Chapter Text
Chapter Twelve: Royal Duties
Several beams of sunlight danced through the large windows of the ballroom of Hyrule Castle. Many long pennants, bearing the symbols of each of the races of Hyrule decorated the walls between the windows. A little stage no more than two feet existed at the front of the stage where the King of Hyrule sat on a heavily decorated throne. No pennant hung behind the throne as the King took a sip from his goblet and watched the massive crowd pile into the room. Despite the room’s size, there seemed to be little space for anyone to move around.
Nivan stood somewhere in the crowd, next to Owin and dressed in his clunky training armor. Loud bangs and crashes filled the air as all of the soldiers in training fumbled about the back of the room. From where Nivan stood, it was hard to see anything over the waves of knights and their increasingly decorated and feathered helmets grew in size the closer they were to the stage.
All around him, Nivan could only hear the murmuring of the other soldiers as they all gazed towards the front of the ballroom. Somewhere, if Nivan squinted, he thought he could see the King take another swig from his cup.
“Welcome future knights of Hyrule.” The King’s voice boomed. “Today it is a special day for those of you who have trained with us for the last six months or longer. It’s time for some of you to be assigned to your new stations.”
Murmurs echoed through the crowd. From within Nivan’s helmet something laughed.
“Wonder where they’ll put you kid,” Lumina whispered from within the helmet.
Nivan shushed her.
“As you know, about a month or so ago, some of your fellow knights in training, and a few established ones, received their assignments early. I, as King of Hyrule, saw it fit to send those early as they had proved their merit at that time.”
“Weren’t all of them named Link?” Lumina whispered.
“Roul also was sent off to Death Mountain,” Owin whispered into the helmet.
Nivan shushed them both.
“Some of you, like those knights, may be sent off to far off towns and places scattered within Hyrule. While others may be present here in Castle Town, or stay within the Castle Walls themselves.” The King paused. “I King Suehprom Patroclus of Hyrule will oversee the assignments as my royal guard Percival and our beloved Queen’s royal guard Arthur read out the assignments.”
One of the guards stepped forward. Nivan assumed it was Percival from the feather on his helmet. “Thank you my King, but before we begin, we thought we would let your daughter, Princess Zelda Asteria of Hyrule announce her royal knight first.”
Nivan could not see the Princess from where she stood on the stage, but her voice rang clear through the increasing cacophony of the crowd.
“Hello my valiant knights of Hyrule.” She began, her voice cracked ever so slightly. “Today, I Princess Zelda Asteria of Hyrule am past the age of 17, an age where I am now in need of one of you to follow and protect me. This was a long and hard process to decide who will stand by my side throughout my life. I—”
“We all already know it’s going to be Owin.” Someone from the crowd shouted. Many shushes escaped into the open air of the ballroom.
Somewhere on the stage, Zelda waited quietly for the shushing to stop. Once silence eventually filled the room again, she cleared her throat. “Yes, to cut my speech short, the knight chosen by myself with my father’s approval is Owin of Kakariko. Owin please try to make your way to the stage.”
Nivan glanced over at Owin. Owin shugged and placed a sheepish smile on his face before her slowly sifted through the crowd in his clunk armor. Some knights moved out of Owin’s way while others intentionally blocked his path from the back of the room.
“While Owin makes his way up,” Princess Zelda spoke. “I have another announcement.”
The crowd murmured again.
“In my mother's final days, she wrote many things down.” Zelda began. “One thing in particular was for Paige to also be assigned a knight to protect her.”
The room suddenly grew loud with shouts that varied from anger to pure confusion.
“Will the housekeeper also get a knight?!” Someone from the crowd shouted.
“Let your Princess speak!” Both Arthur and Percival shouted into the crowd, and suddenly the crowd became quiet.
“Paige and I discussed who to choose as her knight.” Zelda paused. “This was an extremely unordinary situation to be placed into, and with much debate I let her choose herself with the assurance that she would choose a faithful and valiant knight. Paige, like myself, has watched all of the new recruits train as well as all of the older knights work since we were young. When Paige brought forth the name of the person she chose she gave these reasons.” Zelda cleared her throat. “They are someone who is patient and resilient. They find time to work to be the best that they can be, but there is a softer side to them as they spend time diligently reading and writing whatever they can find in the palace library. I have heard good words about their character from Lady Impa as well as from Tyto of the Rito and Princess Rudi of the Zora. At one point I found them at the sacred springs within the castle praying to goddess Hylia, which also proves their faith in higher powers…”
Nivan’s eyes grew wide as he processed what Princess Zelda said up on the stage.
