Chapter 18: Breakfast; One Member Up
Annex of the Far-Off Dominion Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Lurking" - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Refreshing Morning" - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST. Scene
"Far East Suit ~ Pizzicato" - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OST. Scene 2 (First & Second Halves).
"Excess Express (at Dusk)" - Paper Mario II: The Thousand Year Door OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"But Frederick, it's nearly dark!" - Fire Emblem XIII: Awakening OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
In an explosive ending to a meteoric tournament indeed, the Palashian Premier is at last in its completion; in the end, just as with the Hylian Hyrax, victory only very narrowly escaped the fiery Link and Kage's grip. When clashing with the royal family's very heir herself, Vassia Palashia, he finds himself overpowered fairly quickly by the surprising strength, skill and speed with which the young princess wields.
A terrifying combination indeed.
But not one to full deter the boy once known as the 'Hero of Time' himself; the brazen blonde somehow finds a way to turn the tides of battle, just as he always does, and forces Vassia on the defensive time and time again. Enough so that the angry young princess grows so irritated and so agitated that she reaches deep into her family's forbidden level of Aegir Art techniques to produce two extra arms; a fearsome sight to match.
Link, being as brash as they come however, opts to one-up her by somehow managing to form an extra four arms. Impa, as always, concisely explains that to do such a thing in utilising merely after-images is a task indeed; a massive tank of Aegir is required to merely form the Aegir arms, let alone continue to maintain them. In great spite to even the watching audience's doubt however the former Hero of Time keeps his pace with his bride-to-be but, it is only toward the end of the fiery battle, that princess Vassia commits a similar sin to the blonde boy's black-haired rival.
The sin of murder.
However accidental she manages to kick the boy's head and neck so firmly that it near comes off; a breakage that essentially kills the poor boy. Just as within the Hylian Hyrax's grand finals however, Link's life is saved by the creature and fable-like existence of a demonic will trapped within the back of his small left hand.
A ghostly existence known only as 'Kage Narumono'.
Translated in ancient Hylian it gives claim to the name 'Shadow of What Will Be'.
Just as the ominous and menacing warnings that Link himself received in Ikana and Rockvale Temple, Kage is neither evil nor good; he is simply a chaotic representation of the holy Triforce of Courage itself. It is in that very fact that the poor shocked Vassia begins to anguish for it is Kage that returns the offence back and a frightening offence it is; enough of a comeback that leaves her reeling and unconscious from the sheer power the satanically-charged demonic will commands.
When Kage lays loose his final 'Metsu Hadoken' technique with which to finish Vassia, she tries with great difficulty to defend but the pair send themselves so high into the air they go careering back toward the main hub of Palashia itself; Rocknesse city. In an extremely unlucky instance, Kage's body is first to hit the ground first in a horrific yet comical crash through a horse and carriage, leaving the unconscious princess safe and victorious; the Palashian champion in all her glory.
Now, as he licks his wounds following his narrowly-close defeat, Link and his friends look to the Prima World Tour's next destination; the country of Kaiohdrahl and its next tournament – the aptly named 'Kaioh Bio'. Just before his unsociable rival Raynard decides to leave, however, he opts to leave with him some disquieting news. He reveals to the blonde in his correctly-held suspicions; that not only is he travelling with Ganondorf's former right-hand man, Scaverin Estienne, but that he is also planning an elaborate scheme.
The words 'Domination' and 'Torment' have thus far been linked to the manipulative sorcerer yet for what reason, not even the wizened Alwyn and Impa can know; with hundreds of men dead in the Greymont Mines following his heartless scheme, Scaverin's motivations and endgame remain a mystery even to the stoic Raynard himself.
It is with this information that Link and his close companions begin their preparations to set out, however, it won't be long before they soon find themselves laden with a new challenge...
Scene 1
"Scaverin-sensei... are you sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Because these are the Templars... they're not just your average thieves and brig-"
"Yes now shut up...!"
Scaverin's low-voiced hiss made the listening Raynard wince, a mixture of concern and doubt plain as day across his face. He sat hidden and low beneath one of the nearby enclosures of bushes and shrubbery alongside his mentor silently questioning his actions, and indeed, even his very sanity at that; although the bald-headed man had opted not to inform his young protégé of the specifics of such an endeavour, he stipulated instead only that he had to get taken by the rapidly-approaching men.
