chapter 3
If It's Dinsday, This Must Be Castle Town
Chapter Three: Dr. Borville, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Factory
By the time I made my next visit to Castle Town, Barnes was setting up shop, admittedly a bit too close to the castle for my comfort. Barnes was an amiable sort of person, and wonderfully skilled in his chosen art, but in all other respects, he always struck me as somewhat...less than able. Link, however, didn't seem to share my concerns, so I went to the inn to check in and catch up on the latest.
Ashei had clearly dropped her hint, to judge by the way Telma was frequently eyeing the door. "Telma, you remind me of Shad when he's waiting for Ashei to show up in the evening," I teased her, sitting down at the bar.
Color flooded her plump cheeks, but she winked. "You never know, Rusl, m'dear; we women have our secrets."
I just laughed. "Speaking of the kids, any developments on that front?"
"Well, I do think the boy is gaining a bit of confidence," she said conspiratorially. "A few weeks ago he offered to walk back to the castle with her."
"Did she let him?"
"She made some remark about him needing a guard to make sure no one mugged him en route, so that was her logic for consenting. Now, every night they're both here, they walk up together."
"Wait." I frowned. "Didn't they used to do that anyway?"
"Oh, usually. But the other off-duty guards who would be around at the same time? They'd go along too." She gave me a significant look. "Now? They only go alone. Sometimes they even leave before I close for the night. Or they stay until well after in order to make sure the other guards have already gone."
"That is a good sign, all right." Carefully, I added, "What does Auru think?"
"Oh, we've talked about it a good deal," she admitted. The pink resurged in her cheeks. "We've got a theory as to why they are the way they are with each other."
"A theory? You sound like Shad, Telma." A deep chuckle resonated from behind me, and Telma straightened, her eyes bright. "Auru, honey, you shouldn't sneak up on us like that," she scolded fondly.
"Well, when you two are knee-deep in your matchmaking schemes, it's hard to get your attention any other way." The old soldier clapped me on the shoulder in greeting as he seated himself next to me. "She's right, though. We think we've figured out the problem."
"I'm all ears."
"Shad is afraid he'd embarrass Ashei," he explained. "She outclasses him in sheer physical ability -- she's a better fencer, a better sharpshooter, a better fighter. He can hold his own in distance running and rock climbing, as you know, and he's not bad in hand-to-hand combat."
"Fisticuffs, as he puts it." We shared a chuckle.
"Right. But most of what he's good at simply isn't likely to come in handy during a battle, and we've never expected him to be a great warrior. He's wary about pushing any sort of suit with Ashei because he thinks she'd be more inclined to want to be with a soldier, someone like her father."
"On the other hand," Telma chimed in, "Ashei, poor lamb, thinks that she would embarrass him. He's part of the court, after all; he's educated, refined, cultured. He speaks with authority and knows how to interact with nobility, even royalty. She's comfortable enough with Link, and she's a lot less jumpy around the Princess than she used to be, but she knows her own strengths and weaknesses."
"Bottom line," Auru concluded, "is that they're very different, and painfully aware of it. Their feelings run deep, but they feel they're misplaced."
"But that's why they work," I objected. "They complement each other. She gives him more physical courage and he tames her wildness. Anyone who sees them separately and then sees them together has to know that they're better when they're together. They need each other."
"Exactly," said Telma. "We just need to get them to see what we see."
~Z~
The following day, Auru and I went to the castle so I could try the crossbow training for myself. Link met us at the gate, grinning broadly.
"Your timing is perfect. Shad's just finished the first course," he informed us.
"Does he still have all of his extremities?" I asked warily.
"Believe it or not, he does. Here he comes, see for yourself."
Shad at that instant came into view, talking animatedly to (or rather, at) a stoic, almost bored-looking Ashei. "...but really, the wind isn't something enough of the shooters remember to take into consideration with their crossbows. This course is somewhat enclosed, and that obstructs most of the wind's interference, but that won't be the case, for instance, on the castle ramparts in an actual altercation."
"All right already, Shad. I get it, yeah?"
"Oh, hello, gentlemen. Rusl! So good to see you. Come to take a run through one of the courses, I imagine?" Shad switched the stream of his chatter instantly upon spotting us. "I've just finished my own attempt at the first course and I did fairly well, if I do say so myself. I have to compliment our Prince on an excellent endeavor -- to say nothing of our superlative instructor, to whom I owe such success as I have achieved on the targets."
"Shad. Give it a rest!" Ashei rolled her eyes, though the corners of her mouth quirked upward. "You like it. We know. Give your tongue a break, yeah? One of these days it's going to burn out."
Obediently he quieted, and I fought off the urge to chuckle. "Well, lady of the crossbow court," I said, "are you willing to show me how it's done? Or do you have too much actual work to do today?"
"I can give you a turn, but you'll have to wait. A few of the guards want to try some of the more difficult courses; I have to admit, some of these boys have caught on fairly quickly. Know their way around a weapon, yeah?" Her expression was placid, though her eyes held a spark of pleasure; she took pride in having taught them. Almost involuntarily, I glanced at Shad to gauge his reaction, but he was excessively diverted by polishing his spectacles and pretending not to care.
"Take your time, Ashei. I'm in no hurry; I've got all afternoon."
