Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.
Soul Remnants
Chapter 38
Link had fallen asleep by the time Sheik and Jeryd had returned to the tent. Instead of waking him, they decided that it was best to wait until morning with confrontations about this and that. It should have felt wonderful to snuggle down next to Link again—it should have made him feel safe, but instead all Sheik felt was a slight resentment towards the Hero for cooperating with Kafei.
He knew that Kafei was a traitor, he knew, he told himself as he moved slightly away from Link's warm body. Even with the heaters there, there was a slight chill in the tent. Jeryd had done as Elenwe did earlier and curled himself around one of the heaters, instantly falling asleep judging by his snores. Except…I never told him about Kafei, did I? a traitorous voice—his own—suddenly said in his head. All I ever told him was that he had abandoned the Sheikah ways long ago. I never told him about the things he did…
He turned his head and looked at Link's face. The boyish grin that usually adorned his face was replaced with the calm expression of someone blissfully far away in their dreams. Sheik had missed that expression quite a bit. Guilt began to gnaw at him. How could he stay mad at Link for doing what he thought was best with the—admittedly—sparse information he had been provided? Oh, he was certain that Kafei had added his own little...inaccuracies when he told Link about their past, but while the Hero may have come off as naïve sometimes, Sheik knew that Link was more analytical than he seemed. And Sheik also knew that Link would have gone over the story again and again in his head, sifting through every little detail until he found things that did not make sense. Perhaps the Hero was simply playing along with Kafei, watching and waiting until the traitor decided to make a move, at which point he would be ready to intercept?
These thoughts soothed Sheik's mind, and he suddenly felt the same peace and comfort he always did when lying next to Link. Smiling slightly to himself, he snuggled closer to the Hero, letting his eyes close slowly, quickly falling asleep next to Link.
His Link.
Not far away, close to the edge of the woods, two extremely haggard-looking people with thundering headaches were staring at each other in silence, neither of them willing to break the other's gaze.
Elenwe's heart was thundering. She had said it. It was there, finally, out in the open. Part of her knew that she had made the biggest mistake she possibly could have, while another part, her more rebellious streak, was celebrating its triumph. How many months had she wanted to say it? How many months of agonising and heart-wrenching desire? It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders...although another one had replaced it soon after.
Kafei was angry. She could see it in his eyes, his face... Why was he so angry? Surely he must have known how she felt?
"So..." the Sheikah said, breaking the icy silence. "You love me, huh?" There was absolutely no emotion whatsoever in his voice, speaking in a monotone drawl. The drawl was most likely caused by two factors: the first being his hangover, the second being that his jaw had swollen a bit thanks to his cousin's sudden and vicious assault. Not that Elenwe blamed Sheik—Kafei had had it coming, after all, but still...
"Yes, I do," Elenwe replied, squaring herself. "I don't see why that's so surprising. You've known how I feel for a long time now."
Kafei nodded. "I knew that you liked me more than just as a friend—"
"No shit, genius," Elenwe interrupted him. "We've only been fucking for the past year or so!" She hadn't meant to say it so loudly, but the monotone voice had gotten to her. She wanted him to display some emotion rather than just let the anger boil underneath the surface. "Takes a bit more than a friendship for that to happen, don't you think?"
That was how it worked with Kafei, however. He never showed anger, no matter how pissed he got. Sure, if he ever felt the need to express his dissatisfaction with something, he turned into a passive-aggressive prick, but he never got visibly angry. And then there was the sighing, the shaking of his head and the intense eating of sunflower seeds, but that last one rarely came up anymore. Mostly because they had run out of sunflower seeds.
He shook his head slightly at her outburst, undoubtedly thinking she was overreacting and being hysterical for no good reason. She disagreed. This was the only appropriate reaction!
"What am I supposed to do with that information?"
Her heart skipped a beat at that. How could he possibly be so cruel? Her confession had been somewhat unorthodox (after all, how many women declare their love for someone while aiming a crossbow at their closest family member?), but surely he should have seen it coming at some point or another?
"W-what do you think?" she retorted.
"I've literally no idea," Kafei said, shrugging. "We've discussed it before—"
"No, you've discussed it while I was forced to listen," Elenwe spat, surprising herself. "You've never ever given me serious thought, have you?"
