Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are two of the most astonishingly amazing games ever created. Shigeru Miyamoto is a genius and I believe that we as the Zelda adoring public should push to have him cannonised. Or knighted. Well, he owns Zelda anyway, so I don't, even though I wouldn't object to it.
A.N: Is it just me, or does the Wind Waker look bloody gorgeous? Cartoony or not, I WANT THAT GAME AND I WANT IT NOW! PER-LEASE!
(Personal theory: Does anyone else think that the blonde pirate girl could quite possibly turn out to be Zelda in diguise? I mean, it is rumoured that Zelda and Ganon are in the new game, and Zelda has disguised herself as stranger things in the past...)
Chapter 9: The Aftershock.
She knew that something had happened to her daughter even before her body was brought home to the castle.
But even though she knew deep down that it was in vain, she still clung to that tiny shred of hope that Orla was safe right up until Epona walked into inner courtyard carrying a pale-faced Link and followed by a man she'd never seen driving a cart. Never in her life had Zelda been unable to read an expression on Link's face.
Now she wished that she had been.
She had been running the moment she had spotted Epona from the window of Orla's bedroom. She had sat there all night, idly stroking Fang and staring out of the window, waiting for the dawn. When the horse had come into view, she had ran downstairs and to the courtyard to greet her husband. She stopped running when the cart drove under the portcullis, breathing heavily. Her eyes travelled to the cart and then to Link's face, but he looked away. He looked at the cart.
As her father and the others rushed into the courtyard, Zelda walked slowly over to the vehicle, her stomach churning uncomfortably.
She didn't need to look under the blankets that covered the bier in the back of the cart to establish what had happened.
"No..." She took a step backwards, her hands covering her mouth and shaking uncontrollably. "This isn't happening, it isn't real. Please gods this isn't real."
The cart driver cast his sympathetic eyes on the princess.
"I'm sorry ma'am, there was nothing that could be done..."
"She isn't- she can't be- my baby can't be..." She shook her head over and over again.
Link's eyes were cast downwards, fixated on the pommel of his saddle.
"Zelda," Harkinian murmured, taking hold of his daughter's shoulders from behind.
"Orla!" she screamed. "NO!"
Her legs gave way and she clung to her father's tunic as she wept, her body racking with sob after convulsive sob. Harkinian cradled her against him, tears shining in his eyes as he rocked his weeping daughter in his arms.
It was too much for Link to bear.
Not saying a word, he turned Epona around and cantered from the courtyard.
"Link!" Aidyn called.
Olaran shook his head as he put his hand on his son's shoulder.
"Let him go, sometimes it's best for a man to be alone at a time like this."
Ranlink was holding onto his father's hand.
"Dad, what's happened to Orla? Why's Zelda crying?"
Aidyn knelt before his son and put his hands on the boy's shoulders, staring him straight in the eye.
"Ranny, Orla..." he paused and swallowed hard, glancing down at the ground before making eye contact again. "I'm afraid that Orla has died."
"What?!" Ranny cried, his eyes wide with panic. "Bu- but she was fine yesterday! She was- she was- how? How did she-?"
"I don't know son, no-one knows."
"But she's my cousin, my best friend! I love her!" he shouted. "Why did she have to die?"
"Ssh," Aidyn soothed.
"It's not fair, it's not FAIR!" Ranny yelled, tears streaming down his face.
Aidyn grabbed his child and hugged him tightly, muffling the hoarse sobs with his body.
"I know it isn't fair," Aidyn whispered. "Nothing's fair at all."
******
Link spat out a mouthful of water to lose the taste of bile in mouth. Trembling, he got to his feet and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, breathing heavily to steady himself. As soon as he had got away from the castle a wave of nausea had overcome him and he'd been violently sick.
And still his tears did not fall.
They wouldn't come, not even when he sat quietly in Cordelia's house with Orla in his lap, silently rocking her body in his arms. Her hands were so cold, like blocks of ice. Cordelia was weeping softly, her face buried in her hands.
"Why didn't you stop it?"
She had looked up at the owner of the flat, emotionless voice that had been directed at her.
"I'm sorry?"
Link's eyes had been hard, piercing and full of hatred.
"You were there, you were right there and you didn't stop it."
"What could I have done? No mortal could have done anything-" Her voice was shaking and broken by sharp intakes of breath. "I couldn't have done anything."
"You wouldn't do anything," Link snapped. "You wanted her dead before she even existed, that thing just saved you the trouble of doing the deed yourself."
Cordelia shook her head, her face pale with shock.
"I would never do such a thing. I loved the child, I was her grandmother-"
"You are not her grandmother!" Link yelled. "You killed her grandmother and you killed her too."
"No..."
He rose from the floor, his face grey, with Orla's still form cradled against him.
"Never come near my family again."
And he had left, taking up the offer of the groom and using both his services and those of the cart to take Orla's body home. She had been covered with a light grey silk cloth, her profile still visible through the fine fabric.
Link couldn't bring himself to ride with the cart.
Images flashed though his mind, haunting him. That thing touching Orla. Orla's unseeing eyes staring up at him, her face a mask of determination. Her beautiful face being covered in a cloth.
Zelda's scream of agony, her legs collapsing beneath her as she sought solace from her father.
It should have been his arms comforting her.
He couldn't let Zelda look at him. Blaming Cordelia for Orla's death may have felt right at the time, but it had been a long ride home and during that time he had come to realise who was responsible for his daughter's death.
It was his fault.
******
Orla's body had been laid out in her bedroom on the bed. Olaran and Aidyn had carried the bier upstairs with Harkinian and Zelda following behind. Zelda hadn't been able to stop crying.
