World Tree MUSH

  In some ways, the Kingdom of Hyrule isn't so very different from other lands of ages past. Over its northwestern borders, the terrain shifts to more of an alpine climate; the further north one goes, the higher it ascends, and the colder and harsher the environment becomes.Spring comes slowly to this forgotten corner of the world. Alpine meadows bloom in a riot of colours, but there's still a bite in the brisk wind.

  Nestled in a hollow between mountains is Snowpeak Garrison. Once a ruin, the past months have seen it rebuilt from the ground up. It's the only point of interest for leagues. Roads lead to and from the garrison; they look only recently reclaimed from nature, and they certainly haven't been trod by any garrison. No soldiers' boots, these. Curious.

  There are Vines, too, but they're small and tenuous things. They're just enough to get around.

  Today, the princess is... not in this castle. Or any other castle, for that matter. She'd left a note, taken her bow, quiver, and a few sacks and baskets, and headed into the meadows. It's there she can be found today, gathering herbs and other useful things that she doubtless has some kind of plan on using. It's not very regal, but then again, it isn't like she needs to worry about decorum. She's a sovereign without a kingdom -- evidenced by the smoke-shrouded citadel far, far below on the distant plains to the southeast. Something is very wrong with that tiny castle in the distance.

  Currently the princess is... not in the meadow. Rather, she's above it. She's managed to climb up into a tree, and she's up at the top of it, shielding an eye and looking far to the southeast where the castle lies. Her baskets lie at the base of the tree, tucked full of various and sundry mountain herbs.

  She looks pretty unassuming, to the untrained eye -- average height, the slim but athletic build of a runner, plain chestnut-coloured hair braided simply but elegantly. Notably, her ears are long and tapered to a point. An elf of some kind?

  To the trained eye, and the supernaturally sensitive, this is not a normal person. She exudes divinity; positively /radiates/ it to the appropriately sensitive.

  Most curious.

    "Are you hunting?" Comes a voice from beside Zelda with very little warning or pre-amble. There's a slight shimmer in the air as the form of Merlin materializes directly next to the tree-perched princess. He is still wearing his robes, as per usual. His staff is strapped across his back, however, rather than held in his hands. 

    "Ah. But I do suppose that is a silly question. It is the nature of humans to hunt. To seek. To quest. I suppose the wiser thing for me to ask would be 'What are you hunting?', wouldn't it?" The iridescent-haired wizard pulls back his hood and gently scratches the underside of his chin, "You could be hunting meat, like a rabbit or a stag. A show of dominance over the primal force of nature to ensure your survival. But then again, the act of hunting could simply be symbolic. And perhaps you are hunting for answers. A way to busy your hands and free your mind in a rote task to allow you to reflect upon something you seek?" 

    "See, that is the fascinating thing about your kind." Merlin points out, wagging a finger at Zelda as he idly lectures her upon first appearance, "Not everything you do is what you want to do. Or mean to do. Sometimes you do one thing so you can accomplish another. It is what separates humanity from the beasts. Steps. Procedures. Symbolism. If a wolf hurts, it licks its wound. If a human hurts, it may seek to hurt another so it can feel better." 

    "Haha," Merlin laughs slightly, an almost musical gesture that seems fae and mysterious in its tonality, "But I am going on and on. Do tell me, how are you today?"

Link makes a habit of not letting Zelda get away from the manor without an escort, and frequently doesn't make any effort to make her aware that in fact she has an escort. There is no need for him to be too close at hand; he can move like lightning in this form, and smell her from a league away. Or near enough, more so if she has actually been injured in some way or another.

He's lazing about in a convenient ray of sunshine a ways off when somebody turns up unexpectedly. The smell of it is strange, not really having a continuity with the surroundings against it. Which is bad news. Only witchy things just appear out of nowhere, and most witchy things about aren't good.