“I have faith that the knight in training that I have chosen to become one by my side will bring myself as well as Princess Zelda good fortune in the upcoming years as Hyrule is brought back to a better state.” Zelda paused. “It is with my honor that I inform the knights of Hyrule that Nivan of…” there was another pause before Zelda spoke again confused, “of Luriken’s Shoes to be the royal knight of Paige.”
Nivan watched as all of the knights around him turned back and stared holes into his helmet. Slowly Nivan shuffled through the crowd, his armor clunked and clanged against the others. As he shifted through the crowd, he noticed the closer he got to the stage, the nicer and more well fitting the knights’ armors were. By the time he reached the stage, the soldier at the very front had grown long beards and hosted several badges on their chest plates.
On top of the stage, Zelda’s piercing blue eyes stared down and into his icy blue eyes. Her hair was put up into an up-do, with several brown strands delicately curled around her face as an accent. She wore a long pale purple dress with bronze armored shoulder pads. A bronze belt hung around her waist, and a piece of fabric that donned the Hylian crest rested in the center of her skirt. She wore a serious expression on her face, and slowly extended her hand out towards Nivan in the sea of soldiers.
Behind Zelda, Paige delicately bounced up and down on her feet with a large grin on her face to match her bright blue eyes. Her curly blonde hair was attempted to be placed into a neat up-do but had already chaotically tumbled around her face in a wild and beautiful way. She wore a light blue dress with a triforce necklace around her neck.
As Nivan grabbed Zelda’s hand to get onto the stage, he glanced over at Owin, who nervously shifted back and forth on his feet. The stares of the soldiers in the crowd could still be felt piercing Nivan’s armor.
“Now that both of you are here.” Princess Zelda began with a small smile on her face. “Now we can formally knight you.”
Nivan glanced down and noticed the rather large sword in Zelda’s other hand. He made a face towards both girls that caused Paige to laugh and Zelda to raise an eyebrow. Owin stepped forward before Zelda and bowed. Cautiously, she raised the sword and placed it against each of Owin’s shoulders. As she did this motion, Zelda spoke something in ancient Hylian, a serious expression glazed across her face.
Once she placed the sword down and Owin walked away, Princess Zelda’s eyes yet again bored into Nivan’s soul. Slowly he kneeled before her, and just like with Owin, she repeated the same steps. Nivan paid attention to the wooden paneling of the floor as Zelda spoke the ancient words yet again.
What went different between Nivan and Owin, however, was that as Nivan raised from the ground his ill-fitted helmet tumbled off of his head. Quiet suddenly, before the crowd, a little green orb flew out of Nivan’s helmet and fluttered in the air right before Princess Zelda’s face.
Nivan glanced over towards the King of Hyrule, whose eyes popped out of his extremely red face. Both Arthur and Percival had run over to the King to calm him down. Zelda’s face herself remained calm, while Paige bounced with glee at the sight of Lumina on the stage. Nivan didn’t even bother to look towards the crowd of knights.
“Well…” Lumina started to speak. “This was a little unexpected.”
“You can talk?” The Princess asked with a hint of disgust.
“Everyone can talk, it just depends on if you can understand them or not, Princess.” Lumina sneered back.
Paige ran over and smooshed her face as close to Lumina as possible. Lumina recoiled from the sudden Hylian within her personal bubble.
“This is so neat!” Paige exclaimed, clearly not reading the room. She looked over at Nivan. “How did you sneak a fairy into Hyrule Castle? Where did she even come from?!”
“Uhm.,” Nivan glanced back at Owin who raised an eyebrow at him. “She belongs to my friend Mystique, she sent her from Medoh to keep an eye on me because she was worried.”
“Mystique has had the fairy for years,” Owin said. “She was notorious for walking around Castle Town with a little green ball delivering shoes.”
“Oh, that must be Cerise’s daughter.” Zelda said, her voice relaxed a bit. “The Sheikah have always been the superstitious type.”
“Where did Mystique find her?” Paige asked, still clearly excited.
“She found Lumina in a cage at a Bokoblin camp on Hyrule field during a shoe delivery.” Nivan sheepishly smiled. “We don’t know where she came from before that as she won’t tell us.”
“Yes I did kid,” Lumina responded. “I said that I came from the forest like every other fairy.
“But you never said a town. Every race of Hyrule has towns and cities. It’s never just forest.” Nivan said, a little irritated.
