To Capture the Heart of a Hero

Chapter 41 – Research

As promised, Zelda finished her paperwork and after consuming a light dinner, made her way to the castle library. As she walked into the large room filled with towering bookshelves, she felt herself begin to relax a bit. After spending all day in her study, this grand archive served as a welcome change of scenery. Not to mention, the Princess had always enjoyed visiting this place, content to do nothing more than spend hour after hour poring through the endless texts.

The library itself was an impressive collection of all things literature. From historical tomes to fantasy stories to scientific studies to religious works to even books that studied supernatural legends. It was honestly the greatest assortment of information in all of Hyrule, and the Princess had always had it within her grasp. Outsiders were permitted to visit and use the library as well, but only if they had requested permission ahead of time. Because of this, all of Hyrule was allowed to take advantage of the library's resources, should they wish to do so.

Naturally, there was only one person whom Zelda needed to find today. Wasting no time, she began making her way through the endless rows of bookshelves and desks until she finally came upon the man she was looking for. He sat at one of the tables, currently reading through a book.

Or at least, that's how it appeared to anyone passing by. Zelda just placed a hand over her mouth as she fought hard to stifle a snicker. She couldn't believe what she had just stumbled upon. While it was true that Link was sitting at the table and had a book open before him, the Hero was fast asleep. He lightly breathed in and out, silently dozing as one hand mindlessly supported his head and the other grabbed the page of his book, as if he was ready to turn it.

Zelda could only assume that he had fallen asleep while in the middle of reading. With a small smirk, she recalled how much Midna had poked fun at the Hero's sleeping patterns, and how typical it was for him to doze off at the most inopportune times. She had never witnessed the truth of such claims before, but now she was finally able to observe it in all its comical glory.

With a small sigh, Zelda soon approached where the Hero was seated. She knew that they wouldn't get anywhere if she allowed him to continue resting like this, so she decided to wake him up. "Link," she said, softly tapping his shoulder.

The reaction was immediate. The Hero opened his eyes, mumbling something as he blinked a few times. His hand then lazily slid out from underneath him, and with nothing left to support his head, it swiftly plummeted into the book below him. A second later, his head shot right back up, looking alarmed. "Huh…what? What happened?" he mumbled tiredly.

Zelda had to fight hard not to burst out laughing. She wasn't sure why, but Link always seemed to be prone to the most humorous of antics. "You were asleep," she explained, still speaking in a soft tone.

Link glanced back at her, as if noticing her presence for the first time. "Zelda? You're here? Oh…what time is it?"

"Just past 6:30. How long have you been here?"

Link leaned back and yawned before attempting to rub some of the sleep from his eyes. His mind was still rather sluggish and he struggled to do the math. "Hmm…about half an hour."

"That's it?" Zelda asked with raised eyebrows. "That's all you could take before dozing off?"

Link smiled sheepishly. He wasn't sure what to say. He knew that he had plenty of excuses, from having just eaten dinner to sitting down in this calm and silent environment to the fact that his book had been nothing short of dull. To him, it was hardly a surprise that he had succumbed to his drowsiness. He just wished that the Princess hadn't walked in on his nap when he was supposed to be working diligently.

"Sorry, Zelda," was all he said in the end.

The Princess sighed and shook her head. Fortunately, she didn't seem disappointed. If anything, she seemed rather amused by his actions. "Well, no harm done I suppose. Have you at least been making any progress with your research?"

Link glanced down at his book, only to discover that he had made it as far as the table of contents before passing out. He chose to slam the text shut, suddenly deciding that this was a fact best kept to himself. "Um…not really," he replied vaguely.

Zelda's eyes grew curious, and she stepped closer to get a look at the tome in question. "What are you reading anyway?"

"How to Craft Mirrors and Other Glass Decor."

Zelda just turned to the Hero with a deadpan look. She honestly couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Goodness, you really are hopeless without me," she said with another sigh.

Link frowned, suddenly feeling a little defensive. "What? I figured that this might be helpful for understanding the Mirror of Twilight. Maybe we could find a way to restore it, or potentially craft a new one."

Zelda just gave him a sympathetic look as she shook her head some more. "Oh, my naive Hero. How little you understand."

"What?" Link asked, feeling all the more defensive.

