Chapter 27

Her majesty, Queen Zelda, the thirty second of that name, proclaimed a thirty day period of mourning for all those who lost their lives in the national tragedy which occurred over those few days in early winter that year. Public and private services were held for all the members of parliament, and those who just happened to be caught in the building at the wrong time. A royal state funeral and memorial service was held for all the members of the former monarch, King Talon's, family. This was followed a week later by a similar service for the fallen Prime Minister, whom her majesty insisted on honoring.

"We honor the man he was." She proclaimed at the service. "The man who served the people of this United Kingdom, and her king, with honor, integrity, and wisdom. We can't allow the darkness that took him to make us forget that this good man was also its victim."

The enactment of martial law was recommended by the R.H.M.G. general staff after the events in the Parliament Building, but her majesty spoke against it, and the matter was dropped. The people of Hyrule weren't the enemy, and she refused to treat them like they were. They needed time to heal. The R.H.M.G. would serve in the same peace time capacity they always had. Her wisdom proved correct, and the people responded with growing respect and appreciation for their new queen.

After the end of the thirty days, new elections were called, and each of the proposed candidates ran an unusually clean campaign to honor their fallen predecessors. Her majesty remained appropriately impartial to all of them.

She sat, dressed in a silver, white, and pink dress, a thin silver and gold Triforce diadem placed firmly on her head, befitting her title as monarch at an antique Deku wood desk in an ancient office space used by Talon, Daphnes, and countless monarchs past which overlooked the palace gardens. Her mother had often talked about the gardens as being her favorite place in the entire complex. She couldn't look down at them through the window however without thinking of her mother, and wondering where she was now and what she was doing.

Instead, she was concentrating on the latest polls which had been taken by a news channel local to Ordonville. As queen, she had no vote, and was required to be impartial. But as Malo's friend, she hoped his brother, also a good man, won the seat in parliament he was running for. So far, he was ahead by three percentage points against his opponent. Still within the margin of error, but a good showing nonetheless.

There came a knock at her office door. It was one she had been expecting, but not happily.

"Enter." She called out.

The carved wooden door opened, and Gaepora came in quietly, closing the door gently behind him. He was dressed in a red suit blazer and trousers with a white shirt and blue tie. It was the first time she had seen her brother in civilian clothes in a very long time.

"Your majesty." He addressed his little sister with the proper amount of formal respect.

"General." She returned just as formally, folding her hands in front of her, expecting him to continue.

Gaepora winced at the use of his title. Of course she knew his decision, and she wasn't going to make it easy for him either. "Have your boys settled in well here at the Palace?" He asked. "And your new grandson?"

"They're still getting used to the big city. As are we all." She returned. "I'm afraid you can take the folks out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the folks. It will take time for all of us."

Gaepora smiled. "Take some time to walk around Old Castle Town with them." He said. "There's a tea house Gilli, the girls and I like to frequent near the central fountain when we go."

"We will, when we can." She said sadly, knowing that such moments were going to be few and far between from here on in.

There was an awkward silence, and then Gaepora pulled a white envelope out of his jacket pocket and placed it on her desk.

"So you've decided then?" She asked.

"Yes. It's what's best for everyone I think. Especially for Hyrule. Gilli and I talked it over as you asked during the days of mourning. She took her dad's death pretty hard, and she doesn't want to stay in Castleton any more. Besides, with you and your family here, someone will need to look after mom and dad's old place as well as yours." Gaepora told her.

"You hate farming." She said bluntly. "You couldn't wait to run as far and as fast from Ordonville as you could when you graduated from High School. We always had to practically kidnap you to bring you home for holidays with mom and dad. What changed?"

He held up the back of his left hand where the bright golden Triforce mark gleemed from the top of the tattooed pyramid. "This did." He said. "With great power comes great responsibility. I know what I'm capable of, Malona, and as long as I remain in a position of authority, I'll always be under the temptation to use it telling myself it's for the 'greater good.' I'm not that strong. I never understood before why mom gave up the throne, or why the Three took away her powers when she used them. I never understood it until now."

"But what if we need that power? What if Hyrule needs Wisdom, Courage, and Power to work together again side by side?" She argued.

"Then you'll know where to find me." He said. "I'll come when called."

