Chapter 41: No Matter How Tender, How Exquisite, a Lie Will Remain a Lie
Zelda rested her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes. Her father did the same when he had a headache. It didn't help at all. As usual, the wisdom of the aged did not carry nearly the benefit she hoped.
She took a deep breath and peaked out from between her fingers. Her light hung before her, brightening up the Sheikah passage. The scrolls rested on her lap, opened to one of the last and largest segments of Nayru's work. After weeks of sneaking away to read snippets at a time, she had finally read through its entirety. Every word gifted by the wisest of the Goddesses, all information she deemed their children would need to make their way through the world.
And it didn't make any sense.
The last segment was just a list of songs. The Minuet of Forest, Bolero of Fire, the Requiem of Spirit, and that was only half. She tried to memorize every note, but they seemed to slip from her mind as soon as she thought she had it. Why? They weren't particularly complex pieces, she should be able to keep them all in her head. She'd memorized the names and deeds of every king and queen of Hyrule, she studied every great battle against the Gerudo, and mastered every technique Rauru taught. She should be able to hold seven little pieces of music in her head. But so far only the last of them stuck with her. The Song of Time, Nayru named it, and it was little more than a more detailed rendition of the song she sang when she discovered the hidden sanctum of the temple.
Had the Goddesses done this on purpose? To make certain that no one could have them all?
But why were they so important? Nayru, you never did anything without reason, so why can't I find reason in this?
The other songs that Nayru wrote told stories, provided guidance, revealed the hidden. Oft more cryptic than Zelda preferred, but the message was clear for those clever enough to decipher them.
These pieces didn't even have words. What lesson could there possibly be in music alone? When she read them the first time, she had thought that boy, Link, must have scooped up another scroll when he stole the prophecies. But it was the same parchment as the rest and written in the same hand.
Was she supposed to sing them all in the Temple of Time? Or perhaps there was a Temple of Forest hidden somewhere. Maybe if she sang all seven songs in their respective temples it would strike Ganondorf down?
None of that sounded believable to her. But what else could they be? Had the necessary passages been lost to time? The only other option was that everything needed to decipher the goddesses' meaning was right before her, and she was not clever enough to discern it. And that could not be true.
She read through the songs one final time before she tucked the scrolls into their illusory compartment. If she had any judge of time she'd read through all supper. While missing the nightly meal was not unusual, she should make some appearance around the castle. At least give the impression she was acting as normal, not wandering off to study the mysteries of the divine.
Once she left the tunnel undetected, she made certain to speak to guards and servants as friendly as she could. She carried on a conversation with Sir Bors and almost didn't insult anyone. And of all the guards, Bors was a good sport. He would chuckle to himself when she came up with a particularly stinging barb, even when directed at him. She was getting better, she suspected. The more she forced herself to act as friendly as the forest boy, or as kind as the matron the easier it came. She still slipped up on occasion, one of the kitchen servants, Maise, could talk long about nothing. The last time Zelda spoke to her, she accidentally let slip a comparison of the servant to a yapping hunting pup. It made Maise's face turn red and now she tried to avoid talking to Zelda as best she could.
But overall, she was improving. Soon, everyone in the castle – other than the Gerudo – would follow her with utmost fidelity.
When her conversation with Sir Bors ran its course, she spoke with Brigo, one of the stablemasters. And after him she spoke to a group of servants gossiping. The whole process took over an hour. By its end, Impa found and rescued her from the mindless chatter to bring her to her bedchambers. A few plates from her missed supper on her table, still hot. Once she ate her fill, some servants took what remained away, and Impa left her for the night.
Zelda waited in her bed, staring at the ceiling. In her desperation to avoid falling to sleep, she spent an hour thinking over all she learned the last few weeks. Every spell she would need, every minute detail on how she could use them. And every piece of information found from Mr Tingles Fabulous, Fervent, and Fastidious Facsimile of the Furtive and Fractious Fauna the Fairy. If this worked, she would never have to look upon the visage of that strange little man again. And never again have to think on that ridiculous title, nor become annoyed at its lack of any grammatical sense.
