Every Man Breaks [Open]

As it turned out, the whole scene was watched by another group of people, as tired and broken as the angry man was.

But the group was no ordinary group. One of them was Hyrule’s Minister of Welfare himself and his entourage. Beside him was the Chancellor, and then the Royal Secretary, and then the First and Second Treasurer and one of the highest Professors of Hyrule Academia. Interweaved between them were the whole Royal Scribes of Hyrule, making a tight group. Still between them were various high officials and even the vice-mayor of Ordon, with him his whole officials of Ordon village. Simply put, they were very important people.

And leading them in front, standing outside the ranch fences too hesitant to enter, was the youngest of the Hyrule Royal Children: Princess Marianne Crescentia de Hyrule.

But there was no smile on the Princess’s face, nor that of her charm or her ever-high spirit which made her so endearing whenever she appeared in public. No. What was wrought in her face was weariness and exhaustion, evident as if a sad drama mask had been put on her face. Her usual short tidy hair was wrecked in a mess, more blatant that she did not cover it with her usual hood. There were bags under her eyes and her iris even looked dim, as if the light inside her eyes had been turned off and only the eyelids remained open. Her robe was crumpled and slightly dirty; mud had even splotched on the hem of her skirt and it covered her boots, just like it covered the boots of all the high-ranking officials. In fact, they all sported the same tired look and obvious lack of sleep, as if they had been forced to walk around the Castle Town and the surrounding villages for days straight with nary a rest.

In fact, that was precisely what they had been doing, dogged on by the guilt-wrecked Princess.

She could not put away the feeling that the tragedy in that Starlight Festival was the fault of the Royal Family. The fault of hers.

They had been the ones who organized the celebration, just like their ancestors had done. They had regulated the food stalls, the entertainers, the decorations, and even had some say in what to be done in which time. Of course, the ministers did all the work, but there was no denying that the Royal Family had direct involvement in the Festival affair, up to and including the security. After all, it was them who invited their subjects in the celebration. It was them who took the role of the hosts to their invited guests. It was them who had guaranteed the safety of the attendants of their party.

They had only one job that night.

And they failed at it.

So, Marianne worked her bones like she had never work before. Even before the last flame of that night had died out, she had begun to coordinate the compiling of the assessment of the damage done on the buildings, meticulously recording what damaged building belonged to whom and then handed out funding to repair or rebuild it as necessary, all from Royal funds. Of course, the full expenses could not be covered, but she made sure that each person was given an amount proportionate to their loss.

And before it had even finished, she had started another task force. There were many wounded people from the aftermath of the Festival, lying in agony on the Town grounds or being treated in the makeshift hospital in the Castle Front Hall. Marianne made sure that every people’s names were listed and their origin known. Then, if possible, they were immediately reunited with their surviving family members, bringing them to safe hands in the worst case their treatment would take a long time.

But the real problem was not from the living. There were many missing people in the chaos of that terrible night; many had lost their loved ones and did not know whether they were alive or dead. Marianne wanted to make sure that everyone were identified, that her subjects’ fate would be known without any doubt. So, she began the momentous task of listing the inhabitants of every household, every single one of them, so that missing people could be immediately spotted. If their names were not in the survivor lists, then they would be regretfully declared dead. Harsh perhaps, but it gave greater comfort to the bereaved rather than ‘missing’.

Of course, the Festival attendees did not come from Castle Town only. So this mission brought Marianne and her entourage to the outlying villages, contacting the village officials along the way and requesting their aid in the impromptu census. Marianne used this chance to also record if there had been any destroyed buildings or other survivors or other significant Happenings in the households. When such thing was found, the helping fund was immediately awarded. That was why she had brought the Treasurer and other Ministers along, silently forcing them to work just as hard as she herself had by her own example. None of them dared to sleep while The Princess herself did not.

Weary, broken, and extremely sleepy, they had come across this ranch on the edge of Ordon Village to continue their survey, when a burned dummy flew on their way and stopped them on their tracks.

