Orsa Minore
by Capella A. Morningside
Author's Note: Sorry about this short chapter. This is all I wanted to accomplish in this chapter, and trying to stick something else in just made it seem awkward. Thanks to all my reviewers and I hope you're enjoying the story.
Chapter III - Rumors
Melek's walk back to his chambers was far slower than usual. He was a lost voyager in the sea of his own thoughts, his eyes glued ahead of him to ensure he did not collide with anything or anyone and his mind running back and forth over what Ceridwyn had told him. Stunned would be an understatement for what he felt, confused was not too far off but not too correct either. She couldn't possibly be making it up, where would she have heard the tale of that dream from anyway? They hadn't discussed it in the meeting until after he had returned from taking her back; everyone simply had different angles but the same vision.
And where was he in his version? He had a peasant girl in his arms, running as hard and fast as he could uphill as the strong wind tried to knock him over. Melek wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but all he knew was the little voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to run quicker, to get up the mountain ahead for all he was worth.
He'd been tempted, while relating his part, to speak on Ceridwyn's behalf, but Sangethia's hawk-like stare had cut off any ideas of that. The old woman's eyes were unusually threatening, but his Sheikah training had taught him to read more into a mere glance than the average person. The Priestess was spooked; and only he and his sister seemed to perceive it. And the way she carried herself when she had left to speak with Ceridwyn was not that of someone going to give a misbehaving teenager a lecture, Sangethia looked more like a seasoned mage marching off to face some enemy; rather than her usual near-unheard grumbling under her breath and using her staff to support her with each step, she carried her head high and her staff touched the ground only sporadically.
It was only natural that he feared for Ceridwyn then, and he fought the impulses to check to see if she was okay. It wasn't a good idea, especially if Sangethia was still talking to her, and though his chances of being seen were slim, a man knocking at a woman's bedchambers in the dead of night didn't exactly look like the most appropriate of visits. The rumors that already flew around the castle about himself and Lady Ceridwyn were annoying enough as they were.
Melek and Ceridwyn were good friends, and had been since they were very small. That was all there was to it, why couldn't people understand that? The hardships in their lives had made them even closer, especially when she lost her parents to the Keese Plague, or when he later contracted it himself and barely survived.
His blonde sister was waiting for him in the hallway to his bedchamber, leaned against the door to deny him entrance. Crimson eyes that were like exact copies of his own raised to greet him when he made his cautious approach, and one look into them told him everything he needed to know... Ziphorah was especially suspecting tonight.
"You had quite the look on your face after you escorted Lady Ceridwyn back to her quarters."
Melek didn't reply, he just kept eyeing his door in hopes she would give up and move.
"I would think," Ziphorah went on, "that you were taught better about how to conceal your emotions."
"I'll be sure to haul a few stones tomorrow, if that's what you are hinting at, sister." This, as well as other unnecessary, often injuring physical tasks, were methods of self-punishment for the Sheikah that had wavered from following their strict Codes.
"It is starting to look like the consequences of your actions will cross Sheikah jurisdiction." The older woman cleared her throat, and there it was, that 'I-know-what-you're-up-to' look that Melek tried not to find amusing.
"If you are about to make accusations of me, I'll tell you beforehand... they're wrong," Melek scowled, gripping the handle of his chamber door. "May I enter my own quarters?"
"Whether I am wrong or right is no longer the problem," the blonde snarled, finally giving in and sidestepping out of her brother's path. The violet-haired young Sheikah wasted no time in pulling his door open, entering his room, and without shutting the door behind him, started to light the lamps mounted on the walls of his meagerly decorated, only minimally comfortable chamber. Ziphorah poked her head around the door frame, continuing her lecture, "Your behavior is not very mannerly with her, and vice versa. Things like that cause rumors, and you know it. I would in any other world not be complaining because she is a very honorable woman, but you are a Sheikah, and in any case, she is meant for another..."
Ever true to his habits, however, the little brother interrupted. "If you're quite done accusing me of a love affair I'm not having, I have something important to tell you, Ziphorah."
His sister simply arched a brow, waiting.
"I wanted to say it at the meeting, but Sangethia was giving me that glare like she wanted to turn me into stone. It's about those dreams we're all having."
Ziphorah's mood changed almost immediately, a totally stoic expression on her features as she paced into her brother's room, seating herself on the nearly floor-level wood and linen bed.
He continued, "His Majesty, the Queen, you and I, Sangethia, and even Princess Sive have all had them. That doesn't even count those outside this court. But when I was taking Ceridwyn back to her chambers, even before she knew we all were having them, she told me about her own recurring dreams, and they're just like ours."
The blonde knotted her brows in thought. "Ceridwyn's being affected too? Why is that?"
"I don't know," Melek shrugged. "She doesn't even carry much royal blood."
A pause, before Ziphorah asked, "So what was her place?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"There is no lie in your eyes, brother."
He sighed, taking a seat next to his sister and folding his hands. "She said she was holding a sword and preparing to strike a great, towering shadow."
A pause. "If I did not trust you so well, Melek, I would not have believed you." Ziphorah's voice was almost breathless.
He only nodded in response.
"But how can this be?" She questioned no one. "If this were true..."
Melek finished for her. "Why would Sangethia be so adamant about keeping her quiet?"
"Exactly. It makes very little sense."
"I get the feeling she knows something we don't," was his half-hearted joke.
"I hate that feeling," his sister replied. "But in any case, we should keep quiet too. I'm sure if Sangethia is so determined about something, there's a reason behind it."
"Maybe the Priestess doesn't think Ceridwyn is fit for the role..."
"But that wouldn't be her decision to make and she knows it," Ziphorah argued, rubbing her thin hands together as she stood. "Get some sleep, brother. It's not our place to ponder these things."
