Hello everybody! Yes, I know, I haven't updated for the last SIX MONTHS, and I have no reason except I didn't have any good ideas on carrying on with the story. The fact that it's nearly finished really depresses me (two to three chapters left now) and I wanted to lengthen it as far as possible. And I have a feeling that you're not going to like this chapter much anyway.
Please forgive me.
Now, before I carry on with the chapter, I would like to thank:
Umbrae Calamitas
Fingers905
Mwargh
littlegreenparrot
Lady Tala doe
Lady Alamantia
Suethe
Hero of Times
The Ninja Squirrel
The SilverDark KNight
kira
Mairu - the Lost Sheikah
Kiara Victory Tatsu
Steel heart
Sachiko V
Meg
Healing Sword
And everybody else for sticking with me for ever and ever and ever.
Special apologies to WatcherandReader for not sending this document to her/him before I posted it up. You're the best beta, you truly are, but I had to send this online before the fan-girl in my head decided to murder me for my intolerance.
So here you have it: Chapter 19
Misunderstandings
Sheik looked down at the letter that lay innocently on his desk with trepidation.
It was not that there were spells of destruction or secrecy on it. It was not addressed by a mage with a power that matched his own (now that was something to worry about), nor delivered to him in an unorthodox fashion. He had seen the Traces of fear of a maid, knowing who exactly dwelt in these quarters. Nor was it a letter of blackmail, or anything openly sinister. All it said was:
You are summoned to the Throne Room after training.
But still, it worried him. Everything that had something to do with the Royal Family worried him. Well, maybe except…
"Lynda," he sighed, "I still don't know what you're doing here."
"Like I said," Lynda replied slowly, her fairy friend Navi swirling over some of Sheik's candles near the letter, "I'm going to be meeting suitors soon. I need your help."
"You expect me to help you when I'm not even supposed to talk?"
"You'll be in the room, then?"
He gave an irritable huff. "Yes, of course. You've appointed me bodyguard no matter how many people dislike your judgement, so I'll be in the room."
"What she's trying so hard to say without deliberately saying," Navi sighed dramatically, intricate wings hardly beating the air as she floated, "Is that she's worried."
"I'm not-"
"You're worried?"
Sheik's gaze was incredulous, and Lynda blushed heatedly under his red gaze. "What are you worried about?"
"It's just…" she rubbed her arm, looking at the floor rather than at Sheik, most of the time. The youth used that to advantage and freely thought her adorable for it. "You remember Garth, don't you? He was noble, but he was nice too. How do I know with one glance that they're bad or good? How do I know whether that, even though I don't want to marry them, I don't want to be their friend? It's just that, you've been here a whole lot longer than me, so I was wondering whether… you know… you could give me advise about them…?"
Sheik sighed, glad that, ultimately, Lynda had come to him instead of Zelda for help. He hoped the sigh sounded exasperated to her. Sheik checked her expression, and by it, he thought his acting was exceptionally good. "So, who's coming?"
"I don't know."
Sheik spluttered. "You don't—you don't know?"
"They're not telling me."
"Oh gods…" Sheik wiped his face, and this was not acting. "Alright, alright, look. You know the room behind the throne room, the parlour-drawing room place. The meetings will go there, and I'm guessing suitors will come to you one by one. I'm not telling you anything on what gestures I'm going to use, because Zelda will be looking for them so, guess for yourself. You'll be able to do that right?"
"Yeah. I guess." Lynda seemed hesitant, but nodded resolutely, as if to reassure herself more. "I'm alright. I can do this."
"Right then," Sheik smiled at her even though she couldn't see, "Would you like to start training about now?"
Her reply was relieved to be back on familiar territory. "Yes. Yes please."
""""""""""""""""""""""
"You know," Navi floated around Lynda's head as she did some stretches, "You could've been honest with him."
"What are you talking about?" Lynda muttered, stubbornly avoiding eye-contact with the fairy, despite the fact that Navi had no visible eyes.
The fairy snickered. "You know what I'm talking about. Oh sure, the 'Garth-reason's half true, but what you really wanted to say was-"
"There was nothing else to say-!"
"I have to look at suitors but I want you to be there just to see how I don't like it and how much I'd rather spend my time with you," Navi whined out in what was oddly familiar with Lynda's voice. She snickered wickedly at Lynda's embarrassingly red-hot face.
