Love and Sorrow
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Chapter 1 – Banishment
Zelda stood with her face against the glass of her bedroom window, her tears slowly rolling down her face. She had been in her room for almost two days now, and she was cold, tired, and very hungry. Those were things one should never experience in such a luxurious and opulent place as Hyrule Castle, but Zelda could not bear to leave her room and face her father again. To a commoner, Zelda's bedroom would have appeared heavenly, with large windows overlooking the lands of Hyrule, an elaborately designed velvety carpet, and a thick, plush bed that seemed to assure whoever slept in it a divine and blissful night's rest. But she had grown too used to such things. There was little happiness or comfort to be found in luxury when one felt lonely or heartsick.
The reason for all her despair was something that had happened almost twelve years ago, when she was but a small child. In accordance with Hylian tradition, she had been betrothed to a prince upon her fifth year of age. The marriage had been arranged for her father, the king, to secure a trade deal with the neighboring kingdom of Kalendra. The Kalendrians held vast riches of iron and copper, which the Hylian army desperately needed for arms and weapons. Their monarch offered to sell Hyrule whatever it needed, provided that the Hylian king's daughter would marry the Kalendrian king's son on her eighteenth birthday. So from that day forth, Zelda's fate was sealed. At age five she was too young to understand, and as she grew older her marriage seemed like something far off and distant. However, when she turned fifteen, there were murmurs of matrimony in her life, and now the prospect of her wedding seemed ominous and frightening, like a far-away storm on the horizon. Zelda did not want to marry even if it was gravely important to the kingdom, for she did not see herself as an item to bartered and haggled over. Her father ignored her protests, telling her she was becoming a woman, and it was "a woman's duty" to find a respectable husband, and the prince of Kalendra was as respectable as they came. But Zelda found it so offensive that anymore would dare tell her whom she must marry, so she remained steadfast and obstinate in her refusal. A small part of her wanted her to marry, for she had no friends in Hyrule Castle and was dreadfully lonely. Zelda, however, knew that she would be little more than a trophy to her husband. There were times she wanted nothing more than to be loved and cared about, but Zelda had little concept of "love" in her life. Her misery had been consummate and everlasting throughout her years, even when she was just a child, but now only the pain and sadness remained, with the innocence of childhood but a fading dream.
Two days ago, when all this had started, her husband-to-be had finally arrived at Hyrule Castle. Everyone in the castle was preparing for their spectacular wedding. At least two hundred noblemen and foreign figures of royalty would be in attendance, and the resulting celebration and revelry would last for days. Life in the nearby Castle Town would cease that day, for the marriage of the Princess of Hyrule was far more important than their petty lives. The best bakers, chefs, and artisans were summoned to prepare a monstrous feast for all invited, and there would be much music, dancing, singing, and rejoicing throughout all the land. It had been two days ago when her father had walked up to her bedroom door and asked her to come downstairs and meet the groom. Zelda had in a very sour mood that day, and she had screamed back at her father that she would rather burn in the fires of hell for all eternity than marry that man. It had escalated from then on, with Zelda and father screaming at each other through the door. She had not left her room since, save to quietly get a drink on occasion. Her wedding was supposed to have been yesterday, but she would still not leave her room, no matter how much her father pounded on the door and hollered for her to come out. The king tried to knock down the door, but Zelda had barricaded the massive slab of oak with chairs and a table. She had remained defiant through the first day, but now she was terribly hungry and just wanted to come out.
It was as she was gazing out the window at the rainy night sky that she heard a gentle knock on her door. Zelda wanted to shout "leave me alone!" but something stopped her. "What do you want?" she asked bitterly.
"Your highness, your father wishes to speak with you. The wedding has been cancelled." It was one of the castle guards.
Zelda wanted to believe that so much, but she feared for a moment that the guards might grab her and force her into marriage. But that was silly thought, so she quietly wiped away the last of her tears and began pulling away her makeshift barricades. Nervously opening the door, Zelda quietly stepped into the darkened halls of the castle. The two guards nodded their heads and led her off downstairs, to the grand hall of the castle where her father awaited.
The grand hall was the very center of power in Hyrule. It was a large, cross-shaped room, with a high ceiling supported by graceful arched supports. Upon one wall were murals depicting grand moments in the history of Hyrule, and on them bore magnificent paintings of the kings of old. A long red carpet ran from the castle entrance to the throne itself, and beside it sat beautiful marble statues of the previous kings. It was designed and built to impress and frighten visitors, but like everything else in Hyrule Castle, Zelda had become too accustomed to it for her to notice. Her father, the king, sat on a throne at one end, usually surrounded by his royal advisers, but today he was alone. This was the hall where she was to be married, where hundreds of guests would come to see her final humiliation. Pathetic, she thought, that so many would revel in her misery.
