Hello all! Thank you for all the support on Chapter 1. I'm so excited to hear that you all like the concept. It really pushed me to write - so here is the next update!

Please don't expect updates to come this frequently in the future. I will do my best to get chapters out as they are ready, but I can't promise any kind of pace.

Enjoy!

Zelda's first thought was that she was dreaming.

She was a performing arts student, after all. With as bold of an imagination as hers, something like this wasn't outside of the realm of possibility, was it?

Definitely not. Once, she'd dreamed she was Queen of all of Hyrule and spent the day skipping around Hyrule Castle, eating cakes and brandishing a scepter. Another time, she'd dreamed she was pregnant. Both cases were totally outside the realm of possibility and just as vivid as now.

So she was dreaming. That made sense. All the research she'd put into preparing for her role (including suffering through several history books and watching the 2003 live-action movie of the Hero and the Princess, objectively the best one) was just paying off. Her mind was smashing together the memories of her childhood and the films she'd watched and her performance on stage.

Right. Everything was fine. She could enjoy exploring the city and wake up in time for rehearsal tomorrow.

She began walking down the marble steps of the courtyard towards the street. But before she could get far, the ground began to shake.

BONG.

The reverberating sound of what must have been a gargantuan bell filled the courtyard, and she turned automatically towards its source. It was then that she was first confronted with the building she'd just left.

A cathedral.

But not just any cathedral. This church was an iconic sight to any Hylian. With its looming bell tower and lofty stained-glass windows, it was the second most recognizable building in the country. The Temple of Time was second only to Hyrule Castle, a testament to the Hylian people's dedication to the Goddesses. It had stood in this place for nearly a millennium - but she had never seen it like this.

In the Castleton she knew, the stones of the cathedral were a muted, worn grey. The glass on the high windows was dusty, the bell in the tower tarnished, and the doors were charred from a fire that occurred during a war in the distant past. It was beautiful in a historic sort of way, but certainly nothing magnificent.

This cathedral was magnificent. Its walls were made of gleaming-white granite, nearly blinding in the rays of the afternoon sun. The glass on the windows was pristine, sending fractals of vibrant color across the courtyard. For the first time, she could appreciate the religious imagery they depicted, stories of the founding of Hyrule and of Heroes old.

She had never seen anything like it.

She stood there in silence for a long while, listening to the tolling song of the bells and admiring the sparkle of the granite. For something she had dreamed up, it was marvelous.

She would have stayed for far longer, marveling at the sight of the Temple courtyard around her, but a sharp tap to her shoulder interrupted her moment.

She turned to see a soldier clad in Hylian blue and white before her, his expression unimpressed.

"Papers?" he asked.

"What?" was her intelligent response.

"Your papers," he repeated gruffly, looking her up and down. "By edict of the Queen, all foreigners entering the Capital must be accompanied by a royal official or in possession of a Decree of Mobility Rights. As you are not accompanied by a royal official, I must see your papers."

"Oh," she blinked, "But...I'm a citizen."

The soldier scoffed. "I won't ask again."

Zelda's feathers were immediately ruffled. As daughter of the Hylian Prime Minister, she was used to being under constant scrutiny by the press and the public...but never had anyone questioned her national origin. "And I shouldn't have to say it again. I was born in the hospital just down the street."

By the soldier's expression, he didn't understand her meaning. She huffed, frowning. "Whatever would give you the impression that I wasn't?"

Rather than respond, his gloved hand closed around her forearm. "You're coming with me."

"Wh-" He began to drag her off, but she balked, digging her feet into the ground. The rubber tread on her sneakers was enough to give her good traction against the stone. "I certainly will not!"

His grip tightened, yanking her forward. "Cease resistance. Trespassers will be ejected, but individuals engaging in espionage will be executed."

"Espionage?!" she repeated, stunned. "I was just looking at the Temple!"

"That has yet to be determined." His free hand neared the hilt of the sword on his hip. It looked very real and very sharp - nothing like the dull, plastic fakes she had grown used to on stage. "Cease resistance."

