Kali didn't fail to notice the squint-eyed expressions on the guards faces as they escorted her to a meeting room with the single long table. She'd been getting those suspicious leers since she'd arrived, bleary eyed and drowsy at the castle.
She had been jolted awake, her hands flying out to attempt to catch herself, but her body was caught in a pair of arms. She panicked, being half asleep, not remembering exactly where she was or how she got there, and unused to physical touch like that after months of its absence. "Shh, shh," Link soothed, keeping his grip firm on her so she didn't roll off onto the floor, "We are in Zelda's carriage, and we just arrived at the castle."
The castle….she's thought groggily and blinked a few hard times. She rubbed at her eyes to try and remember how she'd gotten there.
Right - the wasteland, Pallas's wounded expression, Impa's ghost, Link's open arms….Her face and body suddenly ached from the hard blows and even harder physical exertion that was required to return to her friends. She groaned, annoyed at being awake. Link chuckled softly at her, but she registered another low huff of a laugh. Across from them, Kiden sat sprawled against the velvet blue of the bench. His expression seemed amused at her annoyance, but subdued in a way. He didn't meet her eyes for too long. Shortly after, they exited the carriage and she was immediately flanked by four guards who outright glared at her.
"Hands up," One of them commanded, not too kindly.
She felt Link stiffen behind her, ready to come to her aid. "This isn't necessa-" he was already starting to argue.
"Orders from our new captain, boy." the man growled, practically spitting the words at her. Kali flinched. The focus on 'new captain' dredged up the horrific memory of Captain Hector's expression as he withered away before her, twisted with pain.
"It's alright Link," she said tightly, pushing the memory of his last breaths from her mind, "It's a smart precaution."
Link's shoulders tensed as the guards relieved her personal dagger slung at her hips, checked her thighs for any additional weapons strapped to her legs while she stood rigidly, resenting their hands on her. Both Link and Kiden watched on in mute anger.
She had to wait in a locked room, alone, until the princess and Nabooru returned from the desert. They, as well as Link, Kiden, and the rest of the council of sages waited for her in the meeting room.
All of them, with the exception of Link, Kiden, Nabooru and Zelda, held expressions that ranged from tightly guarded to furious contempt. The latter belonging to Ruto, mostly. Kali couldn't even blame her. She would be furious too if her people had been the first of the attacks, unprepared, mostly unguarded. Easy targets, Pallas had claimed. She only moved with the guards to sit at the head of the table on the far side, well away from the group that gathered on the other side. The guards did not leave her side as she leaned her elbows against the polished, wooden surface. Zelda stood opposite of her, looking both sorry for what Kali assumed was going to be an interrogation, and relieved to see her in one piece.
"Welcome back," The princess said, and Kali didn't miss the ghost of a smile on her face.
Kali returned it, and wished that she could just go back to sleep for a while.
"Welcome back?!" Ruto burst out, indignant.
Kali supposed they were just going to get along with things then…"Ruto.." Zelda started but the water sage stopped her in a fit of barely contained wrath.
"No! That witch doesn't get a welcome back! She doesn't get a homecoming! She is a traitor and a liar!" Ruto's blazing eyes turned from her companions to Kali. She met them, trying to keep her expression neutral. She had become quite good at constructing a faceless mask when confronting more horrific things than this.
"Your anger is justified," Kali said, her voice firm but bore the weight of her exhaustion. That gave Ruto pause, and her eyes slitted. She looked like she'd love nothing more than to leap across the table and rip Kali's throat out with her bare hands, but she stayed silent.
"I know why I'm here. You want what I know about Pallas's forces, right? You want confirmation that I have my memories still." Kali asked, sounding very matter of fact.
The sages shifted, as if they were uncomfortable. She hadn't said it as an accusation, but perhaps they felt the weight of it all the same. "And to hear your story of these past months." Zelda added, a hint of concern gleamed in those once icy cold blue eyes. Her chest warmed with the appreciation of the princess's concern.
Kali leaned back in her chair, getting comfortable because it would be a long tale. "I suggest you all grab a seat then."
She began with the moment she was towed through the portal after 'losing her memories'. Pallas had set the scene up in an attempt to make it seem as if her friends, who were supposed to be strangers to her then, had attacked her with the intent to kill - and he played the role of savior.
