A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
I was asked in last chapter's reviews how long this story was going to be. At this point I can give an educated guess, as the end of the story is in sight. I'm currently on Chapter 34, and I estimate writing about six or seven more chapters. So there will probably be around forty chapters when all's said and done. Of course that's just my best estimate as of now and is subject to change.
Also, please see the section following Chapter 29 for more answers to reader questions. Enjoy!
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Chapter 29
Kakariko Town
It felt wonderful to be on the road again, Zelda reflected as she stretched beneath the morning sun. After about an hour of wandering through the forest, they'd finally broken through the canopy of trees and found the road that wound north through the Death Mountain Plains to Kakariko Town. Now that she was finally taking action instead of remaining cooped inside the Forest Temple, now that she was outdoors under the sun, breathing fresh air, Zelda could hardly bring herself to worry about Ganondorf and the future.
What did she have to worry about, really? So an evil tyrant was after her blood, but she had her friends and allies at her side. She had the power of the goddesses buried inside of her. And she had Link, who was going to marry her–marry her, Zelda thought happily, for she was sure that was what Link had been talking about last night. It was a strange thought, scary and thrilling and happy all at once.
Uncommonly optimistic, Zelda led the way for their party as they made their way along the winding path. Link was mounted on Demon, who was unusually frisky–Zelda wasn't the only one who was glad to be on the road again. Bolo, Cleo, and Ronin followed after Link on foot. Blue was with them as well; she had changed herself into a fierce-eyed golden eagle and perched on Ronin's shoulder. Bringing up the rear were Impa and Rauru.
They decided not to stop for lunch, wanting to make it to Kakariko by sundown, and instead ate their small supply of food as they walked. Impa appeared at Zelda's side, handing her a tart, wrinkled cran-apple.
"I need to talk to you," the Sheikah said quietly.
Zelda looked at her in surprise. "About what?" she mumbled around a mouthful of apple.
Impa jerked her head toward the back of the group and gave her a meaningful look. Zelda finished off the cran-apple in a few quick bites and fell back with Impa, away from the others.
"I need to talk to you about Link," Impa said seriously when they were well out of the others' earshot.
Zelda stared at her. "What about him?"
Impa looked away from a moment, biting her lower lip as if trying to think of exactly how to phrase what she needed to say. "Do you know why your mother never married?" she asked at last.
Zelda blinked and shook her head. "No."
"It's because she was a queen," Impa explained. "Because after her father's death, she was the sole heir of the Hylian throne, just as you are now. Things are always difficult for women in power. Oftentimes they're forced to choose between their personal gain and what's best for all. The good ones will make those choices, as hard as they may be. Your mother was a good one.
"She knew that if she married she would have to concede power to her husband. It's one of the unwritten laws of royalty. Everyone looks to the man first and the woman second. Her subjects would automatically follow her husband's rule, not hers. Your mother knew this, and that's why she never married." Impa met Zelda's eyes. "Your mother once told me that if she ever found a man who she felt could rule her kingdom better than she could, she would marry him and concede power immediately. It didn't matter to her that it wouldn't be a marriage of love. She wasn't looking out for her own good, but for the good of all.
"There was only one man your mother ever loved, but he was no ruler. Your mother had what it took to rule a kingdom, but he did not. You, I think, have what it takes to rule a kingdom," Impa said quietly. "But the man you love does not."
A burden as heavy as the stones of Death Mountain settled in Zelda's heart. "You're saying I shouldn't marry Link."
"I'm saying you should end things with him," Impa said flatly. "It will only cause trouble. When the war with Ganondorf was at its peak and it became apparent that your mother was pregnant with a consort's child, respect and awe of her diminished, and in the lowest places of Hyrule she was called a harlot."
"They never!" Zelda flared indignantly.
"Your mother's friends dissuaded that kind of talk quickly enough," Impa said grimly. "But the damage was already done. No one asks men to surrender private lives and relationships when they ascend to positions of power. It's different for women. Society expects a respectable woman to marry and follow her husband. Those who don't are thieves or prostitutes or rogues–or queens," she added wryly. "It's not fair, but little in life is."
"I didn't ask for this," Zelda told Impa, suddenly angry. "I never asked to be born a queen's daughter."