By the Goddesses, she hoped this worked.
When the moon reached its highest point and she was certain all but the guards posted at the gates had gone to sleep, she crawled out of her bed. She locked her door, just in case someone came to disturb her. Then she put on a suitably regal dress and sat before her desk. Breathe in, breathe out.
She spread out her map of Greater Hyrule across the desktop and opened a drawer to pull out a dry quill tucked in the back. The quill thrummed. This would all be so much easier if she had a relic of power to channel her will. But she was not going to steal from the Temple of Time. Instead, she took a normal quill and poured all her might into it for the last five nights. It did not hold magic well. The power leaked away bit by bit. It would last one spell, at the very least. It must.
This would work. She was Princess Zelda, all she saw on the map was hers to protect and guide with her will and her magic. The greatest prodigy of the Temple of Time of this age.
Shutting her eyes, she forced one last bout of energy into her hand and the quill. Everything she had, until her heartbeat slowed, and her body felt heavy and drained. She heaved the quill onto the map and went to the next step of the spell.
The image of the boy filled her mind. His messy blond hair he covered in a green cap, with a green tunic and shoes that looked handmade. On his hip there was a small ocarina of polished wood, and in that ocarina rested her target.
The blue fairy, Navi. The way she fluttered about, agile and graceful, on gossamer wings. There was a magic to her, faint, ever so faint. But there. How did it feel exactly? She needed to get it perfect. An old magic, the magic of roots growing strong underground. A magic of trees and wildlife, of joy and growing towards the sun. But that joy tempered, the sun covered. A magic of light and order within a woods of shadows and darkness. The truest sense of being lost.
That was what the fairy felt like. Exactly that. But could she find it?
She whispered the incantation so quiet, as if she worried saying it too loud would ruin the spell. "That which is marked by the Great Deku Tree, I call to you. Reveal yourself to me."
The quill moved. A quick jolting tug along the map. But was it the spell, or just pressure from her hand? As that thought crossed her mind, the quill stopped. She peaked open her eyes. It rested just outside of Castle Town. That couldn't be right. No one could scale Death Mountain, make way to the Crystal City, and return in less than two months.
"Euuugh," she shut her eyes again. No second guessing this time. Clear your mind. Focus on the fairy. The ancient magic of the Lost Woods traveling through Hyrule. Breathe in. Breathe out. Where was she?
Zelda spoke louder this time demanding the magic obey her. "That which is marked by the Great Deku Tree, I call to you. Reveal yourself to me!"
Her fingers tugged forward. It had to be magic. It needed to be. Come on.
She clenched her eyes so tight it hurt. Reveal yourself. I need you. Old magic, fae magic. Magic touched of cloudy forests and ageless children. Magic of strength and sorrow. Reveal yourself!
Her hand crept up the page. The quill didn't move in a steady straight line. More back and forth, tugging gently on her hand, but always moving away from Castle Town. As if the spell itself roamed over the land, searching for the signal.
The quill made a small loop. Then stopped.
Letting out her breath, she waited to feel if the spell had anywhere left to move. Her hand stood steady as stone. She peaked onto the map and grinned.
The quill stood stuck at the foot of Death Mountain. That's where they must be. Not near as far as she hoped, she'd expected them to be halfway to the Crystal City by now. Had they been terribly delayed, or did the spell not work? That thought quelled her joy.
She shook her head, to drive away her weariness and wiped away the thin film of sweat from her brow. Her spells worked, she knew it. If her allies suffered some delay, then she must hear of it. Now. She could sleep when her kingdom was safe.
The council of representatives for all the Great Fairies listened to her with rapt attention. Fairies of a multitude of colors and cultures. Some wore dresses of leaves, or covered themselves with wild hair. Navi could hardly believe it. She taught children. Occasionally, the Great Deku Tree assigned her other tasks, but nothing so grand as to prepare her for such company.
"But it is important that we protect our fairy lives above all others," said one who covered himself with blazing colors rather than clothes. "The Hylians can fight and die if it pleases them, it is after all what they're good for."
