Chapter 5: A Birthday Surprise
The Temple of Time was a large structure made of marvellous white marble. The three of them stood on a raised part of the floor. Below was the marking of the sage of light though no colour embellished it. A plush red carpet ran from a strange pedestal on which three stones lay gleaming down to the door in front of them. Saria smiled gleefully and giggled, "That was great! Thanks Link. We'd better go get ready; I'm sure the others are waiting for us." Link nodded happily, "I can't wait to see her face. You sure you're okay being out of the forest?" Saria nodded. "That was an old legend to keep Kokiri from leaving the forest during the war. In truth, I feel a bit weaker, but I won't stay too long, so it won't matter." She grinned and slapped Mishcana on the shoulder. The young Hylian-Kokiri was still stunned and amazed at the temple, "There'll be time for staring at the temple later, Mish. Now we've got to hurry or we'll be late. Bring your present, mind. Link, better take her to get changed, and you'd better get changed to. Honestly you two, can't you keep anything you wear clean?" Mishcana snapped out of her awe and he and she looked guiltily at their tunics. They were splattered with mud and grass stains. Sheepishly Link and she nodded and the three parted ways as they ran for the castle.
Zelda stood on her balcony gazing out at Hyrule with sad eyes. Link had not returned yet from the Kokiri village. She sighed desolately, "I'm sure he forgot. Everyone else seems to have." So far, she had seen none of her friends. Link had to wait for Mishcana. She could understand that. Surely; however, the girl would have woken up by now. "Link had to have forgotten. He would have been back by now if he remembered." None of the sages not even her royal friend, Ruto, had come to visit her. Even Impa had been too busy to come see her. A soft knock distracted her from her thoughts. Raner entered with her permission and kneeled before her, his head bowed. "Princess Zelda, Queen Regent Impa asked me to escort you for a walk on the promenade. She thought you may be lonely with your companions gone." Zelda smiled sorrowfully and nodded, "A walk would do me good, thank you, Guard Raner." Raner stood up and smiled. The princess was just past half his size for he was a very tall young man. He took her hand in his left and kept his right on the hilt of his sword strapped to his side. His eyes seemed watchful and careful. Zelda sighed relaxing as she walked through the halls with him. He seemed nice and like a good protector. "I wonder when Link will be back." She said sadly as she walked with him. "Master Link will be back soon enough. He would never let you down, my princess." She sighed and shook her head, "He has today. Today's my birthday and he's forgotten; just like everyone else in the castle." Raner appeared genuinely surprised, "Your Birthday your highness? No one told me. Happy birthday!" he said with an elated smile, "Come now, and cheer up your highness. You know Link would be here if he could; he had quite some trouble last night." The two walked past a window in which she could see the setting sun, "Yes, I know. But he should be back. Look, the sun's hiding her face. No doubt he decided to play with Saria for a while." He looked at her sympathetically and smiled, "We'll have a nice little party for you later. The guards that is. Come now, time for your walk. " She sighed again and the rest of their journey was passed in silence. At the door to the promenade the guard paused and rested his hand on the door a moment. He seemed to wait for some sort of signal. He pushed open the door slightly admitting a small green fairy that was chattering excitedly. "Hello, hello!" Zelda blinked at the babbling fairy. "You're Saria's fairy, aren't you? You're a long way from home." The fairy ignored Zelda and chatted on, "The weather's nice but the sun is set. C'mon, you two! The flowers will close soon. Come out, come out!" Raner grinned and let the fairy dart out the door again. He bowed and cracked the door for her, "After you my lady."
Astonishment enveloped Zelda. Outside nearly all her friends were waiting for her. The promenade was brightly lit with many magical torches each glowing a different hue. A huge cake was at the centre of the grounds. Many treats and delicacies lay on numerous tables that formed a circle around the cake and dance area. Her eyes searched the various participants. All the sages were there; Ruto was even waving excitedly to her. Most of the guards that guarded her room or practiced with Link stood at attention smiling at her. Impa had even left her duties to come and hurried quickly towards her. "Happy Birthday. Link's been planning this for the past few months and Mishcana's been helping him since I've been so busy. Do you like it?" Zelda nodded excitedly and her eyes wondered around quickly still scanning all the faces. Malon was there she realized and Talon, too. They stood guard over a large pile of presents. Nowhere; however, could she see Link or Mishcana. Sadness crept over her. Tears peaked through the corners of her eyes as she looked up at Impa with big, sad, puppy eyes. Noticing the Princess's despair, Impa bent on one knee. "Saria says Link fell off the bridge in the Kokiri forest. He's okay but he couldn't make the journey. Mishcana said she'd stay with him. Unfortunately the Kokiri don't keep any red potion. I'm sorry, Zelda." Zelda nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. Impa turned away and called for everyone's attention. "Let's sing, light the candles on the cake Darunia." The candles lit up all at once and everyone began to sing. At the last verse of the song fireworks of the land of Termina lit up the sky. Zelda's eyes filled with astonishment as the red and blue sparkles fell around the cake.
