The next day followed in much the same way, but with an anxious tone. The soldiers were growing restless, unsure whether they would be staying or going, and this anxiety extended to Link, who no longer found the playful innocence of the forest children to be able to stave off his need for vengeance. That night he approached Zelda.
"How much longer before we stop Kyou?" He asked.
"Not much longer," Zelda replied. She hoped so at least. She kept her back to him.
"Great. Are we waiting for your friends to come?"
"No. I no longer expect them. They are much too late."
"Then?" Link pressed. He walked around and bent at the waist to look her in the face. Zelda felt a blood vessel pulsing in her forehead. Did he have no tact or sense of privacy?
"I don't know."
"'Not much longer'. 'I don't know'. You're a wealth of information today." Link rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"I don't usually come up with the plans! It's not as easy as it looks!" Zelda snapped.
"So come up with one!"
"What do you think I have been doing?! I've been thinking!"
"Really? Because it sounds like you haven't decided on a single thing!" Link paused, realization coming to him. "You're afraid..." Zelda's composure broke for a brief moment. Snarling, she jumped to her feet and shoved him. He fell into the water. When he came out of the water, she looked down on him coldly.
"I am the high heir and princess of Qin. You will speak to me with respect."
Link came up spitting water and climbed back up. He growled, but still avoided her lethal gaze. It made him feel a bit guilty, and he despised her power to do it to him. It was all because she wore the face of her childhood friend, but that didn't mean he wasn't right.
"You think I give a shit, princess?" He demanded. "Princess, noble, whatever you are. I don't care if you are some kind of saint. You made a promise to let me avenge Midna properly, and you're failing. As the princess, you made a promise to everyone to protect them, and you're failing! Midna died for you and you're letting it go to waste! You claimed to honor her, you claimed to respect her because she chose it, but all of the words you have said up till today are falling dead! All because you are afraid!"
"So what if I am afraid!" Zelda barked. "I have no power to change our situation!"
"You aren't even trying! Princess, I may be a simple slave, but even I know that what made Midna as powerful as you claim is that she put her life on the line! Now you are sitting here cowering and waiting for something that isn't going to come because you have to make it happen!" Link pointed his finger at her. "You! No one else! You have to make it happen! You have to step up and do something! You have to be the one to put your life on the line for once! You probably want an army to put themselves against the sword for you, you want people to speak for you, to do whatever the Realms you damn well need, but guess what, they aren't here! There is only you and a few idiots willing to recognize some blood in your veins that you don't seem to be earning! Do you want power? Then have enough balls to get some!"
Link breathed heavily after his rant, having yelled so loud. The soldiers ran out to see what the screaming was about. The Fae ascended from the water, creating eerie lighting around them. Zelda clenched her fists, her gaze was murderous.
It took every bit of self-control she possessed not to kill him where he stood with her power. She didn't partially because she felt the power was distancing itself from her, as if refusing to help, but most of all because some voice in her head told her he was right, and while she wasn't above killing she still held pride in that she had only killed in self-defense.
Seeing her fury, Link beat his chest. "Come on! Hit me! Go ahead! At least do something! You are still doing nothing!"
Zelda turned away from him and stomped away. She wouldn't hit him, as to do that would only give him what he wanted. The men did not follow her, and Link wisely did not either. She didn't know what she would have done had anyone followed her.
Zelda walked to the other side of the island and burned a hole into the water with her eyes. She was frustrated and angry. Angry with Link, naturally, but also angry and frustrated with herself; because for all of her fury against him, his resolve was worth respecting.
Zelda raised a hand and saw it shake. "He's just a slave... and yet he had this much impact over a royal princess?" She whispered. "Anyone else in my position would have had him executed on the spot. He risked his life daring to speak to me like this, and here I am the one on the defensive because of it."
Now that she thought about it, a lot of people had done that for her.
Impa risked her life infiltrating an entire country.
The black marketers risked their lives getting her out, and they paid for it. Yet they still succeeded.
Midna risked her life as a decoy to give Zelda an escape.
Link risked his life to do what? To yell at her? To be angry? No.
Zelda clenched her fist and felt it still. He was a simple person, and not the most intelligent, but simple people still have simple reasons. He yelled at her to motivate her, to get action out of her beyond sitting on her butt.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Elder rouse. The Fae entered his wooden husk and come to her. "You are agitated. My people tell me the son of Farore raised his voice against you. Is everything well, princess?" Zelda looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I have seen you are hesitant. I hope my words have not put you in a difficult position. I only offered what guidance I can, as you are the lineage of King Shorlin, whom I respected."
She did not blame him. His guidance was the same as Links without being as brash. Everyone here was pressing her for her sake. While her half-brother might be strung up on things like offenses, she was not so easily pushed to lashing out in anger.
They were right. She needed to put her own life on the line. She needed to move and move now. She needed to take charge personally and make a plan. The plan didn't need to be perfect; it just needed to take advantage of the pieces set on the playing field.
