-Royal Palace, Zelda-

"Your highness, if I may make a request."

Zelda stopped walking to turn and see Ryo bowing slightly at the hip with a hand over his heart in a respectful salute. She raised an eyebrow. They were alone. He had no need to hide his true thoughts.

Also for him to be straight forward was normal, but a request? He had to know Zelda would be instantly suspicious. He must be making a request alone in her presence, so that others, namely Impa, would not overhear.

"What is it?" Zelda questioned. "It is odd of you to seek me out, without witnesses." She added.

"I have nothing to fear from witnesses, if you question my reasons. By all means, call for them. If you question my intentions, then allow your most trusted Chancellor listen in."

Zelda did not immediately respond. Ryo also did not offer anything to still the silence. What he had to ask must be important, and though Zelda felt she was being baited into doing it, she called for Impa to be brought here. Better to deal with Ryo's scheme with Impa at her side, then to try and read too deeply. Whether he truly wanted Impa there, or if it was merely a bluff, Zelda would be better off.

Impa approached and immediately hissed at the sight of Ryo. "What is it, scoundrel? What request would you make of the princess?"

"Such a harsh tone." Ryo clicked his tongue. "I mean what is best for Qin."

"You mean what is best for you?"

"Funny thing about economics. What is best for Qin has also been best for me."

"Chancellor Ryo, what is your request?"

Ryo glanced briefly to Impa before answering, "By no means a small thing. You see, I have been having sleepless nights, fretting for the state of Qin. I know we all have. And though I have the greatest faith in General Ouki Mitagi, I cannot help but feel there is more to this war than meets the eye. And I seek to find out what it is."

"You said as much before." Zelda mused.

"Then you know I mean it. I told Ouki, of which I am sure you can find witnesses from the palace staff, to be careful, as I feel there is more here than we know."

"If I feel it necessary to have your words proven by witness..." Zelda answered.

"What is your request?" Impa inserted.

"You see... Harken Dragmire is the enemy. I wish to learn of him. What led him to fight the Qin. What brought his victory against General Kyou Mitagi, and what brought his defeat at the hands of General Ouki Mitagi. I feel in this victory and in this defeat is the key to understanding him more. Surely there are records of Harken, of Kyou, and of Ouki in these walls? As well as how these three men are connected."

Impa was wary of Ryo. She tried to pierce his mind and find what it was he was seeking after, but she could not think of it. It was true, what he asked was in direct relevance to the war. To learn of the battles between the three men could indeed offer insight into Harken Dragmire, and then they could send a note to Ouki Mitagi via hawk. It all fit true and whole.

But Impa could not shake an uneasy feeling. Who else would perceive there is more to the war than meets the eye than the very man to whom there was always more than meets the eye. It was Ryo's nature to have that instinct because it was how he himself was.

Zelda did not speak, but watched Impa and Ryo. She waited for Impa's judgement. Zelda knew that Impa would know Ryo best of them.

"Is there a fault with wanting to learn of the enemy?" Ryo pressed.

"No."

"And how would we know an enemy than by the life he led, the victories he gained, and the defeats he suffered?"

Impa narrowed her eyes briefly, still trying to see through him, but failing. In a way his desire was earnest, but he was a snake. She could not for the life of her read into this thoughts... she never had been able to. At times this was a bad thing... but at times it was also good. Ryo was not an evil man. Nor was he a good one. He was a difficult one to judge.

Impa sighed. "It is true. We might be able to find something of Harken in the records. Something we can pass onto General Ouki."

"Then?" Ryo nodded.

"Do you feel it is worth the try?" Zelda asked.

"Ryo is right. I don't want to admit it, but he is. I apologize, Chancellor, for my wariness." Impa bowed.

Ryo laughed. He waved it aside. "Do not apologize, Chancellor! If you were not wary of me, you would not be worthy of being my equal."

