Just as before, when he was denied, Ganondorf started to bend fate to his way. My suitors started to drop out like flies. Sometimes it was eloping, sometimes it was a tragedy like death, but usually they just failed to respond to my invitations for a visit. Ganondorf was trapping me tighter and tighter in his clutches; this I could tell. I spent most of my time alone in my rooms, chewing my fingernails nervously. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep; I couldn't even see the scouts in the morning. Small clumps of my hair started to fall out with stress. And still, nothing from Link. Not even a whisper. Though they still reported that wolves lingered outside of where his room was. One night, when the snow was a blanket, I headed outside wrapped in my warmest cloak, walking the perimeter of the castle to the base of the tower that held Link's rooms. Sure enough, several wolves sat in the snow, looking up at the window. I approached cautiously, swallowing. They were wild animals, and Link was not here to charm them. The closest one looked at me, then back to the window, as casually as a person in a crowd. I dared to get closer. When one started to howl, the others picked up the noise. It was a beautiful sort of music, sad and longing. I stood in the snow and cried my worries away. I would not be able to find any husband but Ganondorf, I was trapped into giving him my country, I'd lost everything my father had protected in less than six bloody months, and now-
It dawned on me. It was an imperfect plan, but there might be a way to send Ganondorf away for at least a few weeks. In that time I would be able to contact the other leaders for an impromptu meeting. I turned and shuffled back through the snow as quickly as I could, a grin on my face, the first one I'd had in months.
In the morning, I was washed up, fed a good breakfast, and ate well. My hair was combed and put into a relaxed, wavy style, swept back off my face. A bit informal, but I wanted it to be. I put on a heavy jacquard dress, studded with seed pearls at the collar, before I walked down to my throne, more imperial than ever, and sat down at it with my hands neatly folded. "Summon Master Ganondorf, please, and the records of his employment." The books were brought to me, and Ganondorf came in with that grin on his face as if he'd won, until he saw the books in my hands. "How may I assist you, your majesty?" I held up one hand to tell him to wait as I studied the book for a few minutes, insuring that I found what I was looking for. "Master Ganondorf, as a reward for your noble work in Kakariko Village and elsewhere during the floods, I grant you a three-week vacation, to begin immediately." I smiled sweetly at the scowling man. "Your majesty, I thank you, but I wish not to abandon my duties at this crucial time."
"What's crucial about it? It's the middle of winter, good sir; any rain will settle to the earth as harmless snow. I insist."
He bared his teeth in a poor smile. "I would rather not, your majesty."
I sighed and shook my head. "Then I'm afraid I must command you to take a three-week paid rest from your duties, as you have steadily worked the past six months without rest, not even breaking on the midweek resting day." He stared at me, and I returned it with a sweet smile. He knew his protocols- unless there was an emergency, he absolutely had to take a three week leave from court. "…. Very well," he muttered, bowing his head. "I shall leave tomorrow morning." "Oh nonsense, I imagine you'd like to start regaining your rest as soon as possible. We can have everything packed for you to go today." My eyes glittered as I stared at him, triumph on my face.
Within the hour, Ganondorf's belongings were packed, and he glared at me from the back of a carriage as the horses trundled off. As soon as he was out of sight, the gloomy skies cleared, and the sun peeked out, making the snow dazzle like diamonds. I relaxed and slumped into my throne. "Good people," I called. My servants turned to me expectantly. "I believe that you are all due for a break of your own, do you agree?" I heard a few gasps of excitement, and I smiled. "Rest on your chores for the day. Tell the cooks such as well; we will have a simple meal for dinner tonight, if it does not interrupt their plans." A few maids ran to spread the word, and I sat up, smiling at my people. After all, they were being held just as terrified by Ganondorf's presence.
I watched from a window in the plant solarium as two scullery maids played out in the snow, throwing big clumps of it at each other. I wished I was as carefree as them in this moment; I had to plot further methods of keeping Ganondorf away, and also find Link. Funny; I was but fourteen years, and I felt older than most of the people serving me. It explained why my father's hair was so pale, though he was hardly in his thirties.
With a sigh, I left and retreated once more to my rooms, sitting at my desk. I was intending to immediately write to Ruto or Darunia, any of the leaders, but I sat staring out my window, the quill hanging in my hand over a piece of fresh paper. All was silent in the room but for a soft scratching noise; possibly a tapestry blowing in a stray wind against the stone walls. As I gazed towards the Lost Woods, I could see that the column of smoke had dissipated; the fire had gone out, smothered under snow. I stood and moved to the window instead, resting my arms on the sill and looking out at the white wonderland. In my peripheral vision, something dark moved towards the castle. I jerked my head sharply and stared in wide-eyed amazement. It was Link, trudging back to the castle.
