Chapter Two
By five o'clock, every preparation achievable was finished, and the Clock Town occupants filled the streets, chattering and laughing. Everyone wore their finest apparel, hoping to impress the royal family with their style. The four town areas, North, South, West and East, were trimmed intricately. Candles emitted shadows on the cement street pavement, and torches lit were high in the air, illuminating the skies while the sunlight could not. It was the ideal climate for a gala: warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket, but with an occasional cool, gentle breeze that saturated the atmosphere.
It was nearly nightfall now, and Anju stood outside, tasting a tangy, flavorful liquid she could not quite place. A blend of strawberries and pears, she figured. Kafei, her husband, socialized with Mutoh, the carptenter, while the shady owner of the Curiosity Shop looked on. Kafei was easy to spot in the crowd, with his shoulder length violet hair and crimson eyes. Anju was glad to say she was common-looking, like the others, with her simple ginger hair, cut shorter than Kafei's and gray eyes.
It was very obvious that the people had strived to look good tonight. Anju herself wore a scarlet dress trimmed in bullion thread, that fell to the ground. Some men wore their best suits and ties. It's a good thing there's no prince coming, Anju caught herself thinking. Or else there would be even more hype.
The Indigo-Go's were on the stage that had been set up outside only mere hours ago. Anju spotted Lulu practicing her scales. Japas was close at hand, strumming his bass. An uneasy look in his expression. In fact, all the band members looked terrified, except the guitarist, Mikau. He looked composed as he played a few notes on his intrument and conversed with the onlookers, who were mostly female.
Anju was pulled out of her thinking as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned. Luken stood there, grinning devilishly.
"Luken," Anju said, keeping an illusion of surprise in her tone, mixed with knowing. It was an abnormal combination, but Anju pulled it off perfectly. "I didn't expect you to show up."
"I didn't expect myself to show up," laughed the boy. "My mother told me I should do it out if respect for the royal family, even if I only stay an hour."
Anju nodded. "Who knows, maybe you'll even befriend the princess," she implied derisively.
"I doubt that," Luken shot back. "Royal princess," he scoffed. "More like royal snob!"
Anju shook her head sadly. "Luken, I would think a boy your age would have renounced from acting so juvenile by now!"
"I'm eighteen, Anju," Luken informed her.
Anju's expression didn't adjust at his statement. "I'm not much older than you," she said objectively.
"How old?" Luken grinned.
Anju's eyes flashed. "How old do you think?"
Luken sensed her fury and forced his smirk away. "Twenty-three is my guess."
Her face cooled down to some extent, and she turned away slightly. "Twenty- two."
Luken's cavernous brown eyes widened. "And how old is Kafei?"
Anju clenched her teeth. She had married young, she realized. Strange, she had never grasped this until now, when a boy younger than her and much less mature pointed it out. She was positive she was blushing. "Kafei is twenty- three," she told him in a quiet, discomforted voice.
Luken didn't reply. He stood there for a minute, not certain of what to say, when finally he heard his mother calling his name. "My mother's needs me," he explained to Anju. "Talk to you later." With that, he withdrew into the crowd.
When he was out of earshot, Anju sighed heavily and sat down in a chair, becoming lost in her thoughts again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. But this moment, she thought about Azaelia and her family.
Come to think of it, Queen Zelda, Azaelia's mother, had married when she was twenty, too, so Anju had no reason to be ashamed. And she'd promised Kafei she'd tie the knot with him when Anju was ten and Kafei was eleven. She was sure the queen hadn't done anything like that with King Link.
Memories flooded into Anju's mind.
She had been five years old when everything started, too young to remember much now. And much of what happened had been up north, in Hyrule, home of the royal family.
King Link was not born a prince. He was commoner. But, an extraordinary one. When he was two and the queen (who was a princess back then) was an infant, there was a fierce, horrifying war in Hyrule. Link's mother was brutally wounded, and she couldn't bear to see her baby die. She fled across the land of Hyrule, seeking for a safe place for her baby boy to live.She found herself in a forest, full of children and faeries. She ran through the woods, past the kids, and found a massive, talking tree. She entrusted her boy to the tree, and then died shortly after.
