Chapter Text
Legend really hoped this was a good idea.
He wasn’t going to back out now, of course - there was too much at stake, and too many people were involved now. He’d committed, and he was going to see it through.
Still. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. If he was, it would be far more than his own life on the line.
“So,” he said, pulling on the familiar mantle of calm confidence and resting his elbows on the dinner table turned war room table. “What’s the plan?”
Time, sitting in his usual place, slid a sheet of paper across the table to him. “It’s already started. We made sure to begin circulating rumors during the initial outcry, after two ‘traitors’ and the prince vanished from the heart of the castle.”
“We weren’t going to do anything else without your permission, of course,” Warriors said, obviously trying to reassure him, “that was mainly for safety reasons. The more confusion there was around your disappearance, the less chance someone would find you.”
“A dual purpose,” Time agreed. “Safety, and groundwork for later in case we might need it. The second part of the plan is a contact among the nobility.”
Legend picked up the paper. The handwriting was rushed but surprisingly neat, and he caught mentions of your friend and happy to help as he quickly scanned it. “Okay. Who is it, and why are they important?”
“I’m not telling anyone else precisely who our contact is,” Time said with a shake of his head. “Once again, for safety reasons. He also doesn’t know precisely who you are. I’ve told him I’m passing correspondence to an associate of mine who is far more well-versed in the dealings of nobility than I am.”
“Passing correspondence?” Legend echoed with a frown, setting the paper down.
Time nodded. “Your job, for now, will be communicating with our contact. You’ll understand what he’s telling us better than anyone, and you can help him plan how best to sway the nobles to our side. Warriors, I’d like to ask you to do the same with some of my contacts in the army.”
“Absolutely.” When Legend glanced over, Warriors was still watching him with a slightly worried expression.
“Something wrong?” Legend asked, because he was keyed up enough without worrying about whatever was on Warriors’ mind, too.
Warriors sighed. “I’m just a little wary at the moment. The idea of putting you, and of course the rest of us, back into danger is something I’ll have to adjust to.”
“This is, unfortunately, not the first teenager who has walked up to me and absolutely insisted on being useful,” Time said dryly.
There was a light thud, like Warriors had gently kicked Time’s leg under the table. “Stop it. I already know, I’m experiencing your struggles right in front of you, isn’t that enough?”
“I never wanted you to,” Time said, his expression softening slightly. “And I will do my best to make sure we all get out of this in one piece. On that note, I have a suggestion that you may not like, Legend.”
Well, that wasn’t promising. “What?”
Time took a breath. “I think it would be best if we waited for this. If we move after your eighteenth birthday, there will be no room for anyone else to claim power. You will have sole claim to the throne, once your father is off of it.”
“That’s two years!” Legend protested, something twisting in his gut at the idea of waiting so long.
“It is. But if we move now, there could be a substantial argument made for appointing a regent,” Time pointed out. “You’re only sixteen, Legend. In the eyes of the law, you aren’t old enough to rule alone.”
And that did make sense. Legend knew how it would go if a regent took the throne - his life would be in constant danger, if he wasn’t outright thrown in jail as soon as he was out of the public eye.
“It’d have to be a suitable regent, too,” Warriors added, “someone noble and distinguished, with a wide power base and significant influence. All of those things are risky for our operation.”
Legend slouched a little, because he was allowed to be irritated and show it, but he reluctantly nodded and picked up the paper again. “Fine. We’ll wait.”
“Thank you,” Time said, and there was genuine relief in the words. “The good news is, that gives us plenty of time to plan. We don’t have every detail ironed out yet - that will be part of what you two will be helping with - but we have the beginnings, and two years will allow us to coordinate everything exactly right. We have to get this right on the first try. There are no do-overs for a revolution.”
“That’s a fair amount of time to help stir up civil unrest, as well,” Warriors said, resting his chin on his hand. “Not too much, though, we don’t want people starting their own revolution without any backup.”
Time nodded. “Leave that to the rest of us. I want you two - and Hyrule, if he decides to help us - away from the city until it’s time to move, just in case you’re seen and recognized. We can’t afford to have the manhunt start up again.”
“So we’re just writing letters,” Legend grumbled, glancing over the paper again. The contact had signed it with a little bunny doodle, that was cute. And smart, it wasn’t a good idea to have a name attached to something like this.
“For now, you are coordinating aspects of this revolution that I would do a bad job coordinating myself,” Time corrected. “You are uniquely situated to help with very important parts of this campaign, and communication is crucial.”
“Two years might be more than enough time to establish a change in the people, but the schemes of the nobility work a bit slower,” Warriors put in, “so you’ll need all the time you can get.”
Legend nodded slowly, looking a little more intently at the lines. “Looks like he’s already starting to work on it. He’s going after - oh, the lower ranking families first, smart. Getting a foothold.”
