Chapter 5: Expose

The morning fog that loomed over Hyrule Field was thicker than usual, and unevenly dispersed. Floating lights could occasionally be seen from within the fog, but few knew what the source of it was. Consequently, this was where the mist was the heaviest, for the lights within appeared to move with the fog. Slowly, it began to spread out across the field, through castle town, and to the castle exterior itself.

Green eyes squinted through the fog, as Volga made his way into the castle grounds, having passed by a familiar statue for the second time now. The first time he had encountered this statue, he had ended up in a long, winding path that somehow brought him back to the same place he had been before. Now that he had taken a different route from the same statue, he finally reached his destination.

"You're late."

Volga swallowed dryly as he approached the training field he had been assigned to. There, stood Impa in her trademark stance: her arms crossed, and a stern expression on her face. "I'm sorry Impa!" he exclaimed, looking a bit ruffled as he rushed over to her. "I didn't get much sleep and it took me awhile to find this place. It was hard to see, and the castle is so big -"

"No excuses," Impa cut him off. "Your tardiness will result in three extra laps around the field on your next training session. And it is General Impa," she scowled. "Also, I'm afraid that due to some… circumstances that have been brought up, today's training will not be as long as was originally planned."

"Sorry Imp - I mean, General Impa."

"Now then," said Impa, as if she hadn't heard him. "In your absent-mindedness, you have likely failed to notice the weapons on the grass."

Volga glanced in the direction she was looking at. Spread out on the grass was a bow, lance, war hammer, and a shield with a sword lying on top of it. He recognized a few of these weapons from having seen the armed soldiers, but he had never actually witnessed any of them being used in combat.

"Well don't just stand there, gaping at them," said Impa irritably. "Pick one."

He blinked. "Any of them?"

"It doesn't matter," Impa replied. "You will be trying each one of them eventually as I test your skill. In time, you will choose the one you want to put the most effort into learning. It cannot be just any weapon either. It has to be one that fits for you. Because in the end, that will be the weapon that will be the difference between life and death."

Volga stared at each of the weapons before him. He figured he should start with something he was familiar with, or rather, something he had seen before, even if he never had a chance to try it. He picked up a rounded shield made of steel, and a matching sword to go with it. The sword was not particularly sharp, but he supposed it didn't matter, since he was not trying to injure anyone.

"Sword and shield, eh?" said Impa. "I see. A solid choice, but a generic one. You want to start with something defensive, and poke in a few stabs here and there. You think the concept will be fairly easy, don't you?"

He tensed under her strict, red gaze. "No I…"

Without warning, Impa picked up the war hammer from the ground and did a forward swing right at him. Surprised, Volga lifted his shield to block it - only to find that the shield was in his left hand, something he was not accustomed to using as much compared to his right hand. That, and the shield was more cumbersome than he had expected.

Impa's swing did not connect, for she withdrew. "Pitiful," she tutted. "Had this been a real fight, your head would have been bashed in, and bloodied by now. What, does one of the weapons feel stiff to you? Are you not as confident using one of your hands, as the other one? Well let me in on something to you. The sword and shield are two weapons, after all. They take far more skill than you can imagine, to master well."

Volga frowned, trying to adjust his grip on his shield arm, and the weight of his sword on his other arm. He considered switching places, but he knew that either way, he would have to deal with the fact that he would still be less dexterous with one weapon.

"I'll try again," he said, being more careful about when Impa would attack, now that he had seen her do it without foresight. But Impa did not surprise him with that again, likely knowing he was expecting it.

"One more spar, and we move on to the next weapon," said Impa, waving a hand in the air dismissively. She picked up the same war hammer. Volga braced himself, ready for her attack. He remembered the position the war hammer was in when she did the forward swing, and prepared to prop his shield accordingly.

But Impa did not use the same attack. Instead, she swung at him from above, in a wild upswing that looked incredibly difficult to lift. It blew Volga's mind away as to how someone of such a thin frame could be able to lift something so heavy.

