Legend of Legends: Chapter 8

Chapter 8
Don't Rat Us Out

After seeing the Prince off with some very pissed off guards, Orayo walked down the dark passages that intertwined underneath Kakariko, alone. Well, he knew he wouldn't be alone for long. He could sense Jinna coming down the passage. Her step was silent, but he could smell her fragrance. He soon realized that she didn't know that he was here. He smiled to himself, feeling a tad naughty. He had never truly grown up.
He stood still, letting his body melt into the shadows. As soon as Jinna was close enough, he grabbed her wrist, slamming her into the wall. She just had enough time to gasp before Orayo crushed his lips against hers.
He pulled away when he thought that maybe she needed to breath. "I caught you," he whispered playfully in Sheikan.
She gave him a glare that he could feel instead of see. "It appears that you have."
"Was I hearing things, or did the Great Jinna gasp?"
"You know, Orayo, you're nowhere near as cute as you think you are."
"I asked a simple question. I was only wondering because I must catch you about 18 times a week."
"Yes, you always cheat!"
Orayo laughed. He held on to her hands so that she wouldn't be able to teleport away from him. She could be annoying like that. "How is it that I cheat?"
"You decide to play your stupid games spontaneously, and catch me off my guard!"
"Huh . . ." Orayo thought about this for a moment. "I thought you were always on your guard." She tried to yank her hands from him and give him a shove, but he held fast.
"How was your talk with the Prince?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I think we have become friends."
"You wished you had friends," Jinna said flatly.
"I thought you were my friend." He pouted.
Jinna laughed. "I'm too mean to have any friends."
You are mean," he agreed. "You won't play with me."
Jinna sighed. "How old are you?"
"Um . . ."
"How you became our leader I will never know!"
He flashed her a charming grin that erased all of her annoyance. She intertwined her fingers with his and leaned close to him, letting her breath hit his face. "Fine, we'll play your game." She kissed him slowly and deeply, slipping her fingers from his hands, and slipped them up his chest and to his shoulders. Hanging her hands over his shoulders, she pulled out a Deku Nut. She pulled away. "Tag, you're it."
POOF.
She disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, the smell of ozone in the air.
Orayo smiled. He counted three seconds, then sprinted down the hall. Finding her was actually the more easy part. She left a trail of ozone wherever she went, it was getting her before she teleported again that was the hard part. He ran up the wall and changed direction when he felt her teleport again. He was getting closer.
Wait, there was someone else here. He stopped short.
"Hello, Miko," he greeted the younger man, who was giving him an odd look.
"Just now . . . what were you doing?" Miko asked.
"Exercise," he answered.
"Oh . . . Have you seen Sheik?" Miko asked in his low quiet voice.
"I haven't seen much of anything," Orayo replied with a smile. "Why?"
"Besides the fact that I blame him for the source of my Hell?" Miko growled, narrowing his red eyes that were partially covered by the bangs of his dark hair.
"Yeah, besides that."
"Grandpa wants him."
POOF! Jinna was suddenly there. "Miko," she greeted warmly.
"Seen Sheik?" Orayo asked her.
"Nope."
Miko sighed. "Figures." He was about to continue his search, but stopped. "Was the Prince really here?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Orayo knew Miko was trustworthy, but he hesitated to tell the Prince's business. "He was only researching a curiosity," he finally said.
"As long as he's not mad at us or anything," Miko said, adding, "I guess I should find my brother," before leaving.
"Curiosity?" Jinna asked.
"He's looking for the Triforce."
"What?! Why?! What if he does something stupid with it!?"
"He says he has a 'feeling' that's telling him to do it."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense! If I had a feeling telling me to take my own life because I'm surrounded by idiots, doesn't mean I'd do it!"
"Actually . . . I'm getting a feeling that's telling me to do something right now."
"Oh yeah?! What's that?!"
As quick as lightning, he grabbed her hands. "Caught you," and then he pinned her to the wall again and kissed her.

Daphnes stared up at the Temple of Time. It didn't look any different than it usually did. It just stood there, boring as ever. A few people turned their heads at Daphnes as he walked past, but the place was quiet. Nothing was unusual or seemed to be filled with divine magic . . . BUT that was what the Goddesses wanted him to think.
He pointed at the very top of the tower. "You! I know you're not what you seem!" The temple of course did not respond, but Daphnes knew he wasn't talking to the temple. No, there was something else.
