Hyrule Castle, Afternoon of the Third Day after Hero's Day
The King of Hyrule was pacing in the parlor adjacent to his eldest son's study. Technically, as King, he could have simply demanded the door be opened and strolled right in, but his eagerness to talk to Hylrick was not born of any real urgency. His Queen, who was sitting down and conversing with their second son, Naydri, had even reminded him of that fact while they walked here, concerned that he'd be needlessly rude to their heir.
Her concern was not entirely unwarranted: the King was beside himself. They had received news this morning that the patrols they'd sent out following Royake's warning about monster attacks had indeed found several bodies across Hyrule. Naydri had reported that members of every race had been found among the victims, and he had grimly specified that 'every race' included the Kokiri. The King had been frantic with outrage and frustration since.
He thankfully was not tested for very long in his resolve to be reasonable towards his firstborn. Very shortly after Hylrick's valet had disappeared into the study, the Prince came out with a bow addressed to his parents.
"Son," the King said, nodding in greeting.
"Dearest." the Queen said. "Where is Princess Belan? And the children?"
"They are spending the afternoon together in the gardens," Hylrick answered. "Why?"
"Inside our grounds, then?" the King asked.
"Yes," Hylrick replied. "I've already told them not to venture out, after this morning's news." He sighed. "I had planned to accompany them, but I don't trust myself to be in company just now."
"I can relate, especially considering my guards and I somehow managed to be completely unaware of the danger to Hyrule's denizens," Naydri said with a slight snarl. "As the one you've charged with ensuring the safety of our Kingdom, Father, I am beyond disgusted with myself. This was my responsibility to avoid and to remedy, and not only did it occur without my notice, I have no solution to offer at this time: none of the regular patrols have reported actually seeing any monsters. I don't know where to even start hunting them down."
"Much as we appreciate your sense of duty, you've done nothing wrong, dearest" the Queen said, "and we have complete confidence that you will do what's best going forward."
The King cleared his throat. "There is something else," he said. "We've received a letter from Zelda that will result in the dismissal of both the Colonel and the First Lieutenant on the Great Plateau."
"We simply couldn't fail to inform you of this, dear brother," Naydri added. "Seeing as it does not at all fall under your responsibility in any way."
"Peace, Naydri," the King commanded.
"Zelda related that both of them treated the Hero like a criminal until the evidence of his identity forced them to settle for ignoring him instead," the Queen said. "Colonel Atlar aimed a crossbow at him for merely being in the Princess' presence, and First Lieutenant Deemil refused to acknowledge him and then refused to loan him a horse, going as far as lying to the Princess about the number of mounts available."
"As you can see, this concerns you, who is not at all involved in governing the guards, very directly," Naydri said.
"NAYDRI."
"My apologies, Father. I will refrain from further pointing out that for this, much as for the monster outbreak, the blame rests on me alone and not on my brother."
"Hylrick," the Queen said, her eyes firmly on the older prince, "the offenses against the Hero were entirely due to his being Sea Folk."
Naydri's eyes widened slightly. "Right," he sighed. He sketched a bow to his parents. "I'm truly sorry, it seems I missed the forest for the trees. You are of course right, Mother, Father. These incidents on the plateau are clearly a symptom of racial tension as well as a matter of discipline for the officers of the guards. And therefore do concern Hylrick."
Hylrick sighed and clenched his fists. "Indeed it does," he said. "You blame yourself for invisible monsters, brother, but you at least are not failing at every turn to fight back nonsensical grudges among the various tribes."
"You're both being far too harsh on yourselves," the Queen said. "Hylrick, we know you are doing your best to improve racial relations. We are not in any danger of being at war with anyone, so in spite of a few unpleasant exceptions, I would say you're not doing all that badly."
Hylrick exhaled and shook his head. "Thank you for your trust, Mother. Did my sister share any other news?" he asked.
"Indeed," the King said with a frown. "She wished to remind you that the Hero rightfully refuses to play jury and executioner. I would further remind you that I fully approve of this limitation on his actions. We do NOT wish for a powerful vigilante taking the law into his own hands, even if those hands wield the Master Sword."
