With Eyes to the Heavens
Chapter V
Link slept fitfully that night, his dreams ravaged with horrifying visions of Ganondorf at the height of his power, filling the once quiet and beautiful land of Hyrule with his cruelty and his hatred. A sea of it… waves of it… where were you, Hero, my Hero… good men were dying while you slept…
Leilani shared space in his dreams with Ganondorf, her large, olive green eye following him from shadowed corners, peering at him in anger and, he thought, some measure of remorse. He wanted desperately to talk to her or to touch her face, but words would never come and his hands were frozen. His tongue was caught in his throat. He was completely mute.
He awoke abruptly that morning, feeling vaguely disoriented and lost in his large bed, ill at ease, his head filled with the memory of his friend's severe eye and her gentle smile. She wasn't beautiful. That was why he had liked her. You could never relax around the beautiful ones, like Zelda, or Malon. Even Ruto, to some extent.
Leilani was quite unpopular and infamous within the borders of Hyrule. She had a bit of an unfavorable reputation, people insisting that she was a kept woman, a concubine of sorts. Link knew that the rumors about her disloyalty and tendency to beguile married men were not entirely untrue. She was currently living with a lover of hers named Lesyo, a Hylian demagogue infamous for his rather bigoted, anti-monarchist rants and adulterous tendencies.
Link had seen her last at one of Malon's crazy drug parties, where she had revealed that she was pregnant with Lesyo's spawn and living with the famous orator in a quaint little house in Kakariko. The thought of Lesyo's toxic seed repulsed Link, but apparently Leilani enjoyed his company and thought that his daughter would be just as charming as he was.
She had actually seemed happy, or at least as happy as he could ever imagine miserable Leilani. She had claimed to be in love with Lesyo, more in love than ever before in her life. Link hadn't believed her. He had, after all, heard her say those words fifty times about fifty different men.
A hot topic of debate was how Leilani had seduced her current prey. Not with good looks, that was obvious to everyone. It might have been her incredible talent with the harpsichord that stunned Lesyo, since he was a musician himself. That wasn't to say she wasn't beautiful in her own right, however. Link knew that she was, but it wasn't the simple, easily-appreciated beauty of a sunset or of Zelda's golden hair and china blue eyes. It was the beauty of death, or of a cloudy sky. It was a beauty that required thought. It wasn't acknowledged until you really looked at the depth of that incredible eye, or the way her frizzy brown hair glinted red in the sunlight.
He lay on his back, the silk sheets twisted around his legs, and thought about his friend with a sad smile. He missed Leilani. He missed their easy laughter, the way they used to make fun of the vain, incompetent bureaucrats that ran the country and the short-sighted decisions they made. She didn't need him for that now, though, since she was living with Lesyo. She had Lesyo, who was fuming about their stupidity every waking moment.
Did she ever think of him like this, scorning his friendship with… Bîlítõ, perhaps? Possibly when she felt alone and was frightened about the future?
Presumably no, seeing as whenever she woke up in bed, Lesyo was waking up beside her, ready to talk his trash and spout his crap into her eager, accepting ears. She didn't have time to think about her long lost friend and their long lost friendship, remembered from their days as awkward teens. She was too busy with that stupid revolutionary ass, who would "take her far" apparently.
Link could never explain why he hated Lesyo so much, not even to himself. He wasn't a particularly threatening man, with his scrawny frame, unpleasant little beard, and head of rust-colored hair. Link thought he looked rather comic, but try telling that to Leilani. She thought he was the greatest thing to happen to Hyrule since the Great Peace. Maybe she was in love. It was quite amusing actually, to think of that incredible woman, who had carved herself a niche as the first female, non-Gerudu assassin in Hyrule, standing beside that washout at the altar.
Funny, and a little bit sickening. Maybe for once Leilani hadn't been the one to do the debauching.
"Link?" he heard Bîlítõ whisper from the doorway. Link closed his eyes in apprehension, remembering the conversation of the previous night. Was that another friendship he had forced into the mud, all because of his dishonesty and guile?
"Hey, you douche bag… are you awake?" Bîlítõ said, his voice louder and more insistent this time. That was more normal, the teasing banter in his tone directed at his friend. But there was still some reservation apparent. Had Rauru spoken to him, perhaps? Explained the necessity of their actions?
"I am now, you stupid ass," Link hissed, not opening his eyes. "Couldn't you let me sleep in for once?"
Bîlítõ laughed, but the reluctance, though hidden beneath his mockery of good cheer, was apparent in it.