“I’ll tell my skeletons when you tell yours kid.” Lumina sassed back.
Nivan’s face turned red as he hid it within his hands. Paige’s laughter echoed like chimes throughout the crowded and silent ballroom.
Thin patches of ice floated around Lake Hylia unable to stay attached anywhere from the current of the water. Somewhere on the shore, a few specs of green poked their heads out of the dirt. It was too late in winter and too early in spring for there to be any bird songs, so the only noise that echoed through the air was the gentle crashing of the ice.
Mystique sat on a blue stoned dock alongside Abony, Rudi, and Egan. Egan looked nervously over the edge of the dock towards the water, his big orange stone body reflected back between ripples. Rudi’s legs dangled off of the edge of the dock, her feet fully submerged in the cold water as she snacked on some fish. Abony yawned and blinked several times as she stared at the lake.
When Mystique looked over at Rudi, she noticed that despite the years that have gone by, she still looked the same as she did when Mystique was only ten. The only difference, Mystique noted, was that Rudi was decorated in more jewelry. Three blue stones sat in a golden brooch attached to Rudi’s sash. Mystique continued to stare at the brooch until Rudi herself turned and made a face.
“Mystique, it's creepy to look at a princess like that for so long.” Rudi glared.
“Oh!” Mystique blinked a few times. “I was looking at your brooch.”
Rudi placed one of her webbed hands onto the brooch and smiled. “This is the Zora’s Sapphire. It’s an ancient heirloom passed down through royalty.” Rudi’s smile grew bigger. “It is also something that the Sage of Water wore in the past.”
“Sage of water?” Mystique raised an eyebrow.
Rudi’s smile got even bigger. “Yes I am officially the Sage of Water. The proud champion of the Zora ready to aid and assist the hero when he fights the King of Darkness himself.” By now, Rudi had stood and posed.
“But how do you know that?” Mystique asked.
“I passed the Sage test.” Rudi exclaimed. “Impa came here one day and took me into this room with a little stone. And, when I touched it it started to glow blue.” Rudi paused. “Besides, it makes sense that I would be the Sage of Water as every Sage of water has been the Zora princess in every myth and legend… or Queen. Honestly if Impa followed the myths she would have assembled all of her sages by now.”
“No, there was that one male Zora,” Abony said with her eyes closed. “Not every Sage or hero is going to follow our stories exactly.”
“Well I’m the Zora princess and the Sage of Water.” Rudi then pointed at Egan who clung for his life on the dock. “And Egan is the son of Dario and the Sage of Fire.”
“That’s not confirmed yet.” Egan said as he curled slightly into a ball. “If legends were true it would be my dad who was the Sage of Fire.”
“Yeah but I eavesdropped on Impa and my mom to find out that your dad failed the glowy rock challenge… and so did Impa herself.” Rudi said.
“What would Impa be a sage of?” Mystique asked.
Rudi rolled her eyes. “Did you not read any books as a kid? There are six sages that aid the hero Link and Princess Zelda in destroying the Demon King. There’s Water for the Zoras, Fire for the Gorons, Wind for the Ritos, Earth for the Kokiris, Lightning for the Gerudo, and Shadow for the Sheikah. The final Sage is Zelda who embodies light itself.”
“So Impa supposedly has three Sages known to her. Rudi, Zelda, and maybe myself.” Egan added in.
“Hey Abony, who do you think the Sage of Wind is?” Mystique asked. When Abony’s response was only a snore, Mystique shook her awake.
“What?” Abony shouted half-awake.
“Who is the Sage of Wind?” Mystique asked again.
“Why would I know that?” Abony responded. “It could be anyone, and Ms. Impa hasn’t really tested anyone around Medoh with glowing stones.”
“Okay,” Mystique shrugged and turned her attention back to Rudi. “If you really are the Sage of Water, shouldn’t someone be keeping a closer eye on you?”
“Camaron’s watching us from somewhere in the Lake.” Rudi shrugged. “She’s always been serious with protecting me, but since the news came she’s been harder to shake off to go exploring. She sometimes even gets Orujan to assist and he’s much bigger and faster than I am.”
Mystique gazed out towards the lake and swore she saw a small pink head fin dip back below the surface.
“Soooo,” Mystique slowly said. “If all these myths and legends play out the same now, what are the odds that a Gerudo boy becomes the King of Darkness?”
“Every Gerudo male has become a King of Darkness.” Rudi answered. “Why, is there one there right now?”