With a heavy sigh lamenting the need to abandon his sunny spot, the Sacred Beast rises and creeps towards the tree that Zelda has climbed and the stranger that appeared within it.

He pauses a little ways off, once he begins hearing the voices clearly.

It's just some rambling weirdo.

Rambling weirdo witchy people usually aren't trouble, Link reasons with himself, so either he has a problem that needs resolving or he's just going to hang around and be mysterious for a while.

The Sacred Beast barks once to alert Zelda to its presence, meandering forward at a lazy pace until he's broadly within sight of Zelda's Tree.

    He's not expecting trouble around Snowpeak, not right now and not in a way that he'd need to be fully armed and armored, so Cecil is looking rather more pleasant and less threatening these days. Wearing his chain shirt and carrying sword, yes, but not fully decked out. He's here to /relax/ actually, so Merlin showing up is throwing a wrench into that.

    "Who are you?" The first thing out of his mouth. Since Merlin seems to ramble rather than leap to the attack, Cecil isn't going to go after him right away either. He does put his hand on the hilt of his sword... but it's more of a precautionary measure, letting the stranger know that there's protection.

  The young woman studies the castle in grave silence, broken only by her measured breathing. She has an elbow slung around the thinning trunk and an arm around another branch, bow over her shoulder and quiver at her waist. Her expression is one of quiet intensity. Whatever her thoughts are, they are still, and focused wholly on that landmark in the distance.

  And then
    suddenly
        there is a face.

  The young woman issues a completely un-princessly shriek at about the same time the wolf below barks. Branches and needles fall as she abruptly drops, losing a few branches' worth of height before she catches herself with a grunt, mostly by bruising her shoulder on a bough. She's quick to scramble back up -- respectably agile -- before resuming her vantage point.

  Zelda swivels her head and stares, owlishly, at the stranger; her expression is some kind of uncertain mix of anger, confusion, and wariness.

  "My pardon, but who are you, exactly...?" Her speech is clipped and angry, but her words are clear and well-pronounced; no commoner, this. "And do you make a regular habit of appearing beside trees and scaring folk half out of their wits?"

  The gravity of her speech is momentarily ruined as she plucks pine needles from her hair, flicking them aside.

  "'My kind.' Who are you to pass such judgements? You do not even look Hylian. Certainly not, with such... is that magic?" She gestures, nebulously, as though to indicate his suspiciously sudden appearance. "Who, or perhaps rather what, are you...? Know that if you come here to raise trouble... well."

  Zelda gestures to both Link and Cecil below, with an irritated flick of her hand. "And I am not without my own defenses." Her warning doesn't sound as confident as it probably should be.

    "Aha ha ha. Hylian? Is that what humans are called on this world. I see, I see. Most interesting." Merlin seems hardly phased by the shriek, by the angry accusations. The smile never so much as flickers from his face as he curls a hand under his chin and looks down at the princess below on a lower branch. 

    "Hm. So many people asking that question. 'Who am I?'. That is so common-place. But I will answer it. I am many things. I am known as the Kingmaker. I am known as the Prophet of Uther! The Magus of Flowers! The child born beyond humanity! The Wizard! The Vagrant in the Tower." He stands up on the branch and flourishes before bowing, "I am Merlin. A pleasure to meet you, your Highness. I do not make it a regular habit to simply appear. Only to individuals with your particular affliction." 

    He smiles a bit to her, "Nice wolf, by the way. I have one of my own. Or is he a cat? Neither or perhaps both?" Merlin reaches into the sleeve of his robes and his arm emerges holding a wolf by the scruff, blue and white in fur color. He stares at it, "Cath. Are you a wolf or a feline?" The creature lets out a slight howling noise. Merlin nods and puts it back into his sleeve a moment later, "He says he's a cat." 