A group of savages made up of ex-soldiers all around the continent of Aurelia themselves; a group of men by the name of 'Templars of the Weeping Stars'. Renowned the world over for their cruelty their numbers have grown to such a state that small villages and even cities fall before them. All seemingly a mere prelude to their next venture; focusing their well-commanded forces in an assault on Kaiohdrahl's main hub, Beechmere and the poor unsuspecting citizens inhabiting it.
When Raynard questioned Scaverin on how he knew of the Templars' incoming attack pre-emptively, however, the man only curiously stated on his sources being his former commander.
It was a chilling thought, even for the hardened young mercenary to imagine a man not only stronger than him, but crueller.
"Maybe I'm allied to the wrong guy..." He thought in a twitching frown, briefly eyeing him curiously.
At first he had joined the mysterious sorcerer for his own selfish reasons, an ally with which to help gain retribution from those who'd wronged him and his murdered clan; the Hyrulean royal family themselves. And yet, as time drew on and very quickly at that, the formerly-confident young mercenary soon found he was regretting his decision; even as early on as Palashia the man had already managed to kill a sizeable amount of people in his bizarre scheme.
I'm not above killing people, he thought.
"But not innocents..."
"Ah... here they come...!"
The frowning Hylian boy swung his head 'round and rose raven-haired eyebrow upward, attempting to trace the older man's stare. Sure enough on their immediate right appeared to be a rather intimidating number of men approaching their position on the road, all dressed head-to-toe in mixed-coloured armour and a healthy level of weapons to match. Raynard's chestnut eyes narrowed as they recognised each noticeably-placed symbol on their plates having been vandalised; a sure and telltale signature of their unit's style.
"That's them all right..."
The man presumably leading them at the front, riding atop a particularly powerful-looking horse, looked rather intimidating indeed; the muscles he carried, indicative of a life of former-military, were complimented by the long dark-brown hair that came down in waves over his armoured back. Numerous brutal scars ran across his face, almost as if to tell of his onerous and gruelling past; a fact he seemed to hide rather well through one huge smirk laying on his otherwise comely complexion.
Raynard glared back at him from his hiding spot and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
I see through you, he thought.
"Looks like one big wall of bravado to me."
Scaverin's shoes cracked one of the nearby lying branches, making the frowning-faced Raynard swing his black-haired head in the man's direction, half-surprised before suddenly remembering he was approaching these men out of his own free will.
This is a bad idea, he thought.
A really bad idea.
"Scaverin-sensei you don't have to-"
"Leave me to this!"
The boy winced as he merely back-handed the boy's raised up hand, as if to dissuade him from following. He looked over his bald-headed shoulder and narrowed his eyes in scrutinisation before re-opening his mouth to whisper out the rest of his last message.
"You'll remember to come look for me?"
"Yes... Scaverin-sensei..."
In Raynard's last sighing nod, the firmly-frowning form of Scaverin also nodded one final time before turning wordlessly to step out from the shrubbery they both hid inside.
They're going to fucking kill him, Raynard thought in a worried-faced frown.
"Or at least tear him apart..."
"Mmmnnngh..."
Link's consciousness, flitting in and out of itself, was at last beginning to bear fruit to the world of the living once more; he winced as he felt what seemed to be an inanimate object poke his right cheek, making him groan in tired annoyance as he used his free right hand to wave up at the obstruction. Having seemingly chased it away he relaxed his facial expression back to normal and let the far-off sounds of what appeared to be conversations in the open hallway carry him off back to sleep.
It was then, however, that the obstruction deigned to strike him in the cheek again.
His anger rose up this time and he opened up his sleep-gained eyes only to widened them in surprise at the blurring sight looming over him; the low-smirking Malon cast a superior-looking grin down at him, fire-haired eyebrow raised down at him.
"Morning sweet-cakes."
He groaned a second time and used the back of his right palm to rub at his oceanic eyes, almost as if to double-check the sight he saw; sure enough, it was real and by then another surprise managed to make him double-take behind him. When he found fairly quickly that his left side was essentially pinned down, he swung his wide-eyed head 'round behind him only to find the deeply-slumbering form of princess Zelda herself, her slim form and figure quite closely wrapped 'round his own.
His eleven year old mind raced in horror and concern, attempting with great difficulty to work out what had happened to have caused this.
His heart and mind soon settled, however, when he at last recalled the events of the previous night; the former Hero of Time let out a briefly relieved sigh as he let his green-hat head flop back on the pillow beneath him.
I must have still have been wearing my tunic too, he thought.
