"In a land where the sky shines gold not blue,
a pathetic author waits for criticism or a complimentary review.
If you think the author owns any of these characters,
he'll beat you clear into next thurs....day."
Basically, I don't own Zelda and all that other depressing stuff.
Thanks goes out to (in reverse chronological order) p0tt3rSt@lk3r, MatrixNikcon, and K for reviewing either chapter 1 or chapter 2. I'm truely not trying to rush this, but this is going to end up more of a Fan Novel in length. I don't want to ruin it for you guys so you'll just have to wait. *Feels amazed there's actually people WAITING for chapters*
I'm going for a new format in writing, I'm putting anything said alloud on a line of their own instead of being a part of the paragraph... so make it easier on me. Also, ditching the emoticons, because I'm too lazy to type them anymore, heh. It probably seems shorter =P but on Wordpad this chapter seems longer in comparison. Basically, it's longer because I kept finding that I was still quite a ways away from that "New Acquaintance" So yeah, lots of detail and a little bit of humor in this chapter, I don't know when I'll start on Chapter 4 though. I know where I want to go with the story in the long run, but there's a bunch of empty space between now and then that I can fill in. Well, enough commentary here, enjoy!
*****Chapter 3 - A New Acquaintance*****
Dawn finally came, the birds chirping merrily in the trees as the storm had gone. It was a great morning because the washing rains had left that wonderful clean smell in the air, and everything looked refresh, if not a little wet. Link sat up and yawned as he awoke, conveniently kicking a *magazine* off of Talon's bed against the wall and out of any chance of being seen by Link.
Link jumped off his bed. He felt sort of vulnerable because he had never left the Kokiri Forest without a sword and a shield, was it truely wise for him to trust that Gannondorf's abscence kept Hyrule safe? Link figured he always had the other equipment he kept with him incase something happened. He couldn't wield the Biggoron's Blade with two hands as a teenager, let alone at all as a kid. But he did have the Faerie Bow, Boomerang, and his Bomb Bag. He didn't need that bracelet since he could just find them off of a monster or in a bush.
Link was about to leave when he remembered something... Epona. He ran back from the only thoroughfare leading in and out of Lon Lon Ranch and headed towards the corral. As usual, Link had to play the song Malon always sang to get Epona to reveal herself. Epona reared on her legs, and let out a slightly high pitched neigh as she ran over to Link. She nearly knocked him to the ground with her affectionate nuzzling along with the momentum of her quick charge over to him. Link laughed as he patted Epona's muzzle, glad to see the owl wasn't wrong on this point either. After a few minutes of silence, Epona nudged her head towards her back, but of course, clueless Link didn't catch on. He simply turned his back on Epona to see if she was trying to point out something behind him. Epona took this to her advantage and lowered her head and charged underneath Link and shoved him up onto her back. Link cried out as she did this, using her neck to steady himself since she didn't have a saddle nor reigns.
Epona let out another high-pitched neigh as she ran link several times around the corral. The other horses neighed as she passed them. Link knew that, some how, the horses also knew the importance of Epona and the boy in green upon her back. Hell if he knew how, but they very well seemed to be praising both him and Epona. Though a little akward without the saddle, (though he was sure she prefered not to have the encumbrance of a saddle on her back), Link enjoyed re-living the rush of air as Epona sped faster around the corral. While she was smaller and not quite as fast as she was as an adult horse, Link was just as much younger, so the experience seemed to have little difference. The colt dared to rear on her hind legs as she let out another neigh of joy to see Link once again. Link could always since when Epona was about to do this, and had already took a gentle hold of her mane. Instinctively, Epona lowered her head so that Link could slide down her neck and onto the ground. She nuzzled him once more, and he could see in her eyes that he was telling her that he should continue on to Hyrule.