Her guards had already moved to open the ranch gates, but Marianne raised her hand to stop them. From experience, she knew that the best way to calm the feeling of hopelessness was to let it explode and be done with it. And this, young man… he seemed to be in severe need of an outing.

She would have been content of just standing there letting the young man poured out his feelings before she and entourage disrupted him. But alas, one of the officials came late and did not notice the hand signal to stop given earlier by the Princess. Boldly, the official came forward and rattled the fences.

“You, peasant!” he shouted, not even trying to be polite, “Dare you do so in front of Royalty?! Stand and give your proper salute, you shameful example of a Hylian!”

Josh Dragelion

Marianne was shocked. The rudeness of one of her entourage was absolutely unforgivable, such an insensitiveness toward the clearly wounded man. She had to remember to reprimand… … … reprimand…. She forgot. Perhaps he was one of Ordon Village Official.

But whoever he was, Marianne’s expression gave a clear sign that she would not tolerate this kind of behavior lightly. People were suffering. Her people were suffering. There was no need to burden their suffering even more. Especially someone who had just screamed at the sky and punched the ground until his fist bleed. That kind of person was clearly in need of help.

Holding back her disdain, Marianne opened her mouth to give a stern order to the official to control himself. But before she could do so, the man walked up to her, clearly upset. Marianne braced herself for yet another unabashed rage directed and her and her entourage. She had been screamed at, hissed, and even yelled in these past few days more than she had her entire life. Even though her guards quickly controlled most of the situations, it still hurt her very much that her people were so suffering they could not find anyone to blame but their royalty, something that Marianne secretly believed she deserved it.


So, she was a little surprised when the man unexpectedly bowed to her instead.

"Forgive me, it was a training accident, nothing more. It won't happen again"

Marianne raised her eyebrows. She was a little impressed at the man’s manners, but sharp Marianne was not easy to fool. She could clearly see that the man was restraining himself so tightly his bleeding fists shook from his bottled emotions.

And the sight of it depressed Marianne even more

Being a Royalty meant people would be forced to treat her with utmost courtesy, but this did not sit well with Marianne sometimes. By nature she had a kind heart, an understanding person who never wanted to trouble others by her presence. Having others forced to do what they did not want to do just because she was a Royalty always weighed much on her heart. Truthfully, she would have liked more if the man simply screamed at her and her entourage. That was what they deserved.

But politeness must be responded in kind. Marianne adjusted her expression so that she did not look very depressed.As for her, restraint was the middle name of any Royalty.

“Please, don’t be.” came her weary reply, waving a hand, “It is us who have to apologize for intruding your property unannounced.”

She immediately regretted her tone. Somehow, that came out rather sharp and a little snobbish than she had intended. Perhaps her fatigue really had caught up to her…

With a glance of her eyes she gave a signal to one of her officials. A Royal Scribe of Hyrule. He had almost closed his eyes due to his sleepiness, but someone next to him tapped his shoulder. He jolted, recognizing the signal from the Princess, and promptly came forward. In his hand was opened a long parchment of official record.

He blinked and cleared his throat. “This property belongs to Mr. Josh Dragonsflame and Mrs Maude- Apologies. Ms Maude Lif. No relations.” He rather insensitively flashed a grin, could not help but poking a little fun. Some grinned a little too, although too exhausted to actually express anything. Marianne herself kept her face as still as a statue. “It is a farm and a ranch. Produces are-“

Marianne raised another hand. The Sribe stopped, knowing that The Princess had already known what she had needed. With a silent thanks she returned The Scribe to the ranks, who walked back with a rather big yawn.

So, this one here must be Mr. Dragonsflame.

She returned her sight back towards the man. The man had recognized her as Leon’s sister, ever the more popular of the three Royal Children.

“I am.” She nodded curtly. There was a time when she felt awful only remembered as Leon’s sister or The Youngest Princess, but that time had long since gone. “My name is Marianne Crescentia de Hyrule, Second in line of Hyrule Royal Crown. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Dragonsflame.”