The three of them entered the king's library, and a scribe who knew the library was tasked with going through the scrolls, books, and pamphlets for anything and everything pertaining to the these men. Impa did not fear too deeply for the information to be presented, as there were secrets even this library did not contain. However, she still insisted on being where she could see what Ryo was reading.

So the three of them read the scrolls. There were not many of them.

Harken Dragmire was an elder of the Dragmire clan. The king at the time demanded more of the Dragmire. They turned to fusing Twilight and Divinity in such a way as to be demonic power. For a short while, it brought them great power, but it also caused them to turn on their allies. (Whether by accident in madness or this was on purpose, was not written.)

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The Mitagi gathered the armies of Qin and fought the Dragmire for their rebellion. Along with them were the four other great generals of Qin with General Kyou Mitagi at the lead. It was a great slaughter. The woman and children were scattered across Qin. All was quiet, until Harken Dragmire alone came out of hiding and killed Kyou Mitagi. He then went on to hunt down and kill other great generals before Ouki flew into a blind rage and defeat Harken.

"This we already know! What are we missing?" Ryo rolled up a scroll and cast it down. "What brought him to be able to defeat the five generals, but not Ouki! What strength did Ouki have that the others did not! And why did Harken wait so long before taking his revenge!"

It was at this point that Zelda did exactly as Ryo wanted. She looked to Impa and said, "Is there anything more you know that is not in these scrolls?"

Ryo listened intently, though not appearing to do so.

Impa hesitated. She said, "What are you asking, Princess?"

"As the former Shadowmaster of Qin, surely you know of secrets not within these scrolls."

"A-are you asking me to compromise my clan?"

"I am asking you to act as a Chancellor," Zelda replied. "Not as a Shadowmaster of the Sheikah. Are you still loyal to them?"

"I-I... Princess..."

Ryo saw this was a very dangerous question now for her. Zelda was not being harsh, but was asking a question that brought a harshness of its own, because it was real and was the kind of question to force one to choose a side. It was asking her to choose her relationship with the girl or the clan she had stepped down from but had devoted her life to up this point. Ryo sympathized a bit for Impa, but was pleased all the same.

Impa found her voice. "I am loyal to the promises I have made all my life, and to you. I act no more as Shadowmaster, but with my background within the Sheikah I do recognize there are secrets that are far more damaging than helpful."

"Be that as it may, are there secrets here that are more helpful than harmful? Surely there are some."

Impa gulped, took a breath, and nodded. "There are a few I can tell that are... safe. The first being that Harken and Ouki had an unfair advantage over the other generals."

"Oh?" Ryo wondered.

Impa nodded. "The Mitagi have secrets of their own, but I think they will not mind if I reveal a minor one in veiled detail. You see, in the fall of Hyrule, the Mitagi collected relics of power and hid them away. Relics of ancient power. Gauntlets, shields, swords, spears, whips, magical rods, whatever they could get their hands on. It is written the Mitagi are the descendant of the Rebel Hero. Kyou Mitagi and Ouki Mitagi were able to use some. Ouki Mitagi's halberd is an ancient relic, once wielded by the Rebel Hero."

"This is not much of a secret. Even I knew that. Ouki bragged to me about it." Ryo said.

"Ouki told me much the same for musical instruments." Zelda said.

Impa sighed. "Did he now? Oh well. However, what is not known, is that the Dragmire had their own collection of relics. Harken Mitagi wields a cursed blade. The blade of Ghirahim."

"I've read of that one." Zelda murmured. "Its written the blade hungers for blood, and every time it is drawn, it kills. It gives incredible power, but at a risk. Either the blade kills the wielder's enemy or the blade kills the wielder itself, either way it never fails to kill something."

"Talk about a double-edged sword..." Ryo said.

"The cursed sword gave Harken an advantage, undoubtedly, but there was another reason he could kill Kyou Mitagi. He was sick."

"Sick? Who? Harken or Kyou?" Zelda wondered.

"Most likely the loser of the fight, General Kyou." Ryo reminded her.

"Oh... right." Zelda's ears went red.

