World Tree MUSH

  The approach up to Snowpeak's ruins offers a commanding view of the kingdom all around it. From this lofty perch, one can see almost all of the kingdom south of the sprawling mountain range. To the west lies the vast and empty expanse of the Gerudo Desert; to the east lies the main ascent to Death Mountain, although there are paths through Snowpeak that circumvent the castle and lead there, too. Far to the south lies the rise of trees marking the boundary of Faron Wood.

  In the midst of the open plains surrounding it, Hyrule Castle stands, surrounded by a seething cloud of the Twilight. All the colour leached out of it and the sky behind it an eerie orange. Two of its spires have been shattered, lending it something of a misshapen look. It stands as a constant reminder of all the princess strives towards -- that the usurper is still on the throne that by rights is hers. That her people are still wandering as spirits, terrified and lost.

  It's up on the battlements that the princess can be found today. She's dressed warmly, as anyone in Snowpeak is; but the weather on the mountain is relatively mild. There is a broad stair leading up to the walls that Link would find much easier to traverse -- they've been repaired, and so have the walls. So has the main building, too, its holes and cracks and breaches mended and shored up.

  The manor looks like it's got a new lease on life.

  Zelda has a steaming mug cupped in one gloved hand; in the other is a clipboard that she's reviewing, eyes flicking over the figures on it and flicking back to the walls. Damage assessment, it seems; checking to make sure everything is repaired to her satisfaction.

  It's something to do until they can set out for Faron Wood, anyway. The work isn't yet complete; other contractors are expected sooner or later.

  She hadn't really indicated she'd needed Link's company, but let him know earlier he was welcome to join her if he'd gotten bored of killing wolfos. Or run out of wolfos to kill. They still have hides to process.

Lotta weirdos showed up to mend everything. The thought comes before the Sacred Beast actually appears. A moment later the sound of him ambling up the steps is audible, the scratch of claws making it a little too obvious to miss him even if he didn't announce himself the way he did. By the look of him, Link hasn't actually been anywhere lately. When he goes out to kill Wolfos for food, he always comes back stained red and covered in a combination of dirt, snow, and sometimes debris from plants he must have rolled around in or how else would he be so covered in them.

Link comes to a halt next to Zelda and sits down, looking blearily out across the... everything. Hyrule Castle looks positively spooky from up here. Maybe it's just the Twilight covering everything that far out. Then again...

He glances up at Zelda.

If Hyrule Castle is as stern and serious as she could be, it might be scary on purpose.

He sniffs audibly at the air, drinking in the scent of what he assumes is tea. Mostly it smells /warm/. If he could taste it Link might ask for some, but as it is he found almost anything palatable and barely tasted it at all.

But I guess you gotta hire all the weirdos if you wanna patch up a hole in a mountain fortress on the down-low. He adds.

Kin'na surprised there weren't any Gorons though. Gorons are good at that sorta work. I wonder if they use -their- big lizards like mounts, like that foreigner did. Ain't ever seen anything like that before. Boars and horses and all kind of things, but lizards?

Say, Link thought, D'you want me to go dig up some treasure to pay for all this? I'm pretty good at findin' useful stuff, and I don't know how many rupees you got stashed.

  Zelda glances over a shoulder, but it's the wrong approach for the Sacred Beast, proven seconds later by the click of claws on the flagstones. The path up is clear, although there are sections of wall that still have temporary scaffolding set up and tools here or there.

  "Oh. There you are." There is indeed tea in her cup, as his nose tells him, and it has a touch of something else; bitter and astringent. Either herbs of some kind, or maybe just a touch of alcohol to combat the cold.

  She shrugs a shoulder, setting her clipboard aside. "I'm sure we must seem just as strange to them, going by the way several of them were staring." Her mouth twitches in a fleeting suggestion of a smile. "I was sure one of the carpenters had never seen a Hylian before; he kept staring at my ears."

  "Ah... yes. Those creatures. If they had been a problem, I'm certain we could have dealt with them, but Tachibana Yumi did not warn me those would..." Be a thing, "...be coming. Still, they did make the work a bit easier. I watched that creature with the club for a tail reduce a damaged wall to rubble. Splendid work, and faster and safer than demolitions."

  She shakes her head in agreement with his assessment, though. "No. I've never seen anything like them. What strange creatures. I should like to have spoken with their keeper a bit more, but I was too busy..." Zelda gestures to indicate the whole courtyard. She was too busy managing. Everything.

