1.1 Chapter Two
"Oh, thank you! Thank you, you saved my life!" a feminine voice said excitedly, "I owe you my life! Who knew how many bones I could have broken!" Link's face was red and his body felt sore from the impact. 'Lady, if I could, I'd switch places with you,' Link thought bitterly. He pulled away from the woman's grasp and stood up.
The woman was standing before he could get a good look at her. Long pale blue hair fell down to her waist, which curved in and out in all the right places. She wore a white, skin- tight outfit that split at the waist and joined at the sides, where a pin joined together a translucent white silk sash to a point at her wrists. She wore a brooch over her chest of intricate design that held a sapphire of the richest hues.
Her hair parted in bangs, where it was paled to near white. She held his eyes with ones of icy blue. Link found himself staring and looked away courteously. Somehow, her eyes made him feel uncomfortable in a way the Freezzard was too cold and harsh.
She looked down and made a shy giggle. "You wear funny clothes," she said childishly. Link glanced at himself, unaware of what was wrong with a traditional tunic. "What?" he asked. She shrugged pointed out his arm. "You're wearing tights, along with finger-less gloves." With a wide gesture she pointed out his entire appearance and added, "You don't exactly look like one of those heroes from a story book. You look more like an elf to me. Oh yeah, you also have long pointy ears. Like the earrings, though." She ended with a high, nerve wrecking chain of laughter. Link nearly shuddered under the its pitch. Without a moment's pause she continued with an overweening speed on something he couldn't make out.
Her incredibly fast talk baffled Link as he trailed behind several words. He noted a distinct accent she spoke in the common Northern tongue, and decided that she didn't originate from a country he was aware of.
"Uh…yeah. So exactly where are you from and who are you anyway?" Link asked. "I'm Nemixian, silly," she teased, "Don't tell me you don't know where you are." Navi flew besides Link and they both exchanged a look of confusion. "Well, no," Link replied.
"Oh," she answered as if in disappointment, "Well, the territory that you're stepping on is the inner boundary that separates Hyrule from Nemix. I bet you're from Hyrule, right? You do have the common ears." Link nodded and replied, "I'm Link." She smiled; her hands behind her back and returned his introduction with a nod. "Hello," Navi intruded, "I'm Navi, the fairy." She enunciated the term fairy with an icy edge of abhorrence.
"Oh," the girl repeated in the same sense of disappointment, "Well, my name is Frae." She waited, as if expecting a certain reaction. Epona came up from behind Link nudged his shoulder for some attention. "Hey girl," he acknowledged her soothingly, "What have you been up to?" Epona nuzzled him affectionately and he returned with gentle loving strokes down her neck. Frae analyzed them through icy blue eyes, and pouted with an envious curl of her mouth.
"This is Epona," Link introduced. Frae reached out to touch her, edging herself next to Link. The mare snorted disdainfully at Frae and whipped her mane at her face. "Hey!" Frae yelled irritated, "Stupid horse!" Link frowned at her statement. Seeing his expression, Frae chuckled weakly and said in a feeble voice, "What a wonderful breed she is. Appaloosa? Or is she a palomino or thoroughbred?"
Link raised his eyebrow in confusion. "No, actually she's not of any breed," he replied, "She's more like a mixed type." "Oh," Frae replied, her face darkened from her mistake. "I nearly forgot," Link said, and turned to her. "What in the Realm were you doing in that tree?"
Frae beamed at him and answered, "Me? I just love climbing trees, that's all." 'Oh brother,' Link thought. "Why here?" he implied, "There aren't any trees in Nemix?" "Of course there is!" Frae said defiantly, "I just love the trees that grow around here!" "Really?" Navi asked skeptically, "We stayed here for quite a long time. How come you didn't try to leave?" "I fell asleep," Frae defended, "I didn't notice anything until something tried to knock me out of my branch." "A likely story," Navi commented not too softly. Frae shot her a murderous glare and immediately glanced back to smile at Link's thoughtful expression.
"I see," he muttered. He strolled to the grassy knoll where he hid his supplies in a niche under a pile of rocks and hauled them next to Epona. "What are you doing?" Frae asked curiously. "We have to go," Link replied quickly. "Why?" Frae nearly shouted in defiance.
Link looked at her as he tightened his shield around his back and answered with a sarcastic humor, "I need to train around somewhere with no one spooking my poor horse."
Frae had on an utter look of distraught as she watched Link harness Epona and load his belongings. "Training? But wait, y-you can't just leave me here!" she stuttered. Navi answered tauntingly, "And why not?" "Shut up," Frae growled under her breath and replaced her annoyance with an urging look. "Link," she truckled, "you really can't leave a beautiful girl like myself all alone here in the middle of nowhere?"