Something told her he wouldn't be shy about using it.

"Fine, fine," she said quickly, letting herself be dragged along. She had wanted to get a better look at the city, anyway.

There was much to see as the soldier led her towards the center city; the sights and smells and sounds of Castleton completely captured her attention. Though the streets were vaguely familiar from her time there as a child, they had been completely transformed by the age. From the wares stacked in stalls along the road to the parade of horses and carts headed in every direction, there was something new to experience with every step.

The baker had a display spilling out onto the street, the bread and pies and sweet rolls perfuming the air. The clanging of a hammer on an anvil from the blacksmith on the corner sent sparks flying in their path. Somewhere in the distance, music was playing - a cheerful, upbeat tune that sounded both comforting and strange.

All around her, the people of the city were going about their lives, buying their wares and working their jobs and chatting with friends. As much as she looked at them, they looked at her. She caught more than one curious glance as she passed, but their gazes quickly averted when they noticed she noticed them looking.

She supposed it wasn't every day they watched someone get apprehended. She would have stared, too.

Eventually, they turned down a smaller street, less crowded than the ones before. This street was capped by the great wall that separated the older, inner city from the newer, outer one. Once, when she was eleven or twelve, she'd taken a tour to climb through the parapets, laughing at the stories of how the guardsmen of old would shoot arrows through the holes.

Of course, there had been no actual guards there at that point. It seemed like there were, now.

It also appeared that the wall was their destination, for there was a large set of doors bookended by two men in spears, each sporting the same uniform as the soldier who still persistently tugged her along.

They each eyed her warily as they approached.

"Another one?" asked the one on the left, sounding bored. The visor of his helmet concealed his face, but Zelda could tell from his voice that he was young.

"Third one this morning," replied the soldier beside her. "Is the Captain in?"

"Meeting with the General through lunch," Left-Guard said. "You'll have to put her in holding."

Zelda didn't like the sound of that.

But, judging by the way the soldier dragged her into the depths of the grand wall, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

It had been hours.

At least, it felt that way. The soldier had shut her in a room with a little table and some chairs with a single, curt command: "sit," like she was a dog. Then, he had taken her bag and closed the door behind him.

She had been sitting here, staring at the wall ever since.

With a huff, she leaned her arms down on the table, slouching until her chin hit her hands.

She couldn't remember another time that a dream had made her wait this way. How boring was this? Shouldn't she have woken up by now?

Unease began to creep in as she considered the thought. Slowly, her gaze moved to her forearm. Maybe she ought to resort to drastic measures…

Before she could fully consider the pinch of death, a voice from the hallway caught her attention.

"Captain. Welcome back."

His voice was muffled by the wall, but she was sure it was the soldier from before. She perked up a bit, rising slowly from the table. She crept over to the door, pressing her ear against it to listen.

"Bracken," the Captain said. He sounded as bored as the soldier from outside. "Another trespasser?"

"Aye, Captain."

"And...why does this require my attention?"

There was a beat of silence. "Well...she's strange, Captain."

"What, does she find you attractive?"

Zelda snorted a laugh despite herself. She quickly covered her mouth with a hand, continuing to listen.

"She has no paperwork." The soldier continued as if the Captain hadn't spoken, apparently not amused. "And she's dressed...strange. Like nothing I've ever seen before."

Zelda glanced down at her outfit. A simple lavender blouse with puffed sleeves, some jeans, a pair of white sneakers, and the vintage rupee necklace she'd scored at a thrift store in Zora's Domain a few years ago. Nondescript, by her standards - the outfit she'd worn from rehearsal.

Not something she'd put herself in if she were dreaming up being in the Hyrule of Old.

And so the evidence mounts…

"Like what?" asked the Captain.

"Strange fabrics. Shirt's purple, too, and looks new - I know we haven't had access to good Gerudo dye since the embargo."

"Hm…" The Captain sounded as though his interest had been piqued. "Perhaps I will speak to her, after all."