  Link offers to go 'acquire' some treasure. Part of her is pretty sure she doesn't want to know how he's going to do that. Zelda thins her lips, as though running a few tallies in her head. He might not be able to make much sense of the figures on her clipboard, but she has a frightening aptitude for figures. She has to be able to. "I stole several thousand rupees from the treasury. Most of that has been exhausted on the masonry, but I consider the cost an acceptable loss, if it means solid walls."

  "Beyond that, though, I'm afraid I don't have much left after that." Zelda looks back to the main building, thoughtful. "I could begin selling the contents of the library. With the destruction of Hyrule Castle's archives, they would command a respectable price... but they may now be the only texts of their kind in existence." She grimaces. "Rebuilding the castle will involve more than simply mortar and stone. So much knowledge, simply /lost/. Knowledge we could have used, too, I'm sure. Well, the goddesses have their purposes, even if we may not know them."

Smells like you slipped yourself a little somethin' extra in that drink. Wouldn't say no to hot wine myself, but I don't reckon I know exactly what that'd do to me as I am. Link picks his head up and looks at Zelda's ears for a moment or two. Having them himself, they're not at all unusual to him, but he could see how somebody particularly backwoods might find them special. He nods, Lotta round-ears down in Ordon Village. Thought I was pretty novel too, for a stretch. Don't know that I mind all that much, I couldn't help but notice some folks were different too back in the day.

He nods concerning the dinosaurs, but adds, I could done it with a sledge if I'd been myself. It's just a little wall, ain't no big deal. I saw a big ol' flail in the basement I coulda used to do it too, if I had my hands back.

But I was useful enough haulin' around some of the stonework, so I reckon I can't complain much about havin' my job stolen by lizards.

A sly, dogging grin creeps onto Link's face as he tilts his head up towards Zelda. Ain't stealin' if you're just pullin' funds out of your own gigantic purse. Anyhow, don't you be worryin' about sellin' the library here. There ain't enough of the realm left that's not under the cover of Twilight for it to make sense for anybody to be buyin', an' those that are out there are gonna want things other'n books mostly.

Anyhow, if it looks like we'll be needin' money before long I can go ruin-crawling. I have a pretty good nose for finding places filled with goodies, and ain't nobody else got any use for 'em. He perks his ears up and wags his tail against the ramparts, Lot of funny things out there, long lost, only just turnin' up when I stick my noise under a rock. Gotta figure that they were waitin' to be found for this particular moment in time.

Link heaves a sigh, butting his head lightly against Zelda's side. Some'a that stuff, though... I think it was forgotten for a reason. Like that magic Midna is lookin' for. If stuff like that stayed buried, I figure less things like this would go and happen.

  "Maybe I did. Just a little," Zelda adds, primly. "Anyway, I don't plan on staying out here all night, and it's hardly enough to impair my judgement, so there's no harm in it. I'll save you some, for when you have your form back. I know you're not much one for drink, but it's useful for the cold, if nothing else. There's wine of a decent vintage as well."

  The princess glances over at his comment on round-ears in Ordon Village. It's just another place she hasn't been. An oversight she intends to fix, once she's had her throne back, if not before.

  She glances back to the distant castle, perching on the newly-repaired battlements and setting her clipboard aside. A glance at it would confirm it is indeed filled with columns and figures, all penned in the princess' meticulous hand. "I meant more that if Zant had known what I was doing at the time, he would have done worse than confine me to my own quarters."

  In fact, it was pretty kind of him that he didn't even lock the door. Clearly he hadn't really had any practical experience in how to keep a hostage, had he?

  She only shrugs at his assessment of the work he could have done with a sledge. He's the better judge of that; she hasn't actually seen him in action. Not yet.

  "Maybe. Maybe not." Zelda cocks a mild eye at him. "You'd be surprised how profitable knowledge can be, especially in times of crisis."

  A shadow flickers across her eyes, although she lifts her gaze to the far horizon, where forestry rises against the plains. "Hm. I have a request, though you're probably not going to like it. If we reach the point of having to go delving into ruins... take me with you. Goddesses know I don't have much to do here, and I might be able to help you recognise things of value. I won't be a burden; I can take care of myself." She'd gotten from Hyrule Castle to here by herself, mostly, while being actively hunted by Zant's Twilight Messengers, so that's got to be worth something.

  She drops her gaze to the castle, though she jumps a little when he headbutts her. Even in this form he's stronger than he looks. "Hyrule is littered with ruins, and also relics. We'll find what we need... but..." She lowers her hands, resting them in her lap. "Yes. I have enough wisdom to know that some mysteries are better left unsolved."

