Forest Origin

Chapter 7

Zelda waited patiently for her friends to return. Last night certainly wasn't anything she was expecting. To think that the newest member of Hyrule's army was actually a royal herself. It was hard to believe. She was quite shy when she first showed up in Hyrule. It would certainly be a struggle to properly run a kingdom with a trait like that.

Then again she supposed if Wolf herself didn't know about her origins then it was unlikely that she would know the mannerisms of a royal. Maybe when she was in Nirin, she simply had no choice but to hide her shyness from the people of Nirin.

Soon the door opened and her friends walked in, Queen Rose and her two knights following close behind them. Zelda was quick to notice the expression on the queen's face. She seemed to be deep in thought, as if she was trying to wrap her head around something.

"Welcome back." Zelda greeted. "I assume the trip to the woods proved everything we told you?"

"Yes it has." Rose replied with a nod. There was no other way around it. Blythe's memories were gone. The only thing she could do now was figure out a way to restore her memories. One idea quickly came to mind in order to do that. "I still have one more request."

"What would that be?"

"I'd like for you to send Blythe with me back to Nirin for a while." Rose explained. "Maybe a week or two at most. If she visits where she's from, then there's a chance for her to remember something."

It was then that the Captain of the Guard stepped forward, hearing everything the young queen had to say. "Sending young Wolf all on her own to an unknown kingdom is dangerous." he said. "It'd be unwise of us to lose a potential knight in this sort of fashion."

Rose sighed, keeping her attention on the princess. "I know that as an apprentice to your closest knight, Blythe is an asset to your castle. But now that we know she's alive and well, Nirin deserves to know that their lost princess has been found."

Zelda thought for a moment before speaking. "As someone who sees your sister as a friend, I don't wish for a decision to be made for her. Especially since she's not with us at the moment. All I can do is ask my knights here to inform Wolf about this proposition and from there, let her decide how this goes."

"And if she refuses?" Rose asked.

"Then I have to ask that you leave Hyrule." Zelda replied. "But until Wolf has come up with a decision, you're free to stay here and wait for the answer."

Rose gave a solemn nod. Zelda then looked over to her friends. "You're all free to leave. Remember, your only task is to inform Wolf about the proposition offered to her."

"We'll tell her the moment we get home." Green promised.

They began making their way out, heading home. The moment they were out of earshot, Blue sighed.

"I know that Zelda is patient but dealing with this makes her a saint. Still letting those three be treated like guests after what they did last night? They should consider themselves lucky."

"She's not giving them exactly what they want." Green pointed out.

"And how do you know?"

"Cause if she was she would've ordered Wolf to go back to Nirin. Since with how they decided to act when they heard the news, Zelda's just as weary as the rest of us and is trying to take a hands-off approach to this. If Queen Rose and everyone else in her kingdom want their relationship with Wolf back, it's going to be without her influence."

"Who knew Green would know a thing or two about diplomacy." Shadow mused.

Green ignored his brother's comment as they neared their front door. "Just remember that we're only supposed to tell her what happened today and nothing else."

He opened the door and as they all walked in, he saw Red sitting on the couch, looking over at them the moment he heard the door open.

"Back so soon? Guess it really didn't take long."

The pile of blankets next to Red began to move. Moments later, Wolf peeked her head out of her resting place, rubbing her eyes.

"Who's here?" she asked.

"Everyone's back from taking Queen Rose and her knights to the woods."

Wolf nodded and slowly got up with a yawn. "How'd it go?"

Ghost shrugged. "I guess it somewhat worked out in the end." she answered. "By now there's no way they can still believe that you were kidnapped and brainwashed. But Queen Rose did want to ask you something."

Wolf glanced over at everyone as they all came to the couch, waiting for their response.

"She's asking if you'd be willing to go to Nirin with her for a bit." Ghost told her. "To see if being there stirs up some old memories."

Hearing that, Wolf couldn't help but sigh. "Figured something like that would happen."

"What are your thoughts on it?" Vio asked.

"I... don't know," Wolf admitted. "That kingdom she came from... everyone there thinks I'm dead right? Wouldn't I just showing up be a shock to them?"

"I guess that's part of the reason why she wants you to go," Shadow noted. "Thinks this Nirin place should know that you're not dead."

"But just so you know, her first thought was to try and get Zelda to order you to go rather than just making it an option for you," Blue warned as he crossed his arms.

Immediately the comment earned him a warning glare from Green. But before his brother could retaliate, he continued.

"We all agreed she should be informed right? If she's gonna go off somewhere then she should know what the people around her are gonna be like. Nirin made things pretty clear on the kind of people they are thanks to their introduction."

"I want tonight to think it over." Wolf then answered. Though it would be better to give some sort of response to this, it was just impossible for her to come up with an answer for the queen right now.

Green nodded in understanding. "Take all the time you need."

If there was one thing that Wolf knew at this moment, it was that she wasn't going to go through with this alone.