Chapter 2
"Zelda! Zelda wake up!" said a voice.
Zelda woke up to see her best friend Link looking down at her from the top of the tree that she was sleeping under.
Zelda smiled. "Link, get down!" she called, sitting up and smoothing her skirts.
"Nope, you'll have to come up here and make me!" he called back, making himself comfortable on a branch. "Unless you're too scared to make your skirts dirty, then I understand."
Zelda stood up and grabbed the nearest branch. "Scared? You're calling the Princess of Hyrule scared? You just wait until I climb up there!" She stood up onto a root.
She soon found it harder than she thought to climb. For one, her dress kept getting in the way. She hopped down from the root and tied her skirts into knots at intervals so as to make it knee-length.
She quickly scaled the first branch, then looked up. From where she was, Link seemed quite out of reach.
"Run out of breath highness?" he teased, leaning back onto the tree's trunk.
Zelda grabbed the next branch. "No!" she said, pulling herself up. She noticed that her gloves were getting covered in bark and dirt. She shrugged as she removed them. "I'm coming up there, whether you like it or not Link!"
Link shrugged and glanced down at her, checking if the route that she was going was safe. "Good luck then." He called, as he took out his ocarina and played a few songs.
The melody only made Zelda more determined. She climbed up until she was right under Link- her head at his legs.
"I made it!" she said triumphantly, grabbing the nearest branch for herself to sit on. "How's that Mr. I Know How To Climb Trees."
Then she noticed that Link was fast asleep. But she saw that his breathing wasn't even- he was awake. She quietly climbed to a branch level to his.
Zelda leaned forward and kissed him without thinking. Link opened his eyes and looked at her. He smiled, then helped her over to the branch that he was sitting on. He kissed her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Zelda was so happy…
Zelda jolted out of her daydream when a knock sounded at her door.
She got out of her chair and answered the door.
There stood her husband, Jonah. He was leaning against the doorframe.
"Good evening my lovely wife Zelda." He said, his eyes roaming over her body, especially her large stomach. "I have come to escort you to dinner." He held out an arm.
Zelda put her hand on his arm, making sure to study his actions.
"I saw you playing with our son this afternoon in the courtyard," Jonah said as the walked down the hall. "Derichio has grown hasn't he? How old is he?"
" He is five years and six months of age," Zelda replied. "He is beginning to show high standards of intelligence."
"That's excellent news," Jonah said, smiling slightly. "I hope our next child will be intelligent as well. I hope that it will be another son."
Zelda restrained herself from rolling her eyes. "I hope that I will have a daughter," she said cautiously. "For our son has chosen a beautiful name for a girl."
"And what will that be?" Jonah asked as he opened the doors to the main dining chamber. There was a long table with only two settings on it on one end.
Zelda seated herself. "Our son has chosen the name Ida. I don't know where it is from, but it sounds familiar."
Jonah smiled. "Ah, I remember. Ida is the name of a legendary Queen from a distant land." He sipped his wine. "Her full name is Adalia, an unusual name. Yet, when I first heard it, I favored it."
Zelda smiled back, glad that he was happy with the name. "I favour the name also," she said, taking a sip of water from her own glass- for she never liked wine. "If you do get a son, what will you name him, dear husband?"
Jonah leaned back in his chair while some servants put the first course on the table. He put his hands together and rested his head on them- Zelda knew that whenever Jonah was thinking really hard, he would take up that position. He finally lifted his head. "I have two choices: Milando- a famous warrior from my own country, or Samerdo (A.N. Sam-er-dow)- a knight from a story I once read when I was a child."
Zelda again, had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes. Those names sounded terrible to her. Oh great goddesses, grant me a daughter! She thought.
"Interesting names, dear husband," she commented, taking small, dainty bites of her meal- the way that was approved of Jonah. "I particularly like Milando."
Jonah started his own meal as well. "Thank you beautiful wife," he said.
When she had finished her meal, Zelda stood up, bade her husband goodnight and left the room, heading towards her son's room.
"Mama!" cried a voice, as she entered the room, closing the door behind her.
Zelda saw that Derek was in bed; a thick book was in his hands and an expectant expression on his face.
"You ready for that story Derek?" she asked, sitting down on the bed beside him, making herself comfortable. Derek laid his head on her large stomach, snuggling closer to her. Zelda picked up the book. "Hyrullian Heroes and their Lives" Zelda read the title out loud before opening the book and beginning to read.
"There have been heroes of this century that have been legendry and great. They have made a difference in this country by leaps and bounds. Many of them include Dominique the Hero of the People, Sofianna the Heroine of the Gerudos and recently, Link the Hero of Time."
Zelda sighed when she read out Link's name and title.
"What is it Mama?" asked Derek, looking up at his mother.
"Nothing dear, nothing." She answered, then she continued the introduction.
"This book provides an insight into these heroes lives- their childhood and their adventures."
Zelda turned the page where the contents were. Each name of a hero or heroine was marked with a page number.
"So," she said, holding up the book so that her son can look as well. "Which one?"
Derek looked hard at the list for a second, then pointed to a name, near the bottom of the list. "That one." He said.
Zelda looked at the name, then looked at her son, surprised.
"All right Derek," she said, finding the right page and settled down once more.
"The greatest hero of them all, Link the Hero of Time, was one who the goddesses had chosen to defeat the mass evil that took over Hyrule not so long ago.
"Link started his life when he was put under the protection of the Kokiri- the guardians of the Lost Woods. His mother and father, unknown, were killed in the war against one of Hyrule's enemies.
Link discovered that he was a keen swordsman at 10 years of age and left the forest, after rescuing the Great Deku Tree from a terrible curse. He travelled around the country, doing good deeds- such as: eradicating the Dodongos from a cave for the Gorons and rescuing the Zora Princess, Ruto from the belly of Lord Jabbu Jabbu.
In doing these good deeds, he received the three sacred stones, for use, in conjunction with a melody, to open the Door of Time. The Emerald of the Kokiri, the Ruby of the Gorons and the Sapphire of the Zora are now safe in the Temple of Time.
"After doing those deeds, Link disappeared for seven years, rumour having that he had died in a fight. But, he made a reappearance as a fully-grown adult, walking out of the Temple of Time.
Link continued to do great deeds in the days that followed: defeating monsters and earning medallions from each of the Legendary Sages: Princess Ruto, Sage of Water. The Goron leader, Darunia, as the Sage of Fire. Saria, Sage of the Forest. Nabooru the Gerudo, Sage of Spirits. Impa, Sage of Shadows. Raru, Sage of Light.
"Link used these medallions to find Princess Zelda-" Zelda stifled a laugh, knowing full well that she wasn't found by Link- she was the one who found him and stuck by him as Sheik.
"-Who in turn, helped him to defeat the evil that threatened the country. Link found out that he was the protector of the Triforce of Courage. Princess Zelda was the Protector of the Triforce of Wisdom and the evil took the Triforce of Power.
"Link, afterwards, took up a position as the Princess' body-guard until she was wed to Prince Jonah. Link, after the wedding, was never seen again."
Zelda took a deep breath, calming herself down, for she felt the need to cry when she read that paragraph. She looked down at her son. Derek was fast asleep on her side.
She quietly moved her son so that he was lying on his pillow and left the room, taking the book with her.
She walked down the quiet halls towards her rooms, making sure to look carefully into shadows.
After entering her room, locking the door and opening her window, she settled down to look through the book.
The book had no picture of Link, but Zelda could see his face, almost like as if he was standing in front of her in real life. His kind blue eyes, mop of blonde hair with a long fringe, his sneaky smile and his deep voice haunted her mind every night. She once again prayed for him to come back, looking up at the moon, hoping that he was looking at the same moon.
She opened the book to the contents page and realised that her own name was there: "Princess Zelda I: The Wise Heroine."
Zelda was confused- someone wrote a book and decided to include her too? She looked for the author's name, but couldn't find it. Where did Derek get this book? She thought, turning to the page where her so-called biography was. She began to read.
"In Hyrule's Royal Family's history, there has never been a more wise and powerful Princess than Princess Zelda I. Protector of the Ocarina of Time and Triforce of Wisdom, she has been considered to be the next most wonderful Queen that Hyrule will ever experience.
"She helped Link, Hero of Time defeat the evil that fell over Hyrule and appointed him as her body-guard after her former protector Impa went to guard the Temple of Shadows as Mage of the Shadows.
"She married her betrothed Prince Jonah of Sytania and later gave birth to a son called Derek III- or Derichio."
The small paragraph followed with a picture of herself as a 17 year old and a timeline of her family history.
"Gee, whoever wrote this knew a lot about me- not very many people knew that Derek was the intentional name for my son before he was born- Impa, my father, Jonah, Link-" Zelda's breath caught in her chest.
"Link? Did you write this book?" she whispered to herself hopefully, looking once again for the author's name. She turned each page of the book carefully, hoping to find a connection to the one who wrote the book.
The candles in her room burned low as she turned the second last page in the book, her hope starting to drain away.
"What's this?" she muttered, bringing the book closer to her eyes so that she could try and read the small handwritten text that was written in the bottom corner of the page. She almost dropped the book in shock when she read the small message:
My beautiful Zelda, I miss you so. I see your fair face in my mind every night. My heart is torn in half, ever since I lost you.
I love you Zelda, forever and always.
Link.
(A.N. 'Does an evil laugh.' A cliffie! I'm just so evil, aren't I? Well, after such a LONG chapter, I need some entertainment. So, what do you think? Awful? Terrible? Absolutely, positively wonderful?)