Chapter 11
The Meeting
Link and Gandor walked back to the barracks in silence. Link worried for Gandor's secrecy. He knew Gandor had no bad intentions, but him hiding his origins would come off as very suspicious. Link also suspected he would be asked about Gandor in his interview to follow.
Why doesn't he just try being honest? Does he think they won't trust him? Link wondered to himself.
When they returned to their room, a soldier was waiting for Link.
"You're the lad from the forest I'm to take to the east wing?" the guard asked, looking at Link.
Link nodded and followed the guard out of the barracks.
"So," Link said, going down a flight of stairs behind the guard, "Anything I should expect?"
The soldier answered blankly. "I was just ordered to bring you to the other end of the castle. I won't be the one talking to you. But it's not often a cadet is called to the parliament side of the building on their first day."
After about 10 minutes of walking, they reached the entrance to a fancy chamber, where another man stood outside waiting for them. He dismissed Link's escort and continued to brief Link.
"I trust you know why you're here. Inside you will be asked to explain the details of where you come from. It may be a few minutes before whomever will interview you is there. Thank you for your patience," the man explained.
"Sure thing," Link said. "But why don't you just interview me? We can have this over with," Link asked, not understanding why everything was so official.
"I'm just a secretary, lad. I don't have any government authority, and from what I understand, you're about to shed some light where our kingdom is very much still in the dark. Someone equipped to follow the proper protocol will have to document what you share," he explained.
Link nodded and went inside. The room was smaller than he thought, but still much bigger than most rooms he had been in so far. He suspected this was a meeting room for a larger gathering. Link was not expecting what happened next.
The man who had allowed Link in stepped inside. "Well this is a surprise. Looks like you're in for a rather eventful first day, lad." That was all he could fit before he was interrupted by a much louder voice.
"All rise in the presence of the Princess of Hyrule!" proclaimed an official-sounding voice.
Seconds later, Link was at his feet, and the room went silent as she walked in.
She was tall, with elvish features. She had long brown hair past her shoulders, with a gold piece covering her forehead. She wore a long white dress with a purple blouse, her dress bearing the Royal Crest.
Link found himself doing as the man beside him, and bowing as the princess entered the room, her squire remaining at the door.
She spoke, "Greetings. You may be at ease. Thank you for coming. And thank you sir," she said, looking at the secretary. "If you wouldn't mind, you may leave us now." She waved off the squire as well, and did not speak until it was just the two of them left in the room.
Link was surprisingly nervous. He had not expected to meet royalty so soon, if at all. He stood up straight, not sure if he was acting informally.
"Please," the Princess said, "take a seat," she offered, sitting down across from where Link had been sitting.
Link was not sure if or how he should speak, so he remained silent and sat as he was told.
The Princess appeared amused. "Please sir, you can relax. Link, was it?" she asked looking down at a form.
Link nodded, not used to being called sir.
The girl extended her hand. "I'm Princess Zelda. On behalf of my Kingdom, I welcome you to Hyrule. I've been told you've come quite a ways to get here?"
Link shook her hand and tried to enunciate. "Y-yes. I walked here from the forest. It is an honor to meet you, Princess. I had not expected to get to meet you."
She nodded at him. "Yes, this kind of thing doesn't happen very often. But you have to understand, you being here is actually quite significant. It is the goal of this country to extend its relations to all the neighbouring lands. I happened to hear talk of your arrival, and I had the afternoon free so I took it upon myself to come see you myself. My father would have done the same had he not been so busy lately."
Link was worried that his being tense was showing too much. Zelda seemed to notice, as she changed the mood.
"So Link, how do you like the castle so far?" she asked him.
"It's amazing, your highness. I've never seen anything like this in my life," Link answered.
"You can call me Zelda," she told him. "When we're in private meeting, it's alright to address me by my first name if I give you permission. If you see me in passing, formalities will still be in place." She sighed, "It's just the way things go around here I guess."
"I understand," Link said. "I suppose you'd like me to tell you of where I come from."
"Take a minute, Link," Zelda suggested. "Just relax for a bit. I'll tell you a bit about myself before I start asking you questions. I am 19 years old. I have no brothers or sisters. I live with my father in the north part of the castle. My main occupation is as a politician. I handle local affairs, while my father manages foreign affairs. I have never met my mother, but my attendant Impa took care of me when I was little."