Volga raised his shield above him this time, meeting her upswing. The strength of the weapon however, staggered him backwards, causing him to release his grip on the shield. Something in his wrist snapped from the impact, and he closed his mouth tightly from yelping out in pain.

"Your reaction time was quicker," Impa stated, and just when Volga thought she was going to praise him for a change, she added. "But you achieve nothing by trying to just block every attack. In battle, you use a shield to keep yourself safe briefly while you look for openings. You don't use it as a means of turtling yourself the whole time. How can you expect to win with only defense, and no offense?"

Did she really expect him to be able to use any weapon with ease, especially for his first time?

"Next weapon," she ordered.

Annoyed that she was so quick to dismiss his attempt to use the sword and shield, he grudgingly obliged, avoiding her eye as he did so. He picked up the war hammer she had used on him.

Impa laughed. "Are you serious, kid? That war hammer is probably three times as heavy as you. You don't even have muscles yet, how do you expect to be able to lift that?"

Ignoring his injured wrist, Volga gripped both hands around the pommel, slowly raising it. To add insult to injury, Impa chose the sword and shield against him. Unlike him, she didn't rely on her shield right away to block an attack. She made a horizontal slash motion with her sword, and Volga instinctively held his war hammer in a vertical position to block it.

"There you go again with the blocking," said Impa rolling her eyes. "At this rate, we'll be having dents on all our weapons from you always trying to block something I do."

Volga made an attempt to swing the war hammer, but he did not gain enough momentum for it to move much, causing the weight of it to drag him to the ground instead. Frustration fired up inside him, his ears shutting out the sounds of Impa's complaints. The sensation scared him, but he could not hold it back.

"RAAAURGH!"

Without further ado, an inhumane growl rumbled in his throat, as he suddenly stood up from the grass, swinging the war hammer in her direction, this time gaining the strength and momentum he needed for the blow to hit. Impa blocked it in time, but she was taken back. "How…" she glanced over at him.

And there, on his hand that been injured - was not a hand, but a claw.

Oh no, not this again, Volga thought, his face visibly paling. Last time this happened, it took days before I could get my arm back into a human arm…

"So this is your power?" Impa said mildly. "To turn your hand and arm limbs into a claw? Hmmph. Not bad, but you cheated, in a way. You didn't say you were planning to use your own powers, dragon boy. We will continue this once you've turned that… claw back to normal."

Volga could not find anything to say. He was horrified at the sight of the claw, and wanted nothing more than for it to disappear. There had been far too many unpleasant experiences with situations such as these for him not to.

"General Impa," said one of the Hylian guards suddenly, heading over in their direction. Volga quickly turned his body to make sure his back was to the guard, trying to hide as much of the claw as he could. Fortunately for him, the guard was too preoccupied to even notice. "The… ring that we are expecting should arrive here by this evening."

Impa walked away with the guard as the two continued to talk, their voices becoming hushed as they eventually disappeared within the distance. Volga watched them for a moment, wondering what that was about, until a sharp pang came from his wrist.

Even though his claw had given him strength, the sprain on his wrist was still there, in the limbs of his claw now. If he visited the medical wing, how was he going to show this, and not send everyone into panic? No. He had to find a way to hide it, just as he had done with his helmet when he felt the need to.

Whatever was the cause of this unnatural fog, he was grateful for the brief discretion it provided for him, making it less likely for him to be spotted until he could find a solution about his claw. Impa had seen it though. Would she tell everyone? Would she tell the king? Would they… get rid of him, like the last tribe he was with?

Yet just when he thought his fears could not get any worse, a sudden jolt from his body caused him to lurch forward without warning, and he held on against the wall, so that he would not fall. Something on his back ripped open from two separate sections, searing into old wounds, and fresh. Volga did not have to look twice to see the shadows of his wings droop down from either side of him.

No…

He staggered along the wall, heading for the nearest place to hide that he could find.

