World Tree MUSH

  The weather on Snowpeak has been shockingly mild, with only a few major storms threatening after the repairs had been made. Work crews are still attending to what repairs are left, but most of the building has been patched, and the difference is immediately obvious. Even in the bitter cold of night, the structure is much warmer.

  It's good that the workmen still have things to do in the little-used parts of the building, because the weather's just not fit for being outside. A storm rolled in during the morning. It hasn't shown any inclination towards leaving yet.

  Today finds the princess in the library, sitting on her own bed, legs folded under her and a blanket tossed over her lap. Laid atop that is the ceremonial dress that she's more or less improvised; it seems she's adding a little more in the way of embroidery to it, needle gleaming in the candlelight. Her hands are quick enough to suggest she's had a lifetime of practise in the application of needle and thread.

  A cup of tea sits nearby. It's still piping-hot, and it smells like she porued a little something extra in there. It's a cold night even with the hearth blazing and the walls repaired.

  Zelda sits with eyes half-closed, and she doesn't really pay much attention to what's around her. Right now she doesn't need to. If there were a problem, there are enough allies around for the moment that there would immediately be a ruckus if an intruder were spotted.

  Besides, any chance to unwind is a valuable one.

It's a little too inconsiderate for Link to actually jump into the hotspring at the center of the chapel, so he hasn't done that. What he has done is shut the door and let the room get nice and warm and just napped there through the day. He sort of wishes he could just use the spring for its intended purpose, but nobody really wants to deal with wet dog smell, and his fur ends up getting everywhere. Most of his day is spent on this greatly important task of napping in a warm place, and it's only now that he awakens and meaningfully stirs.

It's the smell of tea that draws his attention.

He noses the door of the chapel open and pads down the way to the library. Funny place to put a bed, the library, but there's not all that much space to go around with the reconstruction still going on, so he can't criticize too much.

The sour note of something else in the tea winds its way into Link's nostrils long before he reaches the library door, and once he does he noses /that/ open, too.

The Sacred Beast moves right on in and sits down as near to Zelda's tea cup as he can.

He looks at Zelda.

Then back at the tea cup.

Then back at Zelda.

I don't s'pose that this place happened to have a cellar that hadn't been cleared out, did it? He asks.

A playful sense of I'm-Judging-You lingers in the thoughts. But it IS more playful by far than it is accusing.

  The princess is silent at her work, eyes half-lidded as she guides the needle in and out of the ritual garment. It seems like she's adding a little more in the way of detail. Ordinarily, this would be worked in gold or silver thread, embroidered on the richest silk that could be produced, and she would wear ornamented bangles of the purest of gold.

  White thread is all she has to work with at the moment, though, and rough homespun is the best fabric at hand. Her bangles are still in the castle, along with the rest of her ritual garments, and some part of her hopes they're still intact. It would be a shame to see such craftsmanship destroyed.

  Claws clicking on the stone alert her to the presence of the Sacred Beast. Holding her place with a forefinger, Zelda risks a glance up, arching a brow at Link's pointed study of the teacup, her, the teacup, and finally her again.

  "Where do you think this came from?" From an outside perspective, one might accuse the princess of insanity; speaking in conversational tones to what appears to be a wolf. Fortunately, everyone else knows the truth, and they've had the opportunity to see Link for what he truly is, however briefly. "I've found whisky, wine, some ale... from what I've been able to discover, this place was originally intended as a garrison. Where there are soldiers, spirits are often not too far behind."

  She shrugs. "No one was ever posted here, though, and it fell to abandonment. Some of the non-perishable supplies are still here, though, and still salvageable... like the spirits." Leaning a little closer to her work, she eyes the thread carefully as she passes the needle through. "That works in our favour, though."

Well, lotta places you coulda gotten it along the way. Kaipo, mostly. But I'm sure you've been 'round parts that I wasn't familiar with before I came and grouped up with ya. Link replies, moving 'round the room to settle by the fire. A part of him is still tempted to go over and knock the teacup over like an obnoxious cat, but he thinks he's probably done enough antagonizing here. Besides, if she's drinking that stuff she probably needs it.

It occurs to him, the moment the thought has passed through his head, that he probably should knock it over if she just needs it instead of wanting it.

Maybe that's a talk for another time.

