Chapter 1 Ten years later…

Chapter 1

 

 

 

Ten years later…

 

 

“Gerad?” Selene called over her shoulder from the room window. The warm sunlight blinded her slightly causing her to squint her eyes as she tried to focus on the small group of travelers entering the palace square.

“Yeah?” Gerad answered from the adjacent room poking his head through the doorway.

Without turning to face him she replied over her shoulder, “They’re here.”

By "they", she meant their six childhood friends, the children of the delegates from the six nations of Hyrule.

“Well I’m glad that they are, but,” Gerad said coming into the room buttoning his shirt, “Selene, where did I put my boots?” he asked looking around the room.

“Why are you asking me? Your room is that way, they aren’t in here.” Selene replied turning from the window and putting her second earring in.

Flipping her long brown hair over her shoulder she walked to the closet to get her riding boots. Staring at her reflection in the mirror she tilted her head to the left and pursed her lips in thought. Reaching a decision Selene pulled out a light blue blouse and changed into it from the wrinkled white one she was currently wearing.

Gerad brushed his hand through his short brown hair as his eyes swept the room. Their hair used to be bright blonde but had turned brown over the years. Closing the closet door Selene walked to the edge of her bed and sat to put on her boots. The necklace their parents had presented her at their tenth birthday dangled around her neck. Suddenly Gerad snapped his fingers and ran into his room.

“Found them?” Selene called to him as a triumphant shout carried through the open doorway that connected their rooms.

Gerad came back holding up his black riding boots grinning. “Yes I found them.”

Sitting next to her on the bed he pulled on his boots. Just as he finished a polite knock came from the door. After Selene answered a guard poked his head around the door and announced that the delegates had arrived and were waiting in the eastern courtyard.

“Thank you.”  Selene replied as the two of them got up and walked out of the room. Selene tucked the necklace back under her shirt. The guard fell into step behind them as they passed him coming into the hall. Compared to Gerad with his 6’ 5” height Selene was short at 5’ 5” but tall for a girl.

Their rooms were in the west wing of the palace. As they walked through the corridors they passed servants who were about their chores. Gerad and Selene greeted the servants they passed and smiled at them warmly. The servants bowed and continued with their work, some with a little more gusto than before.

“Why are they all the way in the east courtyard?” Selene asked over her shoulder to the guard.

“I don’t know your highness, I was only sent to tell you.” The guard replied with a bend at the waist. Selene looked forward again and fell silent.

Gerad and Selene made it to the eastern courtyard as the delegates were being served refreshments. At their entrance the servants melted away, the guard saluted and left as well.

“Hey what took you so long?” Sheik asked from the left bench, his red eyes full of mischief, white hair spiked out every which way and charming smile spread across his face.

“Well you did tell them to put us in this courtyard.” Meria retorted looking pointedly at Sheik.

She flicked a leaf off her orange skirt and smiled at the two of them from where she sat next to Sheik. She flipped a stray strand of auburn hair out of her laughing brown eyes. She smirked at Sheik as he turned toward her.

“Yes and you know good and well that they live in the other end.” Aerica piped in from beneath the oak tree off to the right. Meko floated circles around her chasing a bug.

“No not me you must have me confused with someone else, I definitely wouldn’t have done it.” Sheik replied oozing innocence.

“Uh-huh, liar.” Selene chuckled as she sat down on the other bench beside Dahrin.

“He was like that all the way over here.” G-Link said from the ground near the entrance, curled on the ground like a closed up box turtle his deep voice was slightly muffled. Over the years Goron Link’s name had been shortened to G-Link, not that he really cared what he was called.

“You didn’t have to travel with him before we met up with the rest of you. You don’t want to know what I had to put up with.” Dahrin grinned, his light baritone fringed with mock exasperation.

 “What? I didn’t do anything bad, just not entirely good.” Sheik replied trying to defend himself from the truth.

“So how have you all been since last we met two weeks ago?” Gerad asked from the wall he was leaning against next to G-Link. Lucius surfaced from under the water in the fountain.

“Well everything is going smoothly at my home, the water’s up; fish are plentiful, nothing really happening.” He said putting his arms on the edge of the fountain.

“Everything is fine at the farm, we had two colts born and another colt is due next month.” Meria replied cocking her head a little to the left in a habit since childhood.

“Everything is fine at Death Mountain, rocks are good, lava’s warm keeps it warm in our home, levels down so it’s all good.” G-Link said without raising his head.

“Well everything is fine in Kokoriko Village, the cucu lady’s Cucues got out again.” Sheik rolled his eyes. The flightless birds were good eating, but not high on brain power.

“And I’m sure you had nothing to do with that.” Aerica teased.

As everyone chuckled Sheik replied, “No I had nothing to do with it this time.”

“This time?” Gerad asked with a raised eyebrow, “So it was you who let them out the other twelve times?”