“Yes, but he’s innocent.” Mystique replied. “He’s a little awkward, but he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”
“Maybe the witches of the desert will take him or he’ll get possessed by dark spirits?” Rudi answered. “You never know how these things will play out.”
“Impa keeps sending Sheikah to murder him.” Mystique said, irritation crept into her voice.
“She’s just trying to protect her kingdom. The Gerudo aren’t exactly the most social folk, and they don’t really contribute much to Hyrule.”
“The Gorons and the Gerudo have a strong business in trading gems and jewelry.” Egan said. He was now curled up into a ball onto the dock.
“What about food? Not everyone eats rocks Egan!” Rudi snapped.
“They live in a desert, so they already struggle with food.” Abony added in. “But they provide all of the buildings in Castle Town and across Hyrule with glass for windows and other things.”
“You can’t eat a window.” Rudi whined.
“Why are you on Impa’s side anyways?” Mystique said.
“I’m just following the books as a Sage.” Rudi shrugged. “I’m here to protect Hyrule, and if this boy is a threat, he is a threat.”
“You’re useless.” Mystique threw her hands up in the air. “Here I thought you could help keep an ear out and find out any ways for an innocent boy to not get murdered, and here you are agreeing with the person holding the ax!”
Rudi sighed. “If it means that much to you, I will keep an ear open… after all your friend saved our butts from those Octoroks all those years ago.”
In Mystique’s mind, she thought back to that freezing cold day all those years ago. About how deep the ice mines dug into the world just beyond the cliffs and how that even in the darkest of places creatures still lurked. Her mind briefly flashed to Nivan as he fell into the ice, but she quickly shook that thought away.
“What ever happened to that creature in the ice mines?” Mystique asked.
Rudi walked off of the dock and turned around. “I can show you what happened.”
Slowly, Mystique and Abony walked off the dock, with Egan rolling behind them.
The route that Mystique took this time into the domain was through a small staircase carved into the cliffs. The stairs, despite the moisture, weren’t slippery and made of the same blue stone as the dock was. Several glowing stones rested on torches attached to the wall, which gave just enough light to not lose your step on the way up.
At the top of the cliff, Mystique could see all of Zora’s Domain nestled into its basin of water. The long swirling bridges glistened in the sunlight along with the many silver pods of houses. Somehow, from this height, the giant fish building in the center of the domain seemed even bigger. From the tops of the cliffs, Mystique could see the building’s long tail as it curled around a large pole and its massive body, which hid underneath the walkway that led into the building’s mouth. Since last time, or maybe she never noticed, there were two fins that reached out sideways, as if the building itself were about to swim up into the sky. Like the bridges and walkways, the fish was made of the same blue stone material, save for its eyes which had large black gemstones.
“What is that fish supposed to be?” Mystique asked as the group followed Rudi along the tops of the cliffs.
“That’s Lord Jabu Jabu. The Great Sage of Water Ruto took care of him way back when he was alive. He’s very important to us.” Rudi continued to walk without missing a beat.
“That’s what he looks like?” Mystique looked down at the giant fish building again. “He’s a lot bigger than I thought.”
“The building doesn’t do him justice.” Rudi said matter-of-factly. “He’s supposed to have bright blue eyes, but the architect who designed the building went with black. It’s insulting since Lord Jabu Jabu has been missing for so long.”
“Didn’t you just say he died?” Mystique said, confused.
“I already explained this to you last time you were here. Ruto never found his egg after he died. We don’t know where he reincarnated.” Rudi huffed.
At the opposite edge of the cliffs, nothing but fog could be seen for miles. Somewhere on the other side there were supposed to be more cliffs that led out of Hyrule and off to some other land, but with what little information Mystique had, she had no idea what lay beyond the borders of Hyrule. Maybe one day, she thought, she would deliver mail to some foreign merchants or even a Queen.
While Mystique looked forward, everyone else in the group looked down.
“Is there another set of stairs?” Abony asked.
Rudi walked over to a little rock pillar that jutted out from the cliff and pressed a button. “Hold on.” She said as she tapped her fins.
Somewhere, from far below the group, a horrible screeching sound erupted. As the group watched too closely from the edge, the noise got louder and louder until everyone who had ears covered them with their hands. Eventually a cylinder shaped room appeared at the edge of the cliff with doors that slid open.
“Oh no, not this again.” Mystique whined.
“You were fine last time.” Rudi said as she stepped into the elevator.
