Shards

Chapter 12 - Trust
In which Link both gives and gains respect on several occasions.

	"You did it!"  Lord Pelson was nearly jumping with delight.  I didn't have enough energy left to jump, all I could manage was a tired smile.
	
	"I guess I did.  I got a little bit lucky though.  It was a near thing."
	
	He clapped me on the back.  "I've never seen anything like that!  You must..."  Suddenly he stopped.  The gong had rung again, with a different tone than before.  "Curse it!  Perlgrim is disputing it.  His champion yielded, what is there to dispute?"  I suspected I knew what there was to dispute and my heart sank.
	
	A guard escorted us across the arena to where an officer with more gold on his uniform than any of the captains I'd seen stood.  "General," said the guard, and saluted.  The Perlgrims, father and son, stood beside him, both looking sour-faced.
	
	"Lord Pelson, Link," said the General solemnly, "Lord Perlgrim claims that Link used magic in order to win."
	
	[i]:Nobody else here has called you by name,:[/i] noted Darmani.  [i]:You've always been "the accused," but he is calling you by name like a person, rather than a criminal.:[/i]
	
	"Is this charge true?"
	
	I considered.  I didn't want to lie, especially not to somebody who I was already inclined to like, but I also didn't want to lose.  I suspected that if they thought I had cheated, it meant going straight to executioner's block, and that in turn meant taking the path where the Fierce Deity slaughtered far too many in order to gain my freedom.  That path was to be avoided at all costs.  "No sir, I used no magic."  It wasn't entirely a lie.  I hadn't.  It had been the Fierce Deity who had attempted a magical transformation, all I had done was to prevent him.
	
	"You did!  You used some kind of illusion!" shouted Brion.
	
	I looked at him, having to struggle to keep the contempt out of my voice.  He attacked helpless people for money.  He paid others to fight his battles.  I had no respect for him whatsoever.  "I used no illusion."
	
	"Darik said your eyes changed, that they were glowing, or something.  He said it looked like he was looking into hell."
	
	The Fierce Deity laughed softly within me, a sound of smug satisfaction.  [i]:He was.:[/i]
	
	I just shook my head.  "No.  There was no illusion."
	
	"Then explain why our champion yielded when he had just broken your shield!" snapped Lord Perlgrim.
	
	I shrugged and said nothing.
	
	While we'd been talking another guard arrived, escorting a robed mage.  This was not Magister Sharasol, but a middle aged woman, slightly stout but with lively green eyes.  She too bore a staff.  "General," she said with a polite nod.
	
	"Magister.  Was there magic used during the fight?"
	
	"No, no magic was used."
	
	The general smiled and turned back to the Perlgrims.  "There you are.  No magic was used.  The results stand.  Link is free to go."
	
	"Thank you sir," I said, giving him a respectful nod.
	
	Lord Perlgrim turned red-faced, and looked as though he wanted to start shouting, but apparently he knew better than to yell at the general.  He turned on his heel and stalked off, his son trailing behind him.
	
	When they were gone the mage turned to me.  Her eyes were bright and curious.  "Now I just have to ask, what did happen out there?  No magic was actually used, I didn't lie, but something quite definitely did happen."
	
	"I'm curious as well."  The general looked at me, his expression friendly. "I've officiated over dozens of Darik's fights and I have never once seen him yield.  Especially not right after gaining a decisive advantage."
	
	I looked between them, and glanced over at Lord Pelson as well, who was also looking at me curiously.  "I... am not sure I can explain.  I'm not sure I should explain if I could..."
	
	"I'm sure the explanation is quite unique!  I sensed... well, I sensed a power gathering that was not quite like anything I've ever sensed before," said the mage, her eyes dancing with eager curiosity.  "I think if it had been unleashed it could have quite possibly leveled the stadium!  But then it pulled back, vanished again as if it had never been. Spells do not usually allow themselves to be undone when nearly cast."
	
	"It wasn't a spell."
	
	"Not a spell?  Hmm.  Darik said your eyes looked like he was looking into hell."  The mage frowned.  "Something demonic then!  You're possessed, perhaps?"
	
	I bit back a very vile curse.  That again!  "No.  I am not possessed."  Then I sighed.  "But I suppose possession is how it would seem to most people.  The... power you sensed is not a demon though."
	
	"Let me puzzle this out then.  I love a good logic puzzle!  Not a demon.  But definitely powerful.  And you said it would seem like possession, so it's not some spell or artifact or anything like that, it's a being of some kind.  I think that only leaves one thing.  It's a god, isn't it?  You're bearing a god's soul with you somehow."
	
	[i]:She is most perceptive,:[/i] said the Fierce Deity, sounding amused.
	
	"I'm not sure if he's a god, exactly.  But yes.  If not a god, then something very much like one."
	