I was dressed entirely wrong for the cold. My boots were undone, I wore no woolen tights with them. My cloak was fastened, but not quite securely, and the hood hung free on my back, my lips chapping in the wind. Link's horse looked exhausted, old. She was tired of trudging through the snow, ready to collapse. Link looked strange. It took me a few minutes to realize that he was paler than he should've been. A thin scar was on his cheek, and his once-immaculate hair was disheveled and hung in his eyes. I stopped where I was, looking him over in shock.
"Link?" I asked softly. He turned his head and looked at me as if he didn't even know I was there. "My lady," he replied faintly, his face breaking into a sheepish grin. He helped me up onto the horse, sitting behind him, and I wrapped my arms around his waist as he clumsily led his steed to the stables, where the ranch hands scrambled to get the horse inside and warming up. I walked with Link back to the castle, and even though they had leave not to, the servants rushed for warm bowls of water, clean towels, and mugs of hot chocolate. A guard helped half-carry Link to his rooms up the stairs, his legs numb with cold, and settled him into his bed. I sat down at a chair by the bedside, looking him over with worry on my face. "Link." He seemed rather put out at being trapped in bed, but said nothing on that score, turning instead to face me with his eyes. I'd missed them.
"Yes, your majesty?"
I thought my words over carefully, licking my lips. "I have good news. I sent Ganondorf away for the next three weeks." He smiled at me. "Small miracle, that." How I'd missed that smile! I waited patiently until he had something warm in his belly, me constantly wringing my hands. Finally, he sat up a little further in bed, folding his hands together in his lap. "What did you see?" I asked him immediately, my eyes wide. Link turned his head. "I went first to Kakariko Village and Death Mountain. They're messes, my lady. The… the people there look haunted, taken over by ghosts." I thought of the letter I'd gotten from Kakariko, about the foul stench from the broken earth and the pit of evil. "Did you see the temple there?" Link nodded slowly. "I could understand very little of it; the main room looked easy enough, but there were other rooms being constructed beyond it, going deep underground." There was a tightening in my chest as he told me what he'd seen. "What of.." I struggled to think. "Did you get a good look at the construction crews?" He nodded reluctantly. "They were… well, they were dressed like men, and they looked like men, but they moved wrong; as if they were wearing heavy clothes on their bodies. They couldn't move properly. Ganondorf was overlooking them. I think he saw me, but he said nothing."
"And the other temples?" I hated to tax him; he looked exhausted from his journey. I much rather would've let him sleep.
"More of the same; crews of strange men, doing some invisible task. Though, at Death Mountain, one night I heard a roar."
"A roar?"
"Yes, as if they'd woken something."
My mind flashed to all the fairy tales my nurses had told me as a child; particularly one of a fiery dragon that lived in the heart of Death Mountain. But those were fairy tales. It could've been anything.
"Did you go into the Lost Woods at all?" I asked, looking at him. He reluctantly shook his head. "I saw no need to, my lady." I sighed and leaned back in my chair, my eyes closed. "Link, Ganondorf has intentions of marrying me to become king. I have no doubt he would happily poison me as soon as he gained control of the country." Link frowned. "I will not let him." He was not saying it out of duty- this much I knew. He was saying it because he meant it. "I know. But I don't think it's a matter of 'letting' him. If he wants something, he will just take it." The regent protector shifted with a frown. "But… if you pardon me asking something so atrocious, why would he settle for marrying you? Why not simply kill you?" I studied Link's face with a frown. "Because if he kills me… he wouldn't be able to send you away." I knew it as surely as I knew my own name in an instant. "If I was murdered, you would be given a home on palace grounds and a continual monthly stipend, unless our arrangement was broken beforehand." Link frowned. "Why exactly is that?" I shifted uncomfortably. "Well; a regent protector is assigned until a princess' engagement." Link nodded. "If the princess dies before becoming engaged, the regent is to go into mourning, almost as if he was a widower, and he continues to receive his pay and benefits for up to five years, or until the princess would have turned eighteen if he was with her before then."
"So I'd be on the grounds for an additional four years."
"Yes."
"And we can presume it would delay Ganondorf's plans for takeover with me around." "Yes."
"But why? I'm just a regent; surely I can't have any say against the king."
"I… I don't quite know that." I sighed, worry heavy on my heart. Link reached his left hand towards mine, and I took it with my own left. We sat like that for several minutes, but not of our own choosing. An electric current held us tightly together, and I could hear a high-pitched humming sound. It was the goddesses. They were talking to us.