mad with some sense of overwhelming self-doubt, had killed hundreds of men and had caused political mayhem because he wanted to prove a point.
All of this… because of Link.
And she knew in that moment that Link was thinking exactly the same thing. He crumpled the letter up into a compact ball, forcing it into his pocket and bursting to his feet. He stumbled around for a few moments, eyes flicking from one place to the next as he tried to piece his thoughts together, and then he announced with a sort of croak that he needed to be alone, and marched in the other direction, seeming to seethe as he went.
…
Hours later, Princess Zelda located Link in one of the courtyards. There was a pond at his feet, the first red leaves of autumn adrift on its crystalline surface. Tall, dry grasses wrapped up around the gnarled trunk of a tree, the thick branches of which arched over Link's head. His ears and nose had gone pink from the numbing evening cold, and he was turning a flat stone over in his palm, brushing the dirt off with his thumb for a few seconds before letting it fly into the water, skidding across the surface before finally submerging completely.
Drawing her cloak tightly around her shoulders, she approached him wordlessly. He found another stone that he liked, cleaned off its surface with his now grimy thumb, and released it. It jumped four times before it was dragged under the surface, leaving a series of ripples in its wake.
"What's it like," he finally mused, "coming to terms with yourself?"
The princess stopped short. "What are you drawing reference to?"
"I don't know," Link answered. "I just think… that I'm beginning to reach an understanding of who I am. I had a dream," he started explaining, and then stopped abruptly. "You wouldn't understand it. Well, you might, since you were a part of the whole… divine quest… thing. I had this guide, I guess. He called himself the hero's shade. And I had a dream while I was recovering where he came to me and told me that as the hero of Hyrule, I was meant to suffer. He explained that it was my burden, but also my duty, to feel pain and confusion and anger towards myself."
"And you've accepted this?" Zelda questioned.
"I accepted it on the balcony two nights ago. It was what caused me to realize that I had no choice but to kill Crevan." Plunk. Another rock, this one having skipped three times instead of four, disappeared completely into the pond.
Zelda admired him for a second. Despite the unrest that he'd felt throughout the past few months, she had to admit that he seemed both more stable and more healthy than last they'd met. He was neither the overly-giddy boy nor the depressed, war-hardened man that he had expressed himself to be at intervals.
But then again, she realized, it's all a part of his illness.
"I know that I'm sick," Link continued, as if reading her mind. "I think I've always known. Borville called it Manic Depression. I call it reality. I know that there's nothing I can do about it, and so I'm going to let it run its course."
Zelda smiled faintly. "Link, your illness… it's a chemical imbalance. You can't blame yourself for it."
"And I'm not going to," Link answered. Plunk. "But just because it's not my own fault doesn't mean it's not there. It'll be bad at times. Maybe it'll be good for me here and there. But if I can tell you one thing, it's that I'm lucky as hell that I'm not going to have to face it alone." He turned to Zelda. "Ashei will stick with me. I know she will. She won't leave me- she's permanent, Your Highness." He turned back towards the pond. "Not like Midna," he added quietly, staring into its surface. "She was only temporary. This… this feels different."
Zelda stood beside Link, staring in a similar fashion into the mirror that was the pond's surface. It felt like ages since Twilight had infested Hyrule, since Zant had taken over, since Ganondorf had been killed, since Midna had shattered the mirror… That hadn't just been another war, it had been another lifetime, and Zelda sighed just audibly enough for Link to respond.
"Yeah," he whispered. "Me, too."
After a long moment, they backed away from the pond, and Link turned to look at the princess.
"What about you, Your Highness?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you're the same person you were before. Come on. We're talking about our feelings. I doubt there are many people left in the world that you can do that with, so feel free to open right up."
Zelda cracked a smile- one that Link returned as they wandered side-by-side through the darkening courtyard.
"Well," she said after several seconds, "I am the sole ruler of my country, and it does indeed get lonely sometimes. But I… I shall never find a king. This you may be aware of." She looked away. "Crevan was not lying, you know. I was involved with another woman for a time. Another princess, actually."
Link's head snapped up. "Midna…?"
Zelda chuckled lightly. "No. Not Midna. It was a different princess- her name was Stele… she traveled here on business after the dark days. You were still… in recovery… and everything seemed to be weighing down on me… She had a way of drawing me away from that. She gave me comfort. Relief. And I grew to love her- I'm not a cold person, you know."
He was giving her an odd look. "Your Highness, you're one of the kindest people I know."
She smiled. "Thank you, Link."
They walked in comfortable silence for awhile, but as the sun dipped past the horizon, Link spoke once more.
"Princess, there's something you ought to know. I've made a decision."
They locked eyes, and he noticed a certain sadness take hers over.
"I was afraid of this. You're leaving, aren't you?"
Slowly, Link nodded. She smiled briefly.
"I understand, of course," Zelda now said, and continued pacing back towards the castle.
