Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Dragmire's War - Mystery of Link

Ryo didn't hear him depart, but the torch beside him flickered back to life a moment later and Ryo saw he was alone. Ryo sat at the table and sipped the tea. It was still warm.

"Great general..." Ryo mused.

Ryo felt there was a great many pieces to this puzzle that didn't fit. On the surface the boy looked like a nobody, but his instincts told him otherwise. If Impa had left it alone, he may consider him to be nothing more than a youth with a stroke of luck and skill, and an aspiring bastard. But Impa had played a hand far too big for a mere insect.

So what was it? Was the boy flirty with the Princess? A boisterous youth can be flirty and overthink their station in life. Ryo shook his head. "No. If he had, the Princess would have made a big deal of it... unless she allowed it... But then the last thing Zelda wants is romantic or sexual advances. She doesn't allow mirrors in her room, only accepts the uglier concubines, and even then only virgins with no experience. With all the tension constantly bottled up inside, wouldn't surprise me if she refuses to be touched and won't touch herself. And the only suitor to ever step forward had the gates slammed in his face..." The Princess hated her own looks and refuses advances. Her cold personality extended to herself.

Ryo spent the night considering the various facts. He laid them all out one by one in his mind across a great canvas. He juggled them, turned them around, looked at them from different angles.

"Thirteen years... Jouto." A thought, or rather a memory, struck Ryo, and he stilled briefly as he contemplated it and explored it.

Thirteen years ago he had been in Jouto on a tour across the western country. He had a brief entanglement with a lovely girl, and Ryo remembered hearing the sound of soldiers outside. It had woken them both, and Ryo had left the girl's home to investigate. They were Qin soldiers. The soldiers were spreading the word that General Kyou Mitagi had fallen in battle to Harken Dragmire.

In the background, Ryo remembered now they had handed off a baby in a basket to the mayor.

Ryo placed his hands flat on the cold table as he juggled this memory with what he knew. Thirteen years ago Kyou Mitagi was killed in a battle near Jouto, as the Dragmire exile had been hiding in the western mountains. Thirteen years ago this baby was dropped off as a war orphan conveniently close to the battle, by the very soldiers reporting this news, with the message that he was the son of a general.

Could Link be the son of Kyou Mitagi?

If Ryo allowed this thought to be taken further, was Kyou Mitagi... a woman?

"No!" Ryo slammed his palms on the table and shook his head harshly to banish the thought. "That makes no sense. Ouki was one of his lovers and he is gay. He always was and always has been. He has numerous male lovers. Kyou... had female lovers along with men... Kyou was a man. It was established by everyone. The Mitagi, the Sheikah-" Ryo's eyes widened.

The same two groups who joined to kill Link...

"This makes no sense!" Ryo whispered harshly. "Why would Ouki kill the child of his lover?!"

Ryo rubbed his temple and felt the facts jumble together in his mind. He was tired, and he knew it. He felt he was on to something, but the many cords of thought were getting entangled and complicated. He needed to sleep on it. He had to be over thinking things.

Ryo needed to consider this in simple terms. Either Link's boasting had created a spin of lies to give himself some sort of importance, or the Sheikah and Mitagi were both lying about Kyou in some way to hide that she was a woman, or they were both telling the truth and Kyou was a man while Link was the son of Kyou and one of his female lovers.