"I could refuse your resignation." She challenged. "I could order you to stay."

"But you won't." He countered.

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked.

"Because you know I'm right." He told her. "That triangle sitting on your hand even now is convincing you of the wisdom of this decision. You just don't want to admit it."

Her eyes lowered to the envelope on her desk as she struggled with having to admit that her older brother was right. She took it and opened it, pulling out the piece of paper and unfolding it. She scanned down the page, reading it quickly. Folding it back up, she placed it slowly on her desk.

"I will accept this on one condition, General." She told him.

"And what is that, your majesty?" He asked, confused.

"That you and your family return here every year to celebrate the holidays with us. Especially the birthdays. Are we agreed?" She intoned with a smile.

"I think we can agree to those terms, your majesty." He smiled back.

"And the R.F.P.S. will resume their posting on mom and dad's property." She added. "For my own peace of mind."

His expression looked more uncomfortable with that, but he nodded his head, "As you wish, your majesty."

"And you will never address me as 'your majesty' ever again." She ordered in a dangerous tone of voice.

"Now that I cannot do, your majesty. You've earned that title." He said in defiance.

"Fine." She conceded, her eyes misting over. "I will miss you again, big brother. It was good having the three of us all together like we used to be."

"Yes, it was." He said. "Well, I'd best be going. We're leaving for Ordonville this afternoon, after the family and I have tea in Old Castle Town one more time."

"Have you already told Daphnes good-bye?" She asked.

"He was the first one I told." He answered. "He was, after all, my Commanding Officer." That conversation had been hard enough, but eventually Daphnes understood his position. Nothing would be the same again for any of them.

Daniel Jackson stood in the great entry hall of the Temple of Time, contemplating the ancient Hylian stargate in front of him that had started all of this. He knew he couldn't use it to return to his own reality this time, as there was no Stargate left on Earth to receive him. No, he would have to use the linking book which sat on a shelf in the Temple's library in order to do that.

He had stayed away from the new queen and heroes of Hyrule. They wouldn't know him, and there was no reason for him to introduce himself this time. He had however taken the time to see off a certain four foot mouse as the same mouse used his keyblade to unlock the doorway back to his own home. Strange as it sounded, it was good to see Mickey again. He was a familiar, friendly face from the past; one of the very few that had somehow survived.

"You have an interesting way of practicing non-interference, Daniel Jackson." Came the familiar voice of an ascended woman. "Or rather, I should say you can't seem to just let mortals figure things out for themselves, can you?"

"I can. And I do, most of the time, when they and their worlds aren't in danger of total destruction." He returned, smiling somewhat impishly.

He turned around to face three attractive, Hylian women, each of them with the appearance of being somewhere in the prime of their lives. The one who spoke to him had blond hair with bluish highlights and wore a light blue summer dress in bare feet. Her companions wore similar things, one with flame red hair, and the other green.

The woman in blue gave a half smile herself. "You remind me of my daughter, Daniel Jackson." She told him. Then she smiled more broadly and said, "And I'm glad of that. We all are." She said, gesturing to her companions.

"So, does that mean I get to stay ascended?" He asked.

"For now." The one in red returned a little playfully. "What good is having power if it can't be used wisely and with courage in a just cause?" She asked. "Your actions tell us you understand that better than most, even among those like us, Daniel Jackson."

"Thank you." He said, taking it as it was meant. "So, are you here to see me off?" He asked. He had been wondering when he would be getting the visit that rescinded their good graces in allowing him to stay. His only real surprise at this was that it had taken so long.

"If that is what you wish." Came another voice, so very similar to the one of the woman dressed in blue.

But this came from a very familiar looking younger woman with long, light blond hair, dressed all in white, radiant light emanating from every part of her form. At her side stood a younger Hylian man dressed in a simple green tunic and white trousers with brown riding boots. And then another pair appeared behind them, a Hylian man with flame colored hair he wore in a thick braid, and a matching beard in a red robe who looked strikingly like the man in green, and a tall, muscular warrior woman with silver white hair dressed also in red robes marked with the symbol of the eye of time.

"Is that what you wish, Daniel?" The younger man in green asked his old friend.

"Are you saying I have a choice?" He asked, truly surprised.

"Everyone had a choice, Daniel. That's why we fight so hard to protect their freedom to make those choices. What hypocrites would we be if we didn't allow you one?" The woman in blue asked him.

"But don't I interfere too much?" He asked, a boyish grin on his face.

"Of all those present here in this great chamber, you alone remain unknown to all those now mortal in this world." The woman in red told him. "You know our task, Daniel. Stabilizing this world's balance between beliefs and realities is daunting. And our time, eternal though it may be, is consumed by it. But if we had been able to pay just a little more attention, if we had just a little more help in our task, this whole situation might have been avoided, and the lives of those mortals, short though they would have been, could have been spared. We would ask you to consider this."

"So, you really want me to stay?" He asked, not sure if he was hearing right. "But what about my own reality?"

"You have said it yourself many times, my friend," the man in green said, "the Others there are too detached, and place too many restrictions. And that stability of that world is able to maintain itself well enough. What is there for you to return to or accomplish there?" He asked.

Daniel considered it. It was true, all of his real friends back home had been dead for many, many years, and one didn't really have friends or family among the ascended in the universe where Earth resided. He had been alone for a long time, and for the first time he realized what he had been missing all that time.

"Maybe I could stay and help out for a while." He finally decided.

Daphnes sat alone in the royal chapel in Hyrule Palace. He had never before set foot in the place, covered over as it was with images from his parents' ancient past. Sunlight streamed in through the stained glass, casting an otherworldly light across the small sacred space.

This was the place where his mother and father had been married, but he had never wanted to see it before now. It had been yet another reminded of the impossible standard he had been born into before. But now, as he looked at all the icons and imagery, he realized it was a memorial of how extraordinary his parents had really been.

He had realized, after the battle in the Parliament Building, that he had never gotten to say good-bye to his parents. His last words with his mother hadn't been what he hoped they might have been, and he never got to say anything to his father. The last time he had actually spoken with him had been almost a year ago at their last holiday get together, and those words were tense.

"Dad, I..." He started to speak. "I don't know if you can hear me. I don't really know how it works now." He managed to say. Then after a pause, he said, "I wanted to say... I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry about all of our arguments. I'm sorry about all of the times I compared your stories with horse feces. I'm sorry about running off to join the military as soon as I could just to get away from you. I was scared, Dad. Your oldest son was, and still is, a coward. I was ashamed of it then, and I'm still ashamed of it now. And somehow it didn't matter how far I tried to run, because it all caught up with me anyways. I know I can't be the Hero you were all those times before. But I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to be the Hero Hyrule needs. I love you, Dad." He couldn't say any more after that as his own eyes misted over.

"And I love you, son." Came his father's voice, so much like his own. It startled him and his eyes shot immediately in the direction of the sound.

There, standing in the small aisle between the wooden pews was his father, wearing the same green tunic, chainmail, long green hat, gauntlets and all the other accoutrements befitting the Hero of legend. "I always have. I know what kind of man you are, and what kind of Hero you've become, Daphnes. The Triforce of Courage chose correctly, son. You are no coward. Hyrule couldn't have been left in better hands."

Daphnes couldn't speak, but he got up from where he sat in the cushioned wooden pews and went to stand in front of his father's shining form. Not knowing what else to do, he threw his arms around him and held him tightly. The figure in green returned the embrace.

"I miss you, Dad." He said to him. "I miss you a lot."

"I'll always be watching over you, son." His father returned. "I'll always be near." He then let go of his son, and stepped back. "I have to go now. And you still have a job to do, Hero of Hyrule."

Daphnes nodded slowly. "Good-bye, Dad." He said as the figure transformed into a stream of light and energy, and then was gone.

He stood there for a few minutes, processing everything which had just happened. He then nodded, and turned towards the statues of the Princess and the Hero towards the front of the chapel, and traced three triangles around his head and shoulders, and then drew the sword which hung at the back of his R.H.M.G. uniform and, dropping to one knee, planted the tip of the sword in the floor bowing his head before the image of his mother.

When he spoke to his mother, his voice was serious and determined. "You don't need to worry, anymore, Mom. You and Dad can finally rest. Hyrule is our responsibility now. The darkness will never take this world. I swear it."

The End