    "Ah ha ha! THAT is the correct question!" Merlin snaps his fingers and points down at Zelda. He wags his finger at her some more and grins, "Good good good! Smart woman. WHAT am I is the far more interesting answer!" He twirls around on the branch, flourishing his robe, "I am The Advisor. The Fortune Teller. The Confidant. The Vizier." He smiles a bit, "I am that which the great kings secretly attribute their success to and the weak kings wish they had. I am, quite simply, The King's Advisor. Not your king, in particular, no no. All good kings. All just rulers. All interesting leaders." He grins at her, "Which means you have one more burning question about my presence. You may not realize it yet, but you will soon." 

    Merlin hops down out of the tree and lands on the ground as softly as a flower petal touching the earth from a spring breeze, "Fret not, I mean you no ill or harm. I would not act such the fool were I hear for more than good times and merriment."

The Sacred Beast barks when Zelda asks whether or not what Merlin is doing is magic. He doesn't actually /know/, but the more Merlin talks the more sure he is. Only witchy weirdos act like this, and it follows that witchy weirdos do magic. It's probably fortunate that his communication is presently limited, because otherwise he'd be filling up Zelda's ear with this nonsense.

Put at ease by the confirmation of his assumptions, Link merely sits and wags his tail idly. He glances towards Cecil, then back towards Merlin and the... thing... he produced. Whining vaguely at the communication that occurs between them, he too tries to figure out exactly what it is.

<< "I don't reckon you look like a wolf -or- a feline." >> Link says to Cath, because can actually talk to animals just fine, << "Look like some kinda mutt. Mind you, so do I. These fancy markin's are silly as they get." >>

<< "Is he always like this?" >> Link asks, jerking his head towards Merlin.

    Cecil stares for a moment at the creature. Such strange things. He sighs at the strange advisor, because now he is wary. After all, his own king had been good, and then turned bad. So who is to say it wasn't Merlin's doing? This calls for some of his rare SUSPICION to come into play!

    "I am not certain that one can simply appear and claim to advise," Cecil points out. "Aside from that, I am not certain what you mean by this 'kind' either." He's not going to move against Merlin unless Zelda requests it though. Starting a fight here seems like it would be... kind of unpleasant?

  Those summer-blue eyes linger on the magus for several long moments, listening as much to the inflection and tone of his words as the words themselves. She is silent again, still as the deer before its leap, radiating a quiet tension in spite of her outward calm.

  Zelda's gaze flickers between the magician in the tree to her companions on the ground. She says nothing, but the gesture is one of clear unease and uncertainty, as though gauging how quickly either of the two down there could come to her aid. Could she jump if she had to? Maybe, but she would break every bone in her body in so doing...

  My, my. This one is frightfully cautious. Wary as a deer, she is.

  It's a troubling situation, though. Who and what is this bizarre stranger who can simply appear, fifty feet up in a tree, as though it were strolling through a doorway? More accurately, would Zant have allied himself with such a capricious, and maybe slightly arrogant, soul? The two would have tried to kill each other, she reasons, so surely he isn't an agent of the usurper king. She may be safe from that quarter, but there's still no telling what this man's goals are.

  Your Highness, he calls her, and the blood drains from her face. The effect is stark and also more telling than any of her answers could be. For a fleeting instant her face is pale as chalk, pupils mere pinpricks in summer-sky blue. It seems Merlin has struck a nerve -- of some kind.

  Nice wolf, the magician states, hurrying right along in the conversation. "He isn't mine," she protests a little weakly, but Merlin is already on to his impressively long line of titles.

  They might be impressive if they had any meaning at all to her. Instead, she considers as she tries to recover her composure. So, this is some kind of advisor, to royals, but that still begs the question... how does he know?

  "No. I fear you have come up the wrong tree, 'Kingmaker,' literally as much as figuratively. I am no princess, and this is no more than a land shattered and out of balance. There are no kings, here; none save usurpers." Her voice dips just a fraction; just a hint of venom, before she recovers herself. "Hyrule is a broken land. A dangerous land. It will be made whole again, but for now, the roads are not safe."

