Chapter 8

When Laen woke up the next morning, everything was commotion. All the servants (except the personal attendants) had gotten up an hour early and was working away. Laen reported to Rilla's bedside and woke her up, trying not to act like she didn't know what was going on. She felt she should know, so she pretended she did.
When Rilla woke up, her first response was, "What is all the noise about? Laen, go find out why everyone's making so much noise! How am I supposed to sleep?"
"Well, princess, it is time for you to wake up, but I'll find out for you whats going on." Laen bowed and left the room.
As soon as she stepped outside, Laen walked right into Rabay, who said, "Oh! Have you woken the princess up? I was just sent to make sure you did. If you have, I'll be going now."
"Yes, but could you please tell me what's going on? The princess would like to know, otherwise I wouldn't ask."
Rabay rolled her eyes and said, "The princess should know by now. Annually, the royals' best friends come over, the prince's brother and his wife. They are the most wealthy and famous couple besides the royal couple themselves. Today is their anniversary, along with that of Their Majesties. They always come together on this day to celebrate, and to mourn."
"Mourn? Mourn what, or who? Did someone die on this day?"
"Not exactly, but there is a child...She is the daughter of the other couple that is coming today, and she went missing. She never was found. It was her that we are looking for with the help of the Zora's. You remember, yesterday?"
"Oh, of course! That poor girl. What do they think happened to her? I would assume she's dead by this time, isn't she?"
"Yes, that's what we think, too. Only the Zora's beleive she is still alive, they say they know she's still alive. But I don't know how they'd know when her own father says she's died, and he could always feel her life in the back of his mind. He knew it was there. But a few years ago he declared her dead. He said her life went out of his mind, so she must be dead. She would be the neice of the queen and prince, so the entire kingdom mourned her, let me tell you. Her parents and her aunt and uncle continue to mourn her to this day, on their anniversary. Now, we both have chores to do, so I suggest you get to yours and I'll get to mine." With that, Rabay turned and left.
Laen returned to the princess, who was dressing, and told her what Rabay had said, that today was her parents arriversary and the day to mourn the missing girl.
"Oh, of course, that little... brat. Do you know they had the gall to crown her princess and love her like she were me? I bet the goddesses took her away and killed her for that! The nerve to pretend she was princess... and this was while my mother was pregnant with me! It's not like she actually stood a chance of inheriting the throne." Although Rilla clearly despised the missing girl and everything she stood for, Laen was intruiged by her and her story. She wondered sadly how the girl had died. But as usual, she didn't have time for her thoughts, only time to do Rilla's bidding.

When it was time for the guests to arrive, all the servants had to be out of sight. This also meant they had no one to attend to, no chores to do. It was their time off, so they returned to their quarters to relax and talk.
Laen was nearly dropping. Rilla had been sending her all over the sprawling structure of the castle getting this dress and that dress, this lipstick, that eyeshadow. Everything the spoiled brat needed to be gorgeous, though Laen could see that one thing ate away at her.
Rilla would never be as naturally beautiful as Laen. And it made her want to kill her attendant.
But Laen was so perfect at obeying the rules and beign a humble servant, without ever losing her dignity. Rilla really didn't know how to turn her into a broken-spirited, helpless, droid like all her other attendants. This was a challenge beyond her, so she just tired Laen out.
Now, Laen collapsed into her bed and almost instantly sank into sleep. For a moment, she forgot all her problems. She let her mind rest for the first time in a long time.
Her eyes shot open.
Laen had been asleep for a good ten or fifteen minutes when she opened her eyes with a start. She had always felt a force similar to that of the blond man in this castle, but now she felt a force exactly like his. He was in the castle, she knew it. And she had to find him.
Part of her said not to go looking. She had been explicitly instructed to stay in her quarters unless summoned, and if she broke a rule, it was an opening for Rilla.
Another part of her said she had been summoned. By the blond man.
