fictober 06

link peered around the corner of the castle hall, looking back and forth to see if there were any incoming guards. he held his breath to listen for the sound of clanking boots, or idle chatter from guards standing at their posts, and turned the corner when he heard nothing. he tiptoed down the hall, pleased with his choice to keep his slippers on instead of his daytime shoes as the soft material made barely a sound on the stone floor.

distantly, a bell rang to signal the passage of an hour, a total of nine times. he would be expected soon at his first class, but he was rarely on time, so he wasn’t in a rush. no, link had something more important in mind than learning letters or numbers (though if he had a music lesson today, he’d have seconds thoughts). link was headed deeper into the castle than he’d ever been, even with queen zelda, who was happy to tour the large castle with him.

now in unfamiliar halls, his steps slowed, and link looked around in wonder. the stone walls here seemed scarred, with large scrapes and portions of the walls filled in with newer stone, as if at one point they’d all but crumbled away completely. he looked in a doorway curiously, going in when he realized there was no one there.

the room was filled floor-to-ceiling with bookshelves, and a glass case in the center of the room held clearly damaged relics- a broken magic rod, an ocarina that looked as if it was a touch away from dusting, even a large black and gold shield that looked bigger than he was. link stared wide-eyed at the contents for several moments before turning to the bookcases to see what treasures and wonders they might hold.

disappointingly, the books seemed to be heavily burnt and damaged- several had chunks of missing pages, charred covers and spines, and even some that were nothing more than a carefully bound pile of loose papers. others seemed to be so old that the text had long since faded, or written in hylian forms that hadn’t been used in hundreds of years.

finally, the young boy came across a book in better condition than the others, on a shelf just barely too high for him to reach. he stretched, pulling himself up a shelf and grabbing at it the best he could. it fell from the shelf and hit him on the head before landing with a heavy thud on the stone floor.

link froze as the sound reverberated though the room and down the halls. after several moments without anyone appearing, or the clang of metal boots stomping on stone, he relaxed and picked up the book and sat with his back to the bookcase.

like the others, the words in the book were old and somewhat faded, but the pictures were still viewable, and he found himself drawn in by the depictions. sword-wielding heroes in green faced down monsters that threatened their homes, drawings of different races that were similar to those that he learned about in his classes, a set of triangles that shone with golden light- he so deeply engrossed by the pictures that he didn’t hear the footsteps enter the room.

“ahem.”

link froze at the sound, and slowly looked up from the book to find not his instructor, not his personal guard- not any guard, in fact. stood in front of him, with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow was queen zelda, and link felt his heart drop.

“um.. good morning, queen zelda..” link said weakly, and she sighed. he prepared himself to be scolded quite fiercely and to be sent to his room until dinner, and was quite surprised to see her come to sit by her side.

“didn’t we already have this conversation, link- about both my name and the rules about off-limit rooms?” she asked, gently taking the book from his grasp and closing it, reading the cover before turning her attention back to him.

“yes ma’- yes zelda, ‘m sorry zelda,” link apologized, looking mournfully at his lost book. zelda seemed thoughtful for a moment, and then waved him closer. he hesitated, unsure of if she really wanted him closer, and then inched closer until he was pressed up against her side.

“you may call me queen zelda if you’d really rather, link, but i find the title to be so formal and i’ll tell you a secret,” she leaned in, “i really only have people call me that at stuffy meetings. some of the shop owners still call me zelly from when i was a little girl your age.”

“really?” link asked, feeling somewhat doubtful. he couldn’t imagine the regal woman as a kid like him, running around in the halls and begging the chefs for sweets before dinner.

“really. ask the baker for zelly’s favorite treat if you don’t believe me! now, tell me about this book you found?” she carefully brushed away some dust from the cover, revealing the faintest picture of three triangles.

“i was looking at all the pictures in it- there are ones of the heroes, and there are monsters, and there was a picture of that old music ‘corina over there in the box! did one of the heroes use that one? do you know the songs from it?” link asked eagerly, nervousness at being in trouble gone at the prospect of getting to know more about the book, and the idea that a hero of old could have played a little wooden ocarina like the one he’d started practicing with.

“well yes- many heroes of old used magic mixed with music on their journeys. i suppose you might like to hear about them?” zelda asked, and link nodded his head so quickly he almost knocked into the bookshelf behind him. zelda laughed, and carefully opened the book to a picture of the old ocarina.

“well, many, many centuries ago-”

“how many?”

“so many that we still don’t know how long it has been- it’s honestly nothing short of a miracle that the ocarina over there has survived, though not likely that it is the original. now, listen and don’t interrupt link. as i was saying, many, many centuries ago…”