Chapter 2: A Not So Peaceful Conference

A couple of hours later, in the North Castle, the kings and Queens of Demiari were meeting to attend the big peace conference. Queen Seline of Calatia, was one of those present. Other notable guests were Queen Ambi II of Labrynna, Queen Alainia and Prince Facade of Arcadia, who were accompanied by Leigh, the Avatar, and descendant of Saria, Sage of the Forest. Lord Richard and Queen Nell of Sosaria were there. (some people think Sosaria was named after Saria. But, it really wasn't.) Even Queen Melisade of Daisona was there. (her husband was elsewhere, hunting) Yes, these, along with other rulers were among the notable monarchs who were attending the peace conference. Even Governess Anita of Moldera was there. In the background, brought to the conference against her will, Mara Hespera was dragged to North Castle by her parents who thought she needed a change of pace from black magic and evil sorcery.

Mara: I don't want to see a dumb peace conference, mother! I'd rather cause chaos throughout Demiari!!

Mara's mother: Now, now, Mara...We can't have you running about, causing trouble for the good people of this continent. I want you to be a good girl...FOR ONCE. Please, Mara?

Mara: (disgusted) Yes, mother.

Mara's mother: And while you're at it, why don't you stop practising black magic for awhile, and learn to be a healer, like we ORIGINALLY wanted you too? You've broken my heart, as well as your father's. You know that?

Mara: Yes, mother. (UGH! Ganon better have a plan to ruin this peace conference, and soon! I think it would be more fun with a little chaos. I would especially like to see my great heroine, Veran, in action, once again. I hope she possesses Queen Ambi II's sorry butt and sends this boring conference down the tubes!!)

Little did Mara know, she was about to get her wish. Meanwhile, in a house in the Hyrule Castle Town, Flick was getting paid by the mother of the young man she shooed off. The mother paid her with 4 gold rupees. (1 gold rupee = 200 rupees) As for the young man, he was getting his ear pulled on by his mother, who paid the assassin/bounty hunter in full.

Mother: Thank you for getting my foolish son back here alive, Flick. He has a lot to learn about responsibility. (pays Flick with 4 gold rupees)

Flick: It was nothin, ma'mm. I take on any job I want...and refuse those which don't suit me tastes. This one felt like a worthy challenge, though. Though it wasn't like me usual jobs, where I kill a person, I do enjoy gettin paid, nontheless.

Man: Easy for you to say, Flick. You're not the one who's on the short end of the stick.

Mother: Hush now. That's being rude to our guest. I am tempted to ground you for a month, you know. Pulling a stunt like that...going on to the peace conference without permission! (tugs on her son's ear)

Man: Ow ow ow! Cut it out, mom! That hurts!!

Mother: Well, you nearly broke my heart when you when on your own without adult supervision. But....despite what you did...I'll let you go to the peace conference...ON ONE CONDITION!!

Man: Really? I'll do anything, mother...ANYTHING!!

Mother: Alright...If I let you go, you have to be accompanied by me...and after we get home, you have to clean the floors of the house for a month.

Man: Alright...I'll do as you say, mother.

Flick was a little amused with this little turn of events, and decided to go to her next job...being Queen Ambi II's personal bodyguard.

Flick: (This is sure funny...well, a little. I'd better go before I laugh out loud. After all, I don't want to be off my guard, in case Ganon has any evil schemes up his sleeve.) Well, I hate to spoil such a tender moment, but I have ta go. Me next job is waitin on me. I gotta go to the peace conference and make sure Queen Ambi II isn't attacked by her enemies.

Mother: Thank you, Flick. Goodbye, and good luck.

Flick: Thanks. And good luck to ya, too.

And so, Flick went of to the North Castle, where her next job awaits. Meanwhile, Link and Zelda, along with Miff, Sprite, Impa and King Harkinian, were talking with the guests. Zelda was dressed in formal attire, and so was Link...sort of. He was wearing the same ridiculous outift he wore when he tried to act like a prince in front of Prince Facade, who was among the guests. Queen Seline of Calatia was supressing laughter at how silly Link, native of her homeland, and hero of Hyrule looked. Zelda, who had finally acknowledged that Seline was her mother, totally agreed with her.