Do you really want to find him? Her sensible part was talking again. She remembered last time she'd encountered him. He'd turned her into an emotional wreck.
She had to... it wasn't him, it was her fighting off the memories. That's what messed her up. If she didn't fight it this time, she'd be fine. She had to find him and let him enter her thoughts.
"Laen, where are you going? You know you're supposed to stay here while they're visiting." It was Rabay calling.
Laen turned back, almost in a trance. Shaking her head gently, she whispered, "No, I must find him. The blond man is here."
"The blond man? Laen, you stay here! They'll not be pleased to have you disturbing them. Rilla will be, though, cause she'll have found a flaw in you, and wouldn't she just love that! Laen, you come back here! Are you listening to me? Laen!"
The servant girl was lost in her trance. She had to find him, and she couldn't rest until she did. She only faintly heard Rabay call to her, but not follow her. As Laen left the servant's quarters, she heard the panic in the head servant's voice, but nothing could stop her in her quest to find the man she was looking for.
Outside the servants' quarters, where no physical barriers stood between Laen and the man she sought, the call became stronger. At the same time, it held her less. She had more control over her own movements, though she was just as determined to find him as she would have been if she were possessed. She walked towards the call, towards the sound of pleasent dinner conversation. She heard one voice speak, saying, "...world beyond Hyrule!"
Evidentally it was the punchline of a joke, for the next sound she heard was laughter. But it was the joke that caught her, because she recognized the voice. It had last said to her, "Are you all right?" It could only be the blond man. She drew in a sharp breath of surprise, and she must have been heard, for the laughter stopped.
The next voice she heard was a woman's, though not Zelda's. It said, "What was that?" The voice also sounded familiar, but the connection to it was not as close. Laen continued walking towards the dining room, though she knew she was caught and would be disciplined. She didn't care, she just had to know who those voices were, both of the familiar ones.
As soon as she entered the dining room, her eyes met those of the blond man, and she gasped in shock. She leaned against a wall as all her strength left her and she went sheet white. The blond man looked equally astonished.
"S..." He couldn't find his voice. He finally managed to struggle out the word, "Saria?"
At the sound of the name, Laen nearly fell unconscious. The memories hit her like a ton of bricks, and she suddenly knew who she was.
She was not Laen. She was Saria. The blond man was...
"Daddy?" Saria stammered, almost unable to breathe, "Daddy!"
In a millisecond, Link and Malon were up from their chairs and holding their daughter in their arms for the first time in nine years. Tears of joy streaked their faces and Saria's. Zelda, Chezdon and Rilla could only watch in dumbfounded amazement.
Link managed to ask, "Why didn't you know last time? Last time I saw you?"
"You never said my name! And I didn't want to know, I was fighting not to know."
Malon said indignantly, "You never told me you saw her!"
"I didn't think it was her!" Link answered, "It was after I thought she'd died."
Suddenly, Saria noticed Malon's hair. The only thing she had ever remembered about her childhood was that Mommy, a redhead, had tried to kill her. Had thrown her into the desert. She broke away from Malon with a terrified expression on her face.
"Saria, what's the matter?" Malon asked with concern.
"You!" Saria cried, "You threw me away! You tried to kill me, Mommy!" The girl burst into tears.
"No, no, Saria! Your Mommy would never try to kill you. How do you remember that, anyway? You were a baby!"
Between sobs, Saria managed to say, "I remember... I remember... a red haired woman...it was Mommy...I know it was!" She paused while sobbing wracked her body, then continued, "She threw me away... into the sand... the desert.... the desert, I remember... I do, I do!" Saria collapsed on the floor.
Link and Malon looked at each other, puzzled. Then Zelda spoke up, saying, "Um...excuse me, but aren't Gerudo theives usually redheads? And they live in the desert, too. It's likely that she only remembers the hair, not the actual identity of the person. That would make the most sense, since they are the followers of Ganon. We know that now."
