World Tree MUSH

  It's a snowy night over the mountains of Snowpeak. Wind whistles through the crags, and snow flurries are thrown across the crumbled battlements. A frightful night for anyone, but the inside of the library is toasty warm.

  In fact, that's where the Princess of Hyrule can be found, curled up on one of the non-wrecked chairs with a book and a cup of tea. Every so often she leafs through another page, absorbed with her reading.

  There might be others here. There might not be. Zelda hasn't noticed the comings and goings of their little party for at least an hour or two, although she's responsible enough to listen for anything that's actually abnormal.

    It's the kind of rough night on Snowpeak where Yumi would just as soon stay home, if she didn't have business. Important business, at that. If it were something like a present or a small chat, she wouldn't bother in this weather. But no, it's something weighing heavily enough on the girl that she's willing to bundle up, fight the weather, and make her way up to Snowpeak.

    The door to the library opens with a smooth creak, and when Yumi steps in, it's obvious she's braved the snowstorm just to be here. Even though she's dusted the worst of it off just inside the entrance, the poor girl's heavy snowclothes still show signs of having been blasted with the stuff. Nevertheless, the first thing she does before even peeling out of those is to look around - until she spots Zelda. "Oh, hey. you're awake. I was wondering if you'd turned in for the night yet."

  "Hm?" The Hylian snaps the book shut in her hand, frowning a little at the resulting cloud of dust. "Oh. Tachibana Yumi. No, I haven't, not yet. Is--"

  "Merciful Hylia, did you come up the mountain in that storm? Your clothing's covered in snow." Zelda's already clambering out of her chair, steering Yumi towards the hearth, and it looks like she's in full Mother Hen mode. "Come, come. Get in front of the hearth. I'll put some tea on."

  It takes a little effort, but she manages to strong-arm the iron kettle over the fire, glancing back in mild alarm. "What's brought you all the way up here, Tachibana Yumi? Are you alright...?"

    "-ah, wait, hang on, hang on-" Yumi is still in the process of shedding the outer layer of her winter clohtes - she really does bundle up to get up here, especially with the rougher weather. Once she's got the jacket and pants off, there's much less of a snow issue, and she's still got a couple layers of warm clothing underneath /that/. Nevertheless, she'll be thankful for the spot by the fire.

    For now, anyway. With the extra layers of clothes, she might have to shed another one soon.

    "Well, alright, to answer your question..." And now that she's actually at the topic she came up here for, Yumi falters. "I, ah... a couple of days ago, Rydia and I went out to Kiyohime's world to help again. This time, there was some kind of... weird magical disaster thing. It was twisting reality and summoning these strange beetles. And..." One hand goes up to the back of her head, brushing anxiously through orange hair. "...I sensed it. I don't mean with my eyes or my ears, or feeling reality move around me. I mean, I /sensed/ it."

  Zelda busies herself with preparing two cups of tea, and it doesn't take her very long. Neither bitter nor sweet, it's just the thing to revitalise someone after a trek through the snow.

  Carefully offering Yumi a cup, the princess settles down on her haunches in front of the hearth, stirring at the coals to liven up the fire a little. The warmth is welcome even for her.

  "So. You sensed something." Zelda glances back, and there's an intensity in her regard that isn't usually there. Something is afoot. It smells like fate. She is well acquainted with that fickle force of nature... unfortunately. "Has this happened before? I assume not, but I'd still like to be sure."

    Yumi accepts her cup with two hands, pulling it near and taking a long, slow sip. Then, she settles back into her seat, staring into it, her own expression grown complicated, for lack of a better word. There's a lot of emotions there, some of them probably at odds. "No, never. I've been around plenty of magic before. Yours, Rydia's, a couple other people. I've even been to Kiyohime's world before. I've never..." She shakes her head. "Nothing like this. I'm not even sure how to describe it, I could just... I could sense how far away it was, about how strong it was. When we got there I didn't even notice, it was just kind of this nagging feeling in the back of my mind I wrote off as nerves."

  Staying where she is, Zelda prods at the coals with a poker, though she does glance back every so often to show she's still listening. She stares hood-eyed into the fire as the details are revealed.