"I never met my mother either. Kokiri women can only give birth once in their lives, so unless she happens to bear twins, siblings are uncommon where I come from," Link said, making conversation.
"Kokiri? I take it that is the name of your people?" Zelda asked. When Link nodded, she continued. "Have Kokiri women tried giving birth after their first born? Is that how they know?"
"None have ever tried because they die shortly following the birth," Link answered.
Zelda looked intrigued. "Fascinating. Must make it difficult to come to decide to have children. At what point in a Kokiri's life while they reproduce?" Zelda asked, taking notes all the while.
"Kokiri never grow into adults. They could live for 50 years and appear to be children. I am an uncommon exception, most do not grow to be as tall as I am."
"And you are," Zelda searched the paper, "16 years old?"
"That's what I've been led to believe. All I can go by is what the people who were around at the time of my birth remember. Much of our calendar is informal. The education there was thorough, though. I learnt how to read and write before I was 10 years-old. Same language, different dialect."
"Well, Link," Zelda said. "This is all very exciting to me, and I feel like I speak for my father too. But I am still missing one very important detail. The fact that we knew nothing of the Kokiri's existence is curious. Would you say the reason your people have never left the forest is due to technology restrictions?"
"Kokiri believe that if they leave the forest they will die," Link answered.
"But you left. What does that mean?"
"Either they were wrong or I'm not a real Kokiri," Link laughed.
"There's several more questions I could ask you, but you've had a long day, and we have a lot of information we did not even consider before your arrival. There may come a day when our Kingdom will want to expand our reaches and interact with your people. When that time comes, my father will ask you to lead us there. You will have some time to think about it, but you might want to consider going back to the forest."
"I never really thought about returning to the forest," Link said. "I kind of assumed it was impossible, and since then I've just been adjusting to what I have to work with."
"So you did not choose to come here…" Zelda seemed sad for Link. "I'm sorry. I've been throwing all these questions at you and I didn't even think to ask how it came to be."
"It's alright," Link told her. "It's been an interesting ride. Never thought I'd find myself with an audience of the Princess."
"I admire your work ethic. I understand you've gone straight to enlistment. That's very impressive Link," Zelda complimented.
"I hadn't thought much of it. Kind of figured it was the most obvious choice."
Zelda stood. "Well I hope you find yourself at home in my Kingdom. I will leave you to get settled. It will be a few days before anyone bothers you with questions again. If you'll excuse me, I will bring this meeting to an end. Thank you for your time Link. I hope to see you again."
Link stood and bowed. Zelda walked alone to the doorway where her squire appeared to be waiting outside for her. It was a minute or two before Link headed back to his barracks.
"What was that about?" Gandor asked when Link returned to the quarters. "You were gone awhile. You seem dazed." Gandor was laying on his bed, his belongs placed on top of the trunk at the foot of his bed.
"Just had my interview. They wanted to know about the forest. I guess they've never been there," Link answered.
"Another interview?" Gandor raised an eyebrow. "Well that sucks. Another blank soldier interrogating you like your citizenship is a crime…"
"It wasn't a guard," Link said. "It was the Princess."
The other 4 men in the room fell silent. They all turned to Link.
"Princess Zelda?"
"Yeah, right."
"I'm sure the Princess has nothing better to do than talk to a random cadet walking around the East Wing."
Link's roommates, all of which appeared to be within 5 years of his age, continued chatting in disbelief for another minute before Link intervened.
"I think it was out of chance, but she heard there was a foreigner so she took it upon herself to come see me," Link told them. "But it was for humanitarian purposes. The historians and scholars of Hyrule have never heard of my kind, so they might talk to me again for more detailed accounts."
"You're a strange one, lad," said one of the cadets, Groose was his name as Link remembered.
The other roommates seemed to agree. Link felt like the odd one out this time. It was strange that this was the first time he actually felt he needed to be cautious in a social setting.
"Well, I believe him," Gandor said. "As strange a story as it is."
