The Waters of Nayru
Chapter 27: The Royal Inspection
By, Frank Hunter
It turned out Little Sid's information wasn't bad. The Hyrule Royal Family, in response to public concern over disease currently spread by rats from the Stockade, had decided to send an emissary to the prison to assess the conditions and mandate any fixes or changes that needed to be carried out. It wasn't long before the whole prison knew about the impending visit.
The guards had made all the inmates aware that, on the date of the visit, they were to be on their best behavior. Misbehavior would be punished to the fullest extent permitted, which usually meant time in solitary confinement or, if the guards were feeling particularly bold, a beating for the prisoner in question. Rigo doubted if there would be any behavior problems. Most wouldn't find the opportunity worth it.
On the day of the event, a guard came to Rigo's cell door with orders for both prisoners to report to a cleaning crew, assigned to the main room of the building's barracks. "Come on," the guard prompted as he opened up the locks and waited for Gor Gurdy to uncurl and get groggily to his feet.
They were marched down corridor after corridor until they reached the large hall at the front of the barracks that they were supposed to be cleaning that was an immense dark room with branches of corridors stemming off of it and levels of balconies overhead. A whole group of prisoners trickled in, about forty total, and Rigo was mildly surprised to find Little Sid among them as well.
"Got you too, huh?" Sid asked him as they came together.
Rigo nodded. "Yeah. This is weird. They never have such big cleaning groups."
"Well, we never usually clean this room, either. They probably wanna show off how efficient and organized their maintenance programs are. I bet they've got other groups around here pretending to be busy too."
"Wish let Gor Gurdy sleep," the Goron mumbled beside them. "Gor Gurdy tired. Grumpy."
"I hear ya, big guy," Sid said, rapping Gurdy on the back.
Rigo directed his confusion inward, to Nabooru. He asked what she thought was going on.
They just want to make a good impression, Nabooru confirmed. Though I think it's a sure thing that they wanted you out of your cell for this. You're their dirty little secret. If the emissary takes a tour of the cellblock, they could wind up face-to-face with you, and then those filthy bastards would have something to explain.
Hiding me in plain sight? Rigo asked.
Exactly. You're in a big group of people here. No one will look too closely at you when they pass by. Probably won't see anything out of the ordinary. Plus, I doubt you're the only one who's in here for political reasons. They don't want the Royals to get a good look at anyone they might recognize.
As the guards got them started, a few standing around and watching over the inmates, it became very clear that their priorities were only on keeping the inmates busy, and not on making any progress with the actual cleaning. Rigo and Gurdy had been given rags, with which to go over the walls and remove a thick layer of grime that had accumulated over the years. Sid was given a mop and set to work on the floor. And work they did. In the same place. Continually. Without stop.
"You know, if you let me get some of the dirt over there, we might get outta here quicker," Sid complained to the overseer, who obviously wasn't concerned at all about leaving.
"You missed a spot," he said to Sid, without indicating where that might be.
"No I didn't!" he complained.
"Get back to work," the overseer said.
Sid rolled his eyes and continued mopping the already cleaned area of the floor. He mopped over to where Rigo and Gurdy were occupied on the already cleaned area of the wall.
"These are exactly the conditions I was talking about," he muttered.
As they continued cleaning without progress, a loud CLANG! echoed throughout the expansive chamber. It was the deadbolt on a door, set above them on one of the balconies. Rigo looked up over his shoulder at it. There was a landing set high on one wall that spanned the length of the wall. It looked like the two doors leading onto it would grant access to the higher levels of both the cellblock and the maintenance facilities, allowing individuals to pass between the two sections of the prison without coming further downstairs.
The unlocked door began to pull open, scraping loudly along the concrete of the floor as it did, and Rigo could see a group of people standing behind it. The emissary was here then. They were coming through now.
As the party began to enter the room, Rigo heard a voice projecting loudly and clearly to the rest of the group. It was that of a man, and one he recognized.
"As you can see in here, the Warden has recently instituted a productivity program, in which the inmates are required to work to keep all areas of this facility in shining order. Here's a cleaning crew now. Just look at the progress they're making."
