Chapter 6. Gossip, Through Stones
Link dreamed.
She was walking with Zeld in the castle courtyard, and they were talking and laughing about nothing in particular. They were happy.
They came upon a Gossip Stone.
"You see this?" Zeld asked, pointing to a large chip in the Stone. "I knocked that out one day while practicing with my sword. Gossip Stones have special powers, so I keep the piece with me at all times."
He looked directly in her eyes. "It's my theory that if two people have pieces of the same Gossip Stone, they might be able to communicate through it."
"So they could talk to each other, even across great distances?"
"Even across worlds..."
"Worlds?"
"Worlds, Link."
He leaned toward her...
And then she woke up.
"Dammit..."
zzz
"Hellooooo?" Vaaltos waved in Zeld's blank face.
Zeld blinked. "Huh?"
"What is with teenagers today?" Vaaltos shook his head. "Are you going through withdrawal or something?"
"Or something," Zeld muttered.
"Are you ready to talk?" Vaaltos grinned an evil grin that he had obviously practiced.
Zeld shook his head to clear it. "'Bout what? 'Cause I'm always ready to talk, just not about whatever it is you want from me. What was that again?"
Vaaltos groaned. "I want you," he paused and pointed at Zeld,"to tell me," he pointed at himself, "where the Triforce of Wisdom is."
Zeld nodded thoughtfully, as though thinking about it. "No."
"Don't feed him," Vaaltos ordered the Sheikah guard as he swirled from the room, black robes raising a cloud of dust behind him.
Zeld stared after him for a moment, then turned to the Sheikah. "Why do you work for that guy again?"
"I told you last night," the man sighed. "I don't have much choice. I didn't know the guy was an evil whack job when I swore my oath to him, but he is, and he has ways of making me stick to my oath."
The Sheikah was tall and thin, with long silver hair and red eyes behind the dark tinted spectacles he wore. In Hyrule, the Sheikah were the sworn protectors of the royal family. But this was Termina and they had no royal family. So the man had no real reason to help Zeld.
"What's your name anyway?" Zeld asked, more out of boredom than anything else.
"You can call me Tor," the Sheikah said.
"Tor? That a nickname?"
"Sort of, yeah. It's the only name anyone here knows me by. And I prefer to keep it that way."
Zeld sighed. "You Sheikah think you're so mysterious..."
"Hey, if you're going to bring race into it I have no trouble retaliating."
"No, sorry, I'm just a little bummed."
"Understandable."
zzz
Link was going to the palace. That dream could have been just that, a dream, but she had to know. It was...important.
For some odd reason, there was little security around the castle. Perhaps they assumed that nothing worse could happen now that the prince was gone. Or perhaps all the guards were sieging the Gerudo Valley. Either way, Link had no trouble sneaking in.
The courtyard was completely empty, which she had expected. Who would be enjoying this beautiful day when the prince was missing? If only they knew what had really happened. If only she knew what had really happened.
Zeld had been picked up by the black tornado. Kobold said the black tornado had gone east. Link had had a dream where Zeld told her about a Gossip Stone with a chip in it. Those were the only facts.
The Gossip Stone was located exactly where it had been in the dream, in a corner of the courtyard. The chip was not large, but it was noticeable. Gossip Stones were notoriously indestructible. Link wondered how in the world Zeld had managed to chip this one. And how she was going to do the same.
The location and state of the Gossip Stone were enough to convince her that everything in the dream was real, so she was determined to get a piece of the thing. She had to talk to Zeld.
Having no sword was a problem, as was avoiding detection if she was going to be hammering at a rock, but she pulled an arrow from her quiver and decided to make the best of it.
She barely made a dent.
"Stupid magic rock," she muttered. "Don't you know I'm trying to save Zeld here!" With that she stabbed the Stone once more and, much to her surprise, a piece popped off into her hand.
"Um, thanks," she said, stunned. She backed away slowly, then turned and ran for it.
She didn't stop running until she got to 17th, and then galloped the mare all the way to a secluded spot by the ancient crumbling wall in Hyrule Field.
She examined the chip. It just looked like a rock, nothing remarkable, not even a bit of the Eye of Truth logo on it. One deep cleansing breath later, Link gripped the rock in her hands and murmured, "Zeld?"
zzz
Zeld yelped and jumped in his cage.
Tor looked up at him from his game of solitaire. "What's up?"
"Um, nothing, I- nothing."
"Right." He turned back to his cards.
Zeld pulled his chip of the Gossip Stone out of his pocket and stared at it. He hadn't actually expected his "plan" to work, but something was definitely going on. He squeezed the rock tightly in one hand and tried to look like his mind wasn't elsewhere.
zzz
Link?