"Hello my dear," her father said with a smile as the guards led her to the throne. Zelda knew something was wrong immediately. Any man whose daughter who had ruined a key alliance as she had would not act so jovial, she thought. Suddenly, her father became cold and severe. "Your groom has left, Zelda, and he is not coming back. The Kingdom of Kalendra has dissolved our trade agreement, and our military will be left short of the steel and copper it needs. I was made a fool in the eyes of the people of Hyrule when the bride refused to appear at the wedding!" Her father's words became more fiery and angry as he laid out every accusation.
Zelda had not come here to be castigated and spat upon. She stood up tall and replied, "I am not to be bartered and argued over like livestock!" Her wounds resounded throughout the massive hall, as if the walls themselves agreed with her.
The king slammed his hands on his throne's armrests and stood up with an angry expression on his face. "Because of you our army will weaken. Because of you my reputation has been stained!" The king sat back down. "But I am a forgiving person, and I can understand how you must feel. You desire independence, Zelda. Would you not rather live on your own, rather than with the man I have chosen for you?"
"Yes," she said, perhaps too readily.
"Then allow me to give you your independence. Guards!"
The two guards behind her suddenly grabbed Zelda's arms and her tightly. "What is the meaning of this?" she cried. Her father had struck her before and had sometimes beaten her when she was insolent, but the guards had never laid a hand on her.
"I am giving you your freedom, Zelda. If you insist in humiliating me and the entire history of the Royal Family, then you do not deserve residence within these halls!"
The guards wrenched her towards the door as she struggled in vain to free herself. She couldn't believe this was happening; that her father was kicking her out of the castle! Zelda violently thrashed about and hollered for someone to help, but her cries fell on deaf ears as the two guards dragged her towards the heavy wooden doors. The king looked on without remorse or sympathy as she inched closer to the exit. Two more guards opened the doors, letting the cold rain blow inside. With a grunt, the guards flung her out of the door, causing her to stumble and fall onto the wet stones. Wincing in pain, Zelda stood up in time the see the wooden gates close with a deafening crash, locking her out of the castle. Screaming "I'm sorry!" she pounded on the gates and pleaded to be let back in, out of the freezing rain. But after a minute, it was obvious that they had no intention of opening the gates. Zelda took one step back from the door, now noticing a bleeding gash on her arm from being thrown to the ground. With a cry of despair, she began to run away from the castle, into the nearby town through the pounding rain. Her white dress and golden hair were soaked, and her wound now burned with excruciating pain.
The town was devoid of people as she ran through its dark and empty streets, the world around her slowly becoming a meaningless blur. The rain continued to assault her, making her shiver with cold and fright. The shock of what had just happened was only now beginning to settle on her, and when she stopped running, she found herself in the town square, looking around at darkened alleys and unfamiliar buildings. Zelda was now completely alone, and the world seemed a much more dark and frightening place. Her father had never let her out of the castle for her own safety, and she had never seen much of the town before. Zelda had no idea where she was, or where she should go. Her mind struggled to deal with her sudden abandonment; it all seemed like a horrible dream that she might wake up from at any moment. Now Zelda had no home, no family, no friends to whom she could turn to, she had not even been allowed to take any of her possessions. In a matter of minutes she had gone from having everything to having nothing. What am I going to do? Her mind asked that same question over and over until, overcome with grief and despair, Zelda sat down on the stone sidewalk and began to weep. She hated her father, hated being a princess, and she hated herself. Why couldn't she have just married that man? Zelda was disgusted at her own arrogance and selfishness, thinking that her personal happiness was more important than the kingdom!
The rain began to abate somewhat, but she remained sitting on the street corner with warm tears streaming down her face, the only sound being the rain on the stones and her own sobs. Why did her father have to be so cruel? Or did she deserve this fate? Her thoughts turned to her future, and at once she began to sob harder. Where would she go? What would she do? There was nobody here who could help her. The townsfolk were all strangers to her, who cared little for what happened in Hyrule Castle. She wanted to curl up and die, rather than to face a lifetime of misery and shame. Zelda could feel the blackness closing in on her and the icy hands of death drawing near. She was going to freeze to death out here, if hunger or her broken heart did not do her in first. Everything seemed hopeless, until she felt a hand gently rest on her shoulder.
"What are you doing out here, young lady?" A voice; a man's voice.