Link grew up in Kokiri Forest, a land in the heart of Hyrule, where there lived children who never grew up. Every child also had a guardian faerie. The talking tree, called the Great Deku Tree, created each child and gave them life. The prophecy said that if a Kokiri left the woods, they would die. This didn't bother the kids who populated the forest. They were content in their little realm.
Except for Link.
His covet to see all of Hyrule grew every day, every hour, every minute. There was not a second that went by where he didn't wish to leave the forest.
His best friend was a Kokiri girl with bottle green hair named Saria. In fact, Saria was his only companion, it seemed. They shared secrets and thoughts, and often played in the Lost Woods, on never-ending quests for the adventure Link craved.
The other Kokiri didn't dislike Link. They had no reason to. He was kind and very obliging, always willing to do a favor and lend a hand. However, there was a boy named Mido that despised Link. Perhaps this was because Mido had a crush on Saria, and everyone knew that she had feelings for good, sweet Link.
Link stood out in the Kokiri crowd because he didn't have a faerie. No one spoke to him about this, but Saria knew it troubled him.
He had recurrent nightmares, horrible dreams that told in detail how Hyrule would die out. These reveries felt so real he would believe the next day that the dream had truly happened. Saria found herself talking him out of his believing. But she also knew that in her heart, Link was special. He was not a true Kokiri. Simple as that. But she didn't want to tell him this, because she knew he'd agree. And then he'd leave. She couldn't bear to see him go. Her love for him was deep, but not strong enough to let him go.
Then the day came where she had to. A faerie named Navi came to Link and explained to him that a blight was put on the Great Deku Tree, and he was dying. Link grabbed a wooden shield, and the minuscule Kokiri sword, then went out to slaughter the monsters that prowled within the Deku Tree. And he was victorious.
Close to death, the Deku Tree told Link to go to Hyrule Castle where the Princess Zelda lived to determine his true destiny. With his last words, the Tree gave Link the sacred Kokiri's Emerald, and dubbed him courageous. Then Link was on his way.
His good-bye to Saria was not as heartfelt as one would think. She gave him her precious faerie ocarina and ran off, back into the woods.
Link was in no hurry to get to the castle. He spent a glorious afternoon traipsing through the field, breathing in the sweet Hylian air. He reached the castle just as the drawbridge went up. Exhausted, he fell asleep under a tree. Early the next morning, he snuck past the guards into the castle, and met Princess Zelda.
No one, including Anju, was sure what Zelda had told him. All Anju knew was that Link had handled treasured items, like the Spiritual Stones (treasures of three of the Hylian races, Kokiri, Goron and Zora) and the seven Medallions (Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit and Light). He overpowered malevolence and saved Hyrule. Over the course of time, he and Zelda fell in love and married.
Not long after they wed, they gave birth to a daughter, Azaelia. Unfortunately, as Azaelia was born, so was evil. Desperately wanting her newborn daughter to be out of harm's way, Zelda, who was now a queen, fled to Termina. She gave her daughter to Leila, Anju's mother, and innkeeper of the Stock Pot Inn. Zelda didn't tell Leila who she was. She simply said that she'd return for the baby as soon as possible.
But what Zelda didn't know was that it would take many years to conquer all the wickedness that dwelled in Hyrule since Azaelia's birth. By the time Hyrule was peaceful again, Azaelia was eight and Anju was thirteen. Queen Zelda decided to leave Azaelia where she was. She had gotten used to her life, and the king and queen didn't want to ruin anything for her.
Leila didn't tell Azaelia she wasn't her true mother. Not because she wanted to protect the child, but because Leila was a spiteful woman. When Anju was young she didn't notice that her mother treated Azaelia differently. She started to become conscious of it when she was twenty and Azaelia was fifteen.
First she observed that even though Azaelia was part of her family, she had to rent a room in the inn. Anju and her mother shared a room that read 'Employee's Only' on the door. Azaelia wasn't permitted to go in there. In order to pay for her room, she worked many long, arduous hours for Leila. Nonetheless, she was always in high spirits, and she and Anju got along very well.
