Chapter 6
Shepherd had stayed with the injured men until the sun went down making sure that they were stable, and then went up the long ascent to the Faron woods to get more help. Several of the more mature men recognized him from their early days of training and instantly responded to his requests, sending reinforcements with Hylian medicines down into the grove immediately. No one yet understood how the creature had gotten past the guards stationed at the entry way to the passages below. They then put him on the next train out bound for Hyrule Castle, and he was silent the whole way there, watching as the landscape of Hyrule field flew by.
Opposite him in the mostly empty passenger car sat a young, blond haired uniformed guardsman who, try as he might couldn't help but sneak glances at Shepherd. He had volunteered to escort the Colonel to the castle personally.
"You might as well ask, corporal," Shepherd said, noting the rank insignia on the gray uniform. "What's on your mind?" Shepherd didn't really feel like conversation, but the glances of near veneration were beginning to bug him.
"I'm sorry, sir." The young corporal said. He couldn't have been more than nineteen years old. "It's just that, when I was a boy, my father was one of the men under your command. He always spoke very highly of you. Some of the stories he told of the things you did... Well, you were a hero of mine, sir." The soldier said.
Shepherd nodded. On other days, he might have good-naturedly welcomed a little hero worship. But too much had happened that he was still trying to wrap his mind around. He didn't want to be anyone's hero today. "What's your name, son?" He asked him.
"Corporal Aidan of the Faron Woods Guard Regiment, sir." The corporal said.
Shepherd thought hard on the man's features for a minute. Then a flash of recognition came to him."You're Sir Garrett's son, aren't you?" He asked, certain he was right.
"Yes, sir!" The man said excitedly, then catching himself tried to regain his composure. "Yes, sir." He said with more reserve.
Shepherd smiled. "Sir Garret was a good man. I'm glad to know it still runs in his family." He said, trying to say something to make the man feel better about his glances, and to allow the conversation to end gracefully. He was right, Sir Garrett had been a good man. Better than himself at times, Shepherd thought.
Seemingly happy and satisfied, the soldier let the matter rest, and Shepherd was thankful.
"Your highness?" One of the guards to the council chambers interrupted the session. Malon, her guards, sons, and the royal advisers had all been brought to the much larger and more accommodating council room, where she sat at the head of the table in the royal seat, the prime minister seated at her left hand, while the seat at her right remained vacant, much to her personal anguish.
Why hasn't my Link returned yet? If he was successful, where is he? She wondered silently. The advisers all had been debating with each other about the world changing things that had happened that day. Some were arguing, some were accusing one another, some were just trying to keep from having the fire directed that themselves. It did not help that two more orc "terrorist", as she could think of no other word to describe them, had been found and quickly dispatched by Eldarion's Citadel Guards near the bomb storage of the castle armory. But none else since then.
Malon looked at the arguing ministers like they were spoiled children trying to keep themselves from being blamed for something none of them had any control over. "Enough!" Her voice rang out with authority, and the whole table went silent. "That is enough! There is no one here who could have foreseen this except one person, and she is now gone." Somehow, Malon believed that Zelda had foreseen it, all of it. The thought didn't make her any happier. Why didn't you tell me, my sister? She asked inwardly.
"Yes, your highness." The prime minister spoke, and the others nodded.
"None of you are to blame, and neither is King Eldarion and his people." She exclaimed. "If our history has taught us anything, it's that evil can and will arise when we least expect it, and no one can prepare themselves sufficiently to keep it from happening. We can only respond and fight against it as best we can. What's done is done, and now we who are living must pick up the pieces and carry on. The people out there," she pointed off into the walls of the castle, "look to us to guide them, and give them the safety and security they need to live their own lives as free from that evil as they can. That is our responsibility gentlemen." She said, and then her voice became as hard as steel. "If you cannot handle that responsibility, I will find men to advise me who can."
"We understand, your highness." The minister of foreign affairs said meekly, fear behind his eyes and quavering voice. The others also nodded their assent.
