Woot! New chapter! No writer's block or depression anymore! (As I said, it was probably hormonal.) Well, you should all be happy to know that this story seems to be traveling in a solid, steady direction. I more or less have the upcoming chapters planned out. There's still some middle stuff I have to figure out, but all in all I'm pretty good.
Um, how many chapters? I'm sure people are wondering. Erhm...this is thirteen, ne? So I figure if all goes as planned...*is counting backwards now*...about ten or more from this chapter onwards. So expect twenty plus. Now this is of course keeping in mind that the chapters are all pretty short (and yes, they will continue to be short) so the story itself isn't as long as, say, The Triforce United.
I'll stop boring you now, and continue the Hime Note at the end of the chapter (yup, more to talk about!). Read, review, enjoy, etc.
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Chapter 13
Book
Barely a day passed before a new lizard-creature appeared on the grounds of the Temple of Time.
"I'll have to put an enchantment on the grounds, I think," Rauru said as he casually slaughtered the thing with a small sword. (I was allowed to watch from the temple's threshold.) "Mine won't be strong enough to keep Ganondorf away, but at least it'll spare us these annoyances."
A choked gasp escaped the throat of the lizard as Rauru coolly twisted the sword further into its back. Moments before, he'd simply snuck up behind it, making no noise on the damp morning grass, and plunged the sword between its shoulder blades. The creature slid lifelessly to the ground as Rauru turned to me, his hands covered in dark blood. I stared at him, torn between fascination and horror.
Rauru paused to wash his hands and the sword in a trough beside the temple before entering. I shrank away instinctively.
"How can you do that?" I struggled to keep my voice calm.
"It's what I used to do" was the reply.
"Kill things?"
Rauru snorted. "Of course not. I was a soldier in the king's army, back in my day."
Oh, goddesses, I thought. I'd heard this before. Any moment he was going to launch into "when I was your age…"
But Rauru left it at that, and went to deposit the sword in the tiny library under the temple. Intrigued, I followed him.
"I thought you'd always been a priest," I remarked, sitting on the top step of the ladder that led to the library.
"Not always," Rauru said as he opened a wooden chest gilded with iron and placed the sword inside. Peering over his shoulder, I just glimpsed a multitude of weapons, daggers and swords and even a bow, before the chest snapped shut. "My troop rode around the field in peaceful times, making sure the law was followed. In wartime, we did stealth fighting." He paused for a moment and turned to me, eyes thoughtful. "That was long before your time."
"Did you serve under my father?"
"Oh, yes." I stood back as Rauru climbed out of the library, panting with the effort of straining his old limbs. "He was very young in those days. We all were. Your father married old, you know."
I did know. Most people in Hyrule married at older ages.
"Rauru, when did you meet Impa?" I asked, remembering what Rauru had said about knowing her at a young age.
Rauru frowned in memory. "Oh- I must have been twelve, maybe. Pretty young. She just showed up at the kingdom one day looking for work, and she was only eleven or twelve herself. She was slaving away over the palace laundry when I first saw her. It was a long time before she gained any status in the kingdom." Rauru shook his head, his eyes darkening slightly. "People didn't like her. She was a Sheikah, you know, and she had the strangest eyes you ever saw and a very quiet demeanor. She got into a lot of fights too, with the local lads."
I scowled. That sounded just like my kingdom today- no scuffles, maybe, but plenty of gossip.
"The king almost threw her out, too," Rauru went on. "Said it was causing too much trouble, having her there. But then there was the Goron War, and the Battle of Death Mountain's Feet-"
"The one where my father and his troops were ambushed by Goron warriors?" I interrupted. Rauru stared at me, eyebrows raised. "Oh- I do a lot of reading," I added sheepishly.
"Imagine a princess reading about wars," Rauru said wickedly as I blushed. "And yes, that was the one. Impa saw it that morning after your father had rode out, and she wouldn't shut up until a squad went out after 'em. They found the king and his men outnumbered five to one. Needless to say, if Impa hadn't said anything, your father would probably have died."
I stared at him, wide-eyed. "I never knew that!"