"Course you do," said Groose. "You guys certainly go together. Where do you come from again, bulky?" he asked Gandor.
"The Plains," Gandor disregarded him. "You?"
"We're from Ikana Valley. That's where all the finest warriors come from," Groose said proudly. The other recruits seemed to be like his entourage.
"What's with your pals?" Link asked. "It looks like they're all hiding behind you."
"Don't be stupid," Groose said, giving his companion a hard slap on the back. "They stick with me because they know it's smart."
"What is this, a gang?" Gandor asked. "Thought we were all part of the same team.
"Oh, we all serve the same country, but when it comes to who will do their nation proud, my crew would have you beat. If anyone's going to take down the Gerudo King, it's me!" Groose cheered.
"The Gerudo King?" Link wondered aloud, trying not to look straight at Gandor.
"That's right. Face it lad, we're about to go to war. King Demise of the Desert is planning an attack, and our King surely knows this. Shouldn't be long before he rallies our troops for war, and we'll be posted on the battle front!" Groose explained, rather excited.
"Oh don't listen to him," a smaller fellow lying on his bed in the far corner of the room called, looking up from his book. "Have a little faith in our government. If it was run by only bomb happy twats like you then yeah, we would go to war. But King Nohansen is smarter than that."
"Says the former ocean dweller," Groose replied. "Don't pretend our politics here on land are anything like where you come from." When the cadet did not acknowledge Groose, he continued. "You boys have a busy day tomorrow. You'll be up bright and early. See you on the training grounds," Groose said before marching out of the room with his two companions.
"Don't let him give you a hard time," the boy with the book said. "He feels like there's a lot of pressure for him to do well."
"Why is that?" Link asked.
"His place of origin, Ikana, used to be its own country. In fact, it was a great nation, respected or feared by its neighbouring lands. About a century ago, the Kingdom of Hyrule invaded. There are rumors that several meetings had occurred between the two countries to agree on annexation, but in the end, Ikana proved to be too battle-happy, a war monger perhaps. The story says Hyrule had no choice but to invade, but I think that's just how it's told from Hyrulian historians. In my opinion, the truth is that Hyrule saw them as a threat so they took them out before they could become too strong."
"You're sure about this?" Link asked, interested in his story.
"Well that was their intent, but the Hyrulian troops were too late for a clean conquering. The battle took the lives of thousands. And to leave a mark on Ikana Valley, the Hyrulian army ravaged the Great Castle of Ikana, killing its king but leaving the fortress standing. To this day, that castle remains abandoned and barren, serving as a reminder to the residence of Ikana. It is said that it is where the spirits of the dead linger, still restless from their defeat."
"How do you know all this?" Gandor asked the boy.
"I read a lot of books," the kid replied. "If you ever do travel there, it's quite a historical site. In the East Canyon of Ikana, the people there built a temple to worship their gods during the time of war. Another sad story nonetheless, as it is said that the inhabitants built the stone tower from the ground up in hopes to reach sky and their gods themselves. Of course, in Ikanan folklore, the gods did not like this at all. So, get this, they turned the temple upside down! They sent their worshippers to the underworld!"
"You tell an interesting story, lad," Gandor complimented. "And you come from the ocean?"
"I was born into a family of sailors. Used to spend months at a time at sea. Niko's the name," he said. "And you're the two new guys, eh? Link and Gander? Forest guy and plains guy."
"Close enough," Gandor mumbled. "How long have you been here?"
"Everyone billeted in this room is a cadet, meaning they're within their first two weeks of recruitment. Every recruit goes through the same routine before being made a private. I've been here about 3 days now, but I haven't started my training yet. Looks like you boys got here just in time. You'll be doing your training with me, and probably Groose too," Niko explained.
"You mean we have to listen to that guy all day tomorrow?" Gandor groaned.
"Not just tomorrow. You'll be seeing a lot of him. We all will," Niko complained.
"Sounds like a blast," Link said sarcastically.
"You guys haven't eaten since you got here, have you? You might wanna head to the mess hall. It's getting late and they might close up for the night soon," Niko suggested.
"Thanks," Link said, standing up, as did Gandor. The two of them headed downstairs for dinner, before returning to their quarters to prepare for the next day and go to bed.