He went inside. It was exactly the same as it always was. He stood before the altar, hand raise in command and in the most powerful voice he could make he said, "I Daphnes, Prince of Hyrule, order to be shown the Triforce!"
Nothing happened.
He dropped his arm for a second, then raised it again and said, "I command you!"
Again nothing.
"Please?"
. . .
"Oh come on! Give me a break here! I don't know what the hell I'm doing!" He slumped to the floor. He tried to think, but really couldn't come up with anything. He sat there for hours, eventually rolling onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He started to doze off and fell asleep staring at the writing on the ceiling.
He began to dream.
Zelda was there. She was in the garden, looking at something he couldn't see. She turned around and Daphnes saw that she was pregnant. She smiled at him, but the smile went away as her attention went to something behind her. "Daphnes?"
He turned around, and there was the Triforce. The Triforce?! He needed to find that! He reached for it, but it exploded and the world was dark. He panicked. He had done something wrong. He ran blindly in the dark, until all of a sudden there were torches. He followed them, until he saw a man on a black horse. The man looked down at him with red-orange eyes, filled with loathing. The man turned his horse around and started to walk away.
"Hey! Who are you!?" But the wind picked up, covering the man with sand.
"Daddy!"
What? He turned around, and there was a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Find me, Daddy."
What? The girl started to run. He went after her.
"Find me! Find me! Find me!" she repeated. Then there were other children. The three that were in the lead were of a strange color. Red, blue and green. "Find me! Find me!" they all said. Other adults were chasing them too.
Then Daphnes ran into something. All the children went on through, but the adults were forced to stop too. The children stopped running and turned around to see why their parents had stopped. The blonde girl reached a hand to touch her face, then reached to Daphnes' face, but couldn't reach it. Daphnes put a hand out to her, but there was a glass wall in the way. He could see his reflection in the glass. He was older, and had a beard . . . . He stroked it, trying to figure out how that had happened. Then looking back at the girl, he saw a blond boy come. The boy took her hand and began to lead her away.
"Wait! Come back!" All the kids began to leave; as they did so, he saw the Triforce leave with them. He beat upon the glass. "No! Come back!" Next to him came Zelda, only she wasn't pregnant anymore. She looked like how she did the last time he saw her. She passed though the glass too. Behind her was the pregnant Zelda. She leaned up against the glass, and slid to the floor.
"Only the pure can pass," came a voice, that sounded like the little girl's but he knew it wasn't. He leaned up against the glass, and felt himself go through. He looked back to see his older self still behind the glass. Touching his own face he found himself younger again. On the side of the glass with his older self, he saw that he recognized some of the adults. There were his parents, Will, Rosie, Orayo, pregnant Zelda, his older self . . .
There was a bright light behind him and he turned around. The three children stood before him. One red, one blue and one green. "Don't hurt us," they said in unison.
"What?"
Then the light got too bright to see. . .
Daphnes tried to open his eyes, but the light was too painful. His back hurt too. He forced his eyes open and saw the stained-glass window of the three Goddesses.
He shot up. He'd fallen asleep. He started to laugh. He had been dreaming. For some reason, the dream has disturbed him. He gave a tired sigh. It was probably the stress level or something. He idly looked back up at the words on the ceiling. . . . Wait . . .
He got up too fast, and fell back down on the stone floor. The words! They were right there! Like under his nose! He studied them closer, but saw that they were written in Sheikan.
Damn!
But he knew Sheikan people! He could get one of them to read it for him! He scampered out of the Temple. He was about to go straight to Kakariko when he heard a voice. "I found him, Your Majesty!" said a voice of a guard, and before Daphnes knew it, he was swept up in the arms of his mother.
"Daphnes! Where have you been!" she cried into her son's chest. "You made your mother worried sick!
"Mother," Daphnes started trying to un-cling himself. "I'm fine."
"Good, Good! Daphnes, you have to be at the meeting!"
"What meeting?"
She began to pull him to a carriage. They climbed in and the driver took them back to the castle. As they sat in the carriage, the Queen fixed up her hair and stared into a tiny mirror, trying to make herself presentable.
"What is this meeting about?"
The queen laughed. "I don't really know. Something about taxes. I heard that the Noble Alexander will be though. He's such a charming man . . ."
They arrived at the castle, and walking through the halls, they met up with Zelda. "We have a meeting?" Daphnes whispered to Zelda.