Cautiously Abony followed Rudi along with a not so careful Egan. Mystique entered the elevator last as the doors shut.
The drop down from the elevator this time felt smoother and less like everyone in the room was about to plummet to their demise. The sounds of metal scraping against the cliff-face continued to be heard from inside the machine itself. By the time the elevator made its descent, only Egan stood in the elevator without his hands on his head.
Rudi attempted to be the first to leave the elevator as the doors open, but was stopped by Mystique who shoved herself out into the foggy air.
“Be careful where you step.” Rudi shouted as she exited the elevator.
“What?” Mystique shouted back. She looked down to see her foot inches away from falling off of the wooden bridge and into the mushy ice beside it. Mystique swung her body back and forth on the bridge a few times to see that it swung with her instead of staying frozen solid within the ice like last time.
“The ice isn’t as solid as it used to be.” Rudi said as she stepped out onto the bridge.
Egan stayed in the elevator and Abony flapped her wings above the bridge as Rudi walked confidently down the bridge towards the opposite side. Mystique hopped from to plank as she followed behind.
“I’m going to stay in the elevator.” Egan shouted towards the girls.
When Rudi reached the opposite cliff, she gently pushed open the door which led into the caverns. She turned around and beckoned for Abony and Mystique to enter first into the room.
The ice, Mystique noticed, wasn’t as cold as she remembered. Small droplets of water dripped down into mush half-frozen puddles around the edges of the room. Several holes with sets of stairs that had led down to different mines were now supported with metal beams.
Rudi walked over to a pile of boulders that blocked a set of stairs. “This is the mine path we took several years ago. Mom had it blocked off once the ice started melting.”
“Yeah,” Abony looked around the room. “Something tells me that all of this ice melting isn’t a good sign.”
“My Mom has reasons to think that the monster she locked away is trying to melt the cavern to escape. But as a fish itself it probably can’t do that.” Rudi hummed for a moment. “Which means something else is helping the monster escape, and by doing so may drown Zora’s Domain and parts of Hyrule as a result… for the monster that isn’t a bad thing, but for us it is.”
“Does Queen Rutamina have a relocation plan?” Abony asked while she hovered near one of the dripping walls. She squinted at the water as it slid down the wall in little droplets. “It looks like this could melt and flood the Domain at any moment.”
“She has a plan.” Rudi answered. “We plan to start extending our buildings onto the cliffs and refurbishing lower houses to be suitable to be underwater as storage units. The town of Jetir might be in more trouble as despite the Zora’s warnings, they seem to not believe us.”
“How long do you think that they have to move?” Mystique asked.
“I say about ten years maximum.” Rudi said. “Which to all those silly little Hylians that’s a long time, but to us it's a blink of an eye.”
Mystique grimaced. “Abony, maybe we should stop by Deliro’s island to warn him. All his research will be destroyed.”
Abony nodded. As the three girls exited the entrance to the ice caverns, only the sound of dripping water could be heard, and from somewhere far below them the cavern shook.
Nivan walked through the streets of Castle Town holding an amulet with a little purple gem inside of it. Slightly behind him, Lumina floated and Owin followed. Nivan flipped the amulet around in his hand as he walked past multiple boarded up shops, and only a handful of people.
“Congrats on the position.” Owin said with a dash of cheer folded into his words.
Nivan just sighed in response.
“How cool is it that you get to be a royal knight. Like, you get to go on all of these amazing missions and directly be there for the Princess.” Owin caught up to Nivan and showed a forced smile.
Nivan sighed again in response. He focused his attention towards walking and playing with the amulet in his hand.
“Okay, so you get to be the royal guard of Zelda’s servant Paige, but that’s still pretty cool right? You still get to follow Princess Zelda and me on fun little adventures and we get to protect them.” Owin now kept pace with Nivan with the plastic smile.
“I’m just trying to find a magic shop. I don’t need a pep talk.” Nivan finally answered.
“Magic shop? What for?” The smile was replaced with confusion on Owin’s face.
“To enhance this amulet.” Nivan said while still only looking at the amulet. “Misty gave it to me as she thought it would protect me.” He paused. “The vendor she got it from was probably trying to make some money, but I know a way to make it actually work.”
“And how is that Mr. Magic Man?” Owin asked, tones of sass and curiosity mingled in his words.
“I grab some ingredients and make a potion to dip the amulet in. Something simple like Poe repellant, or maybe something that causes monsters to hesitate enough to give a gap to fight or escape.” Nivan answered.