Link could have sworn that he had ridden Epona all day, but it wasn't even noon yet as he made his way from Lon Lon Ranch to Hyrule Castle Town. He stopped just as he reached the dirt path that led towards the drawbridge to the town. He remembered seeing that man, or whatever it was, if it was even a he, streaking down the path towards the bridge. As he got closer to the path, he noticed very peculiar foot prints in the dirt. The fact that the man, or creature, or whatever, was wearing boots was very clear. Was was strange was that the tracks seemed to suggest that it had taken very miniscule steps. Link was no idiot, but he didn't seem to understand how one could move so fast while taking such small steps. Link was also not one to ponder things for long and he figured he'd find out once he got into town.
As he crossed the drawbridge, a rather edgy looking man was standing on the otherside as if waiting for someone or something. It was a guard, wearing the tell-tale armour with the emblem of the Triforce upon the breastplate. Link wasn't one to be picky on armour, but he never understood why the guards went to so much trouble with armour if their legs were exposed to attack. Anyways, the jumpy guard nearly DID jump ten feet into the air when he saw Link.
"Are... are you... Link?" The guard said rather nervously. Curious about the guards behaviour, Link nodded. The guard looked like he was going to faint as he turned around with the universal air which meant "This way please". Link quickly followed the guard into the center of Hyrule Castle Town. "Why DID they name it like that?" Link pondered as he gazed at all the familiar faces. his heart filled with happiness as the idea that Gannondorf was truely gone finally set in. But this wouldn't last for long, as Link will find out soon enough.
As he passed by the people of the town, he heard brief snatches of gossip. "Really fast... golden robes... really old man... impossible at that age!" Obviously, he wasn't wrong to assume that the trail of dust was following a man. But as he looked around, no one seemed to look like that old man he had seen the previous evening. He soon saw Malon by the well. He had to restrain himself from calling out to her as if he were a close friend. She wasn't a sage, and she didn't seem to recognize him as she glanced at him shortly before looking away with a deep blush in her cheeks. Since he was sort of being led to the castle, he'd have to remember to wake Talon him the minute he had the chance. Link found himself humming Saria's song as he followed the jittery guard. Link noticed that all of the guards looked exactly the same, and that it'd be impossible to tell any of them apart if they all didn't seem to have a different personality and way of moving about. Speaking of guards, the one in front of him almost jumped again as Link hit the high note at the end of the song he was humming. But he didn't turn around to face link, he simply kept on stumbling forward, and looking about as if the very ground itself was going to swallow him whole if he didn't keep a constant vigile.
Once again Link seemed to lose track of where he was and nearly plowed into the guard before him. He was glad that he had prevented from bumping into him for he was sure the guard would have a heart attack if he fainted at the sight of a nod and jumped at a hum. Plowing into the poor bugger would surely bring about something catastrophic. Link tried not to laugh, imagining the guard running through the streets screaming illegibly. They had stopped in front of the large draw-bridge which served as the only, well, not the ONLY way into the castle. But the only well known way besides the delivery door. The jittery-jumper of a guard stuttered as he asked Link to wait where they were standing while he went to give the word to let down the draw-bridge. Link didn't understand a word he said because the guard was stammering.
"PlezdunflowmeIgogetbridgedownnowsobye"
Link sighed and sat down, figuring the guards who controlled the drawbridge would die of laughter from hearing that particular guard try to ask them to let the drawbridge down.
"PlezletbridgedownsomeandLinkcangoin"
Link took this time to realize how beautiful the castle truely was. As if by magic, not a single brick of the castle's outter walls were dirty, and the bridge itself looked in pristine shape. It's large oaken boards didn't have a single flaw about them. The water of the moat which surrounded the castle (in a rather useless half-square) was so clear he could see the "frightening" fish swim about in it's current.
At this point, Link was starting to think the guard was lost. He stood back up, and went over to where he knew Talon would be sleeping. Link figured he could imitate the cucco that he didn't have to wake Talon up. Well, it worked, and as usual, all too well.