Next Anju noticed that Azaelia looked nothing like herself or her mother. Anju's red hair (which had darkened over the years) and hazel eyes were nothing like Azaelia's blonde-haired, blue-eyed perfection.
Soon enough, Anju couldn't bear to see her sister mistreated any longer. She wrote a letter to Queen Zelda:
Your Majesty,
My name is Anju, and I live in Termina, south of your homeland of Hyrule. I am sorry to bother at a time that must be inconvenient for you, but something is not right in my home, and I would like you to come and help out, if you have a few free days. Please reply quickly.
All my thanks, Anju
The Stock Pot Inn, East Clock Town, Termina
Less than a week later, Anju got a response:
Miss Anju,
King Link and I will be in town in approximately three days. We have some important matters to discuss with you and your family. See you soon.
Best wishes, Queen Zelda of Hyrule
The day before the king and queen arrived, Anju's then-fiancee, Kafei, went missing. He was known for vanishing at the most inconvenient times. He had done so several times before. Anju was brokenhearted, and many deduced that Kafei had run off to Romani Ranch where Anju's best friend, Cremia, worked. While Anju and Kafei had been dating, Cremia was regularly with the two of them, and there had been intense chemistry between her and Kafei. Though Kafei swore he loved Anju, she doubted it at times. However, not long before Kafei and Anju became engaged, Cremia's father died, and Cremia herself was left in charge of the ranch. She seldom came around anymore. Anju missed her best friend, but did not miss the insecurity she felt when Cremia and Kafei were together.
Azaelia made an effort to find Kafei, but was not succeeding. The day the king and queen pulled in, they were enforced to put the problem behind them and act as normal, happy Terminans.
Alas, the visit and news they received from Queen Zelda was not very ordinary. She told the family that Azaelia was not truly part of Anju's family. In fact, she was a princess!
After the initial shock, Azaelia said a tearful goodbye to her friends and family, and went to her homeland of Hyrule to commence her reign as princess. And now, she was coming home. Though Azaelia was truly a Hylian (she had the pointy ears as proof) she still referred to herself as a Terminan. She had stated in one letter to Anju, Your race is not determined by physical traits, but by the land you were raised in and love. For me, that land is Termina.
The day after Azaelia left, Kafei showed back up and told Anju he had been with Cremia for the few days he was gone. Anju remembered her shock all too well. For that pithy moment, their engagement was off. She wondered for a moment if the fact that she had gotten Kafei and Cremia hadn't was just luck. She hoped not.
The large clock that had given Clock Town it's name chimed six o'clock, evening time. A rush of excitement streamed through Anju as she snapped out of her recollections. She didn't want to relive the time where Kafei hadn't been hers. She wanted to live in the now, and take pleasure in her good friend and almost-sister's company. She knew Hyrule was north of Termina, so that was the direction the royal carriage would be coming from. The townspeople started walking into North Clock Town, anxious and eager about their guest's arrival. Anju trailed the others.
Once in North Clock Town, she settled on the slide the children used in the daytime. Kafei emerged from behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It is almost time," he implied. As the potential future mayor of Clock Town, Kafei was to greet the royals when they came. Anju wondered if Kafei wanted to be mayor. Every time she asked him, he reacted with a bitter "I don't know" or "I don't wanna talk about it." She had hopes for him, as did his mother and father. But what were his ambitions for himself? He hardly ever spoke of them. In fact, his most recent proclamation was "I want to have more variety in our cafeteria menu."
A sudden ripple of excitement passed over the crowd, pulling Anju down from the clouds. The clacking of horsehoofs on cement could be heard in the near distance, and then the spongy patter of the grass. After what seemed like eternity, the horses and coach came into view. One horse was the color of coffee, with a white mane, and the other was an auburn color, not quite the same as Anju's hair. She distinguished it as the king's stallion from his childhood, Epona. The carriage was a beautiful gold and seemed to sparkle.
The carriage halted in front of the townspeople. For a second nothing happened, and it was almost as though the royals were waiting for it to sink in to the people that they were there at last. Then the door opened.