Link squeaked with surprise. "Zeld? That you?"
Yeah.
"Are you all right?" they asked in unison.
There was a brief, uncomfortable pause, then they both laughed.
"Um, I'm fine. Totally fine," Link said.
You sure? What happened to you?
"Well, I landed on this guy's roof but he turned out to be really nice, and a Sheikah besides, so he helped me out."
Lucky you. I'm in a cage made of wind. Kinda. I think.
"That's...weird."
Yes. Yes it is.
"Why are you in a cage made of wind? Where are you? And why is your voice in my head instead of coming from the rock?"
Um, well, to answer your last question first: I'm using telepathy. And that's because it would look really weird if I started talking to myself.
"Telepathy?"
Yup. And I gotta tell you, I have never been so grateful to be good at magic in my life.
"Heh. So what about my other questions?"
Zeld took the mental equivalent of a deep breath, then started in...
zzz
Link blinked and stared down at the rock in her hands. "So...that's it?"
Yup.
"You're...in another world?"
I'm afraid so.
"So how do I get there?"
I'm not really sure. Vaaltos used a forky-looking thing to open the way, but it was all the way across the desert.
"The desert in the east?" she said flatly, confirming what he'd said before.
That's right.
"The one that I'd never heard of before."
Yuh-huh.
"I'm still having trouble with that."
It's not going to matter if you can't even find a way to get there. He paused. Look Link...I'm not sure I want you try anyway...
"What? Why not?"
It's dangerous. I...don't want you to get hurt. I don't want anyone to get hurt.
"You can't really stop me."
That's...probably true. But I can ask you. Please. Don't put yourself in danger for me.
"No."
Link-
"I said no! Someone has to save you Zeld, and I'm the only one who even knows where you are!"
You could tell-
"They wouldn't listen. No one ever listens to me."
For a moment, Zeld said nothing. I'll listen.
"Thanks Zeld. And normally I would listen to you too. But...you need help. And I'm going to help you."
Just try not to get yourself killed?
"Hey, I'd do that even if you hadn't asked me."
Good. I-
Then his voice was gone. Cut off, as though someone had clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Zeld!" Link exclaimed.
zzz
"Hey," Tor waved his hand as close to level with Zeld's face as he could, which was fairly close since he was pretty tall. "Are you all right?"
"Fine. Sort of. Mostly." Zeld shifted uncomfortably in the cage. "Why?"
"You were staring off into space."
"I was...uh..."
"And drooling."
Zeld wiped his mouth quickly.
"Maybe Lord Vaaltos was right. Are you going through withdrawal?"
"No," Zeld glared. "Why would you think that?"
"Because you were staring off into space. Wait," Tor got a mischievous glint behind his glasses. "You're high now aren't you?"
"No!"
"What were you doing then?"
Zeld sighed. "Let's just say it's keeping my mind off of food."
"Oh, that reminds me. Here." Tor held a large loaf of bread out to Zeld.
"Really?" Zeld stared at the bread, almost drooling.
"Just take it. I hate seeing men pass out."
Zeld had the tact to ignore that.
zzz
"Zeld?" Link looked around, even though she knew it was useless. "Zeld, you there? Zeld?"
Sorry 'bout that.
"Zeld! What happened?"
I'm not too good at telepathy yet and I have to kind of...stare into space to do it. People keep interrupting me and we get cut off.
"Oh, well...okay."
Were you worried? Zeld's thought-voice was teasing.
"Of course I was worried! You've been kidnapped!"
Wow. So you are a girl.
"You had doubts?" Link bristled.
Heh. Not really. But, no guy would ever admit to being worried so easily.
"I'll keep that in mind if I ever feel the need to cross-dress."
Do that.
zzz
Zeld and Link spent the evening discussing plans for his rescue, or at least that had been their intention. Actually, they wound up discussing Zeld's childhood, or lack thereof. Link was being rather vague about her own past, but dropped hints that she'd grown up in a noble house. If he took that to mean she'd been a servant, that was his business.
Of course, once I turned twelve I started getting marriage proposals.
"Tw- twelve!"
Well, I am crown prince.
"But..." I didn't even get marriage proposals until I was fourteen, Link thought.
Fourteen! Woah, you must have been a babe prodigy or something!
"I what! Wait, how did you hear that?"
Oh, um, I'm in your head remember?
"So you can hear my thoughts! Oh Goddess!"
Not "hear" exactly. People don't usually think in words you know.
"So then...you don't know what I'm thinking?"
I can sense your feelings, and I can hear your thoughts if I'm concentrating and you put them in words. Other than that it's just feelings. Why? Keeping secrets?
"So? Aren't you?"
Maybe. He paused. Actually, no. No, I'm not. I don't have secrets.
