The following two pieces are sneak peeks to my upcoming Zelda story, Circles. The first one is a prologue, which reveals a bit of the main story, but leaves enough out to leave a few people scratching their heads. The second is an actual excerpt taken from chapter seven, "Tarin Genealogy". The latter is really more Link fanservice than anything else, but hey, an excerpt's an excerpt.

I do not own The Legend of Zelda.

Circles Prologue
SirJoshizzle

Link Avalon dreamed of being nothing but a lawyer.

A defense attorney. Someone who people could turn to, in a world where people were guilty until proven innocent. When times for someone were at their darkest. When no one believed in their story, or even bothered to sit down and hear it. That's what he aspired to become. And he did it.

It had taken years for him to earn his attorney's badge. That pin, no larger than a Rupee, was the consummation of all the sleepless nights he spent studying every law book he could get his hands on and the exhausting days spent in a firm as protege to some of the city's finest attorneys. It had taken years, but it all paid off. While not considered to be the best at Lon Law Offices, he was considered to have the most potential. There was just one thing he was missing.

A client to defend.

A lawyer is nothing without one. He was dying to get behind that defense's bench. His boss would always just laugh softly at this enthusiasm and say, "Don't worry, my boy. Your time will come."

He just didn't think it would come so soon.

Only days after he acquired his attorney's badge, a call came in at Lon Law Offices. It was a woman. Her voice was a desperate plea for help.

“Please, Mr. Avalon! My sister has no one else to turn to! I’m begging you, save my sister and prove her innocence!”

He didn’t know what to say. He could hear the tears in her voice, how absolutely terrified she was… He just couldn’t say no.

His very first client was a woman named Zelda Harkinian. Her case was one Link never expected, especially for his first: murder. She was accused of the murder of her boyfriend. The evidence and the eyewitness accounts seemed to have guilty verdict confirmed, before she was even able to appeal her case to the court system. No lawyer in the city accepted. No one believed her. Except Link Avalon.

“…So does that mean… you trust me?” She asked hopefully. “You believe me… don’t you, Mr. Avalon?”

“Of course I believe you,” he smiled.

“…Then will you take my case then?” She looked away from him for a second, a sad look on her face. “…Or will you refuse, like all the other lawyers I talked to?” She asked again.

“…It’s up to you.”

The trial was in two days. She didn't have a choice.

A day passed, and before long, it came. The trial. Link had spent every minute between his meeting with Zelda Harkinian and the day of the trial preparing for it. And his preparations were not in vain. He stood behind the defense's bench and shot down every contradiction the witnesses slipped out. Every contradiction brought him one step closer to proving the innocence that no one else thought was possible.

Until it happened.

Link was just one testimony away from clearing Zelda's name. But it was never heard. The trial ended abruptly and tragically. No verdict was given, but it was evident that Link lost the trial. And the true killer in the case, the person whose fate would have been sealed with that one testimony, left the courthouse with a secret smile.

Needless to say, Link was devastated. The outcome of the trial traumatized him. It shook him so deeply that he retired his attorney's badge forever and swore to never practice law again.

Six years after that fated trial, Link Avalon was now a history professor at Hyrule University. He was considered one of the staff's finest, and at such a young age, was seen almost as a prodigy. He had finally left his past as a lawyer behind him.

At least, that's what he thought.

On the day of the new school year, a woman walked into his classroom. A woman who looked completely identical to one Zelda Harkinian.

“Y… Y-you’re—” Link stammered.

“Marin Tarin,” she interrupted him.

He stared at her long and hard, examining her closely. “…M-Marin…?”

“That’s right,” she nodded, still smiling. He slowly took the paper and unfolded it. It was her class schedule. Sure enough, there was her name in black and white, “Tarin, Marin”.

It seemed like it was beyond mere coincidence that a person like her would walk into Link Avalon's life, much less on the sixth anniversary of the day that changed his life forever. And it was even more suspicious that she was under major scrutiny for the recent death of, of all people, her boyfriend.