"Wha...what in tarnation?! Can't a fella get a little shut-eye around here? Huh? Yup I'm Talon, owner of the Lon Lon Ranch... WHAT?! Malon was waiting for me?! Oh shit! I messed up bad leaving her to wait for me. I'm gonna catch it from her for sure!" Talon hardly let Link have a word in edgewise, but it didn't matter as the old guy was making a trail of dust of his own as he dashed back to Hyrule Castle Town.
As the plumb-er I mean, Ranch owner had disappeared around the corner into the town, the delivery door had opened, and Link could hear the clinking of rusty chains as the drawbridge was being lowered. It seemed they realized that the guard that led him here wasn't exactly doing a professional job, as another guard was walking towards him in a more calm style.
"I'll be leading you the rest of the way, young one. Please follow me." he said, with an almost kind voice. Perhaps Zelda had shared Link's doings with everyone in the castle. Then Link felt stupid for assuming this, of COURSE she had, it's not exactly a small thing he did, though he wasn't one to boast about it.
Link followed the guard back around the corner of the moat and across the drawbridge. This was Link's first time inside of the castle, that is, when he was supposed to, and actually IN the castle, not the courtyard. As they crossed the oaken bridge, the portcullis seemed to be pulling itself up, like a gaping mouth, the points of the portcullis looked very well like they could chomp something in half if it let itself go. As the guard led Link into the castle, the portcullis clanked back down to the stone floor, and on the otherside, Link could see the drawbridge being raised. With a final thud as the bridge hit the outerwall of the castle, Link's eyes had to adjust once more to the dim, inner lighting of the castle. The enchanted torches shone a soft blue, a rather pleasant alternative to the harsh red, and it also gave off no heat, and yet the castle seemed warm.
"Magic..." Link muttered to himself as he followed the guard. With all the silence, it didn't seem right to speak loudly inside. The guard didn't look back as he led Link through the cavernous hallways. Link wondered how long it took to sew all of the red carpet which seemed to follow the halls in any direction. But then again, magic could have very well created it. The thought of magic brought Link's mind to the sorrowful thought of Navi. Link hoped beyond hope that there would be a way to bring Navi's mind up to speed with his and the sages. Link didn't seem to be given much room for thought as he suddenly found himself in a beautiful domed room. The dome was actually a tower, which allowed fresh air and a pleasant current of wind to blow in from the small slits of windows which adorned the tower above. There were six pillars, built more for decoration than support, three on either side of the path that continued on to the other side of the room and onwards to other hallways and rooms. The walls of the room were adorned by towering shelves, each stacked with books. This had to be the castle library, no doubt about that.
"Link!" Zelda cried out as the guard returned to his post after leading Link to the center of the room. Zelda quickly ran over to Link, and they both embraced eachother warmly. Being only seven years old, Link felt sort of akward from hugging Zelda. While he had saved her life and was rather fond of her, his mind was seven years old even when he was a teenager, but her mind and body had grown those seven long years, and while she was back to being the same age as him, her mind was still that of a teenager's, while he had slept the entire time she had grown up.
Link smiled nonetheless as she pulled away and smiled at him. "I'm so glad you could come this soon!" She still had something nagging at the back of her mind, but Link wasn't going to bother her with that just now. As he himself took a look around the room, he noticd a circular oak table with chairs of a similar fashion surrounding it. Sitting in one was Impa, wearing the same armour which looked a lot like the armour the guards wore except for slight, er, difference, in the breastplate. But instead of looking stern and serious, she seemed as delighted to see the young boy as Zelda was. Link nearly stumbled as he noticed that, two seats away from Impa, was an old man wearing golden robes. He had blondish hair, but it was already close to completely fading to white, and balding near the top of his scalp. Underneath the table, Link noticed he was wearing red boots, each with an insignia of a horse with wings near the heels.
