Coffee Coloured Pages
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Zelda's POV

Walking through the halls with Urbosa, Zelda's mind was stemming with worry. With no idea what's causing Y/n's infection, the girls decided to head to the library, hoping to read something on the topic. Yet with no clue what to look for, Zelda knew they'd be there a while.

"So, I wonder what they're talking about," Urbosa states, her mind clearly on something different. She had a light smile dancing upon her lips, a mischievous look glittering in her eyes.

"Well, I wonder if it's any of our business," the Princess replies, feeling like she was able to speak her own mind around the Champion–her mother's dear friend. Out of the corner of her eye, Zelda notices Urbosa daintily shrugging, pressing her lips into a thin line.

Emerging from a room ahead, Link and Daruk walk towards the girls, a confused expression planted on Daruk's face–Link's face remained the same monotone expression he always wore.

"Where ya both headin'?" Daruk asks first, Link moving to stand beside his Princess. In turn, Zelda gives him a small wave, trying to loosen the growing tension.

"Well, we were heading to the Great Library," Zelda speaks, keeping her voice relatively quiet, "you may accompany us if you wish." She says, more to Daruk than Link. Daruk gives a short nod, and they all continue back down the corridor. This leaves Daruk to ask his river of questions, much to Zelda and Urbosa's dismay.

"So," the Goron starts, bringing his hands together, "what's happened? Link and I 'eard this big commotion from the other side of the castle." Zelda lets out a deep breath–one she didn't know she'd been holding. This only causes Daruk's eyebrows to raise in confusion.

"Well, there's been an accident," Urbosa speaks up, looking to Zelda for reassurance.

"What sort of accident?" Daruk responds, looking down glumly at them, as if he already knew the answer he was awaiting. As if he knew where the conversation was about to go.

"It involves Y/n," Urbosa whispers, thinking carefully of what to say, "she's gotten herself into a bad fight with a couple of monsters, I'd assume, and had gotten terribly hurt," when Daruk's eyes go wide, she quickly adds, "Mipha's tended to her wounds already. She's currently resting in the castle infirmary."

"How bad is–sorry–was it?" He asks, his voice strangely calm. "Was there blood?" Was his next question. Urbosa almost knew he'd bring up that last question, considering his hatred for blood and gore. Unless it belonged to monsters. Then he'd want nothing more than their blood to be spilt.

"Well, she had a pretty bad gash running from her shoulder to her hip. Yes, there was quite a bit of blood," Zelda says, going off the knowledge that Y/n's scare gave her. Link easily saw his fellow friend gulp, yet the Goron still remained as positive as anyone could be in this situation.

"Where is she now?" He asks, wringing his hands together as the four of them reached the library.

"Like Urbosa already said, she's resting in the infirmary," the Princess says, walking through the door that Link opened for her. The four of them walk inside the tremendous room, spotting a vacant table, which they quickly seated themselves at. When everyone was seated, a new topic was brought up between them.

"Why are we in the library?" Daruk asks, his gaze sweeping through the many shelves of books dotting the library walls.

"Well, apart from a large gash, we also noticed a fairly large, sort of purple-ish infection spreading across her upper arm," from Urbosa's words, Link's brow's furrows in thought, then, as if a light bulb went off in his mind, he held his hands up in front of him.

"Sort of like gloom?" He signs, only understandable to Zelda.

"Maybe. Do you think it could be cured like gloom?" Zelda responds. Link nods, bringing his hands back to his lap. After the two's small conversation, Urbosa understands completely of what the silent knight signed.

"You think she was attacked by gloom? If it does no harm to ask, what is gloom?" Urbosa asks, raising an eyebrow in the Princess's direction. The Gerudo Chief never liked not knowing things, so this greatly peeved her off.

