Hey! If you've been following along with the story, thank you so much! And I love you! As a huge thank you, I'm releasing the first chapter of part 2. It's not very exciting, unfortunately, since most of it is exposition. But I hope this chapter will give you a better idea of the short history of Hyrule since Ganon's downfall and give a basic idea of where this all this political drama is going :D Once again, thank you! Feel free to drop a review!
The old scribe chuckled at her analogy, "Oho! That's an excellent way to put it!" His hairless head and saggy wrinkles reflected not only his many trials through his life, but also his greatest sins.
Never in Miro Miro's entire existence did she ever think she would befriend a criminal, a murderer, a rapist. Had Brother Tivom not been so forthcoming about his crimes, she would have never guessed he had committed such horrible acts in the past. Afterall, Miro Miro found this old man carrying books in the castle library and discovered that all he did was copy written books onto empty pages in a book. And when she asked him why, he unleashed a dark, personal tale that haunted her down to her core to explain why he chose to live out the rest of his days as a penal squire for the past twenty two years. Finding service in the Goddesses, he believed, was the greatest meaning he had found in his life.
"But, why make a House of Lords for a group of eight voters and a separate House of Commons for a group of, er, how many voters did you say it was that lived inside the House of Commons?"
"A total of four hundred and thirty five," summoned Brother Tivom matter-of-factly from the depths of his vast knowledge of Hyrule's government and history. His time spent transferring old records to new books had turned him into the best companion to teach Miro Miro the inner workings of Hyrule Castle politics. "To answer your question, I would have to begin a long and sad tale that started a little over fifty years ago." He turned toward his personal bookshelf and reached for a musty book firmly placed in the middle. "I must confess, the details of the war become fuzzier as I age. But I know the causes and outcomes as well as any."
Spending the last tendo inside the library beside Brother Tivom really helped the castle feel like home.
"A war?" asked Miro Miro, not liking where this tale was headed, nor the dark, spooky corner of the library that made use of Brother Tivom's ability to read and write.
"Indeed," lamented the humble old man, "one which claimed the lives of over a hundred thousand young men."
Sadness coursed through her body. Such an incomprehensible amount of death could only warrant one question, "Why?"
The old man opened the aging tome and flipped through a few pages, kicking up a cloud of dust with each turn, "What started out as an argument during a Parliamentary session, which is now called the 'session heard across the realm', escalated into a war that killed off almost half a quarter of the total population. All over a tax."
"A tax?" interrupted Miro Miro, who needed a minute to remember what that was, "So people fought, and killed each other, because of, money?"
"Long story short, yes. Over money." Miro Miro nodded in solemn, silent solidarity with those who had lost their lives over such a petty concept. She could not decide whether to feel anger over the obstinate greed of Hyliankind, or sadness over the way people seemed to worship greed. "The shouting match was but the spark that ignited the bloodshed. The reasons for why thousands of men took up arms against the Queen are quite complex, and would take quite some time to explain every detail in full context."
"Well, I'm just here to listen to you talk! I like listening to you explain how the government works, even if a lot of it is kinda stinky, if you don't mind me saying."
Brother Tivom laughed heartily, "And here I thought I was just rambling like a madman. Thankee!"
"Okay. So, what happened?"
"The story began sixty eight years ago with the first family to settle the realm outside the castle city. Initially, Queen Zelda the First only allowed three families to venture out and settle the area. But she caved under pressure to allow three more families to move out of the royal capital, and two more families settled outside the city following the queen's death. A ninth family had attempted to settle the Eldin mountains, but their entire colony was destroyed by the Goron Confederation, a fearsome collective of Goron tribes living on the northern end of Death Mountain."
Miro MIro tried her best to imagine a sane Hylian who would want to live near an active volcano, but she came nowhere close to putting together a society in her mind. Until she came into the city, she had never seeing a house made out of stones with her own eyes.
"As the population of the city grew significantly under Queen Zelda the First's rule, more and more people started leaving for the settlements. And after cultivating the land and receiving immigrants for ten years, the eight great houses grew considerably in size and power."
"What do you mean?"
"Each house eventually became a major producer of raw materials flowing into the city. Craftsmen in the city became dependent on the great families for cheap materials. And on top of that, the houses had a population of people that followed their will, grew food for them, and even fought for them."
"But, why would people want to fight for someone who declares war on others?"
"That is because these houses can trace their lineage back to the first incarnation of the Goddess Hylia, which bestows the head of the families the divine right to rule." Miro Miro supposed there was no arguing against the Golden Goddesses, but something about this rule still did not feel quite moral to her. "The actually war started with House Ingo, who controlled most of the livestock farms in the great field, when the head of the family decided to raise the price of each head of cattle over three times the amount."