"That is not true," the princess insisted far too insistently, "Just because I don't want to make a bad impression-"
"Since when have you been bothered about impressions in this castle anyway?"
Lynda would have gone redder if it were physically possible. "Well, since I'm going to be staying…"
"Since when did you decide you were staying?" Navi tumbled through the air, giggling like a child as Lynda mentally buried herself in a deep hole to steam herself into a mass of pulp.
And Sheik had to show up. Lynda, in a panic and refusing to let him see that her face was red (she'd die of humiliation if he found out the reason) she slashed her sword out of its sheath and leapt into attack.
Of course he was ready for it.
"Damn," she muttered, as the blade held, "What are those anyway?"
"Kunai." She could sense the smirk in his tone and she grinned right back. "I made them myself."
"…Them?"
As she spoke, the cool, sharp edged blade caressed her jaw like a lover. Lynda gasped, freezing rigid. Sheik chuckled, his whisper sly and husky. "Embarrassed you lost so fast?"
Well, at least she had a legitimate reason to be red, now. "You cheated."
Sheik snorted, retracting his blades from both weapon and neck. "Many have confused cheating with the notion called 'element of surprise'. Doesn't your sudden attack on me count as cheating?"
"…Damn it."
"Why are you so hot in the face, anyway?" Sheik moved to touch her where his weapon had connected with her skin, but gently moved away, "I didn't graze you, did I?"
"N-no,"
"Then how about we carry on? You don't want to be late for your suitors,"
Unexpected hurt and anger rushed her. He meant it as a joke, she knew that. But it still flared, still burnt, at the thought, the idea, of Sheik ever thinking that she ever wanted to be with someone other than… than…
"Ready or not!" She cried out, swinging her sword.
He was ready. He had always been ready. He swiped out with his two weapons, locked her broad blade and manipulated it into the ground. Like a viper he leapt, above her marooned weapon, gently nudging the hollow of her throat to tip her over.
But she never hit the ground. No, before gravity could slam her down, he had her in his arms, laughing breath tickling her forehead, so close that she could feel his warmth.
"You make it so easy for me sometimes," Sheik chuckled gleefully, as he put her down onto the grass, "I'll fight you as soon as you calm down, Lynda, or else we'll be going nowhere."
As Sheik turned around and began to walk off, Navi snuck by to Lynda's left ear and snickered, "You're in love."
"I am not."
"Denial is always the first step, sister mine."
"""""""""""""""""""""""
When Sheik entered the Throne room as summoned, he immediately got a bad feeling. There was a guest standing near the throne itself, while Zelda and the King sat in their own seats respectively. For a second he couldn't help but think that surely they must have something better to do than sit around doing nothing, but he quickly amended that, well, Zelda was a better ruler than any he had read over through the history books, despite the fact that she was not his personal favourite acquaintance, nor in fact have the right to rule.
Ah, well. Life.
He approached the King, noticing vaguely that there was a figure there that shouldn't be there, and did not bow. He crossed his arms instead, a stance worthy of an obstinate Impa. Of course the monarch frowned.
"Welcome, boy," King nodded gruffly, "I trust you're feeling well,"
"Very," Sheik shrugged, "What do you require of me, King?"
He seemed pleased that the youth seemed ready to listen and obey. Zelda gave a worried frown as she realised that just because her father required his service it did not mean the Sheikah would follow through with it.
"First, inform us of your position in the castle."
The King's expression was smug. Sheik gave an unimpressed sniff and replied, "I have had many over the years of service, my lord, which specifically do you wish to be notified of?"
"Your current position, please," Zelda nodded her head politely, and Sheik couldn't help the proud tone his voice took as he said,
"Military attendant and Guardian of the Princess Lynda Harkinian, your Majesty."
Jerold was flabbergasted. "I don't recall-"
"She trusted my abilities, and saw worth in my heritage." He shrugged and gave a sadistic grin that perhaps only Zelda and his Aunt—hidden deep in the throne's shadow—would notice beyond his cowl. "And perhaps she saw the symmetry between herself and yourself, Princess."
Zelda's smile was ironic, almost resigned. The King blustered, face red.
"What of your bonds, Sheik?"
