Chapter 17: Far From Ordinary
Zelda had a love/hate relationship with her room. It was a place of discovery and refuge. But it was also a place of concealment and confinement.
She was only gone for a week, but oddly, she felt like she had been gone much longer. So much had transpired in the past several days. So many things discovered. So many things uncovered. And the number one thing she kept thinking back to was nowhere to be found. When Zelda opened her door this morning to a knock, she expected to see Link standing there, waiting for her.
But he wasn't.
Instead, a serving maid bowed with a tray in her hands, announcing she had Zelda's breakfast. It was hard to ignore the disappointment since that encounter, but Zelda was doing her best to pretend it didn't bother her. After all, she still had to report to her father about what she and Link had seen on Death Mountain. She grimaced. In and out. That's the goal.
Zelda went to the throne room. He wasn't there. Not unusual. King Rhoam had many places to be. But Zelda had an idea where he would be.
Walking down the halls of the castle, she took note of the same paintings of past ancestors on the wall, the same suits of armor, the same number of steps (128) that led down into the library, and the same lone metal bookcase along the far wall under the opposing stairs. Zelda pulled open the glass encasing her father's personal collection. She reached up, pulling a book off of the shelf.
A Legend in the Making: The Royal Fruitcake
Despite the gravity of going to stand before her father, Zelda smiled a little. It was an odd book to choose for the King's personal bookshelf. But unbeknownst to most, if not all, King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule was quite the baker.
There was a time, long ago, when Zelda could remember being in the castle kitchens, sitting on the counter with flour on her dress and hands. Her father pulled the famous fruitcake out from the oven, her mother placing her hands on his shoulders as she peered over King Rhoam's shoulder. She would sniff and say, "Just one bite, my love." He would hold the tray away from Zelda's mother. "It's for our picnic later." He'd chastise.
That's when Zelda would reach forward and pinch a piece, popping it quickly into her mouth.
"Hey, you." King Rhoam would pull it out of reach where Zelda's mother would then pinch off a piece of fruitcake as well.
"Help, guards! I'm surrounded by enemies!" He'd say. Zelda and her mother would laugh. And like always, her father would laugh as well. "A picnic in the kitchens is as good a place as any."
The smile faded from Zelda's face. Since her mother's death, she'd never heard her father laugh again.
Reaching up in the opening the book had left and feeling along the smooth metal shelf, her fingers traced the talons, wings, and then the triangle of the royal crest. Pushing the triangle further in, the bookcase jostled once, then clinked open as one whole section slid to the side, revealing King Rhoam's private study.
Zelda straightened her spine, tugged the wrinkles out of her dress, then stepped forward, mind whirring as where to start first.
The room was empty.
Not completely. There was her father's desk and chair, books spread over the face of the desk. Rolls of parchment in a wooden box in the corner, an atlas opened on a pedestal. A round table with a white tablecloth in the corner for private dining. This room was meant to be a refuge for the royal family if outsiders attacked the castle, but never in Zelda's lifetime had that ever happened.
The candlestick held stubs, the flames long gone out. Her father hadn't been here recently. Zelda breathed a sigh of relief. That meant her father was somewhere in the land directing the army.
A passing guard, one of her father's personal ones, stopped, bowing to Zelda. "Princess Zelda. If you are looking for the King, he is attending to matters at an outpost. He shall be here tomorrow afternoon though."
Zelda nodded. "Thank you." The guard waited for Zelda to leave the room. She was never allowed to be in this room by herself for very long. This had always been so. It made her wonder what secrets her father kept in here. But, mainly relieved she didn't have to see her father for another day, Zelda exited, catching one last glimpse of her mother's portrait that hung on the stone wall above her father's desk. It was an exact replica of the one in Zelda's room, the only personal portraits of her mother in the whole castle.
She wondered if her mother would be pleased with how Zelda and her father got along. Probably not, Zelda thought. Yet, the distance seemed to stretch wider and wider between Zelda and King Rhoam, farther and farther from ever being the father and daughter laughing in the kitchen covered in flour.
"Your Highness!"
Zelda's head whipped up just as arms encircled around her neck tightly. Shock melted into joy.
"Impa!"
Impa pulled away, eyes crinkled with a cheery expression on her young Sheikah face. All Sheikah had the same white hair and red eyes, but Impa's seemed to constantly shine with energy. Bossy and stern as Impa could be, Zelda smiled widely back. Impa was Zelda's closest friend since childhood.