Link clenched his teeth and snarled, "I was stupid to beleive their fake concern. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
Malon knelt by her daughter and told her soothingly, "Saria, honey, that wasn't me! It was a Gerudo woman! I didn't want to kill you! I love you so much! Do you remember anything else? Maybe we can find out who actually did throw you away."
"It doesn't matter who," Link said, "I'll kill them all. They're all worthless. Their just a bunch of theiving, evil, b*******."
"Link!"
"Well, they are! Their parents are never married, and they do steal for a living, and they follow Ganon." Link said defensively.
Malon sighed and told him, "Be that as it may, not all Gerudo are evil, even if they are theiving b*******. Think of Nabooru. And you and I both know there are still women who follow her, although likely very few of them."
Saria took in all the information she had just received, and hunted in the back of her memory for the word "Gerudo"...Ah, there it was! She did remember! It had been a Gerudo who had taken her away from her home... her home on the ranch.
"The Gerudo queen!" Saria bursted out with excitement, "It was the Gerudo queen, and her best friend! The best friend took me and then the queen said to kill me! I don't remember their names..."
Chezdon spoke up for the first time, "Evashino is the queen of the Gerudo. Is that the name, Saria?"
"Yes! That, and... Ala... something."
"The head of the Gerudo army!" Chezdon exclaimed, "Alakime, is that it? She's the queen's best friend, I beleive."
"Alakime...yes! Alakime and Evashino! Sorry, Mom, it wasn't you. It was them."
Link fidgeted with his fingers, and Zelda knew he wanted a weapon. He only did that when he was wishing for a sword in his hand to kill something with. He'd always been better with actions then with words. Now, he sought to kill the two women that had almost killed his daughter.
"Why," Malon mused, "Did you think she'd died, Link? She's still alive, so what happened in your head?"
Link frowned and considered the question very hard. Then Saria answered it.
"I did die." she said, "The spark died. There was always something in me, a weird kind of... consciousness in the back of my mind, and I didn't know what it was."
"Telepathy." Link and Zelda answered in unison.
"Oh! Well, anyway, I didn't like it so I tried to squish it out of my head, and I did, about...4 or 5 years ago. But it came back when I saw you, Dad."
"So," Malon said slowly, "What you sensed wasn't her life, it was her telepathic connection to you. When she broke that off by destroying her own telepathic skills, you thought she'd died."
Saria didn't quite know what to think of this. All this time she had been crushing telepathy? Had she known that's what it was, she would have just called for help when she was being kidnapped!
"Sit down to dinner, Saria." Malon said, "We'll have the servants cook up a new course."
"Hey!" Link asked, "How did you get here, anyway?"
Saria told her story, right down to being possessed by the will to find her father, the call of his telepathy to hers. Then she asked about her family, her home and her past.
They told her how they had been mourning her annually. They explained that she was actually Saria II Telise, because she was named after the Sage of Forest and her maternal grandmother. They told her she had a horse named Navi that would still remember her. Malon said horses remembered riders they'd only had once, so it would be no problem for Navi to remember Saria, who'd ridden her dozens of times before she was kidnapped. Her parents told her they had kept her room just the way she left it... though it would have to be updated now. They said that they had looked for her until Link had decided she was dead, but they didn't know how they'd missed finding her. They told her how their lives hadn't been the same without her. Saria asked why they'd never had other children. They said they were too busy looking for their firstborn, and they thought it would be disrespectful to just replace her until they were certain she was dead.
"I wouldn't have minded if you'd had another baby." Saria told them, "As long as you still loved me."
"Of course we would!" Malon said with a laugh, "No one could ever replace you!"
Saria was the guest of honour at dinner that night, and everyone doted over her, and talked with her, and spoiled her. She was glad she was wanted and loved by her parents (Who happened to be the second most rich and famous people in Hyrule, which was a stroke of luck for her!), because she knew most children weren't so lucky. They were usually abandoned as babies, and most didn't survive. Everyone had a wonderful time reviving the long lost princess.
Everyone, that is except Rilla.