Kali didn't recognize the room he'd teleported them to, and her wide panicked eyes took in her surroundings. The room was all dark wood walls and floors. On the floor was a huge carpet with dark grey and maroon whirling designs. Scattered about the walls were shelves of dusty books that looked like they hadn't been touched in ages and tapestries that bore images that reminded her of the historian's sketches in his journal. Symbols like the upside down triangle, depictions of the shaman, all of which she had to make her eyes keep skimming by as if they meant nothing to her. A fire was dying in the hearth, and before it were a few worn leather chairs as well as a settee. The room was rich, it smells of ashes and woodsmoke from the hearth. It was nothing like she would have expected, nothing like the dungeons she'd so desperately escaped last time. It was quiet, too big for the three people that occupied the space, and maybe even a little somber with a neglect she couldn't describe.
Pallas pulled her by the arm towards the heart and made a gesture with the other hand that made the fire roar back to life. Styx moved to add more logs to it. She didn't have to fake the violent tremors that overtook her body as the full realization of what she'd done threatened to shatter her composure. What was she thinking?! She couldn't pull something like this off! Thankfully, Pallas only took it as confused terror because he sat her slowly at one of the chairs, probably fearing she'd faint. "It's alright now," He said firmly, but...kindly.
She wasn't aware he had the capacity to even pretend at kindness. His face was much softer now, nothing like the crazed mania, or the contorting rage that twisted his features into something much more fearsome. He was more like the boy she'd seen in the visions, and it was deeply unsettling. "Do you remember anything?" he asked gently as he scooted a chair to rest closely in front of her. He sat.
Right….she was to have no memories. She shook her head, and didn't fight back the tremble in her chin as her wide eyes stayed locked on his. She didn't speak, the less she spoke, perhaps the less chance she had of being discovered. She felt Styx's wary and still furious gaze on the back of her neck. The skin there prickled uneasily.
Pallas reached to take one of her hands and patted it reassuringly, "Well you're safe here now. My name is Pallas. Do you remember yours?"
Kali shook her head again, and made her eyes widen even more with what she hoped appeared to be panic at not even remembering that. The tears that slid silently down her cheeks did not need to be faked. Pallas put on a sympathetic expression as he took in those tears. "That's alright, I can't expect you to after the blow to the head you took." he said, sounding like he were unsure of how to comfort and calm her. "How about….we give you a new name?"
She wasn't sure how to respond, and let the confusion show. But then she gave a hesitant nod as Pallas stroked his chin with thought. Then a grin spread across his face, and first she interpreted the smile as genuine - but after he spoke, she realized it was cruel amusement that glimmered in his green eyes, "How about Leere?"
Kali recognized it. It wasn't even an actual name, it was a word. She remembered learning it in a list of German vocabulary words in high school for one of her classes. The two syllables meant 'empty'. It was a cruel, hidden joke that had her struggling to force the rage that boiled within her down, down, down. She couldn't let even a hint of it show on her face, or in her eyes. She wasn't supposed to know German. She wasn't supposed to know anything at all.
So she nodded again and made herself speak, the fear that wavered her voice sounded entirely too real, "W-What...What happened? Where am I?"
Then Pallas dove into the fake story he'd concocted to gain her trust, and firmly plant her on his side of the war he planned to wage. According to him, nearly their entire race had been wiped out by the Hylian royal family. After living for centuries in a tentative peace, the Hyruleans determined their people to be too much of a threat and used their deadly Hylian magic and formidable army to commit mass genocide against the them, including all of her family and friends.
Kali made herself sit rigidly still, her body shaking with the aching tension from resisting the urge to leap from the chair and strangle him for the piss poor explanation. The worst part is that if she had actually lost her memories, it might have worked...She widened her eyes when he told her that they were the last of their kind. Her gut twisted at the implication of it. Being the last two...She prayed that wasn't the direction he would take this.
"Our kind?" she prompted, pushing those thoughts out of her head.
"Timekeepers," He answered easily and then made a show of looking to his feet, of finding the words to explain what exactly that meant.
He explained the nature of their powers, their history and religion as she'd read in the journal, and witnessed in her visions. She was surprised he was so forthcoming with the information, but she supposed he planned to re-train her - which was part of the reason she set this plan in motion. If she learned what he knew, his weaknesses, and learned from the only other person with these powers, she was sure somewhere down the line it would give her an edge.
She put her trembling hand over her mouth in feigned shock, and Pallas paused during his explanation. His eyes were apologetic as he said, "It's a lot to take in. I am sorry."
You're not sorry for anything you wretched bastard, she thought to herself. She reached out the trembling hand to him, she wanted to claw his eyes out...to rip that lying tongue right out of his head. It was not longer fear that shook her fingers, it was a burning rage that she struggled to leash within her. Not now...not yet...she told herself.
