Humble Hearts (II)

Zelda barely kept her jaw from dropping in shock.

Standing before her was a woman with dark gray hair and red eyes. Her nose was smaller than Impa's, but given the generation between them, differences were to be expected.

The drastic height difference was not one she'd expected.

Well...Link did tell her...

"Impa," came the admonishing words which halted Zelda's thoughts, "I told you to tie your horse before you knock."

"Apologies, grandmother." Releasing Zelda hand, Impa took the horses' reins and led them across the street. The young Queen watched her tie them to a post behind an abandoned building and shook her head. Fresh shock and confusion filled her. She had rarely seen Impa bow her head so deeply when previously chastised.

"Come in, child," Impaz beckoned as she walked away from the door. "There's no need to stand out in the street."

Following the older woman into the house, the Hylian looked around and was pleasantly surprised. The house, while small, was clearly lived in. It was a home.

Unlike the outward appearance, which she suspected was more for secrecy's sake than anything, the inside was well maintained. The wooden walls were covered tastefully in paintings and tapestries. Furniture gave the room a intimate feel without being crowded. Sconces and oil lamps provided light that wasn't blinding. The majority of the stone floor was covered in a rug which she could only assume was Sheikah-made due to the symbolism.

The scent of herbs filled the air and caused her to look at the rafters. Plants of all sorts hung from the beams. Nary a cobweb was between them, a testament to the cleanliness of the house. As her eyes slide down the walls, she noticed details she had previously missed. Above each tapestry was a weapon, each somehow connected to the weaving below. Half cast in shadows was a shield which rested above the fireplace mantle. Questions about stories she'd never known filled her mind as she took in the history which decorated the room.

Watching the young woman, Impaz smiled to herself as she made her way into one of several closed doors. She heard the front door close and knew her granddaughter had finished her task. Moving slowly, she set glasses and a pitcher of juice on a tray while trained ears listened to quiet voices. She heard enough to know they were speaking yet couldn't make out their words.

Impa looked around the sitting room before laying a hand on Zelda's shoulder. Quiet chaos ran through the bond. Emotions bounced between them, growing and changing with each passing moment.

"Do you see her often?" Zelda asked quietly.

"No," came the soft, mournful reply. "A few times a year. We write more than I visit." Impa sighed softly and ran a hand through her hair, freeing it from its loose bun. For just a moment, her throat tightened with sorrow at the words she'd just spoken.

Green eyes met red. "Maybe now that can change?"

"Maybe."

Impa brushed her lips over Zelda's forehead before placing a hand on the small of her back. She pressed softly and nodded towards the couch. "Why don't we sit."

"Is that allowed?" the younger woman asked. She shuffled her feet and glanced between her lover and the open door behind her.

Smiling, the older Sheikah nodded. "Yes, it is." She shook her head in amusement.

Impaz carried the tray towards the center of the room. As she spoke, she chuckled softly when Zelda jumped. "She's right." Smiling at the warriors before her, she gestured to the seats around her. "Sit, please. You are the guest." Her smile widened. "You are also my Queen."

A retort caught in Zelda's throat as she saw the sparkle in Impaz's eyes. Returning the smile with a tentative up-turn of her lips, she cautiously made her way to the seating area. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Silence fell as the trio sat. Glasses of chilled juice were given to the visitors as they glanced anxiously at one another. Several minutes passed with nary a word as the younger women traded anxious glances.

Impa brushed her fingers over Zelda's hand only for Zelda to touch Impa's wrist moments later. They shifted as if unable to get comfortable, barely looking at the wise woman before them.

And wise she was.

Impaz watched her granddaughter and her mate fidget. Their reassurance of the other was done in a way she could only suspect was meant for her not to know. She smiled to herself. Each time she looked at them, the fumbled with their drinks and empty hands twitched. Once, Zelda's knee hit the table with a loud "thump", causing the Hylian to mumble an apology as she rubbed the joint. It wasn't until Impa nearly dropped the pitcher that the elder Sheikah chuckled again.

Wide eyes snapped to the aging women. Why was she laughing? Unasked, the question hung between the trio.

"Why so nervous?"

"We're not nervous," was the immediate, echoed response.

Impaz hummed and refilled her glass, watching the lovers through hooded eyes.

"Grandmother...is something wrong?" Impa asked softly.

"Wrong? No. Whatever gave you that impression?" Startled, she met the garnet orbs. They were lighter than her own ruby, which were nearly violet with their darkness.

"You sounded...urgent in your letter."

"I merely wanted to see you is all."

"So nothing is wrong?"

"No."

Zelda lowered her gaze to her hands before looking around the room again. Her eyes landed on what appeared to be a globe sitting in a tucked away bookcase. Without noticing that the Sheikahs had fallen silent, she made her way to the sphere as if in a trance. Her fingers hovered over the faded marked orb as if it trace the paths of those who'd been before her.

"It was a gift from my brother," murmured Impaz in her slightly husky voice. She smiled softly as the young woman jumped and drew her hand back. "It won't bite. Go ahead, bring it into the light."

