*clap* The gavel pounded.
"I call this session of Her Majesty Queen Regina Hyrule's 498th session of Parliament to order!"
*clap* The gavel pounded again.
Prime Minister Andrew Balgame placed the gavel on the bench and seated himself in his chair at the front of the chamber.
"Call to order," he finished, wiping sweat from his brow. "Well now, first on the agenda?"
Castle City representative Joxer stood up and said, "I bring back to the floor the possibility of opening the Sacred Realm and extracting the Triforce from the Evil One."
The room collectively groaned, frustrated that the debate from the day before still hadn't died. Then there was an eruption of debate in the chamber, too loud to even think.
The minister began pounding his gavel in an attempt to restore order to the chamber. Like the reduction of sound at the end of a storm, the cries in the chamber leveled off to dead silence, everyone waiting with baited breath for the next words spoken by the minister.
"I…" Balgame started, "…I think, after an evening of personal debate and introspection, I agree with Representative Joxer. Maybe we should give this a shot."
Again, the chamber erupted in cacophony. The prime minister began pounding his gavel again.
This time the room didn't get quiet.
Incredulous, anger brimmed within him, shouting the word, "Silence!" Which echoed through the chambers in an otherworldly and magical way. It stunned the members of parliament, and all remained quiet.
Everyone was too afraid to speak.
Balgame started again. "Shall we…" he cut himself off in mid-sentence because his voice still had an evil, raspy quality to it. He cleared his throat and continued, "…put it to a vote?"
Gerudo representative Rubicane stood and said in a desperate attempt to quell the vote, "With the absence of three representatives-- Lord Marco of Zora's Domain, Kamen of the Goron and Hirsute from Kakariko-- I say we stay the vote for today and make a decision at a later date."
Rubicante knew her Gerudo history. She knew that on several occasions the one certain male born to them in a generation had harnessed the powers of the dark and invaded the Sacred Realm. Once he formed a coup against the king of Hyrule, then he covered the land in twilight and once he created a civilization within the Sacred Realm itself. She remembered what he had historically said about his imprisonment-- "Better serve in Darkness than in Light." He twisted the beautiful realm set aside by the goddesses into his own devilish kingdom of hatred and evil. It offended the Gerudo people, who held the legends in more regard in this modern age than their elvaan, Gerudo and Zora counterparts.
Joxer chimed in and said, "But even with three absent, we still have enough representatives present for a majority vote."
Rubicante fumed.
The minister turned to the members of parliament and agreed. "Yes. We do have enough for a majority vote. Shall we continue?"
Joxer stood again and said, "In accordance with our prescribed laws, I call forth a vote on the subject of regaining the third piece of the Golden Power."
No one raised their hand to second.
Balgame looked around the room, then fixed his eyes on Rico, the newest representative in the assembly, from the ranching community of Lon. Rico couldn't help but stare unwillingly into the minister's eyes.
Slowly Rico stood to his feet and said in a monotone voice, "I second the motion."
Joxer called for a third to carry the motion.
Grinning wildly, a third stood and said, "Aye!"
Almost anticipating the moment, Balgame was gripping the gavel-- his hand turning a deep hue of purple with the pressure on the object-- and pounded the hammer immediately as the motion carried.
"The vote shall commence immediately," the minister cried. Prepare your ballots.
Several minutes passed as the representatives effused over the decision. Finally, Prime Minister Balgame cried, "Time has been called. Please submit your votes."
Each representative pressed a button on their lecterns, submitting their votes electronically to the minister for the count.
As the votes came in, he tabulated them in his mind. Of 17 present representatives, he saw the votes and mumbled to himself, "Hrm, seven yea and eight nay." Knowing the vote had just failed, he quietly waved his hand over the screen and whispered, "Belloch." The screen flickered in a haze of static and the count changed to 11 yea and six nay.
He looked up and announced to the assembly, "With a vote of 11 yea and six nay, the motion carries and passes." He pounded the gavel again. "Tomorrow we will attempt to open the Sacred Realm and restore the Triforce to our realm."
Rubicante stood up, furious and spitting with anger. "You imbeciles! Do you have any fathomable idea of what you're doing?" Then stormed from the chamber.