"Agreed," said the one that seemed to have spun a shirt out of his own long hair. "In fact, it perhaps would be best if we get this villain Ganondorf of which you speak to wipe out as many of the Hylians as he can before we intervene."
The other fairies in attendance gave a chorus of agreement. For most the day they refused to understand that the Hylians could be anything beyond fodder. Tools to be used and discarded. No matter her arguments, the council ignored or twisted them to return to that same notion. That the large folk were lesser than them.
As infuriating as this endless circle of an argument proved, it troubled Navi for other reasons. She'd heard all these arguments before, but she could not remember where. Had it been the Great Deku Tree? No. Even in his darkest moments, in the days after the tragedy of fallen leaves, when his sorrows blackened the forest forever. Even then, he did not speak of the Hylians as though they were less than faekind. He simply wished that their destruction would never again touch his home.
Though perhaps even those words uttered in sorrow and wrath had been too harsh. Others thought so, some spoke out against him. Braver fairies than she tried to counsel him against his course of action. But she had not dared, too afraid to lose his favor, too weak to stand up for what she knew was right.
But she would not make those same mistakes again.
"We must protect ourselves," Navi agreed. "But the Hylians are our allies. Not our tools, nor our weapons. As terrible as the actions of the Gerudo King are, we cannot let the tragic loss of the Great Deku Tree drive us to act in fear. He would want us to forge alliances, to bring our people closer to living in peace with the Hylians. As we once lived."
The council all smiled at her. But they did not truly listen. She'd seen those empty looks before. But, where? She'd never met these fairies until the Great Mother called this council. Her students, the Kokiri children. Those must be it. When she taught her lectures, and she could look out over the tired faces of children who'd rather run and play.
What else could this familiarity be?
She'd never spoken to this council before. Hadn't she? A spike of pain, sent her massaging her temples until it went away just as sudden.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, no. I'm fine. Telti."
"Boshi," the green fairy said. "My name is Boshi."
"Of course," Navi shook her head. Why did she remember a pink fairy named Telti bringing her here? "I'm sorry- my head hurts."
"Does this council displease you? Perhaps we should take a rest, try again later?" A question of someone who cared, but Boshi's voice did not match the words. He sounded more bored than anything. As if bringing Navi to a once in a lifetime meeting was little more than a cumbersome chore.
"No. This council can provide precisely the aid we need. It's only- do not worry, I will carry through."
"Hmm." Boshi flew closer to check if something was wrong with her. But he made no hurry about it. He didn't care. None of the fairies cared about anything. "Perhaps it would be best if you rest closer to the Great Mother tonight. Let her power heal you."
"No, I'm well enough. I don't want to leave Link. I should be there when he wakes. It will probably be tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Boshi said. "Oh yes. Tomorrow for certain."
"My apologies for the interruption," she turned back to the other fairies and let her voice carry far. They had all gone silent when Boshi spoke to her. Considerate of them, not even whispering amongst themselves. "It will not happen again. Now, let's look at the... at the..."
Something shifted above them all.
"What is that?" She muttered. The air swirled about, like the mists of the Lost Woods. Only these glistened a brilliant white. "Is that the Great Fairy?" Had she come to add her words to Navi's own? Finally someone who had a chance of convincing the crowd.
"No," Boshi said, for once emotion scraped out of his voice. Navi wished that it had not been fear.
The white shimmer coalesced into a shifting outline.
"Well met," came a soft voice from the white shape. Two limbs twisted forward, lifting under the lump that could almost be called a head. "No, no. I will not speak on such terms. This is unbecoming. I can do better." The white mist shifted again, growing then shrinking. It condensed into the shape of a child before color blossomed out of the white, and a Hylian face appeared.
"Princess Zelda?"
"That will have to do," she said looking at her hands. They shimmered still half formed in the mist, shifting like a reflection on a rippling pool. "I have never performed a spell at such a distance before. It's difficult, as if the leagues between my body and here are trying to drive me back. And it took me longer than I'd like to realize you were beneath the ground." Then she looked from her hands to Navi and smiled. "It worked! Lady Navi, I hope that is you. It is a pleasure to see your light once more."