"Of course," she said, as if it was obvious. Maybe he should have been paying better attention to what his father was saying before.
"Daphnes, we have been planning this meeting for weeks!" his mother chided.
They were about to enter the meeting room, when the King came out. "Oh good, you've found him." He took Daphnes' arm, then turned to his wife. "Oh don't worry, we won't be needing you ladies. This is men's work." He pulled Daphnes close to him. "We'll be bonding, right son?"
Zelda thought she saw Daphnes' eye twitch.
Maria looked upset. "Oh . . . well . . . you didn't tell me that weeks before." She turned around. "I guess . . . I'll go back to my room." She walked off. The King stood there, watching her go with a smile on his face, completely oblivious. Daphnes watch her go with a frown, but didn't say anything. Zelda glared at both of them. She wanted to say something, but she knew the King would just reprimand her. She sighed.
"Well? Go to your stupid meeting already!" She turned sharply away and starting walking off. She just saw her future, didn't she? She was going to turn into a pathetic, unhappy, withered up little person and Daphnes would turn into an old fat loser.
Oh Goddesses! Panic welled up inside her, but she fought it down. She was going to handle this issue calmly. She would have to busy herself with something that interested her. Yes, that was a good idea.
She felt like doing something active. She was still mad at the King, and needed to do something to vent out her frustration. She stopped. All her ladies in waiting and guards and Nanny were not here. They all thought she was at the meeting. She smiled to herself, feeling rebellious.
She left the castle, not caring that she was getting her shoes and the helm of her dress dirty. She knew where she was going, but she never went by foot . . .or alone before. It felt good, and she really didn't know why.
She found herself at the stables. Heads turned to her in shock as they watch her make her way by.

"Will, you are the laziest guy here! It's a miracle that you haven't been fired yet!"
Will moved his hat from over his eyes. "You say something, man?"
The other stable boy waved his arms in the air. He was holding a dirty pitchfork so some manure flew into the air. "I spend half a day cleaning stalls, and every time I look up, you're sitting on that hay bale!"
"Dude, I did do my stalls . . . . I just did it so amazing fast, you didn't notice."
The other stable boy looked into the stalls. "I think you're getting help . . ."
"Ha! Who's helping me? It's not like I could pay some kid to do 'em!"
The other stable boy looked at Will suspiciously.
"Will?" They both jumped at the new voice, and when the other stable boy realized it was the Princess, he went to his knees.
Will didn't do any of that, but just sat there on the hay mound. "Zelda?"
The other stable boy glared at him, but said nothing.
"Will? Could I . . . have my riding lesson?"
"Now?"
"Only if it's not too much trouble."
"Trouble?! I don't even know what trouble is." He got up from the hay, and brushed some of it off his pants before offering her his arm. "May I show Her Majesty to her horse?"
The other stable boy gapped at them as they walked away, and Will gave him a wink. He led her to the stall of a little white mare named Sugar Cube.
"Thank Goodness," Zelda whispered at the sight of the little mare. She took the mare's head in her hands and pressed her cheek up against the smooth white fur. She let her hands stoke the mare's neck underneath the silky mane.
She rested her cheek on the horse's nose for some time until Will cleared his throat. "Um . . . usually . . .when we ride the horse . . .we get on it."
"Oh . . .yes." She laughed nervously and pulled away to let Will take the horse out. He began to saddle it up for her.
"Any particular reason for your decision on suddenly going on a ride today?" Will asked as he worked.
"No, just that it's a nice day."
"Really? Usually you plan ahead before you take a ride . . . and you're never alone."
"Oh . . . that." She waved it off as unimportant.
Will eyed her for a moment before he tightened the girth of the sidesaddle. He left to get the bridle.
When he came back, Zelda asked, "You're coming with me, right? I don't want to go out alone."
"Of course. Wouldn't want the princess wandering out alone." He left to get another horse.

They stepped out of the stables together and entered a field that cut into the forest that surrounded them. The field was rather large and filled with green, green grass. It was usually used for grazing animals. The air had a rain scent to it and the ground was wet with a light dew. They walked the horses around in silence. Zelda could feel Will's eyes on her, but she did not look at him. She concentrated on the horse underneath her. The sidesaddle was uncomfortable. She wished she could ride bareback. She wondered how that would feel.