“Things like that actually exist?” Owin asked.
“They do, but most of the stuff advertised is fake. No one can have a protection spell that makes you super strong to everything or unable to take damage from anything. There are spells that can heal you, but it’s usually only minor scrapes and bruises, never giant gaping wounds that would kill you. “
“What about resurrecting the dead?”
“That’s not a thing that is really possible. There are rumors that monsters can be resurrected due to their origins of being made of shadow and not blood, but that is just a myth. A full resurrection wouldn’t work anyways as there would be no body to put the soul or spirit in.”
“Could you put a soul into a jar?”
“That’s what we do with poe souls.” Nivan placed a small bitter smile onto his face. “Poes can take over a body if they so please, but over time the body rots and decays until it’s just a walking corpse twisted by a creature of shadow.”
“How do you know all of this again?” Owin titled his head.
“I read a lot of books.” Nivan answered.
As the two boys walked, Nivan glanced over at a shop that still had all of its lights on. Vegetation hung out of the windows, and bright pink shingles decorated the roof. Butterflies were painted all up and down the walls to go along with a sign for the shop in the shape of a beetle.
“Let’s pick up our pace.” Nivan said with his head bowed down low.
But it was too late.
“Is that Nivan?!” A high pitched voice squealed from just inside the shop. “You can’t just walk by without saying hi!”
“I forgot this shop was on this route.” Nivan mumbled under his breath as the two boys turned around towards the bug shop.
“Hi Agitha,” both boys said.
In the doorway Agitha stood. Since childhood, she had grown taller but still held her slender build. Her ponytails were larger and twirled in two giant curls down to her hips. She wore a little plastic tiara on her head and a massively ruffled and poofed skirt paired with knee high stockings.
“That’s right, you better come back and say hi.” Agitha pouted. “You never did take me on a little date Mr. Cute Knight.
Nivans face turned red. He clutched the amulet tightly in his hand as he just stared towards Agitha with a grimace plastered across his face.
“Ugh, what’s with him?” Agitha said with her hands instinctively placed onto her hips.
“Don’t mind him, he’s been like this since the ceremony yesterday.” Owin answered.
“Well why don’t you two come in then and relax with some tea.” Agitha placed a smile onto her decorated face and curtsied. She gestured towards the open door behind her and stood there in the same exact pose for an awkwardly long time.
Nivan finally spoke. “You see, we’re going to the magic shop and don’t have time for tea…”
“Nonsense.” Agitha said through her smile. “If you don’t come in I’ll make you come in.”
“We have a dog to get back to.” Nivan said again as he slowly backed away from the bug shop.
Agitha sighed and walked back into the bug shop. Nivan sighed and turned around, but was only able to take a few steps before he heard the sound of heels running against the stone street and felt something hard smack into the back of his head.
Nivan woke up in a chair with a cup of tea in front of him. Cute little painted bugs decorated the rim of the tiny plate and along the cups’ rim. The table cloth was lavender and actual bugs crawled around it on the table and over a pile of cream puff pastries. Nivan blinked a few times and looked up to see Agitha sip out of her own cup of tea from across the table. Owin sat between them with a full cup of tea. Instinctively, Nivan reached for the back of his head and felt that it was tender to the touch.
“Oh you’re awake!” Agitha said too cheerfully. “Welcome to my family’s bug emporium!”
“Did you—” Nivan started to say, his voice groggy.
“Hit you with my umbrella? Yes.” Agitha nodded into her tea. “You clearly needed a nice cup of tea, so that was the only way to get you to just sit down and relax.”
Nivan sat there and processed the information slowly. He then looked over at Owin. “And you let her do this?”
“I tried to stop her, but that umbrella hurts.” Owin grasped his side as he chuckled. “She may have broken a rib.”
Concern etched onto Nivan’s face before he concentrated his attention back to Agitha. “So you have us, now what?”
“Hmm,” Agitha placed her free hand onto her chin. “That’s all I wanted.” She paused. “Though do you wanna tell me why you’re grumpier than usual today? Is it because of your assignment to protect Paige?”
“No.” Nivan said. “How did you hear about that?”
“The bugs told me.” Agitha smirked.
“I told her while you were knocked out.” Owin answered.
“Can we not pry into my emotions today?” Nivan looked towards a wall covered in pictures of bugs and also more real bugs.
“You don’t get to leave until you do,” Agitha threatened with a smile on her face.
