Short two
Sorry everybody... this has been done for a bit but I got busy...
Toran’s companion was obviously enjoying the downpour that was now soaking the two riders. They were still moving at a quick pace, but the enigmatic Shiekah would still hold out his hands to catch drops whenever possible. At one point he actually gave an odd chuckle and smirked over at the close by Toran. It was a strangely reminiscent of someone… but Toran could put a finger on whom. Thinking back, he really hadn’t known all that many Shiekah, so maybe it was someone else… not Link… maybe Draq? Toran hadn’t thought of that name in almost eight years, but suddenly memories came back. Draq… his brother had been Scela, the current palace surgeon… and there had been Plarth, Marcum, Juthia, and so many others… Din, he could even dig up a few happy memories of Keef now that his mind was to it (well, at least not intolerable ones…).
The two riders had gone on for another two hours when Toran began to recognize some of the scenery. They were quickly approaching the sweeping cliff walls that rose up into the mountain range that framed the eastern and northern boarders of Hyrule. And not just any section of the cliffs either… they were traveling towards a very specific location. Even in the rain, Toran was recognizing old landmarks he hadn’t seen in years. Rocks, hillocks, dips… no doubt about it, they were headed right for the gang’s old cave hideout. Of course, Toran had to remind himself, there would not actually be a hideout there now. Their little rebel team had never really existed at all, nor had base… Gannondorf’s reign had been totally obliterated from the fabric of this world, destroyed by Link, Zelda, himself, and those few brave others. The thought of it sent a bolt of pride through him like nothing since he had entered his new role as “Lord Toran.” There had once been a time when he had been Toran of the Village Well, swordsman and servant of the last Hylian Royal. Rather than deciding where to send troops scurrying, he had actually followed the trouble, katana in hand. Well, Zelda had always claimed that, to the contrary, the TROUBLE followed HIM… at least fate had blessed him with more than a little martial skill to keep himself and those he loved alive.
Those he loved! His sister!
Toran glanced back to the Shiekah, only to find the man shaking slightly, right hand over his mouth as his red eyes studied the reminiscing king. Toran started to ask what was wrong, then realized the man was laughing… no, not even laughing; he was GIGGLING! Glowering, Toran pointed ahead of them, hazel eyes narrowing to highlight his anger.
“If you don’t mind, my sister-”
“Is perfectly fine,” the Shiekah finished, giving a dismissive wave, “her message was for the benefit of a mutual friend, who also is in no danger,” he quickly finished, obviously seeing a second protest forming on Toran face. For his part, Toran was beginning to grow slightly uneasy about the Shiekah riding with him. Something was definitely not right about his whole demeanor… he had only ever known one Shiekah this un-Shiekah like, and she ended up being Hylian after all.
Then he remember the time Zelda had been asking Impa how the empire should best deal with a certain house, no, clan, or faction, however it was the Shiekah divided themselves… he could not remember all the details, at the time it had apparently been purely a diplomatic affair and ergo Zelda’s domain… something called the Rebel Shiekah… It had to do with disputes about Royal House succession, but that was all he knew…
By now they were at the cave entrance and Toran divorced the thoughts from his mind long enough to take in the old, yet familiar, view of hideout entrance. It seemed as though some had gone through the trouble of recreating the fake bush and rock door that had hidden the entrance for his old team. In fact, it was close enough to be nearly identical. Holding a hand to his forehead in a vain attempt to keep the pouring rain out of his eyes, Toran surveyed the entrance. It was uncanny… a perfect likeness.
His companion had dismounted and was walking towards the cave, so Toran followed suit. He would be wary of his new “friend,” but concern was beginning to outweigh that. If this person did mean him harm, then he had to have gotten Jistine’s necklace by an equally nefarious ploy. He needed more information. Drawing his katana, Toran stepped in the door.
The small, round room looked the same as ever. Table in the center, lone flickering candle on it illuminating the room, domed rock ceiling… as though he had just stepped into his mind, burying himself into his memories. Stepping into the room, Toran laid his hand on the wooden table and closed his eyes, feeling a surge of past dreams flood over him.