  "An awakening," the princess intones, softly. "I can give you no details, Tachibana Yumi, and I am not precisely sure what it is that I can do for you, but I can tell you that it is... something like that, when I sense the darkness."

  "Yet my senses are purpose-driven. It may not be wise to compare them to whatever it is you feel." Still, Yumi came all the way up the mountain for a reason. Zelda makes a gesture with open hands, peaceable. "Tell me how I can help, Tachibana Yumi. Surely that is why you came here."

    Another drink of tea, then another. "If I've awakened to something, I wish someone would tell me what," Yumi muses, her tone a bit dry. "I didn't feel anything else while I was there. And Rydia definitely used magic." For a few seconds, she closes her eyes, then adds, "Nothing right now, though I guess that's expected." Nobody throwing anything around, after all. Her eyes open again, and she regards Zelda, contemplative.

    "...to be honest with you, I hadn't thought that far ahead. You're one of the bigger authorities on magic I know." Strictly speaking, she only knows like four, but still! "I guess I just kind of wanted to talk with you about it. Though if you have any advice on how to figure this out, I'd be glad for it."

  Apparently satisfied with the fire, Zelda backs up a few steps, settling on the chair nearest her and tucking her legs up beneath herself. It might look vaguely uncomfortable, but she seems to be just fine. Her teacup she cradles in her hands.

  "I don't think that I can." The Hylian's half-smile is sympathetic. "I'm sorry. I have no background information on your world, other than the fact that it is a very different place than my own. Very different indeed."

  She settles back in her chair, thoughtful as she sips at her own tea, letting the steam curl around her face. "I would hardly consider myself an authority, although it is true that the type of magic I wield is not one commonly seen in Hyrule."

  "There are reasons for that. My blood, and the Triforce." Zelda shrugs slightly. "But to compare the two is to compare apples and oranges. They are different, I suspect. Unless the goddesses have decided to grant you their blessing?" She sounds dubious. "You. Um. You don't happen to have a crest on the back of your right hand, do you...?"

    The tone of Zelda's last question is enough to get a giggle out of Yumi. "As nice as that would be, I'm afraid I haven't become some kind of champion, no." She holds up one hand illustratively, then shifts her teacup so she can hold up the other. Lowering the hand again, however, she turns to regard Zelda contemplatively. "I'm... I'm honestly starting to wonder if I'm actually from that world, though. There's not supposed to be any magic there, and there's no record of a Yumi Tachibana my age anywhere in Japan. There was one younger and two older, but they were accounted for." Her fingers curl around the cup slightly. "...and then on the other hand, there's..."

    Here, Yumi stalls out entirely. Her expression has almost immediately grown troubled over the topic she just stumbled into. Troubled, with just a hint of... animosity? There's one she doesn't show often.

  "Good." Zelda seems amused when Yumi demonstrates her lack of a crest. "Wisdom is discerning, and always cleaves to the blood of the Goddess. Power knows precisely what it seeks. Courage does not limit itself... but the Triforce would remain in Hyrule, I think."

  She sips at her tea, wrapping long fingers around the teacup. Those summer-blue eyes settle on Yumi, studying the girl. Something has her distraught, but she only has a partial story. "On the other hand...?" she prompts, gently.

    "Oh." Yumi hadn't realized she trailed off. She looks embarrassed for a second, but then that troubled expression returns. "I... it's hard to explain, and it's not something I like to even think about, much less talk about. But..." Another pause. "...Even now, I still don't remember anything about myself other than my name. But there's one other name I can remember since I woke up in January. Just the name. Sakamachi Mei. I don't know who she was or what she did, but whatever it was..." There's a soft frown. That's definitely a hint of animosity - it's a look that's rather alien on the girl's face. "...just thinking of her name makes me angry. Genuinely angry."

  "Hmm." Zelda tilts her head, regarding the girl. She doesn't seem terribly affected by the girl's show of temper, but files it away in silence. It isn't like Yumi to show animosity to anybody else. To see it now is symptomatic of something else.

  She has to wonder, though, how the girl knows to be angry at that name when she doesn't even know to whom that name is attached. Cradling her teacup, the Hylian doesn't look away, considering. Why is that?