"But… why? Who allowed them to do so?" Even though she had never seen many rupees before, Miro Miro was beginning to understand how important a "price" was, and how it affected the lives of everyone who lived beneath the lords of Hyrule. The part she could not understand was why so many had so little, while so few had so many. At least back in the village, the Great Deku Tree made rules about hoarding so much stuff.
"No one allowed him," the old man shook his head and heaved a solemn sigh, "Lord Nemson Ingo the fourth just did so simply because he could, without understanding the repercussions. He was far too young to rule." No one in the village ever had a name longer than the Great Deku Tree, but Miro Miro was also starting to comprehend how the long Hylian names worked. She knew the first part of the name was the title, and as Brother Tivom had explained to her two days past, which determined what rank one had within the realm. And the last part before the silly number was the family name, or the curiously named, house name.
"The boy's father died tragically at a young age, leaving the boy prince in control of an entire duchy at the age of ten. The new price of cattle then forced every other lord of the realm to raise the price of all their produced materials. If the price was too high, then House Nohansen would mint more rupees. And because the restless peasants within the city were unable to afford anything," Miro Miro was beginning to see where this story was going, "they turned to the Crown to ease their suffering."
"Who was ruling then?"
"Queen Zelda the second." Queen Zelda didn't have a last name, according to Brother Tivom, because the first Zelda, the one who defeated Ganondorf with the Hero, believed that the heir to the throne did not belong to any house, but to the people. "In order for her to keep the city under control and guard the trade routes from rising banditry, her response was to aggressively recruit more soldiers from the populace and then raise a tax on the traded goods flowing into the capital city." Miro Miro knew that a tax was meant to keep the army supplied and to pay people build and create stuff, but the question about the tax was always how much.
"Her proposal was to set up a tolls along major routes and force the passing merchants to pay a small portion of the estimated value of all goods. When she proposed her trade tax on the lords with only the backing of House Baloir, however, that created sparked a verbal confrontation that ended in Mr. Baloir's death and the entire parliament rebelling in response."
"And that… turned into war?"
"The worst civil war thus far recorded. At least in total deaths."
For a long, downhearted minute, Miro Miro had to comprehend everything she had just heard. A hundred thousand young lives were lost to this war started over taxes. Boys who were probably once as innocent as any other Kokiri child, transformed into killers because someone did not have enough rupees.
"That's so… sad. So, how did it end?"
"The allied armies of the great houses had besieged the city, but a desperate siege and a heroic defense by the Her Majesty's bravest soldiers and knights forced the allied armies to a stalemate. If you ever want to hear the story of Sir Wallav's duel against Lord Denkarick Nohansen, that is also a fascinating story to tell." Miro Miro felt averse to the romanticization of killing. "Anyway, after that battle, both sides were low on men and supplies, and without any real way to end the conflict one way or another, the surviving lords of the alliance approached the Queen to sign a white peace. The agreement between Queen Zelda the second and leaders of the eight great houses produced the governing body ruling over Hyrule currently. It took good Hylians killing good Hylians to finally create a government everyone was happy with."
The story was sounding as stupid as Brother Tivom was making it sound, but perhaps that was what he was implying: that it was the stupidity of Hyliankind that justified such horrific acts of murder by the thousands. He told the history as if he did not want the events to be true, but had to sadly face the facts, like hearing a child going missing here and there back when she was in the village and facing the reality that that child could be her own. However, Miro Miro was currently comprehending thousands of lives ending. It created a tear out of her eye. How could neighbors hold such insane animosity for one another that they were willing to kill people by the thousands? All for what?
"So, how does it all work?" Miro Miro had to know if all that death was worth it, hoping the answer was not as stupid as the story was. First, she learned from Rowark that people killed for love. Then, she learned from Link that people killed because of money, which she had never heard of before in her life up until she came to the city. Then, she learned from Brother Tivom that people killed because of their twisted perspectives on honor, or duty, or even the Goddesses.
"There's now two houses of Parliament, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The House of Lords consists of the leaders of the eight great houses that started the rebellion, and the House of Commons consists of the leaders of every family that owns property within the city proper." So that's why there are eight votes in the House of Lords and four hundred whatever in the House of Commons, thought Miro Miro as the pieces of the puzzle began to click in her head, and that's why there were all these different powers installed into each house to keep the Queen in check. It was all starting to make some sense to her after listening to the sad tale of the war. There were still many more questions about each of the individual pieces, but she was delighted to finally see the basic structure of Hyrule's government. Sadly, however, it still did not explain why so many people killed each other.