Sheik looked up into the tree, “Well, not all twelve.”

Gerad just shook his head as Dahrin went next with his report, “Well the desert and sands are as hot as ever but that’s not uncommon, and I’m not the only boy anymore.”

Holding his hands up in triumph the others congratulated him and asked who had had a son. “Well her name is Shelnock and she married a carpenter, and they had a son the beginning of this week.” Dahrin answered.

“But isn’t that forbidden or something?” Meria asked.

“Not anymore, my mother decided that if we don’t marry out then the Gerudos would eventually die out, so she banished the law.”

“Wow so you’re like the last pure blood Gerudo child.” Sheik whistled low.

“Something like that, yeah.” Dahrin smirked.

“Well the forest is in full bloom, you all should come and see it before the end of spring.” Aerica said from a lower oak branch.

She had climbed up into the tree to sit in the shade of the leaves. Meko was still chasing the bug and getting dizzier by the minute. He finally stopped and made his way to Aerica’s shoulder swaying all the way there.

 “Well nothing of interest here. This is the highlight of the two weeks.” Selene sighed pulling a foot up under her knee.

“So what should we do while our parents are conducting important business of country?” Sheik asked hopping up and into a handstand.

“Well we could go riding.” Meria suggested watching Sheik’s handstand.

“We won’t have time to get a good ride. The meeting will be over soon.” Selene replied standing up.

“Well how ‘bout we head to the kitchens and discuss it on the way, because I’m starved.” Sheik gracefully flipped up out of the handstand landing light footed like he was made of air.

“You always are so what’s new?” Lucius retorted stepping out of the fountain.

Gerad poked G-Link, who had fallen asleep, with his toe. Aerica lightly jumped from the branch and followed the others toward the exit.

“What?” G-Link asked sitting up.

“We’re heading to the kitchens.” Gerad replied straightening up.

G-Link nodded and fell back down and started rolling towards the kitchens. The rest of them left the courtyard and walked behind G-Link, slowing to match their pace to his. The group made its way to the kitchen all the while discussing what to do during their time together today.

Just as they made it to the kitchen they finally settled on archery and sparring. After grabbing a few loaves, cheese, and apples they headed to the training area.

The group filed out onto the training grounds just as Captain Calhan unhorsed his opponent. Knights of Hyrule were training vigorously for the annual tournament coming up in a couple of months. The knight flew back from the force of the hit and landed with a thud. The captain pulled his helmet off and shook out his sweaty hair. As he was calling out to the knight on the ground to check on him Calhan caught sight of the group.

“Wow, nice hit.” Sheik said from behind Gerad. Sheik and Calhan were not on good terms. Calhan rode over and bowed to them from on top of his horse whose name was Slaughter. Slaughter was a huge stallion, his coat was red, and his main and tail were black, from his knees down his fur was black.

“Ah Lady Selene how are you this morning?” Calhan asked holding out his hand to Selene. Selene put her hand in his and he bent and kissed it. He smiled his best smile and Selene backed up and stood next to Gerad.

“Is the archery open?” Gerad asked smiling. His friends could tell it was forced; he didn’t care for Calhan and his superior aloofness. Selene secretly wiped the back of her hand on her pants leg while Calhan’s attention was on Gerad.

“Yes milord. The Knights are practicing jousting today so the archery is all yours.” Calhan replied with another bow, “Is there anything else you require milord, I could help you in your archery if you’d like?”

“No thank you, carry on captain.” Gerad said as they walked off to the archery range.

Sheik stayed out of site from Calhan, and Dahrin kept his eyes downcast. Calhan had no love for Sheik or Dahrin, and not much use for the rest of their friends either. Sheik was quiet for five minutes which was a miracle in itself. They made it to the archery range with no further unpleasant encounters.

“How did a guy like that get to be a captain, anyways?” Aerica asked as the boys took their turn at the bows.

Selene shrugged as she munched on a piece of bread, “Despite his oh so wonderful character, he’s actually a darn good captain. He defiantly doesn’t win the Mr. Personality award though.”

The other girls nodded their heads and went back to watching the boys. Meko was sitting in Aerica’s lap and munching on bits of bread she fed to him. Gerad, Sheik, and Dahrin were the only ones that were shooting, G-Link and Lucius sat and watched, Hylian bows weren’t designed for webbed fingers or giant strength. Gerad hit the bull’s eye nine times out of ten, Sheik hit two out of ten, and Dahrin hit six out of ten.

“Yeah, I don’t trust him.” Gerad said over his shoulder as he released his shot, hitting the bull’s eye, “He’s too ambitious.” Gerad moved over and Sheik stepped up.

“If you ask me he needs a sense of humor, he still hates me for that little joke I played on him.” Sheik sighed as he missed.

 “Which one?” Dahrin asked as Sheik stepped off, “The one with the manure or the one with the bucket of scalding hot water?” Dahrin took careful aim and hit the bull’s eye.