By five o'clock, every preparation achievable was finished, and the Clock Town occupants filled the streets, chattering and laughing. Everyone wore their finest apparel, hoping to impress the royal family with their style. The four town areas, North, South, West and East, were trimmed intricately. Candles emitted shadows on the cement street pavement, and torches lit were high in the air, illuminating the skies while the sunlight could not. It was the ideal climate for a gala: warm enough to be comfortable without a jacket, but with an occasional cool, gentle breeze that saturated the atmosphere.
It was nearly nightfall now, and Anju stood outside, tasting a tangy, flavorful liquid she could not quite place. A blend of strawberries and pears, she figured. Kafei, her husband, socialized with Mutoh, the carptenter, while the shady owner of the Curiosity Shop looked on. Kafei was easy to spot in the crowd, with his shoulder length violet hair and crimson eyes. Anju was glad to say she was common-looking, like the others, with her simple ginger hair, cut shorter than Kafei's and gray eyes.
It was very obvious that the people had strived to look good tonight. Anju herself wore a scarlet dress trimmed in bullion thread, that fell to the ground. Some men wore their best suits and ties. It's a good thing there's no prince coming, Anju caught herself thinking. Or else there would be even more hype.
The Indigo-Go's were on the stage that had been set up outside only mere hours ago. Anju spotted Lulu practicing her scales. Japas was close at hand, strumming his bass. An uneasy look in his expression. In fact, all the band members looked terrified, except the guitarist, Mikau. He looked composed as he played a few notes on his intrument and conversed with the onlookers, who were mostly female.
Anju was pulled out of her thinking as a hand touched her shoulder. She turned. Luken stood there, grinning devilishly.
"Luken," Anju said, keeping an illusion of surprise in her tone, mixed with knowing. It was an abnormal combination, but Anju pulled it off perfectly. "I didn't expect you to show up."
"I didn't expect myself to show up," laughed the boy. "My mother told me I should do it out if respect for the royal family, even if I only stay an hour."
Anju nodded. "Who knows, maybe you'll even befriend the princess," she implied derisively.
"I doubt that," Luken shot back. "Royal princess," he scoffed. "More like royal snob!"
Anju shook her head sadly. "Luken, I would think a boy your age would have renounced from acting so juvenile by now!"
"I'm eighteen, Anju," Luken informed her.
Anju's expression didn't adjust at his statement. "I'm not much older than you," she said objectively.
"How old?" Luken grinned.
Anju's eyes flashed. "How old do you think?"
Luken sensed her fury and forced his smirk away. "Twenty-three is my guess."
Her face cooled down to some extent, and she turned away slightly. "Twenty- two."
Luken's cavernous brown eyes widened. "And how old is Kafei?"
Anju clenched her teeth. She had married young, she realized. Strange, she had never grasped this until now, when a boy younger than her and much less mature pointed it out. She was positive she was blushing. "Kafei is twenty- three," she told him in a quiet, discomforted voice.
Luken didn't reply. He stood there for a minute, not certain of what to say, when finally he heard his mother calling his name. "My mother's needs me," he explained to Anju. "Talk to you later." With that, he withdrew into the crowd.
When he was out of earshot, Anju sighed heavily and sat down in a chair, becoming lost in her thoughts again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. But this moment, she thought about Azaelia and her family.
Come to think of it, Queen Zelda, Azaelia's mother, had married when she was twenty, too, so Anju had no reason to be ashamed. And she'd promised Kafei she'd tie the knot with him when Anju was ten and Kafei was eleven. She was sure the queen hadn't done anything like that with King Link.
Memories flooded into Anju's mind.
She had been five years old when everything started, too young to remember much now. And much of what happened had been up north, in Hyrule, home of the royal family.
King Link was not born a prince. He was commoner. But, an extraordinary one. When he was two and the queen (who was a princess back then) was an infant, there was a fierce, horrifying war in Hyrule. Link's mother was brutally wounded, and she couldn't bear to see her baby die. She fled across the land of Hyrule, seeking for a safe place for her baby boy to live.She found herself in a forest, full of children and faeries. She ran through the woods, past the kids, and found a massive, talking tree. She entrusted her boy to the tree, and then died shortly after.