What a drag.
"What do you want so early in the morning?" Link groaned up in the smirking Malon's direction. She raised an eyebrow up at him and her smirk widened a little, a kind of mischievous look in it.
"Hmmm...?"
His brow furrowed in light suspicion before he swiftly dropped his interest in her odd demeanour, simply too tired to care.
"Lemme sleep some more," he murmured up at her drowsily. "I'm still tired."
"Been playing kissy-face with Zel-Zel last night have we?"
His lethargic frown twitched as she spoke back to him, ever in her know-it-all soprano.
"Maybe I'll consider keeping it a secret from the big bad Impa... if you do something for me."
He opted, once more to remain silent, slowly swinging his oceanic-eyed gaze 'round on the opportunistic young farm girl, a single eye narrowed in further suspicion. This time the fire-haired maiden's smirk grew to Machiavellian proportions; a quality her general aura gave off even as she bent her top form to overlook him, joining her small hands together behind her as she did.
"Be... my... slave."
An odd kind of silence descended down upon the pair of children; as Link stared back into her unchanging gaze, his frown twitched in reaction to the hardened monster-like smirk she gave him.
It was a challenge, essentially.
At last he responded appropriately and snorted his initially worried frown into an amused smirk, raising up his free right hand to lightly grasp her nose. She gasped in brief surprise, jerking her head and body back as he did.
"Yeah you'd like that wouldn't ya," he batted back in his half-asleep grin, eyes half-closed before he rolled them and nodded his head in the open door's direction directly north-east. "Go back to the group," he added this time, frowning back at her. "I'll buy ya somethin' to make up for it if you'll leave me alone; I don't wanna deal with any emb-"
"Hmph!"
She folded her arms and her amused smirk soon swivelled into an insulted scowl.
"Fine!"
In that single snap she swung her slim form 'round to march out the door, slamming it noisily and echoing behind her; the blonde Hylian winced in response, a kind of zig-zag-like frown spicing the inevitable regret lacing his young countenance.
Maybe I was too harsh, he thought.
"Mmm..."
The light sighing sound of Zelda's telltale soprano clued in the now-awake blonde youth; he turned his blue-eyed frown on the young princess as she re-opened her own sky-shaded eyes to take note of his own. She recognised him as expected and cast him with a softened-up smile, gently rubbing her thumb across the back of his left hand as she re-opened up her mouth to greet him.
"Morning."
"Mornin'." He batted back, his frown upturning into a slight but visibly-enough warm smile, his messy-haired head leant on the pillow he rested on.
The similarly smiling Zelda however, soon realising her disturbingly close proximity to the boy, rose up her thin eyebrows and gasped out quietly to herself; more of a self-shocked one than anything. Almost immediately she wrenched back her fingers and body from his own, her red-cheeked frown of embarrassment following her as brutally as the awkward look in her eye did.
"I-I'm sorry... I didn't realise until-"
He laughed in a similarly nervous wince of his own, feeling rather awkward as a result of her abrupt movement as she pulled herself up to a sitting position.
"It's um... it's okay, I...," he murmured back, shaking his head. "I didn't even realise I'd spent the night," he replied simply, rubbing the back of his straw-haired head as he pulled himself up to match her. "I probably should have left earl-"
"No..."
He felt her carefully brush her fingers against his lowered right and it stopped him from completing his sentence; a kind of half-surprised frown adorned the boy's face as he re-raised it to face her. She sat across from him, just a little closer this time, her eyes lowered from his in a kind of wary low smile that seemed to compliment the pinkish tint her cheeks gave off.
"I'm glad you stayed with me..."
This time she rose up her eyes to mix into his as she finished her sentence, her smile widening tentatively. The watching Link felt like tilting his head at her in doubt or even voice his suspicions somehow but it was near fruitless.
This wasn't the same person he remembered and fought with.
And yet why does she feel like it, he thought.
She's only known me for a few days in this era... but that look.
"That look of hers is what sells it."
His silent-voiced thoughts carried him into an eventual shut-eyed smile of his own and he shook his blonde-haired head as if to rid himself of any inward suspicions he held about the well-meaning young princess before finally answering her as he originally intended.
"Me too."
–
2
"Gimme some toast!"
"In a minute; I'm butterin' my own."
"I said now!"