Rigo gritted his teeth and clenched down on his rag as the owner of the voice stepped through the door. He'd have recognized him anywhere, with his blazing eyes, short beard, and distinctive scar running the length of his left cheek. That last one had been Rigo's doing.
It was Tydus.
"Boss man," Gurdy rumbled.
"Yeah," Rigo agreed. He hadn't seen the man that had thrown him in here since the day he'd given him that scar, but none of the enmity he felt toward Tydus had dissipated in that time. Given a few minutes alone with the big man, he'd do much worse than a tiny little beauty mark on his face. Never before had Rigo seen someone and so genuinely felt a desire to end their life. He had changed.
As Tydus stepped out onto the balcony, another person came right behind him, followed by a cadre of Hylian guards. Rigo assumed that must have been the emissary. It was a woman, slight of build and incredibly old. Rigo suspected that she could have easily been in her nineties. She walked with the aid of a cane, but still managed to look important and dignified as she did. Her shoulders were held high, and she wore a long dress of pure white with purple accents down the front, and a tiara adorned with precious jewels that brought back vivid memories of a treasure vault from long ago.
"Sweet Din," Little Sid muttered as he continuously mopped the floor by Rigo's feet. "Our lives really are gonna get better!"
"Why?" Rigo whispered, turning back to the wall inconspicuously and scrubbing his rag in circles over it. "Who is that?"
"Who is…who is that?!" he asked incredulously, a little too loudly.
"Quiet there!" the overseer shouted at him, and Sid bit his tongue. He lowered his voice back to a whisper and turned his back to the guard.
"She's a legend, man," Sid said.
"I know too many legends to keep them straight," Rigo said.
"Dude, that right there is the Queen of Hyrule. And not just any queen, she's the best one we've had in who knows how long. She's fair, she's just, and she cares about the people. If anyone is gonna make things better for us, she will."
The Queen looked over the group and finally spoke up in response to Tydus's praising of the prisoners' work ethic. "It seems to me," she said. "That it would have made sense to keep the building sanitary instead of allowing it to fall into squalor in the first place."
Tydus answered immediately. "Understandable, m'lady, but…"
"The level of filth coming out of this place is a danger not only to the people in here, and they are people Colonel, regardless of how you view them, but also the citizens of Castle Town."
Colonel. So, he'd gotten a promotion since their last little chat.
"I understand that, m'lady," Tydus said, obviously biting back the response he'd have liked to give. "But we've had other concerns as of late. I'm only just able to put my attention into this."
"It's possible we may have to relieve you of some of your new duties, then," the Queen went on, "if you are unable to keep on top of everything. This is unacceptable."
"Yes," Sid hissed. "Stick it to him, Zelda!"
At the sound of the name, Rigo's ears perked up. "What did you say?"
"That's her name," Sid elaborated. "Queen Zelda. You know, the one who helped the Hero fight off 'you know who,' way back?"
"That can't be Zelda," Rigo said, now getting too animated, looking back at her and standing up straight.
The overseer stalked back over to them, trying hard to look large and overbearing. "The next person to stop cleaning is going to earn themselves a week of solitary. Shut your traps and get back to work!"
Rigo turned away, back to the wall. That can't be the Zelda that fought Ganondorf, he said to Nabooru. How old would that make her?
She's not the Princess Zelda I knew, Nabooru confirmed. But we've both heard about the Twilight Incident that happened seventy-five years back. The name 'Zelda' is like a title that is given to the first-born princess of the Royal Family, and it comes with a set of responsibilities. If Ganondorf did attack Hyrule from Twilight, she looks old enough to be the one who stood against him then.
Tydus collected himself, still holding his head high, and answered the Queen with whatever pride he could muster. "Rest assured, m'lady, I am well on top of Hyrule's well-being. This sort of problem won't happen again."
"I'd like to know why I should expect that," Zelda said.
"Because," Tydus answered reassuringly, "In a matter of days I'll have the situation in the desert resolved. Then, I can focus all my attention in Town, and reassign several of our best officers to domestic positions here. We'll have much more manpower."
