Hi guys I'm back, sorry 'been quite busy these last few weeks. I finally got a job again; it sucks, I hate it, but I need the money.
But still, as a celebration, here's the next chapter.
It was after another busy morning of farmwork that the wise, fair Zelda and her dear friends took their lunch in the form of a cheerful picnic.
"Have you already heard what they say, dear Zelda?"
"Heard what? What news have you brought this time from town, dear Malon?"
The wise, fair Zelda and the rest of the curious farmmaids crowded around the landlord's only daughter.
"Our young king is is going to wed!"
Surprised cries rose from the girls.
"Who is he going to wed?" asked a slender, red-haired farmgirl excitedly, "Why haven't we heard of this lucky maiden before?"
"There is no such lucky maiden as of now, dear Anju," answered the good Malon, "While the king intends to wed, he does not know as of yet whom. So, they say, our king and his advisers are searching for any willing maidens of noble birth."
"Is that so...?" asked the wise, fair Zelda as she reached for the pitcher, "Oh!"
"What is it, dear Zelda?"
The wise, fair Zelda held up the jug from which she had wanted to fill her cup, "The pitcher is empty. We have no more peach cordial..."
"What?!" The red-haired Malon promptly grabbed the pitcher from her, "You greedy wenches! I have not have one cup of it!"
"We are so sorry dear Malon. Here, let me fetch some more for you," with that, the red-haired Anju took the pitcher and went on her way to the big farm house.
Meanwhile, the rest of the farmmaids continued their lunch and their cheerful chatter.
"say, dear Zelda?" asked the good Malon her dear friend, "Who do you think our king will choose for his bride?"
"I am afraid I have no idea..." admitted the fair Zelda, "I know not of many princesses and maidens of noble birth. The only princesses I truly have heard of are Princess Ruto of the Zoras and Princess Hilda from a neighboring country."
"Is that so...?" The good Malon said nothing else and took a bite of her spread slice bread.
Of a sudden she asked, "Say, dear Zelda, why do you not try to marry our king?"
The dumbstruck Zelda looked at her incredulously, "Whatever are you saying, dear Malon? I could never be a king's wife!"
"Whatever are YOU saying, dear Zelda?" said the amused Malon, "There is not one man near or far in the land who would not love to have you as his wife."
"Perhaps..." admitted the fair Zelda, "But the man you speak of is none other than our king, Link Swiftblade the Victorious, the best swordsman in our land, the young but brave prince who gathered what was left of our army and brought us victory against the evil warlord, the vile Ganondorf, and his armies, whereas I am-"
"The wise,fair Zelda, the maiden chosen by the goddess Nayru herself to defeat our mighty king with naught more than your mere wits!" replied the impish Malon.
"I did not defeat our king, foolish Malon, I merely unraveled his riddle!" retorted the annoyed yet amused, fair Zelda, "And I was not chosen by the goddess Nayru either!"
The good Malon smiled at her impishly, "I still say you could have the king as your husband if you put your wits to it."
"And I still say it will not happen!" replied the wise, fair Zelda, "Why would our king want to have me as his wife?"
"Why would he not?" replied the red-haired Malon, "Were you two not together all the time back when you and your father were the king's guests and staying in his castle?"
"No, we were not. Our king was most busy back then. My father and I were not the only ones who had lost their homes and all they possessed. Day after day such helpless people, or ones plagued by other troubles appealed to our king to save them. You know just as I do that our dear Anju was one of them, as was I and my father before her."
The good Malon nodded in somber silence.
Knowing that her victory was near the wise, fair Zelda went on to say, "As kind a host our king had wanted to be, he could not spend much time speaking with me or my dear father. And neither could he do so often. It was usually the stern Lady Impa with whom we were together. And when the chance presented itself to our king to speak to me, he would usually ask about my father's well-being, and mine as well. If not this, he would ask me how we, the commonfolk, were managing with all the sorrow brought about and left behind by that dreadful war, and if I could think of anything that he, our king, could do to further help us, his people."
"Very well..." said the good Malon, quietly admitting her defeat.
"Dear Malon! Dear Zelda! Everyone!"
Both farmmaids, like all the others, looked up and saw the red-haired Anju running as fast as her feet could carry her.
"Dear Anju!" asked the good Malon worriedly, "Has something happened?"
The slim farmmaid struggled hard to breathe and speak, "The king's... owl...! The Lady... Impa...!"
"The Lady Impa?" asked the good Malon. She looked over to the fair Zelda, but alas she had no answers, "Has she come here?"
"Yes!" managed the slim Anju to say, "And...!"
"And...?"
"The king is coming!" brought out the slim Anju, "The Lady Impa said so! He is already on his way! He will arrive before long!"
"Oh you goddesses!" exclaimed the good Malon.
"Everyone!" called out the wise, fair Zelda, "Gather up the dishes, quick! And then head all of you to the farmgate!"
As the farmmaids hurried to gather everything, the red-haired Malon quietly spoke to the fair Zelda.
"Dear Zelda, wha is the meaning of this? Have you any idea why the king is coming here this sudden? Surely he cannot be coming here to look for a bride!"
All her earlier words had been nothing more than good-natured jest and tease, and both farmmaids had known this.
"I do not know..." answered the fair Zelda, "The only reason I can think of is that the king wishes to see if everything here is in lawful order..."
The wise, fair maiden stood up and hurried to the farmgate, her friend, the good Malon right beside her.
"You did best pray that nothing here is amiss. Woe to us, woe to the one responsible, if there is and the king comes to carry out Nayru's justice."
It did not happen often, but there were times when the wise, fair Zelda's wits failed her.
And this was such a rare time.
Author's Notes:
About "the king's owl"... while I was writing this chapter, I just suddenly remembered that RyoshiMorino called Link "the queen's wolf in his story "A Hero's Heroine." For some reason that prompted me to call Impa "the king's owl" in mine.
And maybe, in another story I'll refer to the sheikah as "castle owls."
Although that term is not necessarily meant to be flattering.
I had a brief scenario going through my mind, wherein Impa confronts a Gerudo and the Gerudo mockingly calls her king's/queen's owl or castle owl, to which Impa responds with desert...? Well, what desert animal is reminiscent of the Gerudo? I don't know many desert animals, but the only one I can think of that mind resemble the Gerudo is the jackal or coyote, in which case I'd probably use the term "desert hound" or "desert mutt" but neither seems fitting for the Gerudo.
Doesn't really matter anyway; for now. Neither that scenario nor the terms "castle owl, desert whatever" will make an appearance in "The queen's most precious treasure."
I might use them in a future project though.
Speaking of which: I got a whole bunch of (as of now) unused LOZ story ideas. For many, I'm not even sure if I will ever get to use them. So, I've been thinking... maybe I should post them in a forum, maybe one of my own, so that other writers can read them, use them, discuss them, add to them... whatever.
What do you guys think?
Going back to my story:
Please review and comment. All forms of reviews, comments and criticisms are very welcomed and appreciated.
If you do not have the time to leave behind such, a numerical ratings from 0-10 will suffice just as well.
0 = Delete this shit. 10 = Perfect.
PS: Not sure when I will be able to post the next chapter, what with my job and all. Hopefully I'll find some time this coming weekend.