Chapter Three: Debate
There was a great buzz of noise in the main foyer of Hyrule Castle. They were messengers, sent from their respective fiefs to Her Majesty, the Queen, to bring tidings of the falling rocks, and hopefully, bring tidings back on what they were all about. The guards ushered in new messengers, as early as a few hours after the incident. From there they were told to wait, from a few minutes to a few hours, until the Queen would see them. There were at least a few scores of them, most from the areas around the castle, hardly any from south of the Ranch.
Queen Zelda sat in the throne room, listening to the messengers and responding best she could. She sat on the throne, which was on a high dais, in a seat of plush purple velvet. She wore her regal dress, and a gold circlet upon her head, instead of the usual monarch crown. She was thoroughly bored with meeting with heralds, having done it since the day before, and their stories being all the same. Great balls of fire and rock raining down from the sky, why, who, when, how? Zelda's only consolation was that Veruga has not spoken up in some time.
Oliman Veruga was seated to Zelda's left. He was a middle-aged man, with streaks of grey running through his long hair and beard. He wore a fine linen blue tunic and brown leggings, with a deep red cape running down his back. His expression was grim, stern, stoic, as he usually was. Veruga had a tendency to speak aloud his opinions, which usually clashed with Zelda's. He was a firm believer in a male ruler, and a constant opposer to Zelda's overall reign. Seated to his left were three more members of the monarch's cabinet, and as such there were four more members on the other side.
"And so, when the great rocks of fire came down upon the mountain, it crashed into our vital stores of food," said the current messenger, a short stocky Goron who had come from Death Mountain. "Made the entire cave explode, and the city collapse. If it were not for good old fashioned Goron ingenuity, well, most Gorons would be dead right now. So, Your Majesty, what word can I bring back to Daruina of this cataclysm?"
"Well, honestly, I don't see how it could make it explode nearly all of Goron City. According to what you've said, the city was a mile away from the impact site," Zelda replied.
"Well, you see milady, it hit our valued stores of salt-,"
"You know Your Majesty," Veruga interrupted in a cynical tone. "It might be best if you go examine the sites yourself, get a bit of first hand knowledge yourself you know."
"We've been over this Veruga," sighed Zelda. "I cannot leave the castle until every messenger bearing a message, or awaiting a message is account and answered."
"Ah, but that is why,"
"Veruga, please!" whispered Sebastian, a short balding man that sat on Zelda's other side. "The Queen needs to do her duty, and right now that is to hold an audience with the messengers. So if you would please keep quiet for just a few more minutes…"
Zelda sighed. "Messenger, you are free to go."
The Goron bowed. "Thank you milady." He retreated out of the throne room.
"Your Majesty that was the last of the messengers bringing tidings of falling fire rocks. The rest are here simply to know what all the calamity is about."
Zelda nodded. "I will see no more messengers today, give them food, and tell them they will get an answer by the time the cabinet meeting is done with." She stood up.
"Cabinet meeting?" Veruga raised one of his eyebrows. "I thought it wasn't supposed to be until tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is here Veruga, we must debate what to do about these strange events now." Zelda replied.
The cabinet chambers were in the heart of the castle keep in a room above the throne room. They could only be accessed via a stairwell hidden under one of the throne room's tapestries. During times of cabinet meetings, guards were extra alert, with patrols stalking the battlements, corridors and courtyard. During the proceeding, the cabinet was not to be disturbed in anyway. Anyone who spied on a cabinet meeting was considered as doing the act of treason, and was tried by a court made up of the cabinet itself, and usually hanged. No one had tried it during Zelda's reign, but there had been a number of Gerudo spies during her father's. She could only hope that there would be no attempts.
The cabinet room was a long, wide room with a long oak table in the center. There were at least a dozen chairs on either side, and one large chair at the end. Behind the head of the table, which was where the current monarch of the kingdom sat, there was a stain glass window depicting the Triforce, a symbol that had been in use by the Royal Family for many years.
The members of the cabinet filed into the room one by one and took their seats. Lower officers came in first, with Zelda coming in last. Everyone sat down when the Queen sat down, and then the deliberations could begin.
"Well, we appear to have sort of little crisis on our hands," Zelda began. "Two nights ago, several strange objects fell from the sky. We do not know what they were, they're purpose for coming here, or being sent here, and there has been a little uproar in the fiefs. Apprentice Magister Tifen, have you managed to scrounge up enough information about the rocks to give us a little report?"
Tifen, apprentice to the Magister Sebastian, was a very nervous little fellow. He was a very small man with brown hair, who at times look liked a child. He often stumbled through his words when asked to read any of his work aloud. He did of course where the blue robes of a Magister, blue representing Naryu's color and power; wisdom. He had yet to earn the golden sash of a Magister, and probably would not do so until Sebastian, who was indeed starting to get on in years, had resigned or died.
"W-W-Well Your Majesty, we have found that the rocks, um, appear to be made of uh, quite… normal components." Tifen said all of this quite slowly.