They continued to warm the horses up, and the more she thought about riding bareback, the more desirable it became. No one was here, besides Will. She could do what she wanted. She stopped her horse and dismounted.
"Uh . . .Zel?"
She unbuckled the saddle, and let the heavy thing fall to the ground.
"Zelda, what are you doing?"
She looked up at him with her haunting pale blue eyes. "Will? Could you boost me up?"
"Ah . . . sure?" He dismounted as well and walked over to give her a boost.
Zelda swung her leg over the mare's white back. Her skirt rode up her legs. The horse felt warm in between them. Her stockinged legs slipped easily on the silky fur, so she wrapped them tightly around the animal, her fingers digging into mane as well as the rains.
"Will," she said. "I want to go fast."
"Um . . . are you sure that's safe?" He was getting uneasy being the only one with Zelda. If something happened to her, he wouldn't know what to do.
She kicked her heels into the mare's side and let out a yell, like the way she had seen Will do. The horse took off.
Will took a moment to get back on the horse and shot after her. Oh man, he was going to get into so much trouble.
Zelda almost fell off instantly. She was bounced backward, landing on the horse's hindquarters, which moved violently up and down as the horse galloped onward. She pulled herself back to where she was supposed to be with her grip from the horse's mane. She tried to grip with her legs, but the silky stockings were slippery against the horse's hide. This caused her to squeeze tighter with her legs, making the horse go faster. Eventually she learned to move with the horse. Excitement and freedom coursed though her with adrenaline. This was what she needed. The pounding of the horses hooves, the wind in her hair, the fear of falling off, the small pain in her legs from the strain of gripping them so hard.
Of course, she didn't know how to stop.
The horse reached the end of the field. She thought maybe it would turn around, or maybe go right or left, but the horse instead crashed into the forest. Zelda kept her head down, burying her face into the horse's white mane. Branches scratched at her dress and her hair. She gave a little squeak when the horse leapt over a fallen tree and almost fell off, but she stubbornly held on.
They exploded from the trees into the barley field that was behind the castle. The sun was out, and it was warmer here.
The horse, now tired, stumbled into a canter. Zelda tried to sit up, which she knew was how you were supposed to sit on a horse and it slowed down to a trot, and eventually a walk.
Zelda let out a breath. She felt wild. Her dress was torn and leaves were stuck in her knotted hair. In the distance she could see the sea. Her home was across that sea. That home that she hadn't seen in 15 years. She briefly had the thought of taking the horse and riding it right through the sea to her home, but she knew that was impossible. She was stuck here.
Will soon came galloping up. "Zelda! Sweet Farore! Are you okay?!"
"Yes, I'm fine," she said, not taking her eyes off the sea.
"Man, I didn't think Sugar Cube could move that fast!"
Zelda didn't answer.
"Okay, you scared the hell out of me. I think we should start going back before I get arrested or something."
Yes . . . she should go back with Will. But she didn't want to. Why had she come out here? To escape something, and for a second she did. But, like Will, it had caught up to her. She would have to return to the castle and do nothing. She might get reprimanded for leaving by herself, but that would be all the excitement today. She would be sent to her bedchambers and do nothing, she would sit at the dinning table and do nothing, she would sit on her throne and do nothing. She was nothing, like a husk or a shell of a person. Nobody listened to what she had to say. Nobody really asked her what she wanted. All she ever did was dress up nice and look pretty.
She felt weak again. Her legs and hands started to shake. She felt uneasy on the horse so she slipped off of it.
She didn't even really have friends to talk to. Sometimes Daphnes would talk to her, but never really talk to her. The only thing that anyone said to her were polite little things. She wasn't that important. The only job she needed to do was bear an heir, and she couldn't even do that! Not the way Daphnes was going about it, anyway.
She buried her fingers into the mare's mane to steady herself.
"Zelda? Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. She was so very lonely.
"Zelda?"
"I'm not okay," she whimpered.
"What?!" Will panicked, putting his hands on his head and looking her up and down, trying to figure out where she was hurt.
"I don't . . . I don't want to live this way!" She burst into tears.
"Huh?'
"I don't want to be alone!" She flung her arms around Will and sobbed into his chest.
Will panicked. He'd definitely get executed or something if someone saw him, and lose Daphnes as a friend, and Rosie would leave him, but he also didn't want to offend Zelda by pushing her away.
"Um . . . Zelda?"
She continued to cry.
