Fan Fiction ❯ The Mirror Tells All ❯ Tenth ( Chapter 10 )

You Wish! Productions presents...

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Double digits now? Holy shit...

Link had gotten to know the look he got from the Emperor Terinae very well. Each night, when he handed Zelda off to the high table and went off to his lower seat with a bow, the armored Emperor's eyes met his. With each evening, the contempt and anxiousness in those eyes of his grew. Zelda took a bit of pride in this, at first, upon seeing her ploy confuse Terinae, but on that night, only after Link had been at Hyrule Castle for seven days, did it no longer seem a ploy.

What was going on was no game between the elite, but rather, a reality imposed by destiny. Each evening was something fated, and each look grew with contempt in a way foreseen by the Goddesses themselves.

Link was once again on a quest.

"I bid you good evening then, Your Highness, Milady," Link said as he looked away from Terinae's gaze and left them to sit with the Old Knights.

Even if it was a quest, though, Link still felt the imprisoning effects of the castle. He almost wished that he could let his own luck choose what he ate for dinner, as opposed to the head cook. A snare could catch anything from a rabbit to a mouse, and a fishing line could snap upon a minnow's fighting if need be, but he was fed here, like a stabled horse. Not that he minded the food, but rather, he minded his own pride.

However, he had learned to pass the time he spent at dinner quickly. It was no use for him to linger over his cup and the songs of the bawdy minstrels that the nobles loved so. He had other matters to attend to, and Zelda often found a need to excuse herself to bed as soon as she could. Link didn't mind. He'd rather walk the empty halls with her than sit and drink any day. He only regretted that the Knights would be waiting for him, and that he could not keep them waiting long. Every moment spent with Zelda offered him up another bit of enchantment, another piece of the puzzle, and more of his heart went to her.

And as the food was cleared away, Link already knew to watch for her, to see if she would look in his direction and take the cue come to her side once again. Each evening, the Emperor tried to make Zelda stay, or tried to beat Link to the chase, but it was only the Princess that kept it going, and had made her and Link's leaving a pattern that was set in stone.

He looked up at the dais, and his eyes were quickly met by her captivating violet blue eyes. Link excused himself from the Knights and the lesser nobles and strode off to his Princess once again, and to face the scrutiny of the Emperor Terinae.

"...And so I'm afraid that I must seek my chambers now, Lord Emperor," she was saying as Link approached, ready to lead her away.

"Ah," Terinae locked eye with Link for a moment, then continued, "And I suppose that your friend the Squire will insist on taking you away from another fine evening, then?"

The Emperor was rather coy that night. Link could tell, in many ways, that he had perhaps taken too much of a liking to the wine. For some reason, it only gave him greater haste to pull Zelda away from the high table. "'Tis what Milady seems to keep me around for, Highness," Link said with a short bow to the both of them, trying to play off the Emperor's blunt edge.

Zelda snickered, which she muffled with a gloved hand. The Emperor, however, did not seem so pleased.

"I regret, Master Squire, that I have so little time in which to meet the various guests of the castle, for you must be a charming lad to have gained yourself so much favor in such a short stay, thus far," the Emperor surmised, his voice full of sarcasm.

Before Link could say another thing and possibly set off the tipsy usurper, Zelda stepped in, her quiet laugh immediately replaced with seriousness. "I do believe that it is past time for me to bid you all goodnight, Lords and Ladies," she addressed the entire table, "So I must bid you farewell in short order. Goodnight, friends."

With that, she was on Link's arm, and heading out the doors.

In the dim light of the torch-lit halls, empty of prying ears and eyes as they were in that time of evening, Zelda said, "I want to show you something tonight."

Link, slightly mystified, reminded her, "The Knights will be waiting for me in the Den pretty soon..."

"They can wait a little longer, can't they? I shant keep you long, but I don't wish to go by myself," she told him, making her light grip on his arm a little more noticeable.

"All right," Link agreed, feeling in no position or want to disagree.

Again, he was greeted with a familiar mischievous grin from his Princess. "Good! C'mon, the tower's this way." She took his hand and led the way with a quick step, a strange joy sparkling in her lilac blossom eyes.

