notaname: Sometimes it's better to be confused than to have the answers come quick. Makes you think/work harder, and improves your logic. And sometimes it's better not to know something than it is to know it. But I can definitely see how it could be stressful (I definitely get that, but sometimes the stress is worth it). Hi! My last couple of weeks were a bit rough, but eh, it could always be worse. How about you? I still haven't even started Champion's Ballad (despite having it), but from what I hear, it's not easy. So... very nicely done! ...You're absolutely welcome. Sometimes I need to hear stuff like that too. I usually find myself really annoying, but people always tell me that I help cheer them up, and it's always nice to hear that, y'know? I understand the homework part, but fighting skills?! I can like, bite someone really hard, but that's not much. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS! But yeah, it doesn't seem safe to practice that sort of thing at 12:30 in the morning. I wish you a good next couple of weeks!

Chapter 39: Gossip

Nowhere, not in a single book, was there anything saying Link was being rightfully punished. Nothing about ordered leisure being wrong; in fact, it was encouraged. Guardees needed to feel comfortable around their guards, lest they… run away and act recklessly… Zelda knew that all too well.

"Look, Link," she said, pointing at the books. "Nothing in here says you're guilty. Of anything. You meet all the standards of a perfect knight."

Link blinked at her blankly. "Then why would the captain think otherwise?" he replied as if it was a real argument. His eyes darkened with an emotion she couldn't recognize.

Probably because he's an abusive idiot of an excuse for a human being, Zelda thought. She had asked Link about the abuse (which he called correct punishment), and surprisingly enough, he provided all the "reasons" that made his punishments just.

"So starving and beating a squire because he wanted to help out in the kitchen isn't wrong?" Zelda asked coldly.

Link remained silent, looking down at his feet. After a few moments, he lifted his head to reply, but was interrupted almost immediately. The voices of two loudly gossiping ladies on the other side of the shelves were quite out of place in the library.

"...Did you hear about Sir Zago?" said the first voice.

Link tensed across from Zelda.

"Wait, do you mean Commander Ross Zago?"

"Yes, that's the one. You oughtn't call him commander anymore. Got demoted, see. He was caught knitting of all things."

Demoted? For knitting? Zelda found herself incredibly disbelieving. Since when did commanders get demoted for knitting?

Apparently the second of the two ladies felt much the same.

"Demoted, Agitha?" she laughed, voice dripping with humor. "For something like knitting? You can't be serious!"

"Aye, so it is," came the first voice, Agitha. "Everyone's been talking about it. It's dishonorable to the knight's code. The captain o' the Royal Guard… Arduum, I believe? He's the one who convinced the general to demote that Sir Zago. Apparently, he's been caught doing knitting on duty. No knight should ever do such a thing, Lita."

"Surely it's fine," came the exasperated voice of Agitha's companion, revealed to be named Lita. "I mean, it's just-"

"It's unacceptable behavior from a knight, Lita," came a new woman's voice, sounding stiff and cold. "Disgraceful. No knight should be doing a woman's work. I hear they used to strip them completely of all rank and exile them to the furthest corners of Hyrule for such actions."

"Lady Bertha, I didn't see you there," said Agitha, sounding surprised. "I think that was… during the war with Labrynna, yes?"

"Indeed," sniffed the lady. "After all, they couldn't allow distractions on a battlefield. Some were even killed on the spot for such actions."

"Ah, well, at least we have a few good 'uns here," said Agitha. "Like Sir Link Equitem."

At the mention of himself, Zelda watched as he shrank downward.

"The princess's knight?" Lita asked. "The Hylian Champion?"

"Aye," Agitha confirmed. "Quiet, stoic, obedient… he's the perfect soldier if you ask me."

"Those are always the best kind," Lady Bertha agreed. "Perfect little weapons, aren't they? We could do with a few more."

Zelda felt something raw and red boiling in her blood. She felt her eyes narrow, her face twisting into a scowl. Out of the corner of her eye, Link had managed to shrink down even further.

The ladies walked away, bringing their obnoxious voices with them. Zelda felt a growl rising in her throat.

"Princess?"

Zelda looked towards Link. He had managed to straighten his back and flatten his expression while she was visualizing brutal ways of murdering three women.

"Yes, Link?" she asked.

He nodded towards the bookshelf. "People don't want human knights, Princess. They want blank-faced soldiers. What do you think they would do if they discovered their Hylian Champion thinks and feels like everyone else?"

Zelda opened her mouth immediately to argue they wouldn't care, and they'd love you just as much because you're brave, and you're a hero, and you succeeded where I failed. But then she clamped her mouth shut, because it was all lies.

"They'd be angry," Link answered for her, speaking her thoughts. "They'd be angry that their trophy doesn't meet their definition of a perfect warrior. They'd be angry that I…" Link swallowed, before quickly resuming an emotionless expression. "...put up a front the whole time," he continued. "But above all… they'd lose faith."

Without my powers, hope was already declining plenty, Zelda thought. But when Link drew the Master Sword, their hope increased. They thought that maybe, even if their princess is a failure, their hero can save them.

But if he wasn't who they thought he was… wasn't as invincible as he pretends to be...

"And that, Princess," Link stated, "is why I am no freer than you are."

No, Zelda thought. That is why you carry much more weight than I do. That is why I am so much freer than you.

It was a miracle that Link hadn't cracked under the pressure yet. But Zelda couldn't help but wonder… why was he sharing all this with her?

