Chapter 3: The gift of music
"So this is the young man who wishes to discover composition", a short man, about the same height as Link, said while inspecting him suspiciously. Link hesitantly took a step back to avoid accidentally being kissed by the one who obviously was to be his new teacher.
Link wasn't sure he liked him very much. He had mean eyes and looked tidy enough to beat Zelda's maid.
"Yes, but we aren't quite sure what instrument he should play", Link's mother spoke with her trademark warm smile. In the background Link could hear his father snort.
"Oh, no worry Ma'am, everyone has at least been granted by a small amount of musical talent, I'm sure your son soon will find his true call", the short man said and cast a greedy glance at Link who fought the urge to run out of the room. His father seemed to be thinking the same thing as he constantly shifted his place in the huge room to stand as far away from the instruments as possible, which was nearly unavoidable since it was filled with instruments from top to floor.
"Thank you so much, I hope there won't be any trouble", Link's mother said.
"No trouble at all, I am, after all, the most skilled musician in Hyrule and the best teacher. If your son has any musical talent I'm the right man to uncover it."
"I can't thank you enough, you offered to do this for such a low price", Link's mother said and clasped her hands together. The teacher bowed, his nose almost touching the floor as he did so.
"I could never turn such a charming lady down and besides…" He cast a glance at Link's father who for the moment was busy glaring at a trumpet which obviously posed a deadly threat toward him. "The general's son must have plenty of musical talent waiting to conquest the world."
"Well, then I guess we should go…" Link's mother began when suddenly, in a twinkling, her husband showed up beside her with a wide grin. He grabbed the teacher's hands with his own and shook them eagerly. "This has been a pleasure." He waved goodbye to Link, smile even wider. "Have fun son." Then he grabbed his wife's hand and left in a hurry. Link could hear his mother call out to him before she disappeared. "Have a good time now my little Deku flower!"
When his parents were gone the short man turned to him with an evil chuckle, his appearance strongly reminding Link of some sort of evil spirit.
"I am Sharp the Elder, your teacher. Now let's see what kind of gift you have", he presented himself as he approached Link, who gulped, with the eyes of a hungry beast.
Suddenly the door flung open and a man, also very short and actually reminding of Sharp if yet with a more disorganized look, rushed in. His eyes were set close together and he looked like a kind if yet clumsy person. Sharp appeared bothered and turned away from Link while shaking his head.
"I'm so sorry I'm late Sha…"
The man rushing in didn't get further before he, while making wild gestures with his arms and swinging a baton, slipped. "WHAAAA!" He cried before colliding with a piano.
Sharp glared at him and grabbed a baton of his own from his pocket. He walked up to the other one and hit him on the head with it.
"Flat, you idiot!"
Link approached them curiously. The one now known as Flat jumped to his feet and eagerly shook hands with Link.
"Oh, you're here again, a pleasure, a pleasure!" he said, still shaking hands. Link stared with wide eyes at the smiling man.
"A-again?"
Sharp glared at Flat and if you would have happened to know them from before you would know that it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "You dumb overgrown… What do you take him for?" Sharp, purple in the face, roared. Flat took a closer look at Link.
"WHAAAAA!"
Link barely had time to flinch before he was forced to quickly dodge to the side to avoid getting an eye poked out by Flat's baton as the short man swung his arms about while screaming. The composer did this with such force and speed that it was enough to earn a medal from Link's father, and Link's father wasn't a person that would give anyone a medal, or praise for the matter, if he didn't have to.
"I'm so sorry boy! You are so alike the princess!" Flat laughed uneasily after he finally seemed to have calmed down.
Link's mouth fell open. If his father had heard that Flat would be a Poe by now. "Y-you think I l-look like…"
"Flat, you idiot!" Sharp hit him with the baton again. "This is our new student!"
"Oh", Flat uttered stupidly and looked from Sharp to Link and then back to Sharp. "It's not my fault brother!" he then said while dusting off his clothing. "It would be typical for the princess to pull a prank like this. It would be the third time she dresses up like a boy to fool me. She's so sweet isn't she? This castle would be nothing without the happy little princess." Flat's expression softened and he stared off into the distance with dreamy eyes. Link was eager to hear more about Zelda and patiently waited for him to continue.
Sharp raised an eyebrow and hit Flat with the baton yet another time. "The princess is nothing like that! She would never dress as a boy or do anything as childish as pranks! She is very mature for her age!"
"You're getting old Sharp! You've forgotten how to have fun like me and the princess has", Flat countered and stuck out his tongue.
"Immature baby!" Sharp muttered. "You can never take anything seriously! You don't have class like me and the princess."
Link was already bored stiff by their nagging, even though Zelda was part of the subject. He looked around on the different kinds of instruments instead, considering what would be the best choice for him.
