World Tree MUSH

  Hyrule is as it ever was, but this time the princess has not been staying in Snowpeak Garrison. The snow-capped mountains have been left behind for the fairer climes of Zora's Domain. It will be a place to return to, but right now, there's plenty of business in central Hyrule to see to while Zelda is physically present.

  To that end, all members of the royal entourage have each been given their own rooms. Some of them come from Zra who didn't survive Zant's assault. Others are empty lodgings from the commons, where there's an inn. All of them are carved into the solid stone in smooth, sweeping curves that look more organic than shaped. Decor is inspired by the river an the ocean alike. Some rooms make use of smoothed river rock and driftwood for decoration. Others use shells from both the river and the sea.

  Only Zelda was given a room larger than the others, thanks to her royal status. These people are still ultimately under her protection; although they have their own regional leaders to manage their own affairs, like Prince Ralis, the people of Hyrule still look to their queen in times of disaster.

  As they have been now.

  Most of Zelda's time has been spent in hushed conversation with the Zora Council of Elders, as well as Prince Ralis; she has been busy helping them manage the task of rebuilding Zora's Domain. That's also come along with girding the realm for war. The Zora shape metal as ably as the Gorons, albeit in different ways, and their forges have been turning out elegant, silvery weapons. Their armoursmiths have been layering shell, hydrophobic-enchanted wood, and other lightweight materials into the distinctive scale and lamellar-like armour that they favour.

  Today, though, Zelda has retreated to her quarters and drawn the silvery curtain across the doorway. She's hunched over a map of Hyrule on the table, with various markers indicaing the status of the Twilight, known enemy forces, and settlements placed precisely.

  And off to one side of it all, somewhere around where Gerudo Desert should be, the princess has leaned over and put her head down on the table, fast asleep. Shelooks younger, this way, with her braid half-unravelled and her expression slack.

  She does wear the knife Rydia gave her, though, sheathed at her waist. She's proven before she doesn't need to be awake to drive its point home.

    But what of Rydia? The Summoner has been quiet of late-- or perhaps quiet is not the best word for it. Busy. Rydia has been busy of late, slipping off to another world to stop the machinations of the Amal'Jaa and their desire to summon their primal. She only returned just the night before, and made her way quickly to her room, slamming the door shut and refusing to see anyone.
    Come morning time, there was no sign of her, probably still locked away and in hiding, for most of the day, not even coming forward to eat. At least until now. Now, when there's a light knock on Zelda's chamber door, serving as a polite announcement of intent before it opens just a crack.
    "... It's me. Can I come in...?" Rydia asks, voice quiet and low.

  "Enter, please."

  Zelda is a good actress. She can make herself sound awake when she's very much not. As she tries to blink the sleep from her eyes, she hastily pulls herself upright, rubbing at her face and carefully setting markers right where her head had nudged them aside.

  So she's looking pretty normal by the time Rydia's ready to walk in, but Rydia has been around her long enough to know better. There are shadows under Zelda's eyes, and a gauntness to her cheekbones... but those summer-blue eyes are bright.

    "You sound beat." Is Rydia's first assessment as soon as the door opens. Zelda may be a good actor, but if anyone can read the princess like an open book, it would be the last Summoner of Mist. Rydia isn't looking so hot, herself though, as she steps into the chamber and shuts the door behind her.
    A slow, steeling, breath and the child's hands ball into fists, clutching the hem of her robes as she stares at the princess just as blearily.
    "I killed someone, yesterday." She announces as matter of factly. "Stabbed him to death with my dagger." Said in the same tone of voice one would talk about paying for the groceries or eating a slice of bread.

  The Hylian would take that bait if she were more awake, but she doesn't have the mental bandwidth. Zelda reaches up to rub at her eyes and indulging in an un-princesslike yawn. That done, she has a second or two to study Rydia.

  "And you look like hell," she comments, cordially.

  I killed someone, yesterday. Stabbed him to death with my dagger.

  Zelda stares a little blearily at Rydia as alertness returns by degrees. The content of the message takes a few more seconds to percolate, and when it does, Zelda's mouth twists subtly. She looks at Rydia, somberly.

