Wild Secrets

The Queen

Legend's POV

After dinner, we said goodbye and left the bar.

Much to Wild's relief, the sun was setting, and the streets were almost completely empty.

Twilight led us back to town square and to the north, where a pair of guards defended the doors.

They scuttled closer together and crossed their spears when we approached. They must've forgotten about all the empty space around them.

Twilight turned his palms away and rose them slightly before letting them fall back down to his sides. "Really?"

"You're not getting in!" The one on the left said with a squeaky voice, having probably noticed all our weapons and Twi's fangs that momentarily appeared.

"Only if you have a audience with Queen Zelda!" The fat right one said, holding a clipboard. "And she doesn't have any until tomorrow!"

Twilight sighed, he obviously didn't like what he was about to say. "I'm Link."

They didn't react.

"The hero?" Twilight pressed. "Really? You don't know?"

"That a good or bad thing?" I asked Twilight, Wild was hiding behind me from the strangers, but I don't think they were that much of a threat.

"That depended on if they let us in because of that or not. Now it's not." Twilight said, exasperated.

"If they don't, I know a secret passage, but it's not exactly ideal." Twilight whispered.

"Better to keep that option open." I whispered back bitterly.

"Link?" A feminine voice came from behind us.

I struggled to turn around with Wild cowering so close to me.

The speaker was a woman with a cloak folded over a cream and purple dress. Her hands were grasped before her before she reached up to pull her hood down.

She had pale, delicate skin, dirty brown hair, and dark, angry brown eyes. A tiara rested on her forehead.

She walked forward, her mere presence made me want to follow Wild's lead and hide.

"Is there a problem here?" She asked the guards.

"N-no problem." Squeaky Voice stammered. "But these people are trying to get in..."

"Didn't I already reveal I knew them." The Queen said more than asked.

The guards didn't answer but the Fat one's knees were shaking.

"Let us through." She said. Her small voice echoed throughout the empty, dark square.

The two guards hurried to pull open the doors, stammering apologies as we went through, Zelda in the lead.

"Cowards." Zelda said when the doors closed again and they couldn't hear us. "But unfortunately all the good ones died during the invasion."

She pushed open a second pair of doors that led to the courtyard.

She led us up to the castle and up a tower. She nodded us in.

It was her room. It seemed wrong to be here, in the Queen's personal quarters.

"This is my office until further notice, when the throne room and office are cleared of rubble and rebuilt." Zelda said.

She hung her hood up by the door and sat in a chair by the fireplace, a fire already crackling warmly inside.

She gestured vaguely before her. "Now, sit and tell me about your adventures."

I pulled up a chair while Twilight sat on a stool and Wild the ground.

And Twilight began.

He told her of when five men and boys (Time, Sky, Wars, Wind, and Four) appeared, introducing them as past and future heroes.

And of their quest and all that followed, all up until being separated from the rest of our group.

Zelda hummed, her gaze fixed absently on the bow and quiver hanging from her wall.

"So that's were you've been." She said loftily. Her voice was naturally quiet but had the ability to grasp the attention of anyone around her.

Reminded me of Wild and... her.

"So... about Midna and the Twilight Realm?" Twilight asked.

We didn't have to ask why he dragged us up here for that, we all deserved to pursue personal needs.

That seemed to drag Zelda out of her thoughts.

"Yes." She said. "I felt a surge of energy in Faron Woods, deep in the forest."

Twilight frowned. "Couldn't it just be the Master Sword? Although I can't explain why I would do that..."

"No." Zelda said surely. "It had the same feel as the Mirror of Twilight did. It felt the same power as when it shattered."

Her hand was fingering something inside her pocket, just like Twilight was.

"Do you think she found a way back?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"I don't know for sure..." Zelda mused. "But I do know if there's a chance that someone from the Twilight Realm is here, whether it's her or not, I need someone to check it out. And the people need me."

It was silent for a while.

"Alright," I said. "When do we leave?"

Zelda smiled sadly. "At first dawn."