The wolf nods, So they set up and supplied for a buncha soldiers, but never brought 'em around, so all the food they had for 'em is rottin' in barrels and the rotgut is just waitin' for somebody to crack it open. Well, I s'pose that has its advantages. Reckon the water around here is clean enough you really don't need the alcohol so much though.

I miss milk and cheese. He adds, a little out of left field.

Link nods towards Zelda's sewing work, You makin' more witchy things for when we get movin', or is this a personal thing? I'd kinda like to get you into some proper battle clothes for when we go adventurin'... I wonder if the Zora would oblige, or the Gorons...

  "Hm? No. I hadn't bought any wine in Kaipo, although boiling some of that might have been useful as a disinfectant. "Epona was carrying all of our supplies, and so at the time, I'd had no means to carry it. I hadn't bought that stallion until we'd begun our crossing from Eldin Province to Peak Province."

  She does eye him for a moment, thoughtfully, but she doesn't comment, turning back to her work. By smell, the tea doesn't actually have much whisky in it, and she's not using much more than that on average. It's just a little fortification against the cold.

  The Hylian turns back to her work, eyes flicking over the embroidery she's been working at. Splayed across the front of the dress are the outspread wings of the Hyrulean royal crest, but it seems a little different. The Triforce at its head bears the crests of the three goddesses in each triangle; each is picked out in meticulous detail. It's pretty, even if the symbology means nothing to the viewer.

  "Whatever was left of the food is long gone. Monsters or wildlife most likely raided first, and that was what drew them to the structure in the first place," Zelda muses. Her hair spills over one shoulder; she jerks her head slightly to cast it out of her eyes. "The alcohol was left alone, since it has no inherent value to the valley's beasts."

  She narrows her eyes, pulling the garment a little closer to lay her thread with even greater detail. "I'll be certain we have access to both, once you've been restored." Milk and cheese are a terrible thing to be without, in her biased opinion, although she's been going without them for some time. "I wouldn't mind either, myself, but some things are easier to import here than others. We'll have better luck finding those in Ordona."

  There's a flicker of exasperation when he uses the term witchy for the umpteenth time, but she doesn't even bother to chide him any more. It's just an annoying quirk of his; trying to explain accomplishes nothing, because he has no desire to actually know the difference. You can lead a horse (wolf?) to water, but you can't make him drink.

  Instead, she ties off her thread, turning it this way and that to examine her work. "This? No. It's my ceremonial dress. Well, it's not /my/ ceremonial dress; this is just what I've been able to improvise since we'd left Kaipo. Gold thread would be better... and my ritual adornments are in a strongbox in the castle, if they haven't been set on fire; a pair of gold bangles, a necklace, and sandals embroidered with gold thread... but this will have to do for now."

  She holds it up, studying it this way and that. "As to armour... yes, that was my intention. Once I've determind that the Zora are alright, I intended to commission a suit of lamellar. It would be strong enough to provide protection, but light enough not to restrict my movements. And there are no finer craftsmen of such delicacy as the Zora... but I have heard nothing from Queen Rutela, and I worry about the state of her and her people."

  "After we've settled matters in Faron Wood, I should like to investigate Zora's Domain, as well," she murmurs, "and find out for myself why they've been silent for so long." She eyes the dress, sliding it through her fingers until she can capture the hem of the sleeve, adding to the details there. "If I can convince Queen Rutela to lend us her aid, it would be a powerful alliance. The Zora control most of Hyrule's major waterways."

Oh. Link replies, flatly. His eyes are drawn towards the garment Zelda is working on. The Triforce itself isn't unfamiliar to him, at least in the loosest sense. Even the people of his village understand that it's a sacred symbol, though they do not perhaps engage in deeper worship of the Goddesses. It's not as if they actually have a means to. For him, it was a little bit different. That mark that burned on the back of his hand was like a brand telling him and everyone else that something special was bound for him somewhere, someday. Turns out 'something special' was getting bonked on the head by a morbidly obese Bulblin and 'somewhere, someday' was a few months ago in his village during otherwise routine everything.

That symbol was a lot nicer when it didn't mean so much to me, He admits, even if I reckon it does something or another for me. Wish it kept me normal like yours does, but then I reckon it'd also make me do some damn fool thing all the time without stoppin' t--

It occurs to the Sacred Beast that it probably does exactly that and it doesn't actually present itself as anything unusual because it's a natural element of the way he would act anyway.

Damned magic.