  "Why?" She seems well aware of the lack of an answer, and the question seems more rhetorical than anything else. "Have you tried researching the name to see whom it belongs to? It seems strange you would know to be angry, but not why."

  Perhaps it's a clue to Yumi's past. Wouldn't that be something? "Perhaps your budding senses know that something dangerous belongs to that name." Zelda taps her fingers on the stoneware cup, considering. "A mystery to be unravelled."

  "If you were willing, I could ask the Author of Law... but I do not know that She would answer," she murmurs, thoughtfully. "You are not of Hyrule. Perhaps it might be worth the asking, though... it could do no harm to try."

    "She moved out of Natsuto a week after I woke up," Yumi replies, without skipping a beat. "The officer I'm living with, he checked. He technically shouldn't have, and because we have nothing directly tying her to my case, he couldn't dig up any more info. But she's about my age, and up until a week after I woke up in that crater, she and her family were living in Natsuto." Yumi takes a slow breath, trying to steady herself. Then she takes a drink of her tea. "That's all he could dig up. But that's... that's why I'm not sure. There's no evidence I ever existed there, but Mei definitely does. And now it turns out I've got some sort of supernatural sense. I'm even more confused."

  "Both knowledge and mysteries are the purview of Nayru, the Author of Law. It stands to reason that if there exists such a hole in the core of your very being, perhaps She might lend us Her wisdom," Zelda muses quietly. "Answers seem to be scarce, otherwise."

  Zelda taps her fingers on the stoneware cup, considering. "It sounds as though you may not be of that realm. Is that really such a bad thing, though? From what you have described, this would explain many things. It would be quite sensible that you have hidden abilities, and no records."

  "For what it may be worth, I do not think it matters from what realm you hail. I may be intimiately tied to Hyrule, but you are not so connected to any particular place, I think, or you would have some memory of it." The Hylian frowns, reaching up to brush a stray lock of hair from her eyes.

  She looks back to the fire, mulling over the details. It's vanishingly little information to go on, even if she were familiar with places like the world Yumi has been living in. The girl was right; magic is more her element, although in this case she has nothing with which to help.

  Zelda finally grimaces. "I am sorry. I can think of no way to help you, just now. I am at a loss, much as it pains me to admit it; unless you wish to return later and pray to the Author of Law for answers once more. I cannot promise She will answer, but it can do no harm to try."

    It's a good chance for Yumi to finish her tea; she does so in one last pull, then reaches down and sets the cup beside her chair for now. "It's alright. I'll just have to keep my eyes open for... anything, I guess. Any kind of clue." Up come her legs, drawn up onto the chair where she can wrap her arms around them; it's become her go-to 'feeling out-of-sorts or anxious' posture, it seems.

    "Even if you can't really offer anything, just having you here to listen helps. I think I just kind of needed to talk about it. I don't think I'd turn you down for petitioning the Author of Law, except..." There's an arched eyebrow. "It's not going to involve you overexerting yourself, isn't it?" She'd never have asked if she knew Zelda would be expending that much just for her to ask a few questions.

  "It sounds as though that is all you can do." Zelda shakes her head, draining the rest of her tea and setting the cup aside. She can rinse it out with snow later when the storm abates. Her blood may be proof against corruption, but it isn't proof against disease, and she'd rather not court the flu.

  The Hylian draws her knees up to her chest in a posture to mirror Yumi's, but it seems less out of consternation and more out of cold. There may be a fire in the hearth, but she always seems to be cold, here. What lunatic builds a manor on the windward side of a plateau over a deep valley between two peaks, anyway?

  "Then I am glad to offer that, at least." Zelda sighs, closing her eyes. Will petitioning the goddesses exhaust her? "Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. I have no way to know ahead of time, but that isn't any reason to hold back. For whatever it may be worth, I do not think that it will. I know what to ask, and how."

  Knowing is half the battle, it seems. The fact that she'll be calling on Nayru specifically is helpful. Calling on Hylia is draining. Her Grace's situation is a little less certain than that; Hylia is a goddess, and yet not a goddess, reduced to little more than a consciousness in the blood of Hyrule's queens -- distinct but part of them.