"As do I," Shad added in a controlled tone, "that is if the Prince doesn't object. I should like to try one of those harder courses myself."
Ashei's expression turned to one of slight alarm. "Whoa, Shad, slow down. You only just finished the first course. You're not ready for that yet, yeah?"
"But I feel sure that I could do well at this, I really do." His expression was entirely too earnest, and I knew she didn't have much hope of holding out against it. Shad's puppy-dog pout was legendary. "Please, Ash?"
"I...well..."
Auru spoke up. "I could take him in, Ashei," he offered. "I know the courses about as well as you do by now; I'll see no harm comes."
This didn't look, from where I stood, like it entirely sat well with Shad, but Ashei was relieved. "I owe you one, Auru. I'm up to my gauntlets in training duties right now, yeah? At least now I know Shad will survive."
~Z~
Later, I remember thinking that she spoke too soon.
I was with Link and Ashei in the first course, which consisted of stationary targets in a layout similar to a stone temple. "Go easy on me, Ashei, I'm an old man," I teased her.
"Not as old as Auru, and he holds his own just fine, yeah?"
"Well, if you're turning this into a competition, I suppose I've got to do my best." I lifted the crossbow, sighting along the shaft of the bolt and adjusting to the feel of the unfamiliar weapon in my hands. A flick of the switch snapped the bolt free of its constraints with a satisfying twang, and it rushed toward the bull's-eye. Not a perfect shot by any means, but at least I hit the target.
"That was really pretty -- whoa!" Link's congratulation was interrupted by the sound of a distant explosion. "What in Farore's name was that?!"
"Maybe Barnes is experimenting again?" I asked dubiously. "I didn't think the shop was close enough that we could hear something like that from in here."
"It's not." Link frowned. "Come on."
We moved out of the target enclosure, all three of us involuntarily watching the castle for any sign of damage to the magically-resurrected structure. It seemed perfectly fine, however, and we relaxed slightly. "Probably someone was experimenting with one of those bomb-bolts you had Barnes cook up for the crossbows, yeah?" Ashei ventured. "I know that some of the guards were talking about learning to work with them. I'll tan their hides if they've been doing it without supervision."
"Link! Link!"
We all turned, surprised; most people outside of our group had finally gotten used to calling Link by his royal title, and he'd finally gotten used to hearing it, so being hailed so familiarly was becoming unusual for him. The bent, agitated figure of Barnes was sprinting toward us -- well, to such an extent as Barnes was capable of sprinting -- with a terrified look on his face.
"Link -- uh, sorry, Highness -- there's been an accident!"
"Where?" Link demanded. He looked more serious than I'd seen him in months.
"The fourth -- no, the fifth course. The one with the Bulblin archers you hired to make it extra challenging."
"You hired Bulblins?!" I asked, baffled.
"They apparently got into the bomb-bolt stash instead of their regular weaponry. They destroyed a wall!"
"Oh, just a wall?" Link relaxed. "That's not so b--Ashei, what's wrong?"
I glanced at her. She looked like she was going to be sick, but gestured for Barnes to deliver the rest of his message. He seemed a bit green himself as he continued, "I...I think...someone got hurt. I'm not sure who was in there, but...I was on my way to the storeroom with a fresh supply of the bombs, and I...heard yelling."
Ashei cursed under her breath and took off at a run. "Come on!" she yelled back at us. Link hesitated only long enough to snap at Barnes to run for Dr. Borville before we chased after her. I hoped her anxiety didn't mean what I thought it meant.
~Z~
It did, of course.
The Bulblins, to their credit, were already at work when we arrived, trying to shift the chunks of ruined wall away from the two bodies, and we lost no time in joining the effort. Ashei looked like she was barely concealing a form of terror I had never known her to exhibit. Shad's coppery curls were white with the dust of broken stone; his spectacles lay on the ground near his head, crushed. Auru seemed to be barely breathing. We lifted them as gently as we could, moving them away from the scene of the accident.
"Come on," Ashei urged them both, attention wavering between one and the other. "Open your eyes, yeah? I don't want to explain this to Telma." She brushed at some of the dust on Shad's face; I thought, for an instant, that I saw tears.
Dr. Borville did not especially appreciate being herded by Barnes to the training grounds, but he wouldn't dare refuse a royal summons. He poked unsympathetically at the bodies, muttering to himself. A few bandages were applied to the more visible wounds, and he prescribed water from Lanayru Springs to treat the ones we couldn't see. "The young man should recover in a day or so. The old soldier, well, he needs rest and care; he took the brunt of the collapse, by the look of things. They both need to be on bed rest at least until they wake."
At Link's requeset, I made my way to the royal mews to fetch Epona, and a large wagon. None of us were looking forward to it, but we needed to relocate our friends to Telma's. "Fine," said the doctor when told of this plan. "I'll be there to check on them in a day or so." He scribbled something on a sheet of paper and handed it to Link, then ambled off. We carefully eased Shad and Auru into the wagon, and Ashei climbed into the back to sit between them and keep them as still as possible. Link and I seated ourselves in the front and he picked up the reins, looking grim.
As the wagon surged forward, I asked, "What was that he gave you back there?"
"What else?" He laughed wryly. "His bill."