Princess Zelda's knuckles hovered above the door, and she swallowed.
She was alone. She probably shouldn't have been, she knew, but she feared intimidating the poor woman should she bring anyone along with her. Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to knock.
The noise echoed hollowly in the room beyond the door. Not a soul answered it.
So the Hylian princess tried again.
This time she heard the distinct swishing of skirts and uneven, tired footsteps behind the oak door. With a creak it opened, just a little, and from behind it peered a pair of dull gray eyes. "Hello… oh. Princess," the woman behind the door said, and panic might have flashed in her face. "May I help you?"
Zelda hurried to reassure her. A smile tilted her rose lips. "It is a pleasure to see you, Lady Ali," she said gently. "Is it all right if I step inside and ask you something?"
"I - I -" Her eyes widened, and she gulped audibly. "Princess, I promise -"
"I am not here to harm you," Zelda told her, casting a furtive glance over her shoulder to see if anyone had followed her, but there was no one. "I only wish to speak to you about what you said at the council meeting yesterday - something about necromancy."
Lady Ali swallowed again - but she opened her door further, revealing half-brushed hair and a simple blue silk gown, faintly rumpled. She stepped aside, permitting entry. The princess took advantage of this and stepped inside. "Really, I promise you," the other woman murmured, eyes downcast, "I had nothing to do with it. I just…"
"I know," Zelda sighed, shutting the door behind her. The room before her was devoid of life, save for herself and Lady Ali. "Where is your guard?" she found herself asking. As a noble, the lady should have had one at the very least, standing outside her door - and if not there, then inside, perhaps. But he was nowhere to be found. Her brow furrowed almost imperceptibly as she wondered where he could be.
"I…" Lady Ali hugged herself and glanced nervously to the side. "I sent him away."
Zelda's brow furrowed even further. But before she asked anything else concerning the matter, she questioned, "May I sit down?" as she motioned to the plush couches in the center of the room, surrounding a round wooden table.
"Oh! Of course, please!" the lady hurried to reply, pink dusting her cheeks when she realized how impolite she had been. "I am so sorry, princess…"
The Hylian woman seated herself in the center of one of the couches, and laced her hands loosely but regally in her lap, keeping her chin and back and shoulders straight as always. "All is well, Lady Ali, do not worry. May I ask why you sent your guard away?"
The skittish woman gingerly took a seat across the table from the princess. Still she would not meet her eyes. "I just… I don't know, I… I wanted some privacy," she fumbled to say.
Zelda's eyes narrowed for a single moment in suspicion. "Whatever for?"
"I -" Here the lady's eyes widened a little, and she began drawing mindless patterns in the fabric of her dress with trembling fingers. "I was… getting dressed."
"The guard waits outside your door, where he is supposed to, doesn't he?" the princess asked. "Then you should have no reason to fear him capturing a glance of you changing."
Lady Ali's eyes squeezed shut. She was lying, it was obvious, and though the kind-hearted Hyrulian princess only wanted to give the poor girl the benefit of the doubt, she was finding that more difficult to do by the second. "I, I'm," the lady stuttered. "I can promise you I'm not the necromancer, princess, you have to believe me, please!" Suddenly her eyes shot up to meet Zelda's, and shadows of fear flitted within them.
Zelda's stomach twisted. Her face was so genuine, her gray eyes so utterly terrified that she couldn't help believing her.
But, perhaps -
For the first time in a very, very long time, the princess allowed her perfect composure to slip. She leaned forward across the table, palms pressed against its surface, and her eyes narrowed. "I believe you. But tell me this, Lady Ali, if you will - do you know who the necromancer is?"
The other woman shook. Her pale lips parted as if to say something, anything really, but she could not find the voice to speak.
Terrible silence loomed over their shoulders, their only company, and not a sound existed in the suddenly-frozen world to shatter it. For a moment that lasted a lifetime, they only sat, their breath stolen.
And then, finally - "Yes."
Zelda could not stop her heart from skipping a beat. She kept her composure, though, as she had been trained to do, and she leaned back, settling into her normal regal posture once more, hands folded in her lap. Now, the truly pressing question.
"Who is it?"