The Sacred Beast looks Zelda up and down skeptically, his eyes widening in what would have been an eyebrow-lifting gesture on his ordinary self. He replies, I just said I'd take some hot wine if I could get it, y'know. And I don't know that I believe it'd take very much of the drink to impair your judgement, but if you ask me you probably need it just a little bit right now. You only let yourself uncoil when you're dead on your feet and just don't have the strength to do anything but.

He takes a look at the clipboard while Zelda isn't paying attention to it. Link is smarter than he looks and sounds, and he makes plenty of the page it's been left on. The handwriting is more orderly than he's used to, but that's not a huge problem. Just means he doesn't have to guess quite so much at what the writer actually meant by it.

Oh. He looks up from the clipboard, blinking. Yeah, I reckon you would. I don't figure he's one for money, he's got enough power to get all of that he really wants, but he wouldn't want you to have it either. You might not have gotten caught just 'cause he wasn't paying it any mind at the time.

An odd, concerned noise leaves him at Zelda's request for joint treasure hunting. Link backs away from Zelda and looks her up and down again. Then he thinks back to that little display of magic in the bedroom of the manor, and how much blood she survived not having in her body where it was supposed to be.

Works for me, but I'd really like to get back in a proper body before that. We're going to need a few goes before we're in synch with how the other does things, and it'll be easier if I'm in my natural form.

By the way...

This thing we're doin' is -great- for adventuring things, sometimes you don't have the time to shout at somebody. Can you do it okay in tense situations? He asks, looking up at her expectantly.

Also... don't s'pose you have any ideas about relics we could go after, do ya? He pauses, ears drooping slightly, This is one of those things all those books would've told us, isn't it.

  "The cost of wisdom." Zelda's smile is a little lopsided. "It isn't just knowing what to do and when to do it, or knowing what's best for my people. And it isn't that I mean to stay coiled." She gathers her robe more securely around herself. "It means I am always thinking. I am always examining things. Always," she adds, more softly.

  Her hand lifts; gestures faintly. "What needs doing. What has been done. What should have been done, but was not... be grateful you cannot see into my mind. It is a place even I do not want to be, sometimes." It could be taken as self-pity, but it isn't; her tone is one of simple matter-of-fact statement.

  "I must be careful with the wine, or the whisky; it is too easy for me to fall back on a solution like that. I use prayer instead. That is why the people make such a fuss over my piousness. Not that I do not believe," she adds, shaking her head. "I do. I must. But it is also an escape, for me."

  She seems content to let the topic go at that. Instead, she tilts her head at the idea of Zant going for money. "Why? Where would he even spend it? Someone like Zant prefers to seize things by force, especially from the people he's hated for so long."

  Can she talk to him without speaking in tense situations? Zelda shrugs. "Certaintly. It's easier in tense situations than shouting, and much more likely to be heard."

  Zelda's smile is thin. Those books would have told them about appropriate relics to go acquire, wouldn't they?

  "Mmhmm."

  Leaning forward, she rests her elbows on her knees, regarding Link sidelong. "Don't look so crestfallen. They can't burn this." One delicate finger taps at a temple.

Seems kinda unfair, considerin' whatever I am seems t'only show up when things turn their worst. Havin' you and your family spin your wheels for your entire lives is pretty harsh. Link replies, his tone thoughtful. He gives a shake of his head after, Don't reckon I want to be too far into anybody else's head, which is kinda strange to say since I'm talkin' to you in MY head and you're hearin' it, but I figure you only hear the loudest thoughts. Actually, you'd probably get pretty irritated if you heard everything.

For instance, He carried on, whenever I see a bird get a hell of an urge to chase 'em down. Squirrels too. But mostly birds. Whenever I see 'em go flying I just want to run them down. But, er, that's not really quite the same I s'pose.

The Sacred Beast casts a sour look up at Zelda. Meanin' no disrespect, but you didn't strike me as the whisky type until just now. Only ever had that when I was sick. Let me tell you, that'll put a stuffy child to sleep without needin' to deal with the fact that they're stuffy.

Though... thinkin' about it...

I reckon all of this would turn just about anybody who wasn't the whisky type, into the whisky type.

The Sacred Beast droops at the knowledge that those books would've told them where to go fairly clearly. Greaaaaat. Maybe Midna would know. They really need to go check on her anyway.

His eyes rise to observe Zelda tapping her head. The wolf nods, I reckon not. Tell me then, where would you start if you were goin' treasure hunting?

There ARE some old ruins out in Ordon... I wonder if that's what that big Bulblin was there for. Do you reckon that maybe Zant was after somethin' like Midna is? Powerful magic of some kind. You're right that he just sort of takes things, but near as I can tell there's not a common... -thing- that he stole off with, is there? He just ruined things and wandered off.

