Disclaimer: If you're at this story, you probably know by now that this is FAN fiction, therefore all of this came from the imagination of me and, occasionally, one or two of my friends, not any officials of Nintendo. So ha. You can't sue me.
A/N: So, yeah, I'm sorry I haven't updated this, my muse took a vacation…but then, one Thursday, I glanced at the page the story was on in my notebook and my muse bit me. I spent the next two hours writing this third chapter of What the Legends Say. Somehow, I don't think that the title will change, and I've already changed the genre once or twice, but I'm pretty sure the rating will go up towards the end…Anyway, I'm pretty sure you're sick of my ranting and excuses, so please read and review.
On to adventure!
charges heroically into a wall
Chapter Three: A Meeting of Sages
"Hey, guys. Ruto here yet?" a windswept Zelda asked Rauru, a sleepy-looking Nabooru, a very awake Saria, a Darunia drowsing in his chair, half-curled up, and an alert Malon.
"No," Malon said to Zelda, shaking her head.
"Mmm," Darunia said, looking up at Zelda rather vaguely, "why is she here?" he asked as he jerked his head (do Gorons really have heads?) toward Malon.
"She is here because I think she should be. This is important!" Zelda replied, glaring at Darunia. He looked down submissively, then thunked his head on the table, going back into his half-sleep state.
"With all due respect, Zelda," Nabooru said, purposely not using a royal title, "I would like to have a specific reason why Malon is here." Nabooru was obviously not scared of Zelda in her tired state, unlike Darunia.
Zelda pursed her lips in a way that made her seem rather like a very stern professor. "I'll explain everything to everyone at the same time. Geez, Nabooru, get over yourself!"
"Uh!" Nabooru sounded very insulted.
At that moment, Ruto walked in. "Sorry, I had to dry off. I swam," she said by way of explanation.
With a sudden flash, Impa appeared. In her own house. In Kakariko. Where all the other Sages were. Already. Before her. Get the point?
"Impa!" Zelda said exasperatedly. "Where have you been?"
"Um…" Impa said. Or rather, didn't say.
"Impaaa-aaa!"
"Oh, no, not multiple syllables! No! Help!" Impa appealed to the other Sages.
Rauru: "No. Just no."
Ruto: "As if! You got yourself into this, you get yourself out."
Darunia: "No, I don't WANT to die!"
Nabooru: "Why would I help you?"
Saria: "Girl I know better. This is Zelda we're talking about."
Impa: "Damn!"
Zelda: "Now, Impa, that's not polite."
Nabooru: "Yes, oh mighty Shadow Sage, remember, you're a lady." She snickered.
Impa suddenly burst out, "GO AWAY! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I WAS DOING! LEAVE ME ALONE!" She's obviously a tad upset, because she rarely yells. By rarely, I mean once every ten years.
"Geez, alright, don't have a cow," Nabooru said quickly. "Now," she said, turning to Zelda, "What did you call us for, why is farm-girl here, and do NOT mess with me," she finished warningly.
"Okay then," Zelda said. As everyone was there (though not everyone was awake), she had no problem telling exactly why she was acting spazzy. "I think I had another prophecy last night. And Malon is here because she is my friend, she's good with dreams, and I am the Queen and I want her here. So there." She would have stuck out her tongue, but that would have been childish. Apparently, she didn't know she was already acting childish.
"I had a weird dream, too," Ruto mentioned suddenly.
"Hey, so did I," Malon said, suddenly remembering her cryptic dream.
"Really?" Zelda's eyes widened with shock as she stared at the two, mouth open.
"Ahem." Rauru cleared his throat importantly. "I believe I know what this means." Murmurs of excitement came from the crowd. Of Sages. From the crowd of Sages. "It means," here he paused dramatically. Rauru was good at dramatic pauses. "It means something is going to happen."
"DUH!" everyone shouted at him, causing him to fall over with surprise.
"Could you please tell us something we don't know?" Nabooru asked patronizingly.
"Ah…no," Rauru admitted.
"Then shut up," Nabooru "cheerfully" replied, a dangerous smile on her face.