Doing as told, Zelda cradled the metallic base as if it were made of spun glass. Setting it on the table, she spun it slowly. "The names are old. The lands..."

"It isn't a current globe, Zelda. This was made before the time of the Great Flood that happened far to the east."

Sucking in a breath, the brunette ran her fingers over the brown drawings of land, tracing the continents which were now underwater. Nearly on the other side of the Earth, where there was once masses many times the size of Hyrule, there was now only islands.

Turning the globe, Impaz tapped what was once a country of mountains and rolling forest that stretched between pole and equator. "This is where the Sheikah are said to originate from. The Goddesses are said to have created them and the Hylians at the same time. Our legends, the stories of the Sheikah, say both races were led to each other by the Triad. They were counter-parts, you see, both needing the other to survive as long as they did."

A pause, heavy with ancient knowledge, weighed between them. Zelda whispered, her eyes never leaving the round map as her mind conjured images of such a meeting. "Will you tell me?"

"Yes. Not today, however. The history of our tribe is a long one, one you must learn over time. One," Impaz added with a questioning voice, "I'm surprised Impa did not tell you."

Impa lifted her eyes from her glass. Her face was a mask of undefinable emotions, her eyes pools of memories. "She must learn the history of her own people, her own country, before learning others."

Zelda remained silent as the two women, one in her prime of body and the other in her peak of mind, met eyes. A challenge, unspoken and filled with history, sparked between them. The young Queen averted her gaze. She didn't need the Triforce of Wisdom to know what was happened as something between family.

An argument, one which had begun with the first Sheikah Guardian and Hylian Charge, was waged without words. And yet this archaic fight was nothing compared to the battle which they fought as individuals. As family, separate generations and vastly different lives. One, who grew up in a time of relative peace, said full disclosure to the other half of one's soul. The other, whose skills were built during an uprising and honed in war, said some things should remain unspoken.

Neither realized they were both right. There was a time and place for withholding information; there was also a time and place for sharing it.

No two situations were alike.

So what was the other pretending they were?

They stared for several minutes before Impa muttered and turned away.

With a sigh, Impaz turned to Zelda. When the Hylian met her gaze, she smiled softly. "Please, forgive us. Our race is secretive by nature, we must be...yet it always creates discord."

Nodding, Zelda glanced at Impa before looking at her glass. "I understand." She shifted, calling upon on her diplomatic training to remain polite.

"There is something you want to ask, child. So ask. You're doing no one a favor by remaining silent."

"Why've I never met you before. Or heard about you?" The words tumbled from her lips like boulders down a mountain before she could stop them. Anger gave way to shock as she realized just what she'd said. The sound of Impa's sharp inhale, the feel of her turning away, send a knife of guilt through her heart. "I'm sorry, I—"

"Zelda," Impaz said softly, quickly cutting her off. "You have the understand, the Sheikah race has guarded the Royal Family for centuries. There have only been a few times in history when Maderones have not come from our people. As a whole, we're targeted. Those who threaten Hyrule think that because we protect the leaders of this country that we are the most...irreplaceable. You know this isn't true...no person is replaceable.

"However, in the last war, Ganondorf would have done anything to win. He ravaged every village, tribe and race he could find, killing as many as he could. There were so few Sheikah left as it was. The majority of us were guarding you and your father. With so few of us, Kakriko Village wasn't our home anymore.

"I told Link the truth. This place, the 'Old Kakarico', was the original village of my people. I was named after the person who build it, Nimpazeli. From my name came Impa's. I am the last original resident and have been since Impa and the others left for training. I was waiting to give the book to a messenger of the Sky City." Her tone remained soft as she spoke, looking between the two women.

"With my daughter and son-in-law, Impa's parents, dead, I raised her. When she left, I knew I had to stay. I'm an old woman, Zelda...I wouldn't have survived in Kakriko. So few people accept Sheikah as it is, and being so physically different from the rest of my tribe...no, I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have. Those that guard you now, my grandchild included, are the only Sheikah who remain."

She met the Queen's shocked eyes with a steady gaze. A smile graced her wise face and she patted the young woman's hand. "If I know Impa as well as I think I do, she never spoke of me to keep me safe. No one could know about the Hidden Village, not even you. None of us anticipated Link finding out. If it had have been anyone else, they wouldn't have found me.

"We, you and I, would have never been able to meet until many many years past the war's end...never this soon to be sure. You are too important to risk. Not only to the monarchy, but to your family...to Impa. Every time I hear from her, either through a letter or during a visit, she speaks of you. She is highly protective of you, far more than duty calls for...she loves you child."

"I know she does," was the whispered reply.

"Do you?" Impaz asked just as quietly.

"Grandmother, please—"

Impaz shook her head and raised a hand to silence Impa. "Do you, Zelda?"

Zelda shifted uneasily. What was she asking? What did she want to know? The young Sage couldn't meet the eyes of her elder. This woman, who barely knew her but was so close to her mate, was asking something too personal for words...too intimate to be spoken of between strangers. Confusion curled within her. She had known this woman for roughly any hour, possibly less, and she was asking a question her own mate wouldn't.