And to his condolence, she flashed a weak, tired smile. That was all she could do. “Thank you. You are very kind. But now is not the time to wallow in grief. Now is the time to do what we can to the utmost save the living. We can mourn the deceased later and honor their memories with serenity.”

She extended a hand for Josh to shake, unafraid to be met with his bloodied palm, “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Dragonsflame?”

Even she herself was rather surprised by her words. Strangely, it was the man who seemed to take the loss of the King very hard. For Marianne… it was…. almost like numbness. She had sink herself so deep in her works that the thought of her own loss seemed subsided somehow. It was like she was being submerged in water, face up to see the sky. She could see the darkening clouds and thunder above, ready to obliterate her with grief should she ever arise. Yet, submerged in this pool of water, she was safe.

She would weather the thunderstorm later, when she could no longer hold her breath.

Josh Dragelion

She turned her face towards the farm. “You may have heard of our mission, Mr. Dragonsflame… although I understand if you have not. We-,” she gestured to indicate the people in her entourage, ”-are trying to gather information on the casualty of that…horrible…. event. Since many who came to Castle Town that night were not from The Castle Town itself, we are visiting each household so we can quickly identify any missing person, and perhaps connect it to the list of survivors or decease we already have. I would be very grateful, Mr. Dragonsflame, if you’d help us in this task by providing what you know.”

Her words were sincere, but there was no denying that humming quality in her tone which made it sounded like something that had been repeated over and over again. The Princess had clearly said the exact same lines countless times until now she almost did not stop in her syllables. The man might be very grieving, but for the tired, sleep-deprived Marianne, this was just another chore. She had emptied her tears for so many more heartbreaking accounts from the victims and their families that she was afraid she would be insensitive for the rest of her lives. Mr. Dragonsflame hurting himself in his rage was one of the least saddening situation she had seen these past few days.

As it stands, men and angels and demons are no different. Everyone of them breaks.

Josh Dragelion

Marianne did not respond to Mr. Dragonsflame’s hasty comment about his status, but she did gave a warning glance to her scribe to not pursue the matter further. This was a time of grieving. Poking fun at something that personal was like watching pebbles while a boulder is rolling down. People could get killed.

She was relieved when he did not take offense. Instead, he offered a weak smile.

"A pleasure to meet you, Your Grace. And I'm... Well, I'm just a farmer, really" He responded softly, sticking out his hand to shake hers, before stopping and offered his off-hand instead.

“And I am just a Princess,” gracefully replied Marianne, switching to her more comfortable hand to meet his in one flowing motion. It was a testament to her emulating her sister Beatrix’s inner grace that she could defuse the awkwardness without missing a beat, “If there is something I’ve learned from this whole ordeal, Mr Dragonsflame, is that we are all “just” someone. We are all just a transient writing in the sacred Book of History. We can be erased anytime, anyhow.”

She offered a smile as she his hand was shaken in hers, “So, why don’t we try our best to make our mark in the page, together as a sentence instead of different letters?”

Usually, Marianne was very conscious of people’s status and education and tried to tone down her often colorful words and make them understandable to all. But today, she was so tired she just reverted back to her bookish syntax. She hoped she did not make a snobbish impression.

Without any command from her, her scribes quickly wrote down everything the farmer said. This kind of accounts was very useful for Marianne’s mission. It provided them with more information that could easily be cross-checked later, therefore preventing any unaccounted person.

She nodded thankfully as the farmer finished his recount, giving him a kind expression of ‘You’ve helped us so much, you should rest now.’ “Thank you for your information, Mr. Dragonsflame. I can’t tell you how grateful we are for this kind of complete account, which will help us greatly in cross-checking the facts later. You are very caring towards your neighbors, that’s for sure.” Behind her, her entourage had already begun checking their respective lists.

“And I am very sorry about Miss Maude Lif,” she offered, “It must have been very hard for you. I don’t know much but… I am sure ambulation is very critical for a farmer’s life…”

“Would you mind if I pay her a visit? Now?” she added after a brief thought.