Chapter 3: Mother and Son


Monday

12:45 PM


"Wake up, wake up,

The dawn calls.

Open your eyes to light.

Cradle your dreams,

'Till sun falls.

Then comes the cold night…"


The Dungeon

The blackness within the stone walls was deeper than that of a moonless sky at night. A single torch was the only thing fighting against the complete cover of darkness.

The typical occupant of the dungeon was normally quite at home there. In the present, she had an issue that disturbed her usual comfort. It wasn't as if comatose children fell from the sky every day, or at all, rather.

But that was what her thrall had claimed, so now she had to deal with it.

"Hmm..."

She hovered over a broad stone slab, which was normally reserved for freshly minted decedents. Now a child was sprawled out lifelessly on its face, showing no signs of consciousness.

Oh, come on, she thought. I can't be that bad of a singer...now what?

Her name was Lora, and she was the chief executioner and majordomo of the Hearthian regency. Still, for all her skills and might, she was beginning to think waking this boy up was beyond her pay grade.

Maybe I got the lyrics wrong? I know the melody is correct...I suppose not even King Woodheart's Lullaby worked...oh, wait. He is still alive, right?

She checked to see if he'd died somehow and she just hadn't noticed until then. He was still breathing, though steadily and deeply, much like how a hibernating animal would respire.

This sleep isn't natural. Kita had to have cast something over this child...but why would he be so excessive? Not to mention how he practically threw the boy at me...

Her thoughts distracted her as she glanced around the dungeon. She was distinctly aggravated for reasons she couldn't place. Once or twice she thought about hanging the boy upside down by his ankles, or maybe waterboarding him.

No, no. Remember your age limit. No torturing those under the age of seventeen, Lora.

She had missed her nap while trying to wake him up from his, so she figured that was why she was restless. She backed up to the wall and leaned against it with the smoldering torch mere feet away. She never liked to take breaks but recent times had been trying.

It was all thanks to the Queen, who couldn't have been bothered to leave certain decrees and responsibilities to the King while she was gone. Lora agreed with her, not that she wanted to be the one with the extra duties. Now she was beginning to reach a certain limit, one that could have been defined as...falling asleep on the job.


"Mother?"


Lora's eyes snapped open. She jerked her head down.

The boy was awake now, standing close in her shadow. His eyes were gentle but wide as he craned his head back, staring up at her.

She stared back. She was good at it.

Neither blinked, and neither budged. For several long moments only the torch flickering on the wall was the only sound or movement.

Oh, he's good... Lora thought. And maybe a bit slow. Hasn't he realized he's woken up in a dungeon?

She noticed something she hadn't before and leaned forward, needing to stoop quite a bit to get a closer look at the boy. Now that he was closer in the light, she spotted tiny motes of glitter speckling his clothes. The shimmering grains were familiar to her.

What...? Is that Fairy Dust he's covered in? How can that be?

...Kita...you lied to me.

This boy didn't fall out of thin air...I should have realized then how ridiculous it sounded! He had to have been in the gardens at some point. And...

Oh, no.

I made prolonged eye contact with him...I've gone and done myself in, now!

Lora held her head in a hand, shutting her eyes for several long moments. A heavy sigh left her bosom.

"Well, then...it looks like you'll be fine," she said, shifting her hand just a bit to look down at him. Her voice never came above a gentle murmur and possessed a low, dreamlike quality. "You were asleep for so long I thought something was wrong. It still is, actually. Just not with you specifically. Or is there something else I should know of..."

Her tongue almost slipped on a word, one she wasn't sure of.

"...child?" Lora finished.

The only thing he did was take a step forward, still boring holes into her.

"You'll hurt your neck like that."

He didn't seem to care. He only stared.

"Are you going to look around at something other than myself, maybe? Wonder where you are, or how you got here?"

Staaaaare.

Her temple twitched painfully. Lora contemplated on rescinding her age policy this one time before he spoke up again.

"Are you...my mother...?"

His voice was terribly quiet, like a whisper of wind. It was also familiar. Lora thought it wasn't dissimilar from her own.

"No," she told him simply. He stepped ever so closer, taking handfuls of her robes. His eyes were gleaming with wonder and a smile had formed on his lips.

"No—don't you look at me like that. Let go," Lora said sternly, swatting his hands away. "Surely you'd remember your real mother?"

She snatched him up by the neck of his tunic, adding, "And please, give me my space..."

He screwed up his face and sucked in a deep breath. She quickly held him out at arm's length.