Hylrick's cheeks flared and his gaze strayed to the floor.
"Yes, Father," he said. "I... was angry when I wrote to the Hero. Not with him so much as with the Children of Hylia. I do still feel Link needed the reminder that some monsters are born, not spawned, but I will offer him an apo..."
"Absolutely not," the King said severely. "No apologies. The King does not regret: if needed, the King CORRECTS. This applies to the future King too. You know this."
Hylrick swallowed and nodded. "Yes, Father. I'll make sure to express my continued support instead on the very first occasion."
The King nodded. "That is what I hoped to hear."
"Zelda also mentioned finding out that the Sea Folk make requests to the Golden Goddesses through the Hero doing just that," the Queen said. "It was quite the shock to her."
Hylrick tilted his head in reflection. "I had no idea she was unaware of the Sea Folk's beliefs and practices," he said. "If this was shocking to even the Princess, perhaps we need to educate everyone on the beliefs of others, and to make sure everyone knows that we do not wish to control those beliefs."
"Peezee is just used to your seriousness when it comes to the Divine," Naydri said, using his usual nickname for the Princess, "and she handled it just fine in the end. Maybe comparative religious education for the masses isn't the top priority right now?" He cleared his throat. "Forgive me for changing the subject back to where we started, but I have a question I'd like to run by all you, related to Atlar and Deemil.'"
The King's eyes narrowed. "Does your question also relate to Colonel Remiss?"
"It does indeed. I don't wish to accidentally order something you disapprove of, so I need to understand why, following their hostile behavior towards Link, two officers need to be dismissed but a third one was put on paid leave with his movements barely restricted. At the cost of one of our own Sheikah, no less."
"Remiss' doubts are due solely to the current situation, and he rushed here to express his suspicions. Furthermore, he submitted immediately to the King's will. The Hero made no complaint about him, the Akkala troops are in Given as planned, and we have no reason to believe Remiss acted inappropriately," the King said. "In contrast, Atlar had the command of an entire unit who showed nothing but distrust and suspicion towards the Hero due not to any extraordinary event but solely to his race. Atlar himself aimed a weapon at him, in the Temple of Time no less, with no provocation at all. As for Deemil, she LIED to your sister to avoid having to provide the Hero with a horse, after doing her best to pretend he wasn't there."
Naydri nodded. "Thank you, Father, I couldn't see why Remiss was barely getting disciplined, but I understand much better now. In truth, I've had reservations about both Atlar and Deemil for a while but never had anything concrete to act on and didn't want to make them apparent victims of a random whim. It's a shame they'll still be the ones welcoming P... SIR Pyr since I have no chance of reaching the Plateau before he does."
"Speaking of, what is the report from him or his guards?" Hylrick asked.
"Nothing to report as of this morning when he sent his bird," the Queen said, "except that he was expecting to reach the Great Plateau by midday. I imagine his letter tonight will report that he's been there and left again."
"You think he'll write again tonight?" Naydri asked. "I know he used to write a lot back when he was training Link, but wasn't that still just once a day?"
"It was," the Queen said with a fond smile. "Once we told him twice a day was unnecessary."
"He writes daily whether he's on assignment or not," the King added with a slight frown. "Apart from when he was training the Hero, he mostly repeats that he is available and would like to be of service."
Naydri huffed. "Mother, Father, are you QUITE certain I cannot delegate my correspondence? It seems like Sir Pyr would be delighted with the job. An interesting form of insanity to be sure."
The King just barked a laugh, which was answer enough.
The same afternoon, Tanagar Canyon
It was late afternoon by the time Link and Zelda arrived at the bottom of Tanagar Canyon. The path from Tabantha led to just a stone's throw away from the Forgotten Temple, but that unfortunately didn't mean they had really arrived at their destination: the only entrance to the temple was about four stories up from the floor of the canyon and could only be reached by a series of rough stairs and ladders.
There was a small stable a little way away from the path, with the space in between dotted with half a dozen tents.
"We still have about two hours of sunlight left," the Princess said. "I suggest we leave Butter and Poe at this stable and proceed to the temple."