"Link, the Mirror of Twilight was a very ancient and powerful artifact that was likely crafted using sacred magical arts. A simple craftsman's guide isn't going to tell you anything useful about it. At the very least, it won't provide any clues on how to contact the Twilight Realm."

This time, Link sighed. "Yeah, I figured as much…but I just have no idea where to start. This topic is so much bigger than anything I could possibly understand."

Zelda smiled as she patted his shoulder a bit. "Well, just relax. I'm here now, and I intend to assist you. Besides, you're eager to see Midna again, aren't you?"

Link couldn't help but smile back. "Of course."

"Good, then let's set to work."

Zelda instructed Link to return his current book to the shelf before she began leading him around the library, scoping out various tomes that she thought might be useful in their quest to contact the Twilight Realm. Link collected each book that she pointed out, and before long, he carried a modest stack of them in his arms. As each new text was added to the pile, he naturally glanced at the titles. Some of the ones he noticed were Legends of the Realms Outside of Hyrule, Transportation and Communication Spells, and History of the Gerudo Desert. Link soon found himself feeling impressed. Not only did these titles sound leagues better than anything he had discovered, but Zelda had managed to find them so quickly and efficiently too. She certainly had a knack for this sort of thing, and he was truly grateful for her assistance.

Once they finished making their rounds, Link had a stack of tomes so high that it threatened to block his line of sight. He carried them back to the table, where he gently set them down. He then breathed a small sigh of relief. "Man, it's surprising how heavy paper can be."

"That's the weight of knowledge," Zelda replied with a smirk. She then carefully began sorting through the texts, wondering which ones might be the best place to start. She ended up handing one to Link. "Here, why don't you read about the history of the Arbiter's Grounds and see if you can find anything about the Mirror of Twilight's construction."

"Sure," he said, taking the tome as well as a seat.

Zelda soon sat across from him with two books of her own, the one about outside realms and one about spells. Link just eyed her for a moment.

"Um…you're going to read two books at once?" he asked skeptically.

"Not quite," Zelda replied. "I plan to jump back and forth, using both books as references for the other."

Link simply frowned. Just hearing talk like that was enough to make him feel like he had steam coming out of his ears. The Princess really was a great deal smarter than he could ever hope to be.

Zelda didn't take notice of his bewildered expression though. Instead, she opened up her first book and began scanning the table of contents. As she did, she decided to start some light conversation.

"So, you mentioned that you've only been studying here for half an hour. Do you mind if I ask how you spent the rest of your day while you waited for me to arrive?"

Link glanced up, having already struggled with his own table of contents. "It's funny you ask. I spent an hour wandering around the castle to see if anything needed to be done, but eventually I just ended up visiting with your father."

Zelda paused as she was in the middle of turning a page. She quickly glanced up at Link with wide, surprised eyes. "You visited my father?" she repeated.

Link nodded. "That's right. I heard that he had been released from the infirmary, so I thought it would be polite of me to stop in and congratulate his good health. And, well, it was kind of nice to talk to him again too. He really is rather easy to get along with once you get to know him."

Zelda blinked, honestly stunned by the words that were coming out of the Hero's mouth. "You actually went and talked to him?"

"Yeah," Link said hesitantly, all while throwing the Princess a weird look. "Why are you so surprised?"

Zelda continued to stare at him for a moment, but she soon smiled as she felt her shock give way to amusement. "Well, it's just that in your first meeting with him, you seemed so nervous and shaken up. After experiencing that, I assumed that you might never wish to visit him again."

Link blinked as his expression slowly settled into a scowl. "Okay, it wasn't that bad."

"It was fairly bad," Zelda argued back. "I recall that you were so stiff. Your words caught in your throat and stuttered as they left your lips."

Link rolled his eyes, as if she was greatly exaggerating the truth. "Well, I'll admit that maybe I was a little nervous at first, but I got used to it over time. Now I have no problem talking to your father at all."

"Is that so?" Zelda asked with raised eyebrows. "My, such courage…"

Link quickly detected the sarcasm in her tone. "You're making fun of me."

Zelda produced a guilty smile that appeared cheerful rather than remorseful. "Perhaps I am," she admitted. "But on a more serious note, I suppose it is rather impressive that you've managed to overcome your nerves. It sounds like you've grown."

