Walk A Mile

When the Kingdom of Hyrule was still at war, my father, King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule the IX went to the Sheikah lands. There he met the clans to try to bring an alliance with the Sheikah who lived there.

The Sheikah in those days were vicious. They were and still are a proud race with many traditions in their world. The only race to have more traditions is the Gerudo in the west. My father, being the brave man he was, earned the Sheikah’s highest respect. In offering they gave my father a wife, the tribal lady Runa. Runa was a seer, a Sheikah whom respect was given. My mother, my lady. We earned a bodyguard in the form of Runa’s bodyguard, Impa, and army to guard us.

When I first became Queen, I realized that the nobles had convened and rewritten our documents to take me down to a glorified doll and diplomat. Queen Irene the Just had never had to deal with those issues, I had once complained to Impa. Impa had smiled, shook her head and pointed out the Queen Irene was not half-Sheikah. While I looked Hylian, my Sheikah blood gave the nobles much fear.

I began in earnest to earn the respect of a race that had long ago left our borders. Each year going by I tried to gain back my stolen power with little success.

ooo

“Geez,” the little Goron who happens to be named Link Junior whines to our Hero of Time, “Hurry up and shoot, Goro.”

Link is sweating buckets as his beloved pet looms over him. In the shadows, I curse at this latest development. Ganondorf, thrilled to be in possession of the spawn of the dragoness Volvagia (Also the species name, don’t ask me to explain), had the dragon placed under a curse that could be only be broken by the dragon’s death.

I know in my heart that Volvagia had to die. Even though the dragon as a dragonlet had scorched my headdress many a time… it was no reason to kill him. However, in the seven years under Ganondorf’s reign, I have come to know the definition of a mercy killing. Those he captures, he mutates into puss-covered, rotting zombies, such abominations that the earth must keep mercifully hidden.

And in the end, it is my blade that gives them a merciful death.

I turn my attention back to Link. The dragon snaps his head back, dull iron colored horns flashing the glow of the volcano, before shooting a gout of flame at Link. Then for whatever reason, Volvagia turns, slipping back through the hole in Goron City, heading for the Fire Temple.

My hands stray to the harp strapped the small of my back. Ganondorf would have my head for teaching Link any song of the Symphonic Six. I remember Impa teaching me these songs over and over on my year of hell that was my training. I had to play them until the tips of my fingers bled.

In remembrance of this season, I unwrap a fingertip. It, like the other nine, are severely scarred, the tips on longer capable of feeling. This is good for being Sheik, but not okay for the real me. Sighing, I rewrap my fingers and walk over to tend to Link.

The Goddesses Three better reward me when I finally die.

ooo

“What is it?” I asked as I dropped the spoon the ground with a metallic sounding clink, “Am I all of a sudden bald?”

I began to look around on the floor for any and all traces of my blonde hair. Meanwhile, Fin studied me and finally took a small pictograph machine (only the size of a breadbox) and took and a photo. The fellers by his mouth twitched and his gills opened and closed in harmony with his lips. “Zora,” he said, his purple colored eyes gleaming proudly, “Would Majesty like a photo copy? Or perhaps a razor?”

My hands came up slowly, feeling for the first time the full fluffy beard and mustache the potion had cause me to grow. “Fin…” I growled out, clenching and unclenching my fists. If Link was here, hopefully he wouldn’t laugh and luck would be on my side. “No more testing.”

“Sorry, sorry, Zora.”

ooo

Link rests through the draining of the pus filled blisters on his face and my attempts at bandaging him. I thank the Gorons for making fire proof clothing as I slap the last bandage on his face. I sit away from him, plucking the same notes over and over again. The Bolero of Fire. I hope that Volvagia hasn’t burnt the ear for music Link has up into ashes.

He wakes up and tries to move. “Ooh, ow, ow, ow, ow,” he groans.

Navi, her normal glow turning to bright red, admonishes Link for being a such a fool. “Oh,” she says, “If your mother was alive, she would weep for you being such a fool.”

Link rubs the tip of his nose. “Yeah,” he says as casually as any Hylian boy his age would do, “But who’s playing that harp?”

They focus their eyes on me once more. I am the anomaly, the strange Sheikah youth they’ve run into several times already. To Ganondorf, I am his willing spy. “Sheik,” Link says.