Zelda: Are you sure you should be out in public...in that dorky-looking outfit?

Link: Of course, Zelda. I'll do anything to impress you. (whispers) Besides...that jerk, Prince Facade is here, and I want to show him who's the better man.

Zelda: (whispers) Alright, you can mingle with the people in that dumb getup...but don't blame me, when one or all of the delegates laugh at you.

Link: Relax, Zelda. I've got it covered. I seranaded you in a similar outfit, didn't I?

Zelda: Aww...don't remind me of that time! You need singing lessons...BIG TIME!! And besides, wasn't that also the time Bagu's frogs were held for ransom by Ganon, and he was forced to steal a piece of the Triforce of Wisdom?

Link: But that was...I mean...when Bagu retireved the Triforce piece and the frogs...he went straight to the Castle...leaving me in the dust!

Seline: (supresses laughter) Forgive me, Link. But seeing you in that atrocious outfit, and hearing about such a ridiculous misadventure you had seems to be funny.

Link: (with his jaw wide open, in disbelief) But, your majesty....

Zelda: (smugly smiles) I told you so. Even my mother agrees.

Link: Well excccuuuussse me, Princess. It was THE ONLY THING I could FIND to wear on such short notice!!

Miff: Ha ha ha! Boy, do you look stupid, Link! You look like the court jester!

Link: Butt out, Miff!!

Just then, Queen Ambi II, walked up to Link and Zelda, noticing something strange about two of her guards.

Ambi II: Um, excuse me...but you are the descendants of the Legendary Hero and the young queen who was also one of the seven maidens, are you not?

Link: Ummm...yeah.

Zelda: That would be us.

Ambi II: I seemed to have noticed something strange about two of my guards, who are part of my entourage.

Zelda: Like what?

Ambi: Well, for one thing...the one with red hair and green eyes has sort of a striking resemblance with me. We even have similar eyebrows.

The first guard, upon hearing this, hid his hair deep in the helmet, too embarrassed to tell Ambi II the truth.

Guard 1: Uh oh. (pulls his helmet down, and speaks to himself) Aw, great...why'd you have to embarrass me, great-great-great-great-great granddaughter?

Link: I see...and the other?

Ambi II: The other one looks obviously feminine. She also has blue hair, and blue eyes.

The other guard, who heard what Queen Ambi II said, pulled her helmet down as well, and tried to make her voice as deep as womanly possible.

Guard 2: (pulls her helmet down, and tries her best to imitate a man's voice) Me? A woman? No, your majesty. There are no women soldiers here. (Oh, brother! Link III, Zelda IV and Ambi II are going to find out who Ralph and I are at any second...this is humiliating.)

Sure enough, after Ambi II compared the features of the two guards with pictures of Ralph, descendant of the original Queen Ambi, and his wife, Nayru, Oracle of Ages, their covers were blown.

Link: You know, they do look kind peculiar. In fact...one of them looks very familiar.

Ambi: Yes. If I didn't know any better, I swear the first guard looks exactly like Ralph, the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Queen Ambi I, my ancestor.

Zelda: You don't say?

Ambi II: Mmm hmm. Also, the other guard really reminds me of Nayru, the Oracle of Ages. She married Ralph, after Ganon was thwarted a second time, by the Legendary Hero.

Link: How do you know all this. Queen Ambi?

Ambi: Well...one thing, it says so in the family records...and another...I've seen pictures of both of them in the royal gallery.

Guard 1: Uh oh...

Guard 2: Busted.

Zelda: Nayru?

Link: And...Ralph? Nayru I've met, but Ralph, I don't know.

Sure enough, the two "guards" took off their helmets, revealing Nayru and Ralph.

Nayru: (takes off helmet) Yep...you've got us dead to rights.

Ralph: (takes off helmet) Might as well drop the charade.

Link asked the two of them what they were doing here.

Link: What are you guys doing here?

Nayru: Well, we want to protect Ambi II, our great-great-great-great-great granddaughter from Veran, Sorceress of Shadows.