"Link, please, sit with us! I hadn't exactly expected you to come a mere day after I sent the message, I figured you would want to visit your friends in the Kokiri Forest before leaving. But I suppose you did the moment you got back hmm?" Link felt a pang of guilt as he realized that he hadn't bothered to stop and see any of his friends in the Kokiri Forest when he returned from the future. Zelda led him over to the oak table, and motioned towards a seat next to the man in the golden robes. Feeling slightly intimidated by the stranger, he took his seat at the table, his head just barely clearing the top of the table. Impa snapped her fingers and Link nearly fell off as the chair's legs rose up so that he was at a comfortable height to the table. The same with Zelda's chair as she sat down. "A little more dignified than booster seats, hehe." Link smiled at Zelda's comment, but couldn't help but turn his attention back to the old man to his right. The man noticed Link looking at him, and he gave him a warm smile, like one a grandfather would give his grandson. Link couldn't resist the urge to smile back, before turning his attention back to Impa and Zelda.
"Link, this is Sahasrahla, he's come from the land which resides to the East of Hyrule." Impa said in a respecting tone. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Link." The old man said, now sounding like a grandfather as much as he looked like one. Link nodded in return, he never seemed to have a polite way with words. He was used to the usual "Hey" and "How's it goin'?" which he used with his Kokiri friends. He had a feeling that neither of these would sound polite in the current situation.
"I'm afraid our troubles have only begun, Link." Link started slightly as Impa brought Link's thoughts back to the present. Impa cracked a smile as she continued, "Sahasrahla is here on a diplomatic purpose, and wishes to give us a message from his land in the east. King Harkinian, unfortunately, could not be here, as he is ironically on a diplomatic mission of his own." The tone in Impa's voice seemed to say that Sahasrahla had the floor now. Sahasrahla smiled and nodded as he stood up. "First of all I would like to thank her majest, Princess Zelda, for allowing me audience, even while his majesty, the King of Hyrule, could not be present. She's definitely proving to be quite a diplomat herself in being able to handle these conferences." Zelda seemed to beam at the compliment, her mind may have been that of a teenager's, but she still had a childish quality about her personality, aside from BEING a child.
"As Impa has told you all, I have journeyed here from my home land in the east. My home land is called Fortuna. We too were terrorized by Gannondorf, though it was his minions that had done his dirty work while he was concentrating his power here in Hyrule."
Psst... hey... Link... Link leaned a bit to his left as Zelda continued to whisper to him... The road between times you traveled through only effected Hyrule. While the times are the same, everyone in Fortuna remembers what had happened before we sealed Gannondorf in the Sacred Realm.
Link nodded slightly in acknowledgement while he continued to listen to Sahasrahla. But Link found that most of what Sahasrahla said was quite boring, and found himself gazing around the room. He noticed there here huge paintings that adorned the square pillars. His jaw dropped as he saw himself fighting off Gannondorf in a few of them. His attention immediately snapped back to Sahasrahla as he said something that alerted him.
"Of course, you all are aware that Gannondorf was being controlled by a greater evil... named Ganon."
*****End of Chapter 3*****
Well, whatcha think? Gannondorf got the Triforce of Power, but there was a mastermind behind Gannondorf? (And with a unfashionably similar name? j/k) Decided to do a cliff hanger here. Sorry if- *ducks as numerous items ranging from butcher knives to boomerangs were thrown at him* Ahhhh! Well, anyways, I'm not sure where to go with the story at the moment, and I figured that this chapter had already broken the length pattern of the other two chapters so I decided to stop here. Again, I don't wish to take suggestions of major parts of the story. Any other suggestions are welcome though. I won't ruin Fortuna for you but again, A Link to the Past fans will enjoy something from the classic. Please don't stop reading and reviewing, I try to proof read each chapter but then again, I wrote it, so I probably won't notice the mistakes I made anyways. I'm not talking about spelling, but rather if there's an inconsistancy or something. I can't promise anything about Navi though, because I don't want to ruin anything. =P (gasp! it's an emoticon!) Well, that's about it. Feel free to compliment or criticize all you want! Oh, and as long as this story will be, in the end, Link will have grown up to the age he was when he first pulled the Master Sword from the Pedistol of Time. (Jeez, Hero of Time, Pedistol of Time, Ocarina of Time, anyone seeing a pattern here? Because I sure as hell don't. ;) )
Basically, I don't own Zelda and all that other depressing stuff.