But she wasn't done. "Wisdom, Power, and Courage. These are the gifts of the goddesses, and we must use them to lead Hyrule into the new age my sister and my husband bought for us so many years ago with the help of the heroes from the other reality. If you can not be found worthy of these sacred virtues, then you are excused from my council. The Kingdom of Hyrule has no more need of your services. But if you can summon them as the goddesses intended, then join me in fulfilling this duty we have, and let the past remain where it is."
The ministers then looked at her with new eyes. This wasn't the milk maid peasant girl they had taken her to be. They sat up a little straighter, a little stronger for the chastening. The prime minister responded with all the sincerity and respect he could muster for this new woman, this new princess before him. "Yes, your highness."And once again, he spoke for all of them.
Just then a guardsman entered the room. "I'm sorry, your highness but I have a visitor with urgent news. He has asked to speak to you alone." He said apologetically.
"And what visitor is this that can so demand a private audience with her highness in her own council chambers?" The prime minister called out to the guard skeptically. The other men in the room agreeing vociferously and throwing angry stares at the upstart young soldier, who would doubtlessly be on latrine duty from hence on.
Just then a figure in a foreign, black clad uniform with dark hair and clean shaven face strode into the room. Each person in the room, except for the young boys who had only heard stories about him, recognized him from so many years prior, even her highness who had entertained and traded with him as a teenage girl.
Upon seeing him, and the grave, solemn look on his face Malon's stomach tightened, and her heart pounded. "Leave us." She demanded. "Everyone." And without question, they all filed out of the room leaving her with the weary and saddened Colonel. Sir William took the two boys with him as they stared in awe walking past Shepherd's tired form.
In the awkward silence that followed, Malon chose to speak first. "Come Colonel, sit at my right hand in my husband's seat." She invited.
He didn't move, but hesitated. "They tell me you're the princess now." He said. "I can't argue with their choice. You were always good at running things." He told her, not sure of what to say.
"My sister was assassinated this morning. Before she died, she adopted me as her royal heir." Malon explained, trying to maintain a friendly tone, but he was stalling. "You had a message for me?" She asked, her heart pounding at what it might be.
"Look, Malon... I'm no good at this." He said. He had written more "I regret to inform you..." letters than he could remember, and those were hard enough. He had never wanted to deliver the news personally to the loved one, especially loved ones who were close to his own heart too. "Link..." His face then became even graver, and Malon knew what he was going to say next. And then the tears began to flow uncontrollably, as she choked up into great sobs, unable to contain the emotions that had been churning inside of her all that day. She buried her face in her hands, her elbows on the table as she covered it with her tears.
Shepherd quietly approached her, and put his hand on her shoulder, trying in some way to comfort her. "Link saved Hyrule. He saved all of you, Malon." He told her.
"But he's not coming back is he?" She choked out between sobs.
"No. No, I don't think he is. It's complicated." He said, unable to really explain it himself.
She looked up at him with red eyes. Her makeup had been smeared. "How did he go?" She asked him.
He then tried to relate what he knew the best he could. As he told her, it seemed the hard princess and tough businesswoman he knew melted away and she seemed frightened and vulnerable, like a little girl caught out in a storm with nowhere to run.
"I'm sorry, Malon. I tried to stop him." Shepherd said. "He wanted me to tell you and your boys how much he loved you."
She smiled, and a small laugh escaped her lips. "You couldn't have stopped him. No one could have. He was, after all, the Hero of Hyrule." She said, wiping her eyes.
"Yeah, he certainly was." Shepherd agreed with her.
Then she seemed even more vulnerable, and tears started flowing again, and she said meekly, and scared, "John?" She asked. "Would you hold me for a while?"
"Yeah." he responded as he opened his arms and allowed her to enter his embrace as he held her. "Yeah, I will." he said. The truth was, he needed to be held just then too.
Later that night, after she had sat with her boys until they fell asleep in their own room, Malon undressed in her silent bedchamber and slipped into her nightgown. Her eyes caught the empty gilded hooks on the wall catching the dim glow of the electric light which had been installed. There had hung the broken sapphire hilt she had grown so accustomed to, but she had few tears left to shed to mourn its loss as well. Exhausted, she just wanted to collapse into her bed, perhaps hoping to wake up the next morning from the nightmare her life had become. As she looked at it though, it was yet another reminder of all that had happened. Now, it was just her bed. These had been the Hero's chambers, and soon, not tomorrow, but soon, she would move her things into the royal residence where her sister had slept, and she would seal this room once more. Perhaps, forever.