“I told you it was a warp point…”
Toran whirled at the sound, katana whipping out. The blade stopped just shy of slicing the Shiekah’s throat, actually resting against his Adam’s Apple… or rather where his Adam’s Apple SHOULD have been. Wait a second…
Toran started, looking up and down his companion. “He” was leaning back against the door, smirking, arms crossed over chest, one hip tossed slightly to the side. Now that Toran had a closer look in better light, he noticed the short Shiekah’s legs had been slightly proportionally longer than he had at first thought. The figure was slightly shapelier as well… either he spent a massively disproportionate amount of time working on lower body and pectorals, or he was, in fact…
Toran’s eyes quickly raised to the face. It had changed ever so slightly, to a degree that Toran couldn’t even name what exactly was the difference. Parts were sharper, shades were thinner, the nose had altered slightly… nothing had changed drastically, but the entire thing was completely different. One of the thin yellow eyebrows arched, as the other narrowed, red eyes perfectly matching the smirk pulling at the thin lips.
How had he not seen it before?
“Shiek?” Toran lowered his sword, but kept it in front… what if were just another dream?
“Been too long since anyone’s call me that,” the giggle was like the tinkle of a fairy’s wings, “but I see we’re not fully convinced? Go ahead, ask me something only Shiek would know…”
“When did we first-”
“Night after Malon’s 18th birthday, we had spent the day riding all over the plains with her and Link… we snuck back into the palace, and I wouldn’t let you say goodbye.”
“How did you know I was going to ask-” Toran began, head cocking to one side.
“Toran, I’m your wife…” a smile pulled at her lips as the arms uncrossed and her hands moved to her hips, “plus, you only ever think about one thing anyway…”
Normally Toran might have argued the point, but at that moment he was more interested in the woman before him. He opened his mouth to ask how she had arranged this, but the words never came; he was too preoccupied with the fact that the woman in question had stepped in and grabbed the sides of his head, pulling him into a kiss. Toran was fairly certain he had just lost control of fine-motor skills, and the sound of his katana ringing as it fell to the floor confirmed the theory. Of course, he almost missed the metallic clatter under the pounding, rushing sound that was now dominating his ears. His hands slipped slowly around Zelda’s waist, pulling her tighter as she continued to push up to his mouth. Zelda had let her hands slip down around Toran’s neck. After a few seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Toran pulled back to take in a breath. Giving a sigh, the blond head slipped into the crook between his chin and shoulder, her arms slipping from around his neck to push under his arms and around his sides, until her fingers were massaging at the tunic on his shoulder blades. Her hair ticked slightly, but Toran really didn’t mind at all.
“Sorry to trick you like that, but I thought we should both get away for a bit,” the queen murmured, obviously enjoying the hug Toran had her in.
“What do you mean?” Toran asked, letting the fingers of his hand begin to play with the end of Zelda’s long, yellow braid.
“Well, look at you… you got all dressed up in adventuring gear and strapped on your katana and set out yourself, when you could have just as easily donned armor, your crown and two paladins to fight for you… you’re itching to do something as Toran the swordsman, not Lord Toran, don’t think I don’t know it!”
She had him there… He had enjoyed even just riding about that he had even forgotten to worry about his supposedly endangered sister. Which brought up the question about the necklace… Wife or no, Zelda wasn’t supposed to have it any more than some random Shiekah. However, she only laughed and laid her head back on his shoulder when he asked.
“Jistine gave it to be because we were both afraid we were losing you… she wanted us to have this time as much, maybe even more, than I did. She’s your sister, Toran, and has been my best friend since before I met you for the first or second time… she saw the situation as an emergency ‘ever so much greater than life itself’,” Zelda ended with a very fair rendition of Jistine’s Akinda accent. Toran chuckled, and gave his wife a little squeeze.
“Watch it, she’s my sister you know…”
Zelda forced Toran to take a seat at the table, then moved over to the food chest near the wall of the round room. She returned, setting a small plate of dried figs and a sliced apple in front of him, then sat down in the room’s other chair and proceeded to give him her plan for the upcoming “adventure.” Apparently, she had already informed Impa of the proceedings. The Shiekah Elder had, of course, expressed concern over the safety of her ward and step-daughter, but it was hard to argue that anything in Hyrule was more likely to be dangerous than what she had already survived. Ainee would be “severing” the royal couple, sick in bed, for the next two days, and Impa would, with official written permission from Zelda, be handling emergency affairs. She was not only wise, but widely respected and trusted, so everything should proceed smoothly.
“As for US,” Zelda concluded, taking a bite of apple slice, “tomorrow, we’ll be heading south. The palace gets about two hundred letters a day by way of suits of injustice I am supposed to look over. Normally the Legal Guild deals with them, but I selected one about a hostile ranch take over for you and I to go settle personally. We’ll just check it out, and if the rancher really has suffered an injustice, will have fun righting it. If not, then we can move on to the next one I picked out… We’ll be in disguise and do it all ‘wandering adventurer’ style.”
