Disclaimer: I, the author, do not owe Legend of Zelda®: Ocarina of Time™ or any of the game characters used in this story. Original characters are owned by the author of this story. All Rights are reserved.
Malon made a snide comment aloud for the eager guards who came to help unload the wagon how she was lucky to even get one to help her before. The men had made themselves look busy chattering away amongst one another, until they saw Airas step down and quickly came to her side, not even asking if a hand was needed.
The young girl followed Malon through the courtyards, small green acres covered with statutes made of stone and monuments spewing out water like a waterfall and hedges to divide them equally in a square fashion.
"Where does the water come from?" she asked, eyeing the fountain in marvel.
"There are metal tubes underneath called pipes that run the water back from the drain through the top again," Malon explained. "The same water is used over and over."
Memories of the waterfall back in Kokiri Forest swam through Airas's mind than. How she had spent hours floating in the small surface of the gathering pool gazing up at the sky, her mind littered with so many thoughts and visions even she could not keep track.
She wondered what Saria was doing right now.
There was a small door to the side of one of the longer courtyards they had passed through. It was well hidden behind two tall bushes with stems that torn at the flesh, Airas learning of thorns when her bare arm had brushed over it.
She winced at the slight sting, yet paid no attention to the small trickle of blood seeping down.
One guard opened the door and stood to the side to let the others carrying crates through, followed by Malon and Airas. The smell of fresh baked bread and spices mixed with dozens of herbs she was not familiar with her flared through Airas's nostrils. The room was warm, enough to make one perspire in a matter of moments with a fire blazing underneath a brazier and a table filled with vegetables and fruit. A man dressed mostly in white with the insignia of the three triangles on his necklace turned as the women and guards entered.
"Ah! Malon. I was waiting for you," he said boastfully, directing the men to place the crates with already open ones. "I was running low on supplies."
"Well, with Keihs as the Queen's royal messenger, it takes a while to get to me," Malon said simply, joining the man by the fire who seemed like a good friend to their closeness and quick embrace.
"Airas, this is Quinn, the Queen's royal chef. Quinn, my friend Airas."
Quinn came up to Airas in a swift stride, surprising for his bulk as he towered over Airas a good two heads taller and almost four wide. He was perhaps past the second quarter of a century with his white beard and bright, brown eyes that held the very fires he cooked with in them.
"A pleasure!" he bellowed, embracing Airas so tightly the air escaped from her lungs, feeling herself lifted off the floor.
"And to you," she said after she caught her breath.
"My, but you're a big lass," he commented after a more thorough study over her.
"Quinn!" Malon said, laughing. "You think you have any right to say that with your own status?"
Quinn laughed and shook his head, scratching his white beard that covered his thin, pale lips beneath them. "I suppose not. Where you from?" he asked, turning back to Airas.
"From Ko—"
"Kakariko Village," Malon interrupted suddenly, catching Airas's gaze with her own. She silently thanked the heavens the girl was smart enough when to hold her tongue.
"Ah, is that so? Might explain why I have not seen you around before. I may be the Queen's chef and stewing over the fires most the day, but I still get around in the market."
"Oh, you told me the last time I was here you were going to Lake Hylia," Malon said, changing the subject without notice. "How was it?"
"Turns out the old scientist passed away last full moon," Quinn replied, placing his thick hand to his stout chest. "Bless his soul. He lived a long life. His apprentice is now working there alone."
"You mean that young girl?" Malon asked, taking a seat by the table. "Do you think she will carry on his studies?"
"She's working on something, though she would not tell me what. I doubt I would understand any of it anyway. The old man studied Lake Hylia's water for years, yet for what purpose? Water is water."
"There are those who can see things in a depth much deeper than any of us can ever dream of," Malon replied softly, nodding her head. She looked down at her hands thoughtfully, opening and closing her fingers over her palm as if trying to grasp something. "And sometimes we realize these things, but it can be a moment too late."
Quinn and Airas exchanged a queer glance at one another, turning to the ranch woman with uncertain eyes to her sudden mood change.
"Airas," Quinn said suddenly. "Why not go about the courtyards for a bit and look about? There are flowers growing in the Queen's Garden."
Airas turned to Malon for her approval, yet she could see the woman was deep in another world now, not about to resurface anytime soon.
"Go on now," Quinn persisted, his voice barely above a whisper. "This happens often. I'll look after her."
Nodding, she turned to leave the two alone, stopping short when she saw the guards were still at the doorway, smiling at her.