Well of course we'll find it in Ordona, The goatherd replies, lotta them goats are mine. So I think I'll be getting you some milk and cheese, Queenie. Eventually. Can't say I wouldn't appreciate havin' some before then, but I ain't quite sure what this body would have to say about either of those things.

If they left the treasury alone, they probably left that alone too. If only 'cause it wasn't worth the trouble of pulling down to set it on fire. Only, if you don't mind me askin', does a more expensive ceremonial dress really make it better? The one you wore before looked just fine to me.

Mind you, He adds, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully, that might just be you, you're one of those people who doesn't look silly in anything.

Oh... yeah, about the Zora... The wolf makes a bit of a face, raising his head a little, Every now an' then someone passes through talkin' about somethin' or another. There's a rumor goin' around that Prince Ralis has been seen out and about. Kinda hope he isn't, this ain't the time to BE out and about.

  "I wish I had the luxury to say the same, but that symbol has always meant something to me, even before I bore the crest on my hand." She twitches her chin to indicate the crest on her right hand, visible even now against her pale skin. "There was a time when I didn't have this mark on my hand, but I was only a child, then. I've had it since my tenth birthday."

  Holding up the dress, she carefully folds it with practised motions of her wrist, carefully settling it over her rucksack, at the foot of her bed; once she's put away the rest of her things, she stretches out on the mattress. A real one. One that isn't straw, or shapeless, or uncomfortable.

  Zelda folds her arms behind her head and sighs in pleasure. The novelty of sleeping on something that isn't cold, hard stone hasn't worn off yet.

  She doesn't bother to open her eyes to answer him. Since the library is the most intact room until the crews finish, it's where the beds have been set up; "I could tell you my experiences with the kennel's dogs, but I'm sure that would end in 'dogs will eat anything.'"

  In other words, she has no idea what eating milk or cheese might do to his digestion. There aren't any beasts quite like him to draw a comparison. To call him a dog isn't right; but to call him a wolf isn't right, either. He's not a wolf, both more and less than one.

  Instead, she lets her mind gradually blank, although she's still listening to his half of the conversation. Drawing up an arm, she rests it over her face, the other still crooked behind her head over her pillow. Yes, they even have pillows. It feels absurdly decadent to have a pillow again, let alone a bed, or appropriate bedding to Snowpeak's climate.

  "I don't know." She hadn't really thought about whether he would specifically go after ritual garments, and she studies the problem for a moment, thoughtful and silent but for the steady rise and fall of her chest. She doesn't take her arm off her face; doesn't make a move otherwise. "He didn't need the library, either, but that didn't stop him from burning it out of spite."

  Silence settles over the princess again. She considers his words, when he says the last dress looked just fine to him. "It isn't really that it's better or worse. It doesn't have any effect on my prayers. It's more..." Zelda seems to struggle with finding the right words. "It's more about showing respect to the goddesses. By using such fine materials, things that are costly or otherwise not easily acquired, I'm showing them, 'this matters.' I'm making the statement: 'I'm willing to make sacrifices to them.'"

  He comments she's one of those people who doesn't look silly in anything, and she doesn't answer right away. Although he might not be able to discern the actual colour, he might see the flush of colour at her cheekbones, under her arm. "Oh." It's a quiet sound. "Thank you."

  News of the Zora is a little more worrying, though. She frowns, moving her arm to rest both hand over her stomach, opening her eyes to stare at the room's ceiling. "Prince Ralis? But why? He has no reason to leave Zora's Domain unless he's following orders from Queen Rutela. But why would she send him abroad? This is the worst of times for that. He's always been a bit frail... that is worrying," she adds, brow knitting. "I fear something may have happened to Queen Rutela. That would account for her silence..."

The Sacred Beast eyes Zelda's bed. He's tempted to jump up there, but the fireplace provides more immediate comfort for him than stealing space from the Queen. If he were human, he'd be a little jealous. Not that he can't sleep in much worse places than the ones he's slept of late. Idly he wonders where the bed actually came from, not having been paying close attention to the movement of furniture through the manor. So much has been going on, that it's almost overwhelming to his senses. Actually overwhelming, sometimes.

I can eat anything, Link agrees, but that doesn't mean it's actually edible for me. It's a serious problem, being a wolf. Everything seems tasty, even when it's not. I reckon that's just about the worst part of this condition, next to not havin' any hands to work with. Besides which, I'm pretty sure this body can't exist without meat.

He heaves a heavy, disappointed sigh. What is one to do when everything is palatable, including the things that he absolutely shouldn't consume? Poison ivy would be delectable, he's sure.