“Still trying to keep the Saga of Shiek going, eh?” Toran laughed, picking up the last fig before Zelda got a chance.
“You got it!” she replied, standing, “and I’ll be using magic to alter your looks as well, Toran… I figured black hair and sapphire eyes will do the trick…”
“Just so long as I don’t have to change genders as well…” he ribbed back. Zelda laughed hard at this, harder than Toran had heard in nearly a year. The sound was worth more than all the rupees in Hyrule to him. Leaning forward, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“It sounds WONDERFUL Zel, thank you so much for bringing me out here…”
“Well, I didn’t marry you for money you goof… I love you, and this kind of thing was what first got us together.”
“Well, that covers the next two days,” Toran said, smiling as he brushed back some lose strands of hair from Zelda face, “but we have a bit until dawn…” he left the question unstated, merely raising his eyebrows.
“When I said this place was a Warp Point, I was stretching the truth slightly,” Zelda said, raising and taking his hand, “I wanted it to Warp us through time… to those lost years… I can’t REALLY do it of course, but I had the place set up as close as I could make out. My old room is the same,” she explained, pointing towards a door at the far side of the room, “I’ll be honest, over those long seven years there was more than one night I dreamed of you joining me in there…”
“There were a hell of a lot more time I actually wanted to,” Toran replied, smirking. He knew in reality he hadn’t viewed Shiek in that way until near the end of their time together, but for tonight that was trivial…
“Well, I’m going into my bed… and THIS time I have a husband who can hopefully keep me from needing to dream… come on in whenever!”
With this, Zelda entered her room, letting the door close. Toran heard her humming the familiar tune of the lullaby Impa used to sing her, just like she had done every night since he had first met the skinny, tomboyish princess that would become his very heart and soul. Looking around the round room once, Toran remember all his friends one more time. Hyrule was a land built from courage, adventure, and nobility… what better way for its ruler to relax than this? No wonder Zel was the Sage of Wisdom…
Giving a contented sigh, Toran grabbed the handle of Shiek’s room…
Toran’s companion was obviously enjoying the downpour that was now soaking the two riders. They were still moving at a quick pace, but the enigmatic Shiekah would still hold out his hands to catch drops whenever possible. At one point he actually gave an odd chuckle and smirked over at the close by Toran. It was a strangely reminiscent of someone… but Toran could put a finger on whom. Thinking back, he really hadn’t known all that many Shiekah, so maybe it was someone else… not Link… maybe Draq? Toran hadn’t thought of that name in almost eight years, but suddenly memories came back. Draq… his brother had been Scela, the current palace surgeon… and there had been Plarth, Marcum, Juthia, and so many others… Din, he could even dig up a few happy memories of Keef now that his mind was to it (well, at least not intolerable ones…).
The two riders had gone on for another two hours when Toran began to recognize some of the scenery. They were quickly approaching the sweeping cliff walls that rose up into the mountain range that framed the eastern and northern boarders of Hyrule. And not just any section of the cliffs either… they were traveling towards a very specific location. Even in the rain, Toran was recognizing old landmarks he hadn’t seen in years. Rocks, hillocks, dips… no doubt about it, they were headed right for the gang’s old cave hideout. Of course, Toran had to remind himself, there would not actually be a hideout there now. Their little rebel team had never really existed at all, nor had base… Gannondorf’s reign had been totally obliterated from the fabric of this world, destroyed by Link, Zelda, himself, and those few brave others. The thought of it sent a bolt of pride through him like nothing since he had entered his new role as “Lord Toran.” There had once been a time when he had been Toran of the Village Well, swordsman and servant of the last Hylian Royal. Rather than deciding where to send troops scurrying, he had actually followed the trouble, katana in hand. Well, Zelda had always claimed that, to the contrary, the TROUBLE followed HIM… at least fate had blessed him with more than a little martial skill to keep himself and those he loved alive.
Those he loved! His sister!
Toran glanced back to the Shiekah, only to find the man shaking slightly, right hand over his mouth as his red eyes studied the reminiscing king. Toran started to ask what was wrong, then realized the man was laughing… no, not even laughing; he was GIGGLING! Glowering, Toran pointed ahead of them, hazel eyes narrowing to highlight his anger.