Prince Kyou believed he had won, and that belief would make him vulnerable. She had a brief window of opportunity, but an opportunity none of the less. It would become all but impossible after Ketsu and Kyou solidify their position unless Chancellor Ryo moves early. She needed to know Ryo's movements. That required scouts and spies, neither of which she had.
She would have to go with the most likely possibility that Ryo and Ketsu would bring their rivalry to the peak, and Ryo would use this as an opportunity to go for the throne. He would be Kyou's next target as the only real threat.
Next, she needed men. She had a dozen, but it wouldn't be enough. Zelda looked to Elder and regarded him. He looked back at her patiently. King Shorlin held a great deal of loyalty from the Fae and had earned the loyalty of the Sheikah as well. That loyalty in the Sheikah extended to her. What if-?
-Flashback from several months ago-
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Princess." Abhdan lectured her. "Care to guess what a king and merchant have in common?"
Zelda looked up from her writing. She considered the question a time before answering, "They both have money."
"That is part of it, certainly." The old man smirked, "But do you think it is money alone that got Ryo to where he is now? He started as a simple merchant, if you may recall. He got this far because of his abilities as a merchant rival that of a king in certain ways. Not so much scope, naturally, but in nature."
Zelda considered the question more, but could not come to a satisfying conclusion.
"Oh-ho! Stumped are we? Very well. The strengths of the king and merchant are the same in that they both possess what the people want. To gain strength, have what the people want. To gain loyalty, give the people what they want. But to gain their undying love..." He chuckled. "Give them what they NEED."
Zelda looked at him confused, "But I don't have anything. The land is in the possession of my ministers. My income goes towards too many pockets for it to be mine. My army answers to generals who answer to the Chancellor of the Left, Chancellor of the Right, and Chancellor of State. Everyone is supposed to answer to me, but no one does yet. That's why I am here being taught."
"Oh-ho! You have much to learn, Princess." The man whispered cryptically. Zelda raised an eyebrow, completely missing the undertone. She concluded, once again, he was just a weird old man.
-Present-
A plan started to form in Zelda's mind. It was possibly stupid, but with what she had at her disposal. It was possibly the only hand she had left.
"Elder, I wish to discuss collaboration."
The Elder looked at her a moment, before nodding in consent and motioning to the hut. The two entered the hut, and Zelda ordered the soldiers who had returned to leave. The table had been placed aside for the blankets, but without any effort, the Fae placed it back on its place with a chair for her. Zelda took the seat. The Fae placed himself on the other side and 'sat' on the air. Wood extended from his back to create two more legs, making his form that of a centaur. He placed his hands together on the table and leaned forward ever so slightly. His glowing eyes fell on her.
"What do you wish to collaborate with?" He asked.
"Whether by design or fate, the Fae are little more than a myth," Zelda started. "You have said so yourself: you do not need land. Yet I find this untrue. I have not seen you eat or drink as mortals do, so it cannot be farming land you require. Your forms are naked and are unaffected by the plights of nature, so land for silk, cotton, minerals, and other materials are also unnecessary, however, what I have seen is a need for individual privacy and identity in separate abodes, and for your statement of denying the need for land you are still protective of what you hold. Perhaps there truly is Fae out there as free as birds, with no tie to any space or land, but you are not among those Fae. Even further, you seem to have lost touch with other Fae because of your tie to this forest and self-isolation. It may be all well and good. Your forest is considered haunted and people fear it to enter it."
"A reasonable theory." The Fae mused.
"But this isolation cannot last, and your people are doomed for conflict," Zelda continued. "A forest expands, myths give away to the truth, and one day your people will be known. Your forest will become targeted by a lumber camp, your forest will be laid to the ground, and you will either flee to leave behind your adoptive children or fight. A conflict would be inevitable either in my lifetime or in a near generation."
"In your theory, we will be at war, you and I?" The Fae wondered. He did not seem threatened by it, angered, or put off in any way; but Zelda could not tell. There were moments he allowed understandable emotions to appear on the wooden face, but otherwise, he was always stone-faced. He was the perfect politician. He showed only what he wanted, and nothing more.
"It is a possibility among all kings, is it not?" Zelda returned with her question. "I do not desire it. You have treated me with respect as an honored guest. You have given me words of guidance. You have spoken of a future between you and me as a teacher to a student on personal matters. In one's perspective, you have proven yourself more to me in two days than any of my own family. Were it up to me, we would be as one people. With your land and power as being smaller than Qin, I would have you be a part of Qin as a protected land within Qin."
"Ah. So this is your plan, is it?" The Fae leaned back. "To gain the Fae into your army as King Shorlin did? I do not doubt your promise to set us as a protected vessel of yours, as I would ensure it. If you fail in your promise, our retribution is that of the heavens itself; but then what of the alternative?"
The Fae turned his head to the side curiously, raised a finger, and allowed a single appendage to extend toward her face like a knife. Zelda did not flinch as it neared her nose by inches across the table.