He thought he had finally left his past as a lawyer behind him. But without thinking, the words just came out of his mouth.

“I’ll represent you.”

Marin was taken aback. A man whom she had just met, was offering to become her defense attorney, when she had spent days talking to ones that refused to defend her.

Marin Tarin. Zelda Harkinian. Two women who looked, sounded, and acted exactly the same. Two women, each the prime suspect in two murder cases that played out in the exact same way. Link knew that somehow, none of it was just mere coincidence.

“I want to take on this trial… I know I said that I’d never go back into law… But there’s something about this case… There’s something about this Marin Tarin… Something’s not right… I know that if I take this case, then I’ll get some answers. I want to know what happened on that day six years ago… And I’m going to find out.”


Circles Chapter Seven Excerpt
SirJoshizzle

“Uncle Linky!”

Link pulled the shower curtain and poked his head out. Through the heavy steam, he saw his niece Aryll standing in the middle of the bathroom doorway.

Every Wednesday he babysat his little brother’s daughter, Aryll. She was seven years old, with golden blonde hair and neutral blue eyes. In her hand was a telescope, a present he gave her for her fifth birthday.

“You need something?” Link asked as he wiped his face clean of water.

“Do you have anything to eat?” She clasped her hands behind her back.

He furrowed his brow for a moment. “…You can have a Chu jelly stick for now,” he shrugged. “They’re in the cabinet next to the sink. When I’m finished here, I promise to make you something extra special!”

Aryll laughed and nodded exuberantly. “You promise!?”

Link chuckled softly and nodded in reply. “You got it.”

She smiled and before she closed the door, she exclaimed, “Alrighty!”

He pulled the curtain back and grabbed his bottle of body wash. Squeezing a generous amount onto his palm with his left hand, he closed the lid by pressing it against his chin. He rubbed his hands together and lathered himself thoroughly, starting with his arms and working his arms. He moved to his chest and torso, dipping his fingertips into the crevasses between his muscles, and worked his way downwards to the inside of his thighs, down his legs and to his feet.

He threw his head back and cracked his neck as he took the shower head off its holder and sprayed the body wash off his skin.

“Uncle Linky!” The door opened again and Aryll’s voice rang through the bathroom.

“What is it?” Link asked, looking at her through the curtain as he washed off his crotch and his legs.

“There’s someone at the door.”

“Is it your dad?” He asked again, spraying his back with the water.

“No,” she shook her head. “I looked at the screeny thingy, and it’s some man.” The doorbell rung again, and she turned towards the door.

He raised an eyebrow, put the shower head back on its holder, and turned off the water. He poked an arm out of the curtain and grabbed his towel from off the toilet seat cover, dried his legs off, and snugly wrapped it around his waist.

He pulled the curtain back and stepped out of the bathtub. He tugged another towel from off the towel rack and dried his hair out with it. As he walked past Aryll out of the bathroom, he quickly ruffled her shoulder-length hair.

“Hey!” She laughed as he chuckled softly. Before he got away, she reared her hand back and smacked his butt like they were football players.

“Whoa!” Link jumped in surprise, his hands instinctively went to his rear and glared at her playfully. “What was that for!?” She didn’t say anything; she just giggled mischievously before scampering back to the kotatsu and continued eating her pop tart. He gave her a lopsided grin and shook his head.

As Link walked out of the bathroom, the cool air of the apartment rushed against him, arousing a sharp gasp and a violent shiver from him. He took the towel around his neck and quickly wiped the rapidly evaporating water droplets from off his arms, chest and back and stopped at the front door. He looked at the screen built into a wall which acted as a peep hole, and was connected to a surveillance camera above the door in the hallway outside. His eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat when he saw who it was.

What is he doing here? Link thought to himself in disbelief. He rested the towel around his neck and opened the door to an all too familiar face.