middaeg | [Closed] February Catch All

It is an easy question and one that Zelda should have expected. She's not sure why it catches her by surprise so much; Edelgard's question is innocent and yet it settles in the pit of her belly like lead. She remembers her father reprimanding her for showing an interest in such things, and a creeping fear takes hold of her heart. That perhaps she, too, might find it to be a waste of time. She sighs and nods her head, long hair swaying with the motion.

"As often as I could, yes," she admits, a frown beginning to worry her features. "It was not always possible, with the amount of work I had to do as Hyrule's princess, but..."

She hesitates. It is incredibly honest to admit, but... "I enjoyed it greatly. Whenever they found something new, I could hardly wait to take the trip to see it myself."

She may be expecting one reaction, but Edelgard's response is likely quite the opposite. Her eyes widen, then crinkle a bit at the corners as she smiles. Archaeology is a passing interest of hers, no surprise given her fascination with history, but it's one thing that she thinks she has in common with Zelda.

"I understand that. I find it interesting, myself," she says without any trace of hesitation. She's not even sure why Zelda is so tentative about it, if it's truly a passion of hers.

"In my role growing up, I had little time for firsthand investigations, though I have taken every opportunity presented to me to explore old ruins and see what I could learn. My freedom in my teenage years was limited, so you'll have to forgive me a touch of envy, though I hope to be able to revisit such things in the near future."

Heck, she was planning on founding an academy of Crestology for Hanneman and Linhardt, so why not expand that into a more general academy?

Edelgard's admission is a surprise to Zelda, something that the princess doesn't hide in the least. Her expression slips, relaxing into raised brows and an open mouth. It's unladylike, but out among the trees, she feels little need to keep the airs up. There's a part of Zelda, then, that sees a reflection in Edelgard— a woman that leads and does what she must to create a better world for her people. Idly, she hopes that she, too, can be someone like that.

A moment passes before she looks the ground, closing her mouth and tilting her head as she considers the words the Emperor of the Adrestian Empire offers her. 'Freedom,' she had called it, but Zelda had considered them her own reprieves from her duties. She did not shirk them, necessarily, for she felt that aiding the study of the Sheikah technology would be vital in the coming battle. It had been... It had been.

"I am not sure there is much to be envious about," Zelda says after a moment. She is neither offended nor glad, a middling emotion settling into her tone of voice. "My father had not considered my surveys necessary," she continues, looking ahead. "I am sure that you'll be able to do so, Edelgard. To revisit that passion."

"Perhaps. I do hope so, but life has it's ways of waylaying us from our passions."

For her, more than most. She's aware that her life will be shorter, that her years have been stolen, though how that will interplay with her newfound undeath is anyone's guess. She's willing to hope but not willing to hope too hard.

"In any event, I find history fascinating. And I'm glad to know I am not alone in my interest. I know so few women interested in scholarly pursuits...and the few I do know with such interest are more intrigued with spellcasting than histories and archaeology."

Annette springs to mind, here.

"Not that magical scholarship is any less fascinating, but it is the pursuit of knowledge and not arcane power that catches my interest."

She almost feels guilty for her fear of being judged, now. There are so many things she says to Zelda that hit close to home, making her feel a little less isolated in the world. Nodding, she smiles shyly and warmly. She wants to ask what it is that keeps her from her passions— Zelda is a curious soul above all else, and will always ask how, and why, but for moment, she's quiet.

"I had studied magic for some time. It... never truly came easily to me." The admission feels a little horrid, like telling someone your greatest secret, but it's true. She can't deny that she gravitated towards what she could grab and hold and inspect, study endlessly.

"My world had an ancient race called the Sheikah— many of their technological advancements were important to aiding a great battle that took place in Hyrule. I wish I had a chance to study them more. Whatever energy it ran on was incredible— It mapped out the surrounding area so quickly, and the Divine Beasts were nothing short of astounding. Working on them was such a remarkable experience, even if they had to be tinkered with greatly to make them managable."

Daruk's Rudania in particular had needed so many tune-ups!

"Divine Beasts?"

That is a name...certainly...that Edelgard is going towards. Not because she has any particular hatred for the Divine, exactly, unless it happens to be a dragon hellbent on keeping Humanity down. More, because the name is very, very specific. And because it sounds, in some way, like a thing that could be ascribed to a number of the war engines used by both Rhea and the Agarthans.

"What are those? They sound significant."

World-changing, really.

World-changing is putting it lightly.

"Technologically speaking," Zelda begins, slowly. Her hands begin to gesture, as if mapping out an invisible timeline for Edelgard as they walk. "The Sheikah were a great deal more advanced than my people are now. They had achievements that were quite remarkable, but we were... still working on ways to understand them. When they had learned that Calamity Ganon would be rising once more, they used their technology to create four mechanical beasts that would require use of a pilot. One for each race in Hyrule: Vah Ruta for the Zora, Vah Naboris for the Gerudo, Vah Rudania for the Gorons, and Vah Medoh for the Rito. Those chosen to pilot the Divine Beasts were called Champions, and they along with the Guardians were to protect Hyrule along with... the Princess and the Hero when Ganon struck."

So, instruments of war is not too far off, at all.

"We unearthed them and repeated as our ancestors had, carefully selecting someone from each race to pilot one, just as ten thousand years before. Getting inside them was... was incredible, Edelgard. They had created these great machines for people to use to protect their land."

If only it had worked, the second time.

