A. N. Tell me if you can spot the difference between the style in which the last chapter is written and this one. Let's see if you are cunning enough!
A Cry in the Wood: Heir.
Many a long month they tarried in bliss under the trees of the woods. The Guard and the Huntress had found in each other what lacked in their life ere their meeting, and that period was full of joy. Time seemed to ease its pace, and the count of days was lost after while. The two would often lie under the shades of a huge oak and spend the day, far away from the Mound of Sadness, wherein the slain household of the King lay. Day after day and month after month they held each other in love and peace until a long-quelled desire was awakened anew in him. For his mind had bent towards the wood and Sondrael the fair, but his heart longed for his city and his people; and above all, he desired to return at his King's side, loyal as he was.
To this, Sondrael had been opposed for a long time; indeed, the Guard perceived a shadow in her heart that made her shun the Outside of the woods. Long discussions would arise between them in those later days, and often would the Huntress convince her husband not to leave the forest in which happiness and joy they had found.
"Moreover," Sondrael said, "I would not be apart from the beasts and birds and the trees that dwell in the forest, for they have become very close to me; and since I deem you do not want to be apart from me by any means I bid you again to forget this useless desire of yours." She then bowed her head and continued sadly: "I would have you not to continue with this endless debate that lessens our joy needlessly. For I have grown tired of it and its arousals."
"It would not arise at all should you hearken to my heart rather than to my mouth," answered Maeron. "You know rightfully that I would do nothing that may set us apart. But you also know rightfully that my heart greatly desires this chance of returning to the castle, if only for a while Yet I cannot understand why you will not let us journey to my city and kin. You say that your affinity with the living things in these woods draws you back. But you hide from me something else in your heart: a shadow of doubt, or fear, or maybe both. Why will you not open that last corner of your heart as I have done so with you? Do you fear I might stop loving you for it?"
To this, Sondrael made not answer at the time; and for a long while she was silent. But after three days had come to pass she called her husband and spoke to him: "Your sensitiveness towards my feelings is what I love the most from you; but it is sometimes a gift which I would prefer for you not to have. It grieves me very much to learn from you that my fear for the Outside is revealed, against my will. But since you have, indeed, kept no secrets from me and have given me your heart, I shall tell you of my own secret: my fright
"For nearly ten years I have dwelt in the woods, surviving among the perils and dangers that the Accursed Forest yields to non-faerie folk that dare to enter. As you know, I have grown to love its dwellers as well as their dwelling. And for a season, I had thought that my past, fraught with sorrow and despair, would be overcome by the Lost Woods; and it was so, indeed. But then you came, out of the unexpected, and my life has changed ever since, for the best of joy.
"But now you stand before me and tell me that I have to return to that malice-infested place you once called your home. It is no wonder that I shun the very thought of returning to that place that caused me so much sadness a long time ago. For my wounds in those early years have healed, but they have left scars. And those scars can bleed again if I should stroke them with memoirs undesired."
Maeron listened carefully to his wife's words. But after she had concluded, the Guard spoke in reply this that was not entirely of her liking: "It pains me very much to learn from you that you hold such an evil grudge against my city and kin. I do not doubt your words, and I deem your suffering true and unexaggerated, for I know the sheer size of your courage. But look at me, Sondrael Huntress!" And she met her eyes with his. "Already much time has passed since your sorrow. It does not do to dwell in the past, but it is much worse to fear it and choose not to confront it. And you must keep this in mind: should the shadows of your past attempt to hinder you they shall not find a frightened young maiden but a full grown woman capable of standing for herself against the odds. Listen to me: I know for certain that the castle has grown fairer than when you beheld when the times were of war. For you must remember that when you had but fifteen years in your life conflict and battle were every day's news. And it is not so in these days."
Although there was no so intension in his words, these hurt in her heart. But in the end she found them to be wise and well intended and she agreed with him to return to the castle and dwell for a time there.