The girls switched out with the boys and began shooting. Meko moved from Aerica’s lap to Gerad’s who continued to feed him bred.

“Well, the least I have to interact with him, the better.” Selene grimaced releasing a shaft.

 “We could just be misunderstanding the guy.” Aerica suggested as she released a shaft, “He could be really nice.”

“Are you kidding? He’s got as much nice in him as a cucoo’s got flight.” Meria replied as she let loose a shaft that went through the target landing in the stone wall behind it.

Pursing her lips Selene sighed, “I still don’t know how you do that.”

 

Their parents came out to the training area as the group was into the third round of sparring. Gerad and Dahrin were fighting and it was coming to a tied match again. As he watched Link looked at his son proudly. Nabooru smiled at hers as he ducked under a punch Gerad threw and countered with an uppercut. Gerad blocked the uppercut with his other hand and brought his right knee up toward Dahrin’s face.

Selene called time just before his knee connected. The final score was a tie and to the adult’s applause the two of them bowed to each other and walked out of the ring. Selene handed both her brother and Dahrin a towel and congratulated them.

“So what have you children been up to?” Zelda asked as the children bowed to her and the other adults.

“We were practicing archery and hand to hand combat mother.” Gerad replied coming up and giving her a hug. He kissed her on each cheek before she could push him away.

“Silly boy you’re all sweaty.” Zelda smiled as she dusted off the front of her dress.

“You both seem evenly matched.” Link remarked as he patted his son on the shoulder.

“Actually I think he’s holding back, but so am I.” Gerad replied smiling at Dahrin.

Dahrin laughed, “No, I’m sure if you had good reason you’d beat me hands down.”

Gerad laughed with him and replied, “Well I hope I never have the reason.”

“So what did you discuss?” Selene asked her mother.

 “Well we came to the realization that we don’t know that much about our respected neighbors and friends so we have decided to send delegates to stay in the homes of the leaders of the five countries.” Zelda’s eyes gleamed in delight.

“Oh and who will we send?” Gerad asked wiping the sweat from his face.

“We are going to send you two, while the others will send them.” Link said pointing to the other children.

After a second for the news to sink in Selene asked hesitantly, “So we get to spend time at one of their homes, for how long?”

“Well you’ll start at Kokoriko all of you and will stay there for a month, learning the ways of the people and the culture.” Impa replied stone faced.

“And then you’ll stay at Death Mountain.” Darunia said, well yelled is more the word,

“And then Zora’s Domain.” Ruto continued putting her hand on Lucius’s head.

“And then you will come and stay in the forest with us.” Saria said.

“Then our home in the Gerudo fortress.” Nabooru continued solemnly.

 “Then on the ranch with us and the horses.” Malon said.

“And then finally all of you will come back here so that they can learn about our culture.” Zelda had to raise her voice over the ecstatic celebrations of the children.

“When do we leave?” Selene asked with a huge smile on her face.

“You leave a week from tomorrow, so that they have time to pack for the trip.” Zelda replied.

“Thank you, mother and father.” Gerad exclaimed hugging his parents.

Link laughed, “Now it’s not going to be all fun and games, you’re going to learn about the people and their culture, and there will be reports to make.” The children groaned.

To the groans of the children Nabooru continued, “But that will be on weekdays, weekends you get to spend with each other doing what you like.”

“Can we stay an extra day and head home the next day?” Sheik asked his red eyes big and shinning.

Impa smiled at her son, “I don’t have a problem with it, as long as you get home on time and in one piece.” The rest of the adults agreed and then left the children to spend more time together.

“Wow we get to spend an entire day with you guys.” Meria clapped her hands in excitement.

“Yeah good thing we all packed an extra pair of clothes.” Sheik was grinning from ear to ear.

“So did you plan to ask this or were the extra clothes just in case you got dirty?” Selene asked poking sheik.

“Maybe?” Sheik shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe to which part?” Gerad asked. Sheik just stared at the sky and hummed. The others rolled their eyes while Dahrin ruffled Sheik’s hair.

 Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched.

Author's Note

ok second post let me know if the dialog is better or not :)

Reviews

[Nick Arouet]

Very, very, VERY interesting concept. You obviously have a feel for writing. I think that it's a really cool thing that you got this idea from Legend of Zelda, because I love that game. If you're looking for critique; (If not, don't read this part. Lol, I just want to be helpful)

I'd say that the conversations need to be a little less... banter-y. Seems too back-and-forth, like a little too extensive. Maybe put less 'she said' and 'he said', and more 'she smirked' or 'she giggled' or things of that nature. To overuse 'said' can be unappealing in some places.

I love your writing style and your descriptions, otherwise. I think it has some real potential!

[Dreamer]

Thank you Nick, and I understand about the dialog, I'll try to work on that :)