"Princess, the pleasure is mine."
"Who is this? Who are you?" Boshi snapped. "What are you doing here?"
"Now this is a surprise, I did not expect to meet two fairies. Mr. Tingle would have been so excited. I must apologize for the intrusion, but I had no way of knowing such a meeting was taking place. Lady Navi, would you be so kind as to introduce me?"
"Everyone! This is Princess Zelda of Hyrule. She's one of the allies against the evil King Dragmire I spoke of."
The princess performed an elegant curtsy. White mist spread around her as she moved, making her look all the more radiant. Finally, someone who lived her life speaking with councils and people of importance. If anyone could convince these fairies, it was she.
"This princess is one of the Hylians of which I spoke. No one besides perhaps Link has done more to end this threat. Please, princess, can you speak before the council?"
"Thank you for the introduction. I would gladly speak, but where is this council?"
"The council," Navi swept her hand to gesture toward the rows of fairies flying around them. But of course, Hylian eyes could not see the small gestures of a fairy, so she flew a circle above one of the closest groups of the delegation.
Zelda looked around, her eyes narrowing in confusion. "I see only the two of you here."
"What?"
That was when Navi took notice of the fairies around her. They flew in silence through the entire entrance of the princess. Not a single one of them showed an inkling of surprise at an intruder appearing in their midst. They almost looked frozen, though their wings kept them aloft. But they had none of their mannerisms, fidgeting, or gestures.
They looked at Navi with blank expressions. Then as one, their faces turned to the princess and their eyes grew hard and harsh in hatred.
"Lady Navi, I cannot maintain the spell for long. King Dragmire has reached the Crown. The battle has perhaps already taken place, I need to know if you and Link acquired the Ruby."
"No." This didn't make sense, the pain in Navi's head sharpened, digging into the back of her skull. "How could they have traveled so fast?"
"Fast?" Zelda said. "Every day I am pestered with commentary on how unusually slow the Gerudo have moved."
How? Navi had only been at the shrine a few days. She tried to tell the princess, but when she opened her mouth to speak the pain in her skull erupted. Searing from brow to the back of her neck. "Telti what's happening?" But Telti wasn't there. She had not seen Telti in days. No, weeks. Telti disappeared weeks ago. She'd brought Navi to the council and then Boshi brought her to the council. Day after day. The same meeting, the same cavern. Always the same.
"Stop!" Boshi shouted. "Get out! Witch! Filthy lying Hylian! Leave us! The Great Mother will not have you. You will ruin everything."
"Ruin everything!" a hundred voices roared in chorus.
The princess' jaw set, as she glared at Boshi. "What have you done to Navi? What have you done to Link?"
"What have I done?" came a voice from everywhere. "I am trying to set her free."
Every member of the council melted, the color dripping off them. Navi screamed as they turned to a clear liquid. A thousand rain drops hanging in the air. Then with a splash they fell into the pool below them.
An angry howl rose from the water, followed by the head, arms, and torso of the Great Fairy. "I am setting her free and you shall not return her to shackles of the blind!"
Zelda frowned, glaring down at the massive figure of the fairy. "This does not look like freedom to me. You are the Great Mother, I presume?"
"And you are the royal brat, the soul of Hylia" the Great Fairy cackled. "Oh, I know all about you, yes I do. You gave your chosen people everything and then left them to their desires. And when your Hylians used their place to conquer all they saw and drive out all their insignificant minds could not comprehend, what did you do? Nothing! When my precious fairies fled deep into woods or hid underground, what did you do? Nothing! And now you return?" She gave a cackle of scorn and madness. "So long ago, but I remember. Yes. Yes. Yes!"
Navi clenched her eyes shut hoping that would ease the ache. Every word from the Great Fairy felt like a needle piercing into her mind.
"What are you talking about?" Zelda said.