She had just walked out. No member of parliament had walked out in more than 100 years. It was unheard of.
The heels of her shoes were clicking down the stone hallway. As she opened the door of her office, it slammed hard against the wall, knocking a picture to the floor. Rubicante shouted to her assistant: "Dispatch a message to the queen in Clock Town. Dictate it: 'Majesty, parliament has lost its mind. They have voted to open the Sacred Realm. Please, highness, return with utmost pace'."
The assistant did as she was asked and electronically sent the message to the queen.
"Now," Rubicante started, "Get a message to the three absent members-- Marco, Hirsute and Kamen-- to call a vote of reconsideration."
Her assistant nodded again and said, "Message sent, ma'am."
Then the stark reality occurred to Rubicante. "I need to hide," she whispered. With that thought, she darted into her private office and began pulling out the drawers from their shelves and her desk, grabbing everything she thought she might need, tossing it all into a bag found in her closet.
Worried, her assistant followed behind her and said, "Ma'am, is everything OK?"
Rubicante couldn't even take the time to respond. She was muttering pointlessly to herself, gathering her items, desperate to leave the chambers and to safety.
---
Link was pulling at the bow tie he was wearing, completely unsure of how to tie it. Rarely did he ever wear a tuxedo. Every time he had gone to dinner at the castle, he'd been allowed to wear a polo shirt and nice pants, but this was a different affair. This was a very different occasion.
Then he heard the doorbell ring.
"Link!" his uncle cried from the front of the house. "Answer this door. The news is on."
"…Gerudo representative Lady Rubicante Delapesca staged a walk-out of parliament today. While we do not have official word of the circumstances surrounding it, the prime minister has assured this network that disciplinary action has been taken against her unbecoming behavior while in session…" the anchor droned.
Link wasn't paying attention to the news. It was Mako at the door, wearing his own dark blue tuxedo.
"Hey Link," Mako said, walking into the house.
Frustrated, with his tie still dangling from his neck, Link looked at his friend, noticed the small pin where the bow tie should be and said, "How come you got to wear that, and I end up with this thing around my neck?" He flicked the lifeless tie.
Mako laughed, reached over to Link and began fixing the tie. "I've had to tie so many of these for when I go to parliament functions with my dad that I decided it was time for a change."
After Mako finished, Link turned to the mirror in the front of the house and adjusted the newly-tied bow around his neck. He was thankful to have it finally around his neck, but hated the way he was dressed. Although he did know that this was his chance to tell Lola how he felt, he would have felt more comfortable dressed in his typical green shirt and jeans. He felt that Lola kept no pretenses, so this tuxedo was nothing more than overkill. Still, it aided in his confidence.
"You ready?" Link said, turning to his aquatic friend, ready to head to the castle for their dinner.
Uncle Fred belched, then grotesquely looked at Mako and said to Link, "Bring me back a crab puff." Fred knew this offended Link's friend, but his own racist tendencies made him feel superior. As if being elvaan automatically made him superior.
Link slammed the door on his way out, not even responding to his uncle's supremacist comment.
---
Approaching the castle gates, two guards, each standing on opposite sides crossed their spears and said, "Halt, who goes there?"
Mako stepped forward and said, "Good evening. I am Mako, son of Lord Marco, of Zora's Domain, and this is Link. We have an appointment with the princess."
One of the guards walked over to a visitor's log and checked the list. "Right. You are expected."
The other guard opened the gate and the boys passed through, walking over the drawbridge and through the castle doors.
Entering the main foyer, Mako and Link stood silently, waiting to be greeted, as castle etiquette dictated. They stood around, regarding the ancient suits of armor, photos of former Hylian royals and other expensive items. They had seem them all many times before, but every time they were there, the grandeur of everything still took their breath away.
They soon heard heels clicking, coming toward them. It was Lola. This made Link smile. She looked gorgeous, with their deep-brown locks of hair, curling on her perfectly formed olive face. Her dress was low cut across her bodice, hued in deep blue, stopping at her knees. Link couldn't help but stare at her legs.
He wasn't sure, but Link kind of knew that Lola was sure how he felt about her. But he was always too scared to bring it up in front of her. Perhaps tonight was the night.