Thanks goes out to (in reverse chronological order) p0tt3rSt@lk3r, MatrixNikcon, and K for reviewing either chapter 1 or chapter 2. I'm truely not trying to rush this, but this is going to end up more of a Fan Novel in length. I don't want to ruin it for you guys so you'll just have to wait. *Feels amazed there's actually people WAITING for chapters*
I'm going for a new format in writing, I'm putting anything said alloud on a line of their own instead of being a part of the paragraph... so make it easier on me. Also, ditching the emoticons, because I'm too lazy to type them anymore, heh. It probably seems shorter =P but on Wordpad this chapter seems longer in comparison. Basically, it's longer because I kept finding that I was still quite a ways away from that "New Acquaintance" So yeah, lots of detail and a little bit of humor in this chapter, I don't know when I'll start on Chapter 4 though. I know where I want to go with the story in the long run, but there's a bunch of empty space between now and then that I can fill in. Well, enough commentary here, enjoy!
*****Chapter 3 - A New Acquaintance*****
Dawn finally came, the birds chirping merrily in the trees as the storm had gone. It was a great morning because the washing rains had left that wonderful clean smell in the air, and everything looked refresh, if not a little wet. Link sat up and yawned as he awoke, conveniently kicking a *magazine* off of Talon's bed against the wall and out of any chance of being seen by Link.
Link jumped off his bed. He felt sort of vulnerable because he had never left the Kokiri Forest without a sword and a shield, was it truely wise for him to trust that Gannondorf's abscence kept Hyrule safe? Link figured he always had the other equipment he kept with him incase something happened. He couldn't wield the Biggoron's Blade with two hands as a teenager, let alone at all as a kid. But he did have the Faerie Bow, Boomerang, and his Bomb Bag. He didn't need that bracelet since he could just find them off of a monster or in a bush.
Link was about to leave when he remembered something... Epona. He ran back from the only thoroughfare leading in and out of Lon Lon Ranch and headed towards the corral. As usual, Link had to play the song Malon always sang to get Epona to reveal herself. Epona reared on her legs, and let out a slightly high pitched neigh as she ran over to Link. She nearly knocked him to the ground with her affectionate nuzzling along with the momentum of her quick charge over to him. Link laughed as he patted Epona's muzzle, glad to see the owl wasn't wrong on this point either. After a few minutes of silence, Epona nudged her head towards her back, but of course, clueless Link didn't catch on. He simply turned his back on Epona to see if she was trying to point out something behind him. Epona took this to her advantage and lowered her head and charged underneath Link and shoved him up onto her back. Link cried out as she did this, using her neck to steady himself since she didn't have a saddle nor reigns.
Epona let out another high-pitched neigh as she ran link several times around the corral. The other horses neighed as she passed them. Link knew that, some how, the horses also knew the importance of Epona and the boy in green upon her back. Hell if he knew how, but they very well seemed to be praising both him and Epona. Though a little akward without the saddle, (though he was sure she prefered not to have the encumbrance of a saddle on her back), Link enjoyed re-living the rush of air as Epona sped faster around the corral. While she was smaller and not quite as fast as she was as an adult horse, Link was just as much younger, so the experience seemed to have little difference. The colt dared to rear on her hind legs as she let out another neigh of joy to see Link once again. Link could always since when Epona was about to do this, and had already took a gentle hold of her mane. Instinctively, Epona lowered her head so that Link could slide down her neck and onto the ground. She nuzzled him once more, and he could see in her eyes that he was telling her that he should continue on to Hyrule.