Link couldn't help but blush a bit. He had expected her words to sound a bit patronizing, but in reality, they were actually so heartfelt and sincere that he was honestly embarrassed to hear them. As always, receiving such praise from the Princess made him feel a little bashful.

"Thanks," he eventually managed to reply.

Zelda smiled at his suddenly shy behavior before turning her attention back to her book. As she resumed flipping through page after page, she attempted to concentrate, but she couldn't deny that the Hero's activities had left her more than a little curious.

"So…what did the two of you talk about?" she asked casually as she kept her eyes glued to the paper.

Link simply shrugged as he started flipping through his own book. "It wasn't anything grand. He just asked how the tour went and how I've been getting on. I asked him how he's been feeling and how his recovery is progressing. You know, just casual stuff."

"And that's it?" Zelda replied, as if expecting more.

"Yeah, more or less," Link said with a shrug.

Zelda absentmindedly nodded. Honestly, she wished that she could have asked for more details, but she didn't want to overstep any boundaries. She figured that she owed Link and her father their respective privacy. Still, it almost felt a bit strange to know that the two of them were talking to each other in private. Zelda had always been the bridge that connected these two individuals together, so it was just odd to hear that they had started conversing on their own out of the blue like this. It almost made Zelda feel like she was missing out on something important. Like the two of them were talking behind her back. Oh, how she would have given anything to know some of the finer details of their conversation…

However, with nothing left to be said, the present conversation soon died out while the Hero and Princess focused on the task at hand. They both buried their noses in their respective tomes, searching for hints or clues on how one might go about accessing the Twilight Realm.

Hours passed as evening turned to night and the library had to be illuminated with lanterns. Other patrons of the library came and went during this time, but Link and Zelda paid them little mind. They were both focused on trying to glean whatever relevant information they could from the texts before them. Zelda ended up grabbing numerous books and flipping through them, likely to use as references for something she had discovered. Meanwhile, Link just kept to a single book, already feeling perfectly challenged just trying to learn the ancient history of Hyrule's grand desert.

Eventually, the Hero managed to finish said book, but it was hardly useful. It detailed the construction of the Arbiter's Grounds but it gave no mention of the Mirror of Twilight. Either it had been constructed in secret or it was added in at a later date that the book didn't cover. With a sigh, he set the book aside as he turned to his partner. "Well, I haven't learned anything. How about you?"

To his surprise, Zelda simply shushed him without even looking up. Link had to blink and perform a double take just to make sure that he hadn't imagined it.

"Um, Zelda?"

Once again, she quickly shushed him, this time adding, "I think I'm close to figuring something out."

Link just rolled his eyes. While he was happy to hear that she was close to discovering something useful, he felt that her harsh shushing had been somewhat excessive. This, on top of how familiar she was with the library and how absorbed she was in her book, seemed to paint her in a new light. He soon smirked as he crossed his arms.

"Has anyone ever told you that you would make an excellent librarian? You're certainly strict enough."

This comment was enough to make Zelda rip her eyes away from her book, only to give the Hero a dissatisfied glare. "Do you want my help or not?" she asked bluntly.

Link just quickly frowned. "Er…sorry. I'll shut up."

"Thank you," Zelda breathed, before returning to her tome.

Link watched in uncomfortable silence as she swiftly ran her finger over a line of text, reading it carefully. It was clear that she was heavily invested in her research. Meanwhile, Link wasn't sure what he was supposed to do next. He wanted to ask Zelda which book he should move on to, but he refrained out of fear of getting his head bitten off. So Link simply sat there and watched Zelda work as the minutes slowly ticked away. By this point, it was starting to get late, and the Hero was growing weary. He could even feel his eyes start to droop as he leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

Fortunately, a change in Zelda's behavior managed to keep him awake. As the Princess continued reading, she soon smiled as she checked another page in a book off to her right. Her smile then elevated into a grin as she grabbed a spare piece of parchment and began jotting something down. Once she was done, she took a second to read what she had written.

"I did it!" she said, suddenly beaming. "I've figured it out."

Link's eyes widened and he quickly sat up in his seat. "Huh? You did? What did you figure out?"

"Here, take a look," she said proudly before handing him the piece of parchment.