Ralph: Nayru sensed Ambi II had the same powers as she does, although latent. Veran probably knows that, too.

Ambi II: Well, none of you should worry about Veran.

Zelda: Why not?

Ambi II: Because my bodyguard has arrived.

Sure enough, as Ambi II spoke, Flick, the assassin had just made her entrance. Link was a bit surprised to see that an assassin as feared as Flick would be hired as a bodyguard.

Zelda: (looks at Flick) FLICK....the ASSASSIN is YOUR BODYGUARD, Queen Ambi?

Flick: That's right. Got a problem with that? (Hmph...almost everyone in here is slime...including myself. Ganon has seen to it that I've become as reviled, and a slimy as possible. This mask will forever be a mark of my shame...unless I can do something about it)

Link: I do. Who, in their right mind, would hire an assassin AS DEADLY, and AS CRAZY as FLICK?! She's a bloody psycho, for crying out loud!!

Flick then answered him with a riddle which Link couldn't get the meaning of.

Flick: Sanity is in the eyes of society, who can really say what is madness? Perhaps YOU are all crazy and I am the only sane one.

Link: (thinks for a minute) Ummm....I don't get it.

Zelda: (whispers to Link) Bad answer, Link.

Link: Why?

Flick considered Link was an idiot at that point. She then pulled out her knife and slashed him on the chest...not enough to kill him, or scar him...but just enough to make a nasty gash for a week.

Flick: Ya know what? For Hyrule's greatest hero, yer really an idiot! (slashes at Link's chest)

Link: OUCH! Watch what you're doing, kid!

Flick: I'm not a kid...I'm 17 years old!

Zelda: That's why.

As Flick and Link argued, Balayna had finally arrived in the North Castle's premesis. Link and Zelda were surprised to find her here.

Balayna: Link, Zelda...I'm sorry to barge in, but I need your help.

Zelda called Balayna by her true name, and she acknowledged them both as her true self.

Zelda: Nabooru!

Link: What are you doing here?

Balayna: I need you to help me find someone who's been missing for the last five years. Her name is Avanna, and I need to find her, desperately.

Nayru: Why do you want to find her so badly, Nabooru?

Ralph: Yeah...and why didn't you come with us, in these "clever disguises" that Kylara gave us?

Link: KYLARA made you wear those getups?

Nayru: Yep.

Link: She must've had some crazy plan to get you guys in. (laughs)

Nayru & Ralph: (blush) Aw, shucks..stop it, Link.

Ralph: Can you PLEASE explain to us what's going on, Nabooru?

Balayna: Well...you see...(sees Veran) Uh oh..

Before Balayna, also known as Nabooru could answer her friends, Link and Zelda along with Nayru and Ralph, her allies from the Sacred Realm, their chat was disrupted by the appearance of a purple flame with evil eyes, and the sudden change in Leigh's behavior...(and clothing) Mara Hespera knew what was going on, and cheered Veran on.

Mara: WHOO HOO!! Veran! Veran! She's my gal! If she can't do it, no one shall!! YAAAYYY VERAN!!

Veran: (sees Mara, and winks) Thank you, my dearest fan, and fellow evil sorceress,

Mara: You're welcome. Now, TRASH THIS BORING CONFERENCE!!

Mara's mother: Will you stop?!

Mara: (disgusted) Yes, mother. (It's about time, Ganon. Thank you for sending my heroine here. This will be a peace conference to remember, AFTER ALL!!)

Flick then made a comment on how bad the situation was.

Flick: This doesn't look good. This doesn't look good at all. The Peace Conference is officially down the tubes.

Was Flick right? And, will Veran and Dark Leigh succeed in dismantling the peace conference? Will Prince Facade blow it again? Also, where is the mysterious Avanna, and what is her connection with Nabooru? Even deeper, what is Flick's true identity? The answers and more will be discovered as this story continues!

To Be Continued...

Last Minute Disclaimer: Mara Hespera is a character created by Juliet A. Singleton. Flick is a character created by Christina J. Sanders. Used with permission.

Back to Story Menu