Link's frown remained as deadpan and annoyed as when he normally dealt with the attitude in Malon's voice, listening to her and Barkner inevitably end up bickering over something as frivolous as breakfast. He made a conscious decision to sit next to Zelda on his right but, unfortunately for him, Malon had also made a pre-emptive strike by taking the seat on his immediate left. Perhaps unavoidably she and Barkner ended up reaching over the table across from one another in their childish war of condiments and flavouring.
It was only when he felt his fingers being slowly slipped into another's his frown softened up a little and he surveyed his blonde-haired head 'round to his right, only to find the half-smiling Zelda watching him in an amused look present through her cerulean eye. At first he gave her a surprised blink before inwardly groaning when he realised she found his misfortune entertaining.
Could be worse, he thought to himself.
"Somehow..."
"So what's the plan after breakfast Impa?"
Alwyn's abrupt baritone, so business-like and concise, managed to pull the boy out from under his own quietly-held ruminations. The former Zoran soldier sat next to the grinning Barkner, hands joined as they sat rather calmly on the table before him.
"We going straight for Kaiohdrahl?"
"No," Impa responded in a similarly near-automated frown, her own fingers threaded together in an identical yet separate formation indeed; her elbows resting instead on the table to rise up her slim armoured arms, hanging in the air diagonally. She stared back at the Zoran behind her fingers, a kind of serene look in her calming crimson of her contrasting cornea. "Well... yes...," she amended this time, briefly shutting her eyes as she spoke before swiftly re-opening them. "We still have near a month before the next nationals but I don't see the harm in getting there early."
"Give us a chance to sight-see!" Barkner called out from his position next to the calm Zoran, grinning away before he ended up in an inevitable tug-of-war with the grunting Malon across from him. Link watched on in an unamused half-shut-eyed frown, drawing another contrastingly regaled smile on the smiling-faced Zelda next to him.
"And more besides!" The identically beaming Lavrentius spoke a few seats away from them, hands joined together professionally in his lap as he did. "Kaiohdrahl is famous for its incredible views over its nearby beaches and oceans."
"Beaches and oceans?" Malon pressed the purple-haired mayor curiously, fire-haired eyebrow rising up from her tug-of-war with the grunting Barkner. "What kinda place is it?" She finished before gasping as the laughing Goron ahead of her managed to win out in their struggle, presumably due to her engagement in conversation; the annoyed farm girl hissed out in irritation, eliciting a victorious chuckle from the happy-go-lucky Goron.
"Well Kaiohdrahl has been well-known for its reputation as a seaport city," Lavrentius began in reply, turning his smiling words on the young girl. "Many of Aurelia's seafood and other such products come from the people there; they work very hard."
"I know certainly Hyrule's selection of seafood and aquatic stones are very diverse indeed," the smiling Zelda spoke up at last from her quiet seat next to the tired-eyed Link. "We have much to thank them for in our own efforts."
"Spoken like a true monarch!" Lavrentius chuckled back, nodding in his own well-to-do smile. "I've only been there a few times myself but it's a lovely place; there's a royal academy paid for there by the local government as well, it's really rather impressive."
"Certainly sounds it," Alwyn responded from his own quiet seat, turning his sea-shaded head 'round to face the man. "Wouldn't happen to be the Clearwater Institute would it?"
Lavrentius nodded in response to the former soldier's words and even clicked his fingers, as if remembering something distant he had forgotten. "That's correct; good memory!"
The similarly-aged man shrugged his shoulders and shook his head in his simple-faced frown as he re-opened his mouth to respond. "I only know because I have a friend or two back in Zora's Domain that have children stationed there... or did have children."
"Really? Damn," the listening Link at last opted to speak up, his originally uninterested frown slowly slipping up into one of his usual cheery smirks. "And here I thought you were gonna surprise us with a kid of your own!"
The likewise amused Barkner let out a grinning-faced chuckle as he edged one of his elbows into the frowning Zoran's side. The ocean creature turned to face the Goron briefly before upturning one side of his own mouth into a simple smirk, eyes shut stoically.
"Hmph."
"Stop making fun of him...," Malon shot over in his direction, a kind of mischievous tone in her soprano; Link double-took in her line of sight, his eager grin very quickly fading into a worried frown. "And anyway you're one to talk..."
His straw-shaded eyebrow shot up in curiosity. "How d'you figure?"
"With all your sneaky secrets I bet you'd have kids and wouldn't even tell us about 'em..."
