World Tree MUSH

    After the whole debacle involving golems, Sith, and village burning murderers, Rydia was presented with a bit of an issue. First aid ended up falling to her, and while she did what she could with her limited skill in White Magic, there is one thing that even healing spells cannot provide. Rest. True recover often only comes with a fair amount of rest involved, and with the Hylian princess in the state that she was, the only option was to have Whyt hoist Zelda up onto Rydia's chocobo, and ride her back to town. 
    Kaipo is... A small desert village, erected on the shore of a fresh water oasis, complete with palm trees. It's... Not really known for anything else, the only redeeming feature town's proximity to Damcyan, and little else. 
    The inn seemed the best choice of a place to bring an injured person, and after securing a room, Rydia had mostly left the princess to recover. Right now, though, she returns, peeking in to check up on the queen-regent of Hyrule.

  Having exhausted her energy in trying to stop the golem and its would-be handlers, Rydia's Hylian guest has been largely quiet. That is to say, Zelda has been unconscious ever since she had hit the ground in the ruins. It must have been rough on her.

  In fact, the Hylian has been unconscious since then. She hasn't come to for any of the day, and it's probably long enough to be worrying; her colour still ashen and her sleep greatly troubled, at times tossing and turning in her sleep and -- once -- what might have been half-murmured pleading, or maybe weeping. Her breathing hasn't been great, either, occasionally coughing and wheezing, thanks to the lingering damage to her throat, but not waking.

  Hmm. Someone's carrying an interesting load of emotional baggage.

  Now, late in the afternoon, the Queen-Regent of Hyrule is still sleeping. It isn't until the sound of soft footsteps sound in the room that she stirs. Slowly, her eyelids flutter, but she doesn't move to sit up. Instead she lets her eyes open slowly and adjust to the late afternoon light, the rich red of the desert sun not as harsh as it would have been hours ago.

  "Mmn." It's a self-assessment that seems to be saying, 'I would rather be sleeping.' Slowly, Zelda raises an arm to rest it over her eyes.

  There's a moment or three of silence.

  "...I feel like a Goron is playing the kettledrums, using the top of my head." The arm falls off, and she sighs, though it trails into a wheezing cough. "Ugh..."

  Sapphire eyes finally flicker open fully, adjusting to the light. "Rydia." Zelda blinks, somewhat owlishly. "Thank you."

  Not 'what happened,' or 'where am I,' but simple gratitude.

    It had been a little worrying yes. This was certainly not the first time the green-haired girl had poked in to check on the princess; doing so at hourly intervals. She had caught the occasional murmur or stirring, and at points placing a damp cloth on Zelda's brow.
    This time- this time it looks like she's caught the princess waking up. "What's a Goron?"
    It's only proper to ask, considering she has no idea what Zelda is even talking about as she begins to stir.
    Emerald eyes meet sapphire.
    Lips purse, and the Summoner tenses faintly. She had never actually caught Zelda's name, but Zelda certainly caught hers. "Ah... No, it's nothing. Really."

  "Gorons... they are a people who live within Death Mountain, close to the bones and the molten blood of the earth. Many of them mine, and they trade their gems and ores in Castle Town for what wares they might want or need." Zelda takes a moment to catch her breath. She's still weak, but at least she's lucid. She lets her eyes fall closed again. "They are a little suspicious of outsiders, sometimes, but they are good people. I hope..."

  She hopes the twilight hasn't yet reached them, but there's no knowing whether or not the usurper-king's reach is so long as that.

  Drawing in a breath, the Queen-Regent sighs, wheezing a little but managing not to cough this time.

  "I suppose I should begin with a name. Forgive my rudeness, but I have reason to conceal my identity from the prying eyes and ears of strangers." Zelda opens her eyes, regarding Rydia and gesturing for the Summoner to have a seat nearby. "My name is Zelda, and I am the princess of the Kingdom of Hyrule. At least... that is what I was. Hyrule is now under the sway of an usurper. I have travelled beyond it to seek help."

  "My people are transformed," she says softly, "condemned to wander as spirits in the eternal twilight that now cloaks Hyrule. They know not their fate; they do not see the twilight for what it is, and are lost and helpless to combat this spreading evil. All they know now is fear; fear of a nameless evil."