To her surprise, the answer came much more quickly that time. "I can't say."
Zelda's face softened considerably, and she resisted the strong urge to reach across the table and lay a comforting hand across the other woman's. She cared only for the well-being of her people. Seeing poor Lady Ali so afraid was almost more than she could bear. "I do not understand how you know so much about necromancy when I've never before seen a book on the subject through the entirety of Hyrule. I do not know what could have possibly driven you to this fear, or how you know who the necromancer is. But I do know this - that I am your princess, your guardian, and want only what is best for you." She offered Lady Ali a sweet smile. "And I need to know. So that I can help you, and so that I can help the rest of Hyrule, because if we sit here and do nothing, an entire world might fall."
The lady swallowed heavily at that, and she kept her eyes trained on the intricate rugs beneath the table as if they were suddenly the most interesting thing she had ever seen. "Princess, I just… I'm so sorry. I can't." She shut her eyes again, and clamped a trembling hand over her mouth.
"You must, Lady Ali, for your own sake and the sake of an entire kingdom," she pushed.
But the other woman only shook her head frantically, dark hair flying about her face. "No, no, no, I can't, I can't! He'll kill me, don't you understand?"
Zelda pressed her lips into a grim line. Yes, she had guessed as much. It was reasonable for the necromancer to threaten to kill whoever revealed his identity. But now she knew something she hadn't before - the enemy was male.
Not that that particular bit of information narrowed things down much.
With a heavy sigh the Hylian princess stood, gloved hands dropping limp to her sides. "Very well," she murmured, watching as the woman's shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. "I must leave, I'm afraid. But please remember to keep yourself safe. And keep your guard with you at all times." She turned to leave, feet silent as she stepped toward the door. She placed a hand on the knob, and turned it - but before she left, she cast one last glance over her shoulder.
"And I will not give up. I will return. Take care of yourself until then."
With that, she swept out of Lady Ali's chambers, leaving the woman to sob alone.
After lunch, the king had said. What a lie.
Of course, Midna had missed lunch only because she'd slept in a little too late - as she was wont to do - but still. She hated the way her stomach growled as the council members surrounded the table in utter silence, and wondered if they could hear the veritable beast roaring in her belly.
She cared not for propriety - but of course, that was normal for her - as she leaned forward, elbows resting on the table, chin pressed into her palm. She occasionally received an odd look for it but she didn't have the strength to care.
"…though, thankfully, all townsfolk who live nearby the wall were all safely taken inside last night and this morning. We only need to focus our efforts on the ones who live farther away," a thin man with a hawk-like nose was saying.
"We don't need to concern ourselves with them," Ganondorf grunted. "All the outlying villages and towns possess their own walls. They can lock themselves inside of those."
"Has the warning already been spread to the rest of Hyrule?" a dark-eyed woman asked.
The king nodded. "I've sent messengers throughout Hyrule. The closest villages should be informed by tomorrow or the next day."
"If the messengers survive," Galin grumbled.
Ganondorf elected to ignore the man.
Midna apathetically tapped a finger on the table's surface and sighed. Usually she would have been paying more attention - after all, she wanted to care about Hyrule and her people, since the both of them would be hers someday - but she was too hungry and tired, and, as a consequence, grumpy to even pretend that she was listening. All she wanted at the moment was lunch.
The king seemed to notice the exhaustion in the faces of all the council members - and with a great sigh he slouched a little in his chair and said, "Dismissed."
Midna didn't even try to hide her relieved smile.
"What?" the dark-eyed woman demanded, staring at him with a deep grimace. "We've barely discussed anything! We can't possibly dismiss yet, that's ridiculous!"
Ganondorf shot her a glare. She quieted immediately. "We'll meet again tomorrow, at the same time."
The Twili princess tried not to groan at that. Instead she pushed her chair out without any other word from the king, and stretched her arms high above her head, not bothering to cover her wide yawn. From the corner of her eye she thought she saw Eldren smirking at her in amusement.
"What?" she mumbled at him.
He quickly looked away, trying and failing to hide his grin. "Nothing." He stood too, and so did his sister. The rest of the council began to seep out of the room, and the three royals went with them. "So," the prince began, golden eyes shifting between Midna and Zelda, "should we share a meal again?"
