I Miss You, Solace
Vael ; "Even in a place like this, only ill will come of hardening yourself to everyone."
Zelda ; "You can't know that I've done such a thing."
V ; "Some of the opportunities that you search for will be lost to you, because you won't even see them. They'll pass right before your face, waving flags, playing music... ha ha ha."
Z ; "You would be wise to restrain yourself."
V ; "I would be wise to do many things." The soft, short sound of an ill-tuned piano being played.
Z ; "You are a fool."
V ; "And you? What are you, if you miss some things that are so obvious to others?"
Z ; "I am well-advised."
V ; "Ha ha ha. I see."
[Open books pour over tables, stacks of ancient tomes leaning against each other for support. But the Princess Zelda is not studying, or gathering information. She is standing beside an old, abandoned piano, apparently taking a break to withdraw into the quiet peace of her thoughts.
She gazes at the piano beside her, before reaching out to play a few stanzas of a song. The song is at first, smooth, until her fingers catch on the keys and trip up the melody. Her eyes fix coldly, unblinkingly down upon the dusty keys as if they'd done her a great injustice.
She doesn't move for a long time.
Then she clenches a fist.
With an agonized sound barely restrained by the teeth embedded in her lower lip, she smashes her hand down on the keys.
The pained KONNHN of the piano echoes far, and loud throughout the library and castle itself.
Her face suddenly steels again, and she sweeps from the instrument and begins to clean up the volumes that she'd left out on the table.
There was no time, even for the dull ache of sadness that had become sharp from weeks of neglect. No time.]