"Zelda, you are a queen in your own right already," Impa said calmly. "And I know you didn't ask for it, but you said it yourself–your life is not your own. It belongs to our cause, to our efforts to defeat Ganondorf. And should that cause succeed, your life will belong to all of Hyrule, for it will be your duty to usher in an age of peace and prosperity for this land. Of course you didn't ask for this. Who would? But it's your fate, Zelda."
Impa sighed. "I can't tell you what to do. You're capable of making your own choices. But I would advise you–strongly–to end things with Link now, before they get too serious."
"Things are already serious, Impa," Zelda said quietly. "And I'm not a queen yet–at least not officially. So if I have to end our relationship eventually, I intend to make the best of it while it lasts."
* * *
They made good time and arrived in Kakariko just as the sun was beginning to sink toward the horizon. Zelda paused momentarily to survey the town nestled at the foot of Death Mountain. This was where it would really begin.
"What should we do?" Link asked quietly, sliding off of Demon and standing at her shoulder.
"I don't know yet," Zelda admitted. "Let's just settle in for the night. We can figure out a plan for tomorrow."
They went to an inn for food and lodgings. Impa had advised Zelda to keep a low profile, but she wanted to be among the people of Kakariko. Once she had robbed this town and pickpocketed its people blind. Now she had to convince these very same people that she was royalty, and capable of bringing down Ganondorf.
She mused this over as she went to the tavern below the inn with her friends. "Don't look so serious," Link advised as he plunked a tankard of something down in front of her. "You don't recognize this place?"
Zelda blinked at him. "No. Why?"
Link grinned and took a sip from his own tankard. "This is where we met."
Looking around in astonishment, Zelda realized he was right. She looked at him again, and for a moment was tempted to share what Impa had told her. But no. She was here now, in this moment. If it was all going to be over soon, one way or another, she may as well live now.
"Cheers," she replied, grinning, as she raised her tankard in a toast and took a swig. Then she tasted the beverage and nearly choked. "Hey, this is liquor! You know I don't drink. It impairs your concentration and movement–"
"But you're not here as a thief," Ronin interrupted, plopping down in a chair at their table. He smiled when Link scowled at him, raising his own tankard. "Let's be friendly, aye? For one night at least."
Link sighed. "Fine. I suppose I have to get used to you anyway."
"Where's Blue?" Bolo wanted to know as he and Cleo joined them.
"Up there." Ronin pointed at the rafters. They all glanced up to see a crow hopping across the wooden beams, ruffling its feathers and staring down at them. "Why don't you come down, love?" Ronin called to her. The crow gave a loud squawk, fluttered down, landed on Ronin's shoulder, and began preening his hair.
"Cute," Cleo laughed, blushing and giggling as though she'd drunk too much already.
"Bolo, is that liquor?" Zelda demanded, noticing the tankard in her youngest thief's hand.
Bolo made a face. "That stuff is terrible," he commented. "It's just water, see?"
Impa and Rauru finally appeared with an enormous platter of food. "Dig in," Rauru advised. Blue immediately hopped off of Ronin's shoulder and attacked the meat, ignoring the protests of her human companions. They ordered more food and ate their fill, then played a game of dice at the table. They talked and laughed, got into shouting matches with tavern drunkards, and drank. Zelda got more drunk than she ever had in her life and collapsed on Link's shoulder, Cleo repeatedly fell out of her chair and had to be hauled back up by Bolo, Blue entertained them by changing shapes every few minutes, and Impa and Rauru drank and laughed like a pair of adolescents.
It was very late, and they were very drunk, by the time they finally staggered to the rooms upstairs. Hours later Zelda woke with a headache the size of Death Mountain and a terrible nausea. But she was happy, because she was alive and she was living.
* * *
Late the next morning found Zelda seated in the tavern again, nursing a strong cup of tea and the worst hangover of her life. As a thief she'd hardly ever drunk, unless her spoils were worth celebrating, and then only one or two mouthfuls. She didn't even remember how much liquor she'd had the previous night.
Cleo came to join her with a bowl of light broth, looking as awful as Zelda felt. Her face was pale and haggard and there were dark circles ringing her normally bright green eyes. "Morning, Miss Zelda," the woman muttered as she placed her broth down on the table and dropped into a chair, holding her face in her hands.