  Eventually Zelda pushes herself to her feet, catching herself on the corner of the desk before she can stumble. She paces slowly toward Rydia. The girl's tone is nonchalant, but her posture suggests devastation.

  Rydia might be prepared to do something like that, but she's still a child, at the end of the day.

  If Rydia lets her, the young monarch drops to a knee in front of Rydia, reaching out to pull the Last Summoner of Mist into an embrace. Carefully; carefully. She knows Rydia does wear a dagger as often as Zelda herself does.

    Rydia may wear a dagger at her belt, but the last person in all the world- all the worlds out there- that she would think to use it on would be the princess Zelda. Jade eyes stare just as blearily as the young monarch rises and yawns as she does, showing no signs of shock at such an un-royal and very human act. But something says that there's more to it than just the fact that Rydia ended someone's life. Not when Zelda embraces her and the green-haired girl clings back so tightly. She trembles.
    Rydia trembles in Zelda's arms, her whole body quakes as the princess' arms go about her.
    "They were... They were summoning Ifrit." She says, voice little more than a hoarse whisper.

  She might be exhausted, but Zelda's mind is still clear. Her mind is clearer than most, even under duress. Even when she'd been bleeding out, those years ago, she'd had the presence of mind to telepathically call the Summoner to her side.

  Right now, her mind is clear enough to know that Rydia needs her, and that's enough to banish the last vestiges of sleep. She tightens her arms around the Summoner, her own expression falling.

  If she'd been there, maybe she could have protected the girl--

  Zelda settles for pulling Rydia close.

  "I'm sorry I wasn't there, Rydia."

  It's quiet, but absolutely heartfelt.

    Rydia remembers it. Rydia remembers that day full well, when Zelda had called out to her and she found the princess in such a miserable way, close to death.
    To this day Rydia still has nightmares about it to this day, between the thought of Zelda being killed and Copen the Adept Slayer coming for her.
    And when the smaller girl feels those arms tighten around her, her trembling starts to lessen by a degree. But it's still there as she holds on tight and doesn't let go.
    "We couldn't stop them, Zelda. They called the Lord of the Inferno."

  Something cold coils in her stomach at Rydia's warning. They called the Lord of the Inferno. Her working knowledge of the entities Rydia can summon is a little rough, but she knows the basics. They're not unlike the things Rydia can summon, but...

  From what little Rydia's told her of Eorzea, this is worse. Much worse. The Primals answer to no authority but their own.

  Zelda doesn't let go. Her comfort is a very real and tangible thing, as much as her subdued presence, like a pool of still water. "I wish I had the authority to offer Goron and Zora soldiers to help put a stop to this, but... I do not," she says gently, tone regretful. "I should have been there."

  "We will deal with it. But not today," she murmurs into Rydia's hair, with a comforting pat. "Not today. I want you to stay in Zora's Domain, today." Let the mists soothe her; far away from the heat of the inferno. Well, as long as she doesn't go downhill into the plains. "How are you feeling...?" It doesn't hurt to hear it in Rydia's own words.

    That. That makes Rydia shake her head. Slowly, yet emphatically, the girl shakes her head at the thought of throwing soldiers at the problem. The Primals... The Primals are nothing like the Eidolons that Rydia has grown up with. Though they share many of the same names and aspects, they are not like the gentle, kind, loving forces of nature that Rydia has heard tale after tale of at bedtime from her mother.
    "That... That would only make things worse." She murmurs, pausing to let her shoulders rise and fall in a deep breath.
    "The Primals they... They do this thing called Tempering. They take a person's mind and soul and make it belong to them. Temulin says that once someone is tempered, there's no reversing it."
    But another slow breath and Rydia lets herself bask in that comforting presence, every breath deep and audibly loud as the girl tries to still the fluttering hammer of her heart in her chest.
    "Ifrit... The Ifrit I know is wild and uncontrollable. A force of nature like a wildfire, relentless and unstoppable once started, burning everything in his path to ash. This Ifrit... Was worse. A monster-- a demon."