"Hi boys," Lola said as she walked toward them.
Mako walked toward her and greeted her cordially. "Hi Lola. How are you this evening?"
Link shyly waved and stuttered, "Hi."
Lola simply smiled, then laced her arm through Link's and said, "Come on guys, dinner's almost ready."
As they walked into the formal parlor, waiting for the meal to be ready, Lola asked them to sit and wait for Zelda to arrive. Although they were all friends, when visiting the castle, and especially in a formal event as this, they had to abide by all the royal pomp and circumstance, even though they'd seen Zelda with a milkshake poured on her head, making silly faces-- and they had the pictographs to prove it.
They all sat in silence for a moment. Mako and Lola knew it had to be them to break the silence, since Link had always been the silent protagonist in their little group. Looking around the room, Mako commented, "Tetra's still not here."
Lola laughed and said, "Well you know her. Always making an entrance."
Link grinned and uncharacteristically broke his silence. "Maybe she's trying to upstage the princess."
Both Mako and Lola looked at him in shock and amusement, then the three of them burst into laughter.
Rolling in the hilarity at the comment and the comedic timing of it, Zelda walked into the room in a pink floral gown and her family tiara. None of them noticed her, but the laughter was immediately broken when Zelda asked, "What's so funny?"
Lola cleared her throat and said, "Just Tetra."
Mako and Link giggled a bit more.
"Guys, dinner's ready," Zelda said. "I'm hungry. Let's go."
As they all headed from the formal parlor to the grand dining room, both Zelda and Lola flanked Link and both put their arms through both of his-- a girl on both sides. Mako grinned and muttered to himself, "It's always the quiet ones."
---
Dinner had proceeded as normal. They had finished the salad course when Tetra came running through the door of the dining room. She had made her entrance.
"I'm so sorry I'm late. I was in the middle of a-- err, of something," she stuttered as she made her way to her seat.
In stark contrast to the way the other four were dressed, Lola was wearing deep black makeup on her face, her jet-black hair down over one eye and her dress looked like it was made from parts of other dresses. Because of the difference in personalities, Zelda and Tetra always had a bit of animosity between them, mainly because of their different viewpoints, but no one was prepared for what was about to happen.
Dinner continued on-- the main course coming and going, when dessert started. The servers put the plates of sweet things in front of them and the five of them began eating. That's when Tetra broke the silence.
"Did you see the news today?"
Everyone looked at her, wondering exactly what she meant by it.
"You know? When Representative Rubicante walked out of the council chambers."
Zelda swallowed her dessert, placed her spoon on her plate and wiped her mouth from the napkin in her lap.
Tetra had always been the more overt political person in the group, but she was about to cross a line she'd never crossed before-- though none of them knew it at the time.
Mako finally decided to respond. "And what, exactly, are you getting at?"
Sort of realizing the faux pas she was about to commit, she waved it off and said, "No reason. Just wondering if you'd heard."
Zelda, obviously miffed with Tetra, responded dryly. "Come on now. Give it to me straight. Just because I'm the princess doesn't mean you shouldn't speak your mind."
Knowing what was coming, Mako put his hand over his light blue face and sighed hard.
"Fine," Tetra started, her one visible eye burning with rage. "They say it's because the majority of parliament is leaning to democracy, and the Gerudo have, in recent years, been loyal to the monarchy."
"Our current political system is, thankfully, not long for this world," Tetra finished.
This made Link uncomfortable. Their discussions on politics always made him squirm. Continually, he'd asked they not get into it like this, but tonight he was keeping quiet.
Lola decided to chime in. Knowing her commitment to the royal family-- being Zelda's attendant, and all-- sort of towed the party line, even if her perspective on the subject was politically weak.
"Regardless of the way parliament may swing these days, we still have a monarch. And Queen Regina is kind and just. Her ideas on tax reform were so overwhelmingly popular that when she suggested them, parliament had no choice but to sponsor and pass them. Regardless of the political system, people still love her. She personally goes into the streets and feeds the hungry and clothes the poor. And not to mention…"
Tetra cut her off. "But why do we need a symbolic figurehead anyway? All the governing is done by parliament anyway. We don't need a symbol in the form of a person, but the patriotism in our hearts."
