The Legend of Zelda: The Silent Princess

The Boy

Once a year passed after Mother's death, Father deemed me ready to go to the springs. However, I only had two options. The Spring of Courage or the Spring of Power. The Spring of Wisdom could only be ventured by those of the age of seventeen. I still had ten years before I could journey there.

In the end, I reported to Father that I would head to the Spring of Courage. He agreed with the idea and told me I would head out mid-day tomorrow, but for now, his Chief of the Royal Guard was coming back to the castle after the long years spent at the Zora Domain. As the princess, I was to welcome the Chief back with Father.

Taking Father's hand, he led me outside to the fountain where a group of knights came trotting to us on their horses. They all looked tired from their travels. It was clear they had some difficulty with the weather as most of their things appeared to be soaked.

As we waited for them to get closer, my maids came out with my annoying and itchy headdress. I sighed as one of them put the headdress on my head, covering up my braid along with the rest of my hair. The headdress' weight burdened me, reminding me of my responsibilities as princess.

My eyes focused on the brick path at my feet. I stared at the lines of gravel and dirt used to secure the stones in the ground. Father had been pushing me a lot over the year. After all, Grandmother successfully gained the sacred power when she was four years of age.

"Look there," one of my maids said excitedly to the other, interrupting my thoughts, "The boy who bested grown men!"

"He'd be what, seven now?" the other asked.

There was a nod, but then Father gave them a cold stare. They both shut their mouths, afraid to comment on anything else. To compensate for their need to do something, their eyes drifted over to the young boy they spoke of.

The boy rode on a beautiful pony next to his father, the Chief of the Royal Guard. I noticed the pony resisted the boy for a moment. His big blue eyes looked fearful, but as soon as he patted the pony's white mane it settled down.

When the boy dismounted, his blonde hair bounced around. It wasn't by any means neatly cut or trimmed. He had the same style as his father, messy and cut off at the nip of his neck, most of it anyway.

His father dismounted his own horse and strode over to Father and me. The boy quickly caught up with him. They bowed to us at the same time and stayed like that until Father gestured for them to arise.

"Your Majesty," the Chief began, standing to his feet, "It is good to see you in such good health. I worried about you when I got the news of the Queen. I wanted to come back as soon as I heard but--"

"But your orders were to stay in Zora Domain," Father said, "And I appreciate that you did. Their Divine Beast was the hardest to find, due to the water and rain. They needed you there. However, I am glad to see that you have safely returned."

The Chief smiled, one that I, myself, have missed over the years. He was like a second father to me in many ways. Whenever I got lost, he would always help me. He even showed me a trick or two to find my way around.

Father looked down at the Chief's son, "And you must be Link, I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you, though I've heard a lot of rumors."

The boy, Link, shook Father's extended hand. His blue eyes showed a bit of concern for making such common contact with the King of Hyrule, but he hid the emotion well. I almost didn't catch it.

"I try my hardest, Your Majesty," he said in a rather small voice for someone held in such high esteem for knocking well-trained men defenseless.

The Chief told the honest truth while pulling Link closer to him with great love, "What he means to say is, he's learned everything I know and more. He may not admit it or even try, but he could easily beat his old man."

Father chuckled merrily as Link awkwardly yanked with one of his hands at the edge of his long green shirt. I expected things to turn into more serious matters after this small talk, like how Zora Domain was holding up or more on the Divine Beast Ruta. There was still a lot of work to be done. We haven't a clue how to use any of the Beasts or the other ancient relics. Instead, the topic went south, at least for me.

"Wish my Zelda here was progressing as fast as you have. She still has much to learn."

All of their eyes went over to me. Before I could look back at the bricks below me, Link caught my eye. I didn't bother to see what expression lay behind those bright blue eyes. Pity, sympathy, boastfulness. I didn't want to know.

Then, to my delight, Father continued onward with the Chief's reports. He dismissed me by telling my maids to take me to my study. There I would proceed with my training. In my mind, I prayed that my power would awaken tomorrow at the spring. Maybe then, I could receive an embrace similar to the one the Chief gave his son moments ago.

