✓Bounded

Chapter 15- A Harp's Song

"So...you're telling me some princess messed with time?" Zelda said, clearly confused now.

"Precisely." A group of researchers were trying to discover why Zelda would suddenly be gone from one moment to the next. "In the time of the Hero of Time, there were plenty of meddlings."

"But we didn't exist back then, how is that possible?"

"All things are possible with an insane author and an ocarina that travels through time, Queen Zelda."

Queen Zelda. That was certainly something to get used to. "And what kind of explanation is that?"

The researcher stayed silent for a moment. "Uh..apparently not very good one according to her majesty.."

"That's not what I meant. You must have something you haven't told me yet."

More silence. "Well, I am certainly getting there. We found fragments of the ocarina. But of course, not enough to make a full one." They said, getting slightly nervous now. Of course, it wasn't Zelda's intention, but they were being a bit irritating. She wanted answers.

"Anything else?" She says, as if urging them to go on.

"The strangest thing, actually." The person went to the back of the room, taking a box and placing it on the table of the research room. "We found a purple harp. How odd is that?" They spoke, with clear interest. "We suspect it may be from the time of the Skies. Due to the Hylian crest on it." They flipped it over, showing the crest in a small corner.

Zelda recognized it immediately. It was the harp that Impa had used to bring her home. How was it here? She took it from the person's hands, since they were handing it to her.

"It's great at doing two things, taking one to its original time, and bringing back the dead."

That was what Impa had told her about the harp. She wondered how it got there, but didn't seem to think much of it until an idea popped into her head.

She went out the door with the harp, without thinking.

"Queen Zelda! Wait!" The researcher called after her, but to no avail.

"Impaz!" Zelda went up to the old woman, catching her as she walked down the hall of the castle.

"Yes, dear?"

"Where is Ganondorf?"

Impaz seemed to process this for a moment. "Dear, he's dead. Why do you ask to see him?"

"I know he's dead. But where is he?" She says, this time more insistent than the last.

She hesitated telling the girl. But did so anyway. "He was thrown near a lake."

"Which one?"

"Lake Hylia, dear."

"Good, good. Thank you, Impaz!" Zelda went off again, not offering any further explanation and going outside again to mount her horse.

"You're welcome?..."

***

Once she finally got there, near the lake, there he was. Not even a proper burial... Zelda though, clearly not very approving of this. She would have at least given him that.

She sighed, putting her thoughts aside and sitting next to him. Though she was still like six feet away. Trying to recall the tune that the woman played back in the time of the skies,  which didn't seem to be working, she sat there.

For a good two hours, she was there. Humming to herself, trying to remember what was played. She figured it was pointless. But eventually, she remembered.

She started to play the notes on the harp, letting each string play out its vibration before going to the next, making sure it was  thoroughly played. After practicing a few times, she finally played all the notes together. It sounded nice, and enjoyed it more than the first time she played it, since she actually had the time to enjoy it this time.

Now, she waited.

And waited.