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. 

Comments

[chicklet]

"Well, I can't say that anyone would turn down help. For your race, about how old are you?" she asked, consideringly.

[younghero]

"Twelve."

Or ten. Or seventeen. Or nineteen. It all depended on how you looked at it.

Link stood a little more rigid, feeling himself be appraised. He knew what was coming next--disbelief. He decided to try and head it off.

"I can show you."

[chicklet]

Oh, that hadn't been what was coming next at all. But she blinked and smiled politely. "Show... me? Show me what?"

[younghero]

"That I'm...good with a sword."

Greatest in his time, in his homeland. But, while he'd tell another kid, he was a bit more wary with adults or even older teens.

[chicklet]

"Oh that I wasn't doubting," she said with a bit of a smile. "I've seen the Queen's Riders, who start only few years older than you, and anyone who spends time in the palace gets to hear all about the Lioness when she was a page. This isn't Galla where people think children aren't right to learn to defend themselves. Tortall is safe from within, but there are lots of fiefs on the borders, and everyone there learns to fight."

[younghero]

Link hesitated. He almost wanted to explain further, that he hadn't trained his way to where he was....

Instead he just glanced at the ground.

"You said you needed help?"

[chicklet]

"Well you;re a few years young of being a Rider, but I know they are always accepting new pages if you've a nobel sponsoring you. If you truly want to help this kingdom, I am sure I could arrange that. It is hard work, but... it is also something the realm sorely needs. More fully trained knights."

[younghero]

Link's expression turned apologetic.

"Oh, I'm already going to be a knight in Hyrule. I'm friends with the princess. I couldn't possibly take any oaths for anyone except her."

He looked up to meet her gaze. "I meant more immediate help. Monsters. Demons. Quests. That sort of thing."

[chicklet]

She nodded, respecting that answer.

"Well for that you'd have to talk to the King, his Champion, or head of the Own, I suspect. They're the ones in charge of sending troops where they need to be. Until we're needed, we're mostly just here to help with the palace animals and train the pages."

[younghero]

"Sounds like you might not need me," Link smiled. That was good news. It was nice to see places that weren't on the brink of disaster.

[chicklet]

She smiled a bit too. "No offense, but it is nice to be leaving the after war clean up to others and dealing with more day to day issues. I've had quite enough of war for one."

[younghero]

Link made a peculiar sound between a laugh and a sob. It wasn't the sort of sound a child should have made, it was an oddly bitter sound more befitting a veteran.

"Oh, I don't know. I would have given quite a lot for the honor of clean-up."

He shook his head. "Restoration is a privilege for the victors, you know. Being excluded hurts."

[chicklet]

She gave a bit of a snort and crossed her arms. "Excluded does, but still a sight better than left for dead, then hunted to be murdered by thems you an yer mum usedta help," she said, her accent coming back as she thought of her ma, dead in Snowsdale. Even knowing what happened after changed little, some days. "Raiders did for the house, an two days passed full before any two-leggers thought ta come check on us. We coulda been in pain, sufferin all that time." Well, she had been, though not wounded. "An soon after, they that did come tried to kill me an Cloud, like I hadn't spent my whole life helpin out, like ma hadn't given all she had as midwife an healer, bringing into the world some of what tried ta take me out of it. How I wound up in Tortal. I was well done with thems what called themselves my village after that."

Someone gets it, kid.

"But trust me, thems that exclude someone what fights from helping rebuild is only punishing themselves more."

[younghero]

Link stiffened. "I know and that's half the trouble, but, I wasn't seventeen in my mind, only my body, so I couldn't stay even though I wanted to."

[chicklet]

"Now tha sounds like a story for a good campfire," she said with a bit of a grin.

[younghero]

"I'm not a good storyteller. If Sheik were here, you should ask them. Or my brother Shadow."

Both had a flair for dramatics that Link readily admitted he lacked. Shadow had at least read about the Hero of Time, and Sheik had obviously been there.

[chicklet]

"Them?" She asked. "I don't know any people called Shiek." And she didn't know his brother, though his name sounded like one she might have given to a darking. She wondered where the surviving darkings were now....

[younghero]

"One of the Sheikah, another tribe in Hyrule. They protect the Royal Family."

Link would continue to call Shadow his brother as long as the older boy allowed him to. The status was set in his mind and heart.

It was (far) also easier to explain than the more technical details of their relationship, but, that was just a bonus.

[chicklet]

"I would like to meet them some day, after the work I've done with the Riders."

[younghero]

"There aren't many. They were wiped out almost entirely."

And Link wasn't at all sure this world connected with Hyrule.

[chicklet]

She winced a bit. "Sorry," she said, meaning it.

[younghero]

"Oh, that happened....either before I was born, or in the same war that killed my parents. Probably that last one. Impa and Sheik are the only two I've met."

And only one of the pair was legit.

"Hyrule's pretty diverse. We have Hyulians, humans, Sheikah, Gorons, Zora--there's a tribe of bird people who migrate through---lots of types of people. We do have the Gerudo too, but, aside from their no-good-King, they're alright, considering they're a tribe of thieves."

He made a vague gesture. "Which is why it's always so weird to have people freak out because you look different. Sure, sometimes there's a situation where you run into 'Oh, you're Hylian you wouldn't understand Goron issues' or whatever, but, mostly it's---nice."

[chicklet]

"We have a lot of different peoples here, two-legger and otherwise, but this close to the palace, we tend to know each race on sight, at the least. It isn't that you didn't look like Kel that probably alarmed her, but that you didn't look like any known race, and arrived the way the immortals have. Most immortals have powers or qualities that make it dangerous for someone to face alone, especially someone so early in her training, as Keladry."

She considered. "Among the two leggers, there are Tortallians, Bahzir, Yamani, Copper Islanders who have two main races, the Lurian and the Raka, Carthakis, Gallans, Sacrans, Tyraians.... countless others. Then you have the Immortals. Some who are by nature inimical, like Spindrins and Hurrocks, and Coldfangs. Some that are mostly inimical to humans with a rare few who can change that choice, like the Stormwings. Then there are those who would rather have nothing at all to do with humans, like Griffins and Nierads, and then there are those friendly with humans, though those tend to be more individuals, than whole races. Like the Flying horses of the Copper Isles, or Kitten, her real name is Skysong, who is the baby Dragon I've been raising, or Ikouji who speaks for her tribe of Ogres and have made peace with Maura and her fief. Or Tkaa, the Basalisk, who is one of my dearest friends and teaches the young pages about Immortals."

Cloud tossed her head. "Hush," Daine chided her.

[younghero]

"I'm not immortal. I already told her. "

Link scratched his left ear.

[chicklet]

"Neither do you seem to be People or a typical two-legger. Can you really blame her for being unsure?"