	"Amazing!  I don't suppose you could take some time for a few magical experiments?"
	
	"Magister..."  The general frowned, and looked between her and me.  "I have to ask if this... being is a danger to Calatia."  He turned his glance to me and apologetically added, "It's my duty to protect my kingdom."
	
	"I understand," I said softly.  I knew all about duty.
	
	"Oh."  The mage looked startled.  Obviously her eagerness for knowledge was so great that the potential danger hadn't even crossed her mind.  "Well in theory, of course.  Gods can be quite dangerous.  But it obviously tried to break fee during the battle and this youngster kept it contained.  He seems to be in control."
	
	The general's calm, level gaze returned to me.  "Are you?"
	
	I nodded.  "Yes sir.  Although... he'll act to defend my life.  That's why he tried to break free, he thought I had lost."
	
	"I see.  So... if we had decided your magic had disqualified you, I take it the execution would not have gone very well?"
	
	"Ah. No sir.  Probably not."
	
	"That's all moot now though," said Lord Pelson.  "He's no danger to the city now that this is over."
	
	The general hesitated.  I knew what he had to be thinking.  I was a stranger, a foreigner and, despite the outcome of this duel, a convicted criminal.  I had just revealed that I could probably level the arena, and by extension I was no doubt capable of doing the same to other parts of the city, such as the castle itself.  He had no reason to trust me, and every reason to take measures against me.  Any sensible person would have me arrested and banished or imprisoned.  I sighed softly, not looking forward to what was to come.  
	
	He smiled suddenly.  "You're right.  He's obviously not dangerous at all."
	
	I blinked at him.  "What?"
	
	"Never play cards, lad," he said to me with a wink.  "I could tell you were suddenly resigning yourself to a long stay in the dungeons.  The fact that you are obviously willing to be locked up again rather than just set this thing loose tells me everything I need to know about you.  You have honor."
	
	"I... thank you sir."

-----
	
	The mage would have dragged me off to experiment with.  Lord Pelson would have dragged me to the library.  But I only wanted to drag myself to bed, maybe after having a bath.  I told them both I was going to find an inn, but Lord Pelson insisted that I stay with him, so I found myself being ushered into a ridiculously luxurious suite of rooms in his palatial home.  It was larger and more elaborate than the room I had at Hyrule Castle.  Lord Pelson was obviously very well off indeed.  

	Amazingly, blissfully, the suite included a bathing room.  I peered curiously at the pipes that led to the claw-footed tub there.  Could they be a way to provide water without carrying it in buckets?  I'd long since learned that the best way to answer such questions was to try something and see what happened. So I turned one knob, and got a steady flow of water. But there were two.  I turned the other, and after a moment discovered that the water was hot!  

	With delight I filled the tub and settled in for a long, hot soak.  The water felt good on my bruised body, though it stung when it reached the cut on my shoulder.  My shield arm was already turning very interesting colors, I'd have to see about getting a potion to help it heal faster, otherwise I might not be able to use it tomorrow.

	[i]:Link... thanks for bailing us out of that one.:

	:Don't thank me, Shadow. Thank the Fierce Deity.:

	:Yeah, but you're the one who fought that guy to a standstill first, so good old Deity could scare him off.:[/i]

	I chuckled.  [i]:He scares you, doesn't he?:

	:What?  No!  I'm not afraid of anyone.:

	:If you say so.:[/i]

	Shadow retreated from the conversation with a kind of wordless, irritated muttering, leaving me more or less alone.  I lay back in the tub and looked up at the ceiling above.  Soon I would have access to the library, which should lead me to the Soul Mirror, and that, at last, would take me back to Hyrule, to where Princess Zelda waited for my return.

	And where I would once again have to assume the form of a child, and pretend to be younger than I really was.  I sighed.  It would be six years before Zelda was grown.  What would happen in that time?  The Zelda I had met, in the dark version of the future, had been a hardened, capable warrior.  She'd spent seven years living as one of the Sheikah, always behind a mask that hid her identity.  I knew something about masks now.  The Zelda who was also Sheik was a very different person than the Zelda of this time.  How would she grow up, in a softer, more peaceful world?  How would she grow up, wearing her own face and not a mask?  

	I remembered my first meeting with Sheik.  I had been very impressed.  I'd been still a child then, newly woken into an unfamiliar adult's body.  Sheik had seemed so capable, so mysterious and knowledgeable.  But now it was Zelda who was young and largely untried, and I who was the more experienced.  Did I impress her?  How did she feel about me?  And for that matter, how did I feel about her?

	There was a bond of destiny between us.  But that destiny had already played out.  The future might hold nothing at all between us, save what lay between a ruler and a warrior that served her kingdom.  I felt sometimes that I wanted more, but I wasn't sure.  Shadow and Mikau might admire women, but on that one subject, at least, I still felt like a child.