"Most people don't. They kept it pretty quiet. The whole thing was just plain weird- I mean, Impa saw it happen right in front of her eyes before the king and his men had even reached Death Mountain. That kind of thing doesn't attract good attention."
"But she's Sheikah," I said, confused. "They see all sorts of things."
"And who do you know that likes the Sheikah?" Rauru said bluntly. "No, better that the whole episode be hushed up. Even so, Impa rose highly in the king's favor after that, as you can imagine."
"Where did Impa come from, anyway? Where was her clan?"
Rauru shook his head. "I've no idea. Didn't she ever talk to you about her past?"
"Never," I denied truthfully. "I asked and asked, but she refused to say a word."
"Hm," Rauru said, frowning. Abruptly he turned from me and went back down the ladder to the library. I listened to him rummaging around below the library for a few moments, then abruptly he emerged once more, a thin book clutched in one hand.
"In my life as a scholar and priest, this is the only book I've ever come across about the Sheikah," Rauru announced, handing the book to me. I stared at its dull, dusty surface, on which a simple titled was written: Historie of Sheikah. I opened it and began skimming pages.
"But wouldn't you know- it's written in some strange language," Rauru added. "I've never been able to read it, no better than anyone else-"
I glanced up at him, startled. "What are talking about? I can read it perfectly."
Rauru stared at me. "You what?" He snatched the book back and stared at it.
"I can read it," I repeated dumbly, confused. "I was just reading a section about the very first-"
"Do you have Sheikah blood?" Rauru demanded, interrupting me.
"What?" I cried, shocked. "Goddesses, no!"
Rauru placed the book in my hands once more and jabbed a finger at the first section on the first page. "Read it," he commanded.
I had to swallow several times before I mustered up enough voice to do so. "'Thus herein the first in the line of Sages records the memories of her people, the Sheikah, the Thousand-Year-Ones, born of shadow in a time before the goddesses themselves.'"
Rauru grabbed the book again and snapped it shut. "I don't want you reading it anymore," he said shortly, tossing the book unceremoniously down into the library. There was a dull thud as it hit the floor.
"Why not?" I demanded, frowning.
"Princess, reading a book that no one else can decipher is never a good sign." Now he was hauling the stone that covered the entrance to the library back in place, severing my access to the book. "Did anyone ever teach you a Sheikah language?"
"No."
Rauru straightened with a small groan and wiped his brow, gazing closely at me. "Then mark my words, and keep away from it. That book is dangerous."
Dangerous. By the goddesses, it was just a book. But Rauru would hear none of my arguments, and that was that.
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As weeks passed and our supplies dwindled, Rauru began foraging outside the temple. Being quite the recluse in his old age, Rauru never enjoyed these excursions much, but they were necessary. Between two people, one of them experiencing the pains of growth, the meager store of food in the temple was in short demand. Rauru began visiting the market once or twice a week for an excess of food, though he never allowed me to eat more than I absolutely needed.
"Believe me, princess, you'll be glad that I made you ration in a few years or so," Rauru told me gravely. "People are already moving out of the castle town, and when they're all gone where will we get our food?"
After that I understood that he was storing, for my sake, and so I tried not to complain when I was hungry. Rauru ate little, and Link didn't need any food at all. Surely I could survive on rations.
My thoughts dwelt on the Sheikah book. I could not move the stone over the library myself -it was too heavy- so I seized my chance one day when Rauru had the library open to finish cleaning it. He'd gone outside for water from the well when I went and grabbed the book, scrambled out, and hid it under Link's sleeping form. Rauru never moved him, or touched him for that matter, so I knew the book was safe.
When Rauru went for food or other supplies to add to our store, I seated myself next to Link and delved into the secrets of the book.
It was not at all like a normal history book. For one thing, it went backwards. It started with the most recent memories of the Sheikah and traveled back through their past, back through the oldest of their memories.
It surprised me to learn that the book began with the extinction of the Hyrulean Sheikah. They had died centuries ago, everyone knew that. And according to the book, they had been the last clan born, though not the last clan dead. Others lived on, in places beyond Hyrule, and they were ancient clans. There was old blood in the Sheikah line. I was beginning to understand the title thousand-year-ones.