Link let himself be pulled through the darker halls of the castle, and soon found that he and Zelda were laughing as they went, caught, it seemed, in some strange fit of unexplainable merriment. Neither seemed to care much, though, as they continued. Maybe, Link thought, but then stopped himself from finishing the notion. It wasn't a time for thinking, just for feeling how good it was to laugh with her and feel her hand in his.

"Just a little further," she told him, short of breath, still leading on.

Zelda shouldered open a door with surprising gusto in what seemed to be a nearly abandoned part of Hyrule Castle. The wall scones went, for the most part, unlit, or with little fire in them, and there were no strange tapestries, or other such works of art, decorating the simple gray stone. Only cobwebs offered that service. They winded up a narrow flight of spiraling stairs, nearly tumbling down them many times for the lack of good light, but laughing as they steadied themselves.

Another door was laid wide open by the Princess, flooding the two of them with the silver light of the moon once again. It hung as a perfect half in the sky, bathing all of Hyrule in its nighttime glow, or at least all that could be seen from the high tower top on which the Princess of Destiny and the Hero of Time now stood. The view was amazing, and Link soon realized why it was so hard to get up to where they were. He stood with Zelda on the top of the highest tower in all of Hyrule Castle, looking out on the kingdom below them and seeing all. Wind swept his hair all around his eyes, but he could care less, just because the idea of the view was better than the view itself.

"Wow..." he conceded to the young woman who'd brought him there.

Zelda had broken away from him and strode over to the side of the tower top that faced the wind, her once perfectly styled golden hair now blowing out of its pins and curls behind her. "This is my second favorite place in the castle," she remarked, closing her eyes and relishing in the feel of the cool winds upon her face. "And as much as I love my little part of the garden, I find this tower top growing on me every time I come here."

"You can see everything from here!" Link exclaimed, looking out onto Hyrule from above, feeling like some kind of bird. "Even the forest! Those lights must be Kakariko! And look at Lake Hylia!"

Zelda opened her eyes and took it in, as she had for years. "Yes, strange that I have to come up here to realize how big this kingdom is, and yet to see it so small...I'm glad you like it, though, Link."

Link still remained fascinated with the sights, but Zelda only stood watching him, the way his long coat wrapped around his knees, and how his flaxen hair flowed around his face, almost like they were underwater. A thought came to her mind, as she looked at her hero, clad once again in his proper green.

"I have always wondered about that name of yours," she began, her gaze still fixed on him, even as he met it. "Tell me how it came that you were called Link..."

This time, another weight that the hero always had with him became more apparent. The ocarina in his pocket and the mark on his hand were silent, but his neck began to itch as it suddenly recognized the feel of gold against bare skin. "The Kokiri gave it to me, but I never knew how until after I found out I wasn't even one of them..."

"But why 'Link'?"

"Well, this is what Saria told me, so I believe it's true," he started, recalling the many questions he asked of his best friend when she became the Forest Sage. "She said that the Great Deku Tree called all the Kokiri to him one day, and that he had a strange bundle of blankets sitting at his roots. The kids were confused when he told them to take care of it, and some were even afraid to go near the strange new thing, but Saria and the twins, or at least she told me, came up first, and found me in there, but I was just a baby, they said."

"They were even more baffled, because there are no babies in the forest. Kokiri's are created by the Great Deku Tree as they are and as they always will be. Sure enough, they need to be taught how to fend for themselves, but they have the basic skills of life and appear to be already eight or even ten years old. So the Great Deku Tree told them that I was a special Kokiri, and he told them all he knew about creatures like us that grow and age, except, of course, he didn't tell them that I would ever grow up, only that one day I would be just like the rest of them."

"The kids all gathered around me then, Saria said, because they were curious. One of the twins found a gold chain around my neck, and was captivated by it. Kokiri's also have no knowledge of metal-working, as well as so many other things. Saria said that after a while, she found the clasp and took it off me, exclaiming to her sister at the top of her lungs, 'This link is different from the rest!' The other twin then said, 'Like the little boy is different from the rest of us!' All the sudden, it got quiet in the clearing then, and the Great Deku Tree told them that Link should be my name, and that they should make sure that I never lost that chain, for it was destined by the Goddesses that I keep it. They made sure all right..." Link said, pulling the simple golden necklace over his head and holding it out for her to see.