"Oh? Forgetful little fool. Shall I stick with only this life? You are the one who sent a precious darling out into the world of danger alone. Starving, her light grown dim and dull. You threw her away to save your own lands. Yes, I know your works. Is that not enough for you?"
Her presence loomed around Navi, but she kept her eyes closed. Weeks. She'd been stuck here weeks. Where was Link?
"And look what you've done!" The mad fae continued. "You've hurt her, my sweet darling, my noble fairy. Look! Look! Look!"
"It is not my spell that is causing her pain," Zelda's voice was cold.
"But you do not care! See, my sweetling? Watch." And with that one word, Navi's eyes sprung open. The Great Fairy stood before her, filling the entire room with her size. Green vines interwoven as a necklace with a bud sprouting from it.
The Great Fairy plucked the bud from the vine and held it high. It grew between her fingers, its pedals fell to the pool below. And from its center came not a flower but the Emerald. "This is all she truly wants."
"How did you get that?" Zelda said.
"See? She cares naught for you, my darling. One sight of this trinket and you are forgotten."
Tears welled up in Navi's eyes. But she could not blink them away, she could not shut her eyes at all. The Great Mother still wished for her to see.
"Lady Navi, I do not know what's going on. But I will find a way-"
"Do not speak to her! You are dealing with me."
"Then release her. You are situated within the territory of Greater Hyrule, given to my ancestors when the Gorons swore fealty. And returned by Chief Darunia himself to my mother. There are no slaves in my realm."
"Your realm? No! No! No! You do not make demands of me!" the Great Fairy grew so large she filled the room, her red hair pressing into the polished stones, her shoulders hunched to keep within the cavern. The Emerald looked like no more than an insect she held between her fingers. "A fairy will never again be made below your kind! You use us for our healing, for our magic. You capture my darlings in bottles and force them to work for you! Never again! No, you insignificant little Hylian. I make the demands here, and I demand you leave!"
The fairy lifted her arm and Zelda transformed back into the white smoke. The Great Mother smiled, but the smirk curdled in mere moments. The cloud did not disperse.
"I have made no slave of your kind." Zelda's ragged voice came from within the mist. As if each word strained against her throat. "Lady Navi, I will figure out a way to get you-"
"Be gone!" the Great Fairy screeched. From within the white cloud Zelda screamed in pain. "I banish you! I banish you! Leave! Grow weak and fragile! Let your mind disappear from here. Spread through all the land that lay without so no one may ever find it! Be! Gone!" And the white mist was no more. "Yes!" she laughed. Her body shrunk to her normal size as she flung herself about the empty chamber. "Yes! Yes! In this life I am stronger than you, Hylia. I am the better!"
Then she noticed Navi. She shrank and lowered herself. "Oh, my darling," the Great Fairy splashed into the water, and held out her arms beckoning for an embrace. "I have made myself weary just for your protection. No more Hylians to upset you. No more goddesses or princesses. See how generous I am?"
"No," Navi managed to say.
The Great Fairy reared back. "No? Poor dear, you don't understand what you're saying."
"How long have I been here? Where is Link?"
"You're hysterical. Let me fix everything."
"No! Where is Link?"
The Great Fairy's lips curled back into a snarl. "Away! Gone! It does not matter. The fool boy did nothing but ignore you, did nothing but harm you. You are better without him. I can keep you safe and satiated. I can raise you to a place you deserve. The last seneschal of the Great Deku Tree, you could be anything you pleased. My most trusted advisor, or my liaison to the other Great Fairies. A queen among the fae, second only to me. Just come into my arms, little darling. Come into my arms and I can take all your pain away."
"No," she whimpered, clutching her head. Memories overlapped memories. Empty rooms full of crowds, and an empty pool with Link floating within. She tried to make sense of them, but it just filled her mind with more pain.
The Great Mother dropped her arms. "This is so disappointing. My little darling, you still don't see. They will use you and throw you away. You're confused, of course you are, so used to living under their shackles you wish to remain their slave. But don't worry, my dearest, my darling. This time, I'll fix you."