SPLUTTER-COUGH
The tone of Barkner's immediate head-back laughter filled the room alongside the suddenly-shocked sounds of the silent Lycidas sitting next to his father; he growled out in annoyance, presumably for himself, as he briefly slammed his muscled left fist against his chest as if to balance his coughs out.
Link of course remained in an embarrassed zig-zag-like frown, his cheeks reddened to a healthy crimson as he avoided the smirking farm girl's eyesight.
"Sounds like we're missing a great breakfast over here."
The group, surprised by the interruption, all craned their necks 'round to the source of the voice's source only to find the folded-armed Vassia herself smirking down at them all, joined only by her well-attired parents; Palashia's king and queen themselves.
"Oh no...," the disappointed Link groaned back out rudely in response, eyelids lowering as if to match his latest let-down. "What are you doin' here?"
The watching Vassia, half-amused by his comment, rose up one of her violet-shaded eyebrows as she lowered her head ever so slightly, grinning back at him wordlessly.
"I mean... it's her palace... isn't it...?" Zelda spoke up quietly beside him, light-blonde eyebrows risen upward at him as she placed her fingers amusingly under her mouth, as if in some kind of derisive delight.
The indignance on Link's face, although subtle enough to display merely a simple twitch in his frown, was enough on its own to lower the entertained smile on Zelda's face as he turned his head away from hers. Further to that, he wrenched his right fingers away from hers, a kind of childish hurt written deep into his cerulean eyes.
"S-Shut up Zel..."
Although the watching Malon, Barkner, Vassia and Lavrentius laughed on at the seemingly humorous scene, the silent Impa, Alwyn and even Lycidas all kept their thoughtful frowns adorned on their faces. Lycidas and Alwyn, ever the stoic ones, chose to remain uninterested and separate from social endeavours, whereas the watching Impa's hardened eyes narrowed as she looked deep into her charge's eyes.
Sure enough, just as within Link's there was some form of hurt in them and a kind of regret laced through.
It was something the wise Sheikah no doubt have to bring up with them both separately later.
"In any case..."
The impertinent voice of Palashia's next-in-line, so bold and brazen, managed to pull the frowning Impa and amused group out of their mixed thoughts to turn and face her as she stepped forward to take a seat alongside her parents. The king and queen, frowning ever in an official and formal manner, opted to sit on either side of their daughter. The contrastingly smirking-faced Vassia, however, joined her hands in a similar fashion to the curious-eyed Impa directly across from her, elbows resting on the table as she did.
"I certainly hope you've enjoyed all the beautiful foods that we have to offer here in Palashia," she began simply in her superior smirk. "I guarantee it'll outstrip anything in Hyrule or the rest of Aurelia."
The watching Zelda, a saddened frown still adopted on her face, was quickly noticed by the regret-laden Link; he briefly eyed her covertly before swinging his ever-overconfident smirk in Vassia's direction, furrowing his brow as he re-opened his mouth to respond to her.
"Mm... I dunno...," he began, shortly dropping his smirk in favour of a disinterested frown, his eyes half-closed as he lightly poked at one of the many beautiful-looking apples diagonally across from him, as if they were somehow infected before swiftly regaining his smirk and re-eyeing the annoyed Vassia. "I've seen better prepared trash in Kokiri Forest."
"Link!" Impa snapped out angrily, eyes narrowed in the blonde's direction; he winced in return, briefly hovering his body away from the fearsome Sheikah and leaning closer to the newly-smiling princess next to him. It was only when he realised he was however that he double-took in her direction and frowned back at her smile, finding her slipping her fingers into his again.
It's odd, he thought.
I can somehow tell exactly how she's feeling.
"More of a curse than anythin' I guess..." He thought in a wide and humorous deadpan frown, eyes half-closed as he turned them from the appreciatively-smiling Zelda.
"Oh it's absolutely fine miss Impa...," the smirking-faced Vassia spoke up from her seat, violet eyes shut before soon re-opening them to cast her haughty look on the similarly rude Link. "Some people don't know any better! They grow up as savages."
The former Kokiri himself darted his oceanic eyes in the Palashian princess' direction, his brow furrowing in scrutinisation and his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he listened on intently.
"It will be my pleasure to...," she began again, lightly waving her left hand softly in the air as she looked skyward as if giving voice to her wavering thoughts. "Train him."
"And what the hell's that supposed-ta mean?" Link batted back in a rudely-spoken glare. "We ain't stayin' here any longer 'n we need to." He spoke worryingly, his nerves readying themselves for the inevitable blow that would near knock him off his seat.