Edelgard listens in fascinated silence, truly intrigued by the tale. These Sheikah must have been truly something to create mechanical beasts at all. She's imagining something large, on the scale of a mobile city, given Zelda's earlier descriptions. The mention of Races doesn't go unnoticed, because that's not something Fodlan and Hyrule share. Other races were mere stories, as far as she knew. Save dragons, of course.

"So...they are massive defensive...fortifications, then? I imagine with the ability to move?"

This is definitely well outside the scope of things she has dealt with, though the descriptions aren't too much for her to at least comprehend.

"Do your people not have one? Hylians, I think the other Zelda told me you were called?"

"Ah—"

Just like that, she's reeled in from reveling in all the things she was so fascinated by. It is a question she probably should have answered in her explanation, and she feels a bit embarrassed by getting ahead of herself.

"Yes, we are called the Hylians." Fantasy elves are all the same regardless of what you call them, admittedly. "There was no need for the Hylian Champion to possess a Divine Beast for the Master Sword at his side was a being all it's own." It had spoken to her, once. Dully, distantly, but it had glowed and reminded her that his life was not lost...

"I have wondered about such a thing... but I do not know what it is that powers any of the Sheikah technology. It worked quite well when we excavated it all. The Shrines even held true to their purpose..."

"That purpose being?"

She was beginning to note that the best way to make Zelda happy seemed to be to ask questions and allow her to illuminate those around her with her ideas. She was curious about this strange land, so her interest was nothing less than genuine, though making the other woman more comfortable about opening up was always at the back of her mind.

Perhaps, though, her thoughts are colored by the other Zelda's reluctance and anxiety over talking about herself...

A question with no easy answer. Zelda did not feel as if the meaning of those shrines was lost on her, but she did not feel that she understood them completely, either. They were not for here, after all.

"To test the Hero," she says, after a moment of thought.

"To help him train for the day he would need to be the light that Hyrule needed to lead us into a new age— to help bring us out of that darkness that Ganon cast over us." It might be a bit too apparent she thinks highly of that Hero, but it's Edelgard's information to do as she pleases with.

Edelgard nods, taking all of that into consideration. It isn't that she thinks Zelda thinks too highly of this "Link" at all, but she does wonder at the notion of pinning a kingdom's hopes on prophecy and legend. She wouldn't, but...then the Divine is a sham in her world, really. Mostly. Byleth aside.

"What...exactly...is this Ganon, if it's not too dark a subject to ask about?"

She had not expected such a question, truthfully. Partly because she seems to know her ancestor well, and partly because she is used to people simply knowing who Ganon is. Zelda glances at Edelgard through the corner of her eye, considers how to respond, and decides to test the waters, first.

"What has she told you of it?"

It... because the Ganon of Zelda's time is no man. Still, she knows her ancestor's version of him— it is a complicated answer to a simple question, once more.

"Quite little," Edelgard replies truthfully.

There had always been some reason not to ask. Zelda, the other Zelda, always seemed so traumatized by thinking of it that she hadn't wanted to ask further. It was simply not a topic she had a mind to force.

"You're the one that told me the name. From her I've heard that it's some manner of evil force that attacked Hyrule, and that it succeeded in damaging the kingdom badly enough that it will take years to rebuild. But she never named it, and I haven't inquired further."

She smiles ruefully, offering a weak laugh.

"I often find her needing to unwind due to the stresses of this world, and so instead try to keep her mind occupied with less weighty matters, truthfully."

It doesn't surprise her. In truth, if Zelda weren't so determined to do better as the sole survivor of the Hyrule family, she might have done the same. Her sins are great, in her mind; as the heir to nothing, she had not achieved much until the eleventh hour. It had worked, and they had won, but their victories are bittersweet as Ganon's Malice still scars Hyrule.

"It is understandable," comes her slow response, and she looks to the dirt. She sympathizes. Relates, even: It is funny how much their tale repeats itself. "There is more to her story than what I can say. But I am able to speak of Calamity Ganon as a being of pure, ancient evil. By my time, it had sloughed off a physical form, bringing death and destruction with it. I... assume that it had used more traditional ways of achieving power, in the best."

Assume is not the correct word here, truthfully. Her ancestor had told her in plain words the truth of Ganon the man, and here she tries to preserve the secrecy of her ancestor by pretending she knows very little of that tale. Perhaps she does.

"It is.... was... our shared destroy. To defeat that ancient evil. The tale is the same, however," she sighs, "I wish to rebuild my own Hyrule as soon as possible."

Edelgard can smell a lie a mile away, but in obfuscating this, Zelda is successful. She's too concerned for Zelda, as it's made quite plain by her body language that this is a topic that scars her deeply. It's not unlike, in her mind, Those Who Slither in the Dark, or as near to them as she can possibly imagine. Her frame of reference for ancient evils is slim, blessedly.

"I understand."

Stepping in front of Zelda, putting her solid, stocky body in front of the other woman, Edelgard reaches a hand out for her shoulder. A brief touch, if she shies away, but a lingering gloved grip if she does not.

"It is a dreadful thing, to be forced to face down evil. But you have done so, and so has she. If I understand your words, the storm has broken, and you have the opportunity you seek. I have faith that you will succeed, Zelda."

And she knows the other one has, or there would be no future Zelda here.

"So, take heart. Know that you can make that dream a reality. All you must do is grasp it."

Edited 2020-02-28 01:59 (UTC)

[Closed] February Catch All

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