“You could get in trouble for holding two knights of Hyrule hostage.” Nivan answered.
“And maybe you’ll lose you position if they found out you couldn’t defeat a normal Hylian girl.” Agitha took a long sip of her tea. “Now speak.
Nivan rolled his eyes. “It’s not the position I received. If anything I am happy to be a knight for Paige, she seems nice. What I am bothered about is.” Nivan pointed above his head where Lumina floated.
“Excuse me?” Lumina shouted. “What do I have to do with this?!”
“Because you revealed yourself in front of the King and an entire crowd of Hylian soldiers.” Nivan crossed his arms. “Do you know what you even did?”
Lumina bounced around in the air. “I’m just a fairy, it’s not a big deal.”
“To you it may not be, but to me it is.” Nivan sighed. “It’s not a good look to be a blonde haired boy with a fairy in Hyrule, especially in front of a King who wants nothing to do with any of the myths and legends of Hyrule.” He paused. “Before you came I was bullied constantly by all the little kids in Castle Town. When you came along things didn’t get better, but by then I learned to isolate myself away from all of them.” He paused again. “So now because of you revealing yourself at the ceremony, I now have a huge target painted on my back with every soldier in Hyrule as well as with the King himself. It’s not like a target wasn’t already there since Link died from that poe… I honestly don’t even know how to feel about Link dying considering he and Roul bullied me for so many years.” A long pause filled the bug emporium. “It’s all just a lot.”
Nivan stared into the center of the table and thought back to the start of his time in Castle Town. He remembered how Mrs. Luriken told him to hold Mystique’s hand when they walked through Castle town. He remembered the crowded streets and the never ending list of smells that mingled in the air as they walked. He remembered his first encounters with Roul and Link, and how many times his face hit the stone street or pressed into a wooden crate full of fruit. The thoughts flowed to the many times Mystique stood up to them for him and then Nivan shook his head and wiped away the memories from his vision.
I think we need to head out now.” Owin stood up from his chair and walked towards the door. “Thank you for the tea, but not for the umbrella beating.
Agitha sat quietly and sipped her tea as the two boys left the bug emporium with a small green fairy floating behind them.
The walk to the magic shop was only a few doors down. Both boys stayed silent as Nivan entered the shop and quietly placed several bottles and ingredients on the counter. The shop manager nodded and bagged the goods as Nivan handed over rupees. There was no noise save for the cawing of a distant crow as Owin and Nivan walked back towards the castle.
Not a single light shone onto Castle Town’s graveyard. Dampe’s house, now boarded up, sat cold and dark amongst the tombstones. An old decayed tree bent into the fenced in lot of land and a layer of dust and dirt covered everything in the area. When the moon finally peaked out from behind several clouds, a small green orb of light could be seen as it bobbed up and down between the graves.
“I don’t want to be here.” Lumina muttered to herself. “What a horrible meeting location.”
“I think it’s great. No one will disturb us.” Something said.
A purple cloaked figure emerged from behind the mausoleum. It glided over the dirt and towards Lumina. From underneath the hood, Lumina could see two glowing eyes and a sharpened smile.
“Take off the hood Meegan.” Lumina said.
The glowing eyes squinted before two long and sharp bony hands removed the hood to reveal a normal Hylian face. “You’re no fun, what do you even want, little fairy.”
“Well you’ve been impossible to get a hold of since I came back, and I have updates.” Lumina stated.
Meegan rolled her eyes. “I’ve been busy. What do you want.”
“I found out that there’s a Gerudo boy in the desert. Do you think that is where the Demon King is?” Lumina asked.
“No.” Meegan yawned. “I already know where the Demon King is. I hid him nice and safe so that that nasty Impa doesn’t find him anytime soon.”
“What do you have his soul in a jar or something?” Lumina sassed.
Meegan paused. “Something like that.”
“Well, would the Gerudo boy work as a host for the Demon King?”
“How old is it?”
“Fourteen.”
Meegan sighed. “No, that would take too long.”
“So what are you going to do? Just keep killing every guy named Link in Hyrule for funsies?” Lumina bounced as she sassed out her words.
“It’s not like killing all those Links is pointless. It does raise the misery index.”
“Misery what?” Lumina asked.
“All this tragedy and misery in Hyrule only makes me stronger and makes it easier to assemble the perfect body with some dark magic. I thought I would have had enough when the Queen died, but it was only enough to get my King’s Soul.” Meegan tapped her fingers on a tombstone.
“And how long is that going to take you?” Lumina sneered.