The Twili peered at the other princess, who stared ahead with a blank expression, and acted as if no one had said a thing.
Midna's lips pressed together. "Zelda?"
The Hylian princess blinked and turned her face the other woman. "I apologize, I seem to have lost myself in thought." A smile forced itself onto her lips. Midna tried not to lift a brow. "Would you mind saying that again?"
"Are you okay?" Midna asked instead.
"Yes." Zelda's smile was too tight for her own good.
Eldren finally seemed to notice as well, and he stared at his sister with brows furrowed and hands laced behind his back. "Really, Zelda, tell us if something's wrong."
Suddenly her eyes turned to slits. She cautiously surveyed every single member of the council as they filed past her, and she even cast a furtive glance in the direction of Midna's bodyguards. This time the Twili allowed herself to raise both brows in confusion. "I cannot speak of it here," she whispered. For a moment the three only stood there, exchanging worried glances. Then - "At dinner," Zelda murmured, and brushed past them without another word.
Midna stared after her.
…What?
Eldren turned to the Twili princess with an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry, but I should probably try and find out what's wrong."
"Of course," Midna managed to say.
"It seems she wants to meet us at dinner, however," the prince said.
Midna just nodded, her throat quite suddenly dry. She wasn't sure why - but seeing Zelda's seemingly constant composure slip made her nervous. Somehow she managed a tight smile. "I'll see you then."
He slightly bowed his head in response, then quickly turned to follow after Princess Zelda.
Midna clenched her hands into fists within the folds of her dark purple dress. If she had been tired before, now she only felt alert, and confused, and perhaps a little scared too. Though she hated to admit that to herself. Gritting her teeth, she turned, and strode off down the hall.
"Where are you going?" Salaas called after her, hurrying to catch up. "Your chambers aren't in this direction."
"I know."
Though she couldn't see him, she knew he pressed his lips into a thin line and glared at her. She could feel his eyes boring into her back. Of course, she ignored it. "Then why are you going this way?"
"I just…" She stopped, then realized her decision to visit Link and see how he was doing seemed rather irrational. He would want to know who she was. He would ask questions. Too many. Questions she wasn't ready to give answers to… especially not with Salaas and Ludin tailing behind her. She turned around then, and looked between her bodyguards, releasing a long sigh through her nose and relaxing her shoulders, having not even realized until then how tense they were. "Nothing. I just wanted some lunch." She shook her head. "But I'll go back to my chambers… as long as you fetch it for me, all right Salaas?"
The Twili man paused and absently scratched at the bridge of his nose. "Fine. But Ludin - don't let her out of your sight."
Ludin only blinked in reply. Midna shot him a glance from the corner of her eye and tried not to grimace. She hadn't planned this out nearly well enough. How would she get rid of him? Maybe she wouldn't. He didn't seem as strict as Salaas, and she dared to hope that he wouldn't mind too much if she went to visit Link. Not to mention he rarely ever spoke anyway. He wouldn't pester her about it… would he?
Salaas vanished around a corner, and she knew this was a good a chance as any to take a trip to the infirmary.
So she did.
Despite having visited only the day before, she didn't exactly remember the way, and she kept running into dead ends, or the hallway would loop her back to where she started. Could the castle be any more confusing? With each wrong turn she ground her teeth in annoyance - surely Salaas would return soon, and he'd be furious if he found that she was missing from her room. She had to hurry.
Somehow, she managed to find her way. With a huff of annoyance and perhaps a little relief, she grumbled "Finally" to herself as she descended the stairs and crossed the hall into the infirmary. Many an eye landed upon her when she entered, but for the most part they all looked away again; she had been here quite recently, after all, and most of her novelty had worn off then. She knew people still feared her. But at least they didn't show it as much.
And, as she cautiously picked her way through the sleeping bodies scattered all across the floor, she could only be grateful when Ludin stayed in the doorway and did not question her.
There lie Link's bed, in the corner of the infirmary, and upon it sat Link himself - and Laik, too, but she tried to pretend he wasn't there as she stopped before the two of them.