A loud explosion echoed over the castle and out from the cake popped two masked figures dressed in orange ornamental robes swaying back and forth. Music played from the area of the cake and the figures danced in time to it. Their masks were happy colourful things. One looked like the yellow face of the ancient extinct bunny rabbit. Its bright black eyes were extremely adorable. The other was the furry black and white face of a kitty cat. Their dance was hypnotizing its tempo increasing. The figures began twirling, their long robes fluttering prettily around them. Suddenly the music stopped and the figures paused their hands midair. The music began afresh with a slow and haunting tune. The figures stood beside each other crouched low. With a clap they brought their hands together and held them in front of themselves. They spaced them apart and cupped them and began swaying back and forth again. They twirled swinging their hands over the heads, first the left then the right. Again they swayed in their crouch. The music increased its tempo to rapid proportions and they moved at the speed of the music. Finally the music came down to just a rapid drumming beat and both figures leapt in the air and back flipped, landing in a bowing crouch. As their feet hit the ground the music stopped and there was a stunned silence from the watchers. One by one the people began to clap and cheer loudly. Zelda cheered loudest of all and appeared to have forgotten the absence of her two friends. "Wonderful! Wonderful! Let them show their faces." The two figures hesitated. Impa looked uncertainly at Zelda, "They are dancers from Termina; they may have a custom of not removing their masks." The dancers did not speak but merely nodded their heads in agreement. Impa smiled at everyone and clapped her hands, "Well, let us begin with the dancing. Minstrels, if you please?" The people who had played the music before began anew with a slow waltz. Zelda grinned happily as couples paired off. Saria had even dragged Darunia off to dance. "I wish Link were here." She said sorrowfully. The two dancers in masks appeared to be female. One Zelda was sure had to be, the other it was difficult to tell. Raner strolled up to the female dancer and offered his arm and whispered something to her. Giggling gleefully the two of them went off to dance on the other side of the cake the girl stood on his feet, as she was by far shorter than him. The other made her realize her error in her observation. He came up to her and bowed, his orange robe floating out behind him. Silence was all that came from behind his mask, but he extended his arm to her in offer. Gleefully Zelda accepted this offering and went off to dance with the young fellow.
Zelda and the boy danced long into the night. Her eyes glowed with affection as he swept her off feet during the faster dances and held her close during the slower ones. Raner and the other dancer seemed to be having fun; the young guard was loath to give up such an agile partner. At the end of the next dance; however, Raner bowed to his partner and wandered to the Princess. "Milady, may I have this dance?" the princess nodded happily at the guard who had tried to cheer her up earlier. "Of course! You're Link's friend, aren't you? You shall dance with me in his stead." Raner shrugged joyfully and took the small princess's hands into his as the dance began. "Alright, then."
The orange robed figures being abandoned by their partners went to each other. The two joined hands as the dance begun. The dance was an old, fast royal tune, where you danced as you liked except at the sound of the ring bells. When the bells sounded the male or lead would lift the other person by their hips into the air. The couples swung each other back and forth. The tall guard twirled the princess who tittered happily having quite forgotten the absence of her two friends. The other couples and partners stopped their dancing and turned around to stare at the two still dancing. The stark contrast between their joyful princess and the tall Hylian guard brought smiles to many of their faces. Soon; however, everyone had only eyes for the two dancers again. They moved as one as they danced through back flips and forward flips, and twists and twirls. When the bells rang the boy did not merely lift his partner; he tossed her in the air and jumped after them. Together they would hit the ground in the same breath and roll forward, standing up again to rejoin their hands. Even Zelda and Raner took a moment from their leisurely dance to watch the acrobatic couple. The two made a game of taking turns jumping as high as they could and somersaulting midair. At the sound of the bells the male dancer tossed his partner high into the air and then leapt up after her. The two twirled in the air and flipped, their masks coming off. The full-face bunny mask fell into Zelda's hands and the kitty mask landed in Saria's careful grasp. The two landed, and hid their faces in their robes. Their posture became embarrassed and they recoiled slightly from Zelda's direction.