Link makes a confused whine, leaning vaguely in Zelda's direction.

We should go inside. What did you want out here, anyway?

  Reaching for her clipboard, the princess makes a few notes, though the focus in her eyes suggests she can both perform calculations and carry on a conversation at the same time. She meant what she said about the grey matter never turning off.

  She does arch a brow at his observations. Harsh? "It could be seen that way, but it does have its uses. We exist for the good of the many, Link, even if that might not seem fair. No one is better suited to the business of administering the kingdom than we daughters of Her Grace. It isn't just our blood, either. Our talents are also uniquely suited." She taps a temple illustratively. "It is what it is, for the most part, neither good nor bad."

  "As to that... no. It takes a unique bond for me to hear so deeply into another's thoughts." Zelda shakes her head. "I'm not sure that I could, even if you were completely willing and unresisting. It doesn't usually work that way."

  Birds. That seems weird, but she's too polite to laugh. "That seems more instinct than thought. Would you do that as a man? I suppose there's a chance you might. I don't know you all that well. But really, I doubt that you would if you were in your rightful form."

  "Oh?" Her smile is bland when he comments on her drinking habits, and she eyes him obliquely. "No? I admit, I rarely drink it straight. The taste is beyond revolting. I tried it once, when I needed quiet. It was a mistake. Wine is better... but I must be careful no matter what it is. It's too easy a temptation for me. The depths to which I would go for quiet some nights frightens me, a little."

  "As to relics, the kinds that can be comfortably sold... those are scattered throughout Hyrule. Our kingdom has a long and storied history, and traces of that history are under just about every rock, it seems. I would start off the beaten path where treasure hunters have not yet had the opportunity to look. The Gerudo Desert, maybe. Death Mountain's remotest reaches. The outlands of Zora's Domain."

  Zelda shrugs, lurching to her feet and gathering up her clipboard, tucking the implement under an arm. She rests her middle finger and thumb over her chin; taps at her lips restlessly with a forefinger in thought. "I expect there are still a great deal of artifacts left untouched from past ages, but those places are where I would personally begin searching. We're going to Faron Wood, and there are some ancient corners of that old weald, too. We may as well have a look around when we go there, if it's safe to do so."

  "That, however, is wrong," she adds, in regards to Zant's theft. She throws out an arm, as though to indicate the greater kingdom downslope, and the ruined castle in its seething cloud of the Twilight. "He did steal something. He robbed the Light Spirits of their light. Why do you think the Twilight spreads so rapidly? We had better get it back, too, or else the Goddesses only know what Zant's opened the door to allow in. There are far worse things that lurk beyond the threshold of this realm than that bullying coward."

  "Far worse," Zelda adds, and the haggardness of her voice lends truth to her words. "I am not afraid of Zant, but I fear what things he must ally himself with. There is no possible way he has done all of this by himself. His power is simply too great to have usurped both his throne /and/ mine."

  She starts walking toward the keep, gesturing for Link to follow. "Do you remember what I did in the keep, when that shadow beast had me? I was barely able to hold that creature off... and Zant is orders of magnitude more powerful than his lackeys." Her expression is grave. "Whatever monstrous force is fuelling his powers, /that/ is what I fear. That is what I am losing sleep over."

  "I do not even know what we are up against," Zelda murmurs, shaking her head. "I only know that it is a great and terrible power, if the goddesses urge me to seek out the Six Sages."

  "But that is yet another worry for another day. You are right. We should rest." She pushes the main door open, holding it for him, since he hasn't exactly got the hands to do it himself and headbutting things probably gets old (or at least a little sore) after a while. "As to why I was out there... air. I also wanted to make a circuit of the battlements and note what work remains to be done. The masons are gone for the day, but they'll be back tomorrow to resume their repairs, so I intend to have an accounting ready for them."

  "Mostly, though... I wanted something useful to do." Zelda half-smiles, almost shyly. "It's a terrible feeling, knowing there's so much to do, and being unable to do any of it, yes?"

Just 'cause you're suited to it, Link replies, don't mean that it's a good thing. What does your Wisdom tell ya about putting everything on the shoulders of so few folks? Even if you're good at it, it can't be good for you. But I reckon I'm makin' a bigger deal of it than it actually is. Especially if I think about my role in all of this. He looks up into the sky, his eyes catching the glare of what light there is in the sky and gleaming as the eyes of so many animals do.

Only thing I mind about any of it is that, y'know... all the people 'round me got kidnapped. Meetin' Midna was pretty nice, and meetin' you was pretty nice too. Don't reckon I woulda been able to do it if my life had been totally normal. then again, maybe I woulda anyway. I had that sword delivery to make, after all. But gettin' the crap beaten outta me, jailbreaking, sneaking past those... things...