"Here." Zelda shoved her tea toward Cleo. "It seems to be helping a bit." Which was true enough–the thunderous pounding in her head had receded to a dull thud and her nausea was gone.
"Thanks," Cleo said wearily, taking a mouthful. Her eyes found something behind Zelda and she sipped again, slowly. "That old guy is staring at you, Miss Zelda."
Zelda glanced around surreptitiously. A man seated in a corner of the bar was openly watching her as he drained a large tankard. From a distance Zelda could see that he was black-skinned, built large and tall, with well-muscled limbs and very broad shoulders. He slumped in his chair, clutching the tankard in an enormous fist. There was something familiar about him.
Zelda blinked and looked at Cleo again. "Do you recognize him, Cleo?"
Cleo shook her head. "You don't think he's an agent of Ganondorf, do you?" she asked anxiously.
Zelda knew she ought to be worried, but somehow she wasn't. She stole another look at the man, too curious for caution. As she watched him, he gravely raised his tankard to her in an unmistakable toast.
"I'm going to go find out who he is," she declared abruptly, standing.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Cleo fretted, but Zelda was already gone, winding through the tables toward the corner where the man sat.
He watched her quietly as she approached, taking another gulp from his tankard. Zelda halted before him. Up close she could see that his face, although marked with age, was handsome, even with the jagged scar that sliced through his missing right eye. He had a long nose, full lips, and a strong jaw; his good eye was a pale, sharp brown. He was bald as an egg on the top of his head. An unshaven shadow at his jaw and his frayed shirt and breeches lent an air of disrepute, yet he was obviously in good shape with a large, sturdy body that was nearly all hard muscle. He looked to be around sixty.
Zelda's sense of recognition increased tenfold as she scrutinized him. He returned the attention, then raised his tankard again and said in a deep, gravelly voice, "Join me in a drink, won't you?"
"No, thank you," she said politely, her curiosity piqued. "I drank far too much last night."
He nodded in understanding and took a great gulp. "Maybe I don't hold my liquor s'well as I used to, if I'm seeing ghosts," he mumbled, staring down into the tankard.
Zelda blinked. "Ghosts?"
"You'd be one, then," the old man said politely, nodding.
"I'm not a ghost," Zelda told him, perplexed.
His good eye found her again, wandering over her face. He gave a low, raspy chuckle. "Heh heh. You're a ghost or I'm a mewing kitten, 'cause you're her spitting image, and she died some twenty years ago."
It struck her then like a hammer, and Zelda stared in amazement at the man she knew only from the collective memories that Saria had shared. "Valan," she whispered, staring at the man who was once her mother's war general.
Valan nodded again, taking a swig from his tankard. "Your Majesty. See? I know a ghost when I see one."
He thought she was her dead mother. Zelda could feel another headache coming on. "May I?" she asked, pointing to the chair beside Valan. He dragged it out for her, and she sat.
"You were once a general," she stated, thinking she might as well have her facts straight. "You commanded the armies of Hyrule against Ganondorf. Am I right?"
"'Course," Valan said in a raspy voice.
Zelda felt a stirring of pity. This man had once been young for a commander, perhaps only in his twenties in her mother's time–yet in twenty years, he'd aged forty. "What happened to you?"
The man shrugged his broad shoulders. "We couldn't stop him, Your Majesty. All those young boys, those soldiers, sent to their deaths..." He stared moodily at his liquor, and added hoarsely, "You too."
"I think you've had enough to drink, Valan," Zelda said firmly, taking his tankard and giving it to a passing server.
"Aye," he agreed, "seeing spirits is proof enough of that."
"I'm not a spirit, Valan."
He looked at her. "Teasing a poor old man, Your Majesty? I never knew you as the kind to kid around."
"Valan," Zelda began, "when my mo–when your queen fled to Kakariko, did you go with her?"
Valan nodded. "Along with the other survivors," he mumbled. "I've been here ever since."
"Then you know, don't you, that your queen had a daughter while she was here?"
Valan looked at her again, his good eye dark and shadowed. "So she did," he said slowly.
Zelda held his gaze levelly. "I am that daughter."
The silence between them stretched for several long moments. Valan's throat worked, but no sound came out. He seemed beyond words.
"Her daughter?" he rasped at last, his good eye wide and bloodshot as he stared at her. "Nayru defend me."
"I know it's hard to believe–" Zelda began.