"Zelda . . um . . ."
She pulled away, her hands going to her mouth. Her usually perfect hair, hung in front of her tear stained face in clomps. "I'm sorry . . ." she choked. "You're probably getting the wrong impression!" She started to laugh with her tears. "You being married, then some crazy princess throws herself at you!" She began to laugh hysterically.
Will had never seen Zelda this way before. "Zelda . . . is something wrong?"
"Wrong?! Or course not!" She threw her arms up in the air. "Everything's perfect!"
Well, Will was pretty good at women lingo–he had to live with Rosie– and he knew what Zelda really meant was, "Of course something's wrong, you moronic idiot!" Now the next part was trying to figure what was wrong, but you couldn't ask straight out, and you could never, never look like you don't care. So . . . he tried asking a simple question. "Have you spoken to Daphnes recently?" As he said it, he felt stupid. Of course they've spoken to each other! They're married! But then again, married couples often didn't speak with each other . . . like him and Rosie, so it was actually a smart question, he decided.
"Daphnes? He can go to bloody hell with his damn Triforce, for all I care!"
Ouch. This was bad all right. Will didn't even know Zelda could get mad. Daphnes had definitely screwed up. Will figured this would happen. Zelda had finally reached her breaking point.
"Uh . . . what did he do?"
"He does nothing," she said bitterly. "He does nothing at all! He's just . . . there! Doing nothing! Oh, wait now, he's doing something! He's looking for the Triforce! I should get a hobby too. I want to learn how to fly, and turn the clouds into cotton candy!" Will briefly wondered if Zelda was intoxicated. No . . . she was okay before . . .
"I mean what am I?! I feel like some puppy bought for a boy who doesn't want it! I don't know, for some reason I got this stupid impression, that when I came here, there be some magical prince there to sweep me off my feet and . . .and . . ." Out came a sob. "I thought it would be like a fairy tale! How pathetic is that!?"
Will stared blankly at her.
"It's not like I don't like Daphnes. He's a nice person, but I'm his wife! He should treat me like one. I don't want to be treated like a sister or just the King of Hyla's daughter. I'm not ugly. I'm not strange or unappealing. Why won't he love me!?" She stomped her foot on the ground and shouted to the sky. It didn't even seem like she knew Will was there anymore. She fell to her knees and started sobbing freely.
Daphnes . . . was an idiot. "Oh, Zelda hates me . . . she's appalled to look at me . . ." Where the hell did that crap come from?! Zelda wanted to love Daphnes. She couldn't when he was being . . . whatever it was Daphnes was doing.
"Okay . . . okay, okay. Don't cry. This is actually a good thing! You don't know it, but it is!"
Zelda laughed. "Will, you're not making sense."
"Daphnes probably has no idea he's being an asshole."
She laughed again. "Of course he doesn't."
"Do you want me to talk to him?'
"No! Please don't do that. Actually . . ." She was silent as she tried to find the words to describe her feelings. "I went a little crazy back there, didn't I?"
Will laughed nervously, not wanting to say, Hell yes!
"I was wondering if you would take advantage of me at my weak state." she said, looking at him sideways. "I would have let you."
Will was shocked. He didn't move. He was sure if he even moved he would be dead.
"A small sadistic part of me even wanted you to, but I'm glad you didn't." She turned to face him. "You are such a good person, Will. Daphnes is so lucky to have you as a friend. You have even been a friend to me now . . . .I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come out here and scared you. I wish I had a friend like you."
"Zelda, we are pals!" He kneeled down next to her. "I won't paint your nails or talk girl talk, but I want to be your friend too."
Zelda looked like she was about to cry again. "Thank you, Will."
"Now, lets get you home before someone gets mad at me."
Will helped the Princess back onto her horse and he mounted his own. As they walked back together, Will was already planning on how to approach Daphnes with this topic. Even though Zelda didn't want him too, he knew this could only get worse.

Daphnes went into the Temple of Time again. He had sent a message to Orayo to meet him here today. He had to sneak out of the castle. His Dad wanted to discuss taxes with him and his mom thought that the Sheikah were secretly plotting to kill the royal family. Zelda seemed to be avoiding him recently, but he decided not to worry about that now. He wanted to make sure Orayo was at the temple and got his message.
Walking and looking around, it didn't appear anyone else was here.
"Your Majesty?"