	Well, perhaps that just meant that Zelda and I could grow up together after all.  Six years was more than half my life.  But it wasn't really that long, when one considered it in perspective.  Darmani had lived decades.  The Fierce Deity had lived centuries, even millenia perhaps.  On such a scale six years was nothing at all.  I could wait six years to see what kind of woman she would become.

-----	
	
	Lord Pelson was at my side as I once more walked through the library's huge double doors.  The same librarian sat behind his desk, guarding his cabinet of tiny drawers.  I hung back and let Lord Pelson approach him.
	
	"Any books you have on the Soul Mirror or True Mirror please," he said.
	
	"Yes your Lordship," said the librarian, and he got up and turned to the little drawers.  He pulled out one and flipped through it.  It contained little cards, of which he extracted several. Then he got a few more cards from a different drawer.  He brought the cards to the desk and laid them out.  "Are any of these what you're looking for?"
	
	Lord Pelson read over the cards in turn.  I stepped closer and looked at the one nearest me.  It held a book title, summary, and a list of topics, which included "soul mirror."  
	
	[i]:Ingenious,:[/i] said Darmani.  [i]:Each book must have a card filed under each of those topics, so that they can be found no matter where one looks.  A great deal of work to set up, but much easier to use than an index book when it's finished.:[/i]
	
	"I think these two look most promising," said Lord Pelson, picking out a pair of cards.  "We'll come back if we don't find what we need."
	
	"Very good."  The librarian took the two cards and scribbled something from them down on a scrap of parchment, which he then handed to Lord Pelson.  I peered at it and saw a nonsensical string of letters and numbers.
	
	"Come on Link," said Lord Pelson.  He set off into the library itself and I trailed behind him, feeling somewhat intimidated by all this amazingly organized knowledge.  The main room of the library was even more impressive once I was in it.  It was circular, and lined entirely with bookshelves, including a balcony on the second floor, so the books went up all the way to the vaulted ceiling above.  More rows of shelves stood free from the walls, and doors led out into further rooms beyond.  "To the antiquities room first, the oldest is often the best source to check." I nodded silently and followed Lord Pelson through one of those doors, through another book-lined room, and into a third where the books were all in glass cases and another librarian presided over them watchfully.  Lord Pelson handed him the scrap of parchment, and he took it and led us to one of the cases.  With a reverence usually given only to sacred objects he removed a large tome from the case and presented it to Lord Pelson. He took it to one of several tables scattered around the room and set it gently down.
	
	"There.  We can't take this one home, obviously, since it's an antique, but we can look through it here."  I sat beside him and waited while he paged with slow, delicate care through the slightly brittle pages of the book.  
	
	It was nearly an hour later, and I was considering letting one of the others watch for a while because I was getting very bored, when Lord Pelson finally said, "Aha."
	
	"You found something?"
	
	"Yes.  Listen.  'Thusly when this calamity had ceased, the True Mirror was in due course entrusted to the Order of Light, who keep it in sacred trust to this day.'  Admittedly 'this day' was nearly four hundred years ago, but it's still a location."
	
	"The Order of Light?"
	
	"An order of Triforce Worshipers.  I suppose in Hyrule that's probably common, though it's rare here."  He smiled at me.  "They have a monastery in the black hills to the south."
	
	"How far is it?"
	
	"On horseback it takes three or four days."
	
	"I don't have a horse."
	
	"I have a fine selection of horses.  The least I could do for you is lend you one! But first I should examine some of the more recent books.  If the mirror has been moved it would be pointless to go to where it's been rather than where it is."
	
	"Of course."
	
	We spent the remainder of the day at the library.  I ended up letting Darmani take over, because I rather quickly grew bored.  I sparred a bit in the inner space with Shadow, and with the Fierce Deity too.  But at last we were finished and could return to Lord Pelson's manor.  He had found no other information about the location of the mirror, only legends about what it had done in the past.  
	
	"I suppose you'll want to go straight to the monastery in the morning then?" asked Lord Pelson as I was headed up the stairs to my room.  I turned and looked at him.  He had a strangely hopeful expression on his face.
	
	"I had intended to, yes."
	
	"Do you think... do you think I could come with you?"
	
	I considered that.  He might slow me down considerably.  But was I in any real hurry?  And after all he'd done for me, could I possibly say no?  "Of course you can," I said, and I smiled. 
	
	"Thank you!"  He grinned suddenly.  "I'll have everything ready for us to go first thing in the morning!"

-----
	
	In the morning I came downstairs to find Lord Pelson waiting for me.  He was as bright-eyed and eager as a child.  He was also holding a sword and shield, which puzzled me for a moment.  Then he held them out to me.  "Since your old ones are more or less ruined, I thought you might like these."

