chapter thirty-four

The Improper Use of Wooden Weaponry

We wake again the next morning without the fanfare from the night before, but it hasn't been forgotten. I roll over and Rutela sits up from the chair she'd dragged in, reaching for a small pot she'd set down on the sideboard. She beckons me over and I ease myself out of the blankets, only to realise that Malon is already awake. She follows me out of the blankets.

"You feelin' better?" she asks loudly, and Rutela hurriedly shushes her. Navi, Ruto and Zelda are still asleep, as is Ralis, snoozing in his sister's bed where Rutela tucked him in after Zelda and I woke pretty much everyone in the area.

"Yeah," I murmur back, and Rutela holds out a cup of warm liquid poured from the pot and a plate of a whole round pie, steam rising gently off it.

"Ceiili tea," the Zora says, leaning forward. The cup is full of a slightly greenish-brown liquid, warm to the touch. "It's very calming. And I made a cinnamon pie as well,"

I take the cup and sip it, while Malon eyes it.

"How d'ya know?"

"That it's calming?" Rutela frowns.

"Yeah,"

"Experience, mostly. I drink a lot of ceiili tea myself. Would you like some?"

"Yes please," Malon chirps, and Rutela pours her a cup as well. The redhead sniffs at it before all but chugging it, and Rutela rolls her eyes and refills the cup. I sit down and drink the sweet tea slowly, only pausing to eat the slice of cinnamon pie I'm handed. I end up leaning against the side of Rutela's chair and closing my eyes. It's been a long week.

I almost don't notice it when Rutela starts carding her hands through my hair, and for a moment I consider shifting out of the way, but...it's more calming than the tea, if I'm honest. The tentative touch becomes more confident when I don't push her hand away, and I just keep leaning against her chair. It's only when Malon's drifted back to sleep again, lulled by the excess tea she drank, that the taller Zora speaks.

"You're too young for this, you know," she says quietly, and I twist around to look up at her. Her green eyes have a faraway look to them, staring off at the ripple-patterned walls and looking right through them. "You're just children. It's not right for you to have to do the things the hero has to do,"

I don't answer, unsure if there's anything to say. She sighs.

"You don't have to, you know," she goes on eventually. "If the goddesses will it, another will rise to take on whatever task you've had forced on you. You still have a choice,"

Whether it's her gentle voice, the calming tea or the smell of the cinnamon pie lingering in the room, I almost want to take her up on her offer.

"Nobody else is going to save the forest," I say when the silence is getting too long. I hate the way my voice rasps at the beginning. "It's me or nobody,"

"Surely not," Rutela insists. "The goddesses would not have a child be their only defense. The pressure is too much for someone as young as you,"

I don't bother arguing. The problem is, I agree with her, but that doesn't mean that I can act on that opinion. Waiting for someone else to do it could be the worst thing I could possibly do.

Rutela seems to get the gist after a while and just lets out a long sigh.

"I wouldn't have listened to me either," she confesses. "You're set in your path, hmm?" I nod, and she gives a slight smile. "I guess that's that. Are you sure you know what you're doing, though? The legendary hero has to deal with some nasty things,"

"Zelda taught me how to fight," I point out, "and I've already killed two big monsters and a few smaller ones,"

Rutela's gaze tracks across to the sleeping Zelda with a look of incredulity.

"Your only training came from the princess?" she says, a note of horror in her voice.

"Um," I try, wrong-footed, "...yes?"

The Zora makes a disapproving noise. "That's just not enough," she says. "I've seen Zora make mistakes with more training than that, and they've never had to battle incarnations of pure evil,"

I shrug. "It was the best we could do in a forest with nothing to train against in it,"

Rutela stands up. "Come with me,"

I follow her to the door, where she turns to one of the guards. "Nanaphys Tijapa, tara neridu Link isumer naranda maroi inyura rmes na deh?"

"Pa, cei na deh," the guard nods.

"What's happening?" I ask, given that I don't speak Zoran.

"Oh, sorry," Rutela apologises. "Tijapa doesn't know any Hylian. I asked him to take you to the training ground,"

"Why?" I hesitate.