"Well, it's just a theory, stated in a few articles I've read in the past. I've explained it briefly to Link. It's basically a reddish/purplish/blackish gunk that can infect anyone who comes in moderate proximity. I haven't seen it myself, mind you, but you know I believe most older textbooks. I say they hold the dearest information, the knowledge that should be protected by its thick, dusty covers," Zelda explains, speaking quickly enough to make Link roll his eyes.

"Interesting," the Gerudo murmurs, cupping her chin in her hands, "if the gloom is a real thing, then what might be the cure"? She asks.

"Well, the resistance to gloom, I suppose. Like how sunshrooms are resistant to the cold, so whenever you make a meal containing one or more sunshrooms, it gives you a time-limited resistance to the cold. If enough research is done, we could find a resistant plant to gloom, which we then could cook into a basic meal," the Princess says, standing up, "the best way to find anything, is to read books." At the mention of books, Daruk groans to himself. He was not a bookworm, and there was a little too many books in this particular library.

"Ok, so we start looking for information regarding the topic of gloom. Do we all have to help?" Daruk comments, his voice less than enthusiastic. The three others nod, standing up and quickly dispersing through the library. Daruk begrudgingly follows, walking to a smaller bookshelf. Zelda busies herself with the section that she'd previously found the book on Akkala, hoping that there could be something similar about gloom there.

Tracing her finger along one of the spines, she whispers the titles under her breath. 'Tale of Hyrule', 'The Creatures of Hyrule,' 'Medicinal Roots and Plants'. There were almost too many, but Zelda knew that one of these books would house the information she was so desperately needing. That everyone was needing. It would only take a great deal of time, and possibly your entire patience. Zelda carefully pulls out the Medicinal Roots book. With the dusty book in hand, she walks back to the table, noticing the others–excluding Daruk–looking through each book carefully. Even Link was putting his best effort in, and Zelda knew he wasn't much of a reader.

Sitting down, she opens to the contents page. The contents listed things on the cold, heat, electricity, even stamina resistant plants, yet to the Princess's dismay, there was nothing on gloom. Maybe it really was just a myth, laughing as she tried chasing it around. Her brow furrows in thought as she snaps the books shut, pushing her chair back and standing up. Just as she walks away from the table, Urbosa sat down with a few more thick books in hand. The Champions gave Zelda a small nod as their gazes met, possibly lightening the dragging mood.

Returning the book back to its home, Zelda wanders aimlessly along the tall bookshelves, feeling her hope sink to the ground as Urbosa huffed and stood up. It seems even the Gerudo Chief hadn't found anything yet.

It was as if the situation was on repeat. When Urbosa left, Link seated himself and began reading. When he didn't find anything, he upped and left, only with his seat to be filled by Daruk. Zelda inwardly sighs at the results, letting her arms fall sloppily to her sides.

"It's no use..." she mutters under her breath, feeling Link walk up behind her. She swiftly turns around, acknowledging his presence with a smile. "Found anything?" She asks hopefully, yet her expression fell when he shook his head. He then tiled his head in a way that asked, 'what about you?' She presses her lips together into a thin line, choosing what to say.

"No, unfortunately. Do you think that gloom really is just a myth?" She asks him, noticing Urbosa walk over to the commotion.

"Little bird, you needn't fret. If the information is anywhere, it would be in this library. Have patience," strangely enough, Urbosa's words had a calming effect on Zelda. Because of that, the Princess gave a curt nod, spinning on her heel to face the bookshelves once more.

"Right. We must persist," she states, allowing her feet to take her along the shelves, closely scrutinising the spines of the books. The others went back to their positions–Daruk still reading at the table–and got busy.

~~🌹~~

About three hours later, the four of them were seated with a massive mound of books in front of them. With a book titled 'Hyrule's History' in Link's hand, and 'The Flora and Fauna' in Zelda's, Urbosa chose the book 'Hyrule's Myths'. Daruk, on the other hand, was reading the book 'How to Control Your Cynophobia'. This had initially made Urbosa chuckle, but Daruk hadn't been phased–after all, the Goron suffers Revali's teasing every day.