Link lifted his sky-blue eyes to meet hers, and a smile spread across his lips that she hadn't quite been expecting. No, she expected a slew of questions, maybe even frustration, grief over the fresh loss of his parents. But she couldn't help smiling in return. She quickly wiped it off her face and planted her hands on her hips, pretending to be upset. "What are you doing up? You should be resting."
She felt Laik's gaze lingering on her. To her surprise, he offered no attempt to flirt. Instead he sat there, with tired eyes and a tired grimace and tired shoulders. Understandable, after what he had been through. She felt sorry for him, and gave him a look of sympathy.
"I'm fine," Link insisted. "Just a couple broken ribs, after all. They've been giving me medicine to make me heal faster."
She invited herself to sit at his side. Worried crimson eyes studied him, searching for any lie in his face. She found one. "It still hurts, doesn't it?"
He winced a little - almost unnoticeably, but she noticed anyway. "A little. When I breathe too deep or move around too much."
Laik looked between the two of them, and finally, after a long moment of silence, he said, "Hello, Midna."
Just this once she decided to be kind to him. "Hi, Laik." She smiled.
He grinned - a weak, strained grin, but a grin anyway, and she almost remembered the insufferable flirt he had been before this mess started. "I was beginning to think I'd turned invisible and you didn't see me."
"How are you doing?" she asked.
He shrugged. "As well as I can be, what with… with, everything." His eyes dropped, and so did his grin, and she realized it hurt her to see him so sad - even if she had almost hated him before. And he and Link weren't the only ones. The whole of Hyrule suffered beneath the burden of demons, and a mysterious necromancer, and the sudden loss of their loved ones…
"Healers say I had a concussion," Laik continued. "I didn't really understand what was happening. I just saw this… this terrifying woman, and then the house was burning down. I didn't know what to make of it." He swallowed heavily and curled his fists until his knuckles turned white, the bedsheets crumpling beneath his fingers. "Link told me all about what happened to… to our parents." His voice cracked on the last word.
His brother pressed his lips together, lowering his head until his golden bangs fell to cover his eyes.
"Did - did he tell you?" Laik somehow managed to say, even through the tears that gathered in his eyes.
"He did," came the Twili woman's soft reply, and she reached to put a hand on his arm. "I'm so sorry."
Laik swallowed again and averted his eyes. Midna retracted her hand and let it drop to her side, nervously staring at the bed beneath her, at an utter loss of what to do. How could she possibly help them, or comfort them, or do anything for them? She could try to protect them from the sudden onslaught of danger, of course, but could she really do such a thing? She suddenly doubted herself.
Then Link looked at her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and saw the unspoken questions piling one atop another within his gaze. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of them. He wanted to know who she was. That much was clear. But not now… not when their grief threatened to consume them. She needed to give them time.
Or so she told herself, anyway. Deep down she knew she only wanted to procrastinate the inevitable. Not that it mattered much anymore - in a time as dire as this, who cared if she was a princess?
"Link?" she started, even as her heart began to pound uncontrollably in her chest.
He never removed his eyes from her face.
"I… have something to tell you. Both of you," she corrected herself, and cast a quick glance at Laik too, only to see that he hadn't looked her way. She took a deep, nervous breath and smoothed out a few wrinkles in her purple dress.
Link's once-soothing, beautiful eyes seemed to pierce into her very soul, and she wanted so desperately to leave and pretend she'd said nothing at all.
But she plowed on anyway.
"I'm a princess," she blurted before she could stop herself.
She saw his eyes widen and his jaw drop. Laik joined in on the surprise too - and, she had to be honest with herself - despite the tense situation, their expressions were so amusing that it took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to crack a smile. "A-anyway," she continued once she'd regained control of herself, "because of - of what I am, I suppose, I can help you. I've already been to plenty royal council meetings and we've discussed what to do about these demons. So far, we've learned that…" But she sealed her lips tight and frowned. The necromancer. Was that all right to tell them? "Um - sorry. I don't know if I can tell you that. The point is, we're trying our best, and we are going to figure something out, all right? I'll help you both any way I can."