"Goodness..." Lora muttered, as he went into a sneezing fit. "Bless you, bless you, then. Just from looking at all the pollen on your clothes...I can only imagine how much more got on your insides."

She set him on the ground a good distance away. He stood up and moved towards her. She put him on the same spot once more and he just walked to her again. They did this a few more times before Lora gave up.

"Fine. But no contact," she said. "Understand?"

"Aren't—"

"Hush. My answer is still no. You have been drugged, boy. Your mind is lying to you right now. Yes, it is," she added, when his face fell slightly. "Listen to me...I am not your mother. Did you actually hear me that time?"

He nodded coyly, twirling his pointer fingers around each other as he stared at her face. Lora had to delve for more patience.

"Focus..." she said. "Wake up a bit more, and look around."

This time to her relief, he obeyed. The stone slab he had been lying on was immaculately clean, though the grates on the floor around it were stained irreversibly by the blood of many.

On the ceiling, shackles of various lengths hung; many were rusted and battered from frequent use. A small cart on wheels sat in the corner, though the only thing on it was a headless axe Lora had left there after a recent execution. Along the north and east walls of the dungeon were wooden racks. Lined up neatly within them was every sort of weapon he'd ever seen, and the many more he hadn't.

The boy gazed around casually, almost in a bored way, as if he were just looking over a new fence she had built. Lora was mildly impressed.

This is an odd little one, she thought. What have his eyes seen for none of this to cause a reaction?

Or...maybe he's still half asleep and under the influence. Right.

Much to her displeasure, he was now back to staring at her. She figured they may as well get started if she was his main focus.

"Alright, then," Lora said. "One thing at a time. Okay?"

He blinked slowly, only once, then nodded.

"Let's do names next. My name is Lora."

"Hm?"

"Lora."

"Lora?"

"That's right."

"M...Moth—?"

"Don't you say it. The next time you do, I'll knock you upside the head." Lora eyed him for a moment, sensing that he was holding back a smile. "Stop fooling around. Now tell me your name, please."

He gave her a blank, tilted sort of look.

"You…do have a name?" she asked carefully.

"I…um…"

"What's the matter? Have you forgotten it?"

He stared at the ground, rifling with his long bangs for a moment. Lora chanced a glance at his forehead.

"…I almost did," he admitted. "My name is…Link."

Lora wasn't the best at remembering things, and that included names. At the moment, however, she was more concerned about his poor memory than her own.

This...can't be what it sounds like... Lora thought, tucking her arms into her robes. ...strange. So this is how Pisces felt all those years ago. To think he was so modest about it...

She watched the boy closely; he was now rubbing at the back of his head, cringing.

"Does your head hurt?" Lora asked.

He paused, shooting her a sarcastic look.

"Pardon. I like to ask questions...even the obvious ones." She swept from the spot, seeming to glide away in the darkness. The firelight caught her red curtain of hair and made it glow almost supernaturally. "Get ready, because I'm going to ask you more."

"Why?"

"Why?" she repeated, sitting on the stone slab. "I need to know what happened to you...it's a part of my job. Now, I have this..."

She reached for something she had set on the farther end of the slab—a small bundle of something, knotted up tight. Link didn't notice since he was looking around the dungeon again. He was starting to wake up more.

There were only two exits. One was through an old, rickety wooden frame embedded within the dungeon wall. The other was a door of metal, which was as rusted and well-worn as the shackles above.

"Um, where..." he began.

"Where are you? In a dungeon," Lora said. She was trying to untie the blue and orange bundle. "Specifically, one of the dungeons where I interrogate or execute criminals, sometimes both."

He stared at her as if she had spontaneously grown another head.

"Oh, you're not here to be executed, by the way," she added. "You'd be too far under my age limit, anyway. It's just nice and quiet this far underground. One can't even hear screams from the other prisoners."

As she spoke, she could tell his brain was resetting every other second as it processed new information.

"Whuh...I...I don't understand," Link uttered blankly. He looked around again in a daze, appearing quite pained. "...I can't...I...can't…!"

"You can't what?"

"...remember."

"What did you say just now?"

She wasn't looking at him and her voice never moved out of its calm tenor. But he caught a sudden, subtle coldness in her tone that sounded almost like a warning.

Link spoke carefully, watching her for any sudden movements. "...I can't remember...what happened before now..."

Her eyes swept over to meet his. He gulped but bravely maintained eye contact.

"Really?" Lora asked quietly. When he nodded, she just went back to what she was doing. "...well, then. You've got amnesia. At least you can remember your own identity...it could've been worse."