"Don't touch that!" Sharp snarled as he jumped in the way and pointed at him with his baton as Link was about to touch one of the many drums in the room.
"Drums are great instruments, would you care to try?" Flat said as he showed up just as quickly as his older brother.
The night fell and there was nearly nothing left of Sharp's impressive blonde moustache with curled ends after he pulled it a few too many times in frustration over how useless Link had turned out to be, even worse than expected.
Flat however, was still beaming like a miniature sun, patiently showing Link one instrument after another, not that there were many left.
It was far past bedtime when Link finally was on his way home. After Sharp had become too angry to continue yelling at him and threaten him he had thrown a flute at Link while Flat happily waved goodbye with his baton as Link ran out the door.
He sighed and looked down at the flute in his hand that had been thrown after him. What if he wouldn't be able to write a song for Zelda? Would she be angry? Would she refuse to play with him? Maybe she would disappear…
You of course know that she can't simply disappear from his life because of the simple fact that she isn't married to him but he strongly believed so. That was the way he had understood his mother's words and she never told a lie.
That something would happen to Zelda was Link's greatest fear. Being a child, that fear was something he could never put into words, which really is a shame because it might have explained a part of their relationship which is hard to notice. If you only knew how dear Zelda was to Link. Oh, what if she disappeared? But perhaps you could imagine?
He had been sad and angry before, he had been disappointed but he could not describe the feeling he felt now. He felt heavy. Tired. Not like he needed any sleep. Different.
He stared at the ground and grabbed the door handle, home at last.
"Where have you been!"
His father grabbed him by the collar and shook him the second he entered. "You have missed several hours of training! Do you understand how this will affect your future? This day, those hours, can be the reason you lose a medal to the bragging guy next to you in the line which you know you could have beaten easily."
Link's mother came out from the kitchen with some very tasty looking cookies.
"Put him down dear, one day more or less…" she said airily and grabbed Link from his father with her free arm and held out the plate for him. "Have a cookie sweetie. You've been gone for long. I was getting a little worried."
Link's father glared at his wife and snatched the cookie from his son. "Don't give him sweets, he'll get fat! We can't waste hours of training to get rid of these calories!"
Suddenly the whole room seemed to darken and Link felt his mother's grip around him tighten. Link's father took a step back from his wife who was surrounded by a dark aura.
"Give… the… cookie… back… to… our son!" She huffed between breaths and cast a death glare at her husband who hesitantly returned the cookie and slowly backed away.
"Thanks Mum", Link said and took a bite, his failure during the music lesson long forgotten. He sat down at the table and watched this familiar scene unfold between his parents. He knew he would have to train twice as much the following week which would leave him with no free time at all. He took another bite to comfort himself.
When Link's father had gone to the bedroom and locked the door Link's mother sighed and began to garnish the cookies with chocolate and sweet berries. Link smiled, he knew that his father loved when she did that and that she as usual wasn't very angry. As Link was beginning to feel more at ease and his mother's good mood had returned, you could tell because she was humming a melody, the bedroom door flung open.
"Just so you know boy, every cookie means one more hour of practice!" Link's father bellowed. Then he glanced at his wife and noticed the cookies, now decorated with chocolate and sweet berries. "And… well, a cookie or two won't hurt… but not more… and… have fun at your music class tomorrow", he added with a scarlet face and quickly shut the door. Link sneaked over to the door and leant against it to hear what his father was up to. As expected he could hear his father open and climb out of the window. Link grinned at his mother, he knew she'd get a present and she grinned back, obviously knowing too.
"Oh, yes, sweetie", his mother said, recalling that she had forgotten to ask him something. "Did you have fun? Did you find any interesting instrument?"
He sank down and leant against the shut door. He didn't feel like going back. His mother noticed how troubled he was and sat down to embrace him.
"What's the matter? Now, tell me what's wrong", she said softly and gently stroked his hair.
"Mum, it was awful… no… I was awful!" He whimpered.
"It was your first day, don't give up", she said and hugged him. "Sometimes you're just like your father, taking things too seriously, can't take a failure. I know you my little boy. You always do your best and you try so hard" Link hugged his mother back as she kept on comforting him. "I see you always trying to do the right thing, listening to everything I tell you… You're so pure, I love you more every day that pass… my son."
"…Mum" He could feel tears burning and blinked them away.
"Link, it was a wonderful idea to play an instrument, I think you should keep on trying, I know you can succeed. You have a stronger determination than most others."
Suddenly they heard someone approaching outside, with great speed. Both jumped to their feet, Link made sure that no tears were visible and his mother ran to the bucket of water that stood forgotten on a chair. Seconds later Link's father stomped in through the main door.