Hide all you want, but you cannot escape who you are…

The courier greeted Zelda at the delivery post near the entrance of the castle, holding a cream colored parcel in his arms. "Princess, your order has arrived."

"Thank you," said Zelda, ready to retrieve the package from the courier. When she was about to reach out however, her guard instantly cut in.

"Pardon me, Your Highness," said her guard firmly. "But due to your father's request to tighten security, we must investigate the contents within the package."

Really?

"It's harmless," she said in disbelief. "I ordered these a few days ago."

"I apologize for the inconvenience," said her guard, giving her a bow. "I'm merely complying with the king's wishes."

She reluctantly allowed him to inspect the package, and watched as the guard carefully tore the corners of the package with a pocket knife. At least he left the package in good condition to return the contents inside when he was done. But still. Did her father really have to go that far?

He took the sets of the neatly folded clothing, and Zelda could see a hint of amusement on his face, despite his serious expression. "Ah, these are… boy's clothes. I-I didn't know you were into - I mean I didn't erm… see anything here that could be dangerous."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "They're not for me. They're for a friend. Now if you could kindly give me back my package."

"Of course," he replied, handing her the parcel back.

Zelda clutched the package against her chest as she hurried away. Something felt amiss, an unspoken tension in the air. There was a strange sense of foreboding, as was expressed by the numerous frightened looks she had encountered today.

Making her way to the guard barracks, she reached Volga's quarters, turning her attention away from the apprehensive glances her guards were giving her. They had never seen her appear so frequently around this part of the castle before. She knocked on his door, and waited in bated breath, wondering what he'd think of the clothes.

There was no answer. The door was slightly creaked open however, and Zelda hesitated, before heading inside. "Volga?" she whispered in the silent room. It was empty. She placed the package at the foot of his bed.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him since last night. She knew he had his training this morning, but she hadn't heard anything from him throughout the day. Could this be relevant as to why everyone was acting odd? Did something happen?

Zelda headed toward the dining hall, where the castle servants had been cleaning up the tables in preparation for dinner. She ventured toward the kitchen, again receiving curious looks. It wasn't as if she had never been in the castle kitchen before… she'd occasionally sneak in there from time to time if she had been craving a particular sweet - but rarely was a member of the Royal Family actually seen taking a stroll in the kitchen.

"Ah Princess, I wasn't expecting to see you here," said one of the maids from where she had been washing a stack of dirty dishes. She turned off the tap in the sink. "Is there anything I can help you with, Your Highness?"

The blonde gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt any of you. I was just… wondering if any of you knew if Volga had eaten anything yet."

"You mean the helmed boy?" her maid asked, and at Zelda's nod, she frowned. "I haven't seen him eat anything all day, actually. In fact, I don't think I even remember seeing him since early this morning."

Zelda felt an uncomfortable sensation settle in her chest. She found herself heading back to the doorway from the kitchen, when she suddenly froze in her footsteps. There was a wispy layer of fog inside the castle, something that should have been outside, and not floating around the corridor. She could hear her maids hurry along behind her to take a look at what she was staring at.

A faint light was in the distance, reminiscent of the orb-like glow around a fairy. But as it drew closer, Zelda realized that the light was in fact, a lantern. A lantern that… did not seem to have an owner. She held her breath as the lantern came to a stop from its path, not far from where she had been standing. There was something in that fog. She could feel its cold presence watching her, as if it was trying to peer into her very soul.

And for the briefest of seconds, Zelda had seen it. A pair of gleaming, white eyes, and a ragged cloak surround its corporeal form. Then it disappeared, as the lantern from which its disembodied hand held it, continued its way down the corridor.

"W-was that a poe?" asked one of the maids after a moment, her eyes wide with fear.

Before Zelda could answer, she spotted Impa hurrying over in her direction. "Are all of you alright?" she asked them. "You must all stay together, and near a light source. Take a break from your duties, and stay close to the stove. Zelda, you must come with me."