  She looks to the ceiling. "I am Queen-Regent, now. The royal family was slain during the invasion. I was spared; I was not with my royal parents when the usurper arrived with his twilight beasts. It is to me, then, to find some way to mend this situation before all is lost."

  "I hope only that the other races of Hyrule have been able to protect their homes better than I have protected my kingdom. Resistance, however, would have been foolish and dangerous. Surrender was the only option by which I could save the lives of my people. I would not throw them away for the sake of pride. Where there is life," Zelda murmurs, "there is yet hope."

  At least, that's the theory.

  "In any case... no, it was not 'nothing.' I could have been slain, and the implications for Hyrule would be disastrous," Zelda says, looking directly to the Summoner. "Thank you. I owe you my life, or very nearly so."

    There's a chair by the bed. That's where Rydia migrates to, settling down and folding hands on her lap as she listens to the explanation on Gorons. But then she's privy to an introduction. A true introduction. Rydia had never met a princess before, but the even stare that Zelda gets is not the same kind of stare most girls would give. What girl wouldn't be awed and amazed to meet a real princess?
    Rydia of Mist, that's who.
    "Mn." It's a soft sound of acknowledgement, at first, but then the girl purses her lips. Her hands fidget at the hem of her dress, and she tenses again, this time for another reason entirely. It takes the child a beat to regain her composure, and when she does, it's with a slow and steeling breath. "I've never met a princess before." She says, attempting to sound as casual as can be, in spite of the weighty meeting.
    But then she shakes her head.
    "No- you wouldn't have been hurt... You probably wouldn't even be in that bed if it wasn't for me. I lost control and shot first. It was my fault everything went the way it did." It's clear that in hindsight she's seeing her initial potshot at Vivian as not the best ideas. A heated decision made on the spot of the moment with murderous intent that a girl should not have.
    But in the face of hearin Zelda's problems, hers feel so small by comparison.

  With a grimace, the Hylian pushes herself to something of a seated position, reaching back with one hand to arrange the pillow behind her. She might have changed clothing at some point, as her own is safe with the rest of her belongings and she's wearing something different -- loose and comfortable attire for desert travelling.

  But she doesn't have any recollection of doing so. They were probably left in the room by the proprietor, maybe, and Zelda might have done so while Rydia was out, although it probably took all her strength and a fair bit of time. That royal dress wasn't doing her any favours, though. Too constrictive; too stiff and formal, when rest is what she needs.

  So she leans back, grimacing a little. Her throat still hurts. Her ribs also hurt. That gravity-defying shove by the Force might have done some lingering damage. Okay, it probably did. The Hero of Hyrule, she is not... but someone's got to step up to the plate.

  It might as well be her. She's the reason Hyrule is in such a state, after all.

  "I think your actions are hardly at fault," Zelda observes, cocking a sapphire eye toward Rydia. There's something searching in her gaze. "You strike me as composed. To have lost that composure in such a manner... I can only believe that there must be good reason. Besides which, I am not certain some of our other... companions... might not have influenced events."

  Given how one of them rushed right into the ruins willy-nilly... well.

  "It was probably only a matter of time," Zelda offers, as reassuringly as she can muster, with a hapless sort of half-smile. "And if they had planned on unleashing that weapon all along... would we not have acted to stop them, regardless? While I can't speak for you, I know I could not have left it be, to rampage unchecked and ruin lives."

  The Hylian sags back a little. "May I ask a question, Rydia?"

    The silence in the brief moment Zelda spends adjusting her pillow is almost a godsend for Rydia, now feeling awkward and self-conscious. Though she does quietly urge the princess to remain laying back, she can't really stop her if Zelda wants to adjust. But...
    A good reason.
    Rydia feels she has one. Though looking back on the situation when the princess raises their other companions of the time, the girl's expression goes flat.
    Vania was... Eccentric.
    Magilou was scathingly intolerable.
    "At least Aloy and that other girl were there." She murmurs, before shaking her head. "Everything in the story Aloy read off the walls was horrible. I don't know what I could have done, but I couldn't have let it do that." The Summoner says. Before she looks almost surprised at the digression. A question of her?
    "Ah...? You may."

