The Link between a page and a knight - PSL for Link in Tortall

[chicklet]

 Passage into this world would not have been easy, and there would have been an odd sensation like ripping through the remains of a barrier that tried to keep him out, but was too tattered and torn to work properly. Thankfully, the gods were with him in one respect. He could have easily landed in a company of the King's Own, or the Queen's Riders, or the Palace Guard. Instead he dropped down just outside the palace in front of a youngster, all of eleven years old - though topping five feet already at that age, heading to the city proper. 

Kel stopped dead, seeing a boy with pointed ears appear out of nowhere, then drew her small knife, wishing she had her naginata, or even one of the horns the pages used on their field trips. She didn't even have her dog or the birds with her, all of whom had proven themselves this past year. But she was still a page of the kingdom, to the shock of all, and she was not going to let some immortal get past her. Even if this was the first time she'd ever seen an immortal that looked like a kid.

But with those ears, and appearing like that, he had to be an immortal? Right?

All of this was running through her mind, but none of it showed on her face. Her expression was blank, as though she were a carved statue of a person rather than flesh. Her stance was practiced, though she never thought to be fighting off an immortal with just a belt knife, no matter how fine the black handled blade was! Her brown hair was cut short above her ears, her hazal-green eyes watched him with no seeming concern. No seeming emotion at all, really. 

But Mithros' spear! She could at least have a weapon or back up or something!

<i>No, Kel. Stone</i> she reminded herself sharply. <i>No, not stone. A serene lake. </i> she needed to be able to flow into her motions, rather than stiffen up.

"Who are you and what business have you here?" she asked, and her voice - as emotionless as her face - was pretty much the first, last, and only hint that the person menacing him with a short blade was female. 

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[chicklet]

If he voiced that complaint, Numair would have explained the difference. But since he hadn't... The tall man turned to face the fortress. "We should make it there within two hours, at a good walk," he said. Then glanced back at Daine. "That is if someone can stay out of the ocean long enough?"

She rolled her eyes. "Learned my lessons, thanks, no more turning off my heart, and no more getting pummeled by sea lion bulls for not warning them when I come close to their mates. Besides, there aren't any whales within my reach at all."

[younghero]

Link was perfectly willing to walk. He'd walked all of Hyrule before he got his Epona.

Although, he was a little puzzled at the talk of swimming lions. And his traveling companions were awful chummy. He felt like a third wheel, and seriously debated running off as a wolf.

He figured they'd just trap him or something, so decided against it for the moment.

"What's that?"

He nodded towards the structure.

[chicklet]

"Pirate's Swoop, Well, the fortress" Daine said. "Home of Baron George and Alanna the Lioness and their kids when they're not in Corus. And given about how furious Alanna is with the King, she probably won't be in the city for some time. That flag with the lion rearing is her banner. So she's in, seems like George is out, though."

"And one day we will stop this gods curst stupid practive of telling the world when a fief or holding is protected and when the Queen is here with her defenders lured away," he said, grimly.

Daine patted his arm. "You have fun getting that one changed, dear."

[younghero]

Link nodded solemnly. "We don't have a tradition like that in Hyrule."

Possibly because both Wisdom and Premonition ran in the Royal Family.

[chicklet]

"How many fiefs?" Daine asked, curiously.

[younghero]

"What's a fief?"

Hyrule was just....Hyrule. The Hero of Twilight could have named provinces, but, this Link from his time could only name the settlements of his homeland.

And there weren't many.

[chicklet]

"A holding, held by a Lord and his family, or a Lady and hers, on behalf of the king," Numair explained. "Fiefs are responsible for providing taxes to the crown, either form their people or their own treasury, training soldiers to support the crown at needed, and billeting crown troops in times of war or on long journeys to battlefields. The Crown is obligated to protect the fief when there is more danger than their own troops can reasonably handle, help with food when there is famine, and with rebuilding when a disaster destroys more than the fief can reasonably rebuild on their own. The Fief is also responsible for the care of its people. As they're also the crown's people, the King responds seriously to reports that a Lord might be abusing their people."

Daine grinned a bit. "And sometimes it is fun to teach lessons to those who think they can plot against the throne just because they rule their fief."