"I heard you were back and came to find you. Purah has something to discuss with you." Impa threaded an arm through Zelda's and began tugging her forcefully forward. Zelda laughed.
"And it can't wait another moment?"
Impa shook her head. "You know Purah. Never the kind to wait around for anybody. Once she gets going on something, she must see it through to the end. Purah has been hoping you'd come back soon so she could update you on her research."
"What is it?" Zelda asked as they exited the library.
A finger wagged in Zelda's face. "Nuh uh uh! I'm not telling. Purah would have my head for spoiling her reveal. Plus, she also needs you because you have the Sheikah Slate. She wants another look at it."
Zelda quickened her step. "Of course! But let me get into clothes I can actually move around in better."
Once Zelda changed, it was easy to head outside. She conveniently had several staircases from her room that led right down to a courtyard connected to the first gatehouse. From there, it was the long road to the gate leading them into Castle Town and then finally the gate leading outside Castle Town. It seemed a bit ridiculous how long it took Zelda to leave the castle, but she knew it was for protective measures. She did admit, if anyone tried to attack the castle, they would have a hard time just stepping foot inside the castle itself.
Impa kept up a steady stream of talk as they walked down the flagstones, going on about finding more Guardians out near Kakariko Village.
Passing through the first gatehouse, Zelda could look down from the windy road as it arched around a depression in the middle. The depression held many guards training outside the guards chambers. Right now, they were clustered in a circle around a familiar blue tunic and blonde-haired boy. Impa's words fell away into the wind.
Link had a wooden sword, but that didn't seem to be stopping him from fending off five guards as they attacked him at once. The other guards in the circle were whooping and cheering as they watched the match. Zelda looked on, a tightness in her chest.
She still didn't know why Link had just left her last night without a word. Well, words for him, being a gesture, an expression, or tilt of his head. Link struck a hard blow to a shield held up, causing the remaining guard of the five attackers, holding it, to lose his balance, allowing Link to strike him along the waist. The guard fell to the ground, hand to his side. A cheer went up, a few comrades smacking Link's back in congratulations. Looking closely, most of the guards in the circle were all holding a part of themselves that seemed bruised. Link must have fought all of them at one point.
Zelda and Impa were descending the pathway as it connected to the same level that the guards were on. One of them, spotting Zelda, struck a fellow guard in the chest, catching his attention. They both bowed. "Hail, your Highness!" Quickly, the rest of the guards fell into a bow as well, the cheers disappearing. The only one standing was Link, whose eyes held Zelda's for the briefest of instances. Sweat gleamed on his skin, parts of his hair loose and sticking to his face. Link bowed slowly, shadows falling over his features. He didn't meet her gaze again.
Zelda turned away, anger and hurt vying for dominance within her. Why was he treating her so distantly here? Had the past week all been a ploy with him? To pretend to be opening up and then closing off once he was rid of her for a little bit? Her hand fisted.
"Your Highness? Is something wrong?" Impa popped into Zelda's line of sight, Impa continuing to walk with Zelda, but backwards down the slope.
Zelda shook her head. "No. Nothing is wrong."
Impa gave her a disbelieving look. "Nothing to do with that knight who's been assigned to follow you around?"
Was she that easy to read? The thought made Zelda even more annoyed at getting upset. Why did what Link did bother her so much? Since when did he have control over any aspect of Zelda's emotions? Since I first met him. She pressed her lips together tightly. No, she was going to have a good day. Ahead at the castle gate, two royal guards stood ready to escort Zelda around. A good day without Him apparently. Before Zelda could wonder why Link was taking the day off from escorting her outside the castle, one of the guards stepped forward.
"Your Highness. It is our pleasure to serve you this day. If there is anything you require, you but only need to ask." The guard bowed.
Zelda stopped the grimace from reaching her face. "Thank you. Will there be anyone else joining us today?" She forced herself not to look back at the training grounds behind her.
The guard straightened, answering calmly, "No, your Highness."
Zelda nodded, once again fighting that stab of disappointment from this morning and began walking forward towards Castle Town. It is like everything is back to normal now. Her posture slouched just the tiniest bit.
The whirlwind of activity in Castle Town did well at bringing Zelda out of her head. The traders, more than there was yesterday already out since dawn at their stands, were yelling, "Fleet-Lotus Seeds from Zora's Domain!", "Fresh Staminoka Bass", "You'll never find hardier Hearty Durians than over here," and "Topaz's straight from the Goron mines!"
