Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Kyou's War - Aftermath

"Hey..." He muttered.

She chuckled, "Sorry, but I can't let that slide. Not yet. It won't last much longer so I have to keep you remembering it until you are free. Then you will be a free man, and..." She turned her head to the side curiously. "Actually what do you plan to do with your freedom? With your accomplishment of helping to defeat Kyou, you could ask to be a palace guard or a guard for a noble."

"Nah, that's not for me." Link pulled out Midna's sword and looked at it. "My dream was always to enter the army and become a general. It's not as glamorous as I thought, but it's still my dream. Perhaps it's more horror and filthy and disgusting than shiny and noble, but it's a horror I would save others from. And now that Midna has shown me up by being a queen for a day, I can't just let her win. I'm going to be the greatest general in Qin, and I'm taking her sword with me."

"Technically it's my sword," Zelda replied.

Link felt an irritation vein pulse in his forehead.

"But she would be honored." Zelda finished. "Keep it. It's not even a reward, it just... belongs with you, I think. She was your family. I will gently lower Midna's body from the gate and have it cared for. I won't bury her here, but... she deserves a proper burial befitting of a queen. If only I could allow it."

"What do you mean?" Link wondered.

"No one can know... I hate it. I want to honor Midna publicly, but to admit there was a second could throw into dispute my rule from the beginning. Who is to say I am not Midna? Who is to say I am Zelda? To say she was a body double could destroy everything she sacrificed herself for. I won't make up lies and say I died only to return from the dead... but if things are kept quiet, people will forget she ever hung there, to begin with."

Link's first instinct was anger, but he quickly squashed it. Zelda spoke rationally, and he sensed she hated the decision as much as he did. She was right. Midna's sacrifice had to be complete.

"Yes, well... She wouldn't have gone for a big fuss or nothin' anyway." Link sighed. "She wanted to have a nice husband, a dozen kids, and to be buried beside him."

"Then let her have that. She may not have a family like that, but let her be buried at home. I'll send along with oils and burial cloth worthy of a noble... but it is little any can do about Kyou's desecration."

"Yeah... well... What about you?" Link changed the subject. "You got the throne back and all. Still going to aim for all of Hyrule?"

"Yes. I am, but I am afraid I can't begin for many years. You see... Ketsu and Kyou may have been defeated, and Qin will recover quickly. But most of the power in court still belongs to Chancellor Ryo, and if I am judging the air right, then his power has only grown in the chaos. Ryo no longer needs to support me against anyone, now that Ketsu and Kyou are no longer opposing him or me. Now it's just Ryo and me. By law when I reach the age of twenty-two I will become Queen and Ryo's assumed power will become, by extension, mine. But before that... I know Ryo will not sit idly by and let it happen without a fight. Only once Qin is united truly, and I have a proper answer on how to destroy the borders of Hyrule without committing genocide... then I will conquer all of it."

Zelda looked out at the distant moon. "Link, in that time, rise to my level as a general. I will need your strength."

Link stared at her agape. Zelda looked back curiously. "What?"

"Y-you called me by name. You've never done that before."

Zelda turned and walked away. "I think you were hearing things."

"No! You did! Admit it!"

"Sorry, monkey say what?"

-Next Morning, Zelda-