Airas gave a soft smile in return, if only quivered with a slight nervousness, passing by them without meeting their gaze.
"Oi, you have a bit of a cut there, love," one of them said, the whole bundle of them at her heels.
She turned to look down at her arm to see the trickle of blood had seeped all the way down to her elbow, smeared now by Quinn's hard embrace. "Its nothing," she replied kindly, smiling at him politely. "The blood will dry soon and close it."
"Here," another guard said, pulling out a small, clean piece of cloth. He walked up beside her and gently patted the blood away over the cut, than cleaned the rest of the faint blood off with a few swipes. "You might get some on your clothes."
"Thank you," she said, drawing back after he withdrew his hand. There were four guards, and though they were noticeable shorter than her with scrawny like bodies, she found them swarming over her like moths to the light, drawing back until her legs came up to fountain unexpectedly. She fell back and with a painful thud, landed on the side of the fountain she had been eyeing earlier. Still the men came and surrounded her now, looking down at her with heavy interest and a look in their eyes she could not quite explain.
"So you're from Kakariko village?" the first asked. "I use to work night posts there before. Never saw you."
"Maybe because I was asleep by than," she answered a bit too quickly.
"I grew up in Kakariko!" the second who had cleaned her cut for her said. "And I never saw you, day or night."
"I helped Malon at the ranch often, so I was always busy."
"Still queer that we would never see you," the third one spoke up. "Your clothes are highly unusual. Almost like a Gerudo's."
"Do you spend time in their valley?" the fourth asked.
"N-no," Airas stuttered, afraid to say anything that would give away her not having any knowledge of the Gerudos or their valley. She was not even sure if they were human, that being the case with the Gorons and Zoras. "Just something I bought from the market."
"It suits you well," the first began again.
"Aye, it does. Mayhap you can dance for us in it a bit?" the third asked.
"Oh yes. I heard the Gerudos put on a dance that would make a Hylian woman blush."
"And a Hylian man gawk!"
They laughed at the comment and joked among themselves with other tales of dances that were used to lure men into warm beds and before an entirely different dance once underneath the covers.
Airas had no way of escaping without them noticing. The water was behind her with the four men in front. She was about to stand on the side of the fountain and walk around them to get away when her ears perked up at the sound of metal hitting metal. She looked up just than to see a man coming quickly around a corner, and her heart fluttered for a moment.
He was a very tall man, about half a head shorter than Quinn perhaps, with dark green eyes that shone as emeralds against his fair complexion, his face riveted with hard features and hair so white, it looked unreal as it framed his lovely, anguished face. It was tied in a club to the nape of his neck with shorter strands loose from the wrap falling forward over his cheeks.
He was a guard as well, it seemed, carrying a weapon, a long sword sheathed at his hip in a black and gold scabbard. His entire body save for his head was covered in black metal with gold edgings, and a dark velvet cape flowing behind him.
He called out to the guards than, only sparing a glance in Airas's way for a moment. "What in goddess's name are you lot doing away from your posts?" he demanded with a low, powerful voice. "Fawning over a young girl?"
"Captain!" the four rang out in union, turning with their backs to Airas now, their hands over their eyes.
"Well?" the man asked annoyingly, stopping a foot away from them, looking down with irritation in his eyes. "Explain your behavior."
"Sir!" The second stepped forward, with his body stiff save for a slight tremble over the outline of his frame. "Malon, the Lon Lon Ranch woman brought her delivery today with a heavy load. We were just offering our assistance."
"Were you?" the captain asked, a light eyebrow raising over his right eye. "Than who is this?" he asked, his eyes falling on Airas.
Standing up on both feet with slightly shaking knees, Airas met the eyes of the captain, knowing of his position due to his title. She gave a curt nod with her hands clasped in front of her. "Captain," she began, thankful for her firm voice. "I am Airas, from Kakarioko Village. I only came along with Malon to help her deliver goods from her ranch to the Queen's royal chef, when these four men saw we were in need of lifting the heavy crates."
She watched than as both his eyebrows rose now, feeling uncomfortably aware of herself as his eyes looked over her with an expression she could not identify, though she had a guess of what he was thinking. She was standing by the guards again, looking over their heads.
"True that we could handle the load ourselves, Malon and I, but we have other tasks about us and accepted the guards offer for help to finish the errand quicker. Else we would not have asked these men to leave their posts."
The other men turned to her than, a grateful look in their eyes with a genuine, almost relieved smile across their faces.