A piece of each culture right here in Castle Town square. Having seen many of these wares for herself right at the site of where they came from, Zelda smiled. She had actually traveled and had an adventure like these traders had. No longer was she only wondering about what excitement could be had in other regions.
They passed through the final gate, Zelda's feet finding the familiar dirt path she had traversed across Hyrule. Impa shot one finger into the air above her head. "To the lab!" Her finger pointed to a building across the moat. "Come on!" Impa pulled on Zelda's hand, and Zelda sped up, eager to see at once the research the Sheikah had been working on.
After crossing the Carok Bridge, instead of continuing on the well-worn path, Impa shook her head, pointing to the side. "We're freestyling today, Princess."
The path would have led them through the crater rock gully, eventually passing the North Hyrule Plain and then the Royal Ancient Lab. But that was a much longer walk than cutting over the craters and walking right through the Plain to the Lab. There were natural divots in the rocks that made for easy hiking over them, and only one part where Zelda had to climb more than walk. The crater rock ended at the top of the climb and gave way to a path leading up a hill on the North Hyrule Plain. Once at the top, Zelda could spot the Royal Ancient Lab about a kilometer away.
It rose high above them, nearly 100 feet tall. It came equipped with a giant telescope on the roof, and lanterns lit by a blue flame, stood in rows of four, three in each row leading up to the door. It was a marvelous structure and home to the most marvelous breakthroughs in science. It was a place Zelda often looked down at from her tower, wishing she could be here with all the other researchers and scientists.
The grass was longer here on the North Plain than it was directly outside the castle. It flowed against Zelda's hands as she threaded her fingers through it. Restless Crickets and Summerwing Butterflies flitted out of the grass before Zelda could reach them. Here and there were Hightail Lizards skittering out of the way underfoot. The guards were right behind her and Impa, but Zelda could pretend they weren't there, them not saying a word. It was strange though. Even though Link didn't say a word as well, she could never pretend he wasn't there. It was impossible. It would be like ignoring the sun.
When they were several feet from the back entrance, a muffled BOOM resounded from within the lab.
"Uh oh," Impa groaned. "What is it this time?" She bounded forward, Zelda following closely behind. Impa threw open the door, smoke immediately wafting out. Impa and Zelda coughed, covering their mouths as they pressed forward. The guards quickly pushed to the front of Impa and Zelda, Impa shooting them a cross look. She pushed herself right back between them.
"Purah?" Impa coughed again.
"Over here," came a female voice coughing somewhere ahead.
The smoke was lessening as it wafted outside, allowing Zelda a clearer look at the lab.
The Royal Ancient Lab, specifically built to house the ancient artifacts uncovered from the Sheikah, was an acre of the oddest assortments unearthed in Hyrule. Multiple tables held small glowing blue gadgets, orange pulsing spheres, and weapons that radiated an alien light. The biggest microscope in all of Hyrule had steps leading up to the top of it so the scientist could gaze down at the object in study.
And, where the smoke originated from, was Purah, hands on her hips, glaring down at a round metal ball with pockmarks in it. A faint yellowish light came from the dents in the sphere. "Well trial 17 was a bust." An immediate smile wiped away Purah's sour look. "Princess! You're back! Quick, can I see the Sheikah Slate?"
Zelda handed it to her, taking in the wires from the ball leading into…a Guardian. She hadn't noticed it was a Guardian since it was laying sideways, bottom facing the group. The wires led into a round hole holding the inner machinery of the Guardian. Zelda leaned forward to get a better look. "What are you working on?"
Purah held the Sheikah Slate between her hands, fingers flicking over the screen. The screen light reflected off her round glasses, making it hard to see her expression. "Hopefully, getting this Guardian to move."
Zelda peered closer at the glowing ball on the table. "And what's that? Why is it hooked up to the Guardian?"
Purah pressed a thumb hard to the screen. "An ancient core. All of the Guardians possess it. Like a heart. And with some sure science," Purah's voice rose as the hand holding the Sheikah Slate went up into the air. "I can revive this thing." Purah raised her other hand, her pointer finger lightly touching the screen one more time.
Always one for the dramatics, Purah held completely still, waiting. Zelda noticed Impa rolling her eyes beside her.