"The other major agreement was how inheritance was to be handled," Brother Tivom continued. "Prior to the war, the heir to the throne was first selected by the Queen, and then confirmed by the House of Commons. Now, each house from the House of Lords elects one of their daughters to the House of Commons for the Peerage to choose one out of a possible eight candidates."
It sounded like such a slight difference in change, but for some reason, Brother Tivom's answer wasn't sung in high praise of the treaty as a whole.
"How do you feel about it?" she asked.
He looked at her blankly for an awkward heartbeat, "The system is rotting once more."
His answer shocked her, "How do you mean?"
"Half of the great lords of Hyrule have formed a coalition together, calling themselves the Zellink Alliance, banding together to oppose the Queen's will."
"But she's the leader of all Hyrule! How could they even oppose her?"
"When the first Zelda organized the government after Ganon's downfall, she created the House of Commons to separate lawmaking from law enforcement. She also understood that just because she was blessed by the virtues of Nayru, that did not mean that the next heir would, so that's why she created a Parliament. Queen Zelda did not want absolute power in the Crown's hands alone, as Ganondorf her predecessor had done. Parliament was supposed to represent the will of the people, and the will of the people was supposed to direct the laws." So far, all of that made sense for a fair government. It was only fair that the subjects have a voice in governance.
"However, today there is a deadlock in the government between the Zellink Alliance and the Queen," Brother Tivom scowled with a sour face. "With the coalition owning half the votes in government, they won't pass anything the Queen introduces, and the Queen won't sign into law anything that the House of Lords passes."
"Why?" none of this made sense to poor Miro Miro. She thought Hylian administration, fabled to rule over thousands of people during long periods of peace, would have been far more sensical than the top down structure in the Kokiri Forest.
"The Zellink Alliance desires the Queen to use resources and men to drive the Goron, the Gerudo, the Zola, and the Deku from their homelands, while the Queen wishes to use those resources and men to assist the refugees that are fleeing the fighting."
"Why fight, though? Why not help the people who are running from the fighting?"
"If I said, you should already know the answer by now, would that be enough to satisfy your question?" Even though Brother Tivom answered with a cryptic question, the answer was only too obvious:
Money again. She was beginning to suspect that it was the root of all evil. There was absolutely no usage of any kind of currency necessary to make the Kokiri Village run smoothly. However, Miro Miro remembered that their two societies were built upon two completely polar opposite foundations: one treated death as an anomaly, while the other was surrounded by death everyday. In fact, since Miro Miro had arrived into the city, she had already witnessed over two dozen deaths in the short span of three measly days within the city. With over a thousand ways to die in the city, how could anyone live like this?
Still, one question bugged her mind, "May I ask you something personal?"
Brother Tivom politely nodded.
"Did," Miro Miro hesitated just as she thought about how kind the scribe had treated her since he had met her, "did you ever hurt anyone for money?" Those words sounded like pure blasphemy coming out of her mouth. How dare she accuse her dear friend of a heinous crime for a petty reason!
"Is a Deku made out of wood?" he retorted with a light hearted chuckle. She felt that the inappropriate joke was cruel to those he had victimized, but even someone as pure as Rowark has taken a life before. Not because you wanted to, Topah's voice whispered to her, bringing a chill that sunk into the core of her soul. She never knew that the innocent boy that was once her companion could compile a list of justifications for murder. "I've fought over bets, slaughtered over debts, and robbed people blind, just as countless others have. However, Nayru's justice has shown me that what is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular," Brother Tivom spoke with age-derived wisdom.
"Whoa…" Miro Miro had to let that sink in, for her love for the Great Deku Tree grew tenfold. Surrounded by hostile creatures who feasted upon each other daily, Father chose to create a haven full of bounty for his children, safe from the threats of the outside world. Not once did he ever cave in to the ferocious violence that ravaged around him, and instead, he faithfully carried out the responsibility received from the Farore, to honor all life. Truly, Father was the only one in all of Hyrule that worked miracles.
Suddenly, several penal squires dashed past Brother Tivom's desk in a hurry. This was the only time Miro Miro had ever seen anyone in the castle library move faster than a snail, and it was the most activity she had ever seen take place there. "Whoa there, brother, what's the rush?" asked Tivom to a passing penal squire with a younger, but slightly scarred, face.
"All the candidates for the upcoming election are just arriving at Castle Hyrule! I just wanna see if the 'Black Sheathe' is every bit as ugly as they say she is!" he responded hurriedly before taking off after the other shaved, penal squires.
"Huh, well then," Brother Tivom turned to Miro Miro, "Shall we see what the excitement is all about?"