  Branches rustle down the tree as Zelda pauses to swing over the edge of a branch, gauging the distance to the ground. She kicks off and lands in a neat crouch, wincing a little at the bone-jarring impact. Just a little too far. "There are not even any villages or settlements near this place. I suppose there is little point in asking what you are, as you have still said much without answering my question." She turns, and somewhere in the motion the bow has come to her hand and an arrow to its string. She does not draw, though, and the arrowhead is trained on the ground. She watches the Wizard like a quietly nervous hawk whose nest has been encroached upon. She manages a brief glance at Cecil; a flutter of relief, as though sensing his willingness to step up and defend. "I will instead issue you something easier: Why have you come here?"

    "Why am I here? The final question in the trifecta! I have come to offer you guidance about the curse you have fallen under. I happen to have experience with it," Merlin says, pacing around a bit and looking at the scenery as he talks. The negativity of Princess Zelda seems to hardly phase him as he looks around, taking in the sights, "The curse, that is, of you being Chosen." 

    Merlin spins around again and then sits down on a fallen-over tree, crossing one leg over the other and resting his elbows on his thighs as he looks at her, "You say this land has no kings. You say this land is in ruin. I can hear it in your voice, the desire to change that. The desire to make this land whole again." He smiles a bit wider, "I am many things, but I am not deaf, nor am I blind. In fact, I possess sight beyond sight." He snaps his fingers and a flower appears in his hand. He tosses it towards her. It is a carnation, and completely harmless, if nice-smelling. 

    "The way you speak of this land, it is not hard to tell you intend to be the one to heal it. The bitterness in your voice at seeing your home in such a state would be obvious even if I were deaf." He leans back a bit, "I encountered someone like you. She was idealistic, hopeful, and willing to do anything to see the people of her homeland safe. Much like you, she had a curse. That curse is one that humans, or Hylians, would call Responsibility. Duty." 

    Merlin shifts his gaze skyward, "That call in your heart, chosen by some force beyond your ken. Called to a great task. That is your curse, young lady." Merlin shifts his gaze back down towards her, "And you can deny it all you like, but I am the Kingmaker. I can sense where Kings will be made." Merlin rests his hands on his knees. 

    As for Link... Cath sticks his head out of Merlin's sleeve a moment later, <<"Not always. He does not get to leave his Tower much.">>

Cath: https://i.imgur.com/1MF2P9I.png 

    Merlin shifts his head towards Cecil a moment later and then says, "Her kind. Your kind. Humans. Mortal humans. That's what I mean. They live such interesting lives."

While everything else is going on, the Sacred Beast is giving Cath an incredibly odd look. Whatever the other creature communicated a moment ago was apparently odd, even by his standards.

He answers the exchange between Zelda and Merlin concerning his ownership with an annoyed whine. Link is used to being claimed by somebody or another; Zelda hasn't done so, but certainly fate seems inclined to wedge them together, and Midna... Midna is Midna.

Link is quite certain that Midna asserts authority over anybody who will just Deal With It, which he realizes only in retrospect maybe he ought not to have done. But there's nothing to be done about it now-- and it's funny, in a way, regardless.

The normal enough response that meets his ears a heartbeat later prompts a softening of expression, and a firm nod.

<< "Folks like him, they tend to be a bit odd. I'm travelin' with -her- because I've gotta rescue some people, and I guess that happens to run parallel-like to savin' the Kingdom. Not that I don't want to save the Kingdom, but it ain't what I planned when I took up my sword." >>

<< "Anyhow... I'm Link. Did he call you Cath? I s'pose it's nice to meet ya." >>

<< "Interestin' title ya got there." >> He pauses, fixing the sleeve-wolf-cat-thing with a very serious look.

<< "How d'you feel about it? Havin' all that on your head." >>

Link looks towards Zelda, and nods at her to indicate his ease with the situation. He's not sure it'll help, but he figures it's worth doing anyway.