"Well...," she began in reply, her smile very slowly widening into the cavalier smirk she was well-known for. "I'm coming with you of course."
"Take a good look boys! Strongest engine this side of Aurelia!"
The well-intentioned Lavrentius' deep baritone echoed out around the party of adventurers, leaving them all staring up at the impressive set of machinery that lay before them; a long and huge set of carriages all carried by what looked like some kind of mechanical travelling device. Link stared up at it strangely, tilting his blonde-haired head curiously as he took in each detail of its odd construction in.
It was a large ebony-shaded cylindrical vessel that stretched at least a few metres; the shine that came off of its powerful metal, knocked back by the morning sun, managed to make the watching Link wince.
It was like nothing he'd ever seen before in his life; truly a marvel of human construction.
"Um... Impa-sensei..." He began doubtfully, placing a hand to rest on his right hip as he tilted his head up at the locomotive.
"Yes?"
"Shouldn't we be... walkin' to Kaiohdrahl?" He questioned the Sheikah curiously, eyebrow risen up as he swung his head 'round to face her. "I mean most of us here are in the championship, right? So we should probably be-"
"Oh hush up," Malon grinned along on his immediate left, interrupting him mid-sentence. His frown twitched but he refused to turn and eye her. "A little comfort isn't gonna hamper your training surely."
"Exactly!" The similarly beaming Barkner nodded in cheery agreement, his rocky-bodied arms folded as he stepped forward to beheld the large locomotive above. "Thing of beauty boys! It really is."
"What's wrong sweetheart?"
The ever-mischievous voice of Vassia managed to make his frown twitch a second time and his oceanic eyes very slowly and deliberately hovered 'round to acknowledge the Palashian princess' presence. She stepped out behind the large Barkner's form, no less confident for it, and rested her slim right hand elbow up on her lowered left, fingers resting under her mouth as she re-opened it to continue.
"Worried about your dwindling strength behind mine?" She poked and prodded him verbally, violet-shaded eyebrow rising up as she cast a similarly haughty smirk down at him. Link's frown very quickly took a dark turn into an angry scowl and he took a step forward, right fist clenched at his side as if to ready for a confrontation.
"Right now! Come on!"
"Ohohoho!"
It was only when he felt the contrastingly softened fingers of the frowning-faced Zelda on his right very slowly and skilfully pry his own clenched ones apart that he blinked and turned; she shook her blonde-haired head back at him, gradually gliding her fingers into his own almost as if a silent request.
'Please don't.' It asked delicately.
He rolled his eyes and held back a miffed groan, turning his cerulean-eyed gaze from hers yet opted to listen; the former Kokiri let the newly-smiling Hylian princess' fingers rest in his own, a reddened frown of annoyance and embarrassment written across his young countenance.
'Fine...' It replied sorely.
A silent surrender of his own.
"All right, enough's enough," Impa lightly admonished the bickering pair, bringing up her armoured arms to fold them ever in her usual formal stance. "We're all going to be travelling together for a long time so I expect you both to be able to get along together."
"Ask him to do so lady Impa!"
"She started it..."
The listening Lavrentius let out a long-held boisterous bag of laughter, seemingly having been remained silent the entire exchange. His call, so loud and filled with hilarity, managed to bring in the grinning-faced Barkner into a booming laugh of his own; similarly entertained by the spicy dialogue.
"You've all certainly picked up one hell of a party," the city's mayor managed out amidst his chortles, lightly pawing at one of his eyes as if to rid himself of the odd tear or two. "You're all so... so wonderfully odd!" He smiled on, nodding as he pressed down on the cane he carried with him with both hands. "It's refreshing to see!"
"That right...?" The half-frowning Alwyn batted back curiously, eyebrow raised upward to display it.
"I mean it of course as a compliment," the man chuckled a second time, his warm smile driving the genuine well-meaning attitude he attempted to convey. "With such diversity I'm sure at least one of you will champion the upcoming Kaiohdrahl championship!"
"Here's hopin'." The ever-grinning Link batted back as he turned his blonde-haired head up to face the man briefly, his happy-go-lucky demeanour restored to him.
"In any case... goodbyes are always a difficult thing to do... but not necessarily a bad thing either," the mayor began again, joining his hands on his sitting cane as he did again. "You will all be welcome in Palashia for another visit; Lycidas and I look forward to it."
