#twilightsage

"The day I listen to a piece of advice from you is the day my kingdom truly falls. I am your puppet no longer, and your word no longer serves as a vice around my mind or throat. I will do as I please, and you will continue to be of no consequence to me any longer."

​A deep, resonant chuckle.

"You may claim that my words hold no sway over you, yet here you are, taking the time to respond directly to me. It seems that I still manage to find my way into your thoughts, no matter how hard you may try to convince yourself otherwise. "

"Let me make something absolutely clear to you, your majesty. I did not share my thoughts with the expectation of changing your mind. I'm not so foolish as to believe my words would penetrate the armor of your stubborn Hylian pride. No, my aim was to address your people, to offer them a perspective that they may not have considered."

"Your subjects deserve to think critically about their leadership, to question whether they are truly being served by a ruler who would cast aside advice without a second thought. It is not about haunting you, is not not about forging an allegiance to me -- it is about recognizing the strength and the wisdom in true leadership."

"Qualities I would expect in the one who is in possession of Triforce of Wisdom."

   " your — erm, highness — " it comes out stilted, formality so utterly unfamiliar to link. with the danger gone, ganondorf and zant dead, and midna left, no tension remains to keep the awkwardness at bay. the difference in their station is staggering. no ranch - hand from not even the kingdom proper should have, by social expectation, been given opportunity to speak directly to the queen - to - be. not even for the delivery of a specially requested gift — rusl's laughter echoes in the past.

         ' if you are lucky, you may even get to meet princess zelda ! '

who knows if she'll even still want that gift. the blade is nicked from use, the shield pocked with marks from arrows. both now sit in wait in kakariko with renado, the resilient metal shield he'd bought from malo and legendary blade of evil's bane now in their old places on his back.

please tuck me away as well, speaking in rounds of my reasoning and feelings to those who do not listen to me as I have been is wearisome.

​

" Except that I did none of that. Instead, you made assumptions of my words based on your own bias about me and what my people have gone through. You construed my words that way because...well, I can't say why, which is what confuses me. There was no so-called aggression until you heard what you wanted to hear, not what I actually said.

" No offense, your highness, but even by that logic, you are a fellow Hylian; their job, then, is to protect you, too. Still, I find it difficult to believe that Hyrule's army and guards aren't sworn to protect the royal family as well in their oaths. Asking them not to do that would be an insult to them, too.

@twilightsage sent: “i think his directions were…not very good.”

"IN HIS DEFENSE, I'M NOT EXACTLY THE BEST WITH NEW PLACES unless I have a map . . ." The sheepishness of her tone is joined by a hand that scratches at her nape, tawny gaze darting away in embarrassment at her own predicament. The deep chasm that had lead her here had been tricky to navigate but she hadn't expected the land to be so similar, even in broad day light. It seemed as though the rider and her beast had stumbled upon an entirely different land.