I smile beneath my mask. Living with the Kokiri has made him tough. “So we meet again, Hero of Time.”

ooo

I spent the rest of the day in my chambers, signing documents and wondering how lovey-dovey Link and Malon were getting. Don’t be so jealous, I told myself, you set them up in first part. Don’t you think it would be bad taste to break such a nice girl’s heart. I sighed and stroked my now-smooth chin. Maybe this would be easier if I had been born boy a guy. “Your Majesty,” the voice of one of servants echoed in the chambers.

I jumped out of nerves. If you had been the most kidnapped princess turned queen thanks to a certain servant of Ganondorf’s servant slaughtering your father, you would be jumpy too. “What is it?” I said carefully as possible, tightening my comfortable robe tighter around the simple shift I wore.

The Paige peered around the door and then opened it up. “Queen Seline Calatia has arrived see you.”

Calatian population is an interesting one. Until I had met their monarch, Seline Aerie Calatia, I had never seen a Rito before. Seline was a large Rito, several inches taller than myself.

If you have never laid eyes on a Rito, than imagine a Sheikah merged with the features of a bird. Impa once told me that the Rito, the Zora, and the Sheikah are sister races blessed by the Goddess of Courage Farore. They, meaning the Rito, are a proud people with pointed ears, beak-like noses, talons for feet, and strange crimson-purple eyes. Queen Seline seemed to be the only Rito I had seen with green eyes.

Queen Seline stood at the end of my throne room, respectively covered from foot to ankle in a green cloak that complimented her long red hair. She was a Rito who had seen the passing of many years and bore them well. Today, she was a tense Rito. Save for the agitated twitches of her feather tip ears, she was strangely calm. When I was a child, I often loved stroke the soft feathers on Seline’s ears. I stuck my hands in the pockets of my robes where their slight twitching would not be seen through the heavy cloth.

Passing to the throne that had once been my father’s and now was my own, I began the age old ritual. “Well met by daylight, Calatian Queen.”

Seline bowed gracefully, “We have traveled day and night, over sea and land to meet in the garden of the Hylian Queen.” She smiled, a grave smile, but a smile all the same. “Such formality from the tomboy of the royal family. What happened to the little wild child?”

I felt my lips quirk into a smile. It had been the first smile I had done since Link had left to go on a picnic. I wondered if any of the other sages were doing. I wondered if setting Link and Malon together had been the right thing to do. My smile began to feel more and more strained. “She’s under these clothes. She’s been combed, brushed, strapped down, and shoved into ornamental clothes…”

“But she’s still the same Zelda we know and love,” Link said entering the hall behind Queen Seline. The Ocarina of Time was in one hand, proving he had warped from Lake Hylia to the Temple of Time. He looked at Queen Seline. “Seeing that you have company,” he said, pointing at her, “I’ll just wait outside.”

“Don’t,” Queen Seline and I said at the same time.

Link looked confused. Seline and I looked at each other and decided to try again. “The Wind Temple…” Seline began.

“Wind temple?” Link asked, “I thought there were only the six temples in Hyrule…” he tugs at his short ponytail, “Seven if you count the Temple of Light and that really isn’t part of Hyrule.”

Link didn’t realize that at the moment he was stepping on her tail. I tried make some motions, miming the fact. Link stared at me. “Are you feeling bad, Zelda?”

I sighed and pointed, “You are stepping on Queen Seline’s tail feathers.”

“She has a tail?” Link asked, bending down to look. “Wow she does.” I cleared my throat and he removed his foot from the feathers that protruded underneath her cloak. “Why does she have feathers? And a beak?”

“Link,” I hiss. Sometimes he can be a little too blunt at times, “That’s impolite.”

Queen Seline smiled. I sighed. Somehow I had forgotten how proud the Rito are of their heritage. “I am of the air race, the Rito,” she said, “Many centuries ago, my people left Hyrule for the islands of Calatia.”

“Glad to meet you,” Link said.

“Likewise,” Seline said, “But I am afraid that Zelda and you must head for our

land immediately.”

“Immediately?”

“Immediately,” Seline repeated, “I believe the fate of our world once again rests on your shoulders. Both of you.”

… to be continued.