Zelda went back to the book. Even if she couldn't free him completely… perhaps she could, at the very least, find a way to get rid of a certain captain.

"I don't follow."

Impa sighed and massaged her temples. Her back was sore from her stupid office chair, there was a huge pile of paperwork to be done, and now this.

"Purah, think of how you would feel if I told you that you programmed one of the guardians incorrectly."

Impa's much shorter older sister scoffed from across the desk, leaning back in her chair. "You don't know a thing about Sheikah technology," she laughed. "You couldn't tell the difference between a circuit and a ball of yarn!"

Impa blinked at her older sister through narrowed, tired eyes. "Fine, let me put it another way. How would you like it if Lady Rala or what was his name… Doctor Yorin? Yes, how would you like it if one of them told you that what you did was wrong?"

"First of all, they're both dead," Purah said, not sounding the slightest bit grieved. "Second of all, it was their job to tell me what I did wrong. That's literally the whole point of a mentor or a foster mother. Besides, Rala never paid me much attention anyway. You were her favorite."

"Though I'm flattered you think so," Impa said, internally rolling her eyes, "she raised you just as much as she raised me. Do I have to simplify this even more to you?"

"You know me, dearest sister!" cried Purah dramatically, propping her feet on Impa's desk so that she could lean even further back in her chair. "Be as specific as possible, lest I find every possible loophole!"

"You're going to tip your chair over," Impa pointed out.

"Eh, falling never killed anyone." Purah grinned mischievously. The idiot leaned even further back. Did she seriously just wink?

"Right," Impa said, outwardly rolling her eyes. "Well, imagine how you would feel if you put your heart and soul into a project-"

"Physically impossible," Purah interrupted. "We still haven't even figured out how to remove a soul from the body and store it! You'd think we'd be better at it with all the ghosts Hyrule has floating around…"

"-not to be taken literally," Impa continued. "You've spent months of hard work and planning-"

"Unlikely. There's this thing called procrastination, you may have heard of it…"

"Perhaps you've discovered how to…" Impa paused as she tried to come up with something stupid that Purah would be interested in. "...make the guardians talk," she finished.

Purah replied with an excited squeal. "I haven't even thought of that! Now that I do though, I think maybe this one circuit I studied a few years back, combined with-"

"Purah," Impa snapped. This time, Purah replied by losing her balance, her chair tipping over and crashing loudly into the rug.

"Ugh," Purah groaned, pulling herself from the wreckage that remained of the chair. "Why didn't you tell me I was leaning again?"

"Shut up," Impa growled lowly. Somehow, her older (only by a year, but older nonetheless) sister always managed to annoy her in ways no one else could. Perhaps it was her lack of an attention span, or her immature attitude towards everything. "You asked me for advice. If you stop interrupting me, then I might just be able to help you."

"Well I don't see the big problem with her," Purah huffed, righting her chair with a muffled clack against the rug. "First she goes and does something ridiculously reckless, then acts like she saved the universe! And my precious guardians, torn to pieces! Honestly, one exposed spy isn't worth the hundreds of rupees it'll cost to fix this!"

"While I acknowledge that what Liari did was not the best way to go about this, she did act as you might've when you were her age." Impa casted her sister a glare. "You have been a bad example. If you hadn't wanted her to cause so much damage, you shouldn't have encouraged such behavior!"

"I have not encouraged-"

"You have," Impa interjected, rubbing her temples. "Don't bother arguing."

Purah's mouth snapped shut.

"Because you have encouraged reckless behavior, she has been lead to believe it is normal," Impa said. "It doesn't help that she and Link were inseparable when they were younger, because he was not nearly as restrained as he is now."

"Soooo… that has to do with this how?"

Impa sighed. "You have to teach her the same way I taught Link. Compliment her for her success, but advise against certain actions - not informing you, or risking the technology for example."

Purah blinked. "Well, yeah," she stated as if it was obvious. "But I have to find her first."

Now Impa was the one blinking stupidly. "What?"

"I, Purah, scientist of ancient technology," Purah stated as if explaining two plus two equaled four, "need to locate Liari Equitem, my apprentice."

"But why?"

Purah rolled her eyes. "Because no one has seen her since yesterday, you idiot."

This chapter might be a bit rough, but I think it was at least better than some of the others. I didn't have much time for this one, because I had a couple of finals and whatnot over the last couple weeks. Curse you, school! Besides that, there are more than a few family matters that have me bummed out (did I seriously just write "bummed out"? Am I on drugs?!). Besides THAT, I've been putting a lot more focus on my original book (which is in the very bare-bones stage of development at the moment, so if you have anything you'd want to see from a fantasy book... OFF-TOPIC, MOVING ON) rather than Before. So yeah, life decided to be stupid, and now I have a headache. CURSE YOU, LIFE!

Anywho, enough of my life rants. I hope you guys had a wonderful last couple of weeks! If you caught a typo or anything (I wouldn't be surprised, because I spent little time grammar checking), feel free to put it in a review! Or just tell me about your favorite kind of ice cream! That reminds me, there's a VERY IMPORTANT SURVEY on my profile, which I am using for totally scientific research. If you want to, you can check it out ;)

I hope y'all have a wonderful next couple weeks! Review if you can, but if you can't, I understand (but I would still love it if you could!) completely.

Sinceerely (Wait, that's not how you spell sincerely. Why isn't my grammar checker checking this?),

Ari~