The shimmering lights around the Great Fairy grew bright. They burned into Navi's eyes as the rest of the world disappeared behind her radiance. Navi screamed, it felt as though the light bore straight through the back of her skull.
Then blackness. Navi's wings stopped beating. She fell, but never struck the ground. Hurtling through darkness, crying, screaming, calling for aid. But if she made a sound, she could not hear it.
A kindly figure appeared before her, a tree with wizened old face. Its shape did not change, and yet she felt it smile at her, as she spun free of his magic.
"Good morrow," the tree said, as Navi took flight for the first time. "Fly free, bright one. Taste the sun and breeze. Drink deep of the pleasures of the world. What name shall I call thee?"
The wise old caretaker taught her and trusted her. Centuries came and went beneath his branches. She rose by his side, his friend and advisor.
Then he was gone. In his place the Great Mother spread her arms wide. Navi came from her magic, she did not feel breeze or sunlight on her wings. She lived in the shrine, safe beneath the ground. Ever since she formed from the magic of the Great Fairy and the power imbued within the fountain, she frolicked in its waters.
As she grew older, she taught the Kokiri children. All seated around her. Faces she had not seen for a hundred years, and others she'd only left a few months before. She taught them right from wrong, spelling, arithmetic, how to behave. She laughed with them as they played. Little Saria, who tried to solve all her problems with a hug. Fado with her love of plants and mushrooms, who gave every single one in her garden a name. Mido, who tried too hard to be a leader, to be noticed, to be important. And he could do it, if only he stopped lashing out and comparing himself to everyone else. She could help him, if only she had the time.
Then all the children were gone. Only true fairies dwelled with the Great Mother. Navi spent her days with her dear friend Boshi. They had a game where she tried to make him laugh. She'd even succeeded a few times, though he won far more often. As humorless as he was, she could always depend on him. Her truest friend, more faithful than anyone could ask for. He would never lie, never betray her. Never force her out into the dark and twisted world. Both of them would serve the Great Mother as they always wanted.
And last remained Link. Her Link. She would never dare tell the other children, but he had always been her favorite. From the moment she saw him, wrapped in bloodstained cloth, her heart leaped out to him. His dying mother only wishing for his safety. And though it risked the tree's wrath, Navi led her through the woods.
She had never disobeyed the Great Deku Tree before. But when he first turned the wounded woman and her child aside, she almost flew out to rescue the boy herself. The Deku Tree never asked her why she led the Hylians to him, not in eleven years. Perhaps he always knew.
"Keep him safe," his last words to her. "Keep him safe."
"I will, you know I will." She promised with all her heart, she always had and always would. Until those words disappeared.
Link was gone, he had never been there at all. Navi never traveled the world of the large folk with him. She never met a rambunctious little Hylian boy who thought with his fists. Who rushed to help, even though it always left him hurt.
He was gone, and there was nothing to replace him.
The two stories of her life fought through her mind. One of beautiful joys mixed with crushing sorrows, a life of love and loss of children and death. The other complacent, happy but never joyous, some slight sadness but never so crushing she could do nothing but curl up in an ocarina and cry. A life with no children, no death, no hardships.
A life with the Great Mother.
"Isn't that better, my darling?"
Navi woke beside the pool of the Fairy Shrine. Alone. No Hylian boy beside her, after all, how could a Hylian ever get down here? He could not have appeared from thin air in white mist.
"Navi," Boshi, her dearest friend, called from above her. He always got up earlier than her. "How do you feel?"
"Fine," she lied. "Was I sick?"
"No," he said with a smile that did not reach his eyes. "I'm just making certain you're doing well."
"Well, I feel wonderful," she flew up to meet him, giving one glance backwards to the emptiness beside where she had been sleeping. "What are we going to do today?"
" I'll see what the Great Mother desires," he said.
She had always lived in the Fairy Shrine. The Great Mother was always her mother. As she always and never had been before. This is not right.
"Well, we mustn't keep our Great Mother waiting," Navi forced herself to smile at the liar.
I'm coming Link. Wherever you are, whatever has happened. I'm coming.