Link stared at her with a skeptical expression. "Well," he answered slowly and turned to look at her amusingly, "I guess you do have a point." "Dindamnit," Navi muttered to Epona, "He's always got that thing for pretty girls." The horse snorted and shook her head in reluctant agreement.
"But then you were all right before we found you," Link said abruptly and straddled onto the saddle, "And I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to go back to Nemix with no problem from the way you got here." Navi stifled a yell of glory in a hushed tone of, "Whoo hoo!"
Before Frae could argue, Link shook Epona's reins briskly. "Nayru's Blessings and Din's Strength to your return home!" he shouted and majestically bowed from atop of the saddle. "Nice meeting you!" Navi said brightly and added not too softly under her breath, "Not." Epona whinnied with delight and galloped, keeping as much distance apart from herself and Frae as she possibly could.
Frae stood and glared as the horse and her rider disappeared out of sight. "Imbecile," she growled, "You and your silly horse and some firefly thought you could just ditch me way out here?" She fingered her brooch and stood in thought. Her silence was interrupted by a trample of hoof beats from her far left. Dirt rose as the party of riders drew up close, a group of riders donned in royal suit were led by a handsome youth adorned in a gaudy ensemble fit for a parade.
"Princess Helena!" he shouted to her as they neared. She narrowed her eyes at the sound of the voice and her name, and turned to the company. The other riders behind the young man gestured the royal protocol of greeting with a touch of their left arm, forehead and chest before bowing their heads with a regrettable, "Princess."
The captain of the riders, wearing a more flashy armor and a sapphire pendant over his forehead, spoke, "Your Highness, thank goodness you're safe. Please forgive our unsuitable carelessness. We should have been more cautious with your whereabouts, but you must also comply with us especially under the specific orders of your father. Will you return to the palace with us at once as not to cause His Royalty any worry?"
The Princess gave him a simple look and replied in a bored tone, "Yes, Cronaul. I was merely bored from the events at the castle, nothing more." Helena cast a glance at the young man who called her name, his face aglow with affection and relief. Seeing his expression made her turn away in disgust. 'Out of all the princes in the world I got stuck with the Deku Stick, Kroahn.'
Although his beauty surpasses many men in the country, the young prince of the small country Waiel was a bit, in the manner of speaking, slow and awkward. Helena despised the choice her father made in allowing this thing to propose to her - a dull idiot who shrunk away in fear of his own shadow. Had it not been for the fact that Waiel provided as a strong ally to Nemix as a center for agriculture and weaponry the Nemixian king would have never considered his daughter to wed such a coward.
The story she had told Link was false, what lured her nearly off Nemixian's borders was the need to escape her fiancé. Their wedding was still a month away, but the prince decided to start making the arrangements and had just almost arrived at the castle from the North Mountains when she snuck out. His herald arrived a few days ago to foretell of the prince's arrival at the palace, and now that Kroahn was in the Nemixian borders there was no way he was going to turn back.
Just thinking of their engagement made Helena shudder.
When Kroahn finally reached her, he nearly tripped on his stirrups when he slid down. "My princess," he said out of breath and tucked in some loose fabric into his pants, "Are you in any harm?" Helena forced herself to smile sweetly and answered in a tender voice, "No, my prince. All is well now that you are here." 'And I wish I was somewhere else.'
She caught herself staring at the direction Link had left to. 'Now there's a real horseman,' she thought and remembered the easy leap the young Hylian perfected to mount. Definitely, judging by size and body structure, Link had to be at least two years older than Kroahn. The princess smiled to herself. If was not her father's choice, she would have single handedly picked out her own husband.
Noticing her gaze, Kroahn scanned the horizon for a sign of what she was staring at. "Princess?" he asked as if wanting a hint. Helena's face snapped towards him, a forced smile stretching her cheeks. "What is it, my dear?" The prince fell in an awkward silence at his fiancé's address and finally shook his head.
"Your Highness should return home," he finally said and stupidly nodded to himself in agreement. Helena said nothing but mounted the huge white beast that was her own stallion. Once she reached to the castle Kroahn would finally stop bothering her. 'Besides,' she thought with a smile, 'Link is absentmindedly riding straight towards the capital. It won't be too far.'
With a yell she kicked the horse's sides and galloped towards Nemix. "Hey!" Kroahn shouted behind, "Wait for me!" Helena scoffed and urged the horse to run faster. "I would rather leave you behind and kiss a Moblin," she muttered. Her horse kicked forth clumps of dirt and grass, while Helena only wished that Kroahn was being dragged behind her all the way back to the castle.
*Introducing a few new characters: the Princess of Nemix herself and the idiotic prince Kroahn. Helena was made to be a bit of a bitch, and her sudden attraction to Link is nothing from the ordinary -_~. Kroahn is definitely here for a bit of light humor, though I have to say I kinda' feel a bit sorry for the guy that he's a bit too 'sheltered'. They also play an important part in the more darker parts of the story, so keep reading!