Finally she lifted her gaze to meet theirs. They both stared at her, shock in their eyes, and silence followed - until Link broke it, anyway.
He cocked a brow. "I thought you told me you were staying at an inn?"
She lowered her head once more, too ashamed to meet his eyes, fiery hair falling to cover her face. "About that… I really am sorry. I didn't want you to see me any differently."
She dared to cast him a furtive glance, only to see him brushing a hand through his hair and breathing a deep sigh through his nose. "You know… I don't even know how to respond to that."
"Sorry," she offered again.
He shook his head. "It's - it's fine."
"You're not angry at me?" She peered at him from beneath her orange curtain of hair. He tried to smile at her, and just shook his head again.
"No. I have too many other things on my plate to be angry at you."
Midna awkwardly cleared her throat. "Well - sorry again, really. I didn't want to lie. I feel awful about it. I'll make it up to you, I promise, all right?"
To her surprise he actually chuckled. It came out faint and breathy, and she could tell just how exhausted he was. Time to go, she supposed. He and Laik needed to sleep. "All right, then. Thank you, Midna."
She gave a single nod, then stood. "I should probably get going."
Laik finally managed to say something. "So soon?" he sighed.
Her shoulders drooped. "Regrettably. I have a meeting with Princess Zelda and Prince Eldren tonight, and we have some important things to discuss." Like, what lay beyond that odd locked door in the library, for one. But she didn't know how much to tell Link and his brother. She probably shouldn't have even told them about her meetings with the Hyrulian princess and prince.
Oh well.
"So I should be going," she told them. Her eyes softened. "Do you want me to do anything for you?"
The two brothers exchanged a glance, and then Link shook his head. "No. But thank you. I think… we just need a nap." He smiled sheepishly.
"Of course. Get plenty of rest, you two, okay?"
They both nodded in reply. "See you," Laik said, "and hopefully soon." At that, he smirked - even despite the severity of their situation.
She figured it was his way of coping, but for some reason it infuriated her anyway, and she mumbled, "Oh my sweet Golden Goddesses, shut up," as she rolled her eyes and swept out of the infirmary.
Ludin joined her, and escorted her back to her chambers - and never once asked a single question.
"So… what's behind that door, anyway?" Midna asked, accepting the cup of coffee Salaas handed her. She gave him a look of thanks, and he stepped away to stand silent beside the door.
Eldren stared blankly at the plate of food before him. "Only father knows," he sighed, reaching up to smooth a lock of golden hair back into its place. "We used to know -" Here he cast a glance in his sister's direction, seated in her usual spot in a plush chair across from the other two - "but that changed when mother died."
The Twili pressed her lips together in thought and set her cup of coffee onto the table, trading it for her plate piled with roasted pheasant and buttered carrots. "So neither of you can get in there anymore?" she questioned as she stuffed an entire carrot into her mouth.
Eldren lightly shook his head as he took a taste of his raspberry tea. From what Midna could tell, he never drank any other flavor. "Unfortunately not. We haven't been allowed inside since… you know."
His mother's death. Her gaze flicked between Zelda and her brother, and she breathed a quiet sigh. "Well… that's that, then. I just wondered if what was inside held any importance to us."
"It might," Zelda spoke, hands folded in her lap. She had placed a few items of food on her own porcelain plate and a cup of lavender tea sat in front of her - not her usual rose - but she had not eaten or taken a sip of the drink yet. "Perhaps father is hiding something in there."
Midna's brow cocked of its own accord at the Hylian woman's suspicious tone. Eldren's brows knit together and he frowned. "Zelda! What do you mean, 'hiding something'? This is father we're talking about."
"I know." She lacked her usual piercing gaze, Midna noticed, and she found that she quite missed the fierce thunderclouds within her slate-colored eyes. They had been replaced with a gloomy rain. And she struggled to meet anyone's eyes. Coming from someone as refined as Princess Zelda, it was more than a little unnerving.
Eldren hid his frown behind his cup of tea and averted his eyes. "So, you… suspect him of something, then?"
"I cannot be sure," she admitted, and sighed, lifting her eyes to the ceiling in thought. "I spoke to Lady Ali this morning. She said she knows who the necromancer is."