"Yes, Princess," Link said. He'd been about to make the very same suggestion. "If I may ask… in order to climb up to the temple, would you prefer to change your clothing or footwear? I can set up a tent to allow you some privacy while you do anything you need to."
Zelda snorted, then immediately blushed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I used to get the same question from my attendants on a regular basis. Your concern is appreciated, but it brought back fond memories of proving to my attendants that I could in fact function perfectly well without sacrificing my choice of attire. I don't need to change: these are walking boots already, and I need simply tie my skirt and petticoat up if they get in the way."
Link swallowed. How had he talked himself into thinking making that offer was a good idea?
"Please don't worry, I'm not offended at all," she said hurriedly. "It only became tedious from my attendants due to the repetition. I am curious, however... were you concerned I'd be unable to climb at all?"
The question took Link by surprise, not so much because it was asked but because rather than finding himself embarrassed to admit he hadn't wanted her to slow them down, he realized haste hadn't been the reason he'd made the offer at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite: he'd been concerned she'd be worried about delaying them and might choose to sacrifice her own comfort. It was still ridiculous on his part: she was perfectly capable of expressing her own needs and of making her own choices.
"I'm afraid my reasoning was not particularly sound, Princess Zelda. I knew you would be able to climb regardless," he said. "I..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "I am well known at home for always being in a hurry. I suppose I've grown so used to everyone expecting me to be impatient that..." he paused and sighed. "I really am sorry, Princess. I know and understand that you most certainly don't need my input to do whatever you need."
Saying it out loud made him feel even worse: what was he going to do next, remind her to brush her teeth? She was the avatar of wisdom, she didn't need someone looking after her and telling her to wear comfortable shoes. He found himself staring at Butter's mane.
Zelda's eyes had widened. "Were you worried that I would choose to remain in unsuitable clothes out of a desire not to torture you with a delay?"
His lips pinched briefly. "I apologize for my presumption," he said, lowering his eyes.
She smiled. "Link, you're apologizing for being worried that I'd be overly considerate and for attempting to make sure that I knew there was no need. I'm not angry, quite the opposite. Thank you for YOUR consideration."
True to her word, the Princess had had no trouble at all with the rough stairs or even the ladders. In relatively short order after leaving Butter and Poe at the canyon's stable, they had reached the entrance to the temple.
"Judging by the shape of this opening, it was probably once a window, don't you think?" Zelda mused as she stepped in. "If that's the case, I wonder where the real door is. Do you think the ground is as far down inside as outside?" she added, looking over the edge of the wide ledge they were now standing on to the bottom of the temple.
Link had no idea and didn't share her curiosity. Instead, he was looking for the fastest way down. He'd been here once before, but some new research stations were being set up at the time and there had been scaffolds with platforms that could be raised up and down with pulley systems. There wasn't anything like that now, and with the light right behind them as it was, the wall immediately under them was too shadowy to make out any rope ladders set against it. He spotted an unlit torch to their right, about halfway to the perpendicular wall in that direction.
"It does seem like an odd shape for a door, Princess Zelda," he said politely. "As for how deep... I'm afraid I can only be certain of the fact that we're too high up to safely jump down. Are you familiar with the intended way to reach the floor from here?"
She shook her head. "I'm not. Let's look around."
"Might I suggest investigating the area around the unlit torch we can see over this way?" Link asked, pointing at the torch in question. "It seems likely that it's there to light a path after dark."
He noticed the toes of his right foot were tapping inside his boot and forced them still. Yes, he'd be at the torch already if he were by himself, but really, the Princess' support was more than worth a few minutes' delay.
"It could also be a specific site being investigated," Zelda said. "A vase still half buried and being carefully undug, a painting, an engraving..."
Link kept his mouth shut and again stopped his toes from tapping in impatience. It could indeed be something like that, but it wasn't like there was a reason NOT to go that way first, and it still seemed like their best move.
"Just the same," the Princess said, "it could be a path as well and there is nothing more promising the other way. I agree, let's go see."
Relief flooded Link, along with a pang of guilt for being so easily impatient. The Princess had been nothing but an exemplary companion since they'd met, it was ungrateful to even think of whatever minutes he'd save now and again were he on his own.