"To see if we can give you a few more lessons before you leave," the Zora says. "It's worth an attempt, no?"

Tijapa is gesturing for me to follow, and I take a step. "I'll wait here for Zelda to wake up," Rutela nods. "Do enjoy yourself,"

"Thank you," I say, following after the Zora guard. He leads me down several corridors into a wide open area already filled with a few sparring Zora, some armed with wooden sticks and others with genuine weapons. Tijapa calls to another Zora I recognise- it's that one the king was ogling the other day in the throne room, one of the only Zora who's not obscenely tall.

"Soduru!" Tijapa calls. "Marudonda, terapharu isimara tanaridu, hyli-yan-pha manaridu kadaratu phani na deh?"

"Pa, pa," Soduru says, joining us. "Cei na deh. You speak Hylian, yes?"

"Y-yeah," I stammer, not expecting him to address me. Tijapa leaves as Soduru gestures me over to a rack of sticks.

"What do you fight with?"

"A sword, and a shield,"

"How long?" He moves his fingertips apart, gesturing lengths; I hold my hands out a little over a foot, and Soduru plucks a sturdy, wrapped wooden sword from the shelf and holds it out handle-first. I take the wooden sword and he leaves me to choose my own shield from the rack as he muses between a spear and a longsword; he ends up choosing the spear as I hoist the shield that's closest to the one I normally use. "Ready?"

"Yep," I reply, raising my shield. Immediately Soduru is on me, the haft of the spear jerking my shield away and the blade whipping around to rest on the side of my neck.

"Want to change your answer?" he asks with a fanged grin, and I scowl, shrugging my shoulder to nudge off the blade. He flips the spear back around and returns to the position he started in, the spear resting casually on the ground.

"Okay, for real this time," I say stubbornly, gripping the wooden sword hard and ready to dodge out of the path of his weapon, maybe strike him from behind, and- goddesses damn it! Dodging has exactly no effect because he's already prepared for it somehow, and I manage to dodge my way right into the path of a blow that wouldn't have hit me otherwise.

"Just keep trying," he reassures me, going back to standard and leaping forward when I have my shield raised. I try to duck out of the way of the strike as it makes the air hiss, raising my shield to deflect a second blow should it come, trying to get in closer to his side, and then there's the haft of a spear slamming into my ribs and sending me sprawling across the stone ground.

"Again!"

"How are you doing that?" I growl as I stand up.

"You're sloping your shoulders and hips in the direction you're about to dodge in," he points out. "Tells me right away what you're doing. It's probably a subconscious thing- everyone does it, you're preparing for the sharp movement so it doesn't jarr anything. But it's a very clearly worded signpost to anyone who knows what to look for,"

I raise my shield again and this time deliberately point myself as if I'm going to leap left; when Soduru attacks- going for the right, because he's not stupid and probably guessed that I was going to trick him this time- I swing my sword upwards and stay exactly where I am. The sword connects with his jaw and he staggers, and I duck under my shield and charge forward as he backs away, wooden sword dancing from side to side as I rap it across his ribs. He divests me of my shield with a well-timed jerk of the spear and goes in for a strike to my chest; I swing my sword downwards to block the blow and then get a heel to the face when Soduru pivots onto his back leg and swings his foot to meet my jaw. I'm knocked forwards and drop my sword.

"Well done," he says happily, "but don't forget that someone's weapon isn't the only thing they can fight with, hmm?"

"Sorry," I mutter, rubbing my jaw and trying to stretch it out. The Zora winces.

"Sorry, I probably was a bit rough there," he apologises. "We'll get that healed later,"

"Can I try again?"

Rutela joins us some time later, a sleepy group following after her. Malon immediately plants herself in the corner and goes back to sleep, but the others wander over to us.

"How are you doing?" Rutela asks.

"He's improving, your majesty," Soduru bows respectfully. Rutela gives him an odd look for a few moments.

"Have at it then, Soduru," she says suddenly, reaching out and pulling a spear from the rack. Soduru blinks.

"Your majesty?"

Rutela plants the butt of the spear against the ground and smiles a fanged smile at the smaller Zora.