"Yes, Kyou Mitagi had come down with deep fever for a year. He had caught a fever while on the battlefield and was sick, so he retired back to the deep valleys in Qin to heal. Kyou was very weak and vulnerable at the time... vulnerable enough to bring Harken out of hiding."

Zelda nodded. Such a secret would be one that Mitagi would have wanted to keep quiet. They would not want the name of Kyou Mitagi to be sullied by the idea of dying in weakness. They would want him to be proclaimed as having fought the good fight.

Ryo stilled and struggled to keep his composure. Kyou Mitagi had been ill for a year? What if it wasn't a simple illness? What if it was the nine month variety? He could hardly believe what he was hearing. To hear Kyou had been ill for a year fit! Now Ryo was sure of it! Kyou Mitagi was a woman!

But why? Why would they hide that? Why would they hide that she was a woman? Surely it was not for merely being sexist. It was frowned upon, but not illegal or inherently wrong anymore for woman to be great leaders. What kept Kyou Mitagi from revealing herself?

What's more, Ryo remembered the records now of Kyou. She had been revealed as a man, not just for her years as an army officer or general, but her entire life! She lived her entire life pretending to be a man! While the reports did not explicitly state that she pretended, the earliest record Ryo could remember of her mentioned her in the masculine form when she was listed for training in the Mitagi military as a teenager.

Ryo needed to dig deeper. Much deeper. How far did this go? What was so important that it warranted them trying to kill Link? What was so important it warranted them hiding the woman's gender from the world all her life?

"Does Ouki know that Harken wields a cursed blade?" Ryo wondered. He forced himself to change his focus back to the matter at hand before he reveal his thoughts.

Impa shrugged. "I do not know. Even if it did, I do not believe it changes anything. Ouki defeated him once before despite the blade being cursed."

"If the blade takes a life every time it is unsheathed, then how did either one live?" Zelda wondered.

"Good question." Impa said.

"Sounds like the curse isn't so real if that is the case, or Ouki's blessed blade overcame the curse."

"Quite possibly. A good boon for us all if that is so." Ryo said.

"Unless Harken is strong enough to overcome it... A terrible prospect. At the very least, I think it is warranted to warn him of the curse." Zelda said. "If it comes to be true that Ouki knows of it, then we will have gained nor lost anything. But if it comes to be true that Ouki does not know, then we have gained something from this."

Ryo nodded in agreement. "Most wise, your highness. You're learning."

"I would have expected you to be the one to say that, though." Impa looked to Ryo. "Are you well? You seem distracted."

Ryo felt a small chill. Seemed his composure had cracked slightly, if he had allowed himself to be distracted. "I am well, I assure you. Merely surprised an illness of all things would do in a legend like Kyou Mitagi. However, I cannot help but wonder. What made him so important?" Ryo considered he may be reaching a bit too deep now. He did not want to reveal his thoughts or hand, but he also was a man who took calculated risks, and he rationalized to himself that he was still in the clear.

"Important?"

"Yes, of all the generals, what made Kyou so important that Ouki flew into a blind rage and for Harken to target him. And even ill, could not Kyou Mitagi have been moved from the danger?"

Zelda nodded. "True. I can agree with that. If Kyou was too ill to fight properly, they should have sent him away on horseback. And though Ouki would have been angry with any general falling, what did make Kyou so special?"

"I am sure we can ask Ouki the next time we see him." Impa answered.

"But-"

Deciding it was now too dangerous to press forward, as well as a chance to pull back, Ouki said, "Now, now, princess. Impa is correct. It is impudent of me to wonder of the friendship between Kyou and Ouki from Impa. Rather better to inquire of Ouki what his friendship was, and why it was so special compared to his friendships with the other generals. It is a small matter all the same. Though it is small, we have found something we can gain from this. Unless there is anything more you believe is worth sending to Ouki Mitagi, Chancellor Impa?"

"Nothing I can think of that he would not already know."

"Then let us send him what we have discovered, and pray it will benefit him." Ryo suggested.