Hello everyone and a very belated Happy New Year!
Sorry this took so damn long; I had planned to put this out on New Year's but… you know; life. Oh well, whatever… enjoy! This is like, the fourth to the last chapter! So three more and this story is done.
The lost, fair Zelda found herself aimlessly wandering through the busy streets of Hyrule Castletown. Thrown out as she was, the lost, fair Zelda found herself with naught to do and nowhere to go. She could not attend her classes under the wise, old Lord Rauru or the stern Lady Impa. Nor could she go and enjoy herself in town for she had not a single rupee with her.
The lost, fair Zelda saw naught and heard naught of what happened around her, so deeply was she lost in her own thoughts.
'Just what have I been doing all this time…?' she kept asking herself again and again, over and over. Now that she looked back on all she had done, all she could do was shake her head.
When the ill-tempered Ingo and the cheating cowherder had first come before the young king of Hyrule they had both been most unruly and uncooperative. Now that the fair Zelda thought back to it, she truly could not fault the young king for having ran out of patience. Nor could she now fault him for wanting to resolve the matter as quickly as was possible and be done with it. And now that she thought back on it, the young king's idea, using the little foal herself to tell who among the two was the owner and which was the thief… she found it an indigenous, clever idea.
…if only the ill-tempered Ingo had not been such a harsh master to his animals. Perhaps the idea would have also worked better had it been a young puppy and not a young foal.
Looking back at her own actions though, the thoughtful, fair Zelda could, again, only shake her head.
Ill-tempered though the ill-tempered was, he was a most hard-working man. It truly had been very selfish of the thoughtless, fair Zelda to not speak in his defense to the young king.
"But had I done so the king would have thought that I was fit to be his bride and queen…" but the next moment the thoughtful, fair Zelda said to herself, "Still though… whatever has and may happen between me and our king, is my concern and mine alone… it was not right of me to let my troubles influence the way I treated an old acquaintance… no matter how ill-tempered he may be… and much less was it right to involve him… especially seeing that this whole mess I find myself in is of my own making…"
With that, and a deep sigh, the lost, fair Zelda went on her way to nowhere in particular.
"Dear Zelda!" just then, called out a voice, startling the lost, fair Zelda out of her reverie, "Over here, dear Zelda! Over here!"
The confused, fair Zelda tried to find where the voice had come from… and to her joy saw her dear, good friend, the red-haired Malon. The lost, fair Zelda, lost in her own thoughts as she had been, had not realized that she had gone into the marketplace.
"Dear Zelda, what have you done?!" asked the good Malon the fair Zelda the moment she had come over, "Whatever passed between you and our king?!"
This perplexed the fair Zelda, "Whatever do you mean, dear Malon?"
This perplexed the good Malon yet more, "Whatever do I mean?! Have you not heard what the people say?! Why, just listen to those men over there-!"
With that the good Malon indiscreetly motioned to a nearby group of jovial, laughing men, one of whom wore the garments of one of Hyrule's townguards.
"…and then, to save his face, he had to pay the ill-tempered Ingo a thrice-hundred rupees! By Farore, you should have seen his face! It was as though he had drunk a mugful of sour LonLon Milk!"
This was met with uproarious laughter. Not merely from the men with him, but also from the people who were close enough to hear. Which was a good few, since the men had no reason to keep their voices in the low.
"That's was he gets for half-arseing his kingly duties!"
"And leaving the decision to a silly, little foal!"
Again the men laughed. Again the town's guard spoke.
"To think that a simple farmmaid could outsmart our king… but then again he was never known for his smarts! Why he was never fit nor meant to be king! Had the old one not died-"
"And what makes you think that?" cut in a voice as sharp as a cutthroat's knife. At first, one might have thought the voice to be the one of the young king of Hyrule, for the tome and the edge was much like his, but what made it clear that this voice was not the one of the young king was that this voice was without doubt a maiden's.
The men, and especially the townguard, turned towards where the voice had come from, and true enough, found themselves facing a fair maiden.
A maiden who was borne to a farmer's wife, yet dressed like a wealthy merchant's daughter.