She ceased struggling with a stubborn knot, tilting the bundle this way and that before trying to untie another.

"What I can confirm is that you were found in the royal gardens. It's strange...you were inside one of the rarer species of flowers."

"In a flower?"

"Yes. One of my own. I'm not going to begin venturing on what abysmal events got you there, and you can't recall, so we'll leave that mystery alone for now. Thankfully you were found at a time where there weren't witnesses. If you had staggered around confused and calling the first woman you see mother, you likely would have been drawn and quartered within the half hour."

"...what?"

"It's how we do things around here. I'm awfully sorry to hear about your memory loss. In a way I can empathize. Thankfully, I have close friends and acquaintances. Without them, I'm sure I'd forget my own hands even with how firmly attached they—"

"TETRA!"

Link's sudden shout surprised her with how loud he could get. He went off on a sudden rampage, darting around, looking behind and below things, knocking weapons askew, even checking the ground beneath his feet.

"Is there any reason you're trashing my office?" Lora asked.

"I can't find Tetra, she...!"

"Unless she's a rat, there's no reason she'd be in here. Is that someone important to you?"

"Yes…I...oh no…"

Link seized his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. The effort to remember caused another wave of pain to crash against his skull and he staggered.

"Don't force your memories back," Lora told him. "Your mind is far too young to bear that sort of pressure...and I see you looking, don't run off—"

Link ignored her and took off towards the metal door, flinging it open to reveal a stairwell. Lora met him on the bottom step.

"You see, I was skeptical at first," she began, as he slid to a halt to avoid crashing into her. "But it looks like it's true and more that this'll be a strange day for a handful of people. At least for myself, you…and whoever it is you're pining for."

Horrified, Link turned and ran towards the second sort of exit—the wooden doorframe. He got a few feet past it before she came around the dark corner ahead.

"Unfortunately, my cohort has no subtly. Although he found and brought you to me, he was quite careless about it," Lora said, nonplussed. "I refrain...very careless. It's unlike him, since he's got a likening for the strange…"

Link backed out of the small corridor, then did another one eighty and nearly felt his soul leave his body. Lora was now sitting back on the stone slab, undoing a knot on the bundle.

"And you tie knots…exceptionally well," she said. "Who taught you?"

He just stood there, struck dumb with his mouth hanging open. How exactly was he supposed to escape with her doing what she was doing?

Lora suddenly glanced at him again. This time it was sharp and caustic.

"Answer me, boy…you are rapidly draining the last of my patience," she muttered. "When I ask a question, I expect a response."

"My tutor…Orca."

She rifled with the bundle, which was familiar to him, now that he paid attention. Something long, thin, and twinkling slipped out, clattering lightly to the floor—the Wind Waker.

"Th-That's mine!" Link cried.

"I figured...it's with your other things." Lora carefully picked up the baton, turning it over in her hands. "You're a musician?"

He nodded twice, cautious. Wait, his other things? Lora took them out one-by-one, setting them aside. His sister's telescope…his hourglass…

She held up a set of blue-and-orange garments. "An extra set of clothes...and you used them to hold everything else. At least it looks like you were traveling, yes?"

Link stared at his things as he drew close, hoping idle memories would surface. But nothing did, and his mind still ached from the passive effort. He shook his head.

"Still nothing?" Lora slid off the slab, her long robes trailing off after her. "It's okay. You can't help what you can't recall. Try this. What do you remember...last? Maybe being with your friend?"

"...yes," Link said, feeling his mind begin to stir. "I know I was with her, and…OW!"

He buckled for a moment, gritting his teeth.

"I was...we were...with our crewmates," he said breathlessly, kneading at his temples. "...but...I-I don't think they were with us...last."

"You think it was just you and her?"

"Mhm..."

"Doing what?"

He winced, feeling a shudder of terror run down his spine.

"Forget I asked that," Lora said. "But clearly, you all were on the Great Sea?"

Link flung his head up, gaping at her. "Yes!"

"Mhm. I've never been in those waters myself, but I've received secondhand accounts. Nevertheless…you, and I'm sure your friend, came across some sort of misfortune because you're here now. I hate to say it, but you're nowhere near the Great Sea at the moment."

Link's hopeful smile shattered off his face.

"For elaboration," Lora continued, "You're in the Hearthian Kingdom, which is apart of the greater Mortalian Empire ruled by our Emperor, Noh Morta. No, you never would've heard of it before. But you are most certainty in a new land. A new realm. This means you are strikingly different from most who live here. You are truly lost. But fortunately...I've come across others like you, and I know how to handle your situation. Except for the memory loss. No one before has had the issue of forgetting their actions before ending up here."