Memories flew around her head of happier days, days like the day she became aware that she was going to have a baby. She had been sitting alone in her bedroom on the window seat in the partial darkness as the sun began to set, her hands in her lap and her eyes downcast as her mind went over the enormity of the situation she found herself in.
"There you are! I was wondering where you got to."
Link had walked over to her and dropped a kiss on her forehead. She had looked up at him and smiled weakly. Instantly he had been aware that something was wrong, she remembered that well.
"Are you OK sweetheart? You've been so quiet today."
She had nodded and looked up into his eyes.
"I've just been thinking about the prophecy."
"Ah."
He sat down beside her and drew her into his lap, brushing her hair away from her face.
"Don't dwell on it. We know that it's coming, but we can't let it govern our lives. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it but we should just-"
"I think that we've come to the bridge."
Link had stared at her in disbelief.
"What?"
She hadn't been able to meet his eyes.
"I'm late Link."
He had paused and passed his fingers through his hair.
"Maybe you've just been stressed, there's been a lot happening this month-"
"Two months late."
"What?"
"You must have noticed that I'd missed my cycles."
Link had scratched his head.
"The thought hadn't really crossed my mind."
A silence had fallen between them, neither looking at the other.
"So," she had said quietly. "This means that we have seven months to prepare. We should go and see Rauru, talk to him about it-"
She had been cut short as Link's hand travelled to her belly and rested there.
"What are you doing?"
He'd smiled and kissed her cheek.
"Trying to feel the baby. Has it kicked yet?"
"No."
Link had then pulled her into his lap and stared deeply into her eyes.
"Let's take the endeffera thing and put a pin in it for a moment. For the time being, let's forget about it and concentrate on the most important thing."
She remembered frowning.
"I think that our child's power might possibly be-"
"Zel, you just said what the most important thing is. Our child. Our flesh and blood. If you didn't know what the future holds for him or her then would you be this unhappy?"
"I'm not unhappy, it's just that..." She had looked down at her abdomen where Link's hand was still positioned. "I'm scared. I'm scared of what it'll grow up into, what it'll do to us. I don't want to lose our child to anything, you have no idea how much I want everything to be normal and OK."
"It will be, everything's going to turn out fine for everyone."
She had smiled and leant forwards for a kiss.
"I love you."
Seven months later, Orla had come into their world, a tiny and perfect being who had enthralled everyone from the first glance.
Seven years later, Orla's world had ended.
Now Zelda moved into her daughter's room after spending hours alone in her bedroom mourning her loss. Her eyes were red from the constancy of her tears, but the look on her face was calm and reserved as she closed the door behind her and took up a seat beside the bed. A shaking hand passed lovingly across the stone cold brow of her daughter's head, the way it had often done in the past when she had been sleeping.
"You shouldn't be here Orla," she whispered. "You shouldn't be like this. It's a horrible dream and any minute now I'll wake up with your father beside me and then you and Amalia will come in and destroy the calm by jumping on the bed, just like you always do."
She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.
"But you won't, will you?"
******
Saria let the last note of her tune die on the night air as Epona trudged wearily into the forest. She looked up over the head of the Kokiri who had come to listen to her play and put her ocarina into her lap. Mido looked at her with a puzzled face.
"Why'd you stop?"
She looked alarmed and the leader of the Kokiri followed her gaze to the horse and rider. His face lit up and he bellowed at the top of his small voice.
"Hey everyone, Link's come to visit!"
The entire population appeared from out of thin air and ran towards their 'older brother,' laughing excitedly. Only Saria hung back as she saw the expression on his face.
"Something's happened, hasn't it Link?" she whispered.
Link walked obliviously through the adoring Kokiri towards his treehouse, his face grey and listless. The children of the forest quieted immediately as he went into his childhood home without saying a word.
"Geez, what a grump," Mido grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
Saria waited until all the other Kokiri had gone back into their homes before she ventured towards Link's treehouse. Her fairy Flora perched anxiously on her head.
"Saria, don't you think we should-"
"Ssh," the Sage reprimanded. "Link needs somebody."
With that, she climbed the stairs and went into the single roomed dwelling, immediately noticing her friend who was curled up in a ball on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. She knelt by his head and passed her small hand across his brow, her face lined with concern. His eyes met with hers and in that instant Saria could see nothing but turmoil. She murmured softly and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
"Stay with me," Link pleaded softly.
Saria nodded and raised his head off the bed before occupying that space. His head rested in her lap and she stroked his hair softly, the way she had always done when he had come to her crying as a very small child after a particularly nasty encounter with Mido. Over the years, those occasions had become rarer and rarer, in fact she hadn't comforted him in this way since he'd been five years old.
"Orla died last night," he murmured quietly.
Saria didn't know how to handle death. It was one of the great mysteries of the world that she didn't understand, and one of the things that terrified her. She remembered the night that a young, auburn haired woman had invaded the sanctity of their forest carrying a screaming baby in her arms. At the time, she'd been sleeping in the Great Deku Tree's meadow and had seen everything that had come to pass, she'd seen the unseeing eyes and the colourless face and had been disturbed by the stillness.
The thought of Orla being that still made her feel sick.
"Ssh," she whispered. "Ssh."
High above the forest, in the highest heavens, the moon glowed brightly and illuminated the land with an eery blue light. It was almost as if the satellite knew that the following night its light would die for a few hours, as the heavens prepared for the lunar eclipse.
The heavens prepared for Shadow Night.
Nox Nocte.
to be continued...