"What is to keep me from taking your head and giving it to your half-brother? What if I let you live, yet we are still at war in the future? What if you fail against Kyou and it is Kyou who brings war to my forest? We are as the earth you stand on, the water you drink, the air you breathe, the fire in your hearts. Without one, you creatures die."
"War with you would bring untold death to my people," Zelda answered.
"I wouldn't weep for one of them."
"I believe you."
The Fae retracted the wooden finger until his hand appeared as before. His wooden lips formed a smile. "So then what shall I do? Go to war with your people? Depart and leave the dear children behind? Join you and gain protections? What could you possibly offer that would be worth joining with you?"
"I have a vision or perhaps ambition that would make it all worth it."
"Which is?" The Fae pried.
Zelda smiled, "You will know soon. You are not the only one I want to meet. Before I stop Kyou, there is one more I wish to talk with. Once I meet this person, then both of you will know of my vision."
"I see." The Fae leaned back and placed his wooden hands together. "Who is it you wish to meet?"
"Is this your way of saying you are with me?" The Fae merely smiled. Zelda said, "The Majora. I wish to meet with the Majora's leader, and I suspect you know where they are."
As she said this, she flinched slightly. At the same time, she heard a yelp from outside. The back of her hand burned, and glowed slightly. She looked down to see a third triangle had formed on her hand. The Fae's eyes were also on it.
"It seems the Goddesses give their consent." The Fae murmured. He bowed himself before her at the hip. "Let us depart, your highness."
-Meanwhile in the mountains-
Ganondorf Dragmire stood on the back of his kill and gazed at the moon. There was always something soothing about it against the fire that burned in his heart. Something that kept the darker side of himself in check.
But not today.
Ganondorf descended from the path towards where the battle was. Numerically it was not in his favor. The Qin forces numbered two hundred while he and his bodyguards numbered twenty. He had killed a few scouts, but most of them had gathered beneath his mountain. Ganon arrived in time to see his men kill the band they had caught, and stop to see the main force gathering.
Ganon stepped in front of his men to face the captain of the Qin forces. The Qin looked at them from his horse furiously. "Who are you people!?" The Qin demanded. "How dare you fight the Prince? You are nothing but barbarians and will die as such!"
Ganon raised an eyebrow as the Qin captain lowered his spear towards him and started to charge. Ganondorf pulled his large blades off his back. He had two blades, one in each hand. Both swords were broadswords and too heavy for most to carry one-handed, but he was by no means a normal man. Ganon lowered his stance as the horse approached, his hands burned with Din's fury, his swords ignited in flame, his fire-like hair lifted in the breeze, his blood-red eyes flashed, and in a single stride, Ganon stepped forward and swung as the spear came at him.
The horse fell forward, its head cut clean off at the shoulder. The captain was thrown backward, his upper half removed from his bottom. His spear pierced the ground, barely missing the large black man. The fire spread from Ganon's slash and engulfed the ground around him.
"I know nothing of this prince of yours, but you trespassed, and that bears the penalty of death," Ganon told the dead man. "Take that message to the Realms."
The Qin forces stepped back in fear and shock that he had so effortlessly killed their leader. "Demon! Witchcraft! Blasphemy! Heretic! Uncouth barbarian!" They called him.
Ganon didn't know why he was called a barbarian. He led a simple village that refused to cower or sell itself to anyone. It was true there were witches, his mothers were, but what he did, and what the Majora did, was by no means magical. His power was divine. Majora's power was different.
Ganon chuckled and raised himself. "Show them the 'witchcraft' of Majora!" He ordered with a thrust of his hand.
Trembling in excitement, his bodyguards raised masks to their faces. The effect took hold almost immediately, as with a blood curling roar they leaped on the Qin and tore them apart. Accompanying them were great wolves that gnashed and clawed at their foes.
Seeing his berserkers make short work of the Qin forces, Ganon watched in amusement for a short time, fully taking in the sight of flying blood and dancing flesh. He smirked the smile of a predator, soaking in the screams and death. It was an art form in its own right.
When the battle was concluded, Ganon sheathed his blades. His men panted in exhaustion, but also fury. They looked for more to kill, more to bring the wrath of Majora upon, but there was no one for them to sate their hatred and anger upon. Ganon approached the first and removed the mask from his face. The man blinked and looked up at him as if coming from a deep sleep. One by one he removed the masks from them, having to physically restrain them at times when they lashed back at him. The wolves laid down and licked their wounds.
"Take their belongings." He ordered. "Take the horses for meat, and throw the soldier's bodies to the wolves. Take their heads and plant them on spikes," He narrowed his red eyes. "So others will know to fear."
Ganon turned back to leave and return to his village, but something stopped him. Ganon felt his hands burn. He lifted them into the moonlight to see, and against the full moon, he saw two triangles burn themselves like fire into his hand, touching upon the first triangle he already wore.