She stared at the flickering torch for a few seconds, not even seeming to breathe as she did.

"At least, I don't believe so," Lora said quietly. "Pardon…I'm behind on my sleep. And to be frank…you are being as truthful as you can be, yes?"

Link fidgeted and shifted on the spot, anxious. He couldn't help glancing at the door again.

"...Link," Lora's voice sifted from her lips, low and cold. "I don't like it when people lie to me. Let me know now if you have or haven't been, and I'll respond appropriately. Now...have you been truthful so far?"

"Y-Yes, but Tetra..."

"Your friend will be found if she's made it here. And stop thinking about it," Lora uttered the command in a sudden, threatening hiss that turned his legs to stone. "Don't you dare try to run again. What did I just say? That you're in a new land, yes? You must think before you go charging off. If I so allowed it, you'd get lost, trampled, or victimized, hardly in any specific order."

Link held firm, staring adamantly into her eyes. "I need to find her now."

"Now?"

"Now."

Lora gazed down at him mildly and he could tell she was amused at his urgency. Link scowled at the ground.

"Okay," Lora said. "One moment."

He huffed a bit, eyeing her as she gathered his things up, tying them back to a stick of some sort. Wait, it was to his fishing pole!

Link scratched his face, confused. He tended to recline in the King of Red Lions with his line cast out when time wasn't a mercy. He knew not to fish while working; Tetra would've hurtled him off the crow's nest for that.

"Let's go," Lora said.

He jerked his head up and around, startled. Lora had moved without his notice again. She had appeared behind right him, in front of the dungeon door. Her eyes glittered like onyx in the torchlight as she watched him.

"What is it, Link? Didn't you say you wanted to go find her now?" Lora fell silent, searching his face closely with her dark eyes. "You'll trust me. I don't promise that lightly."

"…but…"

"But what?"

He didn't answer, nor did he make any indication to move. Lora pulled her arms out of her robes.

"I think I've got it," she said. "Are you maybe hungry?"

Link was startled. Along with sleeping, eating was at the top of the list of things he liked to do. In truth, he felt his stomach wasn't nearly big enough to hold all the food he ever wanted to eat. He hadn't even noticed before then, but he really was starving.

"Yes, moth...um, ma'am," he admitted, bowing his head in shame. "...how did you know?"

"Lucky guess. It's fine. I can get you something to eat. As much as you want, actually."

He raised his head, looking at her in amazement. She inched flatter against the door.

"You have to promise to stick with me, though. I don't want you getting into trouble," she said. "Is that clear?"

He trailed up to her, eager. Lora was relieved that he didn't get as close to her as before.

"Don't worry about your friend," she said. "Not unless she's a complete moron. How intelligent is she?"

"Oh, very...sometimes, she can see or notice things before other people do..."

"Admirable. I'm sure she'll be just fine until I catch up with her...it shouldn't take me long."

"You'll...really find her?"

"Yes. I promise."

She turned to hold open the door, then glanced down at him. He was fiddling with his hands, peering up at her with a blush spreading on his face.

"Now what is it?" Lora asked, shutting the door. Link bowed his head and held his hands behind his back, idly scraping the heel of his boot along the ground. His voice went even lower, so much that she had to double over to hear him.

"Are...are you sure you're not my—!"

Link yelped when she knocked him across the head, just like she said she would. His mouth quivered and his eyes went wide and soulful. Lora cut a glance to the side.

"...fix your face," she said. "I warned you, didn't I?"

"Sorry…"

"Come on, now. I need to get you in the sunlight. You need to walk and wake up fully."

"Okay," Link said dreamily. Then, before he even thought about what he was doing (which was typical for him), he leaped onto the strange woman he had barely known for ten minutes.

Lora surprised herself by catching him. He didn't seem to mind that he was hugging an organic statue.

"...Link?"

"Hm?"

"Why?"

"I don't know. Um...thank you for wanting to help us..."

"You're quite welcome."

She plucked him from her neck and dropped him. He hit the ground with a quiet, "Oof!"

"I'll need you not to choke me out, thank you," Lora said. Then to herself she uttered, "Kita, you have a lot of my incoming agony to hear about..."

She snapped her fingers twice. The lone torch billowed out, finally allowing total darkness to bloom.


A/N:

* King Woodheart's Lullaby is sung to the tune of 'The Sonata of Awakening'