Saria gave the attitude-driven Spirit Sage a Look, before saying, "So, Zelda, tell us about the dream." She then screwed up her face thoughtfully as she realized that she sounded like a shrink.
Darunia suddenly jerked in his chair, raised his head, and said quite clearly, "All Gemini's to the raspberry hats!"
All the other people rolled their eyes. Darunia was really great, when he was full awake. When he was asleep, he was an idiot. A very large idiot. (pun intended)
Zelda sighed before saying, "Well, it's not just the dream."
"What?" everyone (excepting, of course, Darunia) said simultaneously. Ruto and Malon were now even more interested.
"Well, I sort of…um," Zelda began, as if she was attempting to summon the correct words, "I sort of had a "visitor" right after I had the dream."
"What sort of visitor?" Malon asked quickly, remembering her encounter with the shadowy figure.
"Well, it was a shadowy sort of visitor, and looked…how do I describe it?" she murmured.
"Familiar, unfamiliar, heartwarming, terrifying, ominous, good, and evil all at the same time?" Ruto suggested.
"Yes, that's exactly—wait! How did you know?" Zelda asked. Evidently, Zelda has lost her wisdom. Bit sad, really. This is all getting so very predictable.
"I'm guessing because the same shadow visited her, as it did me," Malon said.
Zelda was confused. "Wait—we all—"
"Ahem!" Rauru said. "This was supposed to be about the dream you had, my Queen, not about the shadowy figure."
"Although we will want to hear about that also," Saria said, looking pointedly at Rauru.
"Ah—of course," Rauru said, pretending to smile.
"Well," Zelda began, "Ruto, Malon, and myself were standing on top of a hill, facing a barren wasteland, with dark clouds above. Then—"
"Wait!" Impa interrupted. "In the prophecy you first had, the one with Link in it, didn't dark clouds signify Ganondorf Dragmire?"
Realization hit Zelda like an ice cream truck. She gasped, "It did!"
"And I bet," Rauru said excitedly, catching the thread of the conversation, "that they do this time, too!"
Darunia muttered, "Rauru, old chap, didn't know you gambled…" but no one paid him any attention.
"But that would mean Ganondorf is coming back!" Saria exclaimed, oblivious to Darunia's comment. "There's no way he could escape from the void between dimensions where we sent him!"
"Evidently," said Nabooru grimly, "there is."
"Oh, well, that's nice," Malon commented. The Sages looked at her as is she was crazy. "Okay, people, that was sarcasm!" she informed them.
"Oh," said Saria. "It sounds a lot different coming from you than Nabooru."
"I resent that!" Nabooru protested.
"Yes, yes, we know," Ruto said with a wave of her hand. "Zelda, am I correct in thinking that that was not by any means the end of your dream?" she inquired of the Hylian Queen.
"Yes, Ruto," Zelda confirmed, "you are. Impa interrupted me. If I may continue?" she asked, glancing at all the Sages as Darunia gave a slight (for a Goron) snore. "Well, I could see us standing on the hill. All of a sudden, six beams of light shot out of the land in a ring into the clouds, which appeared as if they would break, but they failed to, and the light faded. Then, I changed into Link, and clouds lightened," the aware people in the room were on the edge of their seats, eyes wide, "and then…"
"And then what?" Nabooru demanded, looking anxious. Evidently, she enjoys a good story as much as the next girl does.
"And then I woke up," Zelda finished lamely.
Everyone groaned. "Why the hell did you wake up?!" Nabooru sharply inquired. Or rather, shouted. "Shards, woman!"
"It's not like I tried to! There was a large bang, then dog barked and a cat growled," Zelda exclaimed, feeling a little put on the spot. "Sorry I'm a light sleeper!"
"Oh," Nabooru said sheepishly. "Sorry."
Ruto rolled her eyes. "Well, my dream was the same, essentially, but it went past where Zelda woke up, and small things were different. The wasteland was frozen, and the beams of light were color-tinted beams of ice, and Zelda turned into Link, but he looked like he had during his Hero of Time days. Except, his hair was too long and too light, more like Zelda's blond, and his eyes were the wrong color, and his eyelashes were longer." She took a deep breath, then continued, "And after Zelda changed into Link, the clouds got lighter."