"Ahhhh!" Daphnes spun around and almost tripped on his own feet, but Orayo caught his arm. "You're here!"
"It appears I am," he said with a smile. "I got your message."
"Yes . . .okay. Well, you know that I'm looking for the Triforce, right?"
"How could I forget?"
"I think the Triforce is here!" He said with his arms outstretched.
Orayo said nothing.
Daphnes dropped his arms feeling stupid. "Well the owl did say it's right under my nose and I've been to this place a dozen times, but I've never noticed that the ceiling," He pointed to the ceiling. "It's decorated with Sheikah writing. I think it has something to do with the stories on the stained glass windows. You think you could read it for me?"
Orayo tilted his head up towards the ceiling, then at Daphnes. "Ah . . . not really."
"Why? What's the matter? It is Sheikah writing isn't it?"
"I am very sorry your Majesty but . . ." He waved a hand over his face.
"Oh!" Daphnes put a hand over his mouth. "I'm so stupid!" How could he have forgotten Orayo was blind?! Seriously, how was it possible to be that stupid?! "I'm so sorry! I can't believe I forgot!" Orayo didn't seem like a blind person; you could totally forget. He seemed to know everything in the world around him. Daphnes was a little surprised he couldn't read the words even though he was blind.
Orayo put up his hands. "It's okay. I'll think of something." He took a deep breath as if taking in his surroundings. Then before Daphnes could count to two, he made a mad dash to the wall. Daphnes didn't even have time to warn him of the wall before Orayo ran right up it all the way up to the very tall ceiling of the Temple.
Daphnes stared incredulously at the spot where Orayo had been. That should have been impossible to do! The Temple's ceiling had to be like 50 feet! He looked up at Orayo who was wedged in between the ceiling and the wall, testing the ceiling to see how it was built by reaching out to touch it.
After Daphnes blinked a couple of times, he called up to Orayo. "Um . . . I could get some one else to--AHH!" Orayo all of a sudden let go of the wall and fell, landing as what looked like a crumbled heap on the ground. But before Daphnes could comprehend the disaster, Orayo gracefully got up, completely unharmed. "D-did you . . . ?! Did you just jump . . .?! You ran up the wall!"
"Please your Majesty, don't get someone else. I have a pride issue. Let me try again. I know how the ceiling angles now."
"But--"
But Orayo was already running up the wall, much faster than before. Daphnes could hardly see him. He wasn't sure, but he thought Orayo was running on the ceiling as well. Soon Orayo did a flip and landed easily in front of Daphnes. "Strange," he said.
Of course it was strange, people couldn't run on 50-foot walls and ceilings!
"I can't believe I was never aware of that," continued Orayo. "I don't come up here much."
Daphnes was still trying to comprehend how Orayo stunt was done.
"Do you not want to know what it says?"
"Oh right! Yes, yes I do."
"It says, 'Of The Three that come, bind in gold in will and wish. Away from mortal eyes, it shines although the wall is pure. To maze and puzzle, only the rat will rat us out."
He chuckled. "Clever, isn't it?"
"Great! More talking animals! And besides that, I don't get the rest of it."
"That's assuming that the rat is actually a rat."
Daphnes groaned.
"Rats are usually seen as a negative thing . . . but they are also said to be a symbol of wittiness and good luck."
"What!? That's totally contradicting!"
Orayo just shrugged.
Daphnes moaned and covered his face with his hands.
"Maybe we should think about the other half of the wording first."
Daphnes gave a frustrated sigh. "Well, 'The Three' are most likely the Goddesses, and 'bind in gold in will and wish' must be the Triforce!"
"I'd say the same thing."
"'Away from mortal eyes' . . .well that's obvious; WE DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS! And pure walls is crap to me!"
"Your Majesty?"
"Pure walls?! Walls that are pure?! What the heck is that?! Walls that don't have crap on them?!"
"Your Majesty, I would like it if you drank some tea with me."
"WHAT!? Drinking tea?!"
Orayo turned his face to Daphnes giving him a do-you-dare-question-me look.
"Sure, of course I'll . . . drink tea with you . . . . Now?"
"There is no other better time," and Orayo led the way out of the temple followed by a confused prince.

A shady-looking man walked down the street of Hyrule Market. He pulled his over-sized coat tighter around him, trying to blend into the crowd better. He was a thief, after all. What could he say? Life was hard. He was starving, so were many other people from the wrong side of town. But good fortune had been looking out for him. He had learned to train his pet rat in a very peculiar way.