"Like what?"
"Well, Magister Sebastian and I have determined that it is made of very stony materials, but it does hold… some iron."
"Iron? The rocks hold some iron?" Zelda asked.
"Yes, but only some of the smaller ones, which are primarily made of it, but even still it numbers in few compared to the stony ones that fell. The Magister and I have uh, ridden to the Ranch south of here, and… managed to examine the one there."
"All in all Your Majesty," Magister Sebastian butted in, much to Tifen's relief. "We have found little iron at all in them. But somehow it is mostly made up of rock, much like that found on Death Mountain."
"But how does stone just explode?" Zelda said. "It doesn't make sense. Perhaps it was some sort of bomb flower missile?"
"Your Majesty, I have examined the rocks, and taken it to some bomb experts in the town, they see nothing left from the explosion that could have come from the bomb flowers." Sebastian explained. "We have sent samples to the Gorons for absolute verification of this, but we can guess the results will be the same. Nothing we know caused this."
"Thank you," said Zelda. "To the both of you. Oh, and remember to find something to call them. Does anyone have any ideas on where they might have come from? Could any sorcerer conjure this? Any foreign enemies?"
"Well perhaps if we do Queen," Veruga said flauntingly. "Or perhaps the very gods themselves perceive you to be a weak ruler, seeing you aren't male."
"That's enough with those comments Veruga," Sebastian snapped. "I see you still retains some boldness from your days as a soldier."
"I see nothing wrong with it. It is my opinion, and that is my job in these meetings, to give my opinion on kingdom matters."
"The job of the cabinet is to advise the current ruler on matters of state, and make sure he does nothing foolish. Regardless of gender."
"Besides Veruga," Zelda added. "I'm sure the goddesses are happy that a female finally has the chance to rule. Because they are female."
"Well, I think," Veruga started.
"Veruga, I did not request what you think, I merely want to get through this session," said Zelda, breaking up the argument. "Now Sebastian, Tifen, when are you planning on examining each site of impact? They seem to be mostly scattered around the northern half of the kingdom. Buch, where are the exact locations?"
Buch, the Royal Scribe, unrolled a piece of long parchment, and quickly skimmer through it. "At the very least half a dozen. The major locations are on Death Mountain, Zora's River, the Gerudo's Fortress and the Ranch."
"You know Queen," Veruga spoke up, saying the last word sarcastically. "It would be good for you to examine each site yourself. Show a little initiative and interest in kingdom affairs."
"Well, Veruga," Zelda replied. "If you are so eager for me to get out of the castle and see the impact sites, why don't you do it yourself? I mean it Veruga; I'm not being sarcastic. You have the sanction of the Royal Family to hereby examine each site, and come back in a month ready with a full report."
Veruga was surprised at this. "Oh? And what shall I put in the report?"
"Anything you deem important enough."
They looked each other square in the eye for a full minute. "Very well Your Majesty," Veruga said slowly, breaking the silence. "I shall leave this very second. Yes, I shall fetch my blade, saddle my horse, get some men to come along, yes I shall leave right now, Queen." He quietly excused himself from the meeting and walked back down to the throne room.
When his footsteps had faded, and he was far out of earshot, Buch spoke. "Why do we keep him around again?"
"He is very well loved by the people," answered Zelda, staring at the stairwell. "Veruga is a hero from the war that took place almost twenty years ago. It was bloody, and I was just an infant at the time. If we ever removed him from his position, or had him killed, or jailed or anything, the people would riot."
"His late Royal Majesty, the old King and your father, attempted that once," said Sebastian, who had long served under the Hyrulian monarchy. "It didn't go well. It was but fifteen years ago. Veruga was being… well; he tried to tell his Majesty how to run the kingdom. Going on and on, to find you a proper consort milady, and to at least find another wife to birth a male heir. But he wouldn't have anything to do with it. He attempted to jail him for about a month for it, and the people… to put it simply, did not take it well. He is a national hero, and although the king tried to explain in vain, they wouldn't have it."
"So, we can do nothing about him," Zelda shook her head. "But back to business. Now I shall need to address the people on this matter, I will tell them I have sent Veruga as a vanguard to examine the sites first, then I will send the experts. It will hopefully go well with the messengers from the Hylian towns, but not so much from the Goron and Zora settlements."
"And what of the Gerudo?" asked one of the other cabinet members. "They have no love for him. In their eyes he is a murder, and royal sanction or not, they will not let him pass."
"I know it," said Zelda quietly. "And so does he, but I told him to examine each site, and come back in a month with information on each. What he will do, I do not know. But for his sake, it had better be with the extent of Hyrulian law, or I cannot keep him from the courts."
The cabinet members nodded. Veruga, though loved by the Hyrulian people, did not have much support on the cabinet.
Zelda's face lightened up a bit. "Well, if no one else has anything else to say, I must go speak to the people. Sebastian, inform the messengers of what has happened and tell them to assemble on the grounds. Meeting adjourned."