"Now that I know what I do about who I am," he concluded, "I still keep it because it must have been my mother's. She took me to the forest in the Great War and entrusted me to the Great Deku Tree before she died, but I know nothing else..."

All Zelda could do was look at the chain that dangled from his fingers. There must have been thousands of other gold chains like it in the world, and it had no unique feature to it, other than it was the hero's namesake. A chain that bound him to Hylian heritage, mortality, and his own fate. A simple golden chain, the same as any woman in the world had, except, it had once belonged to a woman neither of them knew, but still meant more than words could express.

He put the chain back on, almost afraid to let it leave his body for long. "I don't know why he told them to make me keep it with me, and I know it's a sorry excuse for a heritage and a name, but it's what I have."

"I think it's much better than any name we can make up for you, and greater than any family we can give you," Zelda told him honestly, still amazed by his story.

"I just wish that I had a better record than a few talking trees and a piece of metal, that's all..." he let out after a sigh of frustration.

"There's no name more fitting for you than Link. A hero must be linked to everything in a way. He must be linked to his enemies, in order to defeat them. He has to be linked to that which he is saving...and...you said it yourself, that you and I are linked. It suits you. It really does," she assured him, taking a few steps closer, but stopping short of him.

He looked at her remorsefully, but seemed to shrug it off after only a short moment. Zelda could tell, though, that there was a great frustration in his eyes. After all, she knew that she would feel the same way, if she didn't know where she came from. Unfortunately, that was all too obvious to her...

"But why do they call you Zelda, Princess? I'm sure it's a better story than mine..." he conceded, still trying to brush off his own feelings.

"It is a common name among the royal women of Hyrule, nothing more. There have been dozens of Zeldas before me, and if we can keep Hyrule free from Terinae's clutches, I should hope there will be many after," she told him, dryly at first, but sparking up at the mention of the Emperor's downfall.

"There will be," Link said simply, turning to look over all of the sleeping kingdom once again, however, his stature was much more subdued this time.

Zelda couldn't help but notice where his gaze always fell, and where his words had fallen throughout that day. It only seemed appropriate, that her green-clad hero should be looking out into the distant expanse of the Lost Woods.

"Link," she began, "Have you visited your friends in the forest at all, since you left Hyrule all that time ago?"

He just shook his head, his lack of a good reason for not seeing them again providing him with silence.

"You know, if there's ever an opportunity, say, if the Knights are away for a few days, you should go. I'm sure they've been wondering about you..." Zelda prompted him, moving to his side and leaning on the thick battlements.

"They won't even know who I am..." he responded, his gaze still fixed on the moon-lit forest.

"Saria will."

Bewildered, Link turned to face Zelda, wondering how that could be possible. "What do you mean?"

"All the Sages remember, Link. They were just as crucial to Ganon's defeat as you and I were, and they need to remember that they are indeed Sages in order to fulfill their duty of holding the Evil King away in the Evil Realm," she reported matter-of-factly.

He looked back out over Hyrule then, finding that it made sense enough for them to remember as well. He folded his arms and leaned them on the battlements. "So then what happened to all of them? What are they doing now?"

"Well," Zelda started, trying to recall the latest of her encounters with each of her fellow Sages, "For starters, last I talked to Saria, she told me she was worried about you, but that the Kokiri were doing well, as usual."

A little smile crept onto Link's face, and she couldn't help but join in.

"Darunia still named his son after you, and I hear that Link is growing up to be a very strong and hearty little Goron. Ruto actually came to my father's funeral and sent her respects from the Zora people, but I haven't heard much else from her. Naburoo continues on as the leader of the Gerudo, though she spends more time at the fortress than she does the Goddess of the Sand now. Impa...Impa left for Kakariko when Terinae decided that was where he would station his legions. She wanted to provide the Hylians, and the few Sheikah that still live there, with good leadership in their time of...compromise, shall we say. I regret, though, that she can't be here as well, because I do miss her, a lot..."