Link, surprised, double-took in the hardened Lycidas' direction himself as he stepped forward to nod down at the blonde youth stoically, lowering his huge muscled arm as if to shake with.
"I'm only sorry I matched up with your friend and lost...," the former Palashian champion began, frowning firmly as always. "I imagine you would have been an even greater challenge."
The listening Hero of Time let out a smirking-faced huff, running his free left thumb across his nose before he used it to raise up and shake with the man sociably. His grinning-faced words were all reacted by his surrounding companions, ever in their expected rolling-eyed and amused chuckling expressions.
"Hell yeah it would have."
–
3
KNOCK-KNOCK
"Come."
The frowning-faced Link entered at the behest of his hard-spoken mentor, sporting his usual adventuring gear; his trusty old Kokiri tunic and boots. A fact that had managed to irritate and annoy quite a lot of the wealthier passengers and even the staff onboard the moving train he shared with them.
They, of course, however all kept their concerns to themselves.
Impa, remaining sat in a lavish-looking sofa, looked up from one of her many engaging books to frown up at the youth, her right elbow resting on what seemed to be a small table resting in front of her. Link spotted a glass of what appeared to be light alcohol resting across from her elbow.
She must be really relaxing, he thought to himself in a half-disapproved frown.
"What is it?" The Sheikah asked brusquely, her silver-shaded head leant to the side as she did.
"Um...," he began, briefly lowering his head as he rose up his right fingers to scratch the back of his green hat unsurely and hesitantly. "It's... about Vassia."
Impa's eyebrow rose upward, similarly curiously. "What about her?"
He winced before at last re-raising his oceanic-eyed gaze to face hers, his frown carrying him along in his inevitable request. "Do we have to take her with us?" The boy asked, his brow lowering as if in concern. "I mean we only just met her and-"
The low-voiced chuckle she gave in response to his worried-laden words made him blink and re-raise his brow to match, curious. Impa shook her head, re-opening her eyes as she shot up her head to smirk back up at the boy.
"I knew this was coming," she announced quietly in her confident contralto, drawing a half-annoyed frown from the boy as he swung his eyes from hers. "So... come on then."
The listening Link couldn't help but blink back in response, clueless and uncertain. "Huh?"
"I mean what's your reasoning?" The wise Sheikah pressed him curiously, tilting her head again as she spoke, opting to dog-ear the page she was reading before swiftly shutting the book and placing it aside. "And don't tell me it's: 'I don't like her'."
His frown turned zig-zag and annoyed, his eyes half-closed as they hovered away from hers in humorous distaste.
"I get that your first impression of her is hardly... favourable," Impa began again, her amused smile permeating and flavouring the rest of her similarly entertained words. "But all you need to do is give it time. I'm sure you'll both eventually find some form of compromise with one another."
"But I don't wanna compromise!" The indignant, childish young Hylian exclaimed out suddenly, lightly swiping his right arm diagonally as it to display his annoyance with the situation. Impa rose up a silver eyebrow in response. "I liked things the way they were! I already knew Zel, Al, Bark, hell even Malon; I know she can be annoying sometimes but-"
Impa's grin lightly widened as she rose up an open palm softly as if to halt his whining words mid-sentence; it did the trick and the blonde boy blinked back at her before briefly bowing out from his endeavour, opening the Sheikah some leverage to respond with.
"I understand your trepidation but the short and full of it is we just can't refuse her," the Sheikah spoke back, shrugging in a shut-eyed smirk as she did. The watching Link could only blink in response, his brow furrowed in further shock and doubt. "Things with Hyrule and Palashia were already rather constrained and, honestly, the fact she's so hell-bent on marrying you is a good thing for our country's political relationship."
"You didn't just say that." He batted back in an offended turn of his annoyed frown, as if she had something particularly grievous. In an unusual sociable turn, Impa swung her bright-haired head back to give vent to a boisterous amused laugh, leaning her left hand up against the frame of the sofa she sat on.
"I know, you'd much rather be wed to our demure and delicate diamond of Hyrule wouldn't you," the Sheikah bantered back, her right eye narrowing to match the cheeky grin adorned on her face. Link's initially surprised frown turned zig-zag again and a fairly-light shade of red crept under his cheeks as he turned his oceanic-eyed gaze from hers; an obvious display of embarrassment. Impa chuckled on in a mixture of amusement and satisfaction. "So... there it is," she began again, smiling on as she brought up her head to cast her look on the youth above her. "You'd be much better focusing on your efforts to prepare for the next championship than worrying about Vassia."