Slowly the captain came through the men, drawing them back with a tremor from his very nearness with the authority he carried and the respect they held for this man. Yet it was not for the same reason Airas's heart pounded so loudly, fearing he would hear it.
Green eyes clashed against blue as the sea does when the moon shifts, and the water changes colors according to its lunar master.
"Clearly, if you are in haste, you have no time to be lingering about here," he said in a whisper, his voice husky like honey. "So I suggest you bottle up that Gerudo charm of yours and look for other men who have time to play in your little seducing game."
Somehow, Airas thought, if she understood the underlying meaning of the captain's words, she would have been greatly insulted.
Her cheeks burned, for what matter, she knew not, only that his face was so close to hers, having realized he was bowing down to be almost eye level with her. She leaned back than, unable to gather her senses, to read the words in her mind to find their meaning so she could smack him across the face. Yet only the image of him was in her mind, making everything else oblivious to her, forgetting the other guards. She even forgot the fountain was still behind her, and as she began to lean away from his hypnotic eyes, she let out a cry stumbling back, falling into the water.
Her arms stretched out either way, there was the sound of a strong blow of wind coming from the fountain's waters. Or did it?
Beneath Airas's hand were it was about to submerge, the water itself was pushed away from an invisible force, leaving the bottom completely dry where she landed.
All four of the guards gawked in disbelief, while the captain's eyes narrowed in silent shock. Airas's own shock was not as well masked, however, looking around in dismay at the parted water, only one side of the fountain continuing to flow and fill with the clear liquid.
An instant later, the force had diminished and the fountain began to spring forth fully again, about to drench Airas from above had the captain not lunged his hand forward, grabbing hold onto her arm and pulling her out in a blur.
Airas was not even aware she had been pulled out when she was placed on her feet, stumbling again before she caught herself. Such speed! Her surroundings were a blur.
"Guards!" the captain shouted than, turning back to them. They were still trying to absorb what had just happened, looking up at their leader with questions. He dismissed it with a growl of his throat. "Return to your posts, immediately!"
"Yes sir!" they cried out, again repeating the gesture with their hands shielding over their eyes, running back to the entrance of the courtyards.
Alone now, a scowling captain who was not pleased at what he had just witnessed faced Airas again, his hair soft like cobwebs flying around as a whip in his sharp turn. At least he seemed to understand what had happened.
"Airas of Kakariko," he said sternly, thankfully keeping his distance this time. "I would advise you to make use of your magic rather than making a spectacle in front of unsuspecting soldiers. It could cause a stir in the castle."
"Magic?" Airas asked, widening her eyes. "I do not even know what you mean, captain. You seem to know more of this than I do."
At any other time, with any other woman, the captain would have doubted such a statement and continue questioning; yet this girl was much different. He had been caught off guard, yet had not shown it, when he looked into her eyes and saw a reflection of the Queen and a man.
Perhaps there was some connection between the girl and Her Majesty that could explain this sudden outburst the girl had no control over, or so it seemed.
"This is the first time this has happened?" he asked, his right eyebrow rising again at Airas.
"It is," she answered, straightening her disheveled outfit. "Can you maybe explain this?"
He studied her again for a moment and nodded, his own sense telling him she spoke the truth.
"I cannot," he said. "But there is someone who can. Follow me."
He walked passed her and down the long courtyard, his cape flapping behind him like a lash at his quick, long strides, Airas having to gather her skirts and run to keep up with him.
"Where are we going?" she asked, trotting beside him.
"To the one who can explain why you have the powers of the wind. The Queen."
Airas froze in her tracks as she felt color drain from her face, her arms stiff at her side as if trying to make herself a nail in the ground that would not budge.
No longer hearing her beside him, the captain stopped and turned around. "What's wrong?" he asked, his tone more in irritation that they had stopped rather than concern for her sudden paleness.
"To the Queen?" Airas asked, already shaking her head. "No, I cannot go to see her."
"Why not?" he demanded.
Airas decided this was another matter to hold her tongue, but since Malon was not here to explain a false story for her, she used Saria's advice.
Better to give a small lie now than let them worry.
She doubted highly that the captain would worry over anything with his harsh nature, yet it would make things easier.
"Because…because…" she started, frustrated as she found herself at a loss for words.
"Well?" he asked, using the same tone he has used earlier on his men when asking the same monosyllabic question.
There was a soft patter of footsteps behind her than, Airas glancing over her shoulder in hopes of seeing Malon and Quinn, only to see a lone figure donned in a brown cloak with a hood over the head.