He squeezed her hand reassuringly and offered a tentative smile, "I want to train you. I want to teach you everything. I want to avenge our fallen people by wiping that royal family and anyone who opposes us off the face of this realm. I want us to be good friends, family even."
Her gut gave another sickening twist, but she made herself return a tremulous smile. I will find a way to destroy you, she swore to herself, I will use this time and make myself strong enough to subdue you, and I will find a way to end all of this..
Evidently, they brought her to the fortress where she was captured the first time. She managed a peak out of one of the windows as Styx escorted her to her rooms and recognized the barren, dead forest that tainted the area around his stronghold as well as the lush greenery of the lost woods beyond it. The upper floors of the fortress were apparently much nicer than her dungeon, as to be expected if they were to be living quarters. It was all dark wood, burning candle stumps, dusty books, and the smell of ash and old paper lingered in every room.
"Get some rest," Styx said, his voice as cool as glass while he held open the door to her room. It was fashioned much like the rest of the fortress, it had a single empty desk and a four poster bed laden with thick maroon bed curtains. At least the room seemed clean. The was an empty hearth with an old rocking chair before it, and somehow even though she knew she would occupy the room….it would always feel oddly empty.
The door shut behind her as she drifted to her window. She gazed out, across the forests, the thin lining of Hyrule field. She could see the tiny shadow of Hyrule Castle from her room...The sight of it, the reminder of Link's devastation that was so plain on his face before she'd vanished again, broke the already shaky control she mastered minutes before. Her chin wobbled as she slowly sunk to her knees, her hands clutched tight to the window sill. She didn't bother to hide the sounds of her heaving sobs, the sounds of her broken heart. If anyone asked, she would claim to mourn for her lost people. But she mourned so much more than some fake story. The pain she'd no doubt inflicted upon Link, the princess, Kiden, the loss of Impa rolled through her like a tidal wave, every failure because of her actions. She let it all out right there on the old wooden floors before her window. She wanted desperately to just give up and go home…. But she'd wanted to make herself worthy of everything her friends had done for her, she'd wanted to make Impa's death mean something, and this was the best way - the only way - she could think of. She pressed her forehead to the cold floor, unable to sit upright for the unrelenting pain of grief that swept through her, a steady flow of tears poured from her, her mouth open in a silent scream. Right then, she promised herself that she would discover the secret to defeating Pallas. She would obtain as much information as she could to take back to her friends when she organized her escape, and she would not let herself get caught. She would do whatever she had to, no matter how awful it might be, no matter how treacherous she might make herself appear.
That first night had been the hardest on her, and the next day Pallas dove straight into training. He claimed there was no point in dallying when there was so much work to be done, but no doubt he just didn't want her to have time to formulate too many questions that he probably wouldn't have the answers to. She molded herself into a loyal subject, a dutiful student, a curious mind - all the things he expected to see in her after knowing so little about herself. She allowed herself the slightest ease of the knowledge she already grasped about her powers, and Pallas claimed she was a natural talent. Perhaps he thought that her body and spirit still recognized the familiar burn of her powers, which made his job of teaching even easier. Regardless, he often looked quite full of himself as his more in depth understanding and teachings helped her master techniques much more quickly. A natural talent….she'd never been a natural talent at anything she'd ever done..
Looking back on it as she explained to everyone, those months in solitude with nobody except Pallas and Styx as her companions had been the easiest part of the whole ordeal. Sometimes they'd even managed to make her laugh, or joke around. She'd catch herself though, startled. When that happened, she'd maintain the friendly facade while silently berating herself and reminding herself of what they've done, what they still plan to do. She tried to maintain her view of Pallas as the man who nearly had Link killed, the man who ordered her torture, the man who'd ultimately resulted in Impa's death. But it felt the longer she was away from her friends, the farther and farther those memories became.
There was one evening in particular that had shaken Kali's beliefs of Pallas down to it's very core. The training that day had been difficult, and she hadn't been sleeping well. She couldn't focus. Her thoughts were drawn back again and again to her friends and why she was putting herself through all of this. That day she just couldn't seem to find the reason within herself. She was frustrated,her mood became dark, and when she got back to her room for the night she saw that dusky silhouette of the castle in the distance. She'd tried so hard to avoid staring at it in the weeks past. It was too painful to bear. Tears sprang to her eyes. It wasn't the only night she'd wept for the friends she longed for since the first night she'd come to this awful place. She doubted it would be the last.