The hooks flickered again, this time more brightly, and she thought she was imagining things. Out from the wall came a single little light, like a tiny blue star, that hovered in the air in front of her. She watched as it began to grow and take shape as a Hylian form; a very familiar Hylian form that she launched herself at with all the passion and strength she had and held on tightly for fear of losing him again.
"Link!" She cried out. "My Link! You came back to me!"
"Oh Malon." He said sadly. "I can only stay for a brief moment."
"What do you mean? You're here, and I don't want to lose you again. I thought you were dead. Colonel Shepherd said you had died." She went on. "You can't leave us again. You can't."
"I don't have a choice, Malon." He said gently, holding her in his embrace. "I can't stay. My time, the time of the Hero, is done now. The Others won't allow me to continue with you in this new age. I asked for this one chance to be able to say goodbye."
"But I'm so scared." She said. "I don't know if I can do this without you. What if I'm not strong enough?"
"You are. I know you have it within you to be a great leader for these people." He reassured her, stroking her hair with his hand.
"Will I see you again?" She asked.
"Hylia and I will always be watching over you, and Hyrule." He answered her. "But this next part of your journey, you will have to walk without me beside you. No one else can do this for you. This is your destiny, Malon, and yours alone."
She slowly let go of him, looked into the eyes of her husband, her Hero, one last time holding his hands, and said, "I understand. I love you, my husband."
"And I you, my wife. Goodbye." And then the form he had taken began to glow with a soft but radiant light as the man she had known as friend, husband, and Hero became pure light and energy and ascended up and out of her life.
"Goodbye." She said softly, and then she was alone.
A month later, after a period of mourning for the Princess Zelda, the Hero of Hyrule, and the Sages of Light and Time, Malon was crowned Queen of Hyrule by the Sage of Time, a tall, stately handsome elder woman with silver hair. Some murmur rang out through the crowd as she crowned her "Malon, daughter of Gaepora, Queen of Hyrule," but they died down, and no one mentioned it again.
The contingent from Middle Earth remained for that month to pay their own respects and to give what assistance they could in the transition. No more orcs were found in the castle. And so they were present in their full livery, and their Citadel Guard were given a place of honor among the new queen's ceremonial guard presence.
Colonel Shepherd, for his short time there, stood in the place of Supreme Commander of Hyrule's Forces for the ceremony at the Queen's right hand, at the appropriate time, he along with the others took the ceremonial oath of fealty to the new majesty. It would have been disrespectful, he justified to himself, to not do so.
After she was crowned, she addressed the huge crowd that filled the great hall of the palace, her voice calling out clear and strong. "Today, Hyrule stands on the edge of the unknown. We stand on the precipice of a future we had not dared to dream of; a future that was paid for with our dearest, and most precious blood. It is a new world without a Demon King to threaten us, torture us, and spoil our land, this is true. But it is also a world without our Princess of Wisdom and Hero of Courage to guide us through the darkness." Malon's tears flowed freely as the pain of their loss, her sister and her husband both, came fresh. "So we must continue on to find our path without them. We must work together to discover the power, the wisdom, and the courage within ourselves, trusting in our beloved goddesses to show us and teach us that if we believe in their gifts and the balance and love that unify them, that just as our ancestral goddesses forged this land once upon a time, so we can reforge it anew following the pathways laid down by our ancient ancestors. I call on every Hylian, every Goron, every Zora, and all of Hyrule's people to join me in this new world, this new age, and together we will ensure a future and a hope for our people."
The tears ran like streams down her cheeks and touched the hearts of all those listening. A great cheer rose up from the crowd, "long live Queen Malon! Long live Queen Malon!"
There was one person in the crowd who also was smiling, but sadly as he silently chose to disappear hoping his daughter wouldn't notice. But she did.
"Papa, I was going to tell you." Malon said to the gray haired older man who had been the only father she had ever known. She spoke with him in the sitting room off to the side once she had been allowed to get away that day.