  It's complicated.

  "I would sooner do it and face the consequences afterward," Zelda admits, straightening and shaking her head. "Especially if it may help you to find your answers. No doubt most of it is merely strain. I will recover. Once we have begun our repairs, to start living more normally in the interim, I think that will help."

    Up the eyebrow goes. Up. This is Yumi's dubious face. "You... you bled out the corner of your mouth last time. Just a little, but that's still a bit more than I'd call just 'strain'." Her tone isn't terribly reproachful - more concerned than anything. "If you're fairly sure it won't be that bad this time, I'm willing, but only after you've had some time to rest and recover. If you keep straining yourself like this, you're gonna hurt yourself in a way that won't just heal with time." Lecture lecture, fuss fuss. "In the meanwhile, we can start getting materials and workers to fix this place up."

  "That had never happened before." Zelda shakes her head. "But I had never petitioned directly to Her Grace before, either, or called on the goddesses as I have in the months since the advent of the World Tree." The princess shrugs. "Perhaps I only need to grow into these abilities. Like stretching an ill-used muscle."

  Wrapping her arms around her knees, the Hylian eyes the fire. "In any case... no, I do not think it will have the same effect. I will also make an effort to gather my strength beforehand," she adds. Her eyes droop a little. "I know. Even so, at the same time... it is also necessary."

  It isn't like she has much in the way of constructive skills, otherwise. Petitioning the goddesses for guidance and wisdom was one of her duties before Hyrule's collapse. Now, though, it's more important than ever. In some ways their little group feels like a ship without a rudder, trapped on storm-tossed seas.

  Her eyes slide closed. "I'm sorry to worry you. But trust me. I know my limits. I'm still within those limits, even if it may not seem as such. It will help to better proof this place against the wind and weather. I can hardly recover my strength when I spend it all in keeping warm." She's looking forward to having a proper roof.

  It's the little things.

  "Was there anything else I could help you with, Tachibana Yumi?" A summer-blue eye flicks open, regarding the girl sympathetically, though there's nothing of condescension in the princess' regard. "I wish there were more I could do for you."

    It's one of those moments where Yumi carefully considers what she might say. Her eyes remain on the fire for the time being. When she does finally speak, it's in a softer tone. "I understand. We do need to free Hyrule, and the sooner the better. Just... remember that when the dust settles, they'll still need a ruler. So try not to push /too/ hard, okay?" It's here she lets out a soft sigh, finally seeming to let go of that topic - and, for the time being, to push off her anxiety about her own situation. "No, it's fine. Like I said, just having a friendly ear to talk at was a big help." She crosses one leg over the other, and settles a bit deeper into the chair - almost laying in it, rather than just sitting. "I think I might have to stay overnight, though. I'm not looking forward to going back out in that weather so soon." And maybe it'll abate some by the morning, which would be even nicer.

  "I know my limits, Tachibana Yumi. Worry not." Zelda manages a faint smile. "I am the last of the royal line, now. I have no successors, no younger siblings, and I know I can't afford to risk my own life. If something happened to me, there is nowhere for the crown to go... nor the Triforce of Wisdom."

  No pressure. Right?

  The royal leans back in her chair, unfolding herself and already busying herself with preparing a spare bedroll for Yumi. Right up near the hearth, too, to stay nice and warm. "By all means. I would not send you back out into the wind and weather. The mountain is in a fine foul temper tonight. Better for you to venture out when the storm has passed."

  "If you're hungry, there should be stew in the large pot on the hearth. Wolfos, I think. It's a hot meal, and filling. Good for staving off the cold." She dusts herself off, sinking down to her own bedroll. "If you'll pardon me, though, the hour grows late. I think I had best retire for the night."

  She pauses, casting a long and searching look at Yumi. "Sleep well, Tachibana Yumi, and I hope that you find the answers you seek soon. Come back at your leisure. We will petition the Author of Law."

  Zelda sinks down onto the bedroll, curling up in its thin but serviceable blanket. It's not so cold next to the hearth. "Good night, Tachibana Yumi." Her voice is muffled, but no less kindly for it.