Fan Fiction ❯ The Mirror Tells All ❯ Sixteenth ( Chapter 16 )

You Wish! Productions presents…

The Mirror Tells All

A Legend of Zelda fan fiction

By: Blue Taboo

Proud member of Darkscribes.org

Celebrating over one year of TMTA and being nowhere near done…here's chapter 16.

Needless to say, the walk up to Zelda's study was very awkward. The young Hylians were silent. Zelda was enraptured with the scrolls that had once brought her long-awaited salvation and seemed to promise to deliver it once again, though she was beginning to hate Impa for her timing in bringing them. Link, of course, had to deal with the discomfort brought on by being found kissing the Princess of Hyrule by quite possibly the worst person to witness such at thing, or so he thought.

Impa, alive with the night and the sight of familiar faces and places, could have really cared less. She was in good spirits, despite the ominous events that had brought her to the castle that night. She was even more amused by Link. Zelda had long ago informed her of the hero's return to Hyrule and of how he was assisting her in her plot to regain the throne, so Impa knew to expect him. Despite the fact that he had indeed grown properly in the last seven years, Impa still noted the endearing naiveté that he had possessed had not faded completely from him. Her grin only served to make his blushing and awkward silence extend longer as they reached the study.

Zelda had already unbound the old velum and immediately laid out the Sheikah prophecies on the table and began to pour over them.

Link, now completely forgotten, got another explanation from Impa. She said, "Sheikah wisdom is highly regarded amongst scholars throughout Hyrule as being the best, but it is also very dangerous because of that. There's no telling what someone might find in these words, or who that someone might be, so it must be protected. These scrolls are available only to the Royal Family of Hyrule, or made accessible to others only by their permission. Otherwise, I see that they are safe within the Shadow Temple itself."

"No one will want to go looking for them in there, that's for sure…" Link commented, remembering that hauntingly shocking place.

"Well, beforehand," the nursemaid went on, "My ancestors hid them within the well, or in tombs. It's said these scrolls have thousands of years worth of predictions in them." She then turned to Zelda. "Do you remember where you found the last one? I assume that would be a good place to start from…"

"That's likely," Zelda replied, still keeping her eyes on the aging velum. "I think this is it," she said after a while, pointing to the middle of the second scroll she had unrolled.

Link and Impa simultaneously went to her side. Link had expected to see yet another script of strange language he could not read, but he was surprised to find it in clear, modern Hylian.

"'One on a high mountain…'" he read aloud, then let out a small chuckle. "Memory doesn't lie. Sheik told me these words when I entered the Temple of Time again as a man." He let his gaze drift to Zelda, who finally lifted her eyes from the words to meet his. She smiled knowingly.

"I figured it was best to give you the prophecy in the exact words I read. You probably hated Sheik for being so cryptic, but it was the clearest I could be," she confessed.

"You were easier to interpret than politics. Does this stuff go in order?" Link inquired, looking away from his Princess and over more of the words that had guided his forgotten journey.

"I'm not sure," Impa told them both. "I would assume, though, if there was anything contained within these scrolls about this struggle, that it would be nearby, seeing as it involves a few of the same people."

Link left the second scroll behind after he had recognized all it had to tell him. He and Zelda went to the third one together, leaving Impa to her own devices.

It dawned on the old Sheikah then, as she gazed upon the two young saviors of Hyrule, that what she was looking at were not the same two people she had seen saving the world last time. Link, in his fancy clothing, was certainly different, and outwardly so. He had retained a little of his boyish ignorance, but here was a young man that had indeed grown up. Zelda, of course, she was used to seeing decked in rich fabric and high style, but this was a young ruler, not so much a Princess but already a Queen…one that was beginning to feel the weight of the kingdom upon her shoulders very early in life. Together they seemed very much a Queen and her trusted young Knight, though perhaps a little more than that to the discerning eye. Impa already knew, even though she had been absent long before Link's return, that the charade they were currently putting on was widely accepted.

"Not this again!" Zelda exclaimed with a sigh of frustration, breaking the old Sheikah from her musings.

"What is it?" the older woman questioned.

"More riddles about mirrors," she answered. To Impa's then confused look she offered, "We were looking over another book of prophecy today, set down by a Hylian king. One of his ravings was about this mirror, and it looks much too similar to this."