My maids started to usher me away as Father and the Chief took a walk. I obeyed their orders, following them back to the entrance of the castle. However, I still felt a pair of eyes on me. Turning around, Link stood there as all of us left him. Our eyes met for a brief moment, then I forced myself to turn around. I needed to earn my place, not for the kingdom, not even for Father, but for Mother.

                                                                           * * *

Two hours later in my study, I threw my stupid headdress off. My maids left me alone so they could clean up my room. The real truth of it that was they were bored out of their minds and went to flirt with the guards outside of my room. I don't blame them. We've been doing the same thing over and over again. I've read all the legends and myths that mentioned the sacred power, hoping just one of them sparked something within me. Then I go play songs on my harp, then I read some more, then I pray quietly, then aloud, and the process started over again until someone said I could stop.

Turned out that particular day, I was frustrated to the point that I started banging my head on my desk. I became certain reading, playing ancient songs, and praying there in my study wasn't going to help me. My only hope was to bring my prayers to the springs. It felt right.

So with that in thought, I decided there was no reason to be sitting there wasting my time. There was something far better I could be doing. Not only that, but my results seemed promising as well. Which meant I would finally be accomplishing something instead of failing at it.

Grinning, I sprang to my feet, opened the bottom drawer of my desk, and pulled out my research book. It wasn't just any research book. And it definitely wasn't on the sacred power. It was for the ancient relics. I believed that if I saw firsthand some of the relics, I could figure it out.

The closest place that I knew of which contained relics was at the training grounds for the knights, which was a little a ways from Central Castle Town. See, Father once had the relics closer by until he realized I escaped far too often to go see them, so he told the Sheikah to move the research over there.

However, I've gained knowledge about my home and all the secret passages since the days I got myself lost in the huge halls. And it just so happened, I knew of one that led right under the moat to the very grounds I wanted to go to. All I had to do was sneak into servants' passages into the Guards' Chamber and then jump down into the secret tunnel. Easy.

Walking out of my study and across the bridge, I traveled into my room. From there I listened by the doors. Sure enough, I heard my maids chatting with the guards outside. I let out a small giggle before I made my way over to the servant's passage.

I cracked it open, peeked to see if my maids or the guards heard the creaking of the door, then I went in. Humming to myself, I skipped along the passage knowing the servants only used these during the night hours or when they were in a rush. There was no need to have the fear of being caught.

When I made it to the section where it branched into the Guards' Chamber, I slowly pressed my ear against the door. Once I was certain no one was in there, I opened the door. It was then that I wasted no time in skipping or humming as I lifted the stone in the ground that covered the true secret tunnel.

Carefully I got down inside about halfway. As quickly as I could, I grabbed the stone tile to slide it back in place while I stepped the rest of the way down. The light from the room vanished. I was left in pitch-black darkness, but it only led to one place.

Despite knowing most of the route, I still placed my free hand on the right side of the wall while the other clutched my book. I hated being in the dark. It didn't really scare me, but it still was an uncomfortable feeling when I was all by myself.

After a good fifteen minutes, I reached the end of the line. Using my right hand, I felt for the ladder in front of me. When I found it, I climbed up it midway. Then, balancing myself with my feet only, I pushed up at the ceiling until light peaked through. I slipped my book through the crack to make pushing the tile out of the way easier.

Once I had the room I needed to fit through, I climbed up the rest of the way. I stepped out into a pathway that led to the training grounds. The tile I pushed up was a part of that path. Gently I set the tile back in place and grabbed my book that lay in the grass. Now came the hard part that I didn't bother planning out: getting to the relics without being seen.

I breathed before I walked forward toward the grounds. Before I got too close, I studied what I was dealing with. There was only one real building and that's where I needed to go. The rest of the place was flat with some boulders and trees here and there. If I took it slowly, I could hide behind them until I reached the building. It didn't look like anyone was inside, but I would have to use the back door.

Sneaking my way across the grounds, I avoided knights and members of the Sheikah Tribe. The tribe were the ones studying the relics, but they also liked training with the knights as well. I've learned a thing or two from them about stealth, so they were handy when it came to spies. However, their intelligence was far more in tune than most, especially with the relics.