“Faster than a boy aging 30 years.” Meegan sneered back. “Do you have any other reports, fairy?”
“Zelda and her servant have been assigned royal knights.”
“Are they any threat?”
“One of them is the one who threw holy water on your face.”
Meegan hissed and reached up to her face. “Of course they chose him.”
“He is the guard of Zelda’s servant. Zelda herself has a young knight named Owin.” Lumina answered.
“Ah, Dampe’s grandkid.” Meegan looked towards the boarded up house. “My poes always loved teasing that old man. Too bad for him that he moved back to Kakariko where there are even more poes.” Meegan laughed for a bit before she suddenly stopped. “I will have to rethink my plans.”
“What plans?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know fairy.” Meegan laughed again. “Maybe I can find something else to raise the misery index.”
“Impa is trying to assassinate the Gerudo boy for being the Demon King. Would that work?” Lumina asked.
A smile twisted its way onto Meegan’s pale Hylian face. “That might be enough.” She paused. “I can send some scouts to see if it’s worth it. Anything else to report fairy?”
“Can I—” Lumina started.
“In due time, fairy, just not right now.” Meegan answered.
Without another word, Meegan vanished into the darkness of the graveyard, only leaving Lumina amongst the gravestones.
Dear Mystique,
How has your mission been going? From the last few letters I received from you it seems to not be a smooth journey, but I bet that you will find some answers soon. I unfortunately don’t have any updates to finding a way to prove Levis is innocent or to where the Demon King is. Lumina has no new information either.
I wanted to wait to write you a letter until I found out where I would be stationed. It turns out that I will be working alongside Owin as he protects Princess Zelda and I protect her servant Paige. This is apparently the first time a servant of the royal family received a knight, but it was Queen Kassandra who orchestrated that Paige receive a knight. Paige seems very bubbly and full of energy compared to Zelda. If she wasn’t glued to the Princess’s side, I would assume she would run off and get into loads of trouble.
While I am excited about this position, I have my worries. During the announcement, Lumina fell out of my helmet and presented herself to an entire crowd of knights and the King of Hyrule himself. I have a feeling that this may cause some misfortune in my future. It doesn’t look good to be a blonde boy with a fairy in front of the King given that the old hero of Legend fit that same exact description. I’m sure there will be people now trying to take over my position since I am on thin ice with the king because of Lumina. If I was chosen to protect Zelda herself I am sure that the King would have immediately banished me to Death Mountain or maybe to Medoh, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I remember when we first found Lumina and she started to follow both of us around while we ran errands. I know you noticed it, but Roul, Link, and Fiona got a little aggressive with their bullying during that time. At the beginning when I first moved here it was nothing more than some name calling and some shoves. But when Lumina came it grew a little darker than it should have. I tried to go practice sword fighting earlier to avoid them, but I wasn’t able to. They always made sure to do it when you weren’t around as I don’t think they wanted you to tell your mother about all of it. Your mother eventually asked me about all of the bruises and sword practice was no longer a good answer to hide it, so I told your mom what was happening and it went back to just name calling as if that point in time never happened.
So it was conflicting to have Roul and Link join to be knights of Hyrule alongside me. I didn’t know how to feel except for the small piece of discomfort that I pushed down whenever it tried to surface. I didn’t want these two to get in the way of what I worked so hard for, and I couldn’t let anything get in the way… even the hurt from my past. Besides being in the same cramped chamber, I was never really assigned to go on missions with them. They always assigned me to go on missions with Owin, which was always a relief. The one time I went with Roul and Link I wasn’t supposed to be there and neither was Owin. We went because Owin was curious and they offered.
If we weren’t there that night Roul and Link might have just stayed in the tavern to drink with the other knights. Or they could have run into the poe on the way home from the bar and both be… And now with what has happened to them both I honestly don’t know how to feel. That little crumpled up piece of discomfort inside of me has released, and I feel guilty that that’s how I feel when so many others are devastated over Link. I think with time maybe I would have been sad, but I only really feel conflicted. Does this make me a monster?
It’s strange to think how as we trained the bullying didn’t happen more than the occasional name thrown my way. It makes me think as if maybe I was over exaggerating my past and that I made up everything that happened. Maybe they never did what they did because why would they act differently now than they did in the past. Was it because Lumina was no longer flying around me?
I’m sorry that this letter has been a bit emotional. Hopefully once I start protecting Paige I will have more positive updates full of fun adventures.
-Nivan