"The Surface marks have been released," he replied, coolly, inwardly scoffing at the King's attempt at humbling him.
"Then there is work to do," The monarch clicked his fingers, and as if from nowhere the same mages that chained him stalked forward, and Sheik couldn't repel the shiver that skittered down his spine, like hissing snakes tumbling down a cold, rocky mountain side.
He took a step back and curled his fists. He would escape this. He would fight them, and tear them apart and make sure the Royalty would-
"Your Majesty, I must enquire," the shadow that should not be there spoke, "Why is the boy so afraid?"
Sheik's power roared to life and flared in his hands as purple fire for he was not a boy nor afrai-
The flame died when he saw those eyes, the features, the jaw that was shaped exactly like his.
"""""""""""""""""""""""
When the suitors came, Lynda was hard-pressed to judge them for herself, as Sheik seemed to be most inattentive at the meetings. But maybe because some of them were more obvious than others, the Princess wasn't so sure. But Navi tended to be a help as well, so using the warning signs her two best friends gave her, Lynda could tell whether the people were good people or not.
The first man was old, so he was dismissed immediately as a prospect of marriage, but he had interesting stories to tell, and he had obviously been humbled by some hardship in life (Navi had gone sort of yellow green before settling to blue) so Lynda had kept him as a friend. The boy next had been way too young and was snobbish. Lynda presently told him to clear off and made him cry.
She could tell that made Sheik laugh so was very pleased with herself for the bout of bullying (she promised Furore she would be sorry about it later) and readied herself for the next.
Slowly she found a pattern in Sheik's behaviour. When Navi flashed yellow, which usually meant bad business, there were three things Sheik did. He nodded, as if drowsy, a lilt in his visible eye that meant he would look good on a wall as a trophy from a duel. Or he would sigh and polish his nails against his shirt, which must mean that they really weren't to be bothered with. When Sheik tilted his head to the side, she had a hope that he wished to decorate the walls with the suitors' intestines, because one particular had actually frightened her in the manner similar to Pravus.
But what frightened her most was when Navi flashed a lighter blue, an almost white, which usually meant good news, was that sometimes, Sheik turned away to fiddle with his shirt hem as if… as if he didn't care whether she chose him or not.
Why?
She decided not pursue that thought, deciding that if Sheik wasn't paying attention when Navi thought them good, they must mean her no harm.
Then the Ball happened.
Lynda, cursing, stood up from an unsatisfactory meal and having the most trouble breathing (she was going to burn the corset), and with a hand held in an unknown person's, danced.
Sheik, sitting himself up in his private tree, was content to be playing his lyre on his own. Perhaps not happy, but content. It was peaceful in the night; the noise was reserved for the ball that was happening mere metres away, shut up in the tall window-doors beyond. He wondered whether she was there, wondered how much she was mock-suffering all the formalities and the introductions, and with a smile, thought on how much she would be enjoying the music filtered through to the gardens, if only she was here with him…
Damn it. Scowling, he plucked a string harder than necessary, giving an ugly end to the Prelude of Light. Why, why, why did he have to make this so hard for himself…?
There was a click, momentarily submerging the air with the sounds and smells of the ball before damming them back into the ball room, as the doors opened and closed.
Sheik gave an irritated sigh, hefting his weight to move before the nobility noticed that he was there…
He frowned. The lady had stripped her gloves, and was now proceeding with untying her hair and the jewellery that was tangled in her blond locks. Sheik was only aware of one person who had the nerve to do that in a relatively public place (even if it was mostly secluded) and he wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to talk to her or not.
She shook her head free, and her hair fell in waves of tangled starlight, combed by fingers as pale and unearthly as the moon, veiling her eyes that he knew instinctively to be the shade of the lake, dark, deep, somehow filled with dormant power and life.
His chest lurched. His footing slipped, just a smidge, and that was enough to alert her to his presence.
Her gaze snapped up to the tree, and her face melted into a gratified smile. "Just the guy I wanted to see."
Sheik lifted surprised eyebrows. "You can see me?"
"No," she rolled her eyes and huffed. "Now get down here."
"Oh no," Sheik mock protested, "The view's far too good."
"But I can't climb up," she all but whined, "I'm wearing this dress and I couldn't get any dinner in because of the stupid corset and I'm starved."
