veneer
n. an appearance that covers or disguises someone or something's true nature.
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Her mind emptied completely. She'd been rehearsing what she'd say to Mido when she came face to face with him again, but she didn't think— She wasn't— It was too soon!
Along with the sheer suddenness of the encounter, his greeting stunned Zelda mute. She'd prepared for his anger, his anguish, his affection—she had a script for each possible scenario. But the weirdly clairvoyant, matter-of-factness of "I thought you might be here" was not part of that repertoire.
"H-how did you know we were here?" was all she could think to say.
Even in her stupor, she was not ignorant to the way Mido and Link shot daggers at each other as he dismounted his horse and approached the runaways.
"Aleron told Cado you had a vision and left to find the Master Sword," he deadpanned. "So I followed your advice and consulted with King Dorephan, who pointed me to the Lost Woods. I don't quite understand how you got here without stopping at Zora's Domain, yourself, but I've found you now, so. Let's go."
"Go where?" she managed to ask before Mido snatched her wrist with a vice grip.
"Back to the Domain. King Dorephan wants to organize a counterattack." Though his words and disposition were cool, Mido's hold on her wrist was enraged, and her heartbeat went staccato. An irritated Mido in Kakariko had her breaking down behind Link's door. An enraged Mido was an entirely new beast—
But so was she.
"Mido, stop,"—she thrashed—"you're hurting me,"—but violent fingers tightened—"let go!"
He didn't. She stumbled as he dragged her towards his horse without so much as a grunt or glance over his shoulder.
Shhhhhiiinng!
The air around them chilled. Some of Mido's men gasped.
"She said let go."
Mido stopped. With a slow turn of his head, his lethal anger fixated on Link. Then the glowing blade between his whitened knuckles. "What the hell is that in your hands."
A demand for the answer—not a request.
With his focus on the sword, Zelda yanked her wrist free and backpedaled to Link's side. Her knight's posture didn't ease at all, even with her beside him.
"It's exactly what you think it is, Mido," she spat.
"Impossible. The Master Sword can only be wielded by the fated hero," Mido scoffed. "You can't expect me to believe this little twink was chosen by Hylia over me."
"It's of no concern to me whether you choose to disregard the evidence standing right before your myopic eyes," Zelda hissed. "But if you don't allow Link and me passage this instant, there will be dire consequences. Am I understood?"
Mido leered down his nose, unintimidated by the princess's new claws. The gaze was calculating, like he knew something they didn't.
Slowly, she repeated, "Am. I. Understood."
The six or seven men Mido brought with him remained silent, casting communicative glances between themselves and the altercation. They all knew something they weren't saying.
"Her Highness asked you a question, Sir," Link leveled in the way that made the title an insult.
But Zelda refused to be disgraced by his reticence any longer and forged ahead. "I suggest you gather what remains of our army and prepare them for battle. Though you are not the fated hero, Mido, you are still one of our top knights, and your duty as the Knight Commander still stands. I will meet with King Dorephan. You and I will only reconvene when it is time to wage war on Ganondorf. Now let us pass."
YOU ARE READING
Fortune Favors the Courageous
Fanfiction"Princess!" he yelled after her. "Where are you going?" "Back to the castle," she replied without stopping. "Not by yourself you're not!" "I'm sorry,"-she whipped around-"I didn't realize you were my father?" "Your father, the king, would execute me...