Great beyond reckoning was the joy of the King when he had learnt of his bodyguard's return, for he had already mourned the loss of much of his household in that fell journey across the Lost Woods. So it was that amidst the music and the singing of fair voices the King welcomed his servant and was in wonder at his wife. It is sung that the monarch held a council with his loyal guard that same evening to discuss the origin of hers, although no rumour came of this to her ears. Even the fairest maidens of the castle whispered in envy and jealousy at the Huntress that had come out of the woods; and out these same feelings came rumours of her wildness and ignorance. But Sondrael gave them little heed and thanked the lord of the Hylia for the celebration held the same day of their arrival. The King then ordered the couple to be clad in the best clothes and the finest garments for the night and when the time had come of their appearance, the summoned to the feast were amazed at the sight of the guard, whom they have thought lost; but more was the wonder at the Hylian wife that accompanied him. For she had given away her travel-stained raiment and tunic and wore a green dress of many hues and shades, and her hair had been arranged in a gracefully way so that it fell again over her shoulders, but it was completely smooth and uncurled. Bright, green gems hung from her neck, resembling the forest's colour, and about her wrists were green sapphire brooches.
Such was the beauty revealed in Sondrael the fair that many wondered if perhaps the Huntress might have been of an ancient and unknown line of the Hylia of old. Yet there were among these guests those that held her in lesser contempt, once her lineage was revealed to be of the common Hylians. The couple ate and drank and were glad, and after the feast was over she came to her husband and spoke words of love in his ear. And she looked at her lovingly and asked for leave by the King to leave the halls and retire into their own chambers. The monarch agreed and they left for the northern tower.
Atop their chamber, Sondrael opened the door leading to the balcony and was rejoiced to be able to behold the northern woods of Hyrule. And shortly afterwards Maeron joined her and was glad also, not so much for the view, but for his wife's happiness. And his heart felt like if he had done the right choice of bringing her back from her exile. Outside, the stars shone brightly, and the moon would only permit the couple to see but small traces of her face. In that moment, when the Guard closed the door behind them to be shunned from all eyes, a star fell from the skies and onto the woods. And as their gazes strayed to the site where it had touched the ground, their hearts where moved in a special manner, and great desire seemed to arouse in between them.
It came to pass, on a warm morning of summer, that the daughter of Maeron and Sondrael was born unto the world: a fair child with her mother's dark hair and his father's perceptive gaze. The name of this child was Sondilyn, and they thought that it was indeed a fitting name for their heir. For out of the forgotten days of old, even during Romahil's days when the world was young and the Speakers still came to Hyrule, the stray voices of their fair tongue dwelt still among some of the Hylians. And Sondilyn recalled the ancient voice of Sond-elen, star of Sond. The parents grew proud of their daughter as she grew in stature and knowledge, even if she had not reached the age of five years in the world.
Amidst the great joy and bliss in which the family live, there began to loom a shadow over their lives though. At first, it was regarded as mere ghosts that Sondrael perceived about; the mothering of Sondilyn was indeed ever on her mind. Yet, as time passed steadily, whispers of envy and distrust began to haunt the Huntress. The household of the Hylia in its most part had not befriended her, considering her of alien blood to the Hylia, and Sondrael, at first, had taken no notice of this, her firm character minding not the glares and gazes that the servants would often give. But the burden of unfriendliness was ever increasing in her heart, and after three months had passed since the birth of Sondilyn, Sondrael found herself, for the first time in many years, with tears falling from her eyes by the words of a fellow Hylian. And she said nothing to her husband, him being at the height of his joy, to prevent him from falling in the same sort of grief. But Maeron the loyal Guard, though, was quick to notice her grief, as it was his manner, and at once called for her.
"My fair Sondrael," he said one night after the servants had lied down and the night was neither young nor old, "what is that which has been troubling your heart these days of late? For I have felt a shadow darkening your bliss, and I will not have you reduced to pretended joy merely for my sake or our child's."
"As usual," replied Sondrael, "you are quick to see my feelings. But it is not pleasant to disturb you with my own problems, for I did not want to lessen your joy in the castle."
