Chapter Text
As the Oracle of Secrets, Farore had many strange visitors, relatively speaking. While people didn't come in droves, many who did would be considered strange. Fairies who masqueraded as humans and wished for their old identities to be kept secret from their brethren. Monsters who wished to hide underground. Monks who wished to preserve their bodies indefinitely until found by the right person.
The latter of which also sought ways to construct entire chambers by themselves for said right person. Farore has no idea why, but then again she's not exactly the Golden Goddess she was named after, who can just ask Hylia in person.
As it was, her current visitor wanted a way to hide knowledge from everyone. Not the first time she's had someone request that, and certainly won't be the last.
"For it to be made a secret," Farore began, "I would need to write it down somewhere."
"And what would happen if it got destroyed?"
Farore has heard variations of that question before and replied, "If it's destroyed, the knowledge is released to everyone who already knows it. Also, there are limits to my powers. I can't hide things people can't forget, like their own child."
There was a pause before the visitor spoke, "You must have many requests of that nature if you felt the need to say that. Moving on, would the secret be released if it was written on stone and then broken?"
"As long as each portion has multiple intact words, the secret would remain so," Farore answered. "But if any of it is eroded away by the elements, that counts as the secret being released."
Turning her focus back on her visitor, she then asks, "Now what's this big secret you wish to be kept?"
The visitor reaches into a pocket and withdraws a sheet of paper, presenting it and revealing it was written in ancient Hylian.
She takes it and after a quick read, narrows her eyes before asking, "Why would you want this to be secret?"
Then, more forcefully, she demands, "And what makes you think I would be willing to in the first place?"
Smirking, her visitor withdrew another sheet and presents it to her, the blank backside up.
Cautiously, Farore takes the sheet and flips it over, revealing the image of young Queen Zelda and a younger girl that's her spitting image.
"We know you favor the child an inordinate amount compared to how you treat her mother. Doesn't take much to guess why," the visitor drawled. "Not many reasons for all three Oracles to prefer a child over her mother unless they're closer to her unknown father."
Stepping towards Farore, he then holds up the picture again before speaking, "And we both know who her father is, don't we?"
Kakariko Village was a rather small settlement, with it's population being less than a hundred. With it's small size, it's not unusual to have more homes than businesses. With the only businesses being essential ones, like a general store, a tavern that acts as a restaurant, an inn for the occasional travellers, and a blacksmith. It was a rather quiet place. So it's not unexpected for any commotion to be quickly noticed.
"After her!" Cried the voice of one of Hyrule's soldiers as they ran in pursuit of a young girl, wearing a green tunic over a brown shirt and white pants, through Kakariko village.
As she ran, her long red hair bounced in the air as the red gaze of her bird mask protected her eyes from the wind.
"You'll never take me alive!" She taunts and leaps into the air, performing a second jump in mid air, before landing on the roof of the nearest building.
"She's fleeing through rooftop!" Called out a voice as they spot her leaping onto another roof, performing a second jump in midair to land on another building.
Satisfied with the extra barrier between her and the guards, she returns to ground level, only to land in front of thick shrubbery.
"Not falling for this one again," she says to herself and jumps over the bush, causing the guard hiding within to curse before vacating his hiding spot.
Stopping near a signpost for a quick breather, the girl spots an image painted on it reading, "Wanted: Alive and Unharmed" with the image of a younger version of Queen Zelda beneath. "I really hate how easy it is for them to make a wanted poster of me," she comments, lifting her mask to reveal the very face painted onto the wood.
While it was easy for her to rest without having to worry about royal guards, she had no such luck with normal townspeople in their much quieter shoes and suddenly found arms around her waist lifting her up.
"I got her! Soldiers, come quick!" called out a woman holding onto the girl, preventing her from escaping.
"It's like Link never left," an old woman says wistfully as she swept her porch.
"She's certainly just as fast as him," commented a man, known for his own speed, as he stood from his position near the old woman's porch.
"Your majesty," spoke a nervous guard as he held up a bound redhead before the queen.
"This time, it only took you five hours to find her," Queen Zelda said. "You're getting better at the very least."
"Thank you, my queen," he said.
"Leave us," The queen orders the guard and then turns her attention towards the girl as the two were left alone and demands, "And where were you today?"
"Visiting grandpa," was the child's reply.
"We've talked about this," Zelda said with a sigh, "no leaving without an escort. It's no trouble for Impa."
"I don't like Impa," the girl responds.
"Then take P'Rune, don't you like her?" Zelda questions. "Or even Raw'bee?"
"I don't want an escort!" The girl shot back. "I don't want to be here!"
"Frances Fitsgeralt Hyrule!" Queen Zelda nearly yelled.
"That's not my name!" The girl actually does yell.
"I know," Zelda said quietly. "I know. And I'm sorry, but you know why we both need this charade."
The redhead, now revealed to be named Frances, storms out of the throne room without another word.
"Stupid Zelda," Frances grumbled and stomped her way throughout the halls. "Stupid big castle," she complains about the layout and heads towards the dungeons.
Upon reaching destination, she opens the door and moves to the side, dodging an arrow flying out the door.