"What?!" Eldren spluttered, and, unfortunately, he had been taking a drink of his tea. At his surprised exclamation, he spewed it all over the table, and it dribbled down his chin. Immediately his entire face blazed red with embarrassment. "Din," he swore, and not expecting such language from him - nor such a slip of composure - Midna quickly covered her grin with a hand. "Sorry," he grumbled, snatching a napkin from the table and hurrying to wipe off his face and anywhere else the tea had splashed.
Although she could hide her grin behind a hand, she could not disguise the giggle that left her lips.
When Eldren shot the Twili a glare, her tiny giggle turned to loud, unashamed guffaws. A burst of laughter interrupted her whenever she tried to form words of any kind. And, in spite of himself, the prince smiled, though his ears still burned red.
"I'm - I'm sorry, but you should have seen your face -" Midna managed to splutter between bouts of uncontrollable giggles.
Seeing Zelda's utter lack of amusement eventually calmed the Twili princess. The memory of the words she'd just spoken helped, too - "She knows who the necromancer is."
Midna regained control of herself and sat up straighter, clearing her throat. "Anyway," she began, "you were saying, Zelda?"
"Lady Ali knows who the necromancer is," she repeated, for the first time taking a tiny bite of her roast pheasant. Any trace of humor Midna felt vanished into the tense air. A silence followed while Eldren and Midna waited anxiously to hear what else she had to say. But when Zelda swallowed her food no further explanation came. She simply took another bite of meat.
"Well?" Midna pressed eagerly. "Who is it? And… uh, who's Lady Ali?"
Eldren cast her a sidelong look. "The woman who spoke up in the council, saying the demons seemed to be the result of necromancy."
Yes. Her. The Twili nodded in understanding.
"As for who the necromancer is - I do not know yet, I'm afraid," Zelda sighed, daintily wiping her lips with a napkin before directing her sad gaze at the two people in front of her. "Lady Ali would not tell me. According to her, the enemy threatened to kill her should she ever reveal his secret."
Eldren leaned forward, interlocking his fingers and resting his elbows on his knees, eyes distant. Midna pressed her lips together and crossed her legs. So they still didn't know who their enemy was - but they were close. Infuriatingly close. She brought up a hand and pressed her fingers to her temple, baring her teeth in annoyance. "We have to find out who it is," she said, stating the obvious.
Zelda looked exhausted. But despite the weight of an entire kingdom hanging across her shoulders, she kept them squared, and would not let her back slouch even in the slightest.
"Why didn't you invite us to come with you?" Eldren asked, sounding just the slightest bit offended.
"I did not wish to alarm her. She is a very skittish woman, after all," Zelda replied. "I feared that if I brought you with me, she would assume the worst."
"You didn't bring anyone with you?" The prince grimaced.
This time Zelda did not speak. She only shook her head.
"You could have gotten hurt!" the prince fussed. "What if she turned out to be the necromancer? She could have - could have hurt you…"
"But I am unharmed, am I not?" She offered him a reassuring smile - one that clearly did not placate him. Still he stared at her with concern flickering in his eyes. Zelda didn't seem to notice. She took the first sip of her tea and shut her eyes as she did so, as if trying to calm herself.
"And -" Eldren stood, and began to pace in front of his chair. "And father? What does he have to do with any of this?" Just as soon as he had started, he stopped his pacing, and turned to his sister, horror taking root and quickly consuming his face. He visibly paled. "You don't think he's -"
"As I said," the Hylian woman interrupted before he could get any further, and her voice cut, uncharacteristically sharp. Eldren almost seemed to reel away from it. "I do not know anything for sure." Again she sipped at her tea. A breath might have caught in her throat, and her chest shuddered a little in distress.
Midna could not say anything. She simply sat there, feeling useless, looking between the princess and her brother, fear bubbling within her that she desperately tried to swallow. The king - a necromancer? It couldn't be, could it? She did not know him, but the idea of her future father-in-law being a necromancer sickened her, to put it mildly. It must have been even more upsetting to Eldren and Zelda.