    Cecil, for his part, is still pretty tense. He's not sure how to cope with this situation either, and it makes him uneasy. "Mortal humans. I'm not sure I like how you're lumping everyone in like that." He looks at Link, probably expecting to find some solidarity in this situation with the other warrior-type... but of course can't speak directly.

    Link's nod isn't missed though, and that makes him relax slightly. The hand leaves his sword as Cecil realizes he probably won't need to figure out a way to get there and fight. "Cecil Harvey."

  The young woman opens her mouth to protest that she isn't the curse-bearer, but Merlin clarifies before she has the opportunity. Those summer-blue eyes linger on the magician somewhat warily as he explains himself. At least her arrow seems to remain pointed firmly at the ground, so she isn't going to shoot him.

  Probably.

  ...Maybe.

  "Of course I do." Zelda's voice softens. "This land is my home. Who wishes to see their home broken? Hyrule Castle is rubble; the central government is broken. Roads and settlements are no doubt falling to /ruin/ while that /coward/ sits the throne--"

  The princess pauses briefly, breathing hard in her undisguised anger, and takes a moment to collect her composure. She shifts her weight, returning the arrow to its quiver and slinging the bow over her shoulder. "Of course I do. Because it is my responsibility to restore this land. After all, it was through my actions that Hyrule was put into its current state. I could not walk away."

  She tilts her head, regarding Merlin through hard eyes and a faint, bitter half-smile. "It is not a curse, 'Kingmaker.' It is the will of the Goddesses, as it has been since time out of mind."

  "But you are wrong. I am no king," she insists, shaking her head slowly. "It is my responsibility to restore this land, but I am unworthy of Hyrule's crown of leaves. I will pass it on to one more worthy when the curse of the Twilight has been lifted, and the usurper /removed/ from m--from the throne." She covers her slip neatly. "This land is protected by the gods. He will understand his mistake soon enough."

  Zelda's smile is bitter. "A hero will rise to right Hyrule's wrongs... but he cannot rise as he is now, and I am no hero, either."

  She glances back to Cecil, then Link; her eyes flick back to Merlin, finally, lips thinning. "I must agree with Sir Cecil, in that. You do not endear yourself to your chosen audience by condescending to them, Master Advisor."

  "I am, after all, a mortal like those whom you so thoughtlessly generalise." Zelda shakes her head again, shifting her weight and folding her arms. She seems more cautious than standoffish, though, studying Merlin curiously. "Are you offering your aid to Hyrule's cause, then?"

    "Looking down on you is not my intent. Quite the opposite, I find humanity to be fascinating. However, when it comes to my personal ability to connect to individual humans..." Merlin thinks for a few moments and then smiles a bit more sadly, "Perhaps that part is better left unsaid for the moment." 

    He looks between Cecil and Zelda before saying, "Whether you take my opinion on humanity as a whole to be an insult rests solely upon your shoulders." Merlin stands up again and dusts his robes off, "But rest assured, I do love you and your kind. I have since time immemorial." 

    Cath Balwg looks at Link for a long few moments and lets out a few fox-like yipping noises, <<"Cath Balwg. That's what he calls me. I had a different name, but I don't like it. As for him, you don't have to explain his ways to me. I've been his Familiar for over fifteen hundred years, when we first met." The creature seems to think about the final part of the question Link asked it, <"I have never had much time to think on it. It's my purpose. It is why the Common Sense of Humanity brought me into being. It would be like asking you how you feel about the responsibility of breathing being on your shoulders."> 

    Merlin keeps his gaze affixed upon Zelda as he spreads his arms a bit, "Whether it is a curse or not remains to be seen. But you do so remind me of Arthur. And the warning I gave him is one I will give you. In pursuing this quest, you will give up your right to call yourself 'Human'. To unite a Kingdom under a banner, to fix the evil in the hearts of men and slay monsters, one must discard humanity and become symbol." Merlin says with a serious look as he watches her, "Because men do not want men to lead them. Men want to be ruled by perfect idols. Symbols beyond reproach. This is how it has been since time began. Just keep that in mind." 

