CHAPTER 4: JOURNEY TO THE PIECE OF LIGHT
The whole village was there it seemed. The celebration was for the year’s wonderful and bountiful harvest. There was music, food, dancing, lights, the whole she-bang. Serenity was thrilled and having the time of her life. Link was wonderful, and he never left her side the whole time. The two of them sat down after yet another jig and tried to catch their breath. A silvery voice called out, “Link! Is it you?” Link looked up and smiled, “Well, I’ll be, if it isn’t her majesty herself.” He got up and bowed. Serenity, having a delayed reaction, jumped up and tried to curtsey, stumbling just a little. Zelda giggled. She was stunning: Her golden blonde hair slightly pulled back by her golden tiara, which matched with all the other gold jewelry on her. Her dress was white and violet, with shades of blue and pink. “You must be the famous Serenity that I have heard so much about,” she then curtsied a little herself, “I am Zelda, princess of Hyrule, and I officially welcome you to our land. I hope you stay for a while. I would love to hear tales of your world.” Serenity smiled, “I would love that your majesty, it would be my pleasure.” Zelda clasped her hands together with Serenity’s, “Wonderful! Then we shall meet tomorrow in the castle courtyard. You and Link will be staying there tonight after the festival, if that is alright.” Serenity could barely contain her excitement, for she had never been in a castle before, “of coarse it is! Thank you so much your majesty!” Zelda laughed, “Please, my dear, call me Zelda. See you later!” She then walked off to greet some of the other townsfolk at the festival. The music had changed into a slow waltz, and Link turned to Serenity and held out his hand, “care to dance?” Serenity blushed and nodded. The two of them joined the circle and began to dance as if they were meant to be there.
She didn’t notice at first, maybe because she was concentrating so hard on the dance, or maybe it was that she was lost in those innocent blue eyes of his, but the two of them were moving closer to each other, and further away from the festival, until they were off by themselves in a patch of moonlight. They had stopped dancing by now, and were so close to each other that they could feel each other’s breath. The two of them stood there, as if they were in a trance. Finally, Link broke the silence. “You really look amazing, Serenity,” the tone of his voice was so quiet and soothing, that it took Serenity by surprise.
“Thank you, I…” she trailed off, not really knowing what to say. It didn’t matter; Link put a finger to her lips, shushing her gently. Their two heads moved closer together.
“Wait,” Serenity whispered. He stopped, his lips inches away from hers.
“What is it?” Serenity was having a whirlwind of emotions. She had never felt this way about any guy, and she’s known Link for about four or five hours! “Link, you don’t even know me, how do you know you can trust me?” He paused for a moment, and whispered to her, “as strange as you may find this, I don’t care.” He then gently put his lips against hers and they meshed together in a beautiful first kiss. Serenity thought she was going to faint. She opened her eyes to find his looking deeply at her. They both smiled and started walking together. Serenity knew that she had to tell Link sooner or later, so she figured that this was the best time to tell him: when they were alone. “Link, I need to confess something to you.” He turned to look at her, slight concern forming in his eyes.
“It’s nothing bad,” she continued, smiling to reassure him, “I just think you need to know the truth about me.” She sighed and smiled slightly, “I’m not exactly who you think I am.” With that, she pulled back her hair, revealing her newly acquired Faierikin state. Link’s eyes got wide and he smiled, “Tell me everything you know.”
They sat there for hours, as Serenity unfolded the mystery of her life to Link, and her conversation with Impa. Link was such an attentive listener. He was amazed at how she had even been able to think after what had happened to her in the past 48 hours. Then, the same thought came to Serenity as it did when she was talking with Impa, “the goddesses said that I am to do battle against the King of Evil with the other chosen one known as the Hero of Time, do you know who that is?” Link sighed and looked ahead for a minute, his blue eyes studying something in the far distance, “I had a feeling that this was going to happen. Ganondorf couldn’t stay banished forever,” He then turned back to Serenity, “I have a confession to make as well Serenity,” he began, “the Hero of Time… is me.” She was stunned for a few minutes, but after thinking about it, she understood completely, “that’s why everyone knows who you are.” He nodded, “Yeah, that’s why Zelda is letting us stay at the castle as well. It’s my home away from home, I guess.” He sighed and turned to her, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I guess I was… well, I don’t know why, but I’m sorry.” Serenity blinked a couple of times, "I kissed a legendary hero?" she thought to herself, "go me!" She smiled and said, “That’s okay, I mean you didn’t even know who I was or where I came from, so I can’t exactly blame you.” Link looked up at the sky, “It’s getting late, should we head for the castle?” Serenity nodded, and the two of them headed to where Link had left Epona tied up. They mounted and galloped to the castle, where Zelda informed the guards to let them in through the gate.
When they got to the room Zelda had prepared for Serenity, Link walked her in and sat down. She was in awe, for she had never been in such a glamorous room! The bed was huge and had many different sized pillows on it that were of different shades of red, pink and white. The comforter on top was pink and silky, and there was a sheer canopy over the top of the bed. The floor was smooth marble, and there was a closet, desk, and vanity in the room, along with a door that led out to a small balcony. She plopped down next to Link and looked into his eyes, “I guess we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other in the coming days, hu?” He smiled and nodded, “Yes, which is why I think we should start tomorrow.” Serenity raised an eyebrow, “Start? Start on what?”
“Finding that Staff of Power. Legend has it that the goddesses broke it into seven pieces when they found out that it was too powerful, and it caused fights between the races of Hyrule.” Serenity nodded, “You’re right I guess, but the goddesses didn’t tell me where to even start looking. I have absolutely no idea where to start.” Link smiled, “I do. Come with me.” He took her hand and led her to a secret passageway down a velvet covered hallway to the basement of the castle. Down there was an old reading room, with tons of books covered in dust and cobwebs. The smell in the air was musty, like no one had been there for years. There wasn’t much light, but Serenity’s body glowed enough to light the way. Link was startled at first, but Serenity giggled and shrugged, “one of the Faierikin perks, I guess.” He smiled and led her to a drawer.
“I was wondering around the castle a while ago, and stumbled across that secret passageway. I went exploring and found this room. After digging through some stuff, I came across this.” He opened the drawer and inside was a dusty object that resembled a metal rod. Curious, Serenity picked it up. It started glowing yellow and she smiled, “this is it! This IS the first Piece of the Staff! Oh Link I could just kiss you right now!” She was so excited she didn’t even realize the words came right out of her mouth until her eyes met Link’s, who said softly, “then why don’t you?” She blushed as Link gently pulled her forward and pressed his lips to hers. Neither of them knew it at the moment, but the glow surrounding Serenity began forming around Link as well. The two opened their eyes and smiled as they looked around. Then a voice whispered to them, almost singing, “Well done, chosen ones. You have fulfilled the first part of your destiny. Now make haste to the place where the lost children live. There you will find the second part of the treasure you seek. If thou needest help, just give the word…” With that, the voice was gone.
“Was that what I thought it was?” Link asked in amazement. Serenity smiled, “Farore, goddess of courage. Yes it was.” He looked down at her, “How do you know the difference?” She smiled again, “Because I just know. Come on, we need to get some sleep before tomorrow.” Link nodded, and the two of them went back upstairs and to their rooms. Tomorrow would indeed be a long, hard day.