Link read the section in question aloud for all to hear. "When two times coincide, and a rift is once again bridged, there will be wicked and worthy. The eye will not see it, nor will your eyes, but bring it to the mirror. When all else fails to tell dark from light, the mirror tells all."

"Well," Impa began, "I believe we should have more concern for mirrors then. Obviously, the part about the two times is referring to this world after Ganon. I think it even alludes to the eye of truth."

"It's not like we don't know who our enemy is, though," Link pointed out, sitting with a pondering frown on his face while Zelda stood above him, still scanning the scroll.

"Perhaps it means something other than that," the elder Sage intoned.

They talked for what seemed the entire night of what every possible word might mean. It made Link's head swim by the time Calandra came in and informed them all that the sun would soon rise. So as not to insight an unneeded gossip, Link left through the secret passage to his room, and Impa opted to return to her usual bedchamber in Zelda's sprawling apartments. The hero fell right into bed once he got to his room. Apparently, it took all of Vesta's strength to wake him a few hours later.

He groggily got out from underneath the covers in order to stop his little servant's constant shaking.

"Finally awake!" she observed much too loudly. "Shall I go get your breakfast then?"

Link groaned in response, then added, "Please ask the cook if she'd make me some very strong tea…"

"Bad night?"

"You could say that…" Link replied simply, and began to fumble towards the wash water she'd brought for him.

The servant girl left with a giggle at the less-than-charming state of her charge.

The previous night would have been a very good night for Link, if only Impa had opted to spend it away from Hyrule Castle. Just when he had finally gotten the chance to…

He suddenly became very worried. Link splashed his face with water a few times in a vain attempt to wake himself further. Although his body remained sluggish, his brain was already going at full speed. What would Zelda think of him, spending that whole night trying to think of what mirror could possibly mean and not giving any sort of explanation? Surely, she'd be angry with him. Then again, didn't she take to those scrolls in just the same way, completely forgetting about their little rendezvous by the fountain? Did that mean she wanted nothing to do with him like that?

Link sighed. Love and prophecy…he couldn't decide which was harder to figure out or measure clearly. Love, however, was a very nice thing, certainly better than harsh destinies and heroic quests.

Eventually, after a few cups of horribly bitter but very much needed tea, and his usual hearty breakfast, Link was awake enough to face another day of conspiracies and intrigue. He went to meet with Cortain for history lessons in the library and was thankful it was not his day to train with Banon.

Link wandered into the vast library in the northern wing. He believed it to be on the second floor of the massive castle, but he still couldn't be sure. Its ceilings were vaulted high enough to allow towering shelves of tomes and various volumes so tall that one had to climb up a ladder to get at whatever knowledge one wanted. All was usual in that place, quietness being dominant over all things, but Sir Cortain was not in his usual spot. Link was left to puzzle for only a few moments, before someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

He whirled around to find the Princess herself looking up at him. Needless to say, Link was surprised and slightly horrified. He had hoped to talk to her…much later in that day.

Zelda, however royal, was not accustomed to waiting. "I told Sir Cortain to let me handle this lesson for today."

Link, failing to derive any possibly positive meaning from that statement just nodded in acknowledgement and then noted that the library was completely empty.

Only then did Zelda sense his apprehension. "I'm not here to…to denounce what happened yesterday…" she managed to get out.

The hero was then slightly less on edge, but he knew a confrontation when he saw one. "Then what are you here for?" he asked plainly.

Zelda was silent for a moment and could not meet his gaze. "Not to denounce…but rather to discuss…"

Awkward silence pervaded the dusty place for a moment as both cast their gazes to the floor, fighting the urge to blush furiously at the mention of their being caught by Impa.

"Look-"

"I just want to say-"

They interrupted each other and caused Link to finally hold up a hand in frustration. "We're getting nowhere this way," he observed. "If there's something you wanted to say to me then just say it. Please Zelda…even if you think it might hurt me."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you a question," she informed, trying hard to keep her rigid gaze on him.

"Then ask it." Despite his nervousness, the hero forced a warm smile.