Then Maeron was filled with dismay and said to his wife: "I had thought that you had already made the vow to keep no secrets from me. And now you come and reveal me, not till I bid you to, that a shadow has been threatening your happiness for many a month now. Why, Sondrael? Why do you keep concealing things in you heart from me? Do you not trust me as your confidant?"
Sondrael made no answer to this, but rather set her arms about him and wept again, and a long time did her bitter tears fell over his chest till at length she regained her calmness and spoke to him:
"Do not take my silence as mistrust in you; you know that you and our child are my most precious concerns and that I love you beyond anything in this fair land. But you must know, or at least should know, that I always am concerned by the joy of my family. My grief would have only lessened your happiness although you might have yielded aid in my sorrow. But since you bid me for the second time to reveal my heart, I shall speak openly before you.
"Ever since my first appearance in the castle, the majority of the King's household has shunned me and held me in scorn: all for the sole reason of my line of blood, which is not related in any direct way to the Hylia of old. Do not think of this as my impressions: I know that you receive no such treatment, although your line. But for some unknown reason, they have come to regard you as one of the household, whereas they see me like a mere Hylian of lesser lineage. It did not bother me at first, but as it grew more and more, and the servants would hold me with utter scorn, I began to feel again that same shade of sorrow that I had thought vanished from my heart.
"I am subject, therefore, to cruel jests and laughter; and I am incapable of defending myself. For my strength lies in arms, as you may know, not in words. I have grown tired of this, so you must know that a great desire much alike to yours has appeared in my inner mind."
Again filled with dismay, Maeron cried: "Surely you do not mean to return to the woods?"
But Sondrael made no answer. Instead, she nodded and bowed her head, as if in shame of her wishes. Long did they debate again, for the first time in years. And in the end, Sondrael had claimed her desire to return to the Lost Woods. Maeron was full of concern at that time, and when the night was old he finally yielded a forbid to his wife to return to the wood. Full of anger against her husband, Sondrael darted out of the room for the rest of the night, and Maeron deemed necessary this for her fury to quell. But unlike most of the time, his heart's judgement went astray.
For in the first hours of the dawn, a shadow leaped from atop the gate of Hyrule Castle and landed at the moat. And that was the last that the people of Hyrule saw ever of Sondrael the fair, Huntress in the Lost Woods.
Maeron searched restlessly for his wife during the first hours after his awakening. And the thought of her fly to the wood smote him suddenly, and he was filled with guilt for not having foreseen this event. For many days, he stood alone atop the southern tower, gazing at the horizon clouded by the veils of the woods. And many noticed his grief for the loss of his wife and dared not show content faces at her departure. Little by little, the rumours of his sadness crept all the way up to the King's ears, and the monarch was moved to pity by her sorrow and his grief. He then ordered all those who had shown so scornful a manner to Sondrael to be thrown out of the castle. And it is said that a good many of the proud servants of the King and some lords and ladies of the Hylia were acknowledged out of their lineage, for the King could perceive the malice that had filtered even amongst the house of the Fair People. The lord then climbed the staircase to the balcony to the south and found his loyal Guard sitting on a stool with little Sondilyn on his lap, gazing to the south-east.
"What wouldst thou have me to do, O Maeron guard of the Hylia, to ease thy sadness? Should I send for your wife to the Lost Woods? Should I bring her back to thee?"
Maeron had turned his face towards the lord, but he slowly returned his eyes towards the forest. "Nay," he answered. "You should not send any Hylian to his doom in the woods. And that is her true home, so you would find her never even should anyone be not lost." He bowed his head and looked at the child in his grasp. Sondilyn lay in profound sleep, although the Guard could perceive her wonder at her missing mother. "Nay," he said again. "Not ever."
In his mind, it was thus, coursed these words now and again, hither and yon: The scars may bleed.
A. N. Did you see it? I tried to write this part as if some old tale from elder days instead of a quick-paced short story. Anyway, last chapter up in front. Let every comment, suggestion or question you may have please be directed to me in the form of a review.