Killin' a lot of 'em. Well, it just don't mean that much to me. It's like walkin, or herdin' goats, or breathin'. I could close my eyes and I could keep on doing it alright. Lookin' at the last fella, I think he got halfway through doin' things ACTUALLY blind.

But it ain't normal. So maybe we're just both freaks, and it don't make no matter.

He turns his head to look towards Zelda again, Naw, I don't chase birds as a man. Shoot 'em and eat 'em sometimes, though.

On the subject of where to find treasure, the Sacred Beast nods and remarks, Or in other words, all those places we gotta turn upside down to set right again anyway. Sounds about right. I wanna go see the Zora, I hear they're pretty interestin' folk.

Couldn't you use witchy things? For quiet, I mean.

Link has surprising insight on a lot of subjects, but he's dumb as stone when it comes to magic that isn't some kind of folk remedy.

The heck is a weald?

And some other things, too.

Link cocks his head to one side at the idea of LIGHT of all things being stolen. He looks down at the ground after, and everything about him reads like he's deep in thought. When he raises his head again, there is a mental sensation. Like fingers snapping.

There's bugs, out in the twilight. Bugs all glowy like fireflies, but different. You reckon that's where he put the light of the spirits?

The wolf rises and lopes after Zelda, gratefully proceeding through the main door as it's held open for him. He remains quiet on most everything about Zant, his lackeys, and the Six Sages. It's just beyond him, for the most part.

Link offers a particularly heavy nod, Yeah. I know exactly whatcha mean, Queenie. I coulda done a lot of this work if I was just me again. If there ain't nothin' what needs killin', I wind up useless a lot of the time.

Sorry, he added, never thought of it that way 'til you said so.

  "I think you're reading more into it than there may be." Zelda shrugs one shoulder, the motion graceful despite thickly-layered clothing. "It seems unnecessarily burdensome and cruel when held up against our situation, but that isn't normal, either. In times of peace... it's quite useful. It also means that Hyrule cannot be sabotaged by untrustworthy advisors, or power usurped by other means."

  She sighs, shaking her head. "Of course, I'm not sure if anyone really expected this to happen. The Twilight Realm was sealed away. However did he manage to breach the seal, I wonder? I'm sure that whatever's helping him is the key. I'll have my answers in time."

  Eventually. She might have to hassle Nayru through prayer a few dozen times before the cagey Author of Law coughs up the answers, but she'll get them. Zelda is nothing if not incredibly persistent when she puts her mind to something.

  And there he goes with the witchcraft again.

  "Oh, for heaven's sake, it's not witchcraft." Zelda's exasperated mumble isn't very convincing, though; she knows he won't ever bother to learn the distinction, no matter how annoying it might be to her. "It's /divine sorcery/. And there isn't anyone else in Hyrule who can do it except my mother and my grandmother, and they're both gone. Witches can do extraordinary things, but they cannot call on the power of the godde--"

  "Is that so?" Zelda frowns at his observation on the insects in the Twilight. "That's interesting. Very interesting. No, it's not impossible that that's what he's done." She narrows her eyes, the gesture subtle, and its very subtlety makes it that much more ominous. "Clever bastard. I think I need time to think on that."

  "Not right now, though. Now, I should rest. It's late..." Zelda glances sidelong to the wolf, frowning a little. "Oh. I'm sorry. That wasn't what I meant. You've been perfectly useful, Link, even as you are. Your senses have done more for us than our best caution, or our sharpest night-watches."

  If he were a real dog, she might reach down and pat him on the head. He's not, though, so she settles for a wan smile. "We'll get you back to normal. Don't worry. We may not like what that entails... but we do what we have to do. In the meantime, if we're going to have to go through all of this... well, at least we've each got company, yes?" Holding the door to the library open, she waits for him to follow.

  The best part of having a team of carpenters working on the estate is the fact that she made a point of ordering beds. They're temporarily set up in the library until the rest of the structure can be repaired, but it's orders of magnitude better than sleeping on the cold, hard floor. Zelda even made a point of having one made for the wolf, although she's made it clear he's welcome to curl up at the foot of her bed if that's what he wants to do.

  She must be tired; she yawns openly as she lets the door shut. It takes only a moment to kick off her boots and collapse into the cot that she'd had made for herself, yanking the bedding over herself. It's nice bedding, too, perfectly suited to the obnoxious cold of Snowpeak. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Good night, Link. I think..."

  In fact, she doesn't even finish whatever else she was going to add.