The male dancer was blonde. To Zelda's surprise his hair was quite long. He had very long bangs that hung out of the edges of the sleeve covering his face. The girl had long brown hair all the same length. Their ears drooped out from behind the cloth and guiltily they withdrew their veils. A gasp rose to Zelda's throat and she stared in shock at the two. Delight and worry mixed her tones. "You fool! Jumping around like that. You could've been hurt!" she shouted and berated the male soundly. Link smiled sheepishly, and remained bowed. Mishcana piped up, "Hey! You don't think we're unpractised do you? We know what we're doing." Zelda looked very cross and stated irritably, "No you don't. You two play with swords not with jumping. What do you think you were doing? Impa! Impa. Why don't you berate them?" Impa smiled sweetly and laughed. "Oh, my dear princess. I taught them the leaps; I would not let them attempt such things if they were not prepared." Indignantly Zelda exclaimed at the top of her lungs as she stepped towards the shadow sage, "You knew? You told me he was hurt! Why?" Link stood up straight and cast his hair back over his shoulders, "Because I asked her to. This was supposed to be a surprise for you Princess. We've been practicing for months, but we feared you would stop us if you knew our identity. Come, we were safe enough. Please, this is your birthday; don't be upset. Please?" Finally Zelda sighed and nodded, "I'm sorry I reacted so, Link. I was just worried you'd be hurt, for real this time." She said with a teasing grin. Link blushed and nodded. Zelda smiled at him, playing with his shoulder length blonde hair. "I've never seen you without your hat on, you know. I didn't know you had long hair." Incredulous, red still in his cheeks, Link responded, "When do I have time to cut it? Besides, it never gets in the way in my hat." Zelda twisted a curl around her finger then released it, "You should keep it down more often, Link." Her gaze shifted to Mishcana's beautiful hair, "You should too, Mishcana. You both look great without your hats." Mishcana and Link glared at her and stated stubbornly together, "Never! I'd die first." Impa chuckled and motioned for the musicians to continue. Saria and the other smiled at Link and Mishcana, and it became obvious that all but Saria had not known. Impa nudged Raner back to the young Mishcana as Link offered his hand to Zelda again. He and she being close in height looked quite fair under the candle light of the cake. He and she twirled back and forth. Their hair flew behind them gleaming gold in the moonlight.
Soon the time came for presents and Zelda sat at the head of the table to await each eagerly. There were many books and fabulous toys including a small toy dragon that breathed cool fire when it was pulled a long by a string. Soon she found a small package a little larger than the size of her head. She shook it eagerly trying to guess its contents. With rapid motions she ripped off the delicate wrapping paper. Inside was a thing of true beauty. Her favourite scent of roses rose off a small but tantalizing mask. A small, thin, rose was etched between the blonde eyebrows of the mask. It was as pure white as the lotus flower. Red lips were painted on around a small hole for the mouth. She slipped it on for it was not yet her size. It sucked to her face and made itself fit her perfectly. Such was the magic of the masks of Termina. She felt calm with it on and was loathe to remove it. With great resolve she pulled it free from her face. "It's wonderful." She whispered. "Who is it from?" Link stepped forwards grinning awkwardly. "Me. It's called the serenity mask. It makes the wearer calmer and lends them greater magical power. I thought it suited you." Zelda smiled tracing the edge of the mask with her right hand. "I love it. It's so beautiful. Thank you, Link." She stood up and embraced her dear friend. She leaned forward and gave him a very fast, quick peck on the cheek.
Link turned bright red and as she drew away from him he pressed his forefingers together and stared downwards looking very embarrassed. Mishcana stood back, her own face flushed as brightly as twilight. Impa coughed and shot a dirty look towards Link. He shrugged helplessly and jumped back his hands coming up in wordless defence. Saria, Darunia, Ruto and Rauru each chuckled happily. Clearing her throat, Impa looked around, the smile returning to her face. "Alright, next, the guards wanted to present you a joint gift, Princess." Raner was thrust forwards as the representative of the guards. Grinning sheepishly the young guard offered her a long, pole-shaped present and waited eagerly for her reaction. Her hands dropped wordlessly to the wood within as she opened the package. Her eyes widened in amazement as she caressed the thick oak wood staff. "This, this is a mage's staff, is it not?" he nodded in response, and smiled. "Thank you. I shall do my best to learn how to use it well and wield it in defence of Hyrule one day." Raner bowed low, his knees kissing the ground. "Nothing would make us happier, your highness." He stood up at her bidding and mingled back into the crowd.