Pallas had entered her room then, and it had startled her. Not because she'd known he caught her doing something she shouldn't, but because she knew she'd have to answer any questions he had. Kali worked to swipe the tears from her eyes, sniffing loudly. She turned from him and braced her hands on the window sill. "What is it?" she asked, trying to even out her voice and failing.
Pallas only watched her for a moment and then crossed the room to stand behind her. "Leere, I know those tears." he muttered, and her heart gave a jolt. Did he truly? Or was he just bluffing?
"What tears?" Kali said, sniffing again.
"The tears for a family you've lost." He said quietly.
At that, she glanced over her shoulder at him, knowing there wasn't a point in hiding her tear stained face. He studied her with somber eyes. That was an expression she'd never seen before - not on him anyway. It was so vulnerable...so human. Her eyes widened. He must have taken it as surprised confusion because he only nodded, "Or perhaps a family you know you've lost but don't remember. I bet it's frustrating."
He went to seat himself at her small desk, still unadorned with personal items. There wasn't much expectation for her to know what things she liked since her days had been filled with nothing but training since she'd arrived. It was none of their business what she liked anyway. She watched him with a carefully neutral expression, letting him assume what he wished about why she cried. Anything his mind could come up with would be better than the truth.
"I've been there. Sort of." He went on, prompting a question from her that she hadn't anticipated asking.
"You remember your family?"
Pallas's fingernail scratched gently into the wood grain of the desk, his eyes swirling with sorrow...and something darker. He nodded, "Oh I remember them alright. I'll never forget the last day I saw them."
Silence filled the room. Did she really want to know this information? Knowing damn well once she knew, she could not unknow it. The pensive look in her eye must have given her away because he began to explain anyway.
"I had a father, a mother and a little sister." He began, his voice actually wobbled a little. He wouldn't meet her eyes, but only picked at the wood grain as he spoke, "My father was...not the best father. He drank a lot, and wouldn't hold down a steady job. So my mother, with my sister in tow would go pick up the odd job here and there to attempt to feed us. She did hard labor, cleaned houses, washed laundry, but back then it wasn't all that normal for women to work like that - especially not with a little girl on her hip. I was old enough that I could stay home, but I often was not at home. I was exploring the streets, getting into all kinds of trouble. When I was old enough, I watched my sister for my mother. She was a stubborn little thing. She had green eyes too, like yours. I think you would have gotten along."
Kali's heart sank at that, and she couldn't help but look away from Pallas as his gaze found her's. The past tense of the statement was not lost on her.
"Anyway, my father…." He said the words like a curse, practically grimacing at it, "got worse. He decided that drink was not enough for him to cope with his own failures, so he started taking them out on my mother."
Kali's fists clenched so hard the knuckles turned white and stared at the scratched wood of the window sill, focusing her gaze on the swirling patterns on it as she listened. She needed to keep her eyes on anything except Pallas. She knew that if she looked at him, if she saw the raw emotion in his face that was present in his voice, she wouldn't be able to see him the same way ever again.
"She always insisted that I stay out of it, that anytime it started I should take my sister for a walk...I felt like such a coward. Then finally, one day, I got up the nerve to stand up to my father. I was much older, I'd say I was about 18 or 19 at the time. I was stockier from working, being fed on the job. But I was not as big as my father, and I didn't know how to fight. He knocked me out. I think he thought I was dead in his drunken stupor…."
Pallas took a shaky breath, and damn her treacherous eyes for turning to look at his face. Her heart jolted at what she saw. The evil sorcerer, the mad timekeeper, Pallas….His hand was pressed to his mouth, and his eyes shimmered. The pain was fresh again. She stood frozen on the spot, dread for the next part of the story pooling in her stomach. She could practically hear his wailing sobs from her vision of his past. "He beat my mother to death that night. And then my little sister. She was only 16...Then, he decided he couldn't live with what he'd done. So like the wretch he is, he took his own life. I awoke...and I….I…"
Kali remembered her assumption that those bone chilling cries when he'd arrived in Hyrule could have only meant death, bloodshed and hated that she'd been right. Pallas did indeed know the tears that she herself had shed just moments before, because they slipped over his cheeks now. He wiped them away and took a deep breath in. It was right then, the struggle to put his bad guy mask back on that she could see the devastated boy still lurking just beneath it.
"Why are you telling me this?" Kali asked, her own tears for what he'd been through fresh in her eyes.