“If you don’t mind, my sister-”
“Is perfectly fine,” the Shiekah finished, giving a dismissive wave, “her message was for the benefit of a mutual friend, who also is in no danger,” he quickly finished, obviously seeing a second protest forming on Toran face. For his part, Toran was beginning to grow slightly uneasy about the Shiekah riding with him. Something was definitely not right about his whole demeanor… he had only ever known one Shiekah this un-Shiekah like, and she ended up being Hylian after all.
Then he remember the time Zelda had been asking Impa how the empire should best deal with a certain house, no, clan, or faction, however it was the Shiekah divided themselves… he could not remember all the details, at the time it had apparently been purely a diplomatic affair and ergo Zelda’s domain… something called the Rebel Shiekah… It had to do with disputes about Royal House succession, but that was all he knew…
By now they were at the cave entrance and Toran divorced the thoughts from his mind long enough to take in the old, yet familiar, view of hideout entrance. It seemed as though some had gone through the trouble of recreating the fake bush and rock door that had hidden the entrance for his old team. In fact, it was close enough to be nearly identical. Holding a hand to his forehead in a vain attempt to keep the pouring rain out of his eyes, Toran surveyed the entrance. It was uncanny… a perfect likeness.
His companion had dismounted and was walking towards the cave, so Toran followed suit. He would be wary of his new “friend,” but concern was beginning to outweigh that. If this person did mean him harm, then he had to have gotten Jistine’s necklace by an equally nefarious ploy. He needed more information. Drawing his katana, Toran stepped in the door.
The small, round room looked the same as ever. Table in the center, lone flickering candle on it illuminating the room, domed rock ceiling… as though he had just stepped into his mind, burying himself into his memories. Stepping into the room, Toran laid his hand on the wooden table and closed his eyes, feeling a surge of past dreams flood over him.
“I told you it was a warp point…”
Toran whirled at the sound, katana whipping out. The blade stopped just shy of slicing the Shiekah’s throat, actually resting against his Adam’s Apple… or rather where his Adam’s Apple SHOULD have been. Wait a second…
Toran started, looking up and down his companion. “He” was leaning back against the door, smirking, arms crossed over chest, one hip tossed slightly to the side. Now that Toran had a closer look in better light, he noticed the short Shiekah’s legs had been slightly proportionally longer than he had at first thought. The figure was slightly shapelier as well… either he spent a massively disproportionate amount of time working on lower body and pectorals, or he was, in fact…
Toran’s eyes quickly raised to the face. It had changed ever so slightly, to a degree that Toran couldn’t even name what exactly was the difference. Parts were sharper, shades were thinner, the nose had altered slightly… nothing had changed drastically, but the entire thing was completely different. One of the thin yellow eyebrows arched, as the other narrowed, red eyes perfectly matching the smirk pulling at the thin lips.
How had he not seen it before?
“Shiek?” Toran lowered his sword, but kept it in front… what if were just another dream?
“Been too long since anyone’s call me that,” the giggle was like the tinkle of a fairy’s wings, “but I see we’re not fully convinced? Go ahead, ask me something only Shiek would know…”
“When did we first-”
“Night after Malon’s 18th birthday, we had spent the day riding all over the plains with her and Link… we snuck back into the palace, and I wouldn’t let you say goodbye.”
“How did you know I was going to ask-” Toran began, head cocking to one side.
“Toran, I’m your wife…” a smile pulled at her lips as the arms uncrossed and her hands moved to her hips, “plus, you only ever think about one thing anyway…”
Normally Toran might have argued the point, but at that moment he was more interested in the woman before him. He opened his mouth to ask how she had arranged this, but the words never came; he was too preoccupied with the fact that the woman in question had stepped in and grabbed the sides of his head, pulling him into a kiss. Toran was fairly certain he had just lost control of fine-motor skills, and the sound of his katana ringing as it fell to the floor confirmed the theory. Of course, he almost missed the metallic clatter under the pounding, rushing sound that was now dominating his ears. His hands slipped slowly around Zelda’s waist, pulling her tighter as she continued to push up to his mouth. Zelda had let her hands slip down around Toran’s neck. After a few seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Toran pulled back to take in a breath. Giving a sigh, the blond head slipped into the crook between his chin and shoulder, her arms slipping from around his neck to push under his arms and around his sides, until her fingers were massaging at the tunic on his shoulder blades. Her hair ticked slightly, but Toran really didn’t mind at all.
“Sorry to trick you like that, but I thought we should both get away for a bit,” the queen murmured, obviously enjoying the hug Toran had her in.