"I -" Eldren's eyes widened, and he buried his face in his hands. For a while he only stood there, silent. Then without warning he turned and strode out the door, slamming it behind him. Salaas watched him go with both brows raised in surprise.
The Twili woman blinked. Her lips parted, and she searched her mind, reaching desperately for anything she could say to the other princess. But no words came.
So instead she simply stood, and spluttered the first thing she could think of - "I'm sorry" - before she gave a clumsy bow and hurried to follow the prince.
He had already advanced all the way down the long hall, and then he turned and vanished around the corner without a moment's hesitation.
"Wait!" Midna cried, and ran after him, ignoring Salaas shouting the same word behind her. Bare feet thumped hard against the carpeted floor, and she hiked her dress above her ankles so it wouldn't get in her way. Her hair - which she had left loose and not bothered to style in any way - flew wildly about her, whipping into her eyes and mouth, but she ignored it and skidded around the corner. "Eldren!"
Finally - he stopped. She followed suit, slowing to a halt, chest heaving from her short but frantic run. She clawed the hair away from her mouth.
"Midna," he sighed. "Er - I apologize for the abrupt exit." After she caught her breath, she stepped toward him, dress still clutched in her hands, fabric wrinkled around her long fingers. "What is it?"
She released her dress and let it fall just past her ankles again. The sides of it crinkled hopelessly and she didn't bother to try smoothing them. "I…" And she realized she didn't quite have an answer to his question. Why had she chased after him, anyway? "I just wanted to know if you're okay," she finished lamely.
Salaas came up behind her. Eldren cast him a cursory glance, then forced a smile, and brushed a few wisps of unruly golden hair away from his eyes. It was strange to see his hair like that, she thought. It had always been so perfectly maintained before. "…Yes," he replied, but his hesitance made her doubt.
She lifted a brow. "Huh. Really?"
He covered his mouth with a fist and cleared his throat. "I - ah… Midna." He paused for a moment to square his broad shoulders and lace his hands behind his back like he always did when he was nervous and wanted to appear more confident than he felt. "Would you care to walk with me?"
"Why not?" With a faint smile she turned to Salaas. "Head back to my chambers and wait for me there. Eldren will make a suitable escort, thank you."
Her bodyguard narrowed his eyes. Clearly he disliked the idea of leaving the Twili princess alone. She couldn't blame him - she'd wrapped herself up in too many shenanigans to count. But he looked at the prince again, and resigned, trying to give a good-natured shrug. "All right. But if you aren't back within an hour, I will come looking for you. Don't stray too far from the castle."
"Sure, dad, thanks," she called as he brushed past her and walked down the hall.
The prince turned to watch him go, then he returned his eyes to Midna's again. She smiled reassuringly. He offered his arm, and she took it. "I won't lead you too far away, according to your bodyguard's wishes," he pledged, and she laughed.
"Sure. Not like I'm worried about it anyway."
"We won't even leave the castle. After all, what with demons roaming about…" He visibly winced at the words, and began to walk her forward as if to distract himself from the thought. "But they haven't made it inside Castle Town's walls yet. We'll be fine."
"I know."
The rest of their journey passed in relative silence. Muted footfalls were the only things to break the quiet between them. Sometimes Eldren would stare at his boots as he walked instead of the path ahead of him. Eventually Midna noticed his eyes lingering on her feet, and she nudged him with her elbow. "What are you looking at? Do they have dirt on them or something?"
He quickly looked up. "Uh - oh. No, sorry. I was just wondering if you ever wore shoes." He grinned.
"Rarely." She shrugged. "I find them restricting. They just… feel strange."
"Don't your feet get hurt?"
"Yeah." She laughed. "I remember when my nursemaid had to pull a bunch of thorns out of my foot when I was little, because for some stupid reason I decided it was a good idea to walk through a rosebush. There was that time I broke a window -" When he furrowed his brows and sent her a questioning look, she simply said "long story" before continuing - "and anyway, my nursemaid had to pull glass out of my feet. She wasn't very happy about that. Oh! And that time with a porcupine…" She shook her head at the memory.