"Oh come on. Wake up. Rauru wants to speak to us. You're going to have to get up a lot earlier than this when you go and fight Zosime."
Link sat up suddenly, glowering at Bîlítõ.
"I'm not going to fight her, Bîlítõ," he snapped, flipping a shock of blonde out of his face. "I'm just going to see if I can take out some of her support. Destroy the reputation of anyone who wants to help her."
"Whatever," Bîlítõ said defensively. "You're the Hero. I'm just the lousy side kick/village idiot/comic relief. Don't worry about me."
Link felt vastly guilty immediately after Bîlítõ spoke, seeing the hurt on his friend's face, but more than that he was angry. His rage wasn't aimed at Bîlítõ entirely, but a good part of it was. He was sick of self-blame. He had been doing it for years. He didn't need accusations from Bîlítõ, too.
"Listen to me, and listen carefully," Link spat, standing up suddenly and glowering at Bîlítõ. He was aware that he had fallen asleep in his clothes, which was unlike him. "Do you think I liked lying to you? I thought you would understand-"
"I understand," Bîlítõ said softly. "You didn't think I could be trusted, did you? You thought I would run off and tell anyone and everyone. Thanks, Link, thanks. Don't you think I'd realize when, someday, someone called on you to… I don't know… pose for a portrait for the Temple or something?"
"I couldn't tell anyone!" Link yelled, his face twisted with rage and pain. "Stop wallowing in self-pity for a minute and think about it! Would you have believed me?"
"No," Bîlítõ shouted back, his dark hands clenched into fists. "But at least you would have been honest."
"What in Heaven and Hell are you two doing?" someone said in a stage whisper. Link glanced past Bîlítõ, his eyes falling on Rauru. Bîlítõ cringed and glanced over his shoulder.
"We were talking," Link said sullenly, hating himself all the more for being so immature.
"Talking?! You call that talking?!" Rauru demanded, chuckling ruefully and shaking his white head. "I call it creating ruckus. But tell me… what has happened to turn two best-friends against each other, and so quickly as well! Why just last night, weren't you telling me that you owed Link everything, Bîlítõ?"
Bîlítõ didn't seem to know how to respond to this. For a moment, the only sound in Link's loft was that of the milkman outside, singing to himself while his horse's hooves clapped against the frozen cobblestone ground. Bîlítõ broke the silence at last, heaving a sigh and staring at Link, his black eyes sad and bitter. But there was wisdom there too. Wisdom that had come at a great cost.
"You lied to me, Link. Whether you did it because of me, or you did it because of you… well, either way you lied, didn't you?"
"I hated to do it, Bîlítõ," Link began to plead. "You're my friend. If there was any other way, believe me-"
"You don't have to explain, Link," Bîlítõ said gently, cutting him off with an unhappy grin. "I… I'm kind of… it doesn't matter, anyway. Rauru's right. I owe you my life. You gave me life. I have one last favor to ask of you, though, before I forgive you."
"What, Bîlítõ?" Link said, smiling a little.
"Will you let me give my life meaning?" Bîlítõ murmured, lowering his eyes to the floor.
It took Link a moment to realize what he meant. He gaped at his friend, his blue eyes wide with shock.
"Are you saying… saying you want to help me? Because if you are…"
Bîlítõ nodded, his usual cheery self returning. "I do. Come on, man. It'll be an adventure."
"An adventure, certainly," Rauru said, his face serious. "But I fear that you don't fully understand the weight of this task."
"Task?!" Bîlítõ said with a carefree wave. "Come on, Rauru. What sort of task? Rescue a beautiful princess?"
"A beautiful, married Queen, more likely," Rauru said irritably. "But we shan't know for sure until we meet with the council of Sages."
Bîlítõ blanched. Link was sure that the idea of a roomful of Raurus was more than he liked to think about early in the morning.
Link yawned and stretched, surprisingly relaxed. "What time is it?"
Bîlítõ seemed nervous. "Six thirty," he said, ignoring Link's glower.
"Six thirty?! I'm going back to sleep," Link muttered, sitting back down on the bed.
"No, you are not," Rauru announced. "We have a meeting with someone in Zora's Domain." Rauru smiled maliciously, a frightening sight. "I think she'll be happy to see you."
"Ruto! No!"
Bîlítõ laughed. "And on the way, I have a meeting with someone. I must head to the Carro Berto."
"Ixchelia," Link muttered. Bîlítõ beamed. Rauru scowled.
"No detours," he said angrily. "I hope to be there by sundown. Time is short. You two don't seem to understand quite how short."
Well hello! See, see? It's long…. Haha! Review, please! I hoped you liked it!