"Tell me what, lass? That I wasn't really your father?" The older, portly man with the thick gray and black handlebar mustache sat in the plush chair opposite her. She had been terrified at the hurt the revelation would cause him, and had never intended for him to find out the way he did earlier that day. But she had put it off for so long, telling herself that she needed to focus on the problems of state, that the day arrived, and her time to break it to him gently ran out.
She had feared a look of pain, or of betrayal in his eyes. Instead, all she found in his eyes were love and understanding. "Tsk, I already knew that, love. Or suspected it anyhow." He leaned over and took his daughter's hands in his own rough, calloused ones and said. "I wasn't as much of a simpleton as old Gaepora took me for. I wasn't such a fool, love, that I couldn't count when your mother gave birth at eight months instead of nine. It wasn't hard to put together. She was a wonderful woman for the short time I had with her, and never gave me reason to complain." He then let go of her hands and leaned back, drew out a pipe, filled it with some loose tobacco he had in a small pouch, and lit it. After taking a long drag, he exhaled the smoke and the fragrant scent of the tobacco filled the room. It was a scent Malon remembered from her childhood. It filled her with good memories of her father.
He continued, "Who was I to complain? Me, a farmer deep in the shit being given a flower like that to care for? The King himself introduced me to the most beautiful woman I never had the right to love. And I did. I loved Maola. And then the goddesses blessed me with you. My love, I knew when the time was right you'd find your way back to where you belonged, not wallowing in the horse shit with me and the hands. I always knew you was born to better than that. You had a bigger future than I could ever give you, and I knew it. I'm glad you've found your true home, and Hyrule's the better for it, I think."
"Oh Papa..." Malon said, allowing the tears to well up in her eyes once more.
"Now, now, none of that, love. You're a queen now." The old man gently chastised her. "We're all counting on you. I don't think the road ahead's going to be so easy. You've got to be strong for all of us, my love."
"I know papa." She said softly.
"Now," he began to change the uncomfortable subject, "I've got some good strong colts out at the ranch that Gillon, the new hand, is breaking for the boys. You've got to bring them out to try them."
"I will, papa, as soon as we can." She said, and the old man sat back satisfied, puffing on his pipe. She then brought up one more thing. "I have one more thing to ask of you."
"Oh, what's that dearest?" he asked.
"Epona." She said. "She's been heartbroken since Link... hasn't come back. And she's never let anyone else ride her. She won't let anyone else ride her." She explained.
"Except for you, love." Talon threw in.
"Except for me," she conceded, "but I have White Lady, and I couldn't do that to her. Would you...?"
"Take Epona home?" Talon rubbed his chin, "of course, love. I'll see to it she gets the best oats we've got. Don't you worry about her. We'll take good care of her. The goddesses know she'd taken good care of her master. It's the least I can do for the Hero's mount."
"Thank you, papa."
After the coronation, there was only the one task left of choosing Link's true successor as Supreme Commander. Shepherd only really agreed to fill in for the ceremony because he had already held that position once, and it would have been awkward for Malon without someone there in that role. Sir William and Sir Portant, as good of men as they were were getting too old for the role. The Supreme Commander of Hyrule had to be young enough to personally lead the armies of Hyrule into battle from the front, not stay behind in the rear and strategize. Link had always been good at that. Malon, and the two generals gave considerable weight to his opinion on the subject. Shepherd kept thinking back to the young Captain in the Sacred Grove. There was something about the man that had impressed him, even from the years before when he had been a younger lieutenant. After discussing it with her majesty and the two generals, it was agreed that the honor would be given to the man whose courage none of them could question, Captain Oliver.
After that, Shepherd realized there was nothing more for him to do as he pensively walked through the courtyard of the palace. Hyrule and the people who had become an extended family for him were in good and capable hands. It was then that Impa appeared to him once more.
"It is time for you to return home to your own people, Colonel." The warrior woman advised him. "Your time here now is done as well. Your people in your own reality have need of you. You have other oaths to fulfill." She said.
"Yeah, I know. I've been thinking the same thing." He agreed with her. "I don't suppose you could give me a lift, could you?" He asked, unsure of how else he was going to find his way back to the right time and place.
Impa made a grand gesture with a sweep of her radiant, glowing arm taking in the entire scene around them. As she did so, the entire space around them changed to the interior of the entry hall of the Temple of Time. Shepherd's clothes had changed from the Hylian courtly dress back to his black tactical clothes, flack jacket, and weaponry. The black backpack he had come to that world with was attached firmly to his back. "Wow, thanks. Neat trick." He said in amazement.
The woman smiled, and then gestured again and the portal of time rose from the floor once more and began spinning. The symbols on it lighting up as the familiar vortex whooshed out and back in again, leaving a vertical pool of shimmering energy across the diameter of the ring.
"Well, that's it then." Shepherd said, about to walk into the ring.
"Not quite yet, Colonel." Another familiar female voice called out, as a young woman with long blond hair and sharp pointed ears materialized in front of him shining with an inner light. "We would like for you to carry these with you back to our first home." In her hands she carried three triangles. Two were of shining gold, and one was obsidian black and cracked. "They will be safer there now than here, and perhaps Dr. McKay will one day be able to restore Din's piece in time."
Shepherd stared, stunned at the relics in her hands. He then remembered from all those years ago, and said, "Wait a second, I thought the Triforce couldn't leave Hyrule or it would fall into darkness or something." Shepherd said, confused.
"The Triforce kept the Demon King's corruption from overtaking Hyrule for thousands of years; keeping it bound to the Sacred Realm. But as you have witnessed, it could not hold back the corruption forever. Now, Hyrule has been reborn, and the stain of Demise's filth is gone. It is best for this land and this people now for the damaged Triforce to leave this land for a time." Hylia explained solemnly. "You will know when the time is right for its return."
Shepherd stared at the triangles in her hands. "I don't know. That's a lot of power to hand to me, and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet." He said, uneasy at the prospect of even touching the broken device.
"You have demonstrated great wisdom, power, and courage in your trials, Colonel, and have been willing to sacrifice your own future to ensure the future of this world." Hylia said. "My sisters and I find you worthy, Hero, to be its guardian."
Shepherd considered that, and understood the honor that went with it. He nodded, and, unslinging the backpack, he opened it and carefully took each piece from her hands placing them carefully in the bag. As he touched each piece, they seemed to glow brightly for a brief instant. A tingle of pain ran through the back of his left hand and a familiar triangular symbol formed, with two golden triangles forming the base, and a black one crowning them.
He looked at his hand and said, "That's going to take some explaining when I get back."
Hylia smiled. "And now it is time, Hero of Hyrule. The legend of Zelda is finished." And she vanished in a burst of light.
Shepherd closed the bag, and slung it over his shoulders again. He took one last look around, and then stepped through the gate.
In the next instant he was stepping into the spacious gate room of Atlantis's main tower. In front of him, Mr. Woolsey was standing, staring at the stargate right where he had been before Shepherd had left with Link.
"Colonel, is there something wrong?" Mr. Woolsey asked in confusion.
"How long have I been gone?" Shepherd asked.
"You and Link just left, Colonel. It hasn't been more than a few seconds." He explained, trying to wrap his own head around it. "What happened?"
Shepherd paused for a moment, trying to find the words, he then said, "It's going to be a long briefing." He then asked, "your office?"
Woolsey nodded then noticed the fresh tattoo on Shepherd's hand. "Indeed it is." He said as he followed Shepherd up the stairs.
Later that night, Shepherd couldn't sleep. His body was still on Hyrule time and it would take a couple of days for him to readjust. He lay awake thinking about all the people back in the other world that he was now inexplicably and inextricably tied to. He didn't know if he would ever see them again, but he didn't want to forget them either.
He got up out of bed and went to his dresser drawer and opened it. Inside, under his personal off-duty wardrobe lay the thin case of an unwrapped, unopened Nintendo video game. He took it out of the drawer and took it over to his flat screen television where a video game console had been hooked up. He pressed the button on the face of the console to pull out the Call of Duty game which he had last played with Ronan over a month ago. No, he corrected himself, it had only been a week ago, before Ronan and Teyla went on leave together.
He then unwrapped the Legend of Zelda game and put it into the machine, and started a new game. "Okay, old buddy," he said to the image of Link which came up in the video prologue, "let's go save Hyrule again."