Link grew up in Kokiri Forest, a land in the heart of Hyrule, where there lived children who never grew up. Every child also had a guardian faerie. The talking tree, called the Great Deku Tree, created each child and gave them life. The prophecy said that if a Kokiri left the woods, they would die. This didn't bother the kids who populated the forest. They were content in their little realm.
Except for Link.
His covet to see all of Hyrule grew every day, every hour, every minute. There was not a second that went by where he didn't wish to leave the forest.
His best friend was a Kokiri girl with bottle green hair named Saria. In fact, Saria was his only companion, it seemed. They shared secrets and thoughts, and often played in the Lost Woods, on never-ending quests for the adventure Link craved.
The other Kokiri didn't dislike Link. They had no reason to. He was kind and very obliging, always willing to do a favor and lend a hand. However, there was a boy named Mido that despised Link. Perhaps this was because Mido had a crush on Saria, and everyone knew that she had feelings for good, sweet Link.
Link stood out in the Kokiri crowd because he didn't have a faerie. No one spoke to him about this, but Saria knew it troubled him.
He had recurrent nightmares, horrible dreams that told in detail how Hyrule would die out. These reveries felt so real he would believe the next day that the dream had truly happened. Saria found herself talking him out of his believing. But she also knew that in her heart, Link was special. He was not a true Kokiri. Simple as that. But she didn't want to tell him this, because she knew he'd agree. And then he'd leave. She couldn't bear to see him go. Her love for him was deep, but not strong enough to let him go.
Then the day came where she had to. A faerie named Navi came to Link and explained to him that a blight was put on the Great Deku Tree, and he was dying. Link grabbed a wooden shield, and the minuscule Kokiri sword, then went out to slaughter the monsters that prowled within the Deku Tree. And he was victorious.
Close to death, the Deku Tree told Link to go to Hyrule Castle where the Princess Zelda lived to determine his true destiny. With his last words, the Tree gave Link the sacred Kokiri's Emerald, and dubbed him courageous. Then Link was on his way.
His good-bye to Saria was not as heartfelt as one would think. She gave him her precious faerie ocarina and ran off, back into the woods.
Link was in no hurry to get to the castle. He spent a glorious afternoon traipsing through the field, breathing in the sweet Hylian air. He reached the castle just as the drawbridge went up. Exhausted, he fell asleep under a tree. Early the next morning, he snuck past the guards into the castle, and met Princess Zelda.
No one, including Anju, was sure what Zelda had told him. All Anju knew was that Link had handled treasured items, like the Spiritual Stones (treasures of three of the Hylian races, Kokiri, Goron and Zora) and the seven Medallions (Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit and Light). He overpowered malevolence and saved Hyrule. Over the course of time, he and Zelda fell in love and married.
Not long after they wed, they gave birth to a daughter, Azaelia. Unfortunately, as Azaelia was born, so was evil. Desperately wanting her newborn daughter to be out of harm's way, Zelda, who was now a queen, fled to Termina. She gave her daughter to Leila, Anju's mother, and innkeeper of the Stock Pot Inn. Zelda didn't tell Leila who she was. She simply said that she'd return for the baby as soon as possible.
But what Zelda didn't know was that it would take many years to conquer all the wickedness that dwelled in Hyrule since Azaelia's birth. By the time Hyrule was peaceful again, Azaelia was eight and Anju was thirteen. Queen Zelda decided to leave Azaelia where she was. She had gotten used to her life, and the king and queen didn't want to ruin anything for her.
Leila didn't tell Azaelia she wasn't her true mother. Not because she wanted to protect the child, but because Leila was a spiteful woman. When Anju was young she didn't notice that her mother treated Azaelia differently. She started to become conscious of it when she was twenty and Azaelia was fifteen.
First she observed that even though Azaelia was part of her family, she had to rent a room in the inn. Anju and her mother shared a room that read 'Employee's Only' on the door. Azaelia wasn't permitted to go in there. In order to pay for her room, she worked many long, arduous hours for Leila. Nonetheless, she was always in high spirits, and she and Anju got along very well.