Link could have sworn that he had ridden Epona all day, but it wasn't even noon yet as he made his way from Lon Lon Ranch to Hyrule Castle Town. He stopped just as he reached the dirt path that led towards the drawbridge to the town. He remembered seeing that man, or whatever it was, if it was even a he, streaking down the path towards the bridge. As he got closer to the path, he noticed very peculiar foot prints in the dirt. The fact that the man, or creature, or whatever, was wearing boots was very clear. Was was strange was that the tracks seemed to suggest that it had taken very miniscule steps. Link was no idiot, but he didn't seem to understand how one could move so fast while taking such small steps. Link was also not one to ponder things for long and he figured he'd find out once he got into town.
As he crossed the drawbridge, a rather edgy looking man was standing on the otherside as if waiting for someone or something. It was a guard, wearing the tell-tale armour with the emblem of the Triforce upon the breastplate. Link wasn't one to be picky on armour, but he never understood why the guards went to so much trouble with armour if their legs were exposed to attack. Anyways, the jumpy guard nearly DID jump ten feet into the air when he saw Link.
"Are... are you... Link?" The guard said rather nervously. Curious about the guards behaviour, Link nodded. The guard looked like he was going to faint as he turned around with the universal air which meant "This way please". Link quickly followed the guard into the center of Hyrule Castle Town. "Why DID they name it like that?" Link pondered as he gazed at all the familiar faces. his heart filled with happiness as the idea that Gannondorf was truely gone finally set in. But this wouldn't last for long, as Link will find out soon enough.
As he passed by the people of the town, he heard brief snatches of gossip. "Really fast... golden robes... really old man... impossible at that age!" Obviously, he wasn't wrong to assume that the trail of dust was following a man. But as he looked around, no one seemed to look like that old man he had seen the previous evening. He soon saw Malon by the well. He had to restrain himself from calling out to her as if he were a close friend. She wasn't a sage, and she didn't seem to recognize him as she glanced at him shortly before looking away with a deep blush in her cheeks. Since he was sort of being led to the castle, he'd have to remember to wake Talon him the minute he had the chance. Link found himself humming Saria's song as he followed the jittery guard. Link noticed that all of the guards looked exactly the same, and that it'd be impossible to tell any of them apart if they all didn't seem to have a different personality and way of moving about. Speaking of guards, the one in front of him almost jumped again as Link hit the high note at the end of the song he was humming. But he didn't turn around to face link, he simply kept on stumbling forward, and looking about as if the very ground itself was going to swallow him whole if he didn't keep a constant vigile.
Once again Link seemed to lose track of where he was and nearly plowed into the guard before him. He was glad that he had prevented from bumping into him for he was sure the guard would have a heart attack if he fainted at the sight of a nod and jumped at a hum. Plowing into the poor bugger would surely bring about something catastrophic. Link tried not to laugh, imagining the guard running through the streets screaming illegibly. They had stopped in front of the large draw-bridge which served as the only, well, not the ONLY way into the castle. But the only well known way besides the delivery door. The jittery-jumper of a guard stuttered as he asked Link to wait where they were standing while he went to give the word to let down the draw-bridge. Link didn't understand a word he said because the guard was stammering.
"PlezdunflowmeIgogetbridgedownnowsobye"
Link sighed and sat down, figuring the guards who controlled the drawbridge would die of laughter from hearing that particular guard try to ask them to let the drawbridge down.
"PlezletbridgedownsomeandLinkcangoin"
Link took this time to realize how beautiful the castle truely was. As if by magic, not a single brick of the castle's outter walls were dirty, and the bridge itself looked in pristine shape. It's large oaken boards didn't have a single flaw about them. The water of the moat which surrounded the castle (in a rather useless half-square) was so clear he could see the "frightening" fish swim about in it's current.
At this point, Link was starting to think the guard was lost. He stood back up, and went over to where he knew Talon would be sleeping. Link figured he could imitate the cucco that he didn't have to wake Talon up. Well, it worked, and as usual, all too well.
"Wha...what in tarnation?! Can't a fella get a little shut-eye around here? Huh? Yup I'm Talon, owner of the Lon Lon Ranch... WHAT?! Malon was waiting for me?! Oh shit! I messed up bad leaving her to wait for me. I'm gonna catch it from her for sure!" Talon hardly let Link have a word in edgewise, but it didn't matter as the old guy was making a trail of dust of his own as he dashed back to Hyrule Castle Town.