Yet that same maiden who stood challenging the men was without any doubt a queen!
"Pray tell good man… what makes you think that our king is not a smart man, not fit to be king?" challenged the wise, furious Zelda the bad-mouthing townsguard, once again, "Is it not thanks to our young king's smarts that you, that I. that each and every one of us here, each and every one in this land is alive, well and unfettered?"
"W-whatever do you mean?!" stammered the flustered townsguard.
"Whatever do I mean?" repeated the wise, furious Zelda ominously, "Who was it, when our armies were defeated, most of our noble warriors slain or enslaved, and the rest in flight or hiding, who gathered what men we had left and united an army to defeat the hordes of the vile Ganondorf and save the denizens of Hyrule?! Was it not our young king-then-prince?! Does this, his heroic act not prove him worthy to lead us?! To be our king?!"
The group of men ducked their heads, not daring to look at anyone, most of all not at the furious, fair Zelda; who was far from letting these selfsame men off!
"And what of the cruel months that came after that gruesome war?" went the furious, fair Zelda on, "Did we not survive these thanks to our young king?! Have you already forgotten everything our then-newly-crowned king had done for us?!"
A silence of shame rang all throughout.
"He had ordered food be given to every unfortunate who had nothing to eat… he had ordered his men to protect the helpless… he ordered houses be rebuilt for the homeless and found others new ones! He gave out warm clothing, coal, and food once more so that every single one of us would live through the winter! Do all these, all that our young king had done for us not prove him worthy of the crown?!" demanded the furious, fair Zelda from the cowering men, "And does this not prove him a smart man as well?! How has he liberated town after town from evil occupation with nothing more than a little band of rebels? How has he led us, a defeated country, to victory?! How has he brought back a dying land to life and prosperity?! I for one find all this hard to fathom."
If the wise, fair Zelda herself could not fathom how the young king of Hyrule had done all these good deeds, then, of course, neither could any one of the men before her. Needless to say thus that the men before her kept their silence.
"Remember this you men… and remember it well! Without our young king you'd most likely be dead… and if you were not dead, you'd most likely be enslaved… and if you were not enslaved, you'd be homeless! Hungry, wanderling the lands, begging for alms… I certainly would be, as would be every single man and woman here in Hyrule… were it not for our young king! So do not let me hear you call our king unfit or foolish again!" ended the furious, fair Zelda her tirade.
A loud silence rang out all over the market place. In that silence a hesitant voice eventually whispered,
"Nayru be merciful… who is that fierce maiden?! She has a tongue like a firebrand!"
"Do you not know?" replied another soft voice, "She is the wise, fair Zelda; she is the one our king chose as his fiancée!"
"She is the king's fiancée? No wonder these men dare not speak against her…"
"Indeed… anyone who speaks illy of her has to answer to the king himself! He is very fond of her… or so I heard."
"Oh, I heard so as well! He won't even let anyone look at her in an ill manner… that is how protective he is of her…"
"Methinks he chose well though…"
The fair Zelda, now that her fury had ran dry, erupted into a full blush and hurriedly went back to her dear, good friend, the red-haired Malon. Who looked at her in a perplexed manner.
"Dear Zelda… tell me… What is happening with you in the castle? What is happening between you and our young king?"
The tired, fair Zelda sighed. Then she began to tell her dear friend, the good Malon, everything.
She told her how indifferent she had held herself towards the young king…
She told her how she had never outright told the young king that she had never meant to become his fiancée…
She told her how she had been hoping and waiting for the young king to realize the truth and send her home…
She told her how the young king had held unto his faith in her…
She told her how she had been losing patience and how her mood had worsened day by day…
And finally the fair Zelda told her dear friend, the good Malon, all about the disaster with the ill-tempered Ingo. Everything about it. Everything that had happened and how it had happened.
When the fair Zelda had ended, the good Malon was holding her head and sighed.
"…my dear, good Zelda…" she began to say, "What a fine mess you have created for yourself… Where has the wise, fair Zelda gone?"
The tired, fair Zelda sighed, "I know, dear Malon… Now that I look back on it… I, myself, cannot agree with what I have done…"
"Methinks you should have simply told our king the truth," remarked the good Malon, "Ages ago!"