"Don't be silly," Kafei said, shaking his head again. "Of course I have. You're my partner, my companion, my friend...but—"
"I'm not her, right? That's what the problem is, isn't it?"
He paused and finally broke her gaze, staring at his feet. "She doesn't have anything to do with this," he muttered.
"Except she does," Elenwe said quietly, disappointment welling up within her. "You'll never be able to look at me in the same way because I'll never be able to compete with her. She was everything you wanted in a woman, while I'm everything you don't want."
He looked at her. "That's not true, I—"
"Did Anju ever kill anyone, Kafei? Did she ever rob anyone? Did she even know to how use a weapon of any kind?" She turned away, letting out a shaky breath. This was it. It would never happen the way she wanted it. "In your eyes, she was a saint. Me, I'm just a murderer for hire."
"Anju was an innkeeper..." Kafei said weakly. Whatever argument he was going to use, it died halfway through conception.
"Yes, and you loved her. You still do." Elenwe looked at him, blinking away the tears that were starting to gather in her eyes. "She's dead, Kafei...she's never coming back. Why can't you let her go?"
Something flashed in the Sheikah's eyes, but his expression didn't change. "How can you ask me to do that? I was going to marry her—how can you just expect me to forget her?"
That was the first time he had ever raised his voice at Elenwe in such a way. And it stung worse than she ever expected it to, so bad that it almost made her give up. But...they had never argued like this before, and that meant that they were making progress, right? So she pulled herself together immediately and looked at him sadly.
"I'm not asking you to forget her," she said. "I'm just saying that as long as you keep clinging to her like you are, you will never be able to love anyone else. You're closing yourself off. Is that what you want, Kafei?"
Kafei hesitated before speaking, "I couldn't save her, Elenwe. She died because I was too weak to search for her. I couldn't even find her body. I can't let her go, don't you see? Because if I do...there'll be nothing left..." He turned away from her, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry, E, but I can't...I can't love you the way you want me to. I'm sorry."
She said nothing as he trudged through the camp, soon disappearing behind the snowdrifts that were gathering everywhere. She had no idea where he was going, but he was definitely going to brood. That's what he did, usually. Brooding. She sighed and blinked, letting a single tear roll down her cheek before wiping the rest away. So that was how it was going to be, was it? She was fine with that. She was!
She slowly made her way back to their tent and, upon seeing that everyone else was asleep, decided to go to bed herself, drawing her cloak tightly around herself and a heater. Let the moron freeze to death, she thought before closing her eyes and drifting off into the light and, quite frankly, brutal sleep of the hung over.
Rial was surprised to find that the remaining soldiers and officers smiling and nodding to him in addition to the customary salutes that morning. He was even more surprised when a burly sergeant handed him a steaming cup of coffee when he walked past the breakfast station. What had caused the sudden change in attitude towards him, he wondered. Last time he'd checked, they all hated his guts for making their general step down (not that he was given much of a choice).
He gratefully sipped at the hot beverage. The wintry morning had put a chill in him that went right down to the bone, and no amount of clothing would help. The coffee, however, slowly warmed him up from the inside. His body ached from the battle, and his face felt like it was barely holding together. He was lucky to have escaped with so few and miniscule injuries, he thought. The sick tent was filled with soldiers who'd lost limbs or eyes or other things a human would be, to put it mildly, a little miffed to lose.
The command tent was silent today. Many officers had been killed in the brawl, and those who hadn't been were either tending to their men or still asleep. All except Riveth, of course. She was standing at the table and staring intensely at the map of Lumina on it. She was so focused on whatever she was doing that Rial had to clear his throat twice to get her attention.
"Ah, Rial," she said, smiling tiredly at him. She had obviously not gotten any sleep that night, he could tell. "How are you? Your face looks like a balloon that's about to explode."
"Certainly feels like one," Rial said, touching the tip of his nose. Even that tiny action made it flare up with pain. "What plans are we making now, aunt Drena? Taking over the world, are we?"
"No, just Lumina for now," she said, chuckling. She looked at him, or, more specifically, the steaming cup in his hand. "Give us a sip of that, eh?" He handed it wordlessly to her, and she downed well over half of it in a single gulp. "Ah, I can never get sick of this," she said, grinning. "The coffee smells and tastes like shit, but there's nothing else I'd rather drink after a couple of days like this."