Pallas shrugged one shoulder, still trying to quickly regain his composure, "I guess cause I feel bad for you. Since you cannot remember your own family, and I do. I wanted to share something personal with you."
And she'd wanted to seal him away, still wanted to find a way to defeat him. But there was no denying how utterly human he was to her after that. Every time she thought of a plan to put him into stasis, or freeze him, or seal him her stomach would squirm with guilt so potent she nearly felt sick. He had only been a boy whose entire family was killed in one night, and in his rage and grief his powers brought him to Hyrule - a secret wish to escape that life. With the potential of so much power for a boy that had virtually none his entire life….of course he ended up this way.
Shortly after that, he decided her training was completed. He brought her along everywhere he went in preparation for war. Her heart beat like hummingbird wings every time he paraded her to his army of monsters, and he told her to not be afraid of them. They were only misunderstood, just like the two of them. She wanted to wretch at the statement.
Thoughts of the broken boy within Pallas were difficult to hold onto as she bore witness to his methods of managing an army. When a soldier stepped out of line, Pallas was cruel in his punishments. He branded them with white hot metal, would take fingers or toes from them and not let a healer touch the infected wounds, would deny them food and water for a much longer amount than was necessary, the list of tortures went on and on - and Pallas was quite the creative mind. When a soldier simply wasn't up to snuff, he killed them outright. She had seen so much blood, she had seen so many creatures and innocent people take their last breaths under Pallas's hand. They frequented her nightmares even still...
Those weeks of preparations were the most difficult ones. She had to witness every single punishment, every single execution. She had to resign herself to not flinch, not move against Pallas no matter how unfair it was. She had to tame her rage, her sympathy and eventually made a name for herself even among his monsters as his soulless marionette. They started to believe they could pick at her, tease her. She hated that the only way to put a stop to it was to find the cruelty within herself to be able to punish them in her own way. The guilt, the disgusting feeling of treachery felt like a thick, nasty coat on her skin that she could never wash away.
And it only got worse once he launched the initial attack on Zora's Domain.
"Yes, where you attacked and slaughtered my people. Where you specifically tried to kill me!" Ruto interrupted, unable to stay silent at this portion of the story.
Kali turned towards the water sage, her lips pressed into a thin line, "Did I?"
"What?" Ruto struggled to find the right words in her rage, "Yes...Why...Of course you did! Do you not remember that in your convenient gap of memories?"
"Are you dead?" Kali asked, her voice as cool as ice.
Ruto only narrowed her eyes at her, threatening. She was every inch the formidable princess Kali remembered from that very battle, "What are you trying to say?'
"I am saying that you stood before me. And I took an awfully long time to act as you summoned that wave that carried us away when I could have withered you where you stood. So I'll ask you again. Did I specifically try to kill you?" Kali explained, much to Ruto's dismay.
"You couldn-"
"I could have. I know I could have." Kali interrupted, her voice tighter with the anger that simmered within her. She was back at the castle, and she was tired of wearing masks for other people's benefit..
Ruto stood from her chair, as if she were going to advance on Kali, "But my people-"
Kali slammed the palm of her hands loudly against the tabletop, the guards at her sides stiffened and angled their swords towards her. Link also looked like he was ready to jump into action.
"Do you think your people are the only ones who suffered?! The only ones I had to let die?! If I had a way to stop them from dying without blowing my cover then I would have. I couldn't! I tried! This is war and I've had to make damn hard decisions so that I could actually make it back here to relay everything I know to you all. So tell me again how I'm a witch, and a traitor. Say it all you like because I know that I'm not!"
The room grew silent after that, and after several tense breaths her guards began to relax. Ruto only watched her in mute rage and surprise, but she did not speak up again. "I am sorry for your people. I am sorry for all the people we've lost. But I've only been doing what I hope is best." Kali added, more softly to the princess, willing her to meet her eyes again.
She held Ruto's stare, which was prodding, desperate for validation that Kali really was sorry. When she found the real sympathy there, she looked away.
When nobody else interjected, Kali went on to explain how she'd attempted to sabotage the attacks in any way she could get away with. She would blame it on the flurry of battle getting the best of her, and her inexperience with fighting, or how quickly things moved in the action. She found that the best mask in those moments were the incompetent, too-eager pupil. And all would be forgiven, just like that. At that point she had Pallas's full trust, and he told her everything about the battles. The formations, the numbers, their goals and their obstacles. She was his closest companion after all, much to Styx's contempt.