  "Most probably," Zelda surmises, apparently at the same time that Rydia does. "It's as well I haven't the authority to order them. They must see to their own realms, right now, where they are needed."

  As much as it feels like turning her back on the people of Eorzea, or whomever else Ifrit might threaten, it isn't her battle to fight. Not yet. Instead she listens in somber silence to what Rydia has to say, and the more the green-haired girl reveals, the more somber the young monarch's expression becomes.

  "Oh, Hylia," she breathes, at the end of it. Her arms are steady around Rydia, but her quiet exhalation is one of horror. There's no way to reverse the process, either, and that's even worse.

  She listens some more, absently patting Rydia's shoulder as her mind races over the possibilities. "No. This one sounds... malicious."

    Malicious... Yes, this Ifrit sounds like a far more twisted version of the raging Eidolon that Rydia has always known. Another slow breath and Rydia slowly detaches herself. Lips pursed, she rubs at her eyes to wipe away the tears that had been threatening to form in them.
    "I'm. I'll be fine." She whispers after a beat. "... There was just... So much fire." She mutters, clearly shaken by the ordeal. But she rallies. She rallies well, all things considered as she fusses with the hem of her robes.
    "... What about Hyrule?" She asks. "What's our next move? If we have one."

  The princess lets the Summoner go. She knows better than to restrain something wild, and Rydia behaves quite like something wild. Nothing wrong with that. So Zelda sits back on her heels, balanced neatly without having to rise from her crouch as she watches the Summoner compose herself.

  Zelda herself draws in a deep breath, and lets it go slowly through her nose as she considers. While it's something to be wary of, it isn't an immediate threat to Hyrule, just yet, unless the Lord of the Inferno likes to gravitate to singularities of flame... in that case, the plains are ripe for a visitation.

  That would probably be bad.

  I'm fine, Rydia says, and Zelda leaves it at that. If the girl isn't fine, she knows Rydia will reveal that on her own time. Zelda frowns, thoughtfully. What about Hyrule, indeed?

  The question seems to have no immediate answer, and the displeased look on Zelda's face makes plain her opinion on not having a ready plan.

  "At the moment, I have no plan." The princess sits back on her heels and rubs at her face again, pulling her unkempt braid over her shoulder and toying with the end. The thoughtless gesture makes her seem younger than her years. "I'm at a crossroads. I cannot take Hyrule Castle either by siege or by stealth. It leaves me with few options."

    Whether Rydia is fine or not will reveal itself in time, but for now, she focuses on the present instead of the dread fires of the Lord of the Inferno. Once again the child rubs at her eyes with one arm as she listens. Moving on.
    Moving on to the topic of Hryule castle.
    Rydia frowns. "Well I mean... Yeah. We're don't have enough people to take if over by siege." So stealth? "What, you don't know any secret passages we could use?" So stealth is out too. Rydia heaves a little sigh, wobbling where she stands.
    "Well, that's a bridge we can burn when we get to it." She says. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

  "Hyrule Castle has never been taken by siege." Zelda gives this tidbit with a glimmer of subdued pride. The shining citadel was designed not to be captured. "Putting aside its history... we cannot lay siege to the Twili. They are fundamentally different from us. I don't know what sustains Zant, but it isn't clean water and foodstuff."

  Hate and envy, maybe. Those would make perfect sense.

  She glances back to Rydia. "Secret passages... yes, I do, in point of fact," Zelda says, slowly. "If we can reach the castle itself undetected, there are a number of forgotten passages. I used to hide in them, as a girl," she asides. I will need to think... but that may be our salvation."

  Zelda watches as Rydia wobbles to her feet; there's a flicker of concern in summer-blue eyes at the casual joke of burning bridges. Fire.

  "Troubles for another day. I will pray to the Author of Law for guidance and a lamp in the dark." She touches Rydia's shoulder, fleeting. "Rest, in the meantime. Stay in my quarters if you like; I do not mind the company, and the bed is comfortable." Bigger than the others, too. The perks of rank! "I will be here for a while yet, studying my maps."