Valan reached a hand across the distance between them, and she fell silent. The tips of his blunt fingers brushed her cheek–then he jerked his hand back as if he'd been scalded and stood so quickly that his chair fell over with a loud clatter.
"No," he muttered, shaking his head. "No more ghosts. I've seen too many already." He made his escape, shouldering rudely through the tavern's growing crowd, but Zelda leapt to her feet and snaked after him.
"Wait!" she cried, grabbing his arm and hanging on with all her strength to stop him. "I need your help!"
"No, miss," he said emphatically, trying to pull his arm free, but Zelda held fast.
"You have to listen to me," she said as low and fast as possible. "My name is Zelda, and I am the daughter of the queen you once served. I'm in this town to find the survivors of the lost Hylian kingdom and unite the people of Hyrule in a war against Ganondorf, but to do that I need help."
"I told you–" Valan began harshly.
"You are not seeing ghosts, General Valan!" Zelda said sharply.
Valan whirled on her. "DO NOT ADDRESS ME BY THAT TITLE!" he roared a thunderous din that silenced all chatter in the tavern. "I AM NO GENERAL!"
"OH YES YOU ARE!" Zelda bellowed just as furiously, refusing to be quelled. Valan blinked down at her, momentarily silenced, as if shocked that a woman as small as her could make such a loud noise. "I am desperate for aid," she continued in a voice that was lower but just as sharp. "You are the man who once commanded all of Hyrule against Ganondorf. You are exactly the kind of help I need, and I will not allow you to walk away from me, do you understand?"
Valan stared at her as silence rang throughout the tavern. Then he turned sharply, making as if to leave–and abruptly halted. Zelda looked around him to see Link, Impa, and Rauru blocking his path.
"You heard her," Link said quietly, though his eyes were burning like blue fire. "That woman is your queen, and you are bound to serve her."
* * *
To be continued.
* * *
The Destined Q & A Session
So in last chapter's reviews I got a bunch of general, answerable questions about TD, so I'll take some time to answer them now. If I don't quite give a straight answer, it's probably because it will be revealed later in the story, and to answer it now would be to give spoilers.
Q: What are Link's true origins in this story?
A: Link was born in a small farming town southwest of what was once the Hylian Castle Town. His father was killed because he offended one of Ganondorf's agents before Link was born; his mother died giving birth. He knows nothing about his parents other than that they were Hylian. He was taken in by the midwife, then during his preteen-adolescent years he apprenticed to both the carpenter and the blacksmith in the village. Prompted by the callings of fate, he left the village at sixteen and wandered Hyrule for a year and a half before meeting Zelda in Kakariko.
Q: Is the Link in this story the child of Farore?
A: No, at least not literally. Farore called him her son in Chapter 15 because she is the mother of all the peoples of Hyrule; she originally created them.
Q: Does Link have a power of his own or is he just a stooge to protect Zelda?
A: Well, he does have his own Triforce and he is supposed to defeat Ganondorf, or at least die trying, so yes, he certainly has his own powers and purposes. The reason so much emphasis is placed on protecting Zelda is because she is all Hyrule has as far as a rightful monarch goes; defeating Ganondorf and then leaving it at that after two decades of dictatorship does not help anyone.
Q: When is Link going to awaken the Triforce of Courage?
A: Hrm...um...maybe...keep reading? :)
Q: Is Link going to be able to stay with Zelda or will he be sacrificed like Zelda's father was?
A: Maybe we'll find out someday. ;)
Q: What is the true power of the Master Sword other than slaying Ganondorf?
A: You just named it. It's the only sword that can kill Ganny-poo.
Q: How can they possibly defeat Ganondorf if he had thousands of monsters at his command years ago?
A: Well, he still has a good number of monsters at his command. Less than he did twenty years ago, because he's grown complacent and lax, but still enough. They know perfectly well what they're up against; that's why Zelda has sent her people all across Hyrule to gather as many allies for their side as they can.
Q: If the temples of Hyrule are holy and no one with evil thoughts can enter them, then how did all of the monsters and phantoms get into the various temples in the first place?
A: The holy wards on the temples were set in place after Link purged them in OoT.
Q: Is Ronin a reference to the wandering and masterless samurai of Feudal Japan?
A: Well he is wandering and he is masterless, so yes.