Zelda could tell that Impa was leading her to her quarters. She followed along behind her hurried pace, questions and concerns filling her mind. "Impa, what's going on?"

Impa tightened her hold around the torch she was carrying. "It's a bit of a long story, but I will try to summarize it to you. Basically, there was an incident in the town's graveyard early this morning. The grave keeper who patrolled the grounds said there was a… purple mist rising from the very ground near one of the tombs. He concluded that it was some kind evil magic, for it was disturbing the spirits in the graveyard. So the fool decided to dig in that area to find out what it was."

They reached a stair case, as Zelda started along the steps. "What… did he find?"

"A ring," Impa responded. "And when he did, a swarm of poes began to surround him. They are interested in this ring. The grave keeper immediately sent us a letter explaining what had happened, and said he'd be arriving today to hand us the ring so that we could decide what to do with it. Naturally, the blasted poes followed him."

Poes. The maid had been right.

"So that's why father was having the guards intercept the mail," said Zelda in understanding. "He was expecting the ring to arrive."

Impa nodded. "Well, your father's been keeping an eye out on the correspondence anyway, but yes, he was especially wary of this. The ring arrived a moment ago. Upon inspecting the ring, we found that there was indeed, magic embedded in this mysterious artifact, but we could not find the source of it."

At this, something in Impa's demeanor told Zelda that there was more to this ring than she wanted to talk about. "Anyway," Impa grunted. "Poes are drawn to it, which is why they began to linger around today. Not that they'll be here long. The Goron Captain should be arriving here by nightfall. He'll be taking the ring elsewhere, likely to be buried in some remote location."

"Why do you suppose the poes are drawn to it?"

The Sheikah paused when she noticed that Zelda's pace had slowed. "Do you know, Princess, what poes are actually manifested from?"

Zelda shook her head. "Other than that they're spirits of the dead, no… I'm not exactly aware."

"Yes," Impa agreed. "But they are more than just spirits of the dead. When our bodies die, our spirits carry on to another plane. In the case of poes however, their spirits dwell in this world, by their own choice. They could be spirits of fallen warriors, they could be commoners who had died from illness because they did not have the money to treat themselves… there could be many forms, but most have one thing in common. They are often vengeful spirits, seeking to gain power from the misfortune of others. And thus, they are not yet ready to part this world."

Zelda cringed. "How exactly do they gain power?"

"They feed on everything that is associated with something negative and even neutral; hatred, sorrow, betrayal, and more. The more intense, the more of them that latch on to you." Impa motioned for Zelda to pick up her pace again. "It is said that their souls are inside the lanterns that they carry. Death is their favorite nourishment, which is why they're fond of residing in graveyards."

When they reached the curve of the stairs that would lead to Zelda's room, Impa pointed at her door. "I must return to your father," she said warily. "The ring is with him at the moment, even though he is safe, I won't feel at ease until the Goron Captain arrives and all these poes are gone. Stay in your room with your guards nearby, preferably at the hearth. Remember, the poes will be shunned away from light. But more importantly is that you're not alone. They are less likely to cause trouble when there is more than one person. You are weakest when you're alone."

"Impa wait," said Zelda in a small voice. "But… what about Volga? I haven't seen him all day. Is he going to be alright?"

Red eyes flashed mysteriously. "It's probably for the best that you haven't seen him. From his current state, I doubt even the poes would want to approach him."

This however, did not give Zelda any consolation. When Impa turned to leave, Zelda waited for a minute, her mind racing. Something did not feel right about simply abandoning Volga at a time like this, regardless of whatever 'current state' he was in. If he was in a situation where no one would want to approach him, then he was likely alone.

You are weakest when you're alone…

If anything Impa had said about the poes was true, Volga was just as likely to be a target for the poes, as the next person who was on their own. And if poes sought to gain power from the misfortune of others, then they would…

But what would they do, then? Impa never really clarified. Was it perhaps, because she thought Zelda would be too young to hear the details? This scared Zelda more than not knowing at all. Unwelcome thoughts invaded her mind at the possibilities, of grotesque, disembodied hands reaching out toward Volga from within their cloaks. Of a dark mist, like the grave keeper had described, envelop him… and the life leave his eyes…

She took a step back from the stairs, but rather than proceeding up to her bedroom door, Zelda turned around in the direction she had come from.