“What do you mean?” Toran asked, letting the fingers of his hand begin to play with the end of Zelda’s long, yellow braid.
“Well, look at you… you got all dressed up in adventuring gear and strapped on your katana and set out yourself, when you could have just as easily donned armor, your crown and two paladins to fight for you… you’re itching to do something as Toran the swordsman, not Lord Toran, don’t think I don’t know it!”
She had him there… He had enjoyed even just riding about that he had even forgotten to worry about his supposedly endangered sister. Which brought up the question about the necklace… Wife or no, Zelda wasn’t supposed to have it any more than some random Shiekah. However, she only laughed and laid her head back on his shoulder when he asked.
“Jistine gave it to be because we were both afraid we were losing you… she wanted us to have this time as much, maybe even more, than I did. She’s your sister, Toran, and has been my best friend since before I met you for the first or second time… she saw the situation as an emergency ‘ever so much greater than life itself’,” Zelda ended with a very fair rendition of Jistine’s Akinda accent. Toran chuckled, and gave his wife a little squeeze.
“Watch it, she’s my sister you know…”
Zelda forced Toran to take a seat at the table, then moved over to the food chest near the wall of the round room. She returned, setting a small plate of dried figs and a sliced apple in front of him, then sat down in the room’s other chair and proceeded to give him her plan for the upcoming “adventure.” Apparently, she had already informed Impa of the proceedings. The Shiekah Elder had, of course, expressed concern over the safety of her ward and step-daughter, but it was hard to argue that anything in Hyrule was more likely to be dangerous than what she had already survived. Ainee would be “severing” the royal couple, sick in bed, for the next two days, and Impa would, with official written permission from Zelda, be handling emergency affairs. She was not only wise, but widely respected and trusted, so everything should proceed smoothly.
“As for US,” Zelda concluded, taking a bite of apple slice, “tomorrow, we’ll be heading south. The palace gets about two hundred letters a day by way of suits of injustice I am supposed to look over. Normally the Legal Guild deals with them, but I selected one about a hostile ranch take over for you and I to go settle personally. We’ll just check it out, and if the rancher really has suffered an injustice, will have fun righting it. If not, then we can move on to the next one I picked out… We’ll be in disguise and do it all ‘wandering adventurer’ style.”
“Still trying to keep the Saga of Shiek going, eh?” Toran laughed, picking up the last fig before Zelda got a chance.
“You got it!” she replied, standing, “and I’ll be using magic to alter your looks as well, Toran… I figured black hair and sapphire eyes will do the trick…”
“Just so long as I don’t have to change genders as well…” he ribbed back. Zelda laughed hard at this, harder than Toran had heard in nearly a year. The sound was worth more than all the rupees in Hyrule to him. Leaning forward, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“It sounds WONDERFUL Zel, thank you so much for bringing me out here…”
“Well, I didn’t marry you for money you goof… I love you, and this kind of thing was what first got us together.”
“Well, that covers the next two days,” Toran said, smiling as he brushed back some lose strands of hair from Zelda face, “but we have a bit until dawn…” he left the question unstated, merely raising his eyebrows.
“When I said this place was a Warp Point, I was stretching the truth slightly,” Zelda said, raising and taking his hand, “I wanted it to Warp us through time… to those lost years… I can’t REALLY do it of course, but I had the place set up as close as I could make out. My old room is the same,” she explained, pointing towards a door at the far side of the room, “I’ll be honest, over those long seven years there was more than one night I dreamed of you joining me in there…”
“There were a hell of a lot more time I actually wanted to,” Toran replied, smirking. He knew in reality he hadn’t viewed Shiek in that way until near the end of their time together, but for tonight that was trivial…
“Well, I’m going into my bed… and THIS time I have a husband who can hopefully keep me from needing to dream… come on in whenever!”
With this, Zelda entered her room, letting the door close. Toran heard her humming the familiar tune of the lullaby Impa used to sing her, just like she had done every night since he had first met the skinny, tomboyish princess that would become his very heart and soul. Looking around the round room once, Toran remember all his friends one more time. Hyrule was a land built from courage, adventure, and nobility… what better way for its ruler to relax than this? No wonder Zel was the Sage of Wisdom…
Giving a contented sigh, Toran grabbed the handle of Shiek’s room…
posted by Czar at 3:38 PM
1 Comments:
I likee very much. *grin* I had a feeling it was her, but I like the fact that you never give the reader quite enough credence to believe right until the end. Certainly maintains the spirit of the original story. Makes me want to go back and read it again! In fact.... :)
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