Rigo cocked his head, and tried to resist looking back up at the balcony, lest the overseer drag him away prematurely. Situation in the desert?
He leaned over to Sid and whispered, "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"
"Of course," he said. "Didn't ya hear?"
Rigo sighed. "No, Sid, I didn't hear. Just tell me."
"Okay. It just seems like something you would have heard about, that's all. There's been activity for the first time in a long time out by the Arbiter's Grounds, some old prison out in the desert. People have started showing up out there. No one knows who it is, but everyone's on edge. They think it's, you know." He tapped Rigo on the back with a finger. "Your people. They think maybe he's coming back."
Rigo froze. "There are…Gerudo in the desert?"
"That's what I heard, anyway," Sid said.
Rigo didn't know what to say. What to do. If there was activity in the desert, that meant that his people were finally back. That Sooru had come back, likely seeking the Waters of Nayru as she had talked about the last time he'd seen her. And if the Hylians were nervous, it was entirely possible that they'd all be on the brink of war before long. The war that could mean devestation for his people.
This is bad news, he said to Nabooru.
Yeah it is, she agreed. If your Stewardess still has the Chalice, she'll be wanting to march straight into Hyrule. Your buff buddy up there won't like that too much.
We've gotta do something.
Well, your best chance of mediating this problem is currently walking out of the room, Nabooru said. Rigo looked up to the balcony and saw that Tydus and Zelda, still conversing, were turning and walking casually toward the other door. In another minute, they'd both be gone.
"Zelda," he said out loud. "I need to talk to Zelda."
Little Sid snorted. "Yeah, right," he said. "And I need a rare steak and a bottle of wine. It ain't gonna happen."
Rigo threw down his rag and turned around. "I need to talk to her right now."
"Rigo!" Sid hissed. "Have you lost your mind? Keep working!"
"Zelda!" he shouted at the balcony. "Queen Zelda!'
If she'd heard the call, she ignored it. Rigo guessed that other inmates had been yelling at her all morning. The overseer didn't ignore it, though. He came storming back toward Rigo and drew his sword. He brought two other guards in tow.
"Alright," the overseer said. "That does it. You two right there!" He pointed at Rigo and Sid. "Solitary. One week, starting right now!"
"What!?" Sid babbled. "But I…but he…"
"Zelda! Zelda!?" Rigo called again, to no avail.
"Make it two weeks for this one," the overseer said as he closed in on Rigo. "Get over here, prisoner."
Rigo tried to avoid them, but they reached out to take him by the arms. As they grabbed at him, though, something else grabbed them. Something bigger.
"Hey!" one of the guards shouted, just before he was flung across the room and into the wall under the balcony. Rigo looked back and saw Gor Gurdy standing tall behind him, holding the second guard.
"Rigo need talk." he said simply. "Talk fast." And he kicked the second guard down to the floor in a crumbled heap.
The other prisoners had seen what Gor Gurdy did and cheered. This, they decided, this would be an excellent time for some payback against the guards who had been making their lives miserable and difficult. A riot instantaneously broke out in the room, as the prisoners challenged the guards' blades with their mops, brooms, and buckets. It was a ridiculous spectacle, but it was exactly what Rigo needed.
"Thanks, Gurdy," he said. The Goron had curled up into a ball and, in a feat Rigo hadn't seen him do before, began rolling through the room at speed, chasing and running down guards where he could, and hitting other inmates indiscriminately. He was faster at this than he had any right to be, considering how lumbering he usually was.
Rigo took immediate advantage of the chaos. Zelda and Tydus had stopped momentarily, taken aback by the sudden outbreak of violence below, and so both had their attention focused on the mob. As such, Rigo stepped out in front of it all, a tall, powerful figure, vibrant in his motionlessness and his bright orange hair. He stood with his fists balled at his sides, with all the muscles of his body tensed as he called out one last time.
"QUEEN ZELDA!" came his voice, which rang over the crowd. "THE RIGHTFUL KING AND HEIR OF GERUDO DEMANDS AN IMMEDIATE AUDIENCE WITH YOU TO DISCUSS THE TERMS OF OUR SURRENDER!"
That got her attention.