Every Shard of My Heart Belongs to You: Royal Confessions
Was he dead? No. His breaths were shallow and uneven, but they were a sign of life. Link's eyes were like half-open windows with nothing but bare walls within. Zelda laid over him, her face in his hair as if she meant to cry over his corpse.
"Zelda..."
She lifted her head from his and stared into his eyes.
"I'm afraid you might need new curtains..." he muttered and smiled weakly.
"Ugh! You fobbing clay-brained little snipe!" Zelda playfully slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand. Link laughed and touched his forehead, which ached immensely. It had bled, but not significantly. His expression grew serious.
"Zelda, do you have any relatives named..." Link pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sylvia? Was that it?"
"No, I don't. Link, what are you talking about?"
"The man and woman who assaulted me. The woman—I think she was a member of the royal family."
"That's impossible, Link. My father and I are the only ones left."
"Are you sure? I could have sworn—"
"I'm positive, Link. Ugh, you're not even rational."
"I am perfectly rational," he groaned, straining his back in an attempt to lift himself from the protruding brush. He winced and rubbed his back. "Good goddesses, what did I land on?"
"Link, please, be still. You've gone and maimed your head. I've already sent Iain for the doctor."
His hand felt the half-dried blood above his brow. He looked up at his window about four meters from the courtyard green, and then at the ground directly beneath it and the indentation in Zelda's beloved rose bushes.
"Link, please! You might have broken something."
He pushed himself to his feet and grasped his forehead as if he had been enveloped by a sounding cathedral bell. He tried to shake the feeling of someone beating his head like a tympani, but with little success.
"I'll be fine," he muttered as he skulked away, clutching his hair and covering his right eye with his hand.
Down the worn scarlet carpet, behind the tarnished gold handles of the tall oak doors that forever bask in their enormity, the aged king resided in a stifling darkness. A suffocating cloud of despondency shrouded the throne; the melancholy ambiance radiated from his somber frown. He sat on his plush velvet chair at his desk, studying frustratedly over his royal affairs. He sighed heavily as the sound the gold knockers echoed throughout the chamber.
"I said I want no disturbances!" he thundered.
The door creaked open slowly, letting in healthy amount of light along with Impa. "I beg your pardon, my lord, but a matter of great importance has called for your attention." The king grumbled and motioned for his victim—guest to enter.
Link clumsily slid past Impa on her way out as he entered the king's throne room.
"How can I help you, young lad?" the king asked, rising to his feet.
"I really hate to intrude, your highness—"
"Nonsense! A good king is one who serves his people. Besides..." he turned to face him, "I know who you are."
Link continued hesitantly, "Yes, well—"
"You think that I could not recognize the 'savior of Hyrule?'" Even if he wasn't fully aware of all Link had done for Hyrule, Zelda had informed him a great deal about it. "And then you running off before I could properly reward you for your courageous acts. Well, now that you're back, when would be most opportune for you to marry my daughter?"
"I beg your pardon, my lord?" Link asked nervously.
"Ho! Don't be ridiculous; there is no cause for alarm. I jest, young sir. Very well. What is it that demands my concern?"
"Have you time for a lengthy tale, my lord?"
"As time as the sun has left to shine, lad, have I."
"When I first left your realm, my lord, I toured the land. I traveled far until I reached a great ocean with many a port city blossoming on its sands. I worked as an apprentice in a smithy for nearly a year on that coast until the flying white sails of a sea galleon, the Ile de Ciel, sparked my fancy.
The sea held such passion that just couldn't be found upon the land, and I... I was consumed by it. I traded in my ranger garb for a sailor's uniform and took leave in that port town. I sailed for three and half years on that lady, the Ile de Ciel. But one night, on the coast of a foreign isle, she lost her bow to the churning water and her mast snapped like a twig in a giant's hand. I never saw the Ciel again, nor it's crew.
But I was washed up on nearby foreign shore where I encountered a small town. I worked for a mason there, trying to earn enough wage to afford sea fair, that I might return home to Hyrule.
The night my ship was due to depart I was walking from the landing; I felt the curiousness of being pursued, but looked behind me and saw no one. I often played the ocarina your daughter gave to me—and so that evening I played the royal family's song as I sat on the empty deck behind the officers' quarters. The ship had not yet departed so there were no hands about, and being a trading vessel, there were few passengers beside myself. I decided to rest my eyes awhile, I was interrupted by tall, cloaked figure. I recognized him as the neighbor of my master, the mason. I had never spoken to him before, though I often saw him at night when I would play atop the roof of the mason's home. He stood before me and asked for what price I would sell the ocarina. I told him I could not sell it for it had been a gift, but he was rudely persistent. I refused him numerous times, until at length he struck me in anger. He tried to force it from me, but luckily I didn't even have it with me. It had been in one of the crates of the cargo hold."
"Excuse me, Link, but I'm not sure how this story pertains to me."
"You see, King Harkinian, this man did not act alone. There was a woman with him who bore a curious brand on her wrist. She had violet eyes and golden hair, much like the woman in the portrait I saw in this hall. I do not believe that the mirror likeness of these strangers is mere coincidence. And I believe, my lord, that if anyone should know why, it would be you."