Everyone nodded; they'd already heard this from Zelda. "Then there was a flash, and there was another Link, standing next to Zelda-Link. The second Link looked exactly like the Hero of Time who saved the world. ("With a little help from his friends," Malon murmured to Zelda, who nodded.) The clouds got lighter again, to almost white, the lightest gray, and started to break up, but they stopped. Then they both drew their swords, the Links, I mean, and the clouds began to break up once more. Then they both sheathe their swords and fired—uh, Light Arrows, I think—into the clouds from their bows, and the clouds disappeared in a blinding flash of light. The land thawed, and Zelda became herself again, and we were in a green field, still on top of a hill, and we all hugged, and the dream ended. At least," she added, "I think so…" she trailed off. She took a deep breath. She rarely spoke so much at once.
"Malon commented lightly, "You know, you're not quite as good a storyteller as Zelda."
"What?" Ruto demanded.
"You know, she's right," Saria said. Rauru and Impa wisely kept silent.
"Absolutely right. But then again," Nabooru added, "very few people can tell a story like the seventh Sage." Zelda blushed. You'd think that, as a queen, she'd be used to compliments. Well, she was, but Nabooru rarely gave compliments to anyone, and they were never given lightly. Ever.
"Well, I guess you're right," Ruto reluctantly conceded.
Impa cleared her throat. Everyone's head swiveled to face her. "Malon, I believe you said you also had a dream," she pointed out.
"Oh, yes!" Malon said, remembering. "Well, as far as I can remember, it ended right after the second Link showed up. But," she added by way of warning, "my memory of the dream is very vague."
"Oh," everyone said, looking either crestfallen or severely disappointed.
"Excuse me," Saria said, breaking the silence. "I think Queen Zelda, Queen Ruto, and Miss Malon all had some sort of visitation from a shadowy figure who seemed at once a number of conflicting characteristics?"
"Oh!" the three mentioned exclaimed. "That's right," Zelda confirmed. "Thanks, Saria," she told the physically younger Forest Sage.
"Well," Zelda told them, "I merely saw the dark figure, then I blinked. And it was gone," she said dramatically. The Sages resisted the urge to applaud.
"At first," Malon began, "that's how it was for me. I mean, I saw it then I tried to talk to it, but I sneezed instead. After I bathed and dressed, I saw it again, by the door. I asked who was there and it gave a very cryptic answer in response."
"Cryptic? How?" Rauru quickly asked.
"Well, it said a lot of things that contradicted itself." Malon went on to describe the sort of things it had told her. "And then it said, 'I have a message for you, and all people: Listen. Goodbye, Malon,' then I blinked, and it was gone again."
"And you?" Impa asked Ruto.
"Well," Ruto began, "I saw him and asked how he got in, and he replied 'By magic'. Then I asked what he was and he said—"
"Wait," Nabooru interrupted, "why do you keep saying 'him'?"
"Well," Ruto responded, "I just got that impression. Anyway after I asked what he was, he said he was a messenger. Then he told me, as he told Malon, to listen. And he was gone. But then, later, as I was adjusting my robe in the mirror, I could see him, but only in the mirror." She paused to take a break.
"Interesting," Impa murmured.
"Go on," Saria encouraged her.
"And I asked what he wanted, and he replied nothing, that he was only a messenger. The problem was, my ears – ("Do Zoras even have ears?" Malon asked Zelda quietly. "Shh!" Zelda replied.) –couldn't hear his voice, it was only in my head. I asked why he was there, and he said something about hitting a snag, because he honestly didn't know. And I asked him something else, which is not important, and he clammed up, so to speak. I could still see him in the mirror, but he stood still and said nothing." She blinked relieved to be finished. Zelda was normally the one telling stories and describing odd occurrences, and Ruto found it odd that she had seen and heard the most. It unsettled her.
"Very interesting…" Impa muttered. Saria chewed her lip, looking thoughtful. Rauru was staring blankly at a wall, which he always did when he was thinking and getting nowhere. Zelda had put her face in her hands and blocked out the room and the people in it. Nabooru looked completely vexed. Malon chewed on her thumbnail, as if eating her thumb would enlighten her.
"I wonder what this all means…" Rauru spoke quietly.
"Isn't it obvious? The arrows Link and Zelda-Link shot into the dark clouds in the dreams were Light Arrows, Ganondorf's weakness. And, Link will obviously come back before Ganondorf is defeated, for Ganon cannot be defeated by any but the Hero of Time, though extra force may be needed. We would need more information about this shadowy messenger to understand him fully, but as he seems to not know much more than he told the girls, it may be difficult to solve that little problem. Somehow, I think that 'little problem' will be crucial in defeating Ganondorf." Everyone blinked a few times as they tried to process several things; first, what had been said, and second, who had said it. Everyone just looked at Darunia, pure amazement on their faces. "What?" he asked, confused.
Rauru just shook his head. Nabooru, however, asked him, "How the hell do you know all that? Weren't you asleep?"
"Well…." Darunia began, "I wasn't really asleep. And if I was, apparently, I heard everything and my subconscious processed it."
"Oh!" Saria said. "And because you were asleep, and people think fast when they're sleeping or trying to sleep, you came to those conclusions a lot faster than even the most intelligent awake person could have." The other Sages had a look of amazement on their faces. Saria sighed. "We've gone over this before, just because I look young doesn't mean I am. The goddesses wouldn't have chosen a child to be a Sage." The other Sages had the grace to look abashed, as they had indeed heard this before, but were prone to forget it as a result of Saria's quietness.
"Sorry," said Nabooru. Saria smiled a thanks at her.
"Well," Rauru said, breaking up the silence that had fallen as a result of the Sages' embarrassment, "perhaps we should all go home. We can think this over and if any of us realizes anything, we can notify the others."
"Okay," Saria agreed. She said a quick goodbye to everyone and pulled out an ocarina. She played a short tune on it and disappeared as the light carried her away.
"Well, then," Nabooru said, back in the house, "be seeing you." And with that, she walked out the door. Once outside, she glanced around to make sure no one was watching, threw something down and disappeared in a flash, like a Sheikah. Impa had taught her how, but Nabooru had decided to keep it a secret. After all, she was a warrior, and knew that it was unwise for your enemies to know everything you could do.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, only not, because what is really meant by saying that was "back in Impa's house", Malon finished her conversation and said, "Alright then. See you, guys," and headed back to the ranch on Merlin, her midnight black stallion.
As Malon saddled up, Darunia said his farewells and began to roll up the mountain to the Goron city. When he got back, he went immediately to his chambers and fell asleep, quickly out like a rock.
Meanwhile, Zelda, Ruto, and Impa were unaware of that horrible pun as they discussed things after Rauru left.
"What I don't understand," Impa was saying, "is how and why Ruto saw more than you, Princess." Even though Zelda was now Hyrule's queen, Impa still called her "Princess". If anyone but Impa tried that, they would pretty much be dead.
"Yes, indeed," Ruto responded. "We have all become to having Zelda know and see nearly everything. I believe we must all be puzzled. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before now."
Impa sighed, "Yes."
"Well," Ruto said, breaking the awkward silence, "I really must be going. My advisors get horridly worried about me," she explained, walking out the door.
"So," Zelda said once Ruto closed the door behind her, "where were you, Impa?"
"Queen Zelda," Impa began solemnly, "even if you are the Queen, there are still times when you will not know all you wish to know." She paused, allowing Zelda's impatience to build. "This, she said slowly, "is one of those times."
Zelda looked furious. She pouted for a few moments, then said curtly, "Goodbye, Impa," with a nod of her head as she turned on her heel and went out of the house.
One out, Zelda strode over to where she had tied Snowflake. She untied her and adjusted the saddle straps. She silently fumed at Impa as she rode back to the castle.
Impa let out a deep breath after Zelda left. "Safe," she breathed, collapsing onto a chair.
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Now, again, sorry for the delay, but it's here now. So, please leave a review telling me what you thought. I don't consider criticism flaming, and if I screwed up, I would like to know. So, I must leave you with those words. Farewell. Disappears mysteriously into the afternoon