Zelda looked up to see a young man standing beside her. She saw a friendly face; a face of a young man no older than she was. He would have looked rather handsome had his face not been covered by clumps of rain-drenched blonde hair. He reached down with his gloved hand, and trembling with fear and despair, she feebly grabbed it and let him help her to her feet. The cold now seemed unbearable, and her thin silk dress did nothing to keep out its frigid reach.
"My father…," she started off, but she could was too cold, frightened, and miserable to continue. "He banished me…"
"I have a house in the forest," the young man said, "you'll be safe there."
Zelda would have been worried about going to the home of the stranger, but that couldn't have been any worse than her current situation. The man unbuttoned his tunic and draped it over her back to shield her against the cold, leaving only a thin, white shirt to cover his body. She wondered if this man knew her somehow, for she would not expect a stranger to be this kind to her. They walked out of Hyrule Castle Town and onto the plains of Hyrule Field, and then he walked her along a narrow path that led into a dark and foreboding forest. She had heard tales of people who had ventured into the forests of Hyrule, never to return, and she was more than a little surprised that someone actually lived in there. But Zelda knew she was naïve about the world, living a sheltered life since the day she was born. Her nursemaid had taught her everything she would know about "being a lady and how to please your husband," but nothing about how to live in society.
The forest, while dark and rather frightening, at least provided some shelter from the rain. She held onto the stranger, for she was too weak from hunger and despair to move very far. The undergrowth was thick, and the trees seemed to close in behind them, and for a moment Zelda imagined that this man was taking away to do something horrible to her. However, after an eternity of travel, they came to a small clearing in the forest and the stranger's house, which sat alone in the meadow. They followed a crooked path through hip-deep grass until they reached the front porch. The house looked rather well-built and expensive for someone who lived alone in the forest, with two stories and what looked like multiple bedrooms. Zelda was silently hopeful she had not been dragged off to some shantytown.
Opening the front door, the young man escorted her into the living room. There was a burning fireplace nearby, whose warm air came as an overwhelming relief to the shivering princess. The room itself was darkly lit, and was certainly more luxurious than she had expected. The floor was covered with rare carpets, on the walls hung various decorative weapons, and in one corner sat a large, oak bookcase. Zelda could see an elaborate dining table in adjoining room, and to her left were stairs the second story, their walls lined with coats of arms and expensive paintings. The entire house looked befitting of someone of rather high social status, and Zelda found it hard to believe it all belonged to this young fellow. He was no older than she was; where was his mother and father? There didn't seem to be anybody but themselves here.
"Who are you?" she managed to ask as she shivered and shook uncontrollably.
"People call me Link, but I do not know my birth name."
"Where…where is your father; your mother?"
"My father was knight, and my mother was healer, but they were killed in the Chendra Valley massacre seven years ago," he said with a touch of sadness.
So he was an orphan, living alone in his parents' home, Zelda thought. The Chendra Valley massacre was a dark moment in Hylian history. Ten years ago, a state of hostility existed between the Hylians and the desert race known as the Gerudos. The Gerudos were strangely all women, who often abducted young men so the women could bear children. They all lived as thieves or women of the night, and all travelers leaving Hyrule were warned about "Gerudo raiding parties" that could attack without warning. One fateful day, the Royal Family, and the seven year old Princess Zelda, was traveling by carriage to a foreign capitol when they were attacked by a band of Gerudos. The king's men defended them bravely and all the attackers were killed, but the king hungered for revenge. He declared war on the desert woman, and for three long years the Hylian army waged a war of attrition, and in the end they systemically wiped out the Gerudo race. The Chendra Valley massacre was a major blunder on the king's part. He had led his men into what was thought an uninhabited area on their way back to Hyrule Castle. One thousand Hylian solders were ambushed and slain by a well-prepared and very skilled faction of the Gerudos, and only the king and a dozen of his finest soldiers escaped with their lives. She wondered how Link's mother could have possibly been involved, but she decided not to press him any further.
"You're hurt!" he exclaimed after taking his tunic off her, noticing her bleeding wound. "Stay here while I get a bandage."
Zelda sat down in a nearby chair, the cold finally beginning to leave her. She examined her injury, it was bleeding quite profusely, but it looked worse than it was. This was the first time in Zelda's life that she could recall shedding blood.
"What is your name, young lady?" Link asked upon returning. "I have not seen you in the town."
"My name is Zelda, and I...I live in Hyrule Castle," she nervously replied. "My…my father is the king of Hyrule, and I am its princess."
Link seemed rather unsurprised at all this, and she knew that her father was responsible for his parents' deaths. She hoped he wouldn't become angry or bitter and then throw her out into the rain again. But he did not seem to care as he cleaned her wound with a wet rag. It hurt slightly, but she ignored the pain.
"Why were you out on the street?" he asked sympathetically.