"Oh... Now I feel bad."
Don't. All girls keep secrets. I think. Do they?
"Yeah, mostly. Girls try to hide their faults from guys. Don't guys try to hide their faults from girls?"
Guys don't think that much.
"You know, I think I knew that."
Who doesn't?
Several hours later Zeld's thought-voice started trailing off and Link realized she couldn't stop yawning. "Maybe we should go to bed," she mumbled.
Mmm. Zeld agreed.
Link unrolled her blanket and lay down. It was odd, she'd spent most of the day talking to apparent thin air, but it didn't worry her at all. Because Zeld was safe, or at least unharmed, and so she could save him. All was right with the world.
She almost forgot what she had run away from.
The last thing she heard, as she tottered on the edge of sleep, was Zeld's "voice" saying, Do you realize we're sleeping together?
And as embarrassed as she was to admit it, she did.
zzz
Zeld blinked his eyes and stretched, banging his knuckles on the top of the black wind cage. "How can wind be so hard?" he muttered.
The Wolfos who was guarding him now looked up at him and growled.
"Easy boy," Zeld muttered. "It's not like I'm getting out of here. Not any time soon anyway..."
zzz
The next morning, Link headed back for Kakariko. She hated to impose on Kobold even more than she already had, but he was the only person she could think of who might be able to help.
It was early, only a couple hours after dawn, but somehow Link was not surprised to find Kobold awake and outside, stretching against the side of his house.
"'Morning," Link called.
"Oh, good morning," Kobold straightened and smiled at her. "Is something wrong?"
"Sort of... I, uh, got in touch with the prince."
"Really? That's great!" He noticed the look on her face. "Isn't it?"
"Can we talk?"
"Of course. Come on inside, I'll make tea."
Link explained everything Zeld had told her while Kobold made the tea. He handed her a mug and sipped thoughtfully at his own as she finished.
"Termina huh?" he said when she finished.
"Yes."
"Another world?"
"Yes."
"Not good."
"Very not good."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Not really. I mean...how do I get to a whole other world?"
"It's been done before. The Hero of Time-"
"That's right!" Link leapt to her feet. "He went to another world didn't he! I think it was even Termina! So there must be a way!"
"Of course there's a way. If there wasn't that wizard couldn't have taken the prince there."
"Oh...yeah..."
"But a way that you can use...that's what we really need."
"We?"
"We."
Link couldn't help but smile.
"I have a thought..." he put his cup down and stood up. "I'm not sure, I need to look it up, but it may help you. I hope I'm right though. It's been a while since I read the story."
"Which story?"
"The one you just mentioned yourself." He smiled at her. "Sit down, finish your tea, I've got to go find something."
Link did, and Kobold disappeared into a back room. She sat there, looking around at his kitchen. You can learn a lot about a person from their home, and Kobold's so far seemed perfectly normal and nice. The kitchen was bright and clean, if a little empty. Much of his house seemed empty actually. It was plenty big enough for two people, but from the looks of things he had lived alone for years. Odd...
"Here it is," Kobold said, returning. He was carrying a large old book with a leather cover, opened to somewhere near the middle. He lay the book down on the table and turned it so Link could see.
There was an illustration of a sword, quite a beautiful one, with black roses drawn on the blade. She didn't know if the roses were just part of the illustration, or actually on the sword, but it was from a story so it didn't really matter.
"It's known as the Black Rose Blade, though that may have not originally been its name." Kobold pointed to a passage underneath the picture. "The Hero of Time brought it back with him from Termina, where he got it from the Great Fairy. It was a magic sword to begin with, and when the Hero took it with him between worlds, it retained some of that power. The story says it can be used not only to find passages between worlds, but also to create them. Although...I kind of doubt that part's true since the Hero had several moments where that power would have come in handy, but he never used it."
"Either way, it still sounds perfect!" Link leaned over the book and started reading. It said just what Kobold had told her, but there was more. If she was interpreting the archaic writing correctly... "This sword, where is it now?"
"It says the Hero put it in a place where he knew no one could get to it easily. A place very close to his childhood home."
"That's what I was afraid of." She sighed. "It looks like I've got no choice...I've got to go back to the Lost Woods."
zzzzzzzzzzzz
Notes from the Author
Okay, the next chapter is being a little bitch, and preparations for Kumori Con are taking a lot more time than I thought (I'm cosplaying and selling art. If you've ever worked with charcoal you know my pain) so don't expect another chapter for at least a week or two. And if you're going to Kumori Con (unlikely, I know, but it would be so cool to meet one of you there) I'll be the short busty white chick in glasses dressed as Rin. I'll be accompanied by the entire cast of Inuyasha. Because we're cool like that.