"Rael," a voice from the figure said, giving away that it was a woman by the high, soft tone. "Are you pestering this young girl?"
"Rael?" Airas said, turning back to the captain. She had thought that one given the title captain also served as one's name.
Rael bowed his head than with his right hand falling over his heart, slowly rising back up to his full height. "No, my lady, I am not."
"Than leave her be, Rael," the woman said smoothly. "Leave her to me."
"But, your highness, there was a matter earlier of her using powers of the wind. I was bringing her to you—"
"Highness!" Airas squeaked, her eyes falling back on the cloaked woman.
Both captain and queen turned to Airas in puzzlement, the girl covering her mouth in hopes of bringing back her outburst from notice.
"I understand, Rael," the queen began. "Attend us than, for I know your curiosity will get the better of you sooner or later."
"Never before my duty, my lady," Rael said quickly with bitterness.
Laughing, the woman drew her hood back, revealing a woman as old as Malon with long blonde hair that had been bundled up in the hood, now flowing down as long as Airas's, yet her eyes remained closed.
"Yes," she said, quieting down. "Never before." She held out a hand than, feeling her way about. Rael stepped forward to offer his arm, but she dismissed him with a sharp wave.
"Girl, help me. I'm in aid of moving about these days."
Airas knew fully well this was the Queen, her mother who had given birth to an illegitimate daughter, and whose lover caused misery to her friend, Malon. Airas held her mother just as responsible for Malon's sorrow as she did with Link.
When Airas did not move to help the Queen, Rael gave a frustrated growl in her direction and shoved her forward.
Airas stumbled for a moment before catching herself, turning to glare at Rael. He returned it with a threatening gleam in his eyes.
Sighing, she took the queen's outstretched hand and clasped her palms around thin fingers.
"Oh," Zelda whispered softly, a sudden tremor fixing over her body at the touch of the girl's hands. "My, but what warmth you have to offer. What is your name?"
"Airas," she answered stiffly.
"Airas? What an unusual name. Yet it would not be given to you if it did not suit you."
When there was no further reply, Zelda nodded and began to walk off, bringing Airas along. It did not seem the queen was in need of aid as she was the one leading, and Airas found it hard to pry loose.
"Airas," Zelda said again, enjoying the sound of it passing through her lips. "You have the smell of the forest about you."
Started, daughter looked to mother in bewilderment with a gaze of awe that Zelda could somehow feel.
"I know the smell well; though I have never been there myself, save for the Sacred Meadow."
This time Airas spoke up, the tone of uneasiness absent from her voice. "You have been there? When?"
"Many years ago," the older woman replied. Airas could now see faint lines of wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and mouth looking at her profile. It was all that really defined her mother to be as old as she was; else she was still a young raving beauty from afar. "I went there to…see an old friend of mine."
Trained ears perked up at the hesitation. It was noted for one stalling for careful words to give nothing away.
"You must know Saria than," Airas remarked curiously, suddenly having the feeling something unknown and powerful was following them. She looked over her shoulder to see Rael following them, his face expressionless.
"I do," Zelda answered, smiling. "She's a good friend of mine." She turned her face to the side and nodded. "Pay no attention to Rael. When not serving as captain of the guards, he is my personal escort."
"What is an escort?" the younger of the two women asked.
Rael snorted behind them.
"Someone who accompanies you wherever you go. In Rael's regard, being my escort he is my protector to see that nothing happens to me. My, if your scent of the woods does not prove your from the forest, your lack of knowledge should!" the queen said, giggling. She quickly gathered her composure and cleared her throat. "Forgive me that was out of place."
"How can it be, when it is the truth?"
Zelda nodded. "At least you have no lack of honesty or common sense."
"Your Highness," Rael spoke up. "Might I ask why you are taking such an interest in this girl?"
"How good of you to ask, Rael, for I think my friend here was too shy to ask herself."
Airas blinked at her twice.
"As I have dreamt of the Hero of Time and the prophecy he would fulfill so long ago, so too have I dreamt of this girl and who she is. More importantly, what she is to become."
She laughed than, already knowing of the started faces with her two companions. "Yes, it is true," she said, smiling widely. "And seeing that I was not wrong the first time, I believe my dreams can be taken more seriously. My dears, you're in for a treat."
Airas suddenly felt sick in her stomach. If the queen had dreamt of her, all hope was lost in praying Zelda did not know her daughter was walking beside her.