The ancient core pulsed once, then pulsed again, growing brighter and brighter until it held its ultimate brightness. Behind Purah, something grated against the floor. The group quickly moved to get a better look at the head of the Guardian. The whole body glowed orange, and the head…the head was swiveling back and forth, scraping against the floor it was tilted on. Zelda's heart jumped into her throat as the eye focused on them, remembering all too clearly being caught in the gaze of one of them. But unlike the other one, no laser shot forth from it. The eye just seemed to be examining them.
"Now let's try this combo," Purah said, voice growing in excitement as her fingers inputted something onto the screen.
Zelda and Impa gasped as the legs twitched and began pushing itself upright. They backed away, giving the Guardian enough space as it finally landed on its six legs, head swiveling around curiously.
"Yes!" Purah cried out. Her eyes shone with enthusiasm. "It's alive!" She cackled.
Zelda grew satisfied at seeing the shock on the guards faces. This was something out of their realm, and they likely hadn't known what they were getting into by escorting her today. Maybe they would think twice the next time she had to leave the castle.
"Purah, you did it," Impa cried out. "All that excavating hasn't been for nothing!"
Purah laughed, still on a high. "Of course not! I told you, if you do the work out there, Robbie and I will cover the work in here. And walah!" She brought two fingers up to outline one eye, Purah's signature sign for a breakthrough, Zelda had learned.
"Yeah, after a better ten years of working on it." Impa crossed her arms, but she was smiling.
Purah tossed her head. "Genius doesn't happen all at once. Where's Robbie when I need back-up?"
"Isn't he scouting the Akkala region for more Guardians?" Impa inserted.
"Yes, but I can't wait for him to see this." Purah looked up at the still swiveling Guardian. "Mmmm. Now to command it to move in different directions." Purah hit the screen a few more times. Zelda and Impa looked on, waiting. Purah frowned slightly, inputting a few more keystrokes.
"Huh. Seems I'm not inputting the correct code for automatic movement. See?" Purah hit two buttons and one of the front legs of the Guardian stepped forward. Purah hit another two buttons and the Guardian took a forward step with a different leg. "I have to manually move each leg to get the Guardian to go anywhere. That's going to be completely useless to us fighting Calamity Ganon. Manually moving each leg of hundreds of Guardians?" Purah blew out a noisy breath. She returned to the Sheikah Slate.
Zelda watched on, mind racing. That Guardian in the mountains had been moving automatically. There hadn't been anything controlling it. At least, nothing that Zelda could see. Revali's remarks about a purplish hue evaporating from it surfaced in her thoughts.
"Purah," Zelda began slowly. Purah was still very engrossed with the Sheikah Slate. Purah glanced once at Zelda then back to her work.
"Don't worry, your Highness. After I get the code correct to automatically move the Guardians, their programming will make it so the Sheikah Slate won't need to be used for controlling them. You'll get it back soon!"
"It's not that." Impa shot Zelda a concerned look, something in Zelda's tone catching her attention. "While I was in Rito Village, Link, Revali, and I came across a Guardian."
"If I'm not mistaken, we are missing a few from the Hebra Region, correct, Impa?" Purah raised an eyebrow to the other Sheikah member. Impa nodded.
"The map outlined where most of them were supposed to be, but we couldn't find them all." Impa shrugged. "It was just so few that we didn't bother wasting any more time in that frigid climate."
A few missing? Zelda grew more unsettled. She hoped that her hunches were wrong. "The Guardian was moving."
Purah's fingers stilled. Impa's eyes shot to Zelda.
Silence.
Purah adjusted her glasses, focus completely on Zelda. "Mind relaying exactly what you saw?"
It seemed like it had happened so long ago. But as Zelda described in detail seeing the Guardian move around, how it moved around, the noises it made, the laser shooting from its eye, the scene rushed back to her. Link pulling her away from the dangerous animatronic, Revali shooting arrow after arrow into it, not making much of a difference. These last details she didn't go into seeing the dumbfounded faces of Purah and Impa. It was a lot to take in. Zelda had time to think it through. She feared they would come to the same conclusion she did and with Purah being the voice of reason concerning the ancient technology, whatever she said, would most likely be right.
There was a heavy silence between the three of them when Zelda finished. Purah brought a hand to the side of her head, thoughts hard to read as she stared at Zelda. Impa kept looking at the Guardian moving behind them, hands on her kodachi.