Zelda would have asked for her guards to accompany her, but she knew it would have been futile, because they would have kept pressing her to stay in her room, just as Impa had instructed. On top of that, they would have ran off to go tell Impa that she was wandering in the castle, which meant it'd be even more difficult to try and find Volga. At the very least, she made sure to carry a light source with her, which ironically enough, was a lantern she had found sitting on top of a window sill. It had sufficient oil to stay lit for quite awhile.

How strange, that sneaking around the castle in the dark was something she was once so comfortably familiar with - and yet now, her corridors were more foreign than she could ever remember them. Every corner that she turned felt like it opened multiple paths, as if she was trying to find her way in some blurred labyrinth.

She caught sight of two orbs of light hovering outside the walls of a room she finally recognized. And it quickly made sense to her as to why the poes would be so interested in that room. For the room was after all, filled with possessions of her mother. But the memories were too much for her father, and he sort of… abandoned the room, so he would not have to face the sorrow within. Zelda occasionally visited the room, even though she remembered very little of her mother.

They seem a bit too interested in the room, she thought, trying to swallow down the fear in her throat. And it was not only two poes she had spotted, because as she turned around, she could see five more, all floating around the walls, trying to reach through them.

Zelda grabbed the door knob, the lantern trembling in her fingers as she did so. The two poes she had initially seen turned their eyes in her direction, interested that she was about to open the door. "Are you sure you want to see what's inside, little girl?" one of them hissed, its icy voice causing her to flinch. "A dangerous creature is in there, but such a broken soul. It's alright though, we will take it all away. Through these walls, he's slowly surrendering to us. The power he could bring us is unimaginable."

With a silent gasp, Zelda suddenly wrung open the door and slammed it shut behind her. She was breathing heavily, cold sweat beading on her forehead as she tried to put her thoughts into place. There was a rustle in the room. She was not alone.

"Volga?" she asked uncertainly.

Silence. Zelda could hear the jingling of the poe's lanterns from outside the door, but nothing else. It was difficult to see anything within the room, even with the feeble light of her lantern.

There were no windows here, no sunlight or moonlight that would be able to panel through, or any other source of lighting other than that of her own. Portraits were stacked behind one another, filled with dust, and not up on the walls, as they normally were in every part of the castle. There was a couch in the far back of the room, covered in a white plastic.

And there, propped behind the arm of the couch, was a… somewhat misshapen outline, partially hidden from view.

Zelda took a deep breath.

"Please," he pleaded, in a voice filled with suppressed despair. "Please don't look at me. It'll go away sometime. So you don't have to see…"

Aside from her confusion and the circumstances, Zelda felt as if a weight left her chest. "Volga," she said in relief, moving closer to where he had been hiding. "I was worried about you."

Her words appeared to stun him into silence, for in that moment, he had ceased to withdraw further behind the couch, leaving himself - and all that he had been trying to hide… exposed.

She could see his body pressed uncomfortably in the gap between the back of the couch and the wall. His arm was trying to cover a terrifying claw that disfigured his other arm. A pair of lopsided wings were scrunched up on either side of him, a dull amber and gray faded along the scales.

Zelda's eyes widened.

Volga wanted to apologize, to say something to try and normalize the situation as much as he could, but the words failed him. Fear gripped him in such a way that he felt the chill of the strange presence from outside the walls, the ones that had been pursuing him ever since he had found this room.

"Is this part of what you are?" Zelda breathed. "A dragon?"

All he could do was nod, watching the surprise in her eyes, as was expected from any sane human. "They'll go away," he found his voice somehow. "The claw and the wings. I just don't know how to control them very well, but they'll go back to how I was. Don't… don't be afraid," he felt as if he was trying to convince himself more than Zelda. "Don't run away. They always do."