He escaped to an empty alleyway, sitting against the wall and waiting. After about 10 minutes, a rat scurried into his open pocket.
"What have you found for me today?" he said as he gently took the rat out of his pocket. Inside the rat's tiny jaws was a gold ring, holding a small diamond. "Oh, this is a good one!" the thief said happily. The rat was a better pickpocket than he was. It was an unusual rat. It was white, and it was surprising that the thing hadn't been caught with such a bright color. Its nose was so red, you'd think it was bleeding if you didn't look closer. It also had two different colored eyes, one green and one blue. The eyes were as bright as the nose.
He fed the rat a bit of cheese left from breakfast. "Good work," He kissed it. "Now--" He stopped as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing . . .was that the Prince walking by?

Daphnes and Orayo walked though the streets of Hyrule Market, apparently looking for a tea shop. The crowed parted to let them pass, all eyes glued to the Prince and his unusual bodyguard. Daphnes was feeling uncomfortable.
"Um . . . Orayo?"
"Do not worry Your Majesty. No harm shall come to you as long as I'm here."
"It's not that . . . . It's . . .well I like tea as much as the next person but--"
Orayo suddenly stopped. "Here we are."
Daphnes turned his head wildly before he spotted the small tea shop in front of him. "Oh . . ."
They went inside and sat at one of the tables. Orayo ordered for the both of them as Daphnes sat there with his head in his hands. "How am I going to figure this out? I'm kind of afraid to find out, too. What if I can't do it?! Or what if I do, and I somehow screw up and destroy THE WHOLE UNIVERSE?! AND WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW?! DRINKING TEA!"
"Your Majesty," Orayo's voice was soft. "I believe you're doing what people today call 'freaking out'. I hear it's not healthy."
"I can't help it. It's who I am."
"Drink the tea," was all Orayo said as a nervous serving girl set the cups of steaming tea down. Daphnes took a quick sip and set the tea cup down. "Now take a deep breath," Orayo took a long sip, made a face, then added something to his tea before saying, "Now, start telling me everything that's on your mind."
"Everything?"
Orayo nodded as he drank deeply.
Oh boy.
He tried to think of where to start. "Well, one day I'm going to be King, and all these people are expecting me to be this great leader or something. When I was a kid, I thought that was cool and I was sure I could do it, but now I realize I can't. I can't do anything. I'm pathetic. I get nervous and paranoid and I can't focus and I start over-thinking everything and I keep thinking something's wrong, but nothing's wrong! Everything's perfectly fine, but I just assume something's wrong, and just that assuming, makes everything go wrong, and Zelda--"
"Your Majesty, you need to relax more. There's no need for you to rush. Your parents are still alive and well, and there is no reason for you to be so sure that you can't do it. You are young. You haven't been tried yet. You could do anything."
"But . . . I'm a coward," Daphnes said, staring at the table.
"Everyone is a coward," Orayo said.
Daphnes looked at Orayo. Orayo didn't seem like someone who could be afraid of anything. "Sure."
"I was scared when I lost my eyes. I thought I was going to die. I cried like a baby."
Daphnes smiled. "Yeah, I guess . . . but I'm afraid of something that nobody seems to understand, especially my father."
Orayo cocked his head, listening, expecting Daphnes to continue. Daphnes blushed and bit his lip, glancing at Orayo nervously. He really didn't want to be having this conversation. Maybe if he was silent for long enough, Orayo would give up.
"Your Majesty?" Orayo raised his eyebrows quizzically.
So much for that plan. Maybe he could be vague enough about it that Orayo would never guess. "Uh . . . well, you see . . . Have you ever had just one thing to do, one thing that was expected of you, and you just couldn't do it? I mean, you know you have to, and it's not that you don't want to, you just . . . can't?" Orayo's expression was blank, but Daphnes didn't know if he didn't understand or just didn't want to start laughing hysterically at his patheticness. He decided to opt for creative imagery. "It's like the . . . ahem, destination . . . is guarded by dragons and, uh, fire. And I can't get there. You know?"
"Your Majesty," Orayo began slowly, "Are you telling me that you are still a virgin?"
"What? What are you talking about? That's ridiculous! That's just plain sad. That's . . ." He slimped. "True." he sighed, dropping his face into his hands. "And I thought I was being creative."