Zelda began to say something, but Mako, ever the diplomat (much like his father), cut her off, knowing her temper was as bad as Tetra's and said, "We can all certainly agree to disagree. Regardless of the way we believe the nation should be run, we can all agree that we do, in fact, love this land of Hyrule and want what's best for it."
"You always do this!" Zelda cried angrily. "I invite you all for a nice dinner, and you always have to ruin it, Tetra! It makes me sick!'
The hall got quiet.
She continued. "We live in a monarchy. We continue to live in one because it's, as far as I can see, the best thing we can have. You really think that giving the power directly to the constituency is the best thing? My father died protecting this ideal. So excuse me if I don't resort to petty violence to get my point across." Tears grew in her eyes.
Once again, silence. No one knew what to say.
Zelda wiped her eyes on her napkin and said, "If you'll excuse me, I'm not feeling quite hungry anymore."
Tetra got up and agreed. "Yeah, me too. I lost my appetite the moment I met you." She started to walk out of the room.
Finally, enough anger had bubbled up to the surface in Link.
"Sit down!" he cried, in an uncharacteristically angry tone.
The room was stunned. Rarely did he ever chime in when it got rough. "You too, princess," he finished.
Both of them sat as he ordered.
"I don't care what you think, Tetra," he started. "But the fact of the matter is, we live in a monarchy. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. We could be living in a dictatorship. Would you like that?" he turned to Tetra and asked. Then he turned to Zelda and asked the same question. "What about you? You, princess?"
Neither of them answered.
"Now, I don't know much about politics, but I do know my mother gave her life protecting the king. I remember when that arrow flew through the plaza and struck the king. My mother was the first person to reach him. And as my dad ran up to the stage to check on my mother, the bomb flew into the plaza and destroyed the stage. I lost both of my parents that day. All in the service of the king."
Everyone was too stunned to talk. They all knew what happened that day, and it wasn't that Link brought it up, but they knew he was reaching his breaking point.
"Mako?"
His friend looked up.
"Your mom died that day too? Right?"
He nodded.
"It seriously doesn't matter what kind of system we live in, but that we live in peace. We're in a recession. An energy crisis. And half the country wants to make a change."
"More than half," Tetra countered, not looking Link in the eyes.
Link countered back. "Shut up. I'm not finished."
She got quiet again.
"You want to overthrow the queen. Dissolve parliament. Regardless of the political system, you forget that there are those of us who choose to fight and die to make sure you have the right to make that decision and to preserve the peace you want to go on living your precious lives."
He sipped his drink, content on continuing. No one interrupted. Looking down at his drink, he didn't even take the glass from his lips when he made his last comment. "I'm sick of you two doing this. You say you're friends, so act like it."
No one replied. Save one voice from the back of the room.
"Well said, young man."
They all looked to the back to see Queen Regina standing behind them.
Everyone stood up in reverence. Mako desperately tried to stutter, "Your majesty!" but it had a hard time being audible.
The queen clapped at Link's comment. "You're right," she started. "We're here at the behest of the people. We all want the opportunity to live our lives in peace."
Walking around the table, she continued. "I remember your mother. She was my favorite. I would have promoted her to my personal guard, had she not died that day. A valiant woman-- Elayne."
As she got to the head of the table-- standing behind her daughter Zelda-- she said to them, "Please, everyone, there is something I must attend to. I'm sorry, but I must ask you all to leave. And please accept my apologies for not making it to dinner."
Everyone stood up, bowed to the queen and walked from the dining room to the parlor. Tetra stormed through the doors, muttering to herself that she'd never again come back to the castle. Mako followed, intent on returning and apologizing to the queen, but knew better.
Link was following Mako, ready to leave, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around, it was Lola standing there, her eyes glazed with tears and her cheeks red as beets.
"Lola?" Link asked. "What's…" he began, but as he tried, she stood on her tip toes and deeply kissed him.
He was overjoyed. He'd been longing for this day for a long time, but never knew it would present itself quite in this way.
Lola pulled away, then kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you."