As the plumb-er I mean, Ranch owner had disappeared around the corner into the town, the delivery door had opened, and Link could hear the clinking of rusty chains as the drawbridge was being lowered. It seemed they realized that the guard that led him here wasn't exactly doing a professional job, as another guard was walking towards him in a more calm style.
"I'll be leading you the rest of the way, young one. Please follow me." he said, with an almost kind voice. Perhaps Zelda had shared Link's doings with everyone in the castle. Then Link felt stupid for assuming this, of COURSE she had, it's not exactly a small thing he did, though he wasn't one to boast about it.
Link followed the guard back around the corner of the moat and across the drawbridge. This was Link's first time inside of the castle, that is, when he was supposed to, and actually IN the castle, not the courtyard. As they crossed the oaken bridge, the portcullis seemed to be pulling itself up, like a gaping mouth, the points of the portcullis looked very well like they could chomp something in half if it let itself go. As the guard led Link into the castle, the portcullis clanked back down to the stone floor, and on the otherside, Link could see the drawbridge being raised. With a final thud as the bridge hit the outerwall of the castle, Link's eyes had to adjust once more to the dim, inner lighting of the castle. The enchanted torches shone a soft blue, a rather pleasant alternative to the harsh red, and it also gave off no heat, and yet the castle seemed warm.
"Magic..." Link muttered to himself as he followed the guard. With all the silence, it didn't seem right to speak loudly inside. The guard didn't look back as he led Link through the cavernous hallways. Link wondered how long it took to sew all of the red carpet which seemed to follow the halls in any direction. But then again, magic could have very well created it. The thought of magic brought Link's mind to the sorrowful thought of Navi. Link hoped beyond hope that there would be a way to bring Navi's mind up to speed with his and the sages. Link didn't seem to be given much room for thought as he suddenly found himself in a beautiful domed room. The dome was actually a tower, which allowed fresh air and a pleasant current of wind to blow in from the small slits of windows which adorned the tower above. There were six pillars, built more for decoration than support, three on either side of the path that continued on to the other side of the room and onwards to other hallways and rooms. The walls of the room were adorned by towering shelves, each stacked with books. This had to be the castle library, no doubt about that.
"Link!" Zelda cried out as the guard returned to his post after leading Link to the center of the room. Zelda quickly ran over to Link, and they both embraced eachother warmly. Being only seven years old, Link felt sort of akward from hugging Zelda. While he had saved her life and was rather fond of her, his mind was seven years old even when he was a teenager, but her mind and body had grown those seven long years, and while she was back to being the same age as him, her mind was still that of a teenager's, while he had slept the entire time she had grown up.
Link smiled nonetheless as she pulled away and smiled at him. "I'm so glad you could come this soon!" She still had something nagging at the back of her mind, but Link wasn't going to bother her with that just now. As he himself took a look around the room, he noticd a circular oak table with chairs of a similar fashion surrounding it. Sitting in one was Impa, wearing the same armour which looked a lot like the armour the guards wore except for slight, er, difference, in the breastplate. But instead of looking stern and serious, she seemed as delighted to see the young boy as Zelda was. Link nearly stumbled as he noticed that, two seats away from Impa, was an old man wearing golden robes. He had blondish hair, but it was already close to completely fading to white, and balding near the top of his scalp. Underneath the table, Link noticed he was wearing red boots, each with an insignia of a horse with wings near the heels.