Next Anju noticed that Azaelia looked nothing like herself or her mother. Anju's red hair (which had darkened over the years) and hazel eyes were nothing like Azaelia's blonde-haired, blue-eyed perfection.
Soon enough, Anju couldn't bear to see her sister mistreated any longer. She wrote a letter to Queen Zelda:
Your Majesty,
My name is Anju, and I live in Termina, south of your homeland of Hyrule. I am sorry to bother at a time that must be inconvenient for you, but something is not right in my home, and I would like you to come and help out, if you have a few free days. Please reply quickly.
All my thanks, Anju
The Stock Pot Inn, East Clock Town, Termina
Less than a week later, Anju got a response:
Miss Anju,
King Link and I will be in town in approximately three days. We have some important matters to discuss with you and your family. See you soon.
Best wishes, Queen Zelda of Hyrule
The day before the king and queen arrived, Anju's then-fiancee, Kafei, went missing. He was known for vanishing at the most inconvenient times. He had done so several times before. Anju was brokenhearted, and many deduced that Kafei had run off to Romani Ranch where Anju's best friend, Cremia, worked. While Anju and Kafei had been dating, Cremia was regularly with the two of them, and there had been intense chemistry between her and Kafei. Though Kafei swore he loved Anju, she doubted it at times. However, not long before Kafei and Anju became engaged, Cremia's father died, and Cremia herself was left in charge of the ranch. She seldom came around anymore. Anju missed her best friend, but did not miss the insecurity she felt when Cremia and Kafei were together.
Azaelia made an effort to find Kafei, but was not succeeding. The day the king and queen pulled in, they were enforced to put the problem behind them and act as normal, happy Terminans.
Alas, the visit and news they received from Queen Zelda was not very ordinary. She told the family that Azaelia was not truly part of Anju's family. In fact, she was a princess!
After the initial shock, Azaelia said a tearful goodbye to her friends and family, and went to her homeland of Hyrule to commence her reign as princess. And now, she was coming home. Though Azaelia was truly a Hylian (she had the pointy ears as proof) she still referred to herself as a Terminan. She had stated in one letter to Anju, Your race is not determined by physical traits, but by the land you were raised in and love. For me, that land is Termina.
The day after Azaelia left, Kafei showed back up and told Anju he had been with Cremia for the few days he was gone. Anju remembered her shock all too well. For that pithy moment, their engagement was off. She wondered for a moment if the fact that she had gotten Kafei and Cremia hadn't was just luck. She hoped not.
The large clock that had given Clock Town it's name chimed six o'clock, evening time. A rush of excitement streamed through Anju as she snapped out of her recollections. She didn't want to relive the time where Kafei hadn't been hers. She wanted to live in the now, and take pleasure in her good friend and almost-sister's company. She knew Hyrule was north of Termina, so that was the direction the royal carriage would be coming from. The townspeople started walking into North Clock Town, anxious and eager about their guest's arrival. Anju trailed the others.
Once in North Clock Town, she settled on the slide the children used in the daytime. Kafei emerged from behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It is almost time," he implied. As the potential future mayor of Clock Town, Kafei was to greet the royals when they came. Anju wondered if Kafei wanted to be mayor. Every time she asked him, he reacted with a bitter "I don't know" or "I don't wanna talk about it." She had hopes for him, as did his mother and father. But what were his ambitions for himself? He hardly ever spoke of them. In fact, his most recent proclamation was "I want to have more variety in our cafeteria menu."
A sudden ripple of excitement passed over the crowd, pulling Anju down from the clouds. The clacking of horsehoofs on cement could be heard in the near distance, and then the spongy patter of the grass. After what seemed like eternity, the horses and coach came into view. One horse was the color of coffee, with a white mane, and the other was an auburn color, not quite the same as Anju's hair. She distinguished it as the king's stallion from his childhood, Epona. The carriage was a beautiful gold and seemed to sparkle.
The carriage halted in front of the townspeople. For a second nothing happened, and it was almost as though the royals were waiting for it to sink in to the people that they were there at last. Then the door opened.