  "I have met Aloy already, although it was only in passing. She carries an interesting bow, and seems to mean well enough from what I can see." Zelda lets her eyes droop to half-mast. "Aloy could read the walls, so that was a help to us. Had we not known and allowed them to unleash that... thing..."

  The Hylian shakes her head, faintly, and her eyes turn toward the room's window, which yields a view of the desert sunset. The light is a brilliant scarlet, and it seems to make the road outside glow. A desert... those don't always have positive connotations in her realm.

  This is different. Kaipo doesn't feel threatening; doesn't have the spectre of old blood, old history, hanging over it.

  She looks calm even as Rydia looks a little caught off her guard about being asked a question. Zelda nods, briefly, though the movement causes her to wince, and wheeze a little. Ow.

  "Yes." A question. Her voice is gentle to begin with, but she gentles her tone even further; not quite a whisper, but almost. "Why did you fire that arrow...?" That tone, so gentle, seems to imply without words that answering this question is entirely optional. She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to.

    Aloy gets around, huh. Though that's not too surprising, she seems like she has a lot on her hands, always tracking machines, making sure they don't spread too far out of her world, hunting them down like she did in the desert just some short time ago. Rydia nods, thumb brushing along thumb in a half-fidget; though she has no clue HOW Aloy could read the walls no one elese could, it is a truth she picked up on. But she awaits the question.
    And the question hits her like a wet slap across the face. Why did she so unflinchingly knock an arrow to her bow and fire at the mere sight of Vivian? She had partially seen it coming. She still sucks down a shuddering breath when it's asked. The question may be optional, but it still brings a tremble to the girl's hands as she dredges up the memories, wincing with all the pain of a fresh and bloody wound. But when green eyes look up, she is in control.
    "To the west of here is the ruins of the village of Mist." She answers. "It was my home." She says, keeping the explanation short and trying to not let the agony bleed through with it. "I don't know how she was involved, but the country of Baron wanted it destroyed. She helped them."

  Far be it for Zelda to interrupt the girl's explanation. She knows what fragile ice she treads upon. While it doesn't sit well with her to ask such a personal question, there is a more practical purpose, and that is to know the rest of the girl's story; to understand why she had not stayed her hand under dire threat.

  More importantly, her heart goes out to this girl, who would appear to have nothing but her summoned creatures. If she knows Rydia's story, then maybe there's something she can do to help the girl.

  The Triforce of Wisdom may motivate her to choose the most logical choices, but it has no sway over her fundamental nature; famously gentle and kindly. They complement one another, most of the time. Not always... but often enough that she can weave humanity into the Triforce's logic.

  When Rydia looks up to her, there is a flicker of pain across the Hylian's features, too. 

  "I am sorry." The words might be empty platitudes from someone else, but there is a sincerity in Zelda's soft and earnest statement. "Truly. Meaning no offense against your considerable abilities... I had wondered what would move one so young to such overwhelming anger. But I thank you for answering. There was another reason past selfish curiosity that motivated me to ask."

  Shifting to pull herself a little more upright, Zelda flinches, but follows through all the same. "I did not know. I had met Vivian... the day before yesterday, if my untrustworthy memory serves. My accounting of recent time is poor, however. I have been running before the Twilight King's forces for some weeks." One hand flicks to gesture at herself. "I have been in better health."

  "She seemed perfectly civil then, but... I have learned from that mistake." Zelda's expression seems to fall. "Oh, Goddesses. I had no idea..."

  And, perhaps before Rydia has a chance to pull back, Zelda sits up fully (although not without an unladylike grunt of pain) and an arm loops around Rydia, to pull her into an embrace. It might be more comforting if Zelda weren't clearly holding her breath against the pain of compromised ribs, but it's the sentiment that counts.

  "Oh, child... I am so sorry. So sorry." She, at least, understands something of Rydia's pain. Hyrule isn't gone yet, but as far as Zelda is aware, it could be, in her absence. Time is short for her kingdom; without any news, it may have already run out. It's pain understood, and perhaps shared. "If there is anything I can do to help you, anything at all... I am in your service. And so too is Hyrule, if I should ever set it free from its conquest."