Again the tired Zelda sighed.
"Indeed I should have… but I simply could not… I simply did not have the courage."
"How odd of you to say this," remarked again the good Malon, "You must be the most courageous maiden I know of! And I have never known you to be too shy to speak out your mind!"
The fair Zelda shifted uncomfortably.
"True this… but this is our king we are speaking off-"
"You had no qualms going to see him all by yourself while we were looking for that missing sheath that matched that jeweled silver dagger you found."
"I know, dear Malon… I know, but…" the fair Zelda briefly struggled for words, then sighed, "…it is different now…"
The good Malon eyed her dear friend curiously. But then she simply asked:
"So… what do you intend to do now, dear Zelda?"
Once more the tired, fair Zelda sighed, "…I am not entirely sure… I will definitely tell our king the truth… the whole of it… and pray to Nayru for him to be merciful…"
"You better pray hard then… and best bring a large offering…" suggested the good Malon, "The whole town is laughing about him…"
The fair Zelda felt her blood run cold.
"T-the whole town…?" asked the frightened Zelda weakly; she had not meant nor dreamt that her prank would reach that far.
"Indeed… the whole town…" confirmed the good Malon, "And they all laugh… you are the first I saw speak up in our king's defense."
"What?!" cried out the fair Zelda, "No one defends our king?! No one speaks up on his behalf?! What of the king's men?!"
"They laugh themselves…" replied the good Malon curtly, "You did not hear this from me, dear Zelda, but I dare say it was they who made the whole town know and laugh."
Hearing her dear friend say this, the fair Zelda felt red-hot fury begin to burn within her.
Because she was a lowly farmmaiden, there were many in the castle who gossiped about her. However, the moment she had set foot into Hyrule Castle, the young king had announced that she, the fair Zelda, was his honored guest.
And most importantly; his fiancée, and that he would not forgive anyone speaking ill of her… and he had been true to his word; the few who had chosen not to hear his words came to regret it dearly.
It had made her very much uncomfortable, but one way or another the young king of Hyrule had been watching her all the time and had made sure that no ill befell her.
She also knew how dedicated the young king was to his people. Countless hours had she been required be present during the young king's council meetings… as such she knew: The young king cared not so much for Hyrule… but for her people.
Hearing now though that seemingly no one cared for the young king…
"Forgive me, dear Malon… I must be off!"
This perplexed her dear, good friend: "Wherever are you off to, dear Zelda?"
"To start fix this mess I created and make amends!" said the fair Zelda resolutely.
With that, the fair Zelda went straight to the tavern of the Lady Telma's. Just as she had expected, people were laughing and joking about the foolish young king of Hyrule…
But not for long!
The wise, fair Zelda first gave the jesters a tongue-lashing so harsh and merciless they never forgot it, not even in old age! And soon she had everyone feel shameful about themselves by recounting her story:
How she had grown up and lived in peace…
How the vile Ganondorf's raiders had rained fire upon her home and village…
How she and her father had ran for their lives… leaving behind dear, good friends who were cut down or captured and enslaved…
How they had lived as refugees… homeless… rupeeless… hopeless…
How the young then-prince's men had given out food to them and other unfortunates…
How the young newly-crowned king had found them a new home…
And how well and happy they have been ever since.
Everybody hung his head in shame afterwards… for for many, their lives had been much the same. Satisfied with her work, the fair Zelda set out for the next tavern…
…or rather she would have had not one of the king's men stopped her:
"Fair Zelda, the king summons you."
Okay… next chapter comes the last trial for our fair Zelda. The last time she has to use her wits to "defeat" the young king of Hyrule. Anybody care to guess what that trial will be? Or what it will be about?
PS: Sorry this took so damn long but the Muses can be very uncooperative... especially the Muse for prose (who doesn't exist!)
Well guys, you know the drill (man, it feels good to post this again!):
Please review and/or comment. All forms of reviews, comments and/or criticisms are very welcomed and appreciated.
If you do not have the time to leave behind such; a numerical ratings from 0-10 will suffice just as well. You are also free to PM me.
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