Regarding the library, Link says, He was already there, I doubt he's spending his time skulking around the palace waiting for you to do something. If it was me, I'd wait for you to leave and then watch the trail of where you went. If he really wanted to make things hard, he'd hurt people along the way so they wouldn't want to help you. But...

I reckon Kaipo threw him off, if he managed to keep eyes on you to begin with.

The Sacred Beast lays down his head, listening to Zelda speak of the garments. For a time he remains silent, and at a glance the shutting of his eyes and his easy breathing might lend the notion that he's gone to sleep. But after what might have been an uncomfortable silence, he replies:

What do you give, to beings who have everything?

More silence.

Then: You didn't strike me as the kind who gets embarrassed. Learn new things every day.

On the subject of Ralis, the Sacred Beast huffs noncommittally, Dunno. Might be somethin' happened. Might be he's just a kid with his head in the clouds. Don't reckon I want to worry too much about which it is 'til we know. Too easy to get miserable that way.

  Although she's more or less sprawled across the top of the bed, it looks like Zelda's purposefully left room at the foot in case he wanted to jump up. An unspoken offer ever since Kaipo; no matter her sleeping arrangements, she doesn't seem to mind offering space if he needs it. Small gestures like that aren't a problem for her to offer. She does if nothing else seem to be an absurdly giving person, which is probably a little surprising for royalty.

  Maybe she's also a little more perceptive than she looks, and caught the way he was eyeing her bed. "You know, if you'd be more comfortable up here, you need only ask. I've room to spare if you want to lie up here." Zelda gives the mattress beside her an open-palmed thump by way of demonstration. "They're quality craftsmanship. I had them built for us; after so long on the road, I decided it was a luxury that I could definitely afford." They even smell like new timber and new textiles, still.

  To his appetite, though, she can only make a noise that must be the verbal equivalent of a shrug. "I wish I had meaningful advice to give you, but I don't. I can't say that I've ever been in that kind of a position. Hmm... I've heard of some dogs surviving on plants, but only in times of emergency. You might survive, yes? But you'd be weak as a kitten."

  Reaching up, she lays her arm over her face again.

  "Why do you think I was so jumpy on the road? I had to assume Zant was either having me followed or sending his lackeys out to track me. Personally, I don't think he has the foresight or the patience for it, but I have to plan for every eventuality, with him." She blows out a sigh. "Personally, I'm just grateful that he hasn't thought to start hurting people along the way. I've heard of no such thing in the places I've passed through, anyway."

  Link raises a question almost philosophical. What do you give to beings who have everything? It's most likely rhetorical, but she can't help herself from turning it over in her mind.

  "Like I said. It isn't a matter of giving them anything. It's a show of respect. They created Hyrule. They made us. They gave us life, and light, and law; they gave us love, and it's only respectful to show some gratitude for that." She falls silent, and it's long enough that it might also seem like she's fallen asleep. Her breathing isn't that slow, though.

  She doesn't justify his next observation with an answer. He might notice her cheekbones are still flushed, though.

  "I wasn't intending to make myself miserable." Zelda shrugs, somewhat fatalistically, not much more than a twitch of one shoulder. "They've been managing things for this long without my help. Anyway, there's not much I can do about it from here, anyway. There are tunnels through these mountains that lead back to Zora's Domain... but they're dangerous, and they're about as unforgiving as the passes were."

  The princess sighs, but it's more a neutral gesture than anything else. "I can't look into that until we've concluded our business in Faron Wood. I need to find out what's happened to the Light Spirit, we need to restore you to your rightful form, and it probably wouldn't hurt to look into Ordon Village while we're in the area; if there's anything we can do to help your people while we're there, I intend to do so." Sometimes you just have to do what's in front of you.

Oh, so that's where those came from. The Sacred Beast replies, and seems to consider the matter. He leans his head back to look at the fire, and oscillates back and forth between the flame and the bed. Eventually, reluctantly, he rises from his place by the hearth and claims a spot at the foot of the bed. The weight of him causes the mattress to dip heavily, though the frame isn't yet old enough to creak. He sets his head down again and shuts his eyes. The only way he could truly appreciate this is if he was back in his native form.

But it isn't bad, even so.

I can live with it, 'til I'm me again. I actually ate too much those few days where I was me, and had a stomach ache days after I turned back. I reckon some of that wasn't too good for the wolf side of me, but a part of it may just be that I ate too damn much.