	I took them.  The shield was very similar to my previous one, though the device on it was Pelson's own three quills in green, rather than the royal Hyrulian crest I'd so often born.  The sword was slightly different, a little longer and a bit thinner than what I was accustomed to, but not so far off that I'd have trouble using it.  

	"They used to be mine, when I was young.  Though I never used them.  I planned, once, on going out and discovering ancient relics, finding the truth behind the old tales.  I was going to study all I could, and then take that knowledge and go adventuring, and return from those adventures with more knowledge that would make me the envy of all the other scholars.  I never gathered the courage to actually go, there was always just a little more studying to do first, and eventually I put it out of my mind completely.  But I could never quite bear to be rid of these.  I'm a bit old to learn how to use them now, but I am finally going to go see the real truth behind one of the tales, and I can't thank you enough for that."

	I shook my head.  "You quite possibly saved my life, there's no need for you to thank me."

	He smiled.  "I will all the same.  But we should be going.  We have a long ride ahead of us."	

	The pace we set was a fairly good one.  Lord Pelson was a capable rider, and his horses were excellent.  He gave me a beautiful blood bay gelding, and said I could keep him if I liked, though I turned him down. After this I'd be crossing the mountains back to Hyrule, and I couldn't take the horse with me.  Plus it seemed a bit like betraying Epona, to own another horse.

	We reached the monastery around noon on the fourth day.  It was built into the side of a mountain, the building half buried in the living stone.  The door at the front was guarded by an alert-looking young monk who wore a sword belt over his robes.  We dismounted and approached.  

	"What business do you have with the Order of Light, strangers?"

	"We're seeking the Soul Mirror," said Lord Pelson.  He sounded very excited, and I couldn't help but smile.

	"And do you honor The Three and their sacred symbol?" asked the monk.

	"Well... I've never been particularly religious," replied Lord Pelson, suddenly sounding a bit uncertain.

	"This is holy ground.  Only those who are worthy can set foot here."

	Lord Pelson looked over at me beseechingly.  I stepped forward.  "I follow The Three.  And Lord Pelson is my friend.  All we need to do is look at the mirror for a moment.  Please, may we enter?"

	The monk frowned.  "For all I know, you're lying just to get in.  In any case your friend won't be allowed.  But do you have any proof?"

	Before I could respond, the door behind the monk swung inward.  A man dressed in somewhat more elaborate robes, with a long stole decorated with embroidered Triforce symbols, stepped out.  

	"Father Iskan!"  The monk guarding the door looked surprised.  

	"Who are these men?" asked the older monk.

	"Strangers, come seeking the True Mirror."

	"And do they serve The Three?"

	"One does not.  The other claims to."

	Father Iskan looked between us.  His eyes settled on me.  "Young man.  You serve The Three?"

	"I do."

	"And who are you?"

	"My name is Link."

	"Have you any evidence of your devotion?"

	I couldn't help it, I laughed.   "Yes."  I held up my left hand, with the back turned towards the monks.  The Triforce symbol there apparently wanted to be helpful, or perhaps some fate decreed that I would gain access here, for the first triangle, the one symbolizing the Triforce of Courage that I bore, began to glow.

	The younger monk gasped.  "The Triforce," he said in awe.

	Father Iskan smiled.  "That is strong evidence indeed.  You are welcome here, Link."

	"And my friend?"

	"If you vouch for his character, he is welcome as well."

	"Without him I wouldn't be here," I said.  "He's a good man."

	"Very well.  Come in, both of you."

	We lead our horses in through the gate, to a courtyard where another young monk took them.  Then we went inside the monastery proper.  It reminded me a bit of the Temple of Time; all clean, soaring lines with light filtering down from windows high above.  In one room where benches lined the walls Father Iskan stopped.  He turned to Lord Pelson. "You must stay here.  Only those blessed by the goddesses may go further."

	Lord Pelson looked disappointed, but he nodded his agreement.

	The monk turned to me.  "Leave your weapons here.  There is a time to serve with arms, but there is a time to set such things aside, and they are not permitted within the mirror chamber."

	I silently shed sword and shield, and took off my pack as well, for some of the other gear I carried might be considered weaponry.  

	"Thank you," he said.  "Now, follow me."

	I followed him through the next door and into a literal maze of corridors.  It seemed to serve no purpose, but then I'd found stranger things than this within temples.  Perhaps it was to assure that those who didn't belong here couldn't find their way through.  But Father Iskan knew the way, and led me to the chamber beyond.  It was dark there, deep within the mountain with no windows to illuminate the room.  He lit a lantern, and I could see a glimmer of light spark to life ahead of us.  It moved when the lantern moved.  The mirror was there.

	"Go," said the monk.  "See what you must."

	I stepped forward and approached the True Mirror at last.