Every time they'd move camp, she'd spot him carrying a dark box covered in velvet cloth. She eyed it the first few times, not wanting to seem too curious. But her heart would flutter with excitement. She knew in her gut that it was something crucial to her plans. Eventually she asked about it, keeping her tone casual, "What's with the box?"
Pallas raised his brows at her, and then pulled the box from under his arm into both of his hands. "Oh, this is just an old dagger." he said, his eyes darkening.
The dagger? The same one he used to slay his teacher? He actually kept it?! She thought excitedly. Kali only laughed, keeping the tone light hearted, "So why is it in a box? I've seen you carrying it a few times now."
"Sentimental value?" Pallas suggested hopefully.
She only shot him a look that said she wasn't convinced. Pallas gave a long, harsh sigh, "It's another long story. Remember how I've mentioned the man that taught me?"
Kali nodded and Pallas continued, "Well, this is the dagger that killed him."
Yes, she knew it. Perfect. She made a show of stiffening, widening her eyes with shock. "So...why-?"
But he held up a hand that silenced her. She bit the inside of her cheek with frustration. She hated when he did that. "I...Actually was the one that killed him."
She gasped and stood from her seat, glancing from him to the dagger and filling her eyes with horror and confusion. "Please, let me explain." he said, jerking his chin towards her seat as he went to join her at the table.
Kali took a long pause before she complied, playing at hesitation. So he did. He explained his theory about their power, about the duality between them that was needed for them both to survive. He explained how he'd looked into sorcery, believing his teacher to be a fool for not pursuing even higher power than they already had. He believed that if he could find a way to secure one timekeeper, it would protect their bloodline from any other threat. Meaning that if one timekeeper was capable of existing on their own, then the death of one of the final two wouldn't result in both of their demise.
"This dagger was meant to merely merge his negative force into my positive force and in theory - we could have both survived."
Kali knew that was an outright lie. She'd seen the crazed, bloodthirsty look in his eyes during the vision when he'd stabbed his teacher in the chest.
"But there was just something about these abilities that I hadn't anticipated. The sheer power of our life force that lends itself to our time manipulation that I didn't understand. And it failed."
"And...now?" Kali asked softly, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"I still don't understand it. I just know that this dagger is meant to absorb and direct the energy that it absorbs into another target. But I guess for our powers, once the life force of its owner fades - dagger or not - the power is lost."
It was after that, Kali had begun to formulate her escape plan to get away with the dagger. She had to take it with her at all costs, knowing full well that it would be the key to their victory somehow. And if she could just get it back to her friends, she knew they could help her figure out exactly what key was. But then she'd carried the box with her through the desert, where she'd had the violent encounter with Pallas - where he had seen it thrown from her hands when he raged at her. Where he was sure to be focused on digging it out as she vanished in the sandstorm.
This time it was Zelda who interrupted. "So what would you suggest we do now?"
"What do you mean?" Kali raised a brow at her, feeling very tired after the lengthy...emotional explanation. It had taken hours...
"You said you dropped the box in the desert, so you failed to retrieve the dagger and bring it back for us to use to our benefit. So how do you suggest we obtain it?" Zelda clarified evenly, only seeming perplexed by Kali's calmness.
"Oh I don't think we need to worry about that part." Kali went on, "That box was only full of my sketching supplies."
She reached into the high collar of her dress, and her guards angled their weapons at her again. Her hands froze as she shot Zelda a look. The princess held eye contact with Kali as she ordered, "Stand down."
"But...Princess…" One of the guards started.
"I said, stand down!" she said, her voice rising with what Kali recognized at anticipation.
She felt a smirk pull at the corner of her lips as she reached into her dress where a warm hunk of metal lay flush against her chest. Her hand grasped it and she pulled out a black and silver sheathed dagger and laid it on the table. "I dropped the box. But I never said I dropped the dagger."
Kali didn't miss the dazzling, delighted grin that spread over Link's face at her little display. "You used the box to distract him so he wouldn't pursue you. He'd be too focused on the box that held the dagger before," He laughed, sounding very amused indeed.
"Very slick," Nabooru commented, looking pleased and surprised herself.
Zelda only shifted those gleaming, blue eyes from studying to dagger, to taking in Kali's face and then her gaze shifted slightly down. The necklace the princess had gifted to her had slipped out of her dress when she retrieved the weapon and now rested shining and golden against the dark fabric of her dress. It seemed that if nothing else Kali had explained before, then her wearing that necklace alone convinced her that she never truly lost her memories.
The princess's pink lips pulled into a soft smile before she said for the second time that day, "Welcome back.."