And no, He continues, I don't think Zant's got it in his head to hurt people along the way. May be he's a little more decent than that, or it may be that he reckons keepin' them in fear will do just fine. Either way, most folks seem safe. Don't know if there's anybody out there he would consider a threat and try to get rid of.

I heard there was once a Goron so big, it covered the peak of Death Mountain. If that guy was around, I'm sure he'd go and get rid of him right away. But I don't reckon I saw anything of the sort, or the mess a huge Goron would leave behind if somethin' killed it.

Link opens his eyes and nods on the topic of sacrifices, but replies, I got it, Queenie. I was just thinkin, if they already got everything and you can't possibly give 'em anything they dont' already have, it seems to me that the value of the sacrifice matters less than that you did sacrifice at all.

An ear twitches visibly at mention of tunnels through the mountains. Though an 'audible' thought doesn't drift through, a faint certainty that he could make his way through such a place echoes from the depths of his mind.

If it's that close, it would be awfully convenient.

The ones who're there, they'll be fine. Don't worry about them. The tricky ones are the ones that got taken. Those... He sighs, a little miserably, I'm gonna need to go track 'em down the hard way, if they're still alive. Bulblins are nastier'n those twilight things when it comes to gettin' personal-like.

  "Mmhmm." Zelda removes her arm from her face, settling both hands over her stomach again. She moves a foot slightly and glances down to the foot of the bed. Most people might be alarmed at a creature about the same mass as them jumping up and bedding down, but she merely shuts her eyes again. "I made an executive decision."

  She can't liberate her kingdom if she's too exhausted to put one foot in front of the other. More than that, asking the others to sleep on the floor isn't fair, either. Enough beds were commissioned to house each of the party members.

  The only one missing is Link's; not because she didn't have one made, but because there were more important carpentry emergencies that needed tending first. His will be built in time, but there's no rush on it. It isn't like restoring him is going to happen on an immediate basis.

  Zelda closes her eyes again. It's actually pleasant with the fire in the hearth and the holes sealed; from here, one can comfortably ignore the fact that spring hasn't yet found the Snowpeak range. It's a rare opportunity to rest while they plan their next moves. She seems fully intent on taking advantage of that chance to rest.

  "I doubt it," she murmurs, in response to Zant's strategies. "He's not very clever. Like a spoiled child in the midst of a tantrum. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know what to do with himself, now that he's proven his point."

  He talks about a Goron big enough to cover Death Mountain. Zelda cracks an eye open, tilting her head to eye him doubtfully. "I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're just fishing for a reaction... I haven't heard of anything like that."

  "Mm." That's her only response on the issue of sacrifice. Maybe it's something she herself feels the need to give more thought to before talking about it.

  She's silent for a long time; long enough that it might seem she's fallen asleep. Instead, she sighs, as though in sympathy at the job ahead of him. That's a lot of tracking. Goddesses only know where those brutes could have taken the villagers. Or why. It's not like they've made any ransom demands that she knows about. They're probably too stupid to grasp that kind of concept anyway.

  "I'd help you if I had any way to. Unfortunately, you're the authority in finding things and people lost, as you are now." Stretching a little, she lies with her head pillowed on her crossed arms. "We'll find them."

  Silence falls, broken only by the crackling of the hearth, and the soft rise and fall of her chest. After a moment she levers herself upright again, but only to drain her stoneware mug and set it aside, grimacing a little. That's some stiff tea. It'll help her get to sleep, though, and that's all she's really after.

  "I think I'm going to go to sleep." She rolls over, pulling the blanket over herself and settling in with a sigh of pure pleasure. The novelty of sleeping in a bed is going to be a long, long, /long/ time wearing off after the hell of climbing Snowpeak. "And next time... you don't need to ask. Just come up here if you want to. It's more comfortable than the floor, and it isn't as though I don't have the space."

  Her eyes close, and she sighs into her blanket. Oh, thank the goddesses that she at least gets to sleep in a bed again.

  "Thanks." Her voice is muffled, because she has the blanket pulled up to her chin. "It helps me to have someone to talk all of this out with. But you can call me Zelda," she adds, quietly. "I wasn't really sure I was comfortable with it at first, but... you're not so bad," she murmurs, voice small and tired and distant. "Good night, Link."

  It's not long before her breathing levels into the slow, peaceful rhythm of sleep.