Chapter 10

"Is the Prince insane?" was what Fi would have liked to say, if she was in the position to do so.

Besides, Impa had already demanded that very same thing of Byrne.

Prince Link plans on going to Termina for both diplomatic and personal reasons; Byrne is understanding and tells Impa and Fi so. The plan is to go to Termina with his personal guard, do peace talks, offer arms that will surely be declined in the effort to stay any more talks of war and seem like they're pursuing it at the same time. Impa points out that it is risky; Byrne thinks so too, but Link is set in his tracks. Then he plans to sail to the Archipelago since the Kalle Demos plant could have come from there too, but that trip would mostly be for call for aid, and promises to, again, avoid war.

The elder folk won't like it, Impa points out, especially those with an excess of sons to spare.

That is something for the King to deal with, or that is what Link told me, Byrne replies.

What of Zelda? Is what Fi asks; how would the little Princess cope without her brother's company?

Byrne points out that Fi has so far proven to be an excellent companion; perhaps she could continue to be so in the coming weeks. Fi is unsure of this. She wants to take steps to being an advisor through merit; if she kept being a friend to Zelda, would it not be seen as currying favour with the highest authority?

Byrne snorts that Prince Link is not an idiot. He wouldn't let Fi anywhere near his sister if he thought her a poisonous influence. Impa agrees.

So they agree to not try curb this plan, but work around it. Impa dismisses them, and Fi endeavours to learn about the Archipelago.

Fi is reading in the library when Prince Link spots her, and he thanks her for her kindness towards Zelda and requests that she keep giving it; Zelda thinks highly of Fi and her knowledge, and is glad for her friendship. Fi mentions she is glad for Zelda's friendship too, and Link at this point admits that he has not been very cordial to her, what with Cremia and Ghirahim and the stress of the attack. Fi tells him it is understandable. Prince Link hopes they can still be friends.

Fi absently flipped a page, glancing up at the Prince. "I don't think it would be the best of ideas for us to be friends."

He blinked. "...Why?"

"Because I plan on advising you. And your sister."

He blinked again and said nothing for a while, so Fi returned to her book on Gerudo culture. She didn't get any further, however, having lost her sentence.

"I think this is when you have to explain the obvious to me," he drawled, "Because I'm not seeing the logic here."

"Very well then," Fi sighed, closing her book. "Say Labrynna attacks us; your first desire may be to retaliate with larger forces, but I may advise you to stay your hand, to wait. If I were your friend, would you not feel betrayed by me for not agreeing with you? Furthermore my advice may not be sound; it may be coloured by my own prejudices, or my own personal grudges within court. If you follow my advice knowing this because I am your friend, and you do not wish to offend me, your rule is doomed."

He frowned, crossing his arms.

"Besides that, friends imply equality, and I cannot be your equal. My familial rank is as below you as it is above a common man; you have a strong Gift, and I can barely light a candle. In every way imaginable, you have an advantage I cannot match. This disparity befits a master and servant, not friends."

"Now that is ridiculous." he retorted with enough feeling to surprise her a little.

Then she suppressed a snort. "Lord Prince, a friendship between advisor and advisee threatens the balance of power. Are you aware that merchants advise against striking business deals with friends? This is because money brings debts, and favours, creates an imbalance between two hearts that consider themselves equal. A Prince, or King in this hypothetical situation, cannot lower himself to be equal to his advisor. Thus the advisor must be raised to a position above their station, and not only would that threaten the balance of the whole court, it would give the advisor power that he likely does not deserve. And if this advisor is mediocre, you would have to release them of their post, but would you be able to do that to a friend, whom you consider an equal? A King and advisor, to truly work, they must maintain the relationship of master and servant. Friendship would only tangle this balance. And before," she added, raising a hand, "You claim that friendship leads to trust, please keep in mind that you do not need to be friends to trust an advisor. You trust your staff to do their work, you trust your soldiers to do their duty, perhaps even do them well. This is not because you are friends, but because that is their profession. It is what they do. It may even be something they do with pride, in which case the quality of their skill will speak for themselves, and I wish to do the same."

He closed his mouth, scowling, and Fi waited this time, to make sure that he had finished with this argument.

"So you want to be my advisor. Or my sister's advisor."

"Yes."

"An advisor that I or she will be spending a lot of time with talking about issues of state, our lands, our current events, maybe even our personal lives. Someone that helps us lead our country, to balance the good with the bad. Someone who we will depend on and lean on for what may be the rest of our lives, if you plan on being the youngest appointed, and the longest in office."

"All correct."

"You do realise you're proposing to be a friend to me in everything but name, right?"

Fi blinked.

"Hold up," he growled, kneading his temples with one hand as he raised the other to prevent her protests, "You have a point, true, as… strange as said point is. And that's fine. What's not fine is that this premise treats you as a disposable tool and that is something I strongly object to."

"I don't see how-"

"You're not a tool. You're a living being."

"But as advisor-"

"You're a living being that I will be interacting with for the rest of my life. How can I not be friends with someone like that? Yes, I trust the staff and soldiers to do their jobs, but I don't interact with them day in and day out. But for my advisor, I do. I would have to. And yeah, maybe the perfect advisor would be aloof and objective and everything, but I'm sorry, Fi, I won't be able to stand working with an emotional stranger for the rest of my life. Also? Would I tell the hypothetical staff about my personal problems? Of course not, it's stupidly unprofessional. But for an advisor I would have to, in fact I would need to, because my judgement might be swayed just because I was having a bad day. Can you imagine me being lenient to a burglar right after Zelda took my favourite pen-knife?"

Fi tried to suppress a grin at that image.

"As for the equality point, I can see your side, but please understand mine; if I think of you as lesser than me I can't respect your words, and that would mean I would consider your views worthless, and that would be an even bigger disaster than listening to biased or poor advice. Maybe friendship would put the hypothetical advisor above their station, but have you considered that I need to step down to my people's level? I'm Hylian, Fi, not a God. I hate this social pedestal that we're born into and sometimes the only bridge I have is the Hearings and sneak-" he bit his tongue, looking guilty.

Fi blinked, but smiled slowly. "I didn't hear the tail-end of that sentence, I believe."

He smiled sheepishly back. "Oh. Good."

The pause that followed was… not uncomfortable, but there was something tentative about it, fragile enough that Fi looked down at her book, feeling heat press against her cheeks. "I… I understand your perspective, Lord Prince."

"And I understand yours."

She huffed. "But you think I'm wrong."

He shook his head, but without much force. "Not wholly, no. And you?"

"I… I guess, you're not wholly wrong, either."

"In the event that you become my advisor," Link hazarded after another delicate silence, "Do you think we could figure out a compromise?"

Fi nodded, meeting his gaze. "Yes, I believe so."

"Any chance that you and I can be friends until said event forces us into said compromise?"

"You're determined, aren't you."

He flashed his teeth in a wide grin. "Oh yes."

"Very well then," she said, smiling back at him, "I look forward to your friendship, Prince Link."

"That's about as familiar as you're going to get with me, isn't it," He grumbled ruefully, though still smiling.

Fi returned to her book, shrugging. "I'm afraid so."

Further chapters will be looking more like this guys, unless you really really want more 'proper' scenes. In which case ask away in the reviews!