    Merlin adjusts his stance, "Offering my aid to Hyrule's cause? I do not know if I would call it that. Your world has something interesting going on, but it is not my specific concern." He considers it, "No. My offer of aid is to YOU. If ever you find your mantle too heavy, your thoughts too taxing, I urge you to consider talking to the Flowers that will grow in this field soon. You may find yourself with counsel." 

    As Merlin says this, he lifts his staff up and tamps the ground down a few times before a circle beneath him about a yard in radius appears to flicker for a few moments.

If there was a need to fight, then Link would fight. But this didn't smell that way to him, setting aside the oddity of it. The Twilight did not pool around this soul, nor was his appearance out of the ordinary. Except for the obvious standout features-- nobody could say that this Kingmaker wasn't good-looking, after all. But that wasn't really the point. There were beautiful things in the Twilight, too.

He heaves a heavy sigh to indicate his overall disposition, and sags back down onto the ground. The Sacred Beast misses his sunny spot, a little bit.

It isn't until Zelda starts talking about surrendering the throne that the wolf picks his head up again, and just... starts barking. Through every word. It isn't until she's done talking about the throne that he shuts up, though he is momentarily poised to do so when Zelda shifts from talking about the throne to the land being protected.

The Sacred Beast watches her carefully for several long moments, then rests his head on the ground again once he's certain she's out of what he would consider bad ideas.

<< "Well..." >>

<< "I was just wonderin' because I was born to do somethin' in particular too. But I reckon you don't think like I do, and I get what yer sayin'. Still-- pleased to meet ya, Cath Balwg." >>

<< "Fifteen hundred years is a long time." >> He remarks, lookin up towards Merlin as he speaks to Zelda, << "You been doin' this sorta thing the whole stretch?" >>

    Cecil shrugs, grudgingly accepting that argument for now. "I have my own King, and I am wary of those that claim to advise." Only recently now, of course. "But if you are here to help then I suppose I cannot stand in your way. It is up to the Lady there to decide on if she should take your counsel."

    More quietly, to Link, "He seems an odd fellow, but I have met some strange ones."

  "If you're going to interrupt me so rudely, find a more constructive way to do it," Zelda snaps at the barking wolf, crossly. She waits long enough to confirm that he isn't going to keep doing that before she continues.

  That done, Zelda turns back to face Merlin.

  "Very well. I will lay the matter aside. It is incidental, in any case, and has little bearing on the matter at hand." The Hylian studies Merlin through lidded eyes, chestnut lashes hiding the blue. "I do not care what you think of me, or my travelling companions."

  Merlin comments on the nature of uniting kingdoms, or the universal truth of men looking toward a symbol to rule them. She almost seems like she's going to comment for a moment, and the corner of her mouth twitches.

  And then, Princess Zelda throws her head back and laughs. It's a bright, silvery sound of unrestrained mirth. It might be pretty if it weren't so incongruous with the tense situation. Whatever it is that's so funny, she doesn't elabourate, but there's no denying that it's genuine.

  "I cannot say that I trust you, but hypothetically, what will it cost me to accept your guidance, O Vagrant of the Tower?" Zelda regards Merlin with a cool, calculating stare, and a half-smile that seems almost bitter. "It is true that I could solve Hyrule's problems alone, and I am confident in my ability to do exactly that. However, it would cost me time that I cannot at present afford. I will consider your offer -- depending upon what you name as your price."

    "My price? My payment is simply the ability to watch humanity play out another one of its wonderful stories. Your cost for my services rendered is simply allowing me to stand witness to your journey, whether you succeed or you fail." Merlin lifts his hand up a bit, the one not gripping his staff, facing it palm up before closing it dramatically. 