"I smell tears", he said through pursed lips and looked suspiciously from his wife to his son. Link's mother wrapped her arms around herself, her body shaking. She turned around facing them with tears streaming down her face. Link of course knew that it was only water from the bucket and his mother's acting skills but his father looked really taken aback.
"Uhm… honey?"
"What?" she stroke away some of the fake tears and sniffled. "I try to be a good wife, I see how you treat our son and still does nothing, I try to show you how much I love you every day, I try to make up with you…" Her voice broke and she grabbed a cookie that she threw at her husband. "And you still…" He stood frozen and watched her, his eyes filled with guilt.
"I… you know, I…" he stammered but then swallowed and straightened up. "The day you accepted my ring I promised to make you happy, meeting you gave my life a different point of view. I know that I'm not good at showing you but please…" he trailed off as he struggled for the right words.
Link felt like he shouldn't be there. His mother often fooled her husband like this and he never learnt his lesson and it always ended with an embarrassing scene like the one taking place before Link's eyes now. It was their thing. He was strong, she was gentle and knowing. Link had never seen his father weak, but that was the only way to describe him now. He seemed afraid, worried. Through their gazes they seemed to understand each other even though things remained unsaid. Link's mind drifted to a flowing dress, moving along with its owner, swirling around. He remembered discovering an expression. Eyes lost in each other, not being able to let go.
"I'm so happy darling, now we'll be together always." Her partner spun her around making her dress spread out like a flower. "I can't wait till we're married honey", he in turn said and elegantly pulled her closer.
His father looked like his legs wouldn't carry him and he looked away as he struggled for the right words. He took a step towards his wife, hesitated, then pulled her close and held her. Real tears fell from her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and returned his embrace. He grabbed her shoulders and looked deep into her eyes.
"I trust you…" he fell silent and seemed to try finding words again but she put a finger on his lips.
"I understand."
He removed her tears with gentle kisses and leant in towards her lips when…
"Oops, sorry", Link said and picked up the dropped spoon. His mother's face turned crimson and his father had a typical I-got-caught-look as he stepped away. Suddenly he seemed to remember something and opened his mouth, but then he suddenly seemed to remember Link… Then he lit up again.
"Hey, it was a long time ago we had a family evening, and when your mother made such wonderful cookies why not?"
Link perked up at this. Family evenings meant stories, books, memories, songs and eating his mother's wonderful cooking or baking in front of the fire or cuddled up in mum's and dad's big bed. Link's father turned to him.
"So boy, why don't you get some firewood and bring out the cookies."
Link went to the door slowly and as he walked out he got a glimpse of his father returning from the bedroom with flowers and something wrapped up in paper.
After a wonderful evening Link felt very content lying under the thick covers between his parents. It was a long time ago he had slept in their bed. He could hear his mother's soft breathing. He wondered if Zelda ever had family evenings. Now when he thought about it he had never heard her speak of her mother. Sometimes she mentioned her father but it wasn't often. Actually, she had never told him much about what she wanted to be when she grew up or about her family or interesting things that had happened to her at all. Maybe they weren't real friends. He thought back to the first time he had seen her.
His mother had carried him, they were in a big room, the adult ones were talking. He didn't understand them.
He saw a girl sitting on a big chair. He had waved to her and she had smiled and waved back. Then his mother had turned to leave and the girl came further and further away from him. He reached out, his eyes telling her he didn't want to leave and hers had answered that she would have liked him to stay too. It was a language they had learnt long before they learnt how to speak.
And then the doors had closed and he couldn't see her anymore. He hadn't known anything about her, not even her name. Now, when they had been friends for what felt like forever he still had the picture of her sitting on the throne in his mind. But he hadn't known it was a thrown, for princesses and royalties. He had seen a pretty girl in pretty dress, a friend and he had… felt something.
He was about to close his eyes when he heard his father mumble. "You do know that this was a one time happening, tomorrow you'll sleep outside and it's double practice."
I'm sorry for this chapter, sometimes I wonder what's going on in my head. Well anyway, I know that there hasn't been much love-love or much Zelda (which we have to do something about since she is my favorite character and I hate stories without romance). Link's parents were a little out of character too. In this story I wanted Link's father to be some kind of "unbeatable" man with strong feelings but with no way to express them. His only weak spot is his wife. I wanted Link's mother to be close to a saint but I can't really say I managed with that but anyway, what else to expect from me? I admit it was a really unnecessary chapter but I at least have a few things figured out for the future (I haven't really planned much). So what's coming? I can tell you this much: Link's birthday, sleepover, Link and Impa's first meeting, travel to the Lost Wood, the discovery, the tragedy! And of course it'll be love! Well, young love for now but they'll grow up soon, I won't keep them six years old for long...At least that's the plan.
I actually got quite many hits on this story (waves flag with text: overjoyed) and the reviewers have been most kind! Reviews really encourage me so it would be nice with more!