"Link, please, sit with us! I hadn't exactly expected you to come a mere day after I sent the message, I figured you would want to visit your friends in the Kokiri Forest before leaving. But I suppose you did the moment you got back hmm?" Link felt a pang of guilt as he realized that he hadn't bothered to stop and see any of his friends in the Kokiri Forest when he returned from the future. Zelda led him over to the oak table, and motioned towards a seat next to the man in the golden robes. Feeling slightly intimidated by the stranger, he took his seat at the table, his head just barely clearing the top of the table. Impa snapped her fingers and Link nearly fell off as the chair's legs rose up so that he was at a comfortable height to the table. The same with Zelda's chair as she sat down. "A little more dignified than booster seats, hehe." Link smiled at Zelda's comment, but couldn't help but turn his attention back to the old man to his right. The man noticed Link looking at him, and he gave him a warm smile, like one a grandfather would give his grandson. Link couldn't resist the urge to smile back, before turning his attention back to Impa and Zelda.
"Link, this is Sahasrahla, he's come from the land which resides to the East of Hyrule." Impa said in a respecting tone. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Link." The old man said, now sounding like a grandfather as much as he looked like one. Link nodded in return, he never seemed to have a polite way with words. He was used to the usual "Hey" and "How's it goin'?" which he used with his Kokiri friends. He had a feeling that neither of these would sound polite in the current situation.
"I'm afraid our troubles have only begun, Link." Link started slightly as Impa brought Link's thoughts back to the present. Impa cracked a smile as she continued, "Sahasrahla is here on a diplomatic purpose, and wishes to give us a message from his land in the east. King Harkinian, unfortunately, could not be here, as he is ironically on a diplomatic mission of his own." The tone in Impa's voice seemed to say that Sahasrahla had the floor now. Sahasrahla smiled and nodded as he stood up. "First of all I would like to thank her majest, Princess Zelda, for allowing me audience, even while his majesty, the King of Hyrule, could not be present. She's definitely proving to be quite a diplomat herself in being able to handle these conferences." Zelda seemed to beam at the compliment, her mind may have been that of a teenager's, but she still had a childish quality about her personality, aside from BEING a child.
"As Impa has told you all, I have journeyed here from my home land in the east. My home land is called Fortuna. We too were terrorized by Gannondorf, though it was his minions that had done his dirty work while he was concentrating his power here in Hyrule."
Psst... hey... Link... Link leaned a bit to his left as Zelda continued to whisper to him... The road between times you traveled through only effected Hyrule. While the times are the same, everyone in Fortuna remembers what had happened before we sealed Gannondorf in the Sacred Realm.
Link nodded slightly in acknowledgement while he continued to listen to Sahasrahla. But Link found that most of what Sahasrahla said was quite boring, and found himself gazing around the room. He noticed there here huge paintings that adorned the square pillars. His jaw dropped as he saw himself fighting off Gannondorf in a few of them. His attention immediately snapped back to Sahasrahla as he said something that alerted him.
"Of course, you all are aware that Gannondorf was being controlled by a greater evil... named Ganon."
*****End of Chapter 3*****
Well, whatcha think? Gannondorf got the Triforce of Power, but there was a mastermind behind Gannondorf? (And with a unfashionably similar name? j/k) Decided to do a cliff hanger here. Sorry if- *ducks as numerous items ranging from butcher knives to boomerangs were thrown at him* Ahhhh! Well, anyways, I'm not sure where to go with the story at the moment, and I figured that this chapter had already broken the length pattern of the other two chapters so I decided to stop here. Again, I don't wish to take suggestions of major parts of the story. Any other suggestions are welcome though. I won't ruin Fortuna for you but again, A Link to the Past fans will enjoy something from the classic. Please don't stop reading and reviewing, I try to proof read each chapter but then again, I wrote it, so I probably won't notice the mistakes I made anyways. I'm not talking about spelling, but rather if there's an inconsistancy or something. I can't promise anything about Navi though, because I don't want to ruin anything. =P (gasp! it's an emoticon!) Well, that's about it. Feel free to compliment or criticize all you want! Oh, and as long as this story will be, in the end, Link will have grown up to the age he was when he first pulled the Master Sword from the Pedistol of Time. (Jeez, Hero of Time, Pedistol of Time, Ocarina of Time, anyone seeing a pattern here? Because I sure as hell don't. ;) )