"Well, then." Orayo fell silent. Daphnes felt his face turn even redder than it had been previously.
"It's horrible, isn't it? I should just be exiled or something. Sent to a monastery and eat slugs, right?"
"No, it's not horrible. It's just . . . ah . . . unusual."
Daphnes clunked his head onto the table. Orayo sighed, trying to choose his words carefully, when he suddenly tensed up. Daphnes looked up. "Is something wrong?" As soon as he said that he thought, duh, I'm wrong, but he had the feeling it was something else.
"There's a . . . rat, right next to you."
Daphnes gave a pathetic squeak and shot up. "Where?!"
Faster than Daphnes could see, Orayo was already up and had caught the thing, holding the white rodent by the tail. It went limp, playing dead, hoping Orayo would drop it. As Orayo held it up, Daphnes found he wasn't afraid of it as much as he thought he would. Maybe because it was very pretty, well for a rat anyway. It was too white, too clean for a rat. With its blood red nose and bright eyes, it almost didn't look real. Looking at the rat's eyes, he saw that the eyes were two different colors. Green and blue. The green and blue eyes, and the red nose were startling against the white . . . green, red, blue . . . like in a shape of a triangle . . .
"Your Majesty?"
"Ah . . yeah?!"
"I think it has something in its mouth." Sure enough, there was a glint gold in its mouth. Orayo carefully pried it out and held it in front of Daphnes.
"My wedding ring!" He snatched it back and glared at the rat. "How'd you get that, you . . . you rodent!"
Daphnes jumped back as Orayo suddenly dropped the rat. Orayo looked very surprised that he had.
"There's something not right about that thing."
"Surprised that you dropped it?" Daphnes said, somewhat smugly.
"It was like its tail went through my fingers."
"How can you tell? You're blind."
"Fine."
"Hey! My wedding ring is gone again!"
"Surprised that you dropped it?" Orayo said with a wide grin.
"No, it's not on the ground." The both heard a squeak that almost sounded like laughter. On the table was the rat with the gold ring in its mouth. "How d--wha . . . give that back!" He lunged at the rat, but was not fast enough. "Dammit!" The rat disappeared outside into the crowd.
"I've got it, your Majesty!"
"But–"
But Orayo was already gone. Daphnes ran after him, knocking over a chair as he hurried out of the tea shop.
Outside, he scanned the crowd looking for Orayo. He was already on the other side of the square. How Orayo moved that fast, Daphnes would never know. He tried to keep up with him, but soon lost him. And so he wandered around the market, lost, until a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into an empty alleyway. Orayo's other arm had a dirty looking guy in a headlock.
Daphnes . . . was confused, until he saw the rat's tiny white head disappear into the man's coat pocket.
"Were you just trying to steal from His Majesty?" Orayo said in a dangerously quiet voice. The man cowered in fear. Orayo now somehow had possession of Daphnes' ring and he flipped it in the air, sending it to Daphnes. Daphnes caught it, and was quite please at the accomplishment. Orayo threw the man at Daphnes' feet. "What do you want to do with him?"
Daphnes stood tall before the man, his hands on his hips, a most serious expression on his face. "I have but one question for you," he said. "Does your rat talk?"
"What?"
"Answer the question!"
"No?"
"No? No as in no, you won't answer the question or no the rat doesn't talk?!"
"Um . . . your Majesty?" Orayo gave him a puzzled look.
"The rat doesn't talk!"
"What?! Are you sure?!"
"Your Majesty . . ."
"The thing said 'only the rat will rat us out.' Rat us out; tell our secret. In order to do that, its got to talk!" He grabbed the rat from the man's pocket. "I know your secret, rat! You can't hide from me! Well . . . ? Say something, you pathetic scheming infestation!" He began shaking the poor creature and continued to scream at it, the rat letting out squeaks as he did so.
Orayo and the man blankly stared at him.
"Now . . . it's going to start to talk."
. . .
. . .
The rat sunk its teeth into Daphnes finger. He let out a cry of pain and the rat hit the floor. Daphnes nursed his finger. "Stupid rat . . .Wha . . . What the Hell?!" He looked at his finger and saw that his ring was once again missing. "How does it do that!?" He began to run after the rat, calling it various things as he did so.
Orayo looked down at the man, who was still on the floor. "Well . . . good day . . ." He bowed, then went after his prince.