The Hero eagerly took it into his hands, hoping to find some sort of stunning revelation. However, upon looking the paper over, all he found there was a short sentence written in a language he didn't recognize or understand. He soon glanced back and forth between the paper and the Princess, feeling disappointed, and quite frankly, stupid.

"Um…what is this?" he eventually asked.

Zelda just smiled. Of course Link would be clueless about this. "It's a spell," she explained. "If you read out that inscription, it should allow you to make contact with the Twilight Realm."

"Seriously?" he asked, suddenly feeling impressed.

She nodded. "The spell is written in an ancient language that was widely used by magicians at one point in time. It roughly translates to 'connection to the Twilight'. The 'Twilight' word in particular is marked with a tiny symbol that indicates it is referring to an outside world. In other words, it is specifically referencing the Twilight Realm."

"That's amazing," Link said, feeling completely awed. "How did you even find this?"

Zelda produced a proud expression once more. "It wasn't easy, mind you. As it turns out, there haven't been any scholars interested in contacting the outer realms for centuries. I had to dig rather deep into these tomes just to uncover that small string of words."

Link shook his head, feeling both grateful and speechless. He honestly couldn't believe what he was holding in his hands. He couldn't believe that this moment had actually arrived. That he and Midna might finally get the chance to see each other again after spending so many months apart. The feeling was almost overwhelming.

"I don't know what to say," he murmured with a smile. "This is incredible, Zelda. Thank you."

Zelda smiled back as she gave him a nod. "Of course, Link. This was my pleasure."

The Hero simply stared at her, feeling content to do nothing more than let his eyes settle on the Princess. In this moment, he was so appreciative of her kindness and wisdom. He honestly felt like he didn't deserve such generosity from her, and yet at the same time, he didn't know what he would do without her.

Meanwhile, Zelda was feeling impatient, and soon rose to her feet with an excited grin. "Come on, let's go test the results of our labor."

Link cracked a shy smile. "You mean the results of your labor? I didn't really do anything."

"Nonsense, Link," Zelda said with a quick shake of her head. "If it wasn't for you, I might never have come down here and spent all this time studying. It's only because you asked me for this favor in the first place that anything was accomplished at all."

Upon hearing this, Link just felt even more bashful. He had a feeling that the Princess was stretching the truth in order to make him feel better. Still, he appreciated her attempts. "I guess so," he agreed quietly.

"So come on," Zelda insisted. "I'm eager to see if the spell works. And you do want to see Midna again, don't you?"

"Of course," said Link as he too rose to his feet. "I've been waiting for this for a long time, but, um…" He paused, suddenly glancing at the parchment in his hands and feeling confused again. "How does this work exactly?"

"It's very simple," Zelda assured him. She then glanced down at the tome she had left open, double-checking her research as she explained it to the Hero. "The spell requires three things: a conduit, a verbal reading, and a host with some level of magic proficiency."

Link felt his shoulders physically start to sag. Despite his best efforts to understand, he felt terribly confused. "I don't know what any of that means," he admitted sadly.

Zelda just giggled at his crestfallen expression. "Trust me, it really is simple. Follow me and I'll explain it all step by step."

Link nodded before following her across the room. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he had faith that if anyone could guide him through this, it would be Zelda.

Before long, the two of them arrived at the far wall where an ornate mirror was hanging. Zelda simply inspected it for a moment before smiling. She then turned to Link.

"First off, a conduit is an object through which a spell is performed. Not every spell requires such a thing, but those that do tend to specify the necessity of objects with very specific qualities. In this particular case, our spell calls for either a mirror or a reflective surface of some sort."

"I see," Link said, slowly starting to smile. "So when I was reading about mirrors earlier, I was actually on the right track."

"All right, don't start thinking you're a scholar just because you made such a simple connection," Zelda chided him with a smirk. "The next part is the easiest. You just have to verbally read out the inscription in a clear voice."

Link stared down at the sentence that was written in a foreign language. "Er, but what if I can't read this?" he asked, sounding unsure.

"You recognize the letters, don't you?"

Link checked again, and sure enough, the sentence appeared to have been written in the common Hylian script. He soon nodded. "I guess so, but I'm not quite sure how to pronounce this."

Zelda smiled. "Don't worry, I'll help you with that before we begin the casting. After all, we wouldn't want a small slip up that forces the spell go awry, would we?"

