Hey, guys. Sorry again for the delay in getting this chapter out. I won't be posting at all during the President's Day weekend because I'm going away, but when I get back I will try to post again. Thanks for your patience, and please review.
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Oracle
Talk resumed again about the home of my people. Impa asked them if the castle town had been destroyed along with the palace.
"I believe the castle town is untouched, as of now," reported the shopkeeper of the Bazarr, a store that sold weapons and supplies. "I was one of the last to evacuate, after finishing some business within my shop. By that point the castle was destroyed, but things seemed to have quieted down a bit."
Impa considered this. "And the fate of the Temple of Time?" she asked the crowd.
The Bazarr shopkeeper and some of the guards shook their heads. "We've no idea."
"I see." Impa paced a bit, staring at the ground, a thoughtful gleam in her eye. The villagers and the Hylians watched her silently. Suddenly she seemed to think of something; she glanced up. "Has anyone seen Rauru? The temple caretaker? Did he evacuate with you?"
I looked at Impa in surprise. Concern over the temple itself I understood, but why would she be worried about the strange old man who cared for it?
"Rauru did not evacuate with the rest of his kingdom," said a harsh voice, cracked with age, beside me. "He remains safely in his temple."
I glanced to my left; Impa, I knew, was doing the same. There at my elbow, between the Kakarikan headman and me, stood a tiny old woman barely my height. Her hair was snow white, her face covered in wrinkles like folds of leather. Gnarled hands clutched the handle of a rough wooden cane.
"You may as well all go back to your castle town," the old woman said, staring at the crowd. "It will be safe for another four years, at least. Eventually darkness with consume it, as it will all of Hyrule, but you will certainly have enough time to set your affairs in order and move away."
Whispers and murmers swept through the crowd; the Hylians were considering the woman's statement.
I felt Impa tense behind me, and distinctly heard her mutter, "Oracle."
The old woman turned to look up at Impa with eyes of a milky white. "Yes, Sheikah," she said stiffly. "I possess the Sight."
I blinked. "Sight? What sight? Pardon me for saying so, ma'am, but you look very blind."
The woman turned her blank, milky eyes to me. Her lips twisted in what could have a wry smile. "The princess has too much curiosity," she announced. "And little tact."
I scowled. "And you are not very polite, grandmother."
"Hush," Impa said, placing a hand on my shoulder and pulling me back to stand beside her. She bowed to the old woman. "Oracle, far-seeing and wise, I am of the Sheikah, as you have perceived. To my people a prophet is born every generation. Do you possess Sheikah blood?"
The oracle shook her head. "No. The goddesses give the Sight to who they will, not merely the Sheikah. I have been oracle since the day I was born. What do you wish to ask me?"
Impa seemed to suddenly become aware that everyone, Hylian and Kakarikan, were staring at the two women with curiosity and fascination. "May we speak in private, Oracle?" she asked the old seer.
Everyone in the watching crowd suddenly found something to do with their hands. The oracle nodded and walked some paces away from the village square, headed toward the well, as Impa and I followed.
"Perhaps the young one should go and play," the oracle growled when she reached the well, thumping her cane on the ground.
"I will not," I snapped. "I want to know what happened-"
"Be quiet, Zelda," Impa interrupted.
The oracle waved a hand. "Do not silence her. If she wishes to hear what I have to say so badly, she may do so." The woman fixed her blind stare on me. "Your kingdom is fated for complete destruction, little princess."
I remained silent for several moments, my shaking hands clenched into fists. "I don't believe you," I said at last, very softly.
"I do not ask for your belief." The oracle turned to Impa. "You wish to know what happened last night, when you fled the castle. I do not know much. My vision in this is hazy. However, I can tell you one thing for certain." The woman took a breath, looking very grim. "The Sacred Realm has been breached."
"What?!" Impa shrieked, her composure lost in one of those rare moments. I, on the other hand, was stunned into silence.
"Ganondorf took the Triforce of Power. He is going to destroy Hyrule."
Impa hid her face in shaking hands. "Please," she whispered, sounding close to tears. "Please, goddesses, shadows. Don't let it be true."
"It is true," the oracle said harshly. "Hyrule is doomed."
"How, dammit?" Impa demanded. "How the hell did it happen?"
"This I do not know."
Impa began pacing once more, running a hand over her head. "And the Temple of Time?"
"It remains. The caretaker resides within it." The oracle hesitated, then added, "The night that you fled the castle, the goddesses descended to earth. They blessed the Temple of Time and made it sacred land, on which no evil may tread."
This caught Impa's attention, and mine. Jerked out of my numbed trance, I stared at the oracle. "Why?" I demanded.
"I don't know."
"No wonder Rauru is staying," Impa muttered. "He's safe in there." Suddenly she looked at me; an odd, thoughtful gleam was present in her blood-red eyes. I stared up at her, wondering what she was thinking.
"One more thing, Sheikah woman," said the oracle, drawing Impa's attention and mine back to her. "You will be called upon very soon. It is time for you to join the shadows."
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Continued in Chapter 7: Sage