Waiting Seven Years
Written by Becki
(C) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
All ideas and characters (except Kiehs) belongs to Nintendo.
Okay! I was actually surprised at the number of people who reviewed :D I didn't expect that So, I'll write some thank you notes
Hyliansage: Well, I see you once again Thank you for being so faithful to me and my pathetic fics, I very much appreciate it! glomp I can't wait till your next update, I'd love to read some more of your stuff
Nagem: Oh... well, I first began writing off of the 'seven years' idea about four years ago (I did say that it was a long time ago.. ; ), when it wasn't so cliché.. At the time, the 'Return of Ganondorf' idea was very popular Oo; I guess it still is now.. but I hope you understand ;
Blowfish the Monkey Tamer: Kya! You weren't supposed to spoil it Oh well, I guess it was sorta obvious ; Kiehs is actually based on one of my original characters from my original story. I made it up a long while ago for this fiction, but I actually liked the name ; (I'm such a loser..) Haha, I love your alias
ayachan21: I think three fourths of the Zelda fans out there are Zelinkers ; But like I said before, it won't be nearly as bad as most people think from my warning ; And no madeup characters/original cast pairings either like I said, so it won't be that bad Thanks for being brave and reading anyway! I really appreciate that
neosun7: Thank you! I hope it's as interesting as it's perceived I mean, I can't be the only one wondering how Zelda got all of those Teleportation songs, right? ;
Robyn: I hope it's worth it :D I really do intend to finish this series, especially because I didn't last time. My goal is to finish it by the end of summer, before school starts ; It won't be terribly long, I don't want to dwell too much out of the seven years
Year One (Part Two):
There was such a nice smell inside, it reminded me of those books and old tables which sat up in the study towers. A fresh wood-like smell. I looked around in awe at the clearing inside of a natural wall, a wall of tall sturdy trees which circled around like protective sentinels. A small place at the heart of the forest, concealed by Farore's works. Kiehs allowed me some time to gape at the enormity of these trees before moving on. He seemed uninterested or at least accustomed to such magnificent structures. At the end of the clearing, there were mushrooms which stuck out like gems amongst the fallen leaves. There was one large stump at the opposite side, and it appeared to be our destination.
Before we had even covered half the distance of the clearing, there was distant barking that made me stop still. A medium-sized wolf-like dog bounded from the trees and clawed at the Sheikah boy before me. The dog was squirming with excitement, dark eyes bright and loyal. Kiehs simply touched the dog's head on top of its cranium between the ears and continued on. The dog looked at me and began a low growl. I shrank back, and Kiehs paid no attention.
The dog sniffed at me, taking in all the scents of palace life. Not that much of that perfumed scent remained, I can imagine the rain washed most of it off. Finally confirming I really was no threat, the dog ignored me and bolted back to Kiehs.
When I came up on him, he was standing in front of the stump, the sunlight which streaked in causing a glazy effect on his silver hair.
"What..?" I began, but he motioned me to be silent. He looked above, at the canopy of trees, eyes narrowed. The dog shared his silence, ears twitching at the slightest noise.
"What you are to see no outsider has ever witnessed before. My eyes are of truth, but many are blind to it." I stood next to him, my head just barely reached his shoulders. I turned to look at him, his profile to me.
"What do you see?" I asked softly, frowning with insecurity. Eyes of truth? What was that supposed to mean? I was often good at recognizing such puzzling statements, but I was confused at what he said. Did he have some sort of talent?
"More like what I do not see." He said simply. Without another word, he dipped down to lay a hand on top of the cleanly cut stump.
I heard myself gasp in surprise as his hand went right through, as if his arm was stuck in the wood. He pulled back with a wry grin on his face.
"An illusion.." I said in awe, and found myself coming closer to study it further. The top looked like it was there, it was so real. But when I brought my hand down as he did, my fingers slipped right through. I pulled back, unsure.
"So.. you can see the opening in the stump?" I said, finally understanding what he meant. He must see through illusions..
"Hm." Was his reply. Swinging his legs over the side of the disguised opening, he disappeared altogether, swallowed up by the stump as he jumped down. I heard his soft landing below and stood outside, alone, not sure of what to do. "There are vines you can use to climb down." Was his reply from below.
The dog panted and had wandered away. I paused, feeling for the edge of the stump. When I did grasp something rough on the opposite side, I held on tight and trusted my instincts. Taking a deep breath as if I were to dive underwater, I pulled myself in, holding onto the tough vines on the inside.
There was a long tunnel below. My hands moved briskly as I pulled myself down the wall of vines, making sure each grip was strong. When my feet touched firm ground again, I thanked the goddesses that the vines were able to support my weight. I let go of my breath.
There was a small room under the ground of the hidden entrance. Paved with rock and decorated with intricate patterns. There was a scent in the air, which smelled of light incense. I saw random arcs in the design, but there were no doors. Just a small room. Kiehs was nowhere in sight.
"Ki-Kiehs?" I called, the room echoing my voice back to me. And I realized instantly that they had to be more illusions. I approached one of the arcs engraved in the wall and pressed my hand toward it, expecting it to go through. But my hand just touched the strong, solid rock.
"I'm here." I jumped as Kiehs' voice came just behind me. Swinging around with my back against the wall, I looked to see him staring at me with amusement. Embarrassed, I clasped my hands behind my back and tried to look as composed as possible.
He explained to me, seeing my puzzled face as I leaned off of the wall. "There is a large branch of tunnels, it's easy to get lost."
"You.. you live here alone?" I asked, blinking.
"I do." He confirmed, turning away and changing the subject abruptly. "There's a room that would most likely satisfy your needs.."
"I.. I don't plan on hiding!" I said with some dignity. It seemed cowardly for me to stay underground in what appeared to be a Sheikah hideout while the world above was under control of a mad tyrant. "Hyrule is dying!"
"..." He said nothing at first, face impassive. I had realized that he still did not know why I was here, or what had happened. He turned away and faced the arc that was to the opposite of us.
"Follow me." As he disappeared through the wall, I gave a shudder, blocking out the images at the castle. The sudden attack, the shouts and the pursuing black horse. But I had yet to know the enormity of my decisions.
I went through the wall, through the sheen that so well disguised the hall. When I came through, there were torches with colored glows on the walls, every bit of darkness forced out with the light. I saw Kiehs just in front of me, and I kept an eye on his back in case there were more illusions.
My feet had already begun to hurt. The trek through the forest had not done them good, and my sandals which clanked against the hard, cold ground made my ankles stiff. As each window of color batted against my face, Kiehs finally stopped at a dead end, an a beam of natural light flooding down. We stood in a circular area at the end of the hall, looking up at the bright blue sky and the sunlight which came through.
Kiehs touched the wall, moving his lips in silent words and trailing his finger across as if reading invisible lines. When I touched the wall, I could feel dents etched into the stone, and following his gestures I felt the words across the wall. What did the Sheikah have with illusions? Why did they conceal themselves so? Even their writing across the wall was completely invisible to my eyes.
"We're.." I stared up, feeling the wind sweep down through the opening. Kiehs began to speak.
"The Sheikah were able to see many things. Wise and yet mischievous in their ways, mysterious and secluded. They were once the greatest race of Hyrule, believed to be favored by Nayru herself." I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head at him, wanting him to continue.
"We knew many of the legends and passed each story down. Prophecies of great men and sages, the unlimited power of the Triforce." That is when I tensed. He sensed my angst and turned to me. I gave an apologetic expression and nodded.
"Go on." I said in a light whisper. And he gave me a strange look. An expression that was almost broken but still deathly serious.
"Such... greed leads to destruction. Is there.. something I should know?" He said cautiously, altering the subject. That strange look on his face hardly faltered. I looked up to the sky again, my mind slightly wandering as I wondered where exactly the opening above was.
"The.. the Royal Family have similar customs. We exchange stories in words, in pictures, and in music. But we had.. the door to the legends. We were able to embrace them, but at the same time were chosen to protect the power, as well as the door."
"What.. are you saying?" He said, not liking the way my voice paused as I spoke.
"Do you already know?" I said slowly, his eyes revealed nothing to me.
"Ha." He laughed blandly, nothing of mirth but of ironic sarcasm. "I know too much. It would be marked in the circle of history forever what would happen. The gods grant a limited gift, but is the world so benevolent to leave it be? No. I may not know of the world around me, but I know enough. More than enough.
"So tell me. Who is it that has dared to break open the seal?" He asked directly. I raised my eyes, defiant.
"I am." I was ready to blame myself for this, but I felt so betrayed. My father who did not believe me, my mother who had died before I knew her. The door to the Sacred realm had been in my possession, it had been my responsibility, although it was to be the burden of my family as a whole.