Rial shook his head when she offered him the cup back. "Nah, you need it more than I do, it seems."
"So you noticed, huh?" Riveth asked and drank the rest of the coffee and carefully put it back on the table. "Couldn't get a wink of sleep all night. Kept thinking about Erd." She jerked her head towards the screened-off section of the command tent where her bed stood. "Ard's still asleep. Wouldn't blame him if he stayed that way for a few days."
"How is he...taking it?" Rial asked, feeling a pang of guilt. Erd had died to save him after all. He felt like he wasn't worthy.
"Not very well," Riveth said. "And with good reason. Siblings have a special relationship...can't imagine what it's like to lose a twin, though. He told me that he burned Erd's body last night. Said he wouldn't have wanted to rot in the ground."
"Certainly understandable," Rial said and nodded. "Does...does he hate me for..."
"For the fact that his brother gave his life to save yours?" Riveth finished for him. At Rial's nod, she shook her head. "Not at all. He understood why Erd did as he did. Besides, if he were to blame anyone, it would be himself for not stopping Erd when he ran out of the tent."
Rial felt relieved at that, but the guilt was still there. He sat down in a chair that had been pulled up to the table. "So...what are our plans now?" he asked.
"I was about to ask you that," Riveth said, staring at him. "You're the leader of this army now, after all. Or what's left of it, anyway." She too sank into a chair, returning her gaze to the map. "You thought I was joking when I named you my successor? Well, I wasn't."
"But...but why?" Rial spluttered. "Surely there are more qualified men for the job, I—"
"I am not having this discussion with you again, nephew," Riveth said, holding a finger in front of her mouth to get him to quiet down. They didn't want to wake up Ard, after all. "I told you, there is no one more qualified than you at the moment. Every other officer here is mired in my kind of tactical thinking, the kind of thinking that got most of us wiped out in the first battle with Agon. We've stagnated, and that is lethal in our field. You've shown that you are capable of commanding men like this, and yesterday you proved that you are far better at adapting to the battlefield itself than I could ever be. So, yes, you are our leader, and that is not a point up for debate, understand?"
Rial nodded meekly, much to her delight. "All right," he said, "but the second we find someone more qualified, they get the job."
"Deal."
Shaking hands, they turned their attention back to the map.
"We won't be able to continue any further south," Riveth said right away, pointing at the position their camp occupied. "If we do, we will hit a sheer cliff face that only leads to a river far below. There are no known crossings anywhere near here."
"So we have to go back the way we came?" Rial asked.
"More or less," she replied. "Really, the point where we met Agon for the first time is practically a junction for the whole forest. To be able to go anywhere, that's a place we need to control."
"Which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that Agon's army is still there," Rial said, pointing at the battlefield. "Scouts reported that he only brought those three hundred men with him and no one else."
"Which leaves at least five hundred men guarding that point."
"But they don't know that Agon is dead yet, do they?"
"I suppose not. There were no other scouts with him when he arrived, and we hunted down the rest."
"So they wouldn't even suspect us to come charging out of the woodwork if we so chose?"
Riveth paused and looked at him. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"
"We can't afford to stay still anymore," Rial said. "We have to keep moving, and we have to strike first. We'll seize the element of surprise and do as much damage as we can to the remains of Agon's army before they can organise and fight us off properly. With any luck, we'll cripple them completely before they're even able to pull their trousers up."
"And if they do manage to organise themselves before we destroy them?" Riveth asked.
"We'll retreat back into the forest. We'll set up ambushes along the road and pick them off, one by one if need be." He looked towards the tent opening. The pole with Agon's head on it could barely be seen from here. "We won't be able to use the same trap as we did yesterday—it takes too long and I don't think Ard would be up for it anyway. But we can do it the traditional way with snares, men with spears and archers on the cliffs."
"Guerrilla tactics, eh? Fought quite a few rebels who used those during the uprising." Riveth asked. "I like it."
"Yeah," Rial said. "Never thought I'd say it, but we are guerrillas now."
"I've always wanted to see it was like to fight on that side, heh. Looks like I'm going to get the chance after all. I suppose we should mention that at the meeting with the others."
"There's one more thing I think we should talk about," Rial said before she could reach for the whistle that she used to convene her officers. "Our visitors from Termina and Hyrule."
"What about them?" Riveth asked.
"You managed to convince the Sheikah and the clerk to stick around...somehow, but now that they have found the ones they were looking for..."
"I've never barred their way," Riveth said. "They are free to leave if they wish. Whatever debts they held with you have been repaid too since I heard the other Sheikah saved your life yesterday as well."
"I wasn't implying that they owed me anything," Rial said. "I'm just...they could be valuable assets."
"I know what you're thinking, Rial, but I don't think they will go for it. In fact, I bet they're going to jump the border the first chance they get, and I don't blame them. This isn't their fight." She smiled at him. "But if you manage to convince them to stay, I'm sure the men wouldn't object to having them in their ranks at all. Plus, I'm rather intrigued by that Gerudo girl."
"For the right reasons I hope," Rial muttered.
Riveth winked at him, stood up, walked outside, blew her whistle and returned to her seat. "I actually prefer men, nephew, which, by the sound of you when you talk about the king, runs in the family." She chuckled to herself when she saw her nephew's eyes grow wide as saucers. "Hah, I'm not wrong, then? My, my..."
"H-how did—"
"How did I know?" she asked, practically shaking with mirth. "Nephew, you may have a face like stone most of the time, a trait you inherited from your father no doubt, but whenever you say or hear the king's name your expression goes quite serene. And the voice you use when speaking of him, why, it's like listening to a girl talking about her first crush." She shook her head, laughing. "I wonder what it is about our family and being attracted to royalty...are we getting ideas above our station, perhaps?"
Rial remained quiet, a blush staining his cheeks quite heavily, making his already red face even worse. Had he really been that obvious about it? He had tried to make certain that no signs of him feeling anything but appropriate loyalty to Victor were apparent, but... He sighed.
"So, tell me about it," Riveth said, winking. "Did you ever have your way with him in his chambers? The throne room perhaps? Oh! The council chambers...right on the table at Rehm's seat?" A frighteningly lecherous expression had come over her face now. She leant forward, urging him to give out details. "Do you make him beg? Or maybe he makes you? Is there much polishing of the crown jewels?"
"We...haven't..." Rial wasn't even able to finish the sentence.
"Ah, not reached that stage just yet, eh? Well, I suppose a few stolen kisses here and there is good enou—"
"No, not...not that...either..."
Riveth sat back in her chair, scrutinising her nephew carefully. "Rial, you have told him, right? Please, for the love of gods, tell me you've told him."
Rial scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Not really..."
It was like time stood still for a few seconds, Riveth staring at him with bemusement on her face before she finally sighed heavily and hung her head low. "Kids these days..." she muttered.
Feeling quite alarmed about her sudden need to ask about his intimate life, Rial looked around nervously. "Never got a chance," he said quietly. "I was going to, I was planning to do it, but Agon attacked that night and...well..."
Her fist slammed down on the table, and she was suddenly staring at him intensely. "So...not only has Rehm screwed over our family twice and had us declared traitors, but he's also ruining my favourite nephew's love life? This cannot stand! I shan't accept it!" She realised how loud her voice was and threw a worried glance at the screen behind which Ard was sleeping on a cot. He didn't make any sounds besides a slight snore. "I shan't accept it," she repeated quietly. "Rial, I swear to you that I will do my utmost to get you back into the king's presence, where you can declare your feelings and—"
"Let's not get too hasty," Rial interrupted her. "We still have a war to win, right?"
"Rial..."
"I can't give myself that kind of hope, Aunt Drena. Not yet." He patted her hand, which was still clenched on the table. "Thanks for the support, though." He hadn't expected anyone to be supportive of his secret, and it felt good to have finally shared it with someone.
"Families stick together," she replied, smiling. She was about to say something more, but several voices that were approaching the tent interrupted her, and she smiled apologetically. What remained of the staff of officers entered the tent, all of them sounding far more optimistic than they had the day before the battle.
"Gentlemen," Riveth said and rose from her chair. "So glad you could make it. It's time to draw up a strategy. We may be wounded, but we are not beaten just yet!"
Rial stood up as well, and found himself surprised when he noticed that the officers weren't looking to his aunt for answers. They were looking to him.
Riveth glanced at him. "The men are ready for orders. Command is yours, general."
"Well?" Zelda asked, letting her finger tap loudly and impatiently on the armrest of her throne. It was really just an armchair with extra padding and a Triforce symbol painted in gold on the back of it, but appearances had to be kept up until the opportunity for such luxuries appeared. She ignored the spring that was digging into her behind and stared at the kneeling man in front of her.
General Mirn looked up at her, his face full of confusion.
"I...do not understand, Your Majesty," he said apologetically. "This is the first I have heard of such things."
Zelda raised an eyebrow, trying to imitate the perfect way that Sheik did it. Oh, that boy could stare anyone into submission with those delicate arches of his. She'd never been quite able to copy it, but then again, she was the ruler of a kingdom—she didn't need to be intimidating. She had army for that.
General Mirn was a slim man fast approaching the latter end of middle age, and had taken full advantage of that fact to grow a big, bushy beard and let the sparse down on his head tell everyone else how little he cared. He was a competent leader and seemed to have a keen eye for politics on a military level, though he seemed to wisely stay out of national and international affairs unless he was specifically called upon to voice his opinion. Zelda had consulted with him about some troubles in a neighbouring kingdom just a month ago, in fact, and his counsel had been of great help to her.
This was why she was so angry at him. Had he been playing along with her all this time while knowing full well what was happening in Lumina, that her two best friends had been accused of murder, arrested and drawn into a conflict which neither of them had anything to do with whatsoever? Was he part of the coup that was taking place there, or was he simply in Hyrule to prepare an invasion? Zelda's kingdom was still weak from the war with Ganondorf, and if an enemy nation decided to invade there would be no way for her to stop them.
"Is that so?" she asked. "Then please explain to me your presence here, because I find it difficult to believe that it is a mere coincidence a coup of Lumina is started just after your arrival here. The 'fact' that it was apparently set off by my little brother and my best friend is also, quite frankly, suspicious. And then there is this," she paused and held out a letter. "I received this from a Luminan courier who was intercepted at the border just last night. It is a ransom letter for the Earl of Hyrule. It is demanding an outrageous sum for his release due to his apparent murder of the king."
Mirn could do little but look shocked at this. "I don't understand..."
"Neither do I, general, which is why I called you here. I have a feeling that you are sitting on more information than you are sharing." She glared at him. "So I ask you again: why are you here? Why did you come to Hyrule?"
The general sighed. "Like I said, Your Majesty, I was dispatched here to help rebuild your, if I may say so, magnificent kingdom after the devastating war that raged for seven long years. King Robar is—was a good friend of your father's, and he believed it to be his duty to help you. That is why I am here, Princess. This coup...I find it difficult to process the information. But it's my duty to act when my country is in danger, so I was in fact coming here to tell you that I am withdrawing my men and marching back to Lumina as soon as possible." He looked at her, his eyes pleading for her to believe him. "I will even tell my men to lay down their arms until we have crossed the border, if that makes you inclined to trust me."
Zelda stared at him for a long while, searching his eyes for any speck of dishonesty or lies...and found none. "Do you have any ideas who could be behind all this?" she asked.
"I have at least two names in my mind," Mirn replied. "I have never trusted those two as far as I could throw them, Your Majesty."
"Who are they?"
"The first man is Councillor Rehm, the king's oldest and most trusted advisor. The other is a colleague of mine, General Agon, though he is driven more by greed than anything else."
"And if I were to tell you that those two names have indeed shown up in the reports I have received?"
His eyes flashed. "Then I would waste no more time here and go back home immediately, Your Majesty, and show those two what happens to traitors to the crown!"
Zelda nodded. "You have my permission, then, general. There will be no need to hand over your weapons, but a regiment of Hylian soldiers will accompany you to the border—just as a symbol. Is that agreeable?"
"It would be my pleasure, Your Majesty," Mirn said, rising to his feet. "Thank you, and I apologise for the trouble this has caused."
"It's quite all right, general. Now go, your king needs you."
He bowed and left the inn, already shouting orders to those of his men who were working in the city. Zelda remained seated for some time, just thinking. She needed to talk about this with someone, someone who knew exactly how she thought and felt... Of course, who else? She closed her eyes and concentrated...
The sound of running water filled her ears, and when she opened her eyes she was not sitting in a converted armchair in the dining room of an inn, but standing in the middle of the Chamber of Sages. The marble platform, adorned with a large Triforce symbol in gold, was located in the middle what appeared to be a large, floating fountain in the middle of nowhere. In the distance, she could see waterfalls. The water seemed to fall forever. Around her were six other platforms, each decorated with the temple symbols. Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit. The Sages were there as well, all of them looking at her in surprise.
"Princess?"
"Zelda?"
"Y-your highness!"
She looked around, smiling softly at each of them. She was the seventh Sage, but because of her obligations in the mortal realm, she rarely spoke to the others. She paused slightly when her gaze fell upon Impa, her former bodyguard and Sage of the Shadow Temple...and Sheik's aunt. Of them all, it was Impa she missed the most. The Sheikah woman smiled back, but a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth told Zelda that she was troubled.
"This is a most surprising and welcome visit," Rauru, the Sage of Light, said and smiled under the gigantic moustache that decorated a large, horizontal portion of his face. "We were just discussing an important matter, and were planning to call on you, Princess Zelda."
"I suspect this matter is the reason I came," Zelda replied, nodding to the man. No one knew how old Rauru was; only that he had been around to help construct the Temple of Time, and that was thousands of years ago. That, combined with his wisdom and knowledge, made him the de facto leader of the Sages, even though Zelda was the official one. "The war in Lumina."
The Sages all nodded.
"That is what we were discussing," Nabooru said. "And have been for some time."
"And much of it worries us," Ruto, former princess of the Zora, added. "Greatly."
"Mostly because we are unable to actually see what is happening there," Darunia said, flexing his strong arms. "We're blind."
"What?" Zelda asked. "What are you saying?"
"Someone has put a magical veil over the region," Impa clarified. "Much like the one Ganondorf weaved over Hyrule during the war. We have no way of penetrating it."
"How long has the veil been there?" the princess asked, fearing the answer.
"Many months," Saria said, sounding worried. "It was put up just after...just after Link and Sheik crossed their border."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Zelda demanded.
"We did not want to cause undue alarm and distract you from your duties in Hyrule, Princess," Rauru said. "We realise how important they are to you, but rebuilding Hyrule's—and, by extension, the Sacred Realm's—defences are of utmost importance. We were going to handle the trouble by ourselves."
"But?" she asked, knowing there was one in there.
"Everything we have tried, every attempt at breaking or piercing the veil, has failed." The old man gazed at the marble beneath his feet. "It is impregnable for us."
"But a courier came to Hyrule bearing a ransom letter dated long after they had crossed into Lumina," Zelda said. "He must have come through—"
"Only denizens of the mortal realm seem to be able to cross it," Nabooru said. "It is as if the veil has been put in place specifically to keep us out. That is the conclusion we reached just before you arrived here, Princess, and the reason we were going to call you here."
"Why?"
"Because we suspect that this runs much deeper than a simple coup d'état," Impa said. "Rauru believes he knows what it is."
Everyone looked at the old Sage with anticipation, and his expression turned to stone. "A great evil lies buried in Lumina," he said slowly. "A great enemy from long ago...one that nearly destroyed the world as we knew it."
"The Enlightened One?" Zelda said. "I have read about him in the history books, though much of it seemed rather fantastical. A powerful mage, wasn't he?"
"The most powerful who ever lived," Rauru confirmed. "His power rivalled that of the Goddesses, and he was the greatest threat our world has ever known...well, next to Ganondorf, that is."
"But he was defeated."
"Correct, but he did not die. He was so powerful that death itself would not touch him. He was too dangerous to be left free, so the Goddesses chose to imprison him instead. They buried him inside a mountain and sealed it shut. Guardians, the new royal family of Lumina, were appointed to ensure that the prison would never be disturbed. The royal family agreed, for their kingdom had almost been annihilated in the war, and knew that the Goddesses were angry. They have performed their duty admirably ever since." Rauru cleared his throat. "That was also the last time the Goddesses ever spoke to us, the Sages."