    Short and painful as she keeps her tale, it's not an easy one for Rydia to recount. Her gaze is downcast by the time she finishes. There it is; the reason she did not stay her hand- the reason she was moved so quickly to violence in the face of Vivian's presence.
    Another slow breath and she realizes she's been gripping the hem of her dress with a death grip. She releases it partiallyout of surprise. Whatever could Zelda need to be sorry for?
    "-No, lay back down." Rydia pleads. She did her best with White Magic, but it was first aid at best. Zelda would be served better by some actual rest; or the attention of a far more skilled White Mage than her. "-Wh..."
    It's the embrace that makes the child stiffen. It's warm and soft, but Rydia can't seem to properly relax, shoulders beginning to tremble as a small hand clutches at the princess' dress. A shuddering breath and she keeps her silence, waiting for it to come to an end. When it does, she dabs at her eyes. "I've already shed all of my tears. All that's left is for me to do something about it, right?" She's already even trying to ease the princess back into the bed. "Th... Thank you, though." She manages after a moment. "It sounds like you have a lot on your plate with your kingdom, too. I can try and help- it won't be much. But my mother, before she died, taught me everything I know."

  "Don't worry," Zelda murmurs, into Rydia's hair. Comfort is probably something this girl has had very little of, though, and the Hylian's sympathetic nature is helpless to turn a blind eye to that. "I will be fine."

  It hurts to stay upright, but it's worth it for that moment of silence, for that hand clutching at her dress. It may be painful to stay upright, but it's more painful to witness this child's devouring agony. What horrors had the Village of Mist experienced? If only she had been closer; she could have helped in some measure, even if only in a futile attempt to heal the wounded.

  What's done is done, though. There's nothing she could have done about it.

  "That's right," she murmurs, "but do not forget that tears are important, too. We cannot release our pain by ignoring it; it will haunt us surely as a ghost."

  Brave words, considering she's barely had time to tend to her own grief. It may be that Hyrule still exists, but her family was murdered, and she was not as distant with them as so many royalty may be. They had been important to her. So had all of the good servants of the royal family that had been cut down by Zant's bestial brutes.

  A sharp twinge of pain leads her to suck in a breath, and she's helpless to resist as Rydia eases her back. She doesn't have the strength to. In fact, she still looks unhealthily pale, a little more so after that stunt.

  "You are most welcome. Know that when it is won back from the twilight, you will have a place in Hyrule, should you ever choose it." Zelda offers a faint, faltering smile. "I do. However, this wrong is entirely my own. I would not risk the lives of my brave, brave subjects... but now, it is my responsibility to right this wrong; to rectify this mistake..."

  Her voice grows distant and small. "If you wish to help, there is one thing you may assist me with. I seek a young man, a rancher, by the name of Link... but I do not know if he is himself... he travels with a resident of the Twilight Realm, the Twili named Midna... she too was betrayed." Those sapphire eyes begin to droop. "They are somewhere in the wide world, and I pray that they have escaped the Twilight King..."

  "Help me to find them... and perhaps we may begin to right... these wrongs..."

  She manages one last faint smile. "Your mother... she taught you well... Rydia of Mist. I think... that I had... better rest... for..."

  ...A little while longer, but Zelda never finishes her sentence, sagging back slightly.

    Rydia's main travel companion, thus far, has been a Dark Knight of Baron. A man who- while surprisingly is far more good than he appears on the outside- is also awkward and full of doubt and self-blame. Rydia hasn't gotten much comfort in that regard, and the girl remains silent and still in the time that Zelda whispers into that soft green hair. But Rydia does not let the princess remain upright. She's still gently pushing, urging Zelda to lay back as she shakes her head. "I'm not ignoring my pain." The child replies softly "I'm just putting it to use in a different way."
    She listens though, brow furrowing, but she does not question just why a princess would seek a simple farmhand. Though it is an interesting subject of search. "I'll talk with Cecil. Maybe he can help too." She ventures quietly. but then that's the end of that. She's already drawing up the sheets to tuck Zelda in. "Now you stay still and don't move. I'll be back with dinner in a little bit, no more moving, got it?"
    She's very firm on that last note as she slips her way back out the door.