Link sighed, trying not to dwell on the idea of the changes brought about in his absence. "It's good to hear that they are all doing pretty well then."

They stood, resting on the battlements of the high tower in silence once again, their former joy torn at the hands of the fate they'd been dealt. It wasn't a time for merriment when it was a question whether or not Hyrule's royalty was to continue on, or whether the Sages that had saved the kingdom along with the Hero of Time were indeed well.

The two of them passed the time there, as they had been doing normally enough for seven long years, and thought on how complicated life had become for them. They were no longer the children who were handed a destiny and accepted with open arms. Now, indeed, they were the youths that only just now had come to understand the burden that came with power, or wisdom, or courage, in fact.

They thought so that they did not notice their gravitation toward one another. A shared fate, maybe. A shared memory, of course. A shared devotion...well...perhaps.

When the green fabric of his coat sleeve brushed against the thin, pale fabric of her dress, they were brought back to the present reality.

"I...I'm no Sage of Wisdom," Link started out, quickly putting more space between them, "But I know enough to say that I should be getting to the Den more sooner than later..."

"Yes, that's true," Zelda acknowledge, suddenly finding the stones at her feet quite fascinating. "We should come up here again some time, Link."

"Yes, yes we should." He tried to catch her eyes again, feeling awkward as he did. "Goodnight, Zelda," he said when he realized that he wouldn't be able to unless he did something else. He quickly to one of her hands in his and bowed with it as he had seen the other gentlemen of the court do with some of the ladies.

He left though, with her own goodbye calling after him. A ringing sensation had filled his pointed ears, and the back of his hand felt warm through the gauntlet. He didn't have to look down at it to know that his Triforce mark was glowing. He smothered it with his right hand as discreetly as he could, and then cursed himself...

...Link had to remember not to touch her right hand like that...

By the time he'd found his way back to the Den, the resonating Triforce had settled down enough for him to act normally and he continued on with the story of his adventures in Termina that he had been telling the Old Knights for the last few evenings he spent in their company. Only Wrasten had posed the question as to why he had taken so long, but Link managed to avoid answering him somehow. He could see, though, that there was something in his tardiness that Wrasten just didn't approve of in the least.

He was grateful to return to the solitude of his room that night, having been too overwhelmed by his own realization at his connection to other people that day. The Sages, Zelda, and everyone in Hyrule...was he really responsible for them all, for their safety and sovereignty? This Hero of Time business, he thought, was in need of some sort of outline of expectations. Link had only wished that he had known all that was to come when he first took the Master Sword from its resting place...

Sighing demurely, and feeling utterly spent of his emotions, Link pulled out the Ocarina of Time from one of the big pockets of his green coat, then discarded the heavy garment unceremoniously over a bed post.

A little tune came to mind, not exactly very soothing for his weariness, but rather, light and uplifting. Link wondered if the notes of Saria's Song still held their power, but he also wondered why he hadn't bothered to play them in so long...

Maybe it was because he had stopped searching, after a few years...

He had stopped looking for her, simply because he wasn't really deserving of her companionship. Surely, a Kokiri needed a fairy partner to get along and explore the boundless verdant forest safely, but a growing, aging, dying Hylian...

No...Navi was better off where she was, doing whatever is was that she did these days. Surely, she had some greater purpose to her life than to be the Hero of Time's winged sidekick...

They were better off parted, and he was better off remaining the Boy Without a Fairy.

No response came to the soft notes from his Ocarina, but something inside himself had told Link long ago that there wouldn't be. He wasn't sure if she heard his call and ignored it, or if she even heard him at all.

All Link knew was that he suddenly missed his days of innocence in the forest more than ever, and that he began to feel a familiar loneliness building up inside his heart. Here, amongst all the sleeping who's who of Hyrule, stood the greatest Link in the chain that bound all the people of the world together, yet somehow, he still managed to feel alone.

The hero undressed in the slow, ambling manor of the very wearied and fell asleep only moments after his tousled blonde hair touched the clean linens covering his pillow.

He wished, though, just before he closed his eyes, that he was still with Zelda.

That way, he wouldn't feel so alone...

/_\ /_\

/_\ /_\ Blue Taboo /_\ /_\