“You see, you actually understand any references to which families he’s talking to,” Time sighed. “It didn’t make much sense to me, which is why I’m handing it off to you.”
“He’ll need time and money to go after the bigger families,” Legend mused, only half paying attention now. “Probably lots of money. Do we have money? I should probably ask him if he has a plan for that.”
“He’ll definitely have some ideas,” Warriors said, looking at the letter over Legend’s shoulder. “Especially if Time picked him specifically for this. Means this guy’s at least as paranoid as the old man is.”
“He has reason to be,” Time said with the calm sort of crypticness Legend had come to expect from him. “As do I, which you’re well aware of.”
Warriors winced. “The only reason I’m not still apologizing for that is because I could tell when it started to annoy you.”
“It has been more than a decade,” Time said with a raised eyebrow. “I think we’ve moved past it.”
Legend frowned, glancing back and forth between them. “What did you need to apologize for, Wars?” The captain was always careful about things, especially things to do with Time’s secrets.
With a sigh, Warriors leaned back in his chair. “I mishandled a situation and led Time to believe I was going to turn him in. I wasn’t, but it was still… bad.”
“You weren’t aware of the stakes yet,” Time said gently. More gently than Legend had been expecting. “You didn’t actually do anything, and it was a good reminder to me to be more careful. You are forgiven, captain, and have been for many years now.”
Warriors looked away, managing a small nod. Legend could tell he didn’t quite believe Time, despite his smile. “Anyway. I’m sure this contact has some ideas. Maybe you do, too- you could share them in your first letter.”
“For now, we’ll be keeping it to one a week, for subtlety’s sake.” Time said, looking back to Legend. “If you feel that needs to be adjusted at any point, let me know.”
Legend nodded. He could make once a week work while he figured out what this contact knew and what he was already planning.
“And the same to you, Warriors,” Time added. “If you need more time, or more frequent communication, we can do that.”
“Alright.” Warriors glanced over at Legend again. “Is that everything for now? Anything else we need to know about, or help arrange?”
Time shook his head. “Not at the moment. We’ll have two years, so a lot of what we’re doing right now is laying groundwork. If something comes up, I’ll let you two know immediately. Warriors, I have all of the letters from my army contacts in here for you to look over before you start writing.” He slid a large envelope across the table.
“Oh boy,” Warriors said, raising his eyebrows. “Lots of homework for me, then.”
“You always said you wanted to help out with paperwork,” Time said with a smug little smile. “And you have more than Legend because I have more than one army contact. The nobles have been much trickier.”
Warriors poked at the envelope, looking slightly disgusted. “I’m well aware it’s logical and reasonable, but that’s not going to stop me from complaining.”
“Sucks to be you,” was Legend’s input as he calmly folded up his single letter.
With an eye roll, Warriors poked Legend in the side with his elbow, partially hidden in the guise of pulling his large envelope closer.
“Children, please behave yourselves,” Time sighed.
“I’m just sitting here!” Legend said indignantly. “Wars is the one being horribly cruel to me.”
“I’m simply evening out our workloads,” Warriors said with a grin, “giving you your fair share of annoyances, paper or otherwise.”
Time stood with a fond roll of his eye, and in a blink, it seemed like they were sitting around a dinner table again. “Go read your letters, both of you. I have paper in my office when you need it.”
“It’s not an office if there’s wood shavings all over everything,” Legend said with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s an office if I use it like an office.”
“You don’t.”
“There is paper in my office,” Time repeated calmly, already starting to walk away. “Have fun with your homework, Warriors.”
Warriors grinned at Legend. “He doesn’t want you to have any fun. Go suffer over your letter, Legend.”
“My contact signed his letter with a doodle, bet none of yours did,” Legend huffed.
“Normally I’d take that as a sign of this whole thing not being taken seriously, but nobles are weird.” Warriors shrugged. “If that’s the only win you can find, then take it.”
“Fuck you.” It was a cute doodle, but Legend was very aware that actually saying that would win him no points here.
“Can’t hear you over the rustling of my mound of fun paperwork,” Warriors told him, standing up and heading towards their room.
Legend scowled after him. He’d been planning to read his letter in there. Well, up on the roof it was, and he would not be paying attention to any reprimand he got about it.
[An excerpt from the letter:]
To my dear new confidant-
Our mutual friend has recommended you highly! A rare honor, especially from him. I’m happy to help, and excited to communicate and work with someone who shares my particular feelings and sensibilities on so many things.
[…]
And you don’t need to be worried about me, my dear confidant, because this is all great fun! I enjoy talking to people, and am of a persuasive persuasion, so it is no hardship.
I cannot help but wonder where you are in all of this, but I know better than to ask. I will simply hold onto the mysterious hope that anyone I pass at an event or a ball could be you in disguise, helping me to do our work. If all goes well, of course, we may meet someday, but until then I remain affectionately,
[A small doodle of a rabbit. It is holding a flower in its mouth.]