They walked to the torch and found, as Link had hoped, a ladder to the temple's floor.
"Oh, excellent!" Zelda said. "I'm glad we followed your intuition. Let's go."
Without waiting for a response, she started down the ladder. Link, having no idea what to say, just followed her down.
Zelda was surprised to find that they had the temple to themselves. There were stations scattered around suggesting that some research work was ongoing, but it seemed like everyone had already left for the day.
"Princess?" Link asked softly. "You suggested earlier that the unlit torch by the ladder could be used to examine an artifact when the sunlight was insufficient, and there are several torches around here. Is it customary to stop this kind of work as soon as the light is not ideal, rather than use torches?"
"I'm not sure," Zelda replied. "I'm a bit surprised there's nobody here, actually. The researchers would have had to leave before we started making our way in or we would have seen them exiting, so if they were here at all today, they left with the sun still quite high in the sky."
Link moved to walk right next to her. "Please allow the proximity, Princess. It could be that the researchers had good reasons to leave."
Zelda swallowed: he really was close, but it was not unpleasant at all, quite the opposite. She reasoned that she was enjoying the feeling of safety. "Of course," she said.
They walked through the first gigantic chamber to find themselves facing a wall with rope ladders attached at regular intervals.
Link looked up. Just as he remembered, almost as high up as the opening to the outside of the temple that they had gone through was a similar one going to the next chamber. He narrowed his eyes at it: they would have to climb the rope ladders to make it there, and the temple being empty still made him wary enough not to want to leave the Princess unprotected during a relatively long climb where they would have their backs to a wide opened shadowy room and both their hands busy.
Thankfully, there was a solution.
"Thank Hylia we're both decent climbers," the Princess said.
Link blinked: he should in fact have been concerned about a princess' ability to make yet another climb on a rope ladder, and a long one, after all the climbing and walking they had done today, but Princess Zelda had had no apparent trouble at all so far and he had apparently already internalized that she was in fact capable of following him anywhere.
He nodded. "I must ask for a favor, Princess."
She turned her head towards him, eyebrows raised.
"I realize that I am most likely being overly cautious, but I would like to surround us both with Nayru's Love while we climb. It would... require us to remain quite close together. I can only extend it so far."
The Princess' eyes had gone wide. "Nayru's Love? Are you truly referring to the spell taught to the Hero of Time by the Great Fairy of Wisdom?"
"Yes, Princess," Link said. He realized, belatedly, that his knowing the ancient Goddess Spells could come as a surprise: they hadn't been used since the Slain Hero. "I have learned all three," he added. It was just as well to avoid two more shocks down the road.
"But how...? No, never mind. Of course you may use it, now or at any time you feel it is necessary. There is no need to ask for my permission. If I ever find it intrusive, I will let you know."
Link nodded again. "Thank you. Since we have to remain close together, would you prefer to climb first or second?"
Zelda's eyes widened again and heat rushed to her cheeks as she suddenly caught on to what the Hero was saying: Nayru's Love was meant to surround one person, so they would likely need to be practically on top of each other in order for this to work.
"Just... how close would we need to be to each other?" she asked.
"The spell creates a sphere of protection," Link explained. "I can extend it to cover an area with a radius of about twice my height, but that only means about half of my height above or below me. We would have to be very close."
Zelda swallowed. She would have to have her face in his back, or vice versa. And while climbing a rope ladder, which would mean sustained or repeated direct contact.
She looked up at the ladder: it was passed through rungs nailed to the wall at regular intervals, so twisting it sideways and climbing face to face was not an option.
"I will go first," she said with a sigh. Neither options were proper, but even with her petticoat and the skirt of her dress, she would most certainly not press the front of her body against him. "Thank you for allowing me the choice."
"Of course, Princess."
The climb was the most awkward thing Zelda had ever done. The Hero was climbing with his hands only one to two rungs below hers, positioning his head around the upper part of her back, while miraculously only gently brushing against her most of the time. She still felt like she was slithering under him. She simultaneously wanted him to stretch his arms and legs even more than he already was so as to minimize contact further and for him to stop straining himself on her behalf, especially considering she was no small waif that he could easily hover above: he was having to stretch to his limit.