"Crevan came to Hyrule because of an obsession with me," Link explained. "It's caused me to realize that as long as I'm here, I'm putting all of Hyrule- and everyone in it- at risk. You saw what he did. I'm going to take responsibility, and leave. And besides," he added as an afterthought, "there's nothing left for me here."
"But… your friends?"
Link bit his lip. "I won't forget them. Ilia has made herself distant, and Shad will stick with her."
"Have you tried talking to her?"
"It's no use," Link answered. "She's spiteful towards me… and my lies. I don't deserve her trust."
"Promise me you'll try," Zelda pressed. Slowly, Link nodded. "And as for Ashei?" the princess added.
"I haven't spoken with her yet," Link answered honestly. "That time will come."
Zelda finally nodded slowly.
"I understand, of course," she said. "In that case, Link, know that you have my deepest gratitude- the sacrifices you have made for the sake of Hyrule are beyond even my own comprehension. If there was something I could do to reward you-"
"There's nothing you could do," Link answered, and added quickly, "well- nothing that you haven't done already. Unless… you could consider my debt to you repaid, and let me take leave of you with a clean conscience."
"Absolutely," she answered. "Your debt is certainly repaid, Link, in every respect- let's consider ourselves even, shall we?"
"Yes," he answered in relief. "Yes, we shall."
They had reached the castle walls, and now they dragged the heavy doors open and entered into a torchlit hall. The princess was in the process of removing her cloak when she heard footsteps echoing from down the hall. To her great surprise, it was Telma who had come racing in their direction, and when she stopped, she was heaving for breath- and her eyes were stung with tears.
"Telma-" Link gasped, and placed his hands on either of her shoulders. "Telma- speak to me- what's the matter?"
"It's Auru," she breathed. "He's- he's…"
No more words were needed before Link and the princess were following Telma back to the infirmary with all of the speed they could muster. They threw the infirmary doors open and bolted to the other end of the hall, gasping at the sight that met their eyes.
Auru was bent over on his cot, Shad's hand on his back, and he was coughing violently. Blood splattered across the sheets, and after an eternity of hacking, he collapsed back against the pillows. Shad was doing his best to make him comfortable, and Ilia had her hands wrapped around Auru's withered one, Ashei's hand wringing the other.
Auru's eyes struck Zelda the most. They were bloodshot, old, and tired, and roamed the room- stopping only once they'd landed on her.
"Ah… Zelda… there you are. I was worried- that I wouldn't-" he coughed again- "wouldn't be able… to see your face… one last time. My dear… you have been very, very wise… and brave…"
Zelda couldn't believe this- no, this was impossible!
"Don't- don't worry, Auru, we're going to help you," she promised, not sure who exactly she was trying to convince.
The graying man shook his head. "No, no… I'm aged, far too aged…" He glanced around- at Shad, at Ilia, at Ashei, at Link. "You… you are the youth. You are the ones… who will take this world… and this kingdom. It is yours, now…"
"You can't go," Zelda said, tears welling up in her eyes. "You can't leave me."
"I'm afraid… I have no choice… my dear," Auru continued, which just made Zelda more furious. My dear. He had never called her that before.
"But… I'm going to be all on my own."
"Nobody's... ever all... on their own," Auru argued. "This… I know… for certain." His eyes were beginning to drift shut, and he was struggling to stay alert. "I am ailing, and… it is time…"
Each person surrounding Auru's cot was clinging onto every word, watching him with eager eyes, hearts swelling and pounding at the unfairness of it all.
"I was a fool," Telma said, and everyone was surprised that she of all people was taking blame. "I let you fight when I knew you should have rested."
Auru smiled weakly. "I.. will rest… now. It's time… to get… some shuteye." He glanced around, drinking in the very last he could see in the world, shoulders slackening, skin growing cold, heart slowing to a standstill. "These… bones… are… old…"
And then, with an air of finality, Auru's eyelids fell shut and he breathed his last.
For what felt like an eternity, the candlelit infirmary was silent. Zelda sobbed silently, Telma let out a wail, and the others just stared blankly in what felt like disbelief.
Then, slowly, it was Shad who spoke.
"Goodnight, bones," he whispered.
"Goodnight," the company murmured in agreement.
Rest well, Auru.
Unngghhhhhhhhh
How is it that I can't write a 600 word college essay, but I can hammer out a 26 page chapter without complaining?
All right, that's a lie layered on top of a lie, especially because I complained relentlessly about this chapter. What even. What. ? I just. Hmmmm.
Next chapter: MRMR comes to a close with its final chapter. I hope you'll stick around.
As we near the end of this fic, I just want to extend another thank-you to every one of you that took the time to read, review, and possibly critique this work. I've learned a lot about writing from this fic- mostly what not to do while writing, but that's a story for another day- and I take pride in the fact that I have nearly finished it, no matter how patchily, insanely odd it turned out to be.
I do have a final request. It's a bit of a stupid one, but if you have any last song additions that I can tack on to the MRMR playlist, let me know. I've gotten some suggestions from a few of my readers, and I'd like to compile the entire thing in a sort of appendix-y thing at the end of the next chapter.