"My father…banished me from the castle. I was not allowed to take anything with me; the guards just shoved me out the door."
"Banished you? Why would they do that?" Link began wrapping the bandage around her arm.
She felt the tears well up again as she slowly recounted the story. "I refused to marry the man I was betrothed to," she said through the tears. "I had to marry him to complete an alliance, but I refused and my father banished me for it. Oh, I was so selfish and stupid! I wish none of this had ever happened…"
Link finished wrapping the bandage and tied it off. "I don't know anything about the Royal Family, your Highness, but surely your father will realize what he's done and forgive you."
Zelda shook her head in hopelessness. "No, he will not. My father is neither wise nor brave. He only cares for his armies and his own luxuries."
"Where is your mother?" he asked.
"She passed away two years after I was born, and my father will not speak of her. Oh, it's hopeless! I don't have anywhere to go or anyone who cares about me…"
Link laid a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "You may stay here as long as wish, your Highness. I have a bedroom upstairs I do not use."
At this point in time, that was worth more than all the gold and jewels she had ever owned at Hyrule Castle. Now that she had a place warm and comfortable to spend the night, Zelda's spirits began to rise a little. She didn't know how long Link would allow her to stay here, but it was infinitely better than living on the streets of Castle Town. Her stomach growled; it seemed like ages since she had eaten. As if he could sense her thoughts, Link said, "You must be hungry. Help yourself to the kitchen," before going upstairs to attend to some business.
Surprised at his unusual kindness and generosity, Zelda entered the kitchen and quietly looked around. It was small for the size of the house, but Link didn't seem like the person who would need much space for cooking anyhow. A baguette was sitting on the countertop, and Zelda immediately cut herself a large piece of bread and devoured it. A bottle of Lon Lon milk stood nearby, so she poured a glass of that and downed it. She worried that Link might be offended by her momentary gluttony, but his cabinets seemed well-stocked enough. Even after finishing off the entire baguette loaf and a bottle of Lon Lon milk Zelda was still hungry, but she decided not to indulge herself more.
Zelda gazed out of the kitchen window into the dark woods beyond Link's home. She wondered what her father thought she had done. He had probably thrown her out with the expectation she would die in the streets, or live life of shame as a woman of the night. But most likely he cared not for what became of her. Zelda was his daughter, not a son which was preferred by kings. Daughters could not rule a kingdom; only a male heir could inherit the throne, and thus were only useful to consummate alliances and agreements by marriage. The only reason princesses existed, her father had said, was to produce heirs to the throne. But Zelda could not and would not bear children, so in her father's eyes; she was of no value to anyone.
But she was too tired to think anymore, so she cleaned up the bread crumbs she had left and walked upstairs. Link stood alone in his bedroom, packing some clothes into his dresser. He slept in what had obviously been his parents' bedroom, with a large two person sleigh bed, and a door leading off into a bathroom. On the wall hung a large sword and shield, not decorative, but an actual weapon. It was slightly cluttered with souvenirs and assorted paraphernalia, but it had an intimate and cozy feel to it, something that her castle bedroom had lacked.
"Oh, your Highness," Link said, turning around, "I didn't hear you. There's a bedroom at the end of the hall you can sleep in and a change of clothes, although I'm afraid it's probably not like what you had in Hyrule Castle."
Zelda didn't care. All she desired was a warm, comfortable bed where she could lie down and sleep, forgetting about her troubles. The bedroom was slightly smaller than the master, with a smaller, but no less comfortable-looking sleigh bed. She guessed that this was where Link had slept before his parents had died. His mother and father had certainly wanted him to be comfortable, it seemed. It must have been so sad, she thought, losing your parents. Zelda had never experienced the loss of a loved one; she had no loved ones. But she felt much sympathy for Link, and while he was kind and generous to her, she could tell from the way he talked and the look in his eyes that there was deep sadness within him. Maybe had not quite gotten over the loss of his father and mother, or perhaps it was the loneliness of his life that was slowly eating away at him.
Zelda closed the door and began to remove her wet and bloodstained dress. All she had on underneath was thin veil, but that would have to suffice as her nightdress. Tossing her dress on a nearby night stand, Zelda climbed under the bed sheets, and instantly a feeling of great warmth and softness came over her. It seemed to carry her away from her sadness and anguish, and drove away any lingering cold. She chided herself for not thanking Link for everything he had done for her. It seemed odd to her that anyone would show such kindness and charity to a stranger. Zelda knew this was not her home, but in her heart it seemed as if it were. In minutes, the princess was fast asleep in a deep, dreamless slumber, the only sound being the rain against the window, and her own quiet breathing.