The book never made it quite clear how the Hyrulean clan died. "To shadow they were born, and to shadow they returned" was all it said. It spoke not of their lives, either, nor of their behavior and way of living. Instead it spoke of their worship of shadow and blood and death, broken constantly with hymns and prayers exalting shadow. Finally the section on the Hyrulean Sheikah ended with this passage,
"Hence were the Sheikah born, in the first day of the first year of Hyrule's life, a nightfall after the goddesses poured their essence on Hyrule, thus creating light, and shadows."
The sections following spoke of every clan of Sheikah that had ever lived. Every section was the same- it listed their time of birth and death (unless they remained yet alive), and their location, then went on to their lives under the shadows. I felt like the book was in a different language, in a way- I understood every word, and yet I understood none of it. Who are the Sheikah? This question remained unanswered for me. The secrets of the shadow people remained just out of my grasp, untouchable, unattainable.
Months passed in the temple. I was steadily growing paler, weaker. I ate little and spoke less. Seeing the sun was no longer of importance to me. Every moment I could, every moment Rauru was not there, I was seated on the Pedestal of Time next to Link, reading the book.
Six months soon passed since my imprisonment within the temple. So absorbed was I in the book that I hardly noticed how the time had flown. One day, when Rauru was yet again out foraging and I was yet again absolved in the book, I suddenly realized that I loathed the Sheikah.
The feeling surprised me. I had never really hated anyone before- disliked people, or groups of people, but never hated them. Yet the Sheikah- I loathed them with a passion that was impossible to ignore. They were a horrible, horrible people. A people so immersed in shadow that to them, death was more important than life. Why the goddesses had chosen the first Sage of Shadow, of whom this book was authored, to be the very first sage was beyond me. Why the goddesses had allowed the birth of the Sheikah in the first place, was beyond me.
Right in the middle of the book, quite out of place, was what I suppose one could call a family tree of the Sheikah. Or a forest, anyway. Each clan was its own tree- clans were classified according to their location, and listed were the names of each Sheikah born to that clan. The Hyrulean Sheikah had the smallest number- only six names.
Scanning a clan that had resided in a land to the west of Hyrule, I found this name: Impa. The coldest of chills went up my spine as my eyes lighted upon that name. According to the sections I had read before, this book had been written and finished over a century before Impa could possibly have been born, and yet there she was. My mind refused to consider the logical argument that this was another Impa- I simply knew it was her, my Impa, my nursemaid.
That was the day I closed Historie of Sheikah. I quietly went to the library, discarded it in the midst of a pile of books, and vowed never to read it again.
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Continued in Chapter 14: Lesson
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Hime Note Continued-
Okee, so, what do we think? Good chapter? I still got it? ^_^;; Hopin' so.
Yesh, I know, this chapter mostly involved a book. But bear with me, loyal readers. The book's an inspired thing and it does have significance, and it'll make an appearance later in the story. Believe me, these chapters in the middle here (the ones between those BIG events) all have significance. There's a lot of themes that are going to come back to haunt our young heroine, or otherwise lead to one of those BIG events. I have this story so well mapped! *happy dance*
*WARNING* Stupid promo *WARNING*- The author of this story has recently discovered that she likes receiving e-mail from her readers. Like chatting up your fanfic authors? Got something to get off your chest? Want to tell her what a dork she is? Then e-mail at xlilyofharmonyx@aol.com and talk about whatever you want! Personal replies guaranteed!
...Yeah, so, I'm in a weird mood today. ^_^;; Can you tell? Actually, the truth is that I've been Watase-ized. Anyone ever read her? Yuu Watase? She's the famous manga artist/author behind Fushigi Yuugi and Ceres: Celestial Legend. If you haven't read her stuff you definitely should, because it's very entertaining. And in her mangas she always writes little side notes, which I love reading, and have inspired me to write this. (Will this become a serial thing? Please, God, noooo!!!)
Well maybe not, because I've already run out of things to talk about. But remind me, loyal readers, to talk about the Sheikah sometime because I find them very interesting. I just don't want to bore you to death right now. Oh and hey, share your ideas on Zelda related things in your reviews and e-mails! Your comments might make it into future chat sections (seriously!).
Please forgive the ramble.
Your sincere and silly resident fanfic author,
Hime