"I am not certain fun was the term we used at the time," Numair said dryly.

She just grinned impishly at him.

[younghero]

Link just looked faintly puzzled. He supposed at a stretch, one could call the Gorons' city and Zora's Domain fiefs on that definition, but...it didn't quite fit. And of course, the Gorons and Zora were allies, not schemers.

He slowly shook his head. "Must not be a thing we have. Hyrule's capitol is Castle Town, it's a walled city that surrounds the castle itself. There's settlements of Zora--er, water people--and Gorons---rock people, and a few Hylian villages. Oh, and the Kokiri keep to the forest or else they die."

[chicklet]

"Why would they be killed if they left the forest?" Daine asked, horrified.

[younghero]

"Magic of the forest keeps them alive and eternally young."

[chicklet]

"Oh." she said, reassessing a bit. "Odd magic," she finally said. "Well here our capital city is Corus, and it is walled in with the palace. Most of the villages are in fiefs, or are the fiefs themselves."

She wasn't sure if rock people and water people meant miners and fishermen or if it was more literal.

[younghero]

"Old magic."

For a moment he thought about the Great Deku Tree telling him to leave the forest, and how it hadn't made a lot of sense at the time. He'd half expected to keel over when he crossed over the bridge away from Saria....

"Your country must be very large."

[chicklet]

"Reasonably," She said with a shrug. "Carthaki might be bigger, I'm not sure. We only saw a little of it and I can never quite tell from maps."

Numair chuckled. "A lot depends how you are defining large, by landmass size? By over all territory including oceans? Population?"

She poked him in the ribs. "Once he starts with lists he'll be all day."

[younghero]

"Probably all that."

Although, it was likely Hyrule would expand in its current timeline. His current timeline, at least. With Ganondorf imprisoned and awaiting execution----oh, he really needed to go home and supervise that, but, there was no way the King would let him......

"But, Hyrule has some pretty cool places, like Death Mountain."

[chicklet]

"Death,.... mountain...?" Daine asked.

Numair looked like he swallowed sommat sour.

[younghero]

"It's a volcano: That's where my friends the Gorons live."

Typical adults.

[chicklet]

Daine would be pleased to know she was being considered an adult. She blinked. "A Volcano?" she asked. "I've never actually come close to one, what sorts of animals live around them?"

[younghero]

"Not many. A few monsters. A dragon lived there for a bit, but, Ganondorf put him there. Mostly, it's just the Gorons."

[chicklet]

"A dragon?" Daine asked, eyes bright with interest. "How did this ganon manage to put him anywhere he did not wish to be, was he just a baby?"

[younghero]

There was a brief flash of pain in Link's eyes, that he did his best to mask.

"I think he must've gotten him while he was a baby. But, Ganondorf and his mothers had some skill in mind-control magic. I know he used mind-control on him."

The dragon's dying word had been his own name, after all. "Link..."

[chicklet]

Daine looked darkly furious, her hands curling into fists. "I can't abide those who hurt baby dragons, I simply can't. Kit nearly died because some half crazed mage thought to drag her ma into the middle of our war to fight for them. Told her that we had killed the babe she carried. Thankfully we were able to save Kit.... Skysong. We call her Kitten, mostly, but her name is Skysong. Her ma had her live after she got healed then flew back to kill those who had kidnapped them, she died saving us, and gave me her last thought as she did, the place where she hid her little one. We went and fetched her and we've been raising her ever since. Though now that she's a bit bigger she is supposed to be learning to interact with other mortals without me an Cloud as a buffer."

[younghero]

Link felt vaguely nauseous.

"Ganondorf is not a good person," he said, distracted, not wanting to know their reactions if they knew he'd killed the dragon he'd mentioned.

[chicklet]

"We have had our own share of those who were not good," Numair said softly, "we sorrow for your peoples sufferings."

"So mote it be," Daine said softly.

[younghero]

"Don't worry. We took care of him. Zelda, me, the Sages...." Of course, he obviously came back, given what Shadow had told them, but....that was his own timeline. So things got muddled.

[chicklet]

Daine nodded a bit. "And we did for Orzone." Her face was a bit grim and set. The face of one who had done the thing herself, and had not found the peace of it she'd expected.