"Oh, thank you! Thank you, you saved my life!" a feminine voice said excitedly, "I owe you my life! Who knew how many bones I could have broken!" Link's face was red and his body felt sore from the impact. 'Lady, if I could, I'd switch places with you,' Link thought bitterly. He pulled away from the woman's grasp and stood up.
The woman was standing before he could get a good look at her. Long pale blue hair fell down to her waist, which curved in and out in all the right places. She wore a white, skin- tight outfit that split at the waist and joined at the sides, where a pin joined together a translucent white silk sash to a point at her wrists. She wore a brooch over her chest of intricate design that held a sapphire of the richest hues.
Her hair parted in bangs, where it was paled to near white. She held his eyes with ones of icy blue. Link found himself staring and looked away courteously. Somehow, her eyes made him feel uncomfortable in a way the Freezzard was too cold and harsh.
She looked down and made a shy giggle. "You wear funny clothes," she said childishly. Link glanced at himself, unaware of what was wrong with a traditional tunic. "What?" he asked. She shrugged pointed out his arm. "You're wearing tights, along with finger-less gloves." With a wide gesture she pointed out his entire appearance and added, "You don't exactly look like one of those heroes from a story book. You look more like an elf to me. Oh yeah, you also have long pointy ears. Like the earrings, though." She ended with a high, nerve wrecking chain of laughter. Link nearly shuddered under the its pitch. Without a moment's pause she continued with an overweening speed on something he couldn't make out.
Her incredibly fast talk baffled Link as he trailed behind several words. He noted a distinct accent she spoke in the common Northern tongue, and decided that she didn't originate from a country he was aware of.
"Uh…yeah. So exactly where are you from and who are you anyway?" Link asked. "I'm Nemixian, silly," she teased, "Don't tell me you don't know where you are." Navi flew besides Link and they both exchanged a look of confusion. "Well, no," Link replied.
"Oh," she answered as if in disappointment, "Well, the territory that you're stepping on is the inner boundary that separates Hyrule from Nemix. I bet you're from Hyrule, right? You do have the common ears." Link nodded and replied, "I'm Link." She smiled; her hands behind her back and returned his introduction with a nod. "Hello," Navi intruded, "I'm Navi, the fairy." She enunciated the term fairy with an icy edge of abhorrence.
"Oh," the girl repeated in the same sense of disappointment, "Well, my name is Frae." She waited, as if expecting a certain reaction. Epona came up from behind Link nudged his shoulder for some attention. "Hey girl," he acknowledged her soothingly, "What have you been up to?" Epona nuzzled him affectionately and he returned with gentle loving strokes down her neck. Frae analyzed them through icy blue eyes, and pouted with an envious curl of her mouth.
"This is Epona," Link introduced. Frae reached out to touch her, edging herself next to Link. The mare snorted disdainfully at Frae and whipped her mane at her face. "Hey!" Frae yelled irritated, "Stupid horse!" Link frowned at her statement. Seeing his expression, Frae chuckled weakly and said in a feeble voice, "What a wonderful breed she is. Appaloosa? Or is she a palomino or thoroughbred?"
Link raised his eyebrow in confusion. "No, actually she's not of any breed," he replied, "She's more like a mixed type." "Oh," Frae replied, her face darkened from her mistake. "I nearly forgot," Link said, and turned to her. "What in the Realm were you doing in that tree?"
Frae beamed at him and answered, "Me? I just love climbing trees, that's all." 'Oh brother,' Link thought. "Why here?" he implied, "There aren't any trees in Nemix?" "Of course there is!" Frae said defiantly, "I just love the trees that grow around here!" "Really?" Navi asked skeptically, "We stayed here for quite a long time. How come you didn't try to leave?" "I fell asleep," Frae defended, "I didn't notice anything until something tried to knock me out of my branch." "A likely story," Navi commented not too softly. Frae shot her a murderous glare and immediately glanced back to smile at Link's thoughtful expression.
"I see," he muttered. He strolled to the grassy knoll where he hid his supplies in a niche under a pile of rocks and hauled them next to Epona. "What are you doing?" Frae asked curiously. "We have to go," Link replied quickly. "Why?" Frae nearly shouted in defiance.
Link looked at her as he tightened his shield around his back and answered with a sarcastic humor, "I need to train around somewhere with no one spooking my poor horse."
Frae had on an utter look of distraught as she watched Link harness Epona and load his belongings. "Training? But wait, y-you can't just leave me here!" she stuttered. Navi answered tauntingly, "And why not?" "Shut up," Frae growled under her breath and replaced her annoyance with an urging look. "Link," she truckled, "you really can't leave a beautiful girl like myself all alone here in the middle of nowhere?"
Link stared at her with a skeptical expression. "Well," he answered slowly and turned to look at her amusingly, "I guess you do have a point." "Dindamnit," Navi muttered to Epona, "He's always got that thing for pretty girls." The horse snorted and shook her head in reluctant agreement.
"But then you were all right before we found you," Link said abruptly and straddled onto the saddle, "And I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to go back to Nemix with no problem from the way you got here." Navi stifled a yell of glory in a hushed tone of, "Whoo hoo!"
Before Frae could argue, Link shook Epona's reins briskly. "Nayru's Blessings and Din's Strength to your return home!" he shouted and majestically bowed from atop of the saddle. "Nice meeting you!" Navi said brightly and added not too softly under her breath, "Not." Epona whinnied with delight and galloped, keeping as much distance apart from herself and Frae as she possibly could.
Frae stood and glared as the horse and her rider disappeared out of sight. "Imbecile," she growled, "You and your silly horse and some firefly thought you could just ditch me way out here?" She fingered her brooch and stood in thought. Her silence was interrupted by a trample of hoof beats from her far left. Dirt rose as the party of riders drew up close, a group of riders donned in royal suit were led by a handsome youth adorned in a gaudy ensemble fit for a parade.
"Princess Helena!" he shouted to her as they neared. She narrowed her eyes at the sound of the voice and her name, and turned to the company. The other riders behind the young man gestured the royal protocol of greeting with a touch of their left arm, forehead and chest before bowing their heads with a regrettable, "Princess."
The captain of the riders, wearing a more flashy armor and a sapphire pendant over his forehead, spoke, "Your Highness, thank goodness you're safe. Please forgive our unsuitable carelessness. We should have been more cautious with your whereabouts, but you must also comply with us especially under the specific orders of your father. Will you return to the palace with us at once as not to cause His Royalty any worry?"
The Princess gave him a simple look and replied in a bored tone, "Yes, Cronaul. I was merely bored from the events at the castle, nothing more." Helena cast a glance at the young man who called her name, his face aglow with affection and relief. Seeing his expression made her turn away in disgust. 'Out of all the princes in the world I got stuck with the Deku Stick, Kroahn.'
Although his beauty surpasses many men in the country, the young prince of the small country Waiel was a bit, in the manner of speaking, slow and awkward. Helena despised the choice her father made in allowing this thing to propose to her - a dull idiot who shrunk away in fear of his own shadow. Had it not been for the fact that Waiel provided as a strong ally to Nemix as a center for agriculture and weaponry the Nemixian king would have never considered his daughter to wed such a coward.
The story she had told Link was false, what lured her nearly off Nemixian's borders was the need to escape her fiancé. Their wedding was still a month away, but the prince decided to start making the arrangements and had just almost arrived at the castle from the North Mountains when she snuck out. His herald arrived a few days ago to foretell of the prince's arrival at the palace, and now that Kroahn was in the Nemixian borders there was no way he was going to turn back.
Just thinking of their engagement made Helena shudder.
When Kroahn finally reached her, he nearly tripped on his stirrups when he slid down. "My princess," he said out of breath and tucked in some loose fabric into his pants, "Are you in any harm?" Helena forced herself to smile sweetly and answered in a tender voice, "No, my prince. All is well now that you are here." 'And I wish I was somewhere else.'
She caught herself staring at the direction Link had left to. 'Now there's a real horseman,' she thought and remembered the easy leap the young Hylian perfected to mount. Definitely, judging by size and body structure, Link had to be at least two years older than Kroahn. The princess smiled to herself. If was not her father's choice, she would have single handedly picked out her own husband.
Noticing her gaze, Kroahn scanned the horizon for a sign of what she was staring at. "Princess?" he asked as if wanting a hint. Helena's face snapped towards him, a forced smile stretching her cheeks. "What is it, my dear?" The prince fell in an awkward silence at his fiancé's address and finally shook his head.
"Your Highness should return home," he finally said and stupidly nodded to himself in agreement. Helena said nothing but mounted the huge white beast that was her own stallion. Once she reached to the castle Kroahn would finally stop bothering her. 'Besides,' she thought with a smile, 'Link is absentmindedly riding straight towards the capital. It won't be too far.'
With a yell she kicked the horse's sides and galloped towards Nemix. "Hey!" Kroahn shouted behind, "Wait for me!" Helena scoffed and urged the horse to run faster. "I would rather leave you behind and kiss a Moblin," she muttered. Her horse kicked forth clumps of dirt and grass, while Helena only wished that Kroahn was being dragged behind her all the way back to the castle.
*Introducing a few new characters: the Princess of Nemix herself and the idiotic prince Kroahn. Helena was made to be a bit of a bitch, and her sudden attraction to Link is nothing from the ordinary -_~. Kroahn is definitely here for a bit of light humor, though I have to say I kinda' feel a bit sorry for the guy that he's a bit too 'sheltered'. They also play an important part in the more darker parts of the story, so keep reading!