"Why?" she whispered, unaware she had spoken until Impaz answered.

"If you unaware of her love, then how can you be aware of your own?"

"You don't know me."

Impa watched her grandmother blink in shock. Humor and happiness swirling in her. Her grandmother was pushing boundaries she had no place nearing. As over-protective as she was, Impa knew the question was one of love for her rather than anger at Zelda. And yet...that did little to stop her enjoyment as her mate reminded her grandmother of their respective places. While she would normally, like most people, take offense to being treated as an abstract...

This time, she only found it heartwarming. And a bit ironic.

Zelda slowly raised her head, indignation bubbling in her throat like hysterical laughter. "I thank you for letting me into your home and treating me with the kindness you have. However...I don't know you. You may be Impa's grandmother, but you are a stranger to me. You are asking me question you have no business asking. Do you want to protect her? Yes. I understand that. But you have no right to question my love for her...or her's for me. We're c-consenting adults and the state of our emotions and relationship is no business of yours unless we wish to tell you." Her conviction was strong despite her fumble. Her voice held no anger as she met the ruby eyes of her hostess, though it was clear by the set of her jaw she was angry.

Impaz blinked several times before chuckling. A wide smile graced her lips as she leant forward to pat Zelda's clenched fists. "You're quite right. Forgive me, please."

In the back of her mind, Zelda wondered if the older woman had lost her mind.

As Impa ran a hand over her face, she was surprised she hadn't lost hers in the last almost-minute.

[-]

Time passed in a blur. As the young couple became more relaxed, Impaz's conviction grew stronger. The young woman she had never met, the young woman who was her sovereign and chosen liaison of the Goddesses...was not the same woman Impa had described to her many times over. Not entirely.

She kept these thoughts to herself as she led the Sages from the house and into the street. She told them of the stores which had once been and may be once more. The story of the bomb maker and his son filled the time it took her to show them the hidden tunnels and watchtowers. The ex-traveling merchant met them near the end of the tour and made a show of fawning for Impaz's affection.

Zelda's giggles mixed with Impa's chuckled as Impaz threatening to "rearrange that face of his with that damned walking stick." In good humor, he grumbled and returned to his home in mock-retreat.

Impaz shooed her visitors from the house once they'd finished their walk. She would make dinner and they would leave her to it. She pointed to the front door with her heavy wooden spoon and reminded Impa that waiting for dinner did not mean sneaking into the old mines to play hide and seek.

The hostess laughed to herself as she heard Zelda pestering her granddaughter for "that story" as they left the house. When the front door closed, she shook her head and returned to the kitchen.

She worked without thought as her mind drifted. No, she told herself, Zelda wasn't the same woman her granddaughter had spoken of for years. She was much too reserved and unsure of herself. Not that she wasn't confident, since confidence radiated from her, but...

It lacked something. Some strength. Some conviction.

The young Queen, who clearly detested the smallest amount of social etiquette, was...

Frowning, she stared blindly at the bowl of dough in her hands. What was she? What was bothering her so much that she was willing to call her grandchild a liar?

Shaking her head, she stepped from her stood and entered the cellar. As she searched for the perishables she needed, her ground her teeth. She was a Sheikah, damn it all, and had not lived the life and learned the lessons she did only to throw it all away for idle worry.

Except...

She was a Sheikah, and she had learned the lessons she had. While she had never been chosen to be a Guard, and had been trained more for the magical side of her tribe's defense than the physical...she was still a Living Shadow. She was still a member of the tribe which protected the Royal Family, and still held the knowledge, mind and instincts of her people.

As she returned to the kitchen and washed her finds, the words began to enter her mind with furious speed.

Detached. Unsure. Scared. Hunted. Insecure. Incomplete. Tarnished.

Her hand slipped from the knife seconds after she pulled it from the drawer. The clang of metal and bone colliding rung in her ears. Tarnished. Tainted. Unpure. Defiled. Stained. Rusted. Sullied.

Broken.

She had seen it before, but only once had she known the cause of such soulful eyes. Like cast iron, so strong, yet so brittle.

Her fingers cracked, aching from the pressure she used to curl them around the knife once more. She sliced the vegetables without notice, the shining metal digging into the thick wood under it. With each thunk from the knife-strike, she felt anger brew within her.

Something had happened to the woman she had only met. And while she would never fault her granddaughter, a Maderone, from keeping private knowledge of her Charge from her...

She knew she had been deceived.

Impa hadn't agreed to their meeting on this day, hadn't led her Charge and shesha-nole to her because Zelda had asked.

"The fool of a coward," she whispered to herself. "Bringing her here won't change the past...whatever it is. You know this. So why?"

The answer came softly. A whisper, the barest of admissions which was filled with sorrow so great it tore a sob from her choked throat.

"Because she needs something I can't give her...something I was hoping you can."

[-]

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AN: I think I like writing Impaz…