Life in Zora's Domain

Chapter 47 - A Shadow Arises - Part 4

A Shadow Arises – Part 4

Summary: The pieces of the puzzle start falling into place as the sequence of events from tomb discovery to ferry accident are connected. But fortune seems to favor their adversary as she continues to stay one step ahead and draws closer to her goal.

Next morning Mipha had her usual breakfast family meeting but it was much quieter than usual. Sidon tried to lighten the mood with a couple of stories but ended up being unsuccessful. Link's mind was on the accident report he was anxious to get started reading, and both Mila and Midon were not in a cordial mood from the lack of freedom and limited visits with friends. Only Lapha and Linky seemed in good spirits, planning what they would do after school. As soon as the meal was over Mila left and took out her Tab. She had heard a message come in but her parents were firm about not using Tabs during meals together unless there was some true emergency.

Tila: Mila, looks like we can't visit each other for now. You ok?

Mila: Yeah, but my friends and I miss you. Mido is pretty bored too. You?

Tila: Same here. I'm in lots of meetings with my sister. How is Linky doing?

Mila: Fine. Spends all his time with Laff these days. Still interested <WINK>?

Tila: <SMILE> Still only thinking far ahead. Got to go now. Duty calls-another meeting with my sister.

After breakfast Mipha wasted no time in contacting Queen Faray to ask her about the Sheikah woman that Laray's sister found, explaining they suspected Tiray's and the Sheikah woman's death were related. Faray responded that she only knew the woman was an archeologist but would find out more and let Mipha know whom to contact.

Meanwhile, Link went off to read the board of inquiry report on the accident in which Princess Tiray, sister to Ambassador Laray, was killed. It was a very formal document and pretty dry reading, concentrating as it did on the facts of the case. Besides describing the accident, it listed the names of the crew and passengers on the voyage, the position of the ship when the accident occurred, its speed, the visibility and weather, any statements collected from passengers, as well as a transcript of the board of inquiry's meeting and its findings. The transcript included statements from the two officers as well as the question and answer portion of the meeting. The summary of findings at the front of the report concluded the event was an accident caused by a passenger falling in her sleep into the ship's propulsion unit. The board's recommendation was that the area of the ship from which the passenger fell be better secured to prevent any such future occurrence.

As far as the passengers were concerned, there were eight in total and all but three were Zoras. The four Zoras besides Tiray were couples who lived here in the Domain and were returning from a day trip to North Hyrule. There was a Gerudo passenger named Darnia and a Hylian couple named Rayna and Mendon who lived in Mabe Village. It was when he got to the question and answer section of the report that the statement of the First Officer jumped out at him. The officer had seen a shadow move and it struck the officer as odd enough to risk ridicule and mention it at the hearing. Link thought it would be worthwhile to interview the First Officer named Hildon to see if he could remember anything else. The Captain apparently didn't see anything relevant to Link's interest, so there was probably no point interviewing her. After some back and forth messages with the person in charge of the Lanayru Bay dock, an interview with Hildon was scheduled for later that afternoon when he would be back on duty. Normally these kinds of inquiries could be handled by one of the guards, but given the secrecy of the matter, Link needed to do this himself. After finishing the report Link was frankly quite worried and needed to discuss things with Mipha.