"I hope not," Link said with a gulp. All of a sudden, he felt rather nervous. He didn't know much about magic, but he had a feeling that if even the tiniest thing went wrong, it could produce catastrophic results. He just hoped that Zelda knew what she was doing by trusting him with this.

Zelda, on the other hand, was calm as could be as she continued with her instructions. It was clear that she had done this sort of thing many times before. "The last requirement is a host with some level of magic proficiency. In most cases, the host refers to the person casting the spell."

"And they must be capable of performing magic?" Link finished. Zelda just nodded, causing Link to frown and hand the parchment over to her. "In that case, I can't do this at all. I'm not proficient in magic."

To his surprise, Zelda shook her head at this. "I think you might actually be wrong about that, Link."

Link frowned some more, feeling doubtful. "You think that I am capable of casting spells?"

"Perhaps," Zelda said with a smirk. "At the very least, I think it's worth a try. If you do have an affinity for magic, the spell will work as intended. If you don't, then nothing will happen at all. So there's really harm in trying it."

Link could only raise his eyebrows. "But what makes you think that I have magic?"

"Just a feeling," she replied mysteriously. This only caused the Hero to look even more skeptical, but Zelda gave him an encouraging smile. She recalled that she had seen the sacred mark of the Goddesses appear on the back of his hand on more than one occasion. A mark that typically indicated a great source of power, and one that Zelda secretly held herself. The Princess was more than confident that when the Hero attempted to read the inscription, the dormant magic within him would flow through the symbol and bring the spell to life.

Naturally, Link wasn't fully convinced, but he allowed Zelda to go over the spell with him one more time as he prepared to cast it. He especially made sure that he knew the correct pronunciation before he was ready to proceed. Following Zelda's instructions, he then approached the mirror on the wall and stared back at his own reflection.

"Before we begin, I suppose I should give you a fair warning," Zelda said as she stepped up to his side and gazed at her own image in the mirror. "The spell itself is a little vague. It is unclear if it will open up a portal to the Twilight Realm, or if it will only allow you to communicate through it, or if it will only allow you to view the realm without being able to interact with it at all. It's a shame, but all I can surmise is that some sort of window may be produced that connects their world to ours. And of course, there's no clear way to get ahold of Midna either. It may just end up connecting you with some random Twili resident, or perhaps nobody at all. But this is a start, at least, and I feel it's worth giving a try."

Link nodded, carefully taking in all of her words. He understood what she was trying to say. Basically, "don't get your hopes up". The spell was ancient and unfamiliar and neither one of them had any idea what to expect. But Link didn't care. If this spell gave him even the slightest chance of talking to Midna again, then he fully agreed with the Princess. It was worth a try.

Zelda smiled as she noted the resolve in his expression. "Are you ready?" she asked quietly.

Link nodded again. He felt nervous, but excited too. "I'm ready."

"Good. Now go ahead and place a hand on the mirror and read out the spell. Remember to use a clear voice and carefully enunciate your words."

"Got it."

"Oh, and Link?"

Link glanced over to the Princess, only to watch as she produced a soft smile and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Good luck."

Link smiled back. "Thanks, Zelda. For everything."

She nodded before withdrawing her hand and taking a step back. Link then faced the mirror again before taking a deep breath. By this point in the evening, the library had completely emptied out save for the two of them. Link didn't mind the lack of people, but he did find that their absence had created a quiet yet eerie atmosphere in this grand archive. He fought off the desire to shiver as he raised his left hand and placed his palm against the mirror.

It was now or never.

Link glanced down at the inscription and carefully read it out word for word. As promised, he spoke in a clear voice and made sure to accurately pronounce all the syllables. Once the final word left his lips, the mirror began to change…

Well, place your bets. Do you think that Midna will make an appearance next chapter or not? I'm eager to hear what everyone has to say :)

Also, I have another self-promotion announcement! I recently started releasing a second long-fic, titled "Children of the Triforce: Retold", and I'd like to encourage you all to go and give it a read. It's a retelling of an older story, written many years ago by a different author. I've since revisited it and tried to breathe some new life into it. It's a semi-wholesome and semi-tragic family drama focusing on Link and Zelda as parents. I plan to release a new chapter every two weeks, specifically on the weeks where this story is on break. So, if you're looking for something to read while waiting for new updates, please consider giving it a look!