Work Text:
There is a new lady in our midst.
She is a distant relative of Queen Sonia. She has an audience with Lady Mineru, our architect. I am the favored steward kept by her side to aid in all her work, and I am present when she meets this new Lady. She introduces me as her “faithful friend and assistant.”
The Lady smiles at me. “I am Princess Zelda,” she says. “I’m honored to meet you.”
She, my mistress, and King Rauru discuss Lady Zelda’s predicament, and I am commanded to discretion. Lady Mineru examines a strange device—called a Purah Pad—and places it in my care.
“So you really believe my story? That I came from the future?” Lady Zelda asks as I hover away. Her voice is eager, her accent unfamiliar.
I settle to charge, the Purah Pad secured, and Lady Mineru’s is the last voice I hear:
“I never doubted you for a moment.”
~ * ~
Lady Zelda finds haven in our workshop. Though she trains with Queen Sonia to strengthen her powers and connection to her Secret Stone, the majority of her free hours are spent here. Lady Mineru finds her help invaluable. “To have another scientist in my family—a tinkerer, no less—is more than I ever hoped for!” she says.
I am glad my lady has found a fellow to aid her work. I serve them both, my cognition gaining greater familiarity with Lady Zelda, her temperament, and her skills every day. She is a friend to Lady Mineru, and thus a friend to me.
~ * ~
“This is so exhilarating!” Lady Zelda’s voice is breathless.
Lady Mineru smiles. “I’m sure, but I think you’ve been up there long enough. We won’t fix anything while you’re test driving.”
Lady Zelda sighs and climbs down from the construct prototype—a contraption Lady Mineru has been building, testing, and modifying for years. It is a tool for her to use with her Secret Stone, potentially giving her the ability to fight with her spirit on one front while she continues the physical fight through the construct.
“Think of what we could do with a device like this!” Lady Zelda says. “It can go where no person can—study incredible terrain, jump from sheer cliffs without injury, move without sustenance for days. This machine is truly incredible, Mineru.”
Energy whirs inside me at her words. Long have I admired my mistress’s work. I am lucky to assist my own creator in developing even more advanced constructs than I. It pleases me to witness Lady Zelda appreciate her designs.
“Thank you, Zelda. Your assistance has been invaluable with this project. I almost want to keep you here to help me forever.” Lady Mineru smiles, but it soon fades as Lady Zelda’s eyes find the floor.
“Have you not found a way, then? To send me home?” Lady Zelda asks in a small voice.
Lady Mineru sighs, her breath heavy with sorrow. Working closely with her for so many years, I have gained a deeper understanding of her temperament and emotional tendencies. She is very matter-of-fact, seldom raises her voice, and cries even more rarely. Her sigh now is the closest I have witnessed her come to crying in the presence of another person.
She beckons me, and I obey, pulling out the Purah Pad for her inspection.
“I have worked tirelessly with your device, Zelda. I must spend most of my time developing this construct to aid us against Ganondorf, but every spare moment I’ve found I’ve dedicated to studying your Purah Pad.”
“And?” Lady Zelda’s voice brightens hopefully.
Lady Mineru shakes her head. “For now, it seems, you must stay here.”
Lady Zelda nods slowly, then looks up. “Then I will do everything I can to help you while I’m here. You won’t fight alone.”
~ * ~
The Demon King is defeated, the king and queen dead. King Rauru sacrificed himself—his power, his life—to stop him. Yet, Lady Zelda says the Demon King will return. She is the Sage of Time. Her words of the future are a prophecy to be heeded.
Lady Mineru is not long for this world. She has asked that I accompany Lady Zelda in her final errands. I do not know why they are “final,” as Lady Zelda is healthy after the battle. But I do not wish to consider the deeper meaning. I obey without questioning.
Lady Zelda visits the surviving Sages. She speaks strongly about the Swordsman Link who will save Hyrule when the Demon King returns to power. The Sages all agree to aid Link in his time. Lady Zelda smiles at their support, though there is a sadness in the corner of her mouth that bears weight, even in the brightness of her hope.
Lady Mineru requests my presence tonight, on what is sure to be her final day in her mortal form.
“Steward,” she says, her voice strained from pain. “You must promise me that you will assist and obey Zelda with whatever she asks, no matter the cost.”
“Yes, my lady,” I reply, seizing her final directive of me eagerly.
“Good.” Lady Mineru nods. “You must ensure my Secret Stone reaches my temple. My spirit will remain here, with you and Zelda, but see that my instructions are carried out by the stewards in the Depths.”
“Of course, my lady.”
She clutches her Secret Stone, and a bright, purple light engulfs her. Her body is left a lifeless husk as her spirit floats above it. I follow her spirit to the Temple of Time, where Lady Zelda is waiting by the altar.
Tonight, Lady Zelda is not smiling.
“Your role is vital, Steward,” she says. “You must ensure the Purah Pad is kept safely until Link comes to retrieve it. It will be an invaluable tool for him in his fight against the Demon King. I cannot give it to him; he will come long after I am gone.” She focuses her gaze directly at my optic component. “Will you carry out this task, Steward?”
“Yes, Princess,” I say. “I will follow your instructions exactly.”
Lady Zelda nods and returns to the altar where the Essence of Lady Mineru hovers. She closes her eyes and faces the sun, breaths slow and measured. When she opens them again, they have changed, her pensiveness turned resolute.
“Mineru, I’m counting on you,” she says. The Essence drops onto her Purah Pad.
She places the pad in my hands, entrusting it to my care. With a whirring hum of compliance, I glide toward my station.
“Link, I will restore the Master Sword for you. I will care for it until the time comes,” Lady Zelda says. I pause to face her again from the doors of the temple.
“I will pour my sacred power into it. It will be the weapon that defeats the Demon King!” She pulls her Secret Stone from her neck, its band snapping with the force. She breathes out, closing her eyes. Then, with a small whisper, she swallows the Secret Stone.
I stare. Lady Zelda committed the forbidden act. In doing so, she relinquishes all of herself.
I brace as the air changes, wind shifting, growing stronger with Lady Zelda at its eye. For a moment, she seems unaffected, but the next she exclaims—in euphoria, shock, or pain, I cannot discern. Light spreads through her body, shining out from her chest, and she clambers to the decayed sword on the altar. Clutching it to her chest, she cries out a dying wish—
“Link … protect them all!”
A glowing orb of light bursts from where she stands, expanding rapidly. The temple around me shakes, and I place the Purah Pad safely in my locker so it won’t be destroyed by falling rubble.
A long roar erupts from the light orb; a dragon emerges. It flies straight up into the gray clouds above, casting off its tears to the land below.
Lady Zelda is forever changed, but still, she is good, strong, and wise. She is still Lady Zelda, my mistress’s friend, no matter her form. I am tasked to support and obey her. So I shall.
~ * ~
It is an odd thing to suffer loss as I have. All my masters are dead and gone forever, yet I live on. I do not pretend to know pain as they did—my grief is a different sort—but I cannot deny the emptiness I feel without them. They guided me, I served them, and I grew accustomed to their presence in my daily operations.
I sleep now in the Garden of Time. Other constructs have their ongoing tasks, daily rituals and contributions. I have one final purpose, one I must wait to fulfill.
I know the Swordsman when he awakens me. I stretch from my long slumber and examine him, the princess’s hero. He, too, has suffered loss, but perhaps I can give him comfort. I pass on my purpose to him.
“Link, I have waited for you. Princess Zelda left something for you in my care.”