"You don't seem to be wearing it now," he teased as he obliged to hopping down of his branch, although he assumed correctly when Lynda told him she had got rid of it with Furore's wind (although he decided not to jibe on the fact that he hadn't taught her new skills on the crystals just to get rid of one's undergarments). He sighed dramatically, and produced a round object from his pocket. "Care for an apple?"
Her face shone like the sun. "Please!"
He threw it, she caught it. As she scrunched on the simple fruit like a child with a treasure, he thought of the delight and the happiness that emanated from her, and realised.
Somebody would one day take it from him. No, worse, Lynda would be giving it of her own free will.
"What are you so quiet for?" Lynda enquired, cocking her head to the side as she sucked on the apple core.
Dying inside. "Enjoying the view."
Lynda chuckled almost sheepishly. "What view?"
He shrugged and turned aside, watching the sky instead.
Then his neck nearly snapped in two because Lynda grabbed his jaw to spin him round.
"OW! Princess what the hell are yo-"
The astonished face he saw and the hands that held his flesh gave his stomach a sinking feeling that had nothing to do with the judder in his chest. He had forgotten his cowl. He was being seen.
He had imagined a more orthodox situation, though…
"""""""""""""""""""
Lynda grabbed and didn't let go. Even if Death Mountain exploded, or Lake Hylia disgorged its contents on top of the rest of Hyrule, or an army ravaged the land, she would not have let go until she drank in every contour, every perfection and blemish, every detail on his face with her eyes and hands.
His jaw was heavy and sharp, the kind you punched only if you wanted shattered knuckles. She traced a scar along it, and maybe, the rumour about a fight with a wolfos wasn't so false.
Her fingers traced the bridge of his nose, the curve of his cheek bones. She felt the coarseness of his eyebrows, the forehead that was threatening wrinkles if he didn't quit his frowning. His eyelids, the curve they traced, the lashed that seemed long for a man's, the shape of his whole face, stubble on his square chin, his…
Lynda flushed as her fingers brushed over his lips, ones that had twitched upwards in her possessed groping, eyes half lidded with amused resignation.
"Why is it," he asked slowly, his hot breath on her fingers making goose-bumps flare across her arms, "That every time I talk to you, you're down?"
"You… you just happen to be around when I need a laugh."
"You're not laughing."
Her gaze dropped, and so did her hands. "It's just…I…"
Kindly, he touched the top of her head, thinking that it was almost fair that he did so. "Hm?"
"I forgot." She seemed to struggle before blurting out, "I forgot that you were more than just Sheik, that you were Savir Varekai, and that name just feels so strange to me when it shouldn't because it's you but I'm just so used to you being… just…"
"Not really," he shrugged, cupping her jaw in his hand, making her meet his eyes, "As long as I wore that cowl, I was ultimately Sheik anyway. Besides," he smiled, "It wasn't really me that you forgot."
Lynda flushed again, as his hand now left her jaw and in turn she lifted hers to him. "Good evening to you, then, Sir Savir Varekai."
He took her hand, kissed it. But his smile was wan. "The thing is… I don't think I'll be a Varekai very long."
"Huh?"
"I…" now it was his turn to struggle. A cruel snarl twisted his expression. "I've been freed by my dear Father, and he expects me to take his name."
"…Huh?"
"Varekai's my mother's name. I've always looked like her except…" he gave her a quizzical eye. "Are you alright?"
Lynda broke from her horrified reverie, pale and unearthly as the moon. "I-I'm fine. It's just… you're leaving. For good."
He shrugged, looked at the sky again. She wondered whether he noticed how cold it had abruptly become, how cold and desolate the night suddenly seemed. "You could put it that way, I guess."
"Wow, I mean, congratulations!" Lynda forced a smile, a laugh, a cheer, as heaviness that nothing to do with jewels weighed heavily on her chest. "You're finally out of here! Oh do I envy you, you sod, when are you leaving? Where are you going to be? What, what's your father like?"
How could she stop this? Who was he going to be with? Why did this hurt? Did he look happy? No, he didn't, but if he didn't want this, he would say so, he would tell her so, laugh like a smug thief and tell her all the things he would do to torture the duke that was taking him away, away from her, from his friend, his…
What was she to him, anyway…?
