Princess Zelda
Character Mod
Sovereign of Light[M0n:-130]
you can ( not ) advance
Posts: 134
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Post by Princess Zelda on Dec 18, 2011 21:09:15 GMT -5
Finally. She thought the day would never end. Normally, she wasn't so eager to retire, but today had been rougher than days usually were.
He was gone.
Zelda had woken up and he was gone, just disappeared without a word, not even a note to tell her that he was leaving. He was just gone. It hurt more than she could bear, but she bore it anyway, getting up and getting dressed and getting through her day minute by minute until she retired to her empty room in the evening.
She just sat at her desk and put her head in her hands, staring at the parchment and quill that lay there. Zelda could find him, she knew. If she really tried, she could find him. The real question was if he wanted her to find him.
That hurt more than his leaving, she knew. She could handle it if he left with a goodbye, if he gave her one last chance to see him, to talk to him. But he disappeared, and Zelda was alone once more.
So she laid her head down and cried.
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Zenethil
Character Mod
Champion of Light[M0n:-25]
these scars have left me guarded
Posts: 215
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Post by Zenethil on Dec 19, 2011 10:03:26 GMT -5
Despite his reasonably long career of service, Zenethil was not entirely comfortable with his new position. He was younger than many of his predecessors, younger than his fellow Lieutenant's, younger than some of the Knights. He felt out of place, somehow. He wasn't a student of the blade in the way his immediate predecessor was. He was a student of magic. Today, he walked the palace, unclad by armour, wearing a simple white, red and gold tunic, that hung off his slight frame, his cloth boots making a faint padding sound as he walked across the carpeted floor. It was night, at the end of his second week as Knight-Captain. It had been a trying time, but, despite his uncertainties, he was coming into his own. Some said that those who felt they didn't deserve power were often those who were best to wield it. Zenethil just did his duty, and be damned to those who judged him for it.
He walked briskly, before coming up to Zelda's private quarters. He continued to walk, until he heard a faint sound. Delicate, forlorn. Heart-breaking. The sobbing of a woman. He almost continued walking. He was utterly useless at dealing with crying women. Children? A different matter, thanks to his continued looking after Nairore and Lorina. Nairore was stubborn as could be, and rarely winced, let alone wept. Lorina was so lost in her own mind that the poor girl was a trainwreck that one could only watch as it teetered and the righted itself under its own influence. Women however... He had no experience with them. At all. Most were too vapid to endure a conversation. The more intelligent ones were often turned away by his very nature. Duty first. Self last.
It was this reason that caused him to stop, to turn, and to rap lightly on the door, before entering slowly. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. What he was supposed to say. How he was supposed to act. But it was his duty to be there for her. He had sworn to protect her, from all that beset her. And for the moment, she seemed beset by grief, or sorrow. Or, he almost shuddered at the thought, heartbreak. He stepped forward, closing the door carefully behind him, before stepping toward her, almost silently, before coming to an abrupt stop a respectful distance from her desk.
M'lady? What troubles you this night?
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Princess Zelda
Character Mod
Sovereign of Light[M0n:-130]
you can ( not ) advance
Posts: 134
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Post by Princess Zelda on Jan 12, 2012 22:34:35 GMT -5
She was being foolish, she knew, wallowing like this. It was reckless and foolish and achieved absolutely nothing; if anything, it was counter-productive, for the time she would take to recover herself was time she could use to do something useful. But no. She simply sat there and cried, with no end of the tears in sight.
Zelda was so lost within herself that she didn't hear the knock at her door, or sense the presence of the new Captain of the Hylian Knights. So completely, utterly lost, that if he hadn't spoken, she might have stayed there for hours, days. Weeks. Months.
Years.
But he did speak, and though she made no physical motion that betrayed her surprise, her insides lurched slightly. Calmly, as if she hadn't been crying enough tears to fill Lake Hylia (if it were ever empty), Zelda retrieved a handkerchief from a drawer in the desk, delicately dabbing at her eyes, forcing her broken sobs to slow into a close-to-normal breathing pattern; still slightly ragged, but at least she was relatively composed.
"Nothing you need trouble yourself with, Captain," she said smoothly, perhaps a bit more distant than she usually was. "I apologize for that spectacle. You should not have had to see that."
She paused for a moment, realizing that she hadn't quite met Zenethil's eyes as she spoke. She did so then, and her lips curved into a small smile; not entirely genuine, nor completely convincing, but it would function. Hopefully.
"Is there something I might help you with, Captain?" Surely he had a reason for stepping in. He was a stoic man, professional, devoted to honor and duty.
Just as she should be. She shouldn't have allowed herself this breakdown. She didn't when her father died, and she shouldn't have now.
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Zenethil
Character Mod
Champion of Light[M0n:-25]
these scars have left me guarded
Posts: 215
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Post by Zenethil on Jan 15, 2012 8:30:47 GMT -5
She was, in her own way, just as stoic as he was. Where he showed no emotion at all, she shielded others from what she felt. She would do it while nobody was looking. He wondered who was the stronger or better person for their choices. He suspected Zelda, as a gut reaction, bred from his dedication to her and her family. Even if she was the last of the line. That in itself influenced his decision enormously. And made him feel somewhat protective of her. Not least because he had been at her father's deathbed. When he had told all of the Hylian Knight hierarchy to look after Zelda. To make sure she had the life and rule she deserved. Now he was the last of that line of defenders.
His predecessor, Taric, mysteriously found dead in his own home. Yriel, slain defending a Gerudo raid. Had been single-handedly defending a farmstead, when set upon by twelve of the raiders. Not one had survived his wrath. And Anastasia, dear Anastasia, the single most compassionate healer he had known, now in the care of her subordinates, mind liquefied by the wrath of a Plague Alchemist who's plans she had thwarted. Twice. And even in her death, she had thwarted him plans again, her loyal Knights avenging her mind's obliteration scant days later.
Zenethil was the last, and in his opinion, the least exceptional. The least worthy to carry the title Captain. But still, he carried it, as he carried everything given unto him. And now he shouldered the burden of Zelda's well-being. He crossed further into the room, concern evident on his face. He looked at her, the slightest hints of compassion in his eyes.
Whatever troubles you my Princess, is my concern. Whether I was supposed to see it or not is not the matter at hand, only that I have, and that you are upset.
His tone was still formal, but his tone was soft, almost reassuring, but still devoid of the typical inflections of concern. He stood stock still in front of her, eclipsing her height enormously. She was so small... And yet, in that tiny frame, a force of will that could shape and guide a nation, and, like he, the magical might to see her will through, by force if necessary. His gaze remained impassive as she spoke, contemplating his answer for a moment.
You can help me, m'lady, by permitting me to help you.
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