On the plus side, she was so distracted by how uncomfortable the climb was that she found herself hoisting herself off the ladder and up on the landing by the opening to the next room before noticing that her arms were tired.
She quickly clambered out of the way and the Hero climbed up after her. The blue glow of Nayru's Love blinked out of existence.
Link started scanning the room behind them but his eyes quickly went out of focus and he found himself wondering why he was even looking that way.
His eyes widened: he knew that feeling, he was crashing from magical exhaustion. He hadn't been maintaining the spell that long, but it seemed that stretching it had tired him out quite a bit. He hurriedly reached into his pouch for a bottle of green potion.
And then stared at it. Did he have that out for a reason?
He shrugged. It didn't matter. Wasn't worth the effort to think of it, whatever he had been wondering. Maybe something about that bottle in his hand. Didn't matter.
He noticed that the Princess was there. He couldn't remember why, but his manners still kicked in: he couldn't ignore the PRINCESS.
"Princess?" he asked. He wasn't sure what else to say. He didn't want to talk, he wanted to… nothing.
Zelda's eyes widened. Link looked like his mind wasn't actually here anymore, and she knew that to be a symptom of magical exhaustion. It could be a number of other things too, but given that he'd just sustained a spell he was stretching to its absolute limit, and that he'd reached for a green potion when the symptoms had started, there was a good chance the Hero's soul was in fact utterly exhausted.
"Hero?" she asked. "Link? Could you say something else please?
He blinked at her. "Prin.. Cess... Zel..." he trailed off.
She seized his shoulders and brought her face close to his. "Link! Drink the potion!"
He did not react, looking right through her.
Zelda swallowed: if left to recover on his own from magical exhaustion, Link could be out of commission for up to a couple of hours. With monsters potentially about to jump out of the growing shadows, that scenario would be catastrophic even if they weren't both keen on not losing all the sunlight before they investigated the inside of the giant Goddess statue.
"HERO," she said forcefully. "Listen to me! You have a bottle in your hand. I want you to drink its content. NOW."
His gaze did not move, still fixed on a point far, far away.
She took the bottle from his hand – he offered no resistance – removed its stopper and brought it to his lips. He did not react.
"I do apologize for this," she said.
She tilted his head back and with the fingers of one hand, pried his mouth opened. He again offered no resistance whatsoever. With her other hand, she poured a few drops of potion in even as she removed her fingers. He swallowed and gasped, a bit of light coming back to his eyes.
"Drink this immediately," Zelda said forcefully, putting the bottle in front of his eyes.
He blinked but even though his eyes were still unfocused and his expression vacant, thankfully took the bottle and obediently downed the rest of the content.
The effect was immediate and surprisingly dramatic: the Hero's eyes widened, he violently startled and he started frantically looking all around, drawing the light sword on his back as if expecting something to jump at them right there and then.
"Princess, I am deeply sorry for my foolishness!" he said at the same time. "If something had attacked while… I should have known better than to wait for the symptoms, I'm an idiot, I…"
"It's alright," she said, cutting him short. "Neither of us can do everything right all the time on our own, but we don't have to: we have each other. Do you see anything?"
"Nothing," Link said, still scanning around but in a calmer manner. "I appreciate your leniency, Princess, but I really am at fault here. I should and do in fact know better, I simply..." he sighed. "I'm sorry to say that I've been feeling increasingly frantic and on edge since this morning, and it seems like I've reached the point of recklessness."
Zelda tilted her head. The way Link had said he should and did know better didn't quite sound like he was stating a generality. "Has magical exhaustion been a problem for you before?" she asked.
His eyes shifted downward. "Yes, Princess." He sighed. "I'm usually careful, I have a self appraisal routine I normally do after any spell and I am trained to just go ahead and have some potion after any particularly tiring spell. I neglected it all just now in favor of looking for threats, and I can't even claim it was entirely out of concern for our safety because the truth of the matter is that I would be intensely glad to find out that this is at least one place where monsters are spawning, since it would grant me the chance to start countering the monster outbreak." His upper lip curled a bit and he closed his eyes, sighing again. "I am truly sorry. I will not let my frustration get the better of my judgment again."