"It must me more serious than that." He said bluntly, and I felt hurt.
"I have given the Ocarina of Time to the warrior of the forest. He whom I saw in my dreams was to deliver Hyrule in the darkest days. He whom the goddesses have chosen to close off such greed and such malevolent things."
"The Hero of Time." He said, surprising me. He had his head tilted up, dark eyes glinting in the light. But I felt excited.
"Has.. has the Sacred Realm accepted him?" I asked him instantly. "What do the legends say?"
"That a man which such determination and courage may lay hands on the sword of evil's bane and take it up against the foe."
"Does that mean.." I raised my eyebrows. "that he has received the Triforce's blessing?" He touched the wall. After a few seconds, he dropped his hand, his eyes dark.
"It is left for us to find out."
"...." I touched the brooch at my neck, creasing my brow with a troubled glance. "Do.." I stopped before I had finished starting the sentence, my mind swirling with possibilities. Kiehs turned and looked at me, expecting the rest of my question. If Kiehs had so easily guessed my heritage from my clothes, I was sure others could as well. "Do you have any extra clothing I can wear?"
I have come to believe all clothing the Shiekah wear are tight fitted, to show the lithe body structure they seemed to have. It was difficult to say which garment was for a male or a female person. I had been given a tunic tied at the waist with a black sash and black pants that stuck to my legs with thin material. It wasn't so thick as the apparel I wore normally at the palace, and they gave me freedom to movement. A short black cloak was tied around my neck. I had not received a brooch for it, and didn't expect to get one.
My figure was still adolescent. I was just ten years of age, but knew too much for my years. The scholars had said I must have been some sort of prodigy. But I felt so young and afraid, not knowing what was waiting for me tomorrow, or the next day. Whether I would ever see a familiar face again.
I stared into a long, rectangular mirror with cracks that branched at the sides. I looked so awkward. Messy tangled blonde hair above sky blue eyes. Dark clothing against my pale white skin. Sighing, I knew I couldn't always match. Combing my hair to the best of my ability with my fingers, I took a red scarf at the length of my arm and tied my short hair back. As I turned away from the mirror, he noted the bruise under my right eye, not knowing where that had come from. Had it always been there?
I had left my old clothes on the bed, supposing this was to be my room. Kiehs didn't seem to care whether I'd stay here, as long as I didn't get into some kind of trouble. He guided me to my room and slipped away after I had found my clothes, and I hoped that he wasn't standing outside of the door.
And that was another thing. There were doors around, and they were real. I could imagine there were other leading tunnels through spaces in the wall where I could not see. The Sheikah must have been geniuses with illusions, they seemed to use them a lot.
When I stepped outside, Kiehs was not there. I tried to retrace my steps and found myself back in that small room under the tree stump. I counted the arcs down to see where my room was located. Three arcs down on the left side. I'd remember and not have to depend on Kiehs to show me every time.
I heard barking above, barking from that dog from before. Standing under the area where the tree stump was, I looked up and saw the illusion of wood which covered the opening. Grasping the vines, I slowly climbed up, knowing that I would be used to this eventually.
When my head prodded out of the hole, I saw an image of my head sticking out of the wood like a pig's head on a platter. Climbing out entirely, I saw Kiehs sitting comfortably at the edge of long grass with the dog sitting at his feet. The dog panted happily at the Sheikah and twitched an ear as I approached. Both of them paid absolutely no attention to me.
I sat down a good distance away. Silently watching, I wondered why he had decided to shelter me when there was nothing with which I could pay him back for. But perhaps he simply didn't care?
"What is his name?" I said suddenly, looking to the dog, wanting to change the subject of my thoughts. Keihs didn't look at me, nor the dog, but kept his steady gaze distantly at the wall of trees.
"Iarth." He said mildly, hardly blinking. I wrinkled my nose. He wasn't being very commutative.
The silence was devastatingly awkward. I had no idea what we were to do next, and he hardly knew what had happened either. Pulling my knees close to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and tilted my head.
"Play a song for me, please? Something like what you played in at the forest's edge." He paused, his fingers against his long bone flute. After a few seconds, he took up his instrument and wet his lips. The first note was hollow and unconfident. Then a scale followed, clear and whistle-like in the wind. I leaned my head on my knees, listening intently.
Iarth yawned, a great pink tongue curling under his wide maw. I closed my eyes and let the song relieve my senses. And from that moment, I felt that I had found my courage.