Zelda was surprised by that. "You...have not spoken to them in a thousand years?" she asked.
"I have not," he said and shook his head. "After the war, they sealed themselves away as well, to recover. They had all been wounded and needed time to heal. Time moves differently for them, there was no telling how long it would take. They told me this and left me instructions on how to lead the Sages during times of need...and what to do when the Desert King rose up to claim the Triforce."
The princess was overwhelmed by all this. "I...I don't understand," she said. "Why haven't I been informed of this?"
"Because I was sworn not to tell," Rauru said. "For a thousand years I have kept these secrets, but now I find my hand forced by the events taking place in Lumina. Din, Nayru and Farore never told me what to do in case this happened, and since they have yet to wake up from their slumber I can only do what I feel is right. If the Enlightened One has indeed been released, as we suspect, then immediate action must be taken to stop him."
"What can we do?" Zelda asked, full of determination.
"As things are now, we who are bound to this plane of existence are powerless. At best, we can survey the lands surrounding Lumina, but little else. You, however, are free of the restrictions placed on us. Princess, you must go to Lumina immediately and put a stop to it. Find the Hero of Time and his companion, and do what you all do best: destroy evil."
"Hyrule's defences can wait," Darunia said, answering Zelda's next question. "If this Enlightened One is allowed to run rampant, it won't matter if someone's around to defend the Sacred Realm or not—it'll be destroyed along with everything else." The Goron flexed his arms again. "Would've liked to give 'im a wallop myself, but..."
"I doubt we need to tell you what is at stake here, Zelda," Ruto said, smiling sadly at her. "The world needs you."
Zelda nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing. This was her duty, as the seventh Sage. "I shall go there at once," she said. "I will put an end to it all."
"The Goddesses thank you, Princess," Rauru said, his form slowly fading away, as did the others...except two. Saria and Impa remained, looking at Zelda with worry written all over their faces.
"We...have something else to discuss," Impa said hesitantly.
"It's about Link and Sheik," Saria continued.
"Don't worry," Zelda said. "First thing I'm going to do when I get there is to search for them. I won't rest until I have them both with me again."
"Thank you, Princess," Saria said, beginning to fade away. "Thank you so much..."
When Impa did not join the Kokiri, Zelda knew something was wrong. Her Sheikah bodyguard (and closest friend after Sheik) was the most stoic person she knew. Nothing could ever crack the facade, but now she was practically shivering. "Impa, what's wrong?" she asked.
"The shadow..." she replied. "It's...it's not dead. We were unable to cleanse Sheik of its influence completely. I fear that it may still be tormenting him."
The shadow. The being that had instigated so much trouble during the war, the one that had killed Sheik in a fit of intense jealousy... Zelda felt anger at knowing it was still alive. Sheik had been lucky to have Vorpheus around to bring him back from the dead the first time, but now...if the shadow struck again, there'd be no coming back.
"Fear not, Impa," she said. "I'll make sure no harm comes to Sheik." Her feet splashed as she stepped into the water that flowed around the platforms and walked over to her former guardian, embracing her tightly. "I'll protect him...with my life if I have to." She smiled when she felt the older woman's arms hugging her back. Impa said nothing. She didn't have to.
As she pulled away, she was certain that she saw tears in Impa's eyes. She said nothing, knowing it would break the Sheikah's pride. "Now, I have a journey to prepare for," she said and let herself give in to the pull from the mortal realm. "I'll save him, Impa..."
"Thank you, Princess..."
Those were the last words she heard as the sound of running water faded away. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the inn. Wasting no time, she rose to her feet and ran outside. Her guards fell into step behind her the second she left the building. She caught up to General Mirn as he was herding a group of his men through the streets, heading towards their camp. He paused when he noticed her. "Your Majesty?"
"You are going to Lumina, yes?" she asked.
"Yes, as I said. Is there something wrong?"
"No, nothing at all...though you might have to put up with a few more travelling companions."
"Who?"
"A battalion of my soldiers. And me."
To be continued...
Gah, I really should be studying for my exam right now...which is TOMORROW! And what am I doing? Writing this! Procrastination, thy name is Andy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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