    "I am a bit beyond a need for the material. And I do not trifle in things such as souls or blood." Merlin shakes his head with a laugh, "It is those beautiful stories that mankind weaves using that free will it possesses that I wish to see. Consider that payment to me if you wish to seek my advice on matters which vex you." 

    Cath Balwg watches Link with the bored look of a cat somehow plastered on the face of a dog, <"With him, yeah. Before that, I mostly killed humans."> It says this to Link in a matter-of-fact way, <"He changed things."> It spares a sideways glance and looks up at Merlin. 

    Upon being prompted and looked at, Merlin smiles down at the animal, "This is the most talkative I have seen you in some time, Cath. You had quite the conversation." And then he looks back towards Zelda, "Regardless, think upon the offer. I will depart for now and leave you to reflect on it."

The Sacred Beast stands up, picks a bare patch of dirt nearby, and begins to scratch at it in answer to Zelda's response. It's a slow-going process, because his claws really aren't meant for writing and he wasn't a good writer to begin with. He solves the problem a little by just making his letters huge and rough, assuming that Zelda will be able to read the childish nonsense he writes just fine.

If somebody

Scratch Scratch.

    Scratch Scratch

Scratch

    Scratch

more fit

Skritch skritch scratch

existed then

Scratch Skritch Skritch

would be no crisis

Link sits next to his scratchscribbles and barks once at Zelda to call her attention to it. He nods vigorously towards Cecil, and jerks his head in the direction of the creature riding in Merlin's sleeve.

Naturally, Cath speaks up and Link's expression goes all screwy again. He tilts his head to one side, << "That's a hefty change, Cath." >>

Link looks back up at Merlin, one ear cocked slightly. This is...

Weird.

    "That... is a true statement, Link." Cecil murmurs, watching what the wolf writes out. He steps back, to add his own thoughts as he peers up at the mage and the princess, frowning in thought.

    "We have only what we can muster, and I fear that with the Tree and its Vines, our already large problems become more complex." He sighs. "That and... Hyrule's enemies may also be gathering power."

  The princess doesn't answer for a few long moments. She only studies the magician in silence, as though she were giving his offer due consideration. Privately, though, she can't help but wonder. He's strange. There's no two roads about it. Not all foreigners are so strange, and Cecil would fit right in among the Hyrulean Royal Guard, but this man is definitely strange.

  "My will is not as free as you think that it is," Zelda affords, but she does grant him a polite inclination of her head. It's too abbreviated to be a bow. "Still, if that is all you ask, it will do no harm to think on it. I should hope that I will succeed, but only time will yield that answer."

  Her eyes flick briefly between Cath Balwg and Link, but she offers no comment on the animals' conversation, but Merlin's parting shot snaps her gaze back to the magician.

  At least, until a scratching sound draws her attention. She watches as words form beneath the claws of the Sacred Beast. They're crude, yes, and even a child would have better handwriting, but he's doing the best he can with what he's got. It's not a completely terrible effort. The glyphs themselves are mostly legible.

  Mostly. Zelda has to squint at a few of them to be sure of their meaning, and once she's read the pieces put together, her eyes narrow slightly. She doesn't grace his written statement with an answer.

  The princess turns on her heel and stalks back in the direction she'd come from. She offers no farewells or summons to her travelling companions -- they're free to go or stay as they please. Merlin is Merlin; doubtless he needs no second farewell, and he's probably gone by this point anyway.

  "They are."

  The statement is meant for Cecil, but the princess doesn't clarify which piece of it she's spoken in answer to.

  Both, probably.

  Soon enough she's back to the paths, and on her way toward the garrison, silent. Merlin's offer is an interesting one, and she'll have to think it over most carefully. Something in the back of her mind is tickling her sense of danger. It may take some time to suss out exactly what it is... he's a bit strange even by the sometimes-flexible standards of Hyrule.