Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Majora's War - Sheikah's Civil War

-Link / Impa-

-Western Qin-

Several days passed in which they rode through Qin. From corner to corner the journey across Qin takes about two weeks on horseback without rest. Taking in the consideration that the capital of Qin is nearly in its middle, and adding in a few days for rough terrain, detours, questioning passerby as to whether or not a certain girl on horseback passed through the road, and the inevitable need for sleep, then one can guess by the time they reached their destination Link was tired of horses and annoyed by Impa's endless silence.

They stopped on the edge of a forest descending down from the plains. In the distance was the mountain border wrapped around the forest almost lovingly. The nearest village was miles away. They passed destroyed road-signs and their horses trampled dirt roads overtaken by thorns and weeds. An area of ground was once churned up for farmland was now overtaken by the same thorns and weeds, and trees took root in its midst. Blocks of erected stone provided evidence of a village, but the lack of any wooden buildings spoke otherwise. An arrowhead glistened in the sunlight from the ground. Link didn't need to see more weapons to know a conflict had transpired here. The victors had looted everything and burned what remained to the ground.

"What happened here?" Link wondered.

"War. Betrayel." Impa answered. She briefly eyed him, "It is complicated."

"Mhmm, war tends to be with you."

Link stopped the horse by a pile of stone of what might have once been a loose wall. He tied the horse and looked around. The ruins had an ominous feel to it, as ruins will have.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Impa snapped.

Link shrugged and commented offhandedly, "You're a politician. You complicate things. I'm a soldier. To me it is as simple as 'protect the innocent', and 'try not to die'."

"There is so much more to it than that."

"Only because you want there to be." Link replied. He motioned to the ruins. "Whatever happened here, if Soli has come all this way, its important to her. You can tell me, you can not tell me, either way I am going to snap her back to reality."

"How can you hope to do that if you don't know what troubles her?" Impa scoffed.

"Everyone is troubled by something. That's life."

"For a friend, you are very dismissive."

"Her troubles are real. But at the same time, it is not a contest. We are all a team. Soli and I, even you. All men are born on the same team to just live. It is only when people force their input on it that they put up these little boundaries and split up the team that they sit like wise men and justify it all by calling it-" He used air-quotes with his fingers, "'complicated'."

They searched the ruins. A third horse trotted in the field, untetthered to any post. On the horses back was a saddle Link recognized as having been used by Soli. In a side pocket it still had her spare burn ointments unopened. A mass graveyard was in another field.

"King Shorlin was very accepting... but his son was not," Impa started. Link didn't respond or offer a smartass comment, but simply listened. "Everyone was pressured to strengthen the war efforts all over again to the same extent, if not greater, than it had been for his father. However Shorlins war had lasted decades and was bloody as he doubled Qin's borders, and the people were tired. Only the Mitagi succeeded in standing up to his rediculas standards. Others went to extreme lengths to keep up, like the Dragmire. Others failed and split under the pressure, like the Ki... and the Sheikah. Once we were a clan like any other, but we were small. We changed our methods to recruit criminals outside our bloodlines and offer them a chance for freedom through servitude, but it still wasn't enough. So we offered everyone a second chance. Allow yourself to become a shadow, and escape what your life was. A surprising number took the oppurtunity. People forgot who they were to remake themselves and be reborn, and when they came to remember their past lives, when they remembered their names, they were returned back to it if they wished. Still it wasn't enough for the king and the threat of displeasing him became more real after the Dragmire rebellion. So some... split off from the Sheikah and introctronaded children."