"I've got to check in on my men every now and then, don't I?" she asks sweetly, and I get the hell off their battlefield, backing over to where Ruto is sniggering with a hand over her mouth, Zelda looks attentive and Navi is still half-asleep.

"Ooooh, she's gonna kick his butt," Ruto hisses delightedly.

"Why?" I ask. "I'm lost,"

"Dad keeps eyeing up Soduru and it makes Rutela so mad," the young Zora giggles. "She's gonna beat him up!"

"How did Rutela learn to fight?" Zelda asks interestedly, watching as the queen stabs forward with the wooden spear, striking Soduru in the gut and sending him sprawling. No sooner has he gotten up than Rutela's on him again, and he's definitely on the frantic defensive as he tries to block her strikes with his own spear.

"She was a general in our army before she married dad," Ruto shrugs. "Fought against Ikana in the war. She knows what she's doing,"

The queen is a blurring flurry of slashes now, and I can't help but stare at her and Soduru. It's a whirlwind of strikes, Soduru spinning his spear faster than I can track to block her attacks, forced to backpedal hard under the onslaught. Rutela's weapon never stops moving, slashing and stabbing at every opening, the Zora queen pressing ever onwards.

"Your majesty!" he tries to plead, and the Zora queen's green eyes gleam.

"If I was a River Zora I wouldn't stop!" she crows, and easily dodges a swipe from Soduru's spear that might well have cut her in half, if the spear was actually metal and if the blade had actually connected. She grabs the spear as it sails past, yanking it towards her; Soduru doesn't let go of his weapon and as a consequence is yanked forwards to recieve Rutela's bare fist to the jaw and then a knee to the chest. He staggers backwards, wresting his spear from her grip, but he's barely a time to rest before Rutela is on him again, the wooden spear singing against the air as she slashes again and again.

Their battle is drawn to a stop in a split second; Rutela's spear comes down towards Soduru, who raises his own in front of him in two hands to block the strike. It shatters on impact, Rutela's spear bouncing away, and Soduru doesn't even have time to widen his eyes at the two halves of the spear in his hands before Rutela has swiftly lifted her foot and kicked Soduru in the sternum, with enough force to send him flying backwards. He skids along the ground for a few metres before stopping himself, panting, shaking and out of breath.

"Well done," Rutela says, throwing her spear to the ground; the wood is twisted and warped, broken under the force of her attacks. "Also, you're banned from the throne room save for emergencies. In fact, you're banned from any location containing my husband save for emergencies. Do you understand?"

Soduru wheezes.

"That was amazing," Malon's awe-struck voice echoes from the corner- apparently she wasn't asleep- and Rutela offers a serene smile that is strikingly at odds with the performance she just gave.

"Thank you," Rutela says, bowing neatly at the waist.

"How do you move that fast?" I ask, for once completely unashamed of the admiration in my voice.

"Practice. Many, many years of it. It takes quite some time to gain the familiarity needed with your own movement to be able to use it to its full potential. A growing child has disadvantages, unfortunately. As soon as you believe you might be getting there, you hit a growth spurt and have to start all over again,"

"This is why I prefer magic," Zelda mutters. "Never have to worry about your magic changing for such silly reasons," I turn to raise an eyebrow at her and Navi yelps.

"What happened to your face?" she whines, whizzing over to inspect it. I belatedly remember Soduru kicking me in the jaw.

"Oh, just a bit of training. Nothing bad,"

She apparently knows me too well to believe that, fixing Soduru with a withering glare before tapping her wings together and shaking wing dust over the bruise.

"Thanks," I mutter grudgingly as the stiffness in my jaw abates somewhat.

"Zelda could probably do better," Navi isn't subtle about her grumpy jealousy. "She's better with things that aren't cuts or grazes than I am,"

"Don't bother," I gesture as Zelda goes to move closer. "Seriously, it's fine. Just because I've got access to stronger healing magic doesn't mean we have to heal everything. I do still have my own chops, you know,"

"For sure," Zelda says lightly, and I refuse to acknowledge the swooping feeling at her lack of faith.

"At the risk of breaking up the party here," Navi says after a while, watching Rutela clear up the mess of splinters she made of Soduru's spear, "don't we have something to be doing?"