Next Mishcana came forward clutching her package. Nervousness caused her eyes to dart back and forth as though a fairy were distracting her gaze. Mumbling the word present and standing sharply at attention, she relinquished her gift to Zelda. Zelda's soft hands reached into the bag brushed past mounds of protective materials. Within she felt something soft and satiny. It couldn't be, Zelda thought to herself and withdrew the gift. It was the satin dress she had mentioned to Mishcana that she loved; it cost a fortune. Tears of joy welled up in her eyes as she looked up at Mishcana. "Mishcana, I can't except this. How did you ever get enough for it?" She asked breathlessly. Mishcana looked horribly embarrassed and began staring at her feet. Fortunately Link came to her rescue and rested his hand on Mish's shoulder. "She's been doing lots of jobs, Zelda. You know, the type of work I do." He winked at the princess and shook Mishcana out of her disablement. The princess leapt up and hugged Mishcana, tears still streaming from her eyes, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she repeated again and again and squeezed her friend tighter, "It's so beautiful. It couldn't of been easy for you. Oh, thank you!" Mishcana smiled at last, but still seemed a smidge on edge. The princess's grip released and Mishcana stepped back and bowed low. She and Link backed off while other eagerly gave the princess their presents.
Link pulled Mishcana back from the others. Concern danced dangerously in his eyes, "What's wrong?". Mishcana shook her head and blushed, "I was just nervous about giving her my present, that's all. It seemed so little compared to yours." Link shook his head sadly, "Nah, I bet she'll get more use out of yours. But, come now, that's not what I meant. You looked disturbed, not just embarrassed. What's going on?" She turned away from him and looked at the ground. "A bad feeling, that's all. Like something foul was not far off. I'm sure it was all my imagination." Link's hand felt for his sword only to find it absent amongst the orange robes. His eyes darted around, searching. "You're right, something's amiss. I've left my stuff in my room. Perhaps we should make ourselves absent and retrieve our weapons. However, that would mean leaving the princess. We can't do that." Mishcana nodded and ran over to Raner. She pulled him down to her level and whispered in his ear some brief directions. Nodding, he left her in the hurry. "What was that about?" asked Link suspiciously. "I asked him to go get some things from my room. I know your room is locked, but I'll keep my bow, you can use my sword." He nodded swiftly, "I doubt it'll come to that. It doesn't feel like something planning to attack. I can't describe the feeling." Mishcana looked sadly at the princess opening her presents, "It's like it's waiting for something."
The wind blew out the magical candles of the cake. The torches wavered slightly but still burned strong. Merriment had begun as the princess had finished opening her gifts. People were laughing and singing songs. Many drinks were passed around and someone brought out a few bottles of Chateau Romani and gave out glasses. Mishcana had asked Link for a glass of it but he had flatly refused her even a sip. "It's hard stuff." He said deeply as he wiped off his Romani milk moustache. Mishcana sighed stubbornly but relented and drank some LonLon milk instead. A maid went around to refill all the glasses with flavoured LonLon milk from special bottles for the Princess's toast. The Princess stood up and all raised their glasses to her. "Thank you, everyone, for a wonderful birthday! I thank you especially, my dear friends, Link and Mishcana. And you as well, my guardian, my protector, my friend, Queen regent Impa. May Hyrule prosper ever longer with such wonderful citizens!" To this everyone threw back their heads and drank their flavoured milk with a relish.
Mishcana gave it a mere sip and swallowed. Looking surprised she took another, and spit it out. The glass clattered to the ground and shattered sending white drops of milk into the air. She caught Link's hand as he went to finish his glass, "Don't! Something's wrong with it. It doesn't taste right." Half his glass was already downed and he grinned at her, "It's okay, Mish. It's called Flavoured Milk. It's supposed to taste weird." He went to drink it again but she held his hand fast. "No! Link. We've got to stop everyone. There's something else in it!" Link hesitated a moment, and looked in his glass. With surprise he noticed an odd grey tint not usually present. "You could be right. Everyone; please stop drinking There's something-"
He halted in shock. Zelda, who had taken the greatest draught teetered and fell off the table. He barely caught her when others began to swoon sinking into a deep sleep. His own head felt dreadfully heavy. Concentrating hard he tried to fight off the effects of the drug he had drunk. The world began to spin and as he fell beside Zelda and he yelled to Mishcana, "Get out of here! You were right." Mishcana ran towards him but he was already out like a light. She felt very drowsy. The herb mixed in with the milk was very potent. She tried to run for the Castle's entrance but was halted by a hooded man who had been serving as one of the musicians. "I don't think so." He said with a cruel smile spreading on his barely visible lips. "None of you go free." The herb took its full toll upon her and she swooned. The man caught her and threw her by her friends.
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