Eldren stared at her curiously as they walked, and Midna couldn't help noticing as they descended a familiar staircase. They passed the infirmary, its doors shut tight to allow its patients a peaceful sleep. For a moment she forgot all about her story and only watched the doors as they went by.
"Um, got distracted, sorry," she said after quite an awkward pause.
He smiled. "It's fine. We're here, anyway," he informed her as he turned a corner into an uncarpeted hall, walls narrow and ceiling lower than in the other parts of the castle. Cold, unforgiving granite met her bare feet, and being accustomed to the soft warm carpet, she couldn't help frowning at the feeling. At the end of the tiny hall an equally small, unassuming wooden door awaited them, undecorated as opposed to all the other ornate doors in the castle. Eldren stepped ahead and opened the door for her.
"Wow," she breathed, and stepped beyond the confining castle walls into a small shard of paradise.
Before her a little stone path stretched, twirling uneven through a miniature aspen forest like an excited child running free. Castle walls surrounded her, covered in ivy. Moss sprouted on the thin white trunks of the trees and poked between the flat stones of the trail. Flowers of all colors and types nestled between the trees. The next bend hid behind the aspens, but the Twili thought she could hear running water, and without hesitation she took off down the path, beams of moonlight slipping like silver waterfalls through the leaves to bathe her form.
There, at the end of the path, a pretty fountain awaited - carved of dark stone, moss coating its surface, rather small compared to some of the other grand affairs she had seen. A basin sat on the ground, and a short pillar held up the next basin, and stone birds perched atop it, singing, water flowing from their beaks and pooling around their little feet. The entire thing stood no taller than her hips. There were two stone benches on either side of the fountain, surrounded by pink flowers, and she sat upon one, watching the water flow.
It was simple, she thought - simple, but so beautiful, with the trees shivering in the cool night breeze and stars peeking down at her from between their branches. It didn't feel as carefully manicured as the inner ward. She liked that. It felt natural, the way the trees and flowers grew without pattern.
Eldren took a seat beside her and a contented smile spread across his lips. "The castle has many gardens. This one is a little unique, though, and I like it." He bent to look at a purple flower beside his feet. "This time of year is my favorite. It's perfect for flowers to bloom."
She studied his face, how calm he looked, the way his shoulders and back slouched in relaxation. "You like flowers?"
"Yeah…" he admitted hesitantly. "Anyway," he began, as if trying to change the subject - though why he should be embarrassed about liking flowers, she didn't know - "we shouldn't stay here too long. I don't want to worry your bodyguards too much."
"Right." Midna folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes.
"I am sorry for dragging you out here," he sighed, leaning forward to touch one of the streams of water spewing from a stone bird's mouth. "I just - needed to calm myself, I suppose. If - if father…" He trailed off. His jaw clenched and he couldn't continue.
Midna shook her head. "Look, it's fine. I'm sure everything will work out. Don't worry, okay?" She tried to smile at him.
Eldren nodded once. "You're right," he said after a pause, and exhaled deeply.
"I always am," she joked, and he might have chuckled, a little. "So can we enjoy the rest of our time out here without worrying about demons or necromancers?"
"Of course. I - I apologize." He nervously adjusted his hair, straightening his spine and letting his hands drop loose into his lap.
"Stop apologizing. You're okay. Everything will be okay," she assured him again.
And she had the distinct feeling she was entirely, utterly wrong.
A/N: Finally! New chapter! Sorry for how long this one took... I feel like I owe you guys an explanation, even if it's a pathetic one.
Basically, I thought I had this story all planned out. I knew what would happen to Midna and the gang and I had a few twists here and there to keep things (hopefully) interesting. Unfortunately, when I started writing this chapter, I realized my plans were crumbling. They were far too complicated and stupid, and in order for them to make sense, I had to reach really far and pull an explanation for things out of nowhere. Long story short, let's just say I stewed over this chapter for a long time and hated it, before I finally decided to delete it all and completely rethink where I was going with this.
It took a while, needless to say... but I think I finally have the plot worked out. Mostly. I cannot make any promises as to when the next chapter will come out, but I'm determined to finish this, so stay tuned! And thank you so much for reading, and for patiently waiting and putting up with me :P As always, reviews and critique are both loved c: