As Link left, I felt suddenly as if I should not have drawn him into
this. I felt that he was somewhat skeptical about my vision, and from the
look in his eyes I doubted if he had ever left his home in the Forest
before he came here. I decided to ponder my intuitions later, when my mind
was clearer. For now, I was content to just gaze up at the always-blue
Hylian sky: But it was not blue today. Heavy, dark clouds rolled endlessly
over the sky, far out of my sight over the mountains before they broke its
ominous surface to raise their peaks high above the gray plain of clouds to
look upon the sun.
Quickly I looked in through the window. Ganondorf had gone. Without a sound I ran across the courtyard and under the shelter of an arch that led to the palace gardens. There I stopped a moment to regain my breath (and my composure) before dashing in through a doorway and up a long flight of stairs. I took the opportunity to look out a window when I reached a landing. The storm was already raging across the countryside- wind was ripping through the many towers of the castle before howling away among the mountains behind the castle. Suddenly a gust of wind from outside sent a blast of cold icy rain through the open window, drenching both the landing and me. I took a moment to brush my hair out of my face before shutting the window. "Brrr.." I shivered in my soaked and heavy garments and climbed up the remaining stairs and out into one of the back corridors.
Impa had told me of this way long ago. It, and the other secret corridors, was used by the Sheikah to go quickly from one part of the castle to another, and without being seen by the various visitors and other people that seem to come in steady stream every day to the castle, always on some "urgent" errand. Conveniently, these back ways led conveniently to a secret entrance that opened onto my room..
Eventually I found what I was looking for: an old woven tapestry hanging on the left wall of the corridor. Stopping to see if anyone was looking, I silently drew aside the covering, revealing a wood panel in the wall, which was very strange considering that Hyrule Castle is made almost entirely out of stone. I slid back this panel to reveal the back of yet another tapestry, which I also drew back and walked into the closet of my room. As silently as I could, I slid the panel back into place and straightened the tapestry back to its rightful place. (One might think that a closet is a strange place to hang a tapestry, but in fact it quite helps. My closet is very large, and also very cold. That tapestry was hung on the one blank wall in order to keep some of the cold out while I was dressing.)
After I had changed, and gone into the main part of my room, something caught my eye: not only were all the windows closed and the bedclothes changed, but there was a single letter sitting on my desk! Excitedly I ran over to it, and, snatching the letter off my desk, I ran to my bed and landed in it with a flop. Only then did I take time to look at the envelope more closely. It was made out of thick, homemade paper, and was slightly wet. The ink, though, was still readable. It said, as plain as day:
1
2
3 Princess Zelda
Hyrule Castle
North Castle Town, Hyrule
~From~
Malon Lon-Lon
Lon Lon Ranch
Hyrule
"Yes! It finally got here!" I exclaimed as I ripped the envelope open. The paper inside was nothing like the envelope. It was thin and fine, and very delicate. It was emblazoned at the top with the crest of Hyrule's Royal Family, along with the Lon-Lon coat of arms: it was very attractive. I smiled as I recognized it for what it was: The very stationery I had given Malon on her last birthday. The letter said, in very neat handwriting:
Dear Zelda,
How are you? It's been a long time since we last saw each other, hasn't it? I've been sick the last week, so I couldn't come with Dad on his BI-weekly deliveries. Oh well, I'll be coming this time! By the way, while I was waiting in the Market for the Healer to give me my medicine, I met a boy who said he was looking to see you. Do you know anything about it? I suppose that if you are expecting him, you had better tell the guards: after Donyi tried to sneak in to see you, they increased security around the castle- he won't get through unless that fairy of his can make him invisible. Well, I guess I will see you on Thursday!
Your Best Friend,
Malon
Thursday?! Today was Tuesday! I wished--- "That's it!!" I exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk. I would go to see Malon at her home! "IMPA!!!!!" I shouted, running out of the door and shutting it again with a slam. "IMPA!!! IM-" "Okay, okay, what is it?" I looked behind me to see Impa. She was laughing. "You seem in an awfully big hurry today, Zelda. What is it?" I paused, trying to find the words to say that I wanted to leave the castle without having to ask Father's permission. "Impa, can I go for a ride on my horse? PLEEEEEAAASSSSSSEEEE?" I put on the most innocent look I could. "Zelda, you know the rules. You're not allowed to leave the castle. Come on now, why all this sudden interest in riding anyway?" " I just need to, that's all. Hey! I've got it! What is I was me, but I wasn't me?" A questioning look from Impa told me I needed to explain. "You know, go in disguise- undercover!" Impa paused to consider it, then smiled. "Well, how would you like to be a Sheikah for a day?"
Later that day, in Impa's room, I was sitting on the bed while Impa rummaged around in her closet for a while. At last she came back out, holding a small blue and gray bundle. "This was mine when I was a little girl," she said. "Your mother made it for me, right before it happened." Impa's voice trailed off. I looked at the bundle. Had my mother really made that herself? I reached out to touch the material. Impa laughed. "I guess you like it," She said, seeing the look in my eyes. She opened the bundle and took out a long blue dress. "Put this on, then come back out here so I can help you with the rest," she said, handing me the dress. It was long, and very soft. It was made of a hand-woven material and stitched with silver thread. I closed the closet door and removed my usual pink and purple gown. I slipped the dress over my head, and looked down at it. Although the dress was long, it only came down to a mid-calf length, just above my ankles. I stepped out of the closet, and twirled around to show Impa. "It's great," I said sadly. "But it's too short." Impa laughed. "No, silly, that's the way it's supposed to be. You see, I ran around a lot when I was you age, so I kept tripping over floor-length dresses. Now turn around, and let me do the buttons," she said. I wondered to myself what Impa looked like as a ten-year-old, and whether she had gray hair then, too.
To someone who is unfamiliar with the Sheikah, Impa would look like she was older than just twenty. Most Sheikah have grayish hair, and those that don't have a very pale color. That was another thing I got from my mother: my hair was pale pale blonde, which was why I always wore my strange looking headdress. My father thought it was best if my sheikan looks were covered up-since most Hylians are deathly afraid of the Sheikah, he did not want his people to be afraid of their own princess. I am glad he decided that, although I wish I could proudly show the way I really looked. That is one reason why dressing as a Sheikah made me so happy: I could finally walk under the open daylight without being confined with magic spells and headdresses.
The dress had a high collar and three buttons that went a little bit down the back. Embroidered in silver was the familiar Sheikah symbol: a single eye with what resembled a teardrop underneath it. With it went what looked like a gray cloak with no sleeves or hood. Also there were no side- seams connecting the front of it to the back. The front had two panels, and the back had one larger one: all three broadened a little as they went down and then ended in points. The entire garment was lined with the same soft material as the dress was made of, only this time it was black. It was also trimmed around the edges in black. On the back of this strange garment was embroidered the same symbol of that eye, this time larger, bolder, and in red. The points of this over-garment just touched the hem of the dress, and it was attached to the shoulders using some sort of metal clasps. Impa called them "snaps". Last was a wide brown leather belt with a heavy silver buckle. When Impa had shown me how to fasten it, She stepped back to look at me. "Well, my little Sheikah," she said, smiling. "Only a couple more finishing touches to go!" With that she walked back up to me and looked in my eyes and undid the spell she had put on them earlier this morning. Then, taking a small portion of hair from the side of my face, she braided it into three tiny braids, did the same on the other side, then pulled all six braids loosely back and tied a small piece of gray cloth around them. "Put these on," she said when she had finished. She handed me a pair of boots. They fit beautifully and came up to my knees. The boots were made of the same soft leather as the belt. Finally, I was ready to go.
Impa took me out to the stables and led my favorite horse out of her stall. Her name was Comet, and she was a very beautiful white color. Once Impa had brushed and saddled her, I was finally ready to go. I told Impa good-bye and bolted out of the back gate of the castle
Faster and faster I went, riding like the wind that had so recently raged across the Hylian countryside. Now, however, the sky was clear and the rain was rising in a faint mist up from the beaten path. Quicker now I went, curving around the Town and out into Hyrule Field. I was finally free to go where I wished, and I knew just where to go.
Quickly I looked in through the window. Ganondorf had gone. Without a sound I ran across the courtyard and under the shelter of an arch that led to the palace gardens. There I stopped a moment to regain my breath (and my composure) before dashing in through a doorway and up a long flight of stairs. I took the opportunity to look out a window when I reached a landing. The storm was already raging across the countryside- wind was ripping through the many towers of the castle before howling away among the mountains behind the castle. Suddenly a gust of wind from outside sent a blast of cold icy rain through the open window, drenching both the landing and me. I took a moment to brush my hair out of my face before shutting the window. "Brrr.." I shivered in my soaked and heavy garments and climbed up the remaining stairs and out into one of the back corridors.
Impa had told me of this way long ago. It, and the other secret corridors, was used by the Sheikah to go quickly from one part of the castle to another, and without being seen by the various visitors and other people that seem to come in steady stream every day to the castle, always on some "urgent" errand. Conveniently, these back ways led conveniently to a secret entrance that opened onto my room..
Eventually I found what I was looking for: an old woven tapestry hanging on the left wall of the corridor. Stopping to see if anyone was looking, I silently drew aside the covering, revealing a wood panel in the wall, which was very strange considering that Hyrule Castle is made almost entirely out of stone. I slid back this panel to reveal the back of yet another tapestry, which I also drew back and walked into the closet of my room. As silently as I could, I slid the panel back into place and straightened the tapestry back to its rightful place. (One might think that a closet is a strange place to hang a tapestry, but in fact it quite helps. My closet is very large, and also very cold. That tapestry was hung on the one blank wall in order to keep some of the cold out while I was dressing.)
After I had changed, and gone into the main part of my room, something caught my eye: not only were all the windows closed and the bedclothes changed, but there was a single letter sitting on my desk! Excitedly I ran over to it, and, snatching the letter off my desk, I ran to my bed and landed in it with a flop. Only then did I take time to look at the envelope more closely. It was made out of thick, homemade paper, and was slightly wet. The ink, though, was still readable. It said, as plain as day:
1
2
3 Princess Zelda
Hyrule Castle
North Castle Town, Hyrule
~From~
Malon Lon-Lon
Lon Lon Ranch
Hyrule
"Yes! It finally got here!" I exclaimed as I ripped the envelope open. The paper inside was nothing like the envelope. It was thin and fine, and very delicate. It was emblazoned at the top with the crest of Hyrule's Royal Family, along with the Lon-Lon coat of arms: it was very attractive. I smiled as I recognized it for what it was: The very stationery I had given Malon on her last birthday. The letter said, in very neat handwriting:
Dear Zelda,
How are you? It's been a long time since we last saw each other, hasn't it? I've been sick the last week, so I couldn't come with Dad on his BI-weekly deliveries. Oh well, I'll be coming this time! By the way, while I was waiting in the Market for the Healer to give me my medicine, I met a boy who said he was looking to see you. Do you know anything about it? I suppose that if you are expecting him, you had better tell the guards: after Donyi tried to sneak in to see you, they increased security around the castle- he won't get through unless that fairy of his can make him invisible. Well, I guess I will see you on Thursday!
Your Best Friend,
Malon
Thursday?! Today was Tuesday! I wished--- "That's it!!" I exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk. I would go to see Malon at her home! "IMPA!!!!!" I shouted, running out of the door and shutting it again with a slam. "IMPA!!! IM-" "Okay, okay, what is it?" I looked behind me to see Impa. She was laughing. "You seem in an awfully big hurry today, Zelda. What is it?" I paused, trying to find the words to say that I wanted to leave the castle without having to ask Father's permission. "Impa, can I go for a ride on my horse? PLEEEEEAAASSSSSSEEEE?" I put on the most innocent look I could. "Zelda, you know the rules. You're not allowed to leave the castle. Come on now, why all this sudden interest in riding anyway?" " I just need to, that's all. Hey! I've got it! What is I was me, but I wasn't me?" A questioning look from Impa told me I needed to explain. "You know, go in disguise- undercover!" Impa paused to consider it, then smiled. "Well, how would you like to be a Sheikah for a day?"
Later that day, in Impa's room, I was sitting on the bed while Impa rummaged around in her closet for a while. At last she came back out, holding a small blue and gray bundle. "This was mine when I was a little girl," she said. "Your mother made it for me, right before it happened." Impa's voice trailed off. I looked at the bundle. Had my mother really made that herself? I reached out to touch the material. Impa laughed. "I guess you like it," She said, seeing the look in my eyes. She opened the bundle and took out a long blue dress. "Put this on, then come back out here so I can help you with the rest," she said, handing me the dress. It was long, and very soft. It was made of a hand-woven material and stitched with silver thread. I closed the closet door and removed my usual pink and purple gown. I slipped the dress over my head, and looked down at it. Although the dress was long, it only came down to a mid-calf length, just above my ankles. I stepped out of the closet, and twirled around to show Impa. "It's great," I said sadly. "But it's too short." Impa laughed. "No, silly, that's the way it's supposed to be. You see, I ran around a lot when I was you age, so I kept tripping over floor-length dresses. Now turn around, and let me do the buttons," she said. I wondered to myself what Impa looked like as a ten-year-old, and whether she had gray hair then, too.
To someone who is unfamiliar with the Sheikah, Impa would look like she was older than just twenty. Most Sheikah have grayish hair, and those that don't have a very pale color. That was another thing I got from my mother: my hair was pale pale blonde, which was why I always wore my strange looking headdress. My father thought it was best if my sheikan looks were covered up-since most Hylians are deathly afraid of the Sheikah, he did not want his people to be afraid of their own princess. I am glad he decided that, although I wish I could proudly show the way I really looked. That is one reason why dressing as a Sheikah made me so happy: I could finally walk under the open daylight without being confined with magic spells and headdresses.
The dress had a high collar and three buttons that went a little bit down the back. Embroidered in silver was the familiar Sheikah symbol: a single eye with what resembled a teardrop underneath it. With it went what looked like a gray cloak with no sleeves or hood. Also there were no side- seams connecting the front of it to the back. The front had two panels, and the back had one larger one: all three broadened a little as they went down and then ended in points. The entire garment was lined with the same soft material as the dress was made of, only this time it was black. It was also trimmed around the edges in black. On the back of this strange garment was embroidered the same symbol of that eye, this time larger, bolder, and in red. The points of this over-garment just touched the hem of the dress, and it was attached to the shoulders using some sort of metal clasps. Impa called them "snaps". Last was a wide brown leather belt with a heavy silver buckle. When Impa had shown me how to fasten it, She stepped back to look at me. "Well, my little Sheikah," she said, smiling. "Only a couple more finishing touches to go!" With that she walked back up to me and looked in my eyes and undid the spell she had put on them earlier this morning. Then, taking a small portion of hair from the side of my face, she braided it into three tiny braids, did the same on the other side, then pulled all six braids loosely back and tied a small piece of gray cloth around them. "Put these on," she said when she had finished. She handed me a pair of boots. They fit beautifully and came up to my knees. The boots were made of the same soft leather as the belt. Finally, I was ready to go.
Impa took me out to the stables and led my favorite horse out of her stall. Her name was Comet, and she was a very beautiful white color. Once Impa had brushed and saddled her, I was finally ready to go. I told Impa good-bye and bolted out of the back gate of the castle
Faster and faster I went, riding like the wind that had so recently raged across the Hylian countryside. Now, however, the sky was clear and the rain was rising in a faint mist up from the beaten path. Quicker now I went, curving around the Town and out into Hyrule Field. I was finally free to go where I wished, and I knew just where to go.