"Are you upset with me for kissing you?" she blurted out all in one breath and then added, "Goddesses, I feel like a child for saying that."

"I'm not upset with you at all, and you are not childish for asking. Well, you could say I'm the opposite of upset…I was thrilled," Link confessed, though a great deal slower than the Princess.

Zelda looked very relieved, but became inquisitive again in a matter of half a moment. However, this time she had a genuine smile on her lips. "Thrilled?"

"Well…uh…" and thus came the part of life that the great Hero of Time had not mastered in his near 18 years.

Zelda had to laugh. Now that she was in control, she had quickly become completely relaxed. She took a confused and stiff-looking Link by the elbow and sat him down on one of the cushioned seats on the sills of the long windows that filtered the warm light of summer into the great room. She sat next to him and promptly explained with even more relief, "There's no need for you to be shy about it. It's not like I don't have any feelings for you. I have, Link, for the longest time, but you and I have had the peculiar circumstance of always being around one another when we are in some sort of danger. There's never been time for either of us to…say or do anything about it…"

"Hence why you told off Cortain…to make time," he concluded.

"There was a need for it," she said simply.

"All right then. I suppose you know now that I certainly have feelings for you, but I thought you had always known that, well not always but…"

"Throughout different places and times lived it makes it difficult to sort out things," she told him, "but I know what you mean. Link, I've known ever since a certain overly persistent Hero of Time began to beg a certain mysterious Sheikah for the whereabouts of the Princess enough to make him keep disappearing. I was only sorry that I could not have responded in the same way. After all, you'd think it strange if Sheik started to confess that he felt for you like I do…"

Link's shoulders finally loosened and let down their guard. He sank into the comfort of being near Zelda and free of his burdening thoughts of her hating him somehow. Indeed he had known that they were more than just good friends or co-conspirators against evil, but it was good to have an affirmation, albeit that it was a verbal one and not so nice as the physical one…

He draped an arm over her shoulders and told her, "It would have scared me more than Ganon at first, but after that little poem in the Ice Caverns, I began to have my suspicions about that Sheik fellow."

"You knew it was me?" Zelda demanded, sounding almost disappointed that her trickery had been seen through, even though she wrapped herself further in Link's arm as she did so.

"Not so much knew as I suspected Sheik was not who he said he was. Don't worry. You still left me quite surprised at the end, but let me think I was at least slightly on to you…"

By the time he was finished, Zelda had leaned her entire body against her hero. "You know I enjoy my plotting."

"'A childish mind will turn to noble ambition... Young love will become deep affection...The clear water's surface reflects growth...'" he quoted over the top her head.

"Do you suppose then that Sheik's prophecy has come true?" she said, half-joking.

"In part it has. I only hope we can shine some light on the newest addition to it," Link added.

"We still need a mirror."

"Shine it in Terinae's eyes for all I care," he chuckled and drew her closer. Embracing alone in the library, just as it was beginning to rain lightly on the gardens outside, Link and Zelda enjoyed an uninterrupted kiss.

But they were not alone…

The muffled mention of his name had attracted the Emperor to what he believed to be an empty room. A few peals of laughter later, and he stood scowling now in the doorway, the dimmed light of the now cloudy sky just giving him a silhouette of the two young lovers, with just enough color and detail to let him know who they were.

The Squire, as Terinae knew him, was dressed in cream edged with gold, as if to define him as a Prince and the upsetting force of the Emperor's plans already.

The Princess was clad in a very suitable rose-colored gown that was elaborately embroidered with an artistic representation of her father's Red Eagle, that flew from the flowers that were stitched into the bottom of her skirt to freedom upon her chest and looked as if it would fly right off of her and perch on top of one of the shelves full of Hylian history.

Together, and clearly lovers as they now were, they made up the very force that Terinae could clearly see would topple his plans for Hyrule.

He would not have it.

But instead of marching in on them and tearing Link from his Princess and then tearing the hero's limb from his body as Terinae wished to do, he chose to step away quickly and quietly, leaving them in the bliss of thinking that they were alone and uncaught.

"I will not have it…" the usurper whispered to himself as he stalked away to make an early beginning to his plans for Hyrule, the Princess, and the cursed Squire, whoever that damned boy was…

- Blue Taboo -