"Sorry, the button on this thing isn't perfected yet," apologized the white haired woman in the room. "Oh hey there little bird," she greets the redhead. "How's my favorite princess?"
The redhead glares at the woman in response causing her to ask, "Queen Zelda used the name?"
The redhead nods.
"Sorry then," the woman apologizes. "You know she only wants what's best for everyone."
"I know Ms P'Rune," the girl replies. "I just hate that she keeps acting like she's my mother."
"It can't be helped," P'Rune says comfortingly. "The child of the missing hero and a woman you yourself said greatly resemble Zelda," the woman explains. "I may not agree with her decision to pass you off as her illegitimate child, but I can't say it was a bad one, politically speaking. With an heir, she could take the throne without having to marry someone unfit for the position."
"I just wish she wasn't trying to replace my mother," Frances laments.
"Well I know exactly how to cheer you up little bird," P'Rune says, grabbing the girl's attention.
"Really?" The girl questions
"Yeah," P'Rune says with a grin and holds up a pair of small wing like clips. "These are for your hair," she explains
Frances takes them with a grimace. "Another princess thing," she says in distaste and places them into her hair
"I made these by studying the extra jumping feather your father had," the woman explains. "You just need to wear them, no need to assign them to a button."
Frances smiles at that and looked down at her wrists, at the buttons on her cuffs. "So I can keep these open for other things from now on?" she asks, earning a nod from the older woman.
"There you are," came a voice at the door. The pair turned their gazes to spot P'Rune's younger sister, R'Sin, more commonly known as Impa.
Frances curses under her breath and moves towards the door. If there was one thing she hated most in the castle, it was Impa's protectiveness and disapproval of P'Rune's demeanor.
When she reached it, she paused and turned back to the woman. "Those other things I asked about," she said and was interrupted by P'rune who said, "I got the strength boosting item to work like Great Fairy Tears, but the cooldown is immense so it’s definitely not ready."
"Can it still be used though?" Frances questioned.
"Yeah, you can take the prototype tomorrow. Just keep in mind the cooldown is an hour," P'Rune tells the leaving girl.
"She'll take the prototype tomorrow then," Impa says authoritatively and takes the girl out.
"Alright, alright," the redhead grouses. "Don't have to pull me along."
Impa responds with a light glare and says, “If you didn’t run off so often, I wouldn’t have to treat you like this.”
“I’m a bird,” the child says, “I’m not meant to be caged.”
“Zelda regrets what’s happening to you,” Impa admits. “But she and this kingdom have a debt to your father. The fact that you look like her means you’re in danger from her enemies. And should your father’s identity be revealed as well?”
Impa didn’t explain further and Frances was thankful for the silence. No one has ever said anything out loud, but the people in Kakariko know.
“Always rushing into things and getting scrapes, just like him,” an old lady once said when she tripped once and scratched herself on a bush.
“I’m not surprised you’re the second person to catch up to me,” a running man said when she ran by him once.
“You treat cuccos so much better than certain people,” a woman once said as Frances sang to a gathering of the birds.
“I should apologize,” Frances admitted. After everything her father had done for her, it’d be ungrateful to waste the life he gave her. And Zelda deserved better too. No one asked her to take in an orphaned child, yet the then princess didn’t hesitate to claim said orphan as her own at first sight.
“She understands,” Impa tells her. “You feel stifled here. She felt the same when she was in hiding all those years ago.”
Frances nods. She had heard the story from her father, how he broke into a dungeon to rescue Zelda and brought her to safety while a sorcerer hunted her. When the same story was told by Zelda, it spoke of how a princess was trapped in a dangerous cage and then sent to another cage for her own safety.
Frances knew it was much like her own situation. The only difference was the soldiers are out to protect her rather than seeking to harm her. Unlike the moblins from back home.
As they arrive at her bedroom, she turns to Impa and asks, “Which dress should I wear?”
“The blue one,” Impa suggests and fetches it. Frances liked the blue one. It made her feel closer to her mother. Just like how the green made her feel closer to her father.
It took longer than she would like, being a fancy dress, but they managed to have her changed from the tunic to dress just in time for dinner.
When they arrived in the dining room, it was thankfully empty save for Zelda herself. As much as the girl hated castle life, at least most meals were with Zelda alone rather than large gatherings. It was better than dining with some unpleasant nobles.
"So how was Alfon?" Zelda asked sometime into the meal.
"Fun. We went to Lake Hylia today and spent the day fishing while he told me stories about my father," the redhead answers.
"We only caught small fishes and sold most of them at Kakariko before he felt tired and had to go home. He wanted to walk me back to the castle but I told him guards would make their way to Kakariko soon enough and he left me in the village's care. And then the guards showed up later."
Zelda smiled at that. While the child was quick to anger when she felt her family is being replaced, she was quick to forgive when approached as a friend instead of caretaker. "It sounds like you had an eventful day," she said. Certainly more eventful than any day Zelda had since Ganon had been defeated. If only Link could see this as well.
"How long is this going to take?" Farore heard as she carved the next line onto a large stone tablet.
"Not much longer," was her reply. She wasn't exactly versed in carving stone, but she had managed to nearly finish her work. She hoped this was a waste of time. Something like this being turned into a secret doesn’t bode well for Hyrule