"So, have we found anything?" Urbosa asks after an hour of silence. She gets three headshakes, and a sad look from Zelda. "I'm sure there's some way to identify and cure whatever Y/n has. Trust me." Her words enlighten the Princess to an extent, except that they all were burnt-out from working on this for three hours. All of them needed a break, and there was no amount of motivational words that Urbosa could say that'd make them feel better.

"We should catch up with Revali and Mipha soon. See if they have any knowledge about this infection," Zelda speaks up, closing her book rather aggressively. The four of them agreed to finish up, clearly showing how much they wanted to be there.

"Yeah, sounds like a great plan," Daruk comments, enthusiastically, standing up and causing his chair to fling back. Urbosa only chuckles, adding her closed book to the slowly growing pile.

As the four of them left the library, they noticed the sun going down through the large glass windows. "Gosh, it's gotten rather late, hasn't it? I might actually have dinner," Zelda says, walking to the dining hall with Link in tow. This just left Urbosa and Daruk by themselves to find their companions.

~~🌹~~

Urbosa's POV

"I wonder where we'll find 'em?" Daruk asks, walking side by side with her.

Upon hearing voices from Mipha's room, Urbosa comments, "perhaps Mipha's room?" The two walk to the Zora Princess's room. The Gerudo softly knocks on the door, keeping a respectable distance until Revali opened it.

"Hi?" He tilts his head in confusion, letting the two in. Urbosa smiles at Mipha, sitting down next to her. "What are you both here for?" Revali asks, closing the door after Daruk had sat himself down on the ground.

"Are there any updates regarding Y/n?" Urbosa asks, noticing the way Revali's demeanour changed. He had gone from irritated to awkward and quiet. Even Mipha looked slightly uncomfortable. Urbosa assumed that the topic of Y/n was no doubt delicate.

"Well, she's just resting at the moment," Revali answers, looking to Mipha.

"She was stricken pretty bad by a band of Moblins. She and Enzo both did," Mipha brings up, and just the mention of his name sent Revali's blood boiling–yet he still couldn't pinpoint the 'why'. "But as Revali already mentioned, she's in the infirmary, resting up." Then Urbosa's eyebrow rises. Didn't Mipha know of the infection? They knew that Revali saw it, but there was no recollection that Mipha ever saw it.

"What about..." Urbosa starts, attracting the attention of everyone within the room, "the purple infection on her arm?" Mipha's brow furrows in thought at the new topic brought up, and Revali's expression grew even more worried.

"Has it gotten worse?" He asks, which Urbosa then pauses. Has it? She didn't actually know–they had been in the library an awfully long time.

"I'm not too sure, Revali," Urbosa answers honestly.

"What is this infection you speak of?" The Zora asks tentatively, cupping her chin in her delicate fingers.

"I was so sure you would've seen it while you were healing her," Urbosa says worriedly, "it's a giant purplish mark on her upper arm. It looks quite painful," the Gerudo says, bringing her hands together and holding them.

"No, I didn't notice that," she whispers, standing up, "I must go see her at once." There was no Champion alive that would stop Mipha as she quickly walks out, being followed by her fellow companions. Weaving through the hallways, Urbosa listed anything that could be a possibility for the infection in her head. She assumes that it wouldn't be gloom, and it didn't look like a normal infection. She then thought about the sword. There was a great possibility that the Vantablack Blade could've played some role in it. Then she remembered something big. In the same spot where the infection is, was a nasty wound that Urbosa has temporarily fixed. It was just after the fight with that man, and Urbosa had experienced first-hand the dark magic that he had wielded. There could be a possibility that they weren't dealing with an infection. They could be dealing with a magical curse.

When Mipha opened the door, the four of them were not prepared for what was in the room–or more like what wasn't.

Y/n had disappeared.

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2218 words.