Another swooping feeling, this one of guilt. Goddesses damn it, I forgot about Saria and the others again. This keeps happening. Why does this keep happening? Am I just that much of a jerk that I can't keep it in mind?

"Don't," Zelda points at me immediately, and I go crosseyed keeping her hand in view. How'd she know? Is she psychic too?

"Hey, can I try?" Malon asks, getting to her feet and skipping up to Rutela. Rutela stares at her.

"Malon, no," Navi whines. Malon gives a mischievous smile.

"Malon yes," she offers back, and Rutela seems to finally process what Malon asked.

"Um," she says, except Malon has already grabbed a wooden hammer from the shelf and skipped to the middle of the arena. Soduru scrapes himself up off the ground and all but cowers in the corner Malon vacated, watching with wide eyes as this midget Hylian challenges the towering Rutela to a fight. Rutela looks at us as if looking for backup, and Zelda just shrugs helplessly. "I don't think that's wise, dear,"

"Wisdom's for pansies," Malon drawls eloquently, lifting the hammer. Rutela blinks before putting her spear back on the rack, swapping it for a new one that doesn't look like it's been chewed on by several Wolfos.

"If you insist," Rutela says, then swings the spear forward. It's a lot less violent than with Soduru, but it's still faster than Malon had anticipated, and it knocks her to the ground. Not one to be deterred so easily, Malon rolls to her feet immediately with an ease that it takes me a moment to figure out- the metaphor of getting back on the horse probably isn't a metaphor with the farm girl. She takes a swing with the hammer, which Rutela easily avoids, dipping neatly to one side. Malon whirls around and tries again, only to get an almost delicate rap on the knuckles from the flat of Rutela's spear.

"Stop goin' easy on me," snaps Malon, and Rutela shrugs almost absently.

"If you insist," she says again, then abruptly pivots and kicks Malon hard in the gut. Malon goes down like a falling tree.

The hammer bounces away, but its wielder surprises absolutely everyone by grabbing Rutela's spear and yanking it hard out of her hands. The Zora looks floored- she'd clearly thought the battle was over- and grabs her spear back when Malon swings it at her, the girl standing up with the motion with a wince at the movement of her injured legs. For a brief moment it's a tug-of-war between the two fighters, before Rutela proves to be far stronger and tears the weapon from Malon's grip. The redhead ducks the next swipe but takes a punch to the chest that all but flips her over backwards, landing her hard on her back. Not ready to make the same mistake a second time, Rutela plants the blunted head of her wooden spear on Malon's chest.

"You're done," she tells the Hylian firmly, and Malon pouts.

"Aw," she says. Rutela's face softens.

"That was very impressive, though," she adds. "I wasn't expecting you to take my spear,"

"Woulda been cooler if I coulda hit ya with it," Malon grouses. Rutela removes her spear and Malon tries to grab it again; the Zora just moves it out of the way and tilts her head at Malon. "Worth a try," the redhead shrugs, clambering to her feet. "Ooh, that's gonna bruise somethin' pretty," she says, poking where Rutela kicked her. The queen winces, moving forward.

"I can have that healed," she offers, but Malon hunches forward protectively.

"No way!" she beams. "I fought the Zora queen! Daddy will never believe me,"

"Talon is going to kill us," Zelda says airily, sounding a touch hysterical. I don't blame her.

A/N: Gah, I know this took forever. Yada yada, the same excuses you hear from pretty much everyone go here lol. I do have a plan going forward, though, I'm not giving up on the story. Thanks for reading!

Ecenema: Aw, I'm sorry XD Glad to know you're enjoying it! I definitely wasn't as subtle as I thought I was about Nabooru lmao, so I really shouldn't be surprised that absolutely everyone guessed it! And yep, there's definitely multiple antagonists in this story.

THIS FIC IS NOW AVAILABLE ON ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN! If you prefer reading on Ao3, feel free to pop over there and find me under the username Electronic_Ink. Leave a review if you're enjoying it!

Gah, I know this took forever. Yada yada, the same excuses you hear from pretty much everyone go here lol. I do have a plan going forward, though, I'm not giving up on the story. Thanks for reading!

12 November 2017