"You want this…?" she stepped forward, grasped his hands, tried to gouge at the reasoning behind his eyes. But she couldn't read them at all, they were foreign, alien, the face she had never seen didn't seem to correspond with the face she had always known.
It frightened her more than anything else.
"I guess…" he muttered, his gaze almost blank as he met hers. "It'll be good to be finally out of here, but…" he faltered, sighed, and added, "I couldn't have done this without you."
Then I wish I had nothing to do with it. I wish that you would stay forever and ever and ever. She wanted to scream it over and over, but all she could do for herself was release him and look away. "I'll be alright, you know, I'm over this… and you will be too. I mean, alright, you'll be alright. … I guess this is goodbye."
"It doesn't have to be," Sheik, no, Savir looked concerned. "It's not like…"
"You're right, it'll be good for you to leave. You've wanted it for so long, and even I knew that." shaking her head as she rushed off, "Anyway, I left Navi in the room, she'll start complaining that I left her again, even if… yeah… I'll see you later, yeah?"
"Yeah," he said, waving at her, noting that in her hurry, she had forgotten the things that she had stripped off in the grass. Odd. Had she ever done that before…?
Later, Lynda stumbled into her room, shaking fingers turning the key at her door, the instrument falling with a cold, heavy thunk as her trembling fingers refused to hold it. Gasping, tears threatening to spill across her face, iron bands wrenching her lungs, Lynda clawed at her dress, tearing at the silk, the finery, everything that had seemed so suddenly normal and tolerable only minutes ago.
"Lynda?" Navi whisked to her side as the Princess stripped the outer shell of the dress, leaving it crumpled on the floor as she trembled in her gossamer under-gown. "Lynda what's wrong?"
"I was stupid!" she yelled, throwing down her fists to her sides, "Stupid! I thought, I thought that…"
Without thinking she grabbed the dagger that she kept in her boot and slashed at the rope…
Her laugh of despair was watery. She slapped her face and moaned. "What did I expect…?"
She grabbed the knife at her belt and charged, roaring with a rage she hadn't felt since…
Her back hit a wall and slid down, down, until she was squatting in the carpet, tears splashing onto her knees, "The first time we met, I was so hostile… even sent that flood on him and…"
Sheik stood on the false panel. He heard an ominous click. It was only then that he knew…
"I said…"
"You know nothing about me…! I had to endure things you'd never understand! And I'm afraid of nothing. Nothing!"
"Why would he have loved me, Navi?" Lynda wiped her nose, sniffling loudly, "I'm everything he hates. Royal, stubborn, whiney, clingy, annoying, rude, assuming, naïve… I didn't even know him and I judged him. I thought I had the worst deal when he… he… I-I thought he felt the same about me."
"Unlike you, Princess, some people have things to do," Sheik snapped, jerking his arm away from her grasp…
"I have everything against you,"
"That's what we are to you Hylians, tools for sacrifice or entertainment. You think you're so great lording it over us, when all you do is strip us of our pride and force us deeper into the limelight, where we don't belong and don't want to be."
"He doesn't deserve to be here. He deserves more than this."
Lynda remembered the cut that she had inflicted him, the one that made him look as if he had been crying blood. Why wasn't she crying blood, when her tears held enough heat to be red as his eyes?
"What kind of Hero of Time am I, anyway?" Lynda sobbed, burying her face in her knees, "How can be so afraid of letting one person go?"
I'm guessing you hate me right about now. But please don't worry, I love happy-sappy-lovey-dovey endings. It will happen.
The last scene really beat me up because I wanted it really romantic but without it being too cheesy, and there was this perfect song that totally explained the mood, so I'm going to have the url to hear the music here:
It's called Manchild.
These are the lyrics:
Every time you crave for me, I'm here
And anything you hunger for, I'll share
And I will be quietly standing by
While slowly I am dying inside
Hold me in your arms
And let me be the one who can feel
Like I am a child in love
Every time I talk to you, you're down
Every time you need a laugh, I'm around
When you forget I'm here, I'm not
It isn't really me that you forgot
Hold me in your arms
And let me be the one who can feel
Like I am a child in love
Whisper now, and tell me how
You'll watch me and tell me
Somehow, I'm gonna be all right