Finally, Purah placed one hand on her hip, shaking her head. "I don't doubt what you saw, your Highness, but there must have been something controlling it. These Guardians have been inactive for thousands of years. It would take interaction with this Slate," Purah held up the Sheikah Slate, "to bring them back online." She looked at the Guardian. "I just don't see how one could be moving all on its own in the mountains."
"I don't either," Zelda replied. But I have a hunch. And I hope it's wrong. "It fell off the cliff and when Revali checked it, the Guardian wasn't moving anymore."
"Hmmmm," Purah looked back at Zelda. "I'll have Robbie go take a look. With more investigation, we might be able to find out exactly how that Guardian was moving." She suddenly grinned. "And then we might be able to find out how to move the rest of these no problem! If I don't figure it out first," Purah placed two fingers by her eye.
Impa looked more relaxed at Purah's response, but Zelda still wasn't sure there was nothing to be worried about. They hadn't seen that Guardian glowing purple and blue or the way it just attacked Zelda, Link, and Revali. Prove me wrong, she silently pleaded.
Zelda, Impa, and the two guards emerged back into the sunlight. Zelda was surprised to find most of the day had passed with the travel to the lab and the time spent talking to Purah. As they headed back towards Castle Town, Impa made pointed remarks about how digging up artifacts never seemed to end and why had she ever volunteered to oversee the excavation so Purah and Robbie could focus on more important matters, like actually figuring out how the technology worked.
"So," Impa turned her head to Zelda as they came within range of Castle Town's front gate. "That's my week in a nutshell. How was traveling around with Mister Brooding?"
Zelda, who had fallen into a fog listening to Impa, jerked awake. Her tongue seemed twisted. "Link? You mean Link?"
Impa rolled her eyes. "Who else would I be talking about? Maybe some more definitions would help: He-who-utters-nothing, the emotionless statue, Hyrule's most uninteresting knight. Or my personal favorite: Link the Blink. You know, since all he does is stare and blink at you"
They entered Castle Town. The evening music could be heard near the fountain. "I wouldn't go that far in describing Link." Zelda turned away from her friend, that familiar surge of anger, like when Revali had been demeaning Link, arising. "There's more to him than that."
Descending the first staircase on the terrace, Impa stopped, eyes narrowing at Zelda. "And what do you mean by that, your Highness?"
Zelda suddenly felt caught. Caught with what, she wasn't sure. Impa was looking at her more curiously than angrily, a hand on one hip, one lightly by her side. Nearly all the windows were alight at this point, the sun setting along the horizon. And in some shadows between two houses near the staircase, Zelda picked out a figure moving silently.
The figure suddenly leapt at Impa, who twisted to the side, reaching out with one hand to grab the back of the figure's scarf and pulling him to her till his face peered into hers. "Sheikah can't sneak up on other Sheikah," Impa scolded.
Sitkel removed the mask covering his mouth, a coy grin on his lips. "Always worth the try though." Impa let him go with an exasperated sigh. Sitkel rearranged his scarf until it was back in place. He had changed from the normal Sheikah village outfit to the Sheikah stealth outfit. He cocked his head at the guards. "Soldiers." He mimicked the salute they all gave superiors.
The guards looked annoyed. They'd drawn their weapons, but with the mocking salute, they both lowered their swords. "It isn't wise to try to attack the Princess."
Sitkel smirked at them. "If I intended to attack the Princess, there would be no 'try' about it." He turned to Zelda and bowed low. "Your Highness. I came to retrieve you from this most unpleasant company."
Impa stepped towards Sitkel. "And where might you be taking her?"
"Is that really your business to know?" Sitkel arched a brow at her.
"It isn't safe." The guards butted in.
"And I can't protect her?" Sitkel's throwing daggers gleamed in the fading sunlight.
"Her Highness isn't going with you, scoundrel." One of the guards remarked haughtily.
"Her Highness can speak for herself, thank you." Zelda glared at the guards who backed away, quiet once more. She turned her focus to Sitkel. "As long as we get one of those hot buttered apples over there, I don't care where you take me."
Sitkel grinned. "It will be my honor."
Impa opened her mouth to protest, but at Zelda's daring look, she shut it, shaking her head, eyes upward. "You better bring her back before the moon's full in the sky. You're not just dealing with any ordinary girl."
Sitkel grabbed Zelda's hand, surprising her, as he pulled her towards the town square. "Believe me, I know she's far from ordinary."