The princess set her lantern on the ground. "Who, Volga?" she whispered.

"The humans I've lived with," he said in a hollow voice. "The ones who, like you, have seen some form of my transformation. They would always run away. So I would hide when it happened. If I was lucky to not get caught, then I wouldn't have to worry about when the next tribe would take me. I got used to it after awhile. But you… I don't know if I -"

He looked away, struggling with trying to explain his thoughts into words. Yes, he had indeed, been used to the reactions of the humans he had grown up with if they saw so much as a single scale. But for the princess, his heart was not prepared for this. His chest ached with every breath, shoulders stiff with tension.

Volga was not quite sure what happened next, because Zelda kneeled in front of him from where he was half sitting, half sprawled on the ground. His pulse quickened as she drew closer, and he could see the kindness in her eyes that drew him in. And she was drawing him in, into her embrace, warm arms wrapping around him.

"I'm still here," she reassured him, gently pulling him close, the side of his cheek situating comfortably against her chest as she held him. "You don't have to hide around me. I'm not going to run away."

His mind was in a swirling blur, and he could not really make sense of anything right now. Whatever this was that Zelda was doing to him, he felt mentally and physically in need of this, like a dehydrated man stumbling upon water for the first time, when he had somehow, impossibly managed to live thus far. Volga brought his own arms around her, being careful not to hurt her with his clawed arm, while his human arm clung back to her, fingers tightening around the silky fabric of her dress in silent desperation.

"You never had anything like this before, have you?" she said softly.

Zelda must have understood, and he closed his eyes as her hand made soothing, circular motions along his back. Her fingers brushed against his wings, to the uneven roots of the wings on his back. Volga shivered at this, and he realized why she had paused. "Volga… are… are your wings broken?"

She pulled back slightly to look at him. Volga met her eyes, and he could see the confusion in them, the sadness… the concern. "Yes," he managed to articulate. "But like a lizard's tail when it comes off, it grows again. I think that if I ever manage to… fully transform into a dragon," he said the last part with some difficulty. "Then the wings will grow to the way they were supposed to."

"Why are they -" she trailed off, tracing along the linear scars on his back, around the area that the wings were attached to. Her voice grew strained. "These were cut off… weren't they?"

"My memories of them being cut off are vague," he said quietly. "I remember saws, and faceless people. Faceless, because I think I forced my mind to see it that way, so I don't remember what they looked like, or who they were. I remember the sound of my own screams deafening my ears at the time, but everything else is blank to me. I guess our minds kind of try to protect us by instinct, when there is an especially unpleasant experience. But I think it's better this way, because it's helped me move on a little better."

He felt a tremor from her body. "That's not right, what's been done to you," she said in a pained voice. "Volga I…" she moved slightly to see his back. "Does it hurt? Whenever your wings come out? Or now, even?"

Volga shook his head. "Not anymore," he said, taken back by how much he was opening to her, and even more by the fact that he felt relieved in doing so. "It used to, but since it began to grow, it bothers me less and less. The wounds now are like small scrapes now, a little bleeding sometimes, but nothing serious. I think my twisted wrist from training with Impa is more troublesome than that right now," he said with dry chuckle. "If it weren't for that, then maybe this claw wouldn't have given me all this trouble today."

"You -" Zelda began. "And you didn't go to the medical wing because of your transformations." She lowered her arms from his back, and took his hand. "Come on Volga, let's go and get you something for that."

He stood up with her, watching her with a growing tenderness. "I don't think anyone in the castle would take it too well if they see me. Hopefully I can make the wings disappear before tomorrow, but I'm not sure how long the claw will take."

"There's poes still around, so there won't be as many people wandering in the castle, since most of them are accompanying each other in rooms with a light source of some type," said Zelda, picking up the lantern from the ground. "Besides, even if someone sees you, then so be it. You're going to be taken care of. Because it's about time someone does."