The listening Link merely rolled his eyes in defeat, muttering something indignant and childish under his breath.
"Besides...," Impa started a third time, reaching forward with her left hand to re-open her closed book, lightly licking her right thumb as if to grease it in order to turn the pages easier. "The girls have been asking for your presence."
He double-took in her direction, half-surprised as he furrowed his brow in concentration. "W-When and who?"
"Few minutes ago, came looking in here thinking we were training," the Sheikah claimed, lowering her fire-shaded eyes as she re-adorned her favourite frown across her hardened complexion. "Mainly Malon."
The youth inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Zelda I like well enough; she never tries to embarrass me, he thought.
And Malon I can at least deal with.
"But that Vassia chick's way too unpredictable..."
He finished out the last of replies in a frowning-faced sigh, eyes away in thought to possible courses of action.
"All right Impa-sensei... thanks anyway."
"There you are!"
He held back one of his many silent groans, his eyes half-shutting as they drifted to his far-left in the source of the high-toned soprano. Although he deigned not to turn his green-hat head 'round in acknowledgement, he was fairly certain it was her; the smirking fire-haired Malon herself. It was only when she drew close and he felt her presence quickly approach him that he slowly swung his head 'round to eye her in a humorous and suspicious-looking frown.
"What do you want?" He frowned back at her in a rude deep tone to his normally cheerful tenor. The contrastingly grinning Malon chuckled back at him as she leaned her face forward and flicked his nose childishly, sky-blue eyes of her own lightly narrowing as she pulled her slim arm back to rest behind her back.
"Is that any way to greet the future master of Lon Lon Ranch?"
Link's face turned in a half-annoyed frown. "You ain't the master of Lon Lon."
"I will be." She merely batted back.
"Not for another- ow!"
He winced when he felt her stomp on his boot childishly, forcing him to about turn to face her.
"Did you need something?" He asked her, briefly swinging his injured leg as if to restore the blood flow to it, frowning at her. "Or were you just gonna hit me all morning?"
"I was thinking... I'd need an escort."
The blonde-haired boy's cerulean eyes narrowed suspiciously back at her. "What the hell for?" He queried her genuinely. "We're well-protected on-"
"I think I'd rather feel safer if I had our big strong Hylian champion-"
"I lost that title to Ray."
"If I had you holding my hand on the way to the breakfast carriage then I'd feel a whole lot better."
Finding himself out of options fairly quickly Link swung his frowning-faced gaze 'round in swift search but, unfortunately for him, merely the beautiful sights of the guest carriage they stood in surrounded him. Outside on the glass windows passed by the similarly appealing spectacle of Aurelia's countryside.
All of this and no answer that would substitute him.
He found his nerves being worked on for the last time and, patience running dry, he rolled his sky-blue eyes and folded his arms back at her.
"Go find someone else to do it with," he responded with in his disapproving frown. "I kinda wanna be alone to-"
"Ohhh okay then that's fine...," Malon sighed out in an exaggeratively-faced frown, shrugging back as she turned her eyes upward. "I guess I can do without..."
He watched her half-curiously, an apprehensive look drawn about his face. It was only when she turned to walk toward the cabin in which he had just come from that his straw-shaded eyebrows rose up in realisation and horror.
"Oh Im-"
"N-No-no-no!" He exclaimed out hurriedly and frenzied, eyes widened in similarly-matched terror as he stepped forward to place himself in between her and the cabin she shouted toward. "I'll do it! I'll do it!"
"Good boy!" The satisfied young farm girl smirked out as she rose up her right hand to softly pat his curtain-haired fringe, drawing a half-annoyed grunt from him in response. "I'll have you trained yet."
He muttered something indignant under his breath as he turned his gaze from hers, frowning in defeat and irritation.
"Oh don't make that face!" She grinned in his direction as she reached over with her right hand and aggressively wrenched his left into her right, a kind of hard and firm texture to her. It felt different and coarse in comparison to the delicate and gentle touch of Zelda's. "I'll buy you your breakfast!"
"We already had breakfast."
"Then I'll buy you second breakfast!"
He rolled his eyes and found his mood slowly began to improve at the thought of being able to shovel yet more food down his throat. The youth, however, unfortunately didn't notice the watching figure behind them both, hiding in the door-frame of a cabin next to Impa's; the disappointed and near-hurt look on the frowning-faced Zelda herself.