Zelda jerked up, scrambling back over to sit at the table. She had just pulled herself in when the door opened.

The man who walked in was younger than she expected. For a military captain, he couldn't have been much older than she was. It was only the epaulets on his uniform that denoted his higher rank. He had dark, close-cropped hair and an easy smile...but she could tell from his gaze that he wasn't clueless. His verdant eyes studied her closely, as if assessing a foe. And he was carrying her bag.

She glared at him.

"Good afternoon, miss." He closed the door behind him.

She crossed her arms. "Afternoon."

"My name is Captain Krin Chromer - of the Castleton City Guard. What's your name?"

"Zelda."

"How refined." He exhaled a laugh. "Zelda what?"

Something told her that if she said the name Nohansen, she'd be drawn and quartered. In the Hyrule of Old, that was still the name of the Royal House. Her father had always loved to boast that he could trace his line back to the very first King Daphnes. He was proud of his heritage; it was why he had named her Zelda.

She opted to do the same thing she had done to avoid attention when enrolling in school: give her mother's name.

"Harkinian," she said after a moment.

He didn't seem to question it.

"Well, Miss Harkinian...I've been told you were apprehended in the Temple courtyard this morning without a Decree of Mobility Rights." His voice was casual, friendly. Like he was trying to earn her trust.

It didn't work.

"That would be correct." It was only years of theatrical training that kept her voice calm.

He drew up the chair beside hers, sitting down. "As I'm sure you're aware, there's a war going on. Foreigners need to be accounted for when they're in the city for everyone's safety."

A war? She frowned. Of course, Hyrule had been battered by dozens of wars over the centuries - the epic tales of good and evil were the bread and butter of every history book. Lord Albion, the playwright who wrote The Hero and the Princess, rose to fame by chronicling several stories of famous Hylian wars. He became renowned for his incredible attention to detail - some historians speculated that he had been the bedmate of someone within the castle, for there were bits of information contained within his scripts that no one but someone close to the crown would have known.

The information contained in his plays was about all she knew about any wars Hyrule had fought. History had always been one of her worst subjects in school.

That said, she had no way of figuring out what war was happening in this dream. Not that it particularly mattered.

"I'm not a foreigner," she said. "I was born in this city. Look at my ears - I'm just as Hylian as you are."

"I believe you," he said placatingly - like he hadn't just called her foreign a moment before. "In times like these, we just need to be verifying these sorts of things. What's your primary place of residence?"

This wouldn't translate. She'd falter. "Uh...I don't have one."

"I see." Captain Krin's smile remained fixed, but his eyes told her he was about to go in for the kill. "Your profession?"

This one was easier. "I'm an actress."

"An actress," he repeated. His gaze flickered from her eyes to her clothes, subtly appraising her once more. "Who made your clothes?"

She recalled the brief conversation in the hallway. Apparently having a purple shirt meant she was a spy. "Oh, this?" she'd glance down, scrambling for an explanation. "It's...ah...a costume."

Brilliant. She was brilliant.

"A costume?" he raised a brow.

"Yes, a costume." she doubled down, resting her hands on the table. "We're trying out a new concept - this is going to be my outfit for our latest show."

"Do theater players often wear their costumes onto the street outside of the stage?" he shifted, lifting her bag onto his lap.

Her gaze snapped to it immediately.

"No -" she said quickly. "I was just in a rush to get to prayers and didn't have a chance to change. Take a look in my bag; my regular clothes are right in there."

He gave her an odd look, but did as she asked. He unlatched the buckles on her bag, pulling out the muslin gown, petticoat, corset, and shoes that she had stowed away before leaving rehearsal. Then, he lifted the gown, looking it over.

She fidgeted as he inspected it, praying to the Goddesses that he didn't find the zipper.

"Hm. How ordinary," he remarked after a moment. Score one for the Faron University costume department, she guessed.

"Right. Because I live here," she reiterated. "And I'd like to be released."

"I understand." Captain Krin set down the gown on the table, giving her another smile. "I'll tell you what. I'm going to leave and discuss with my superior - if everything goes well, I'll be able to let you go when I get back."