"it sounds like you are indeed normally very cautious. More so than I've been taught to be, even. Do all these precautions usually feel necessary or beneficial?"
Link winced: the Princess was trying to excuse his stupidity by implying all his usual precautions had always been so unnecessary that it was understandable for him to forget them in times of stress.
"Pyr had to train the whole village on how to handle me when my mind blanks out," he said. "I'm prone to not notice when I'm pushing my magic too far. I know I need to be careful, I know better than this."
Zelda's eyebrows shot up as words appeared in her mind's eye, in Pyr's handwriting: "...has Magical Fatigue Blindness...", "...teaching him management habits...", "...progress as impressive as always, further magical training with a mage should be safe and useful now..."
She closed her eyes in a sigh. Pyr had TOLD them about this, in details, in several letters. Zelda would have been around eleven or twelve years old at the time, and in the years since, she'd completely forgotten because with Link learning how to perfectly manage the relatively common condition, it had quickly stopped being a concern at all.
Link felt his heart sank: Princess Zelda was clearly concerned with the incident and rightfully so.
He didn't know what to say. Between this and nearly coming to blow with a Gerudo earlier today, he hardly recognized himself. He normally reacted to stress with jokes, and they were usually painfully bad jokes, but after a long day of traveling and accomplishing nothing, he seemed to have moved past that into a sort of panic mode. Was it because he was determined not to submit the Princess to his terrible humor? Errors like this were hardly better. He needed to get a grip.
Impulsively, he unsheathed the Master Sword. If it was the same or, Hylia willing, better than the last time he'd looked at it, he might be able to get a hold of his sanity again.
He choked down a cry: the blade was worse than ever. The mold, rot and rust covered nearly every bit of it now, all the way to the guard, and another crack had appeared. The Princess made a slight sound as well. He carefully sheathed the holy blade again.
"We must keep faith that we will find something inside the Goddess' statue," Zelda said. She sighed.
"Please do not berate yourself over your mistake just now. The fact is that I should have known this was a risk for you. Pyr told us you had Magic Fatigue Blindness. I'm sure you know he reported pretty much everything."
Link nodded.
"So, I should have known. The truth is, I... I forgot. I'm sorry. The last we heard about it was that you were managing it remarkably well, so I hadn't thought of it in years." She took a deep breath and squared off her shoulders. "You forgot your management habits and I failed to remember this could happen to you at all and so, failed to be of any assistance before you... blanked out, as you said. We've pulled through just the same and are now left with good news: you have a secret weapon against any potential lapse on your part." She pointed at herself with a flourish and smiled. "I mean myself, of course."
Link's eyes widened. "I cannot possibly ask you to… to…" he trailed off. He had no idea how to even phrase the idea of the Princess having to make up for it when he did something completely stupid.
"How convenient then that you don't need to," Zelda said, waving off the objection. "Let's proceed, shall we? It may come as a surprise since we're talking about running into monsters, but I would also be glad to discover a spawning point, here or elsewhere. Just the same, if we were to discover it here, I would prefer it be after we have a chance to look inside the Goddess' Chamber."
She pointed, as she said it, to the enormous statue of Hylia that stood at the far end of this new chamber. She could hardly wait to reach it, she'd been wanting to come here for a chance to inspect the magnificent ancient statue and to learn its secrets for ages.
Link held back a smirk at the thought that monsters were indeed too impolite to be trusted to wait for a convenient time to appear, and clenched his jaw to make sure the foolishness didn't pass his lips: the Princess didn't deserve to have to put up with even more idiocy on his part.
"Yes, Princess. And I have more good news." He pointed to the wall on their right. "I remember actual stairs set against this wall and they appear to still be there. We will not need to proceed again like we did to climb this last ladder."
Zelda resisted sighing in relief and loudly thanking Hylia: she had not been looking forward to another close quarters encounter but she didn't want to let on just how unpleasant the climb had been considering how hard Link had tried to minimize her discomfort. "Excellent," she said instead. "Let us go!"