His words were very reasonable. But something in his eyes told her not to trust him.

Right now, though, she had no other option but to comply. "Fine."

He rose, then, setting her bag down on the chair he had previously occupied. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Harkinian. I'll see you in a short while."

She waggled her fingers at him in farewell. He took his leave.

"Come with me." she heard him say - presumably to Killjoy Soldier.

She sat in silence for a long moment before something clicked.

She hadn't heard him lock the door.

Could this be an opportunity to escape?

She pondered that for several minutes. If this really was a dream, she had no reason to be worried; it was just a matter of time until she woke up. Why risk her hide trying to break out?

Then again, if this was a dream, there were no stakes. And something told her she didn't want to be here when Captain Krin returned.

So she quickly stuffed her costume into her bag, slinging it over her back. Walking over to the door, she confirmed she could hear no sounds beyond before trying the knob.

Unlocked, just like she suspected.

She slowly turned the knob, pulling the door open just a hair so she could peer outside. At least from this angle, no one was around.

Venturing to pull the door open further, she stuck her head out, quickly glancing either way for soldiers. The hallway was abandoned.

Seizing on this opportunity, she pulled herself out, closing the door behind her. She turned left, heading away from the entrance. She would never get past the guards, there - but she remembered a tidbit from her tour of these walls last she had visited.

There was a door to the outside in the kitchens on this floor. It led to the inner city, to an alley where they loaded in provisions for the guards.

Thanking the Goddesses for her fastidious father, who insisted she go on every historic tour the city offered, she headed quickly down the hall. Luckily, the walls weren't exactly complex in their layout; there was only one big hall to which all the rooms connected. When she made it to the kitchens and found them abandoned, she scrambled to the door.

Yes, this was definitely a dream. Only dream-logic would dictate that no one would be around to catch her.

She opened the door to the outside. With a quick glance around to ensure that she was alone, she fled, hurrying away from the wall. This was the inner city, wasn't it? It was hard to tell from the alley where she now stood.

But she needed to get out of here, and quickly. She turned onto the first side street she encountered, trying to remember the map of the city in her head as she hurried along-

Only to bodily collide with a man heading the opposite direction.

The breath knocked out of her, she stumbled back, holding up a hand to apologize. "Oh - I'm sorry."

"Let the apology be mine, Lady." The man before her was of average build, dressed plainly in black. His hair was neatly combed, his beard was neatly groomed, and his eyes were kind. He steadied her before letting her go, folding his hands behind his back. "Where might you be headed?"

Immediately, she felt defensive. "Where might you be headed?"

He smiled. "An excellent inquiry. I had received word from a guardsman that a strange girl in foreign garb was claiming to be a player in a city theater troupe. Seeing as I am best connected in the arts of Castleton, they asked me to come and identify her...and it seems I have found her."

"Look…" she began, beginning to back away slowly. "I promise I'm not some spy."

He remained respectfully in place. "But are you who you say you are?"

She paused. "Yes...I've studied the arts all my life."

"Is that right? The arts of what kind?"

"Theater, of course. Or why else would I claim to be an actress?"

He began circling her, studying her with an appraising gaze. "Eye contact…impeccable posture…projecting voice…" His hand tugged thoughtfully at his pointed beard. "…my dear, I can say this: even if you're a Gerudo spy, you were born to be an actress."

She held up a finger to speak. "Well, actually, I—"

"No, no." he cut her off, stopping just before her. "I'll not hear a single word in protest. You are in need of assistance, and I shall be the one to aid you. If not for your sake…then for my own. Come with me."

Before she could get in a word edgewise, he had grasped her arm, tugging her along the street.

Getting dragged around this city by men twice her age was getting old very, very quickly.

When was this dream going to end?

Teased you with the unnamed soldier that's not Link! I know you